The Christmas Adventure

MERRRRYYY belated CHRISTMAS from Mozambique!

I just got back from my Christmas adventure to find the best Christmas present I could have asked for waiting for me: RAIN!!!!  I was a couple of miles from my house, tightly packed into the bed of a pickup truck with about 20 other people, when the wind whipping through my hair suddenly got cool and the sky darkened.  The truck stopped in my village, I handed the chickens that had been in my lap to their owner (her lap had been occupied by her baby and toddler), and said goodbye to my new friends.  Being squished into tiny spaces makes making friends unavoidable on Mozambican public transport, and everyone on this ride had been especially cheerful in anticipation of rain.  As I jumped out of the truck with my backpack and headed towards my house, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, thunder rumbled in the distance, and huge raindrops began falling, quickly escalating into a powerful monsoon miracle.  The scorched, dry earth welcomed the moisture and the temperature must have immediately dropped 10 degrees. I’m guessing it was still at least 80, but hey, after the last couple of weeks, that almost seemed chilly!

I spent Christmas with most of the other volunteers from my training class who are stationed in the central region of Mozambique.  There were 16 of us who all made adventurous efforts to be together for the holidays. Helen, the closest volunteer to me, and I got on a big yellow school bus with the words “All America” on the side (we were in fact the only Americans on board) at 4am in our Provincial capital. As the sun rose, passengers were tightly packed into the bus amid a festive holiday atmosphere.  Families clutched their children and possessions, Mozambican holiday party-goers boarded in various states ranging from hungover to incredibly drunk, and several passengers cracked open bottles of beer. We just smiled, negotiated seats together, cozied up with our backpacks, and observed.  After the few arguments over who was going to sit where had subsided and the driver, who to our delight looked very sober, awake, and friendly, arrived, we were on our way. It was 4:30 am, techno beats were blaring entirely too loudly, and the Christmas adventure had begun…or so we thought.  About five miles outside the city, we got a flat tire. We spent the next three hours waiting for the mechanics at a truck stop and the driver to locate a tire big enough for the giant bus, and as the sun rose, it became sweltering hot. Most passengers disembarked and sat on old tires in the dusty shade of a tin structure.  Helen and I tried to stay positive, and napped while many of the other passengers speculated about how long the tire change would take and of course drank beer.  Finally, at nearly 8am, we drove off into the exponentially increasing heat of the day among clapping and celebration! The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful, an 8 hour blur of naps, reggae music, and the occasional stop where passengers separated by gender to opposite sides of the road to relieve nature’s call.

Once in Chimoio, a city in the neighboring Province of Manica, we caught up with the other volunteers over a delicious lunch at a local restaurant specializing in brick-oven pizzas. It was great to hear how everyone was doing at their new sites, figure out who had the sketchiest latrine, and of course EAT PIZZA WITH REAL CHEESE…there was even feta on one.  Helen and I marveled over the relative cool weather, lush vegetation, and heaps of beautiful fresh produce of Chimoio, which is located in one of Mozambique’s most fertile areas.

Back at the beautiful house of our host (she even has a shower!), we relaxed, planned our festivities and feasts, and did some Christmas crafting as carols filled the house. Christmas Eve (which also happened to be my very good friend and fellow volunteer, Alexandra’s, birthday!) was a night of coconut curry, wine, Christmas movies (Elf never fails to lift the Christmas spirit), and of course snuggling which becomes a necessity when there are 17 volunteers sleeping in the same house.

The next morning, we did not awake to a white Christmas, but at least it was not beastly hot. A few of us spent the morning decorating a small tree in the yard with the fruits of our Christmas craft session and then it was on to the chicken slaughter. Our menu included roasted chicken, so here that means it also included killing, plucking, cleaning, and butchering the four chickens that we were going to cook. I will never again take pre-dead poultry for granted. The feast took nearly all day to prepare, as the majority of the cooking was done over charcoal.  We even managed to bake sugar cookies, ginger bread, and a green mango crisp in a makeshift Dutch oven, constructed from a few big pots and some sand, put atop the coals.  The feast of grilled chicken, roasted chicken, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, yams, salad, and green beans was accompanied by mulled wine and cider, and turned out great! There was lots of merriment, emotional calls from family at home, and wondering at the weirdness of being so hot during a day which for most of us usually falls in the dead of winter.   Although being home with friends, family, and the winter temperatures of the northern hemisphere would have been ideal, we did our best and all in all had ourselves a very merry little Christmas…and so did the mosquitoes who feasted all through the night.

