This past weekend a bunch of volunteers got together in vilankulos for beach olympics. the teams were central/north vs. south. it was so great to go and hang out with some people that i hadn't seen in forever and just to be a big group. i bolea'd up to vil with 2 friends. we got a ride right away and the car was going farther north so we had a ride all the way...turns out it took us 8+ hours because our average speed was 30k per hour...Finally once we got there we had delivery pizza and went to bed.
The festivities were held on saturday and were so much fun. there was a trophy, a torch and team cheers. the only bad thing about the weekend was the mosquitios...i have so many bites! sunday we bolea'd back to site and made it in much better time then the way up.
this week has been filled with a lot of work and getting things ready. i already feel accomplished at work because one of my suporvisors really liked my ideas for our health center. it was great to see my ideas starting to become real. this week has made me really excited for all the work to come gave me confidence to bring up more ideas that i have. also i finally have had some time to really get my house together. it has been in a state of controled chaos for about a month and a half but because i've had time at site i can actually tackle the projects. one big project on the list is to build 2 shelfs...we'll see if it happens!
i also finished planning for 2 trips i have coming up a music festival in swaziland and the world cup! all in all it was a great week with getting a lot done!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
inharrime
it has been a crazy past few weeks. i created a training with the other ICAP volunteers in inhambane and we had the training for this group of actavistas from april 8-10. it was a great chance to really put all i've learned to work. we had a group of 15 activistas from an organization called ceLim that works mainly in nutrition. They are working in the communities and needed more HIV/Aids training. it was so great to be able to be part of the training. we had a few activities that we lead which was great and we helped out whenever needed.
A week after the training I took 2 girls from my area to the Raparigas Em Desenvolvimento, Educacåo e Saude (REDES) (Girls in development, education and health). the conference was in Xai Xai and was so much fun. i really got to know the 2 girls i brought a lot better and i was a leader of the youngest group of girls. it was great to see how much they knew and their perspective on things. my friend and i lead 2 activities with the entire group and it was great. i am getting a lot better of speaking in front of groups and actually am starting to like it! The girls would learn about everything from nutrition, to how to start a business, to study skills etc. one thing i really thought was cool was each group had to create a song about a certain topic (my group's was i am me) and then they were recorded. the coolest part about it is that the girls are supposed to give the cd's to chappa drivers to play. It was amazing to see how a week at this conference changed so many of the girls that were there. there was this girl Melfina in my group who did not speak very good portugese but by the end her confidence was so high we couldn't get her to stop speaking! The 2 girls i brought had so much fun and it seemed like they were different people when we left. I am so excited to get the group started and next week i am going to try and talk to the school director to get more girls involved.
I have really started to learn the local language xiope and it is going really well. i have a few key phrases down and am trying to speak it whenever possible. my site mate emma has been taking lessons with me and it has helped so much and has been so much fun. the best thing about learning the local language is the reactions from the mozambicans. most of the time i get a huge smile and a laugh and every so often i get an uh oh look (because they were talking about me in xiope and i responded to them in xiope). everyone has been so helpful and wants me to learn! i can't wait until i can really speak and understand the language!
A week after the training I took 2 girls from my area to the Raparigas Em Desenvolvimento, Educacåo e Saude (REDES) (Girls in development, education and health). the conference was in Xai Xai and was so much fun. i really got to know the 2 girls i brought a lot better and i was a leader of the youngest group of girls. it was great to see how much they knew and their perspective on things. my friend and i lead 2 activities with the entire group and it was great. i am getting a lot better of speaking in front of groups and actually am starting to like it! The girls would learn about everything from nutrition, to how to start a business, to study skills etc. one thing i really thought was cool was each group had to create a song about a certain topic (my group's was i am me) and then they were recorded. the coolest part about it is that the girls are supposed to give the cd's to chappa drivers to play. It was amazing to see how a week at this conference changed so many of the girls that were there. there was this girl Melfina in my group who did not speak very good portugese but by the end her confidence was so high we couldn't get her to stop speaking! The 2 girls i brought had so much fun and it seemed like they were different people when we left. I am so excited to get the group started and next week i am going to try and talk to the school director to get more girls involved.
