May travels

The last few weeks have been very full.  I finished up my first trimester of teaching, visited volunteers in Angonia and Kaunda, and travelled to Maputo for a Peace Corps conference.  I am now back in Zobue and reflecting on the past few weeks.

We had a surprise visitor for a few days in the form on Lucas Arribas Layton, who was a volunteer in Zobue with his wife Janet in 2010-2011.  Lucas was in Mozambique doing work for the World Bank and was able to visit Zobue while doing field work in Tete.  It was great to meet him and hear all his stories and wisdom of Zobue.  He was also a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras in 2001-2002 and is about to start a job with Peace Corps headquarters in Washington DC.  Peace Corps is lucky to have him back!

Lucas with Seni and Romao on our porch.

Hiking up Turtle Rock with Lucas and Piro.  I learned to say "we are out walking" in ChiChewa.  Tikuyenda yenda.

 Before heading to Maputo for the conference I visited Matt for a few days in Kaunda.  Kaunda is about an hour from Tete City along the road to Zambia.  It is a very small town, but has some lovely mountains nearby and gorgeous sunsets.  I always like visiting other volunteer's sites because they are all unique.

When I was visiting Matt in Kaunda we met a guy with a Skagway, Alaska shirt.  Of course, I asked to take a picture with him.

 After Kaunda, we all flew down to Maputo for the Peace Corps reconnect conference.  The conference was a chance for us to get some more training, meet the new Peace Corps director, eat lots of delicious food, and see our fellow volunteers in the southern region whom we hadn't seen in 5 months.  Though we missed the volunteers from the northern region (they had their own conference in Nampula), it was great to see friends after such a long time apart.  The new country director had us all over to his house one afternoon for samosas, chai tea, and other finger foods.  The big excitement for me was broccoli and cauliflower, two vegetables I hadn't seen in 8 months and missed dearly.  I had actually had a dream about broccoli just two nights before so I was very excited to see it!

I don't have any pictures of our time in Maputo (whoops), but I'd say my highlight was eating a real croissant just out of the oven from a lovely French bakery.  I'm still dreaming about it.  Before my flight back to Tete on Saturday I was able to chapa out to Namaacha to visit my host family from training.  It was great to see them (the kids have grown so much!) and they were very touched that I made the effort to visit them.  Hopefully I will see them again soon, though I don't know when I'll next be in Maputo.

My two host sisters Laiza and Lele.

My host cousin Ninho.

Host brother Pai.  He is almost as tall as me now!

Mae Gloria.  So chique.

While I was in Namaacha we went to a cultural dance competition.  This group was my favorite.  I wish I could upload the video--their dancing was amazing!

Though the past few weeks have been full, I have to admit I've been struggling with feeling happy in Zobue.  I'm having a hard time adjusting to the pace of life here and being less busy than I'm used to being in the States.  Living in a different culture 24/7 is exhausting.  I miss having people to talk to who share a common upbringing and worldview.  Teaching sometimes seems futile.  Other projects are incredibly hard to get going because it involves mobilizing people who have little experience in organized projects and different ways of communicating.  So, though I feel incredibly lucky to be living here, it isn't easy.  Moving to an entirely new place is never easy and trying to make a life in rural Mozambique is even harder.  

That being said, I'm hopeful for the next few months. I'm starting to work with the primary school near my school to develop a reading program to improve literacy.  I'm thinking about asking for more classes to teach and I registered for a computer science class online through EdX (just for fun and for something to do in the evenings).  So, pouco a pouco, little by little, the months are sliding by.  It is almost 8 months since I arrived in Mozambique.  Before I know it, it will be September again.

Ao final!?!

On Friday April 4th I took a chapa down to the Tete airport to meet my dad who was flying in from California (by way of South Africa).  At the airport we rented a car and that weekend drove to Cahora Bassa, a huge lake in Tete formed by a dam on the Zambezi river.  We stayed at Ugezi Tiger Lodge, which was a bit lacking in food quality and room cleanliness, but made up for it in great scenery and wildlife sightings.  We went on a boat trip on the lake and saw hippos and crocodiles, watched monkeys in the trees as we ate lunch, and saw a troop of baboons cross the road as we were leaving.

Father and daughter at a photo stop on our way up to the lake.

Lake Cahora Bassa and the Cahora Bassa Dam

A giant moth at Ugezi Tiger Lodge.  We thought it was dead until it abruptly flew away when Dad tried to look at the red part under its wing.  Nearly gave me a heart attack when it flew right into my face.

From Cahora Bassa, we drove back to Tete, returned the rental car, and headed to Zobue.  Dad spent 10 days in Zobue living the village life.  He observed some of my classes, went to the market, and hung out with the neighbor kids on the front porch.  I really enjoyed introducing him to people here--most of them couldn't believe he was my dad, who had come all the way from the United States.  The most common response was:

"Ao final? E seu pai?" Really? He is your dad?

And then, 

"Ele ainda e joven!" He is still young!

It was great having an outsider's perspective on my life here.  Since I've been here for almost 6 months, there are some things I take for granted or don't notice anymore so it was fun to see what he noticed and commented on.

One of Dad's first nights here Leme and his family came for a visit.  I'm posting this because both Leme and Servina are smiling.  If there is anything harder than getting a Mozambican to smile for a posed photo, I haven't yet encountered it.

Three sisters: Sylvia, Albertina, and Celia.  I'm posting this also because of their amazing smiles.

Last weekend we traveled into Malawi together.  This trip was only possible because Dad made a 13 hour trek by chapa to another volunteer's site to pick up my passport, thanks Dad--you're the best!  It was great to finally be able to travel into Malawi.  Since it is a much smaller country than Mozambique, it is much easier to get around. AND there are more police officers that actually enforce the capacities of the minibuses so travel isn't nearly as squished as it is in Mozambique.  That, and the fact that you can travel much more cheaply than in Tete makes it my new favorite nearby travel location.