As always, love to you all and Happy Holidays! I apologize for any typos made in my rushed internet time, and I don’t have a good enough connection to upload any photos with this post but hopefully next time! Oh and lots of people have asked about my address, so here it is:

Szasha Ozard

Corpo Da Paz

C.P. 331

Chimoio, Mozambique

Mozambique!

Hello everybody,

Sorry about the very, VERY long blog hiatus, I know you were all on the edge of your seats the last 6 months wondering what I was doing, so here it is in a nutshell. I’ll try my best to be communicative, but I haven’t been speaking much English above an 8^th grade level for the past year, so bear with me.  I was part of the very last group of Peace Corps Volunteers in Cape Verde. The program was “graduated” as a Peace Corps post and I was transferred to Peace Corps Mozambique. I moved away from my loving community on my little volcano in the Atlantic amid tears, pig blood, and hopefully realized plans to return.  The pig my neighbors had killed the day I left was still being butchered amid a downpour of tears when the car to take me to the airport showed up early. I left what had been a wonderful home for the past year already missing my loving neighbors and friends.

                The first of my post-Cape Verde adventures was a trip home to California. My sisters helped me buy a ticket home and we decided to make it a surprise for our parents. So while Mom and Dad thought I was thousands of miles across the Atlantic, I showed up at the front door. The visit was rejuvenating, went way to fast, and at the end of September, I departed for Peace Corps Round 2: Mozambique.  

                For the past 2.5 months, I’ve been in Peace Corps Training take 2. Although some of the sessions were redundant and at times starting all the way back at square one again was discouraging, all in all training #2 went great. I learned Portuguese, made some amazing friends, and became a sister and daughter to yet another wonderful host family. Then, on December 4, I was sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer for the second time around. After a beautiful ceremony and reception at the Ambassador’s house, all 69 of the 19^th group of Mozambique volunteers were sent off to our sites.

                So that’s how I got where I am at this very moment, melting in the sweltering heat of the African sun.   I have been assigned to teach English in a small, rural, very off-the-map community in the Mozambican province of Tete. Jutting into the African continent and bordering Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, Tete is the western most province in Mozambique AKA the furthest away from any cool ocean breeze in the county.   So, here I am living on the road to Zambia. So far life has been a whirlwind of smiling new faces, dramatic lightning bolts on the horizon, window-rattling thunder, and copious attempts to stay hydrated. I wake at sunrise to sweep the constantly replenishing layer of dust, to carry my water from the town well, and get some socializing with the neighbors in before the sun makes anything but sitting in the shade impossible.

Despite the fact that some trainees threatened to go home if they got sent to Tete, my host family made  fun of how hot I was going to be, and how actually hot and sweaty I am now that I’ve arrived, so far I love my new site. I live in a cute cement house on the school grounds, surrounded by mud huts, LOTS of goats, and the rolling planes of Africa. Although I am new, the people have been nothing but open and welcoming. They have shown me where to pump my water, invited me into their homes, and have already begun teaching me the local Bantu dialect, as many people here do not speak the country’s official language, Portuguese.  So although I am melting in the delirium-inducing, sandy, early afternoon heat, I am grateful to have been sent to such a culturally rich, welcoming community, and I’m sure I’ll get used to the heat.

My back yard 

 So there you have it- what I’ve been up to. I’m going to try my hardest to keep my blog updated, and since school isn’t starting until January, I should have plenty of time to hide in the shade and write down my thoughts, so stay tuned. I’ll be delving further into my life on the road to Zambia, my adventures on the African continent, and my daily ups and downs as a Peace Corps volunteer. As always, I love to hear from you so keep me updated on your lives as well!!   