I have really started to learn the local language xiope and it is going really well. i have a few key phrases down and am trying to speak it whenever possible. my site mate emma has been taking lessons with me and it has helped so much and has been so much fun. the best thing about learning the local language is the reactions from the mozambicans. most of the time i get a huge smile and a laugh and every so often i get an uh oh look (because they were talking about me in xiope and i responded to them in xiope). everyone has been so helpful and wants me to learn! i can't wait until i can really speak and understand the language!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
ilha de mozambique
i've had a pretty busy past couple of weeks. everything with my job is really taking off which is awesome but it just about started when i was going to be traveling. my mom came to my site and stayed in my hut which was a lot of fun! it is getting to the place i want it to be slowly but surely! it was so much fun to have her in inharrime! she was able to see first hand what i do and to see my everyday life. i was able to take her to the beach (zavora-my personal favorite) and we even brought amendoim! i tried to have him swim but i don't think he really liked it! she was up in inharrime for 3 days and then we traveled to Maputo to meet my dad. we stayed in the polana hotel (amazing to have a real bathroom, big bed, and ac all to myself!). it was a great break from everything and it was so great to see them!!!
i came back to inharrime for a day and then left again for my in service training up in nampula city. the conference was good and i got to see pretty much everyone in my group again! it was so much fun just to hang out and be in a different setting....also with ac! after the conference i extended my stay to go to ilha de moçambique and carushca. carushca is a beautiful beach where we rented a house and just relaxed! it was so much fun to hang out with a lot of my good friends that i don't get to see often!
ilha de moçambique is beautiful! we spent our last day there and did everything the island had to offer! there is a museum of the old governer's house along with museums of scared art, a maritime museum (that has tons of things from a boat that sunk off the coast) and a fort. we had a guided tour for everything and i learned a lot about the old capital of mozambique. the island is only 3km long and 500m wide so it is not too big so we were able to do the entire island in one day. of course my camera died within the first few pictures i took so i'll be trying to get all the photos from friends cameras that i used and put them up soon!!
i'll try to write more often! i've been pretty busy and haven't had much credit but i hope all is well and the weather is getting nicer!!!
love,
ann
i came back to inharrime for a day and then left again for my in service training up in nampula city. the conference was good and i got to see pretty much everyone in my group again! it was so much fun just to hang out and be in a different setting....also with ac! after the conference i extended my stay to go to ilha de moçambique and carushca. carushca is a beautiful beach where we rented a house and just relaxed! it was so much fun to hang out with a lot of my good friends that i don't get to see often!
ilha de moçambique is beautiful! we spent our last day there and did everything the island had to offer! there is a museum of the old governer's house along with museums of scared art, a maritime museum (that has tons of things from a boat that sunk off the coast) and a fort. we had a guided tour for everything and i learned a lot about the old capital of mozambique. the island is only 3km long and 500m wide so it is not too big so we were able to do the entire island in one day. of course my camera died within the first few pictures i took so i'll be trying to get all the photos from friends cameras that i used and put them up soon!!
i'll try to write more often! i've been pretty busy and haven't had much credit but i hope all is well and the weather is getting nicer!!!
love,
ann
Sunday, February 7, 2010
"I feel like Paris Hilton"
These past couple of weeks have been filled with upgrading my house and work. Everything with my house is done and I've even added some things. My yard has no shade besides my lone papaya tree so I had a roof built with palm branches to finally have a place in the shade. My yard gets a good breeeze normally which helps a lot. Slowly my house is coming together and I'm actually getting excited to live here. I still have occasional visitors of different big bugs but I have not seen or heard a rat since they found the dead one and chased the 3 living ones out.
Since everything was pretty much done with my house (besides my dona de casa taking her things) I went to maxixe this weekend to buy a stove, fridge and other things so I can actually cook. I did get everything (for the most part) bit I also went to bring amendoin home. He has grown so mich since I last saw him! To bring him back I put him in a straw basket and felt like Paris Hilton...never again. Not only was I getting stared at like normal but people were actually stopping and staring. That hasn't happened in awhile. The 2 hour ride back was uneventful with amendoin sleeping pretty much the entire way. Once back home I put him on the ground because I had fashioned a leash and collar from a luggage strap and that got even more stares. Normally you see goats on leashes being draged so everyone was intrigued that I had a dog on a leash. Since I don't have a gate he's tied to my papaya tree. He has a lot of room and shade and can still come on to my porch. He's a bit of a cryer but I'm hoping he'll grow out of that. He's still very much a puppy and has been a lot of fun to have around.
I hope everyone is well and I really enjoy all the mail I've been getting!!!