The first night we went to Liwonde National Park and went on another boat trip, this time up the Shire River into the park.  We saw lots of hippos, many kinds of birds and ELEPHANTS!  The second night we went to Zomba, an old colonial town at a lovely elevation with huge trees and a beautiful botanical garden (I was very surprised to see that...one big difference between Malawi and Mozambique).  The third night we spent in Blantyre so I could head back to Zobue the next day in time for class Monday afternoon.  Dad stayed in Malawi and will head back to the USA next week, again via South Africa.  I was sad to say goodbye to him--it was great having him visit and getting to show him a bit of my life here!

Hippos!

Elephants! Not a great picture, but it was the best I could do...

Birthday in Zobue

It has been a while since I last published a post, mostly because I've been busy with a very special visitor! Dad has been visiting here for the past 10 days or so! It's been so fun to have him here.  I'll post more about his trip soon, but here I just wanted to share a few pictures of how I spent my birthday yesterday.  

Yesterday I turned 25 in Zobue.  Dad was planning to make me a cake in the morning, but we woke up to no electricity so instead we made breakfast and coffee on the charcoal stove.  The rest of the morning was spent playing guitar and dancing with the neighborhood kids.  In the afternoon we went to Zobue's only restaurant, Quinta Monte with Emma, Albertina, Sylvia, Leme, Servina, and their two daughters Marnela and Suneila.  After dinner the electricity had come back on so Dad made the cake--a delicious Deep South Oatmeal Spice Cake from the "You Can Make it in Mozambique" cookbook.  I'd say it was a great birthday spent in Zobue. 

Sardinho and Celia hanging out for guitar and dancing time.

Celena and Jano being the adorable siblings that they are.

Dance party to Wavin' Flag

Dad in Zobue!

Dinner party--blowing up balloons.

Leme and family plus Emma, Dad, Albertina, and Sylvia.

Suneila! Such an adorable baby--and she NEVER cries!

Cohesao

As of March 7th I have officially been in Zobue for three months.  In celebration of that accomplishment (and the fact that we can now leave the province) all the volunteers in the central region met for the annual Cohesao reunion at Casa Msika.  Casa Msika is a lovely lodge outside of the Chimoio, the capital city of Manica, the province south of Tete.  Travel to Casa Msika from Zobue is a full day--Emma and I left Zobue at 7 am and didn't arrive in Msika until 6pm.  I counted a full 7 types of transportation we took during the journey and we still counted it a very successful travel day.  It was tiring travelling all the way down to Chimoio on Friday and travelling all the way back on Sunday, but it was worth it.  The lodge was gorgeous, it was great to see other volunteers, and I got to see quite a bit of wildlife.  It is weekends like that when I really appreciate how lucky I am to be living here in Mozambique.

The lovely pool and view from the main area of the lodge.

This is an animal called a dykka (I have no idea how to spell that).  It turned out the lodge was also a small nature reserve.  It had a few of these animals in a large enclosure close to the lodge and other animals such as zebra, wildebeest, and giraffe in a much larger, more wild area.

They also had crocodiles in an enclosure (separate from the dykka).

There were also a ton of these amazing bird nests and we even got to watch some being built.

Jeff, Thelma, and Carly outside the crocodile enclosure.

All the Tete volunteers showing off our awesome shirts.

On our second night we were able to get a ride up the hill to try and find the giraffes.  We got to see an amazing sunset...and oh yeah, giraffes too!

We got to see a family with a 6 month old baby.  With the gorgeous sunset in the background it can't get much better than this.

Ata

New fruit of the month: atas!  These fruits are nothing like anything I've ever eaten before.  They are currently Emma's favorite Mozambican fruit, but they are actually too sweet for me.

To eat an ata, just split it in half and eat the fruit around the big black seeds.

I'd say the taste is kind of like brown sugar--very sweet.

Bonus: You can use the seeds to play mancala once you're done eating.

Neighbor Friends

We've become friendly with a lot of our neighbors, but there is one family in our neighborhood we've become particularly close with.  All the kids are incredibly well mannered, sweet and thoughtful and I love having them around.  There are 6 kids total: Sylvia (17), Albertina (15), Januario (13), Celia (9?), Celene (6), and Acontece (2).  We see the parents infrequently, but the kids are over at our house all the time.  Albertina has been particularly generous--she has been over a few evenings recently to teach us to cook couve (large green leafy vegetable) and squash.   The other morning she made squash for us at her house and invited us over there to eat it.  She even set the table for us.  This is same family whose house I went to to watch Rihanna music videos.  I am constantly amazed by their generosity.  It's nice to feel like we have some friends in the neighborhood.  

This is Celene (6).  She looked so adorable in her overalls I couldn't resist taking a photo.

Celso (cousin and neighbor to these guys), Albertina, and Celia on the night Albertina taught us how to make couve.

Sylvia getting help with her math homework. Doesn't she have the best smile?

Emma carrying Aconte (2).  He's almost too big for the capulana sling!

Cooking the couve

I forget how small Mozambicans are and then I see a picture of myself with Albertina and I look like I giant!

Mmm, couve!

The little kiddos on the porch

New Mailing Address

I opened a PO Box in Mwanza, the town in Malawi just across the border.  It will be much easier for me to check this PO Box than the one in Chimoio since it is only 20 minutes away instead of 6 hours away.  My mom sent me some letters and they got here in just a few weeks so we're good to go!

Here is the mailing address:
Sienna Laughton
Box 81
Mwanza, Malawi

Thank you to everyone who has sent me mail--I love getting it! And now that I know where the post office is in Malawi I hope to start sending some mail as well!