A Week In My Life: The Finale- SATURDAY!

Hello! WOW, the week has flown by! I hope you have enjoyed reading these posts and getting a week-long peak into my Peace Corps life in Cape Verde. I have sure enjoyed writing them and receiving all your kind words, love, and support. Please keep me updated on your lives as well! Any news about what you all are up to on the home front always makes my day! SO here’s how SATUDAY of A Week in My Life went:

The start of the hike 

6am- I wake up early to make food for a hike some kids are taking me on today. We are going to climb a little mountain , laaa bashu (below my house), and it really isn’t far, but we are making an adventure out of the day and bringing a breakfast picnic. I make a batch of banana pancakes, wrap them up, and toss them in a bag with the biscuits I made yesterday, a few papayas, and a bottle of sumu (juice).  I am ready just in time, and am just lacing up my shoes when the neighbor kids come by ready to go.

The slide!

8 a.m.- We leave my house, stopping along the way to chat with people we meet in the path and at people’s houses to say hello. The last time, I was on this path was during the rainy season, and the contrast is vast. Where there was once endless fields of interwoven bean bushes, weeds, and flowers, there is now only scorched earth, dried grass, and the occasional tree or karapati plant. As we drop down into the rock-filled ribeira (canyon), the kids get excited and explain that they are going to show me something really awesome. Soon, we txiga on what is essentially a natural slide. The water which flows forcefully through the canyon during the rains had formed a smooth, well sculpted slide into the rock, and the kids rush to play on it. I test it out as well, and sure enough, the water has formed a slide that could rival that of most playgrounds in America, and as we walk in the rebaira, we find several more of these natural play structures along the way.

9:30- 11 After playing in the rebaira, stopping at several houses, picking tamarinds, and lots of walking and laughing, we arrive at the base of the hill and the kids race to the top. The view from the top is amazing and we look out at the path we have taken, the surrounding zones, and the ocean.  The kids point out different zones to me and excitedly talk over each other to point-out different houses, churches, gardens, and roads. At the top of the mountain, we find some shade, and sit down to have breakfast. The banana pancakes are a hit, and the group is in high spirits as we eat, rest, and laugh. Then they juga pedras (play rocks), a game which seems to be kind of like jacks, but with only rocks. I am constantly amazed with Cape Verdean children’s ingenuity when it comes to creating their toys.  After a while we get up, have a fun photo-shoot on top of the mountain, and start to head home.

Running to the top!

Eating banana pancakes and playing games at the top! 

11-12:30 The journey home is a hot, yet hilarious time. Along the way, the kids ask me if my camera can make movies, and since it can, they excitedly ask me to film them. Without any directing on my part, they come up with the idea to showcase some of the plants and foods we pass, and make up little songs and dances to end the clips. As we continue on our way, the kids sing songs and joke around.  When I show the kids the movies they have just created, they can’t stop laughing, and we hurry home to show their parents and the neighbors. 

12:30- We arrive at my house and immediately show or neighbor the videos and the kids excitedly tell them about the hike, the picnic, and everything we saw along the way. As I show the neighborhood women the clips, the room explodes in laughter and the kids are very proud of their newfound stardom.  Then, they all come over for some cold water and cookies before going their separate ways.

1p.m.-3 p.m. I wash my sheets and sleeping bag. Although I have gotten used to and much better at at washing my clothes by hand with the washboard, whenever I have to wash sheets, I inevitably have sodadi  for a washing machine. Sheets and down sleeping bags get very heavy and overwhelming on a washboard, but I’m improving every time!

3-5 p.m. I head across the street to hang out with my neighbor and play with the baby.

5 p.m.-6pm - I use my laundry water to water my plants, sweep the patio, and talk to the neighborhood kids as they pass on their way to their church youth group meeting.

6 p.m. I head up to the roof to collect my freshly laundered and sun-dried sheets, mattress cover, and sleeping bag. There is really nothing like fresh, clean sheets, and as I make my bed, I can’t wait to go to sleep tonight!