Love,
ann
Since everything was pretty much done with my house (besides my dona de casa taking her things) I went to maxixe this weekend to buy a stove, fridge and other things so I can actually cook. I did get everything (for the most part) bit I also went to bring amendoin home. He has grown so mich since I last saw him! To bring him back I put him in a straw basket and felt like Paris Hilton...never again. Not only was I getting stared at like normal but people were actually stopping and staring. That hasn't happened in awhile. The 2 hour ride back was uneventful with amendoin sleeping pretty much the entire way. Once back home I put him on the ground because I had fashioned a leash and collar from a luggage strap and that got even more stares. Normally you see goats on leashes being draged so everyone was intrigued that I had a dog on a leash. Since I don't have a gate he's tied to my papaya tree. He has a lot of room and shade and can still come on to my porch. He's a bit of a cryer but I'm hoping he'll grow out of that. He's still very much a puppy and has been a lot of fun to have around.
I hope everyone is well and I really enjoy all the mail I've been getting!!!
Love,
ann
Sunday, January 24, 2010
let the house flipping begin...
so the past couple of weeks have been filled with visits dealing with the problems of my house. the conclusion is that peace corps wants me to stay in my house and just make a ton of upgrades. this past friday is when the work began and hopefully it will be done soon so i can finally have a house and really move in (i'm still living out of suitcases and on bread). on monday, the real work is going to start (hopefully!) and i hope all will be done by the end of the week...although with african time i'm not sure that's possible. at least once this is all said and done i can add house flipper to my resume...
my job has been confusing because right after ICAP spent the week here helping me define my job my counterpart Olga had her baby (a girl) and will be on maternity leave for the next 3 months. after talking with my supervisor and another woman in ICAP i decided to go out into the community to try and make things happen. I have 2 meetings next week with 2 different organizations that are working to fight HIV/aids and also helping people living with or who are effected by the disease. I'm excited because my job is more of being a community volunteer working on health issues.
other than house flipping and working i've been making sure to walk around the community to start to get to know people. i really like my town and have even made friends with store owners and women at the market. it's great that i am starting to be called ana instead of teacher emma...the only things we have in common are that we are white and blond! this weekend i went to the pontinha with scooter and it was really nice to know that only 10 minutes from town is a great little beach. don't think i can swim in the water because it's fresh water but it will be a great place to hang out once it's a little cooler!
love,
ana
p.s. if you ever want to call me (since i can't really use skype because the internet is too slow) you can go to greatminutes.com to get really cheap rates!!!
my job has been confusing because right after ICAP spent the week here helping me define my job my counterpart Olga had her baby (a girl) and will be on maternity leave for the next 3 months. after talking with my supervisor and another woman in ICAP i decided to go out into the community to try and make things happen. I have 2 meetings next week with 2 different organizations that are working to fight HIV/aids and also helping people living with or who are effected by the disease. I'm excited because my job is more of being a community volunteer working on health issues.
other than house flipping and working i've been making sure to walk around the community to start to get to know people. i really like my town and have even made friends with store owners and women at the market. it's great that i am starting to be called ana instead of teacher emma...the only things we have in common are that we are white and blond! this weekend i went to the pontinha with scooter and it was really nice to know that only 10 minutes from town is a great little beach. don't think i can swim in the water because it's fresh water but it will be a great place to hang out once it's a little cooler!
love,
ana
p.s. if you ever want to call me (since i can't really use skype because the internet is too slow) you can go to greatminutes.com to get really cheap rates!!!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
From the office...
I had a great and relaxing 24th birthday. I spent the day hanging out at scooter's and it was so great! We took the straw mat and sat on her front porch because it was actually cool and cloudy...pretty much a first. At lunch we had the pineapple upside down cake that scooter had made and the sisters put candles in it and sang! The cake was amazing and I got to make a wish! All in all it was a great birthday completed with a few episodes of 30 rock. It was a little weird to spend it in the heat sweating rather than in the freezing cold...
Today i started up work again with a thing called posithive teas. They are on the 1st Tuesday of every month and are a forum for people living with HIV and aids to come together and talk about their problems and their questions. One question today was if Mosquitos could transmit HIV and I actually added to the conversation! It was amazing to be in a space with so many positive people because in all reality I don't think I ever personally knew some one with HIV. They all had so much spirit and wanted to learn and were so full of life! This tea made me so excited to really start working! I'm excited at the prospect of making a difference even if it's only for one person. Tomorrow I will be meeting with a supervisor from ICAP to discuss what my exact role will be here.
I've returned to living in my house because of work. I think I killed all the rats because I've had food in my house and it's still here! Thank you rattex! Even though I think the house is rodent free or at least less I still am eating dinner really early and going to my office aroud 7. My office is my bed because it has the fortress of my mosquito net. I can't wait until I can eat late at night and do work at a table. If anyone wants to send me sudoku or people crosswords I've been really going through the stash I brought since I'm in bed for a good 2 hours before I go yo sleep! Hopefully I'll find a new house soon and will really be able to settle in!