My gross ringworm 

7 p.m.- 7:30 I go back up to the roof to check out the sunset and relax. Today it is a bit hazy and clouds cover the neighboring island but the view is non-the-less spectacular, and as the sun sets on what was a very fun day, I am excited to feel a cool breeze blow in. Then I go down stairs to put more cream on my arm fungus. Oh and for all of you who were curious about the rash, it is almost gone. It turned out to be ring-worm, a highly contagious skin fungus. A bunch of kids in my community had the same thing, so I probably caught it from one of them, but apparently it is also common for cats to have, so I’ve been trying to stay away from cute little street kitties. After I got some strong anti-fungus and hydrocortisone cream, it started clearing up immediately, but it was pretty gross there for a while.

8 pm. Dinner time! Tonight is leftovers from yesterday, a sliced tomato, and an egg.

9-10 p.m.- I head across the street to watch TV and visit with the neighbors. They are still laughing about the kids’ videos and as we chat about the day, my neighbor and good friend sighs and says “pasensea, todu algien ta teni sodadi di bo quando bu bai bu camino”(what a pity, everyone will miss you when you go on your path/ go on your way), and I reply, that I too will fika ku sodadi, as I have come to truly love the community I am a part of.

10 pm. - Bed time! I take a quick bucket bath, brush my teeth, put on the cleanest pajamas I can find, and hop into my freshly washed sheets! For some reason, I am much more appreciative of their cleanliness since I spent two sweaty hours getting them that way. Every night, no matter how hot, I sleep under the quilt that my family made for me before I left. Each square was made by friends of family, and no matter how good or bad my day  is, when I go to sleep under that quilt, I can't help but think of you guys, how much you mean to me, and all the fun adventures we have had together. It never fails to cheer me up! So thanks so much to all of you who made a square- Mommy, Gwyndolyn, Nochella, Karen, Whitney, Katie, Lindsay, Josh, Jenna, and Karen! I love you guys so much and I think of you all the time!   

My beautiful quilt!

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Szasha

A Week in My Life- Friday!

Hello, The week has been flying by! Here’s what happened on FRIDAY!  And sorry the delay, the electricity seems to be out every time I go to use the internet!

6:45-The plan was to sleep in today, but with all the morning movmento, 6:45 is pretty much the limit of “sleeping in.” I only teach primary school in the afternoon on Fridays, so I have mornings free. I usually get up early and go with one of my friends to work in their fields, picking beans, weeding, carrying water, cutting hay, or helping with whatever they are doing that day.  Today, I stay home from the fields because I need to go to school and make an announcement for my 8^th graders.

Some of my 8th graders being silly

8 a.m.- 11:30 I head to school to talk to my eight graders.  I remind them to study for their standardized test (the PGI) during break and I bring a list of all the topics we covered this year to guide their studies. I hangout at school waiting until my students have a falga (free period), then give them a quick review session, give them the list of material, and go over some of the study skills we have been working on- flash cards, practicing writing compositions, or having a friend or family member quiz them.  Now that I have seen the test material, I know that it will be very difficult for many of my students, so I a try my best to convince them to spend a little time each day during their break studying…hopefully they will take my advice!

12 pm- 2p.m. I get back to my house, and stop in to greet the neighbors. I sit with my friend and her baby and chat about the day so far. She makes me some  cous-cous (kind of like steamed corn-bread, not anything like what we call cous-cous at home) with milk and we talk about my ADORABLE baby friend. He is getting big so fast and is one of the cutest, most happy babies I have ever met. He barely ever cries, is super curious, and loves to play, so needless to say we get along great! As his mother and I sit and talk, we sort a pile of beans. We pick out only the white fava beans, to be used in the katxupa which is boiling away over a fire beside us, then we pick out rocks, beans which have been half eaten by bugs, and leave the rest to be sorted another time.



cous-cous ku leti

My best baby friend and I!

2 p.m.-5p.m. – I go back across the street to my house and start to get ready to go to school before I remember  that the primary school has already begun their break. Usually, I would hike up the hill to teach 6^th grade English from 3-5pm on Fridays, but today I spend some quality time deep-cleaning my house instead. I scrub surfaces with bleach, clean the bathroom until is sparkles, and sweep and mop my floors. Excessively cleaning at least once a week is pretty essential to keep the cockroach population out of my house. If things are dirty, GIANT cockroaches find their way to the mess, so I try to keeps things sparkling clean.  

5p.m.- 6:30p.m. I bake some biscuits to take along on a hike some kids and I are going on tomorrow, wash my dishes, and sit back to enjoy my newly cleaned house. I definitely do not live in the typical mud hut I had envisioned myself inhabiting during my Peace Corps service, and although I was at first frustrated by the lack of a challenge in my living situation, I have come to really appreciate how lucky I am to live in what I refer to as “The Pink Princess Palace.”  I live in the top portion of a giant, newly painted pink, house at the top of a hill. I have beautifully tiled floors, a flushing toilet, a refrigerator, a giant window overlooking the ocean and neighboring island of Brava in my kitchen, a shaded patio full of gorgeous plants, and access to my roof which looks out upon some truly remarkable scenery and sunsets.  So although I have encountered and continue to overcome many challenges in my Peace Corps service, a difficult living situation is by no means one of those challenges. 

Biscuits!

7p.m-8 p.m. I make dinner, a dish that my host mother during training on the island of Santiago taught me how to make. First I sauté onions, garlic, tomatoes, kale, and left over beans in a pot with some spices. Then I fill the pot with water, bring it to a boil, and add coarsely ground corn flour, stirring until the mixture takes on a thick porridge consistency.   It is delicious and reminds me of the two months I spent with an amazing host family during my Peace Corps training. I send my host mother a text about what I made for dinner adding that I miss her lots, and quickly receive a reply “Oi filha, teni txeu, txeu sodadi di bo. Sa ta spera bo sta dretu! N Kre odja bo antis di bu bai! Quando bo ta ben Gil Bispo? Love!” (hi daughter, I miss you very very much. I hope you are well. I want to see you before you leave. When are you going to come to Gil Bispo?). I really want to see my host family again before heading to Mozambique and am hoping to find time to make the trip to the island of Santiago during the summer. 

8:30- 10 p.m. I take my nightly bucket bath, washing away the sweat and sunscreen of the day, then sit down to write my blog entry and type up some responses to e-mails to send next time I get to the internet.

10:30 – bed time since I will be up bright and early tomorrow to go hiking!

Thank for reading, and since I know a lot of you have been wondering, my rash turned out to be a fungus. I have been putting medicated cream on it, and it is getting better! Do to popular demand, I’ll be posting a before and after pic in my next entry!

Love,

Szasha

Thursday of A Week in My Life!

Hello all, here is what happened in my life on Thursday! Enjoy! 

6:00 a.m. The donkey alarm clock goes off earlier than usual, so I too am up early. I take the time to do a bit of extra lesson planning, get ready, and head off to school. Today it is chilly as I walk to school wearing a sweater, a refreshing yet strange contrast to the blistering heat of yesterday.

7:30 a.m.-10:10am- Every Thursday,  I teach only three classes as I have an English coordination meeting to attend in São Filipe, the island’s capital. Energy levels are high as students are anxious to start their break, but I manage to gain their focus and participation for the three morning classes. Then after wishing them all a bon feria, I leave for São Filipe.

10:10-11:45p.m. The transportation from my zone to the capital is in the form of mostly very old Toyota Hiaces which come and go on a usually sporadic schedule. Car watching is a regular past time for many people in my community. When cars pass, they will run to see which car it is, and do to their vigilant observations of the road, they usually know exactly when cars will be coming, something I still have not been able to master. The cars ordinarily ALL go at the same times, and if you miss them, you are out of luck, and have to walk or wait for a bolea (ride from a passing car) which is a fairly common way to get around. Since everyone knows everyone here, there isn’t really such thing as getting into a car with a stranger, and boleas are almost a standard form of transportation on the island.