Love,
ann
Today i started up work again with a thing called posithive teas. They are on the 1st Tuesday of every month and are a forum for people living with HIV and aids to come together and talk about their problems and their questions. One question today was if Mosquitos could transmit HIV and I actually added to the conversation! It was amazing to be in a space with so many positive people because in all reality I don't think I ever personally knew some one with HIV. They all had so much spirit and wanted to learn and were so full of life! This tea made me so excited to really start working! I'm excited at the prospect of making a difference even if it's only for one person. Tomorrow I will be meeting with a supervisor from ICAP to discuss what my exact role will be here.
I've returned to living in my house because of work. I think I killed all the rats because I've had food in my house and it's still here! Thank you rattex! Even though I think the house is rodent free or at least less I still am eating dinner really early and going to my office aroud 7. My office is my bed because it has the fortress of my mosquito net. I can't wait until I can eat late at night and do work at a table. If anyone wants to send me sudoku or people crosswords I've been really going through the stash I brought since I'm in bed for a good 2 hours before I go yo sleep! Hopefully I'll find a new house soon and will really be able to settle in!
Love,
ann
Sunday, January 3, 2010
wowah
I have been at my site for about 3 weeks now and it feels like i've been here a lot longer. I am currently staying at my site mates house because mine is not ready... My site is really pretty and has access to both the beach and two main cities in my province. my town is on the main highway and it is really easy to hitchhike up to the cities which makes it easier cheaper! I got a dog as my christmas present to myself as a friend and for protection...for some reason mozambicans are afraid of dogs! I named him amendoim (peanut in portugese) because he's tan and needed a good mozambican name. He's up at my friends house in the city because i don't have a house yet...
Before Christmas I brought my stove to Scooter's house because we decided that we wanted to cook a holiday meal and watch christmas movies. We decided to make hash browns, french toast and no bake cookies...not a typical christmas meal for me but i guess french toast is a main item at christmas here! I bought an electric stove and once we were finished cutting everything we were cooking. we started the hash browns first because they would take the longest. once they were well on the way i turned on the second burner to start cooking the french toast and it started a fire. i turned off the second burner right away but that didn't help. The fire burned through the surge protector and was burning on the wall (picture of the aftermath on facebook). I proceded to run out the door looking for a fire extinguisher...doesn't really help when there arn't any. good thing that the girl from across the hall heard us because she came in and told us to through water on it! i remember from fire safety not to use water on electrical fires but scooter grabed some water and through it on th wall finally putting out the fire...i think at that point the wall was on fire and it was not electrical. I guess my south african stove was just too much for the current here!
For new years i went to a place called Vilankulos which is a tourist town on the beach. Scooter and I bolea'd all the way up there...it took 6 cars but they all had a/c!!! It was so nice to get away from my site and to hang out with the other volunteers from my province. i had pizza twice on my 4 day vacation and spent a few days just relaxing at the beach! it's definitely been weird not having any snow or cold being january although the beach is a nice trade off! For the next few months i have to stay in my province so besides weekend trips to the beach i'm going to be working a lot! i'm excited to get working and to settle into life here!
I hope everyone had a great christmas and new years!!!
love,
ann
Before Christmas I brought my stove to Scooter's house because we decided that we wanted to cook a holiday meal and watch christmas movies. We decided to make hash browns, french toast and no bake cookies...not a typical christmas meal for me but i guess french toast is a main item at christmas here! I bought an electric stove and once we were finished cutting everything we were cooking. we started the hash browns first because they would take the longest. once they were well on the way i turned on the second burner to start cooking the french toast and it started a fire. i turned off the second burner right away but that didn't help. The fire burned through the surge protector and was burning on the wall (picture of the aftermath on facebook). I proceded to run out the door looking for a fire extinguisher...doesn't really help when there arn't any. good thing that the girl from across the hall heard us because she came in and told us to through water on it! i remember from fire safety not to use water on electrical fires but scooter grabed some water and through it on th wall finally putting out the fire...i think at that point the wall was on fire and it was not electrical. I guess my south african stove was just too much for the current here!
For new years i went to a place called Vilankulos which is a tourist town on the beach. Scooter and I bolea'd all the way up there...it took 6 cars but they all had a/c!!! It was so nice to get away from my site and to hang out with the other volunteers from my province. i had pizza twice on my 4 day vacation and spent a few days just relaxing at the beach! it's definitely been weird not having any snow or cold being january although the beach is a nice trade off! For the next few months i have to stay in my province so besides weekend trips to the beach i'm going to be working a lot! i'm excited to get working and to settle into life here!
I hope everyone had a great christmas and new years!!!
love,
ann
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