My meeting is not until the afternoon, but I have a lot of errands to do in town today, so I go and wait for a car in the road in front of my school right after class. I wait a few minutes, chatting with my students who have a free period and then begin walking towards São Filipe. I prefer to walk then to sit and wait for cars, and while here I have truly come to appreciate the capabilities of our feet. I am famous in my community for giving up on waiting for cars and just walking.  Since I go to São Filipe every Thursday, I always just begin a pe (on foot), and sometimes a car catches up to me quickly, but sometimes, I manage to make the whole beautiful, and luckily downhill, two hour walk without seeing a single car on the road.  Today, I walk about 45 minutes and enjoy the silence of the road. I stop to greet people when I pass a house, but other than that it’s just me, the road, and the birds singing.

12 pm- We txiga in Bila (what everyone calls the capital town), and our car load of people disperse on their respective errands. My first order of business is to go pay my electricity bill, so  head to the small, tucked away office where I wait in a hot, hot room with about 20 other Cape Verdeans waiting to do the same thing. There is one attendant who sits at his desk, while everyone waits, packed together in a quiet, sweaty group to pay their bill. There is no line, you just have to know who was last when you arrived and remember to go after them. When it is your turn, you go and sit in the chair with the attendant, he tells you your balance, you pay, he prints a receipt, and you escape into the hot, yet relatively refreshing air outside.  This process can take hours depending on how many people are there, but today I am in and out in less than an hour! Sweet!

The outside of the market from the car as we leave town! 

                Next, I do my grocery shopping. There is not a market in the fora (rural area) where I live, so I do my grocery shopping once a week when I come to town.  First I head to a loja(store) to buy flour, rice, milk, dish soap, and a few things my neighbors have asked me to pick up while in town. Then I head to the market for some veggies. The market is one of my favorite places in Bila. Here, vendors come from all over the island to sell their fresh produce, meat, and cheese. The hustle and bustle is constant, and the vibrant colors of freshly picked fruits and vegetables are remarkable. I like to wonder for a few minutes, soaking in the sights and smells, and checking out what kind of produce is available. Then I go towards my favorite vendor. She is a woman who lives in a zone close to mine, and has been a friend of Peace Corps volunteers for generations.  Today she sees me coming and bursts into a huge smile as I greet her saying, “Bo tarde! Sodadi de bo, todu dretu?” (Good afternoon, I have missed you, everything good?). I buy a kilo of sweet potatoes, half a kilo of kale, some carrots, some bell peppers, and some tomatoes. I stay to chat a bit, talking about her family, her work, and how school is going for me, then I pay.  Unlike in many markets of the world, there is no bartering over prices here. Things are a set price, which everyone knows, and generally the price only varies a tiny bit from store to store or vendor to vendor.  She throws in a few oranges for free as she gives me a hug before I am on my way.

The streets of Sao Filipe

1 p.m. With an hour left before my meeting, I head to a good friend’s house for lunch, as I do every Thursday.  This woman and her husband are friends of my landlord, and I met them when my landlord brought me to their house for lunch for the first time. They are some of the kindest, most fun people I have met, and I have been coming to their house for lunch on Thursday for months, with an invitation to please come over whenever I am in town.  Stepping into their house, is like stepping off the baking hot streets of Cape Verde  and into air-conditioned America (they don’t actually have an air conditioner, but  their house is in the shade of a tree and has great ventilations, so it’s always very cool inside). The kitchen is stalked with organic American cooking products from places like Trader Joes, they have a microwave, a beautifully decorated living room with couches and a TV, houseplants, and many other amenities which could be found in any upper-middle class Massachusetts home.   Like many Cape Verdeans, they have family members living in the Boston area and even lived there themselves for a few years.  Cape Verdeans were some of the earliest immigrants to the Unites States as they worked on whaling ships from the New World even before the revolution and the formation of our country. Ever since, there has been a strong Cape Verdean  community in Boston, and to this day, nearly everyone from Fogo has a family member living there or has lived there themselves.

                I always enjoy sitting in the shade of their beautiful home and talking with them about their week, my projects, and what is happening in the world. I usually sit and watch the news with them (a welcome treat since I do not have a TV in my house) and then we eat lunch over fun conversation. They are always very appreciative of the work the Peace Corps is doing in Cape Verde, have been friends with volunteers in the past, and are inspiringly supportive of the projects I talk with them about.  Today we chat about an upcoming summer leadership camp for girls I am planning with other volunteers on my island, and they both have some great ideas for sources of funding and even offer to help recruit people for a career panel we are planning, as they know nearly everyone in the capital.  We eat a delicious (as usual) lunch of grilled fish, rice, beans, and SALAD (a rare find in Cape Verde) complete with organic  BALSALMIC VINIGRETTE (an even rarer find) and chat about their upcoming trip to Boston to visit their children. Then, it’s time for my meeting and the brief trip to America is over. I hug them good-bye, say my farewells, and head off to the high school as they wave to me from their porch and remind me to come back next week.

cobblestone streets of Fogo's capital 

2-3 pm  I arrive at the main high school and am the first one there. As I take my seat at our long wooden table, other English teachers from São Filipe and from other rural satellite schools like mine slowly trickle in, and we begin our coordination meeting. We meet each week to discuss the week’s curriculum and share ideas on how to teach the material, but today’s meeting is different as we will be collaborating to write the English portion of the standardized test that all 8^th graders in our district must pass before moving to 9^th grade.  We discuss all the topics we have covered this year and chose an hour and a half’s worth of subjects to put on the test. Then we write the test topics on slips of paper and each teacher draws one which they will be responsible for writing. I unfold my slip and read that I will be responsible for creating the “future tense” portion of the test. After discussing possible exercises for each section, the meeting comes to an end, and we all go our separate ways. I hurry to the street above the market to look for a car heading to my zone. Luckily, as I am walking a car heading to my community passes me and recognizing me, stops to ask if I’m going home. I get in, saving me a sunburn and a 10 minute walk to where the cars usually leave from. The car quickly fills with passengers and we set off towards the fora.

3:15-4pm The trip home takes a bit longer than usual since we take several people who live off the main road to their houses. The car’s 11 seats are packed with 20 people and all their purchases from the day in town. I have not only my groceries on my lap, but also a toddler and some of his mother’s groceries as well. We stop along the way to pick up a few more people, some piping for a man who is building a house, two sacks of rice, a baby goat,  and finally to tie a load of rebar to the back of the car for the same man who is building a house. There is no such thing as a car that is “too full” here in Cape Verde, and somehow everything fits, although very, very tightly. We also stop at a local farm and people get out to buy fresh cabbage before piling back in, having to rearrange the puzzle pieces of people and cargo to make everything fit.

4pm-6pm. I get to my house, put my groceries away, wash my vegetables and head across the street to hang out with the neighbors. I play with my baby friend who is obviously proud and amazed at his new found talent of sitting up all by himself and have a great time relaxing with my neighbors and all the kids who come to play.

Rinsing my fresh veggies! 

Our Fogo crew! All 6 of the volunteers on
 our island during a beach day!

6 p.m. I spend an hour or so talking on the phone with a fellow volunteer and very good friend about life.  We chat and laugh about school, how crazy it is that we will only be here for another 5 months, and make speculations about what our lives in Mozambique will be like. We have a great group of volunteers on Fogo, and it is always fun to catch up and hear about what’s happening in other zones on the island!

7p.m. I pick ANOTHER ripe papaya from the roof and share it with my 6^th grade neighbor. The baby goat has “sodadi di bo,” (the baby goat misses you) she tells me and we laugh as we cut open the bright yellow fruit.

8p.m. Dinner time! Today I just heat up rice and beans from yesterday, add put and egg on top for a quick, easy dinner. Then my neighbors call me to come watch the news and novella with them, so I head across the street to hear about what is happening in the world and gossip as we watch the Brazilian soap opera.

9pm- I get to use my land lord’s phone to call home! Dad picks up and I get to hear all about how life is going back in California, catch up on my life, and hear our family’s new dog barking through the phone for the first time! It is so great to hear Dad’s voice and as I hang up and head upstairs to my part of the house, I can’t help but be a bit homesick. Although I have an amazing life here, it is hard to be so far from family for so long, and I love you all so much!  I hope you are enjoying and appreciating the Humboldt County springtime, since I would do just about anything for some cool, refreshing fog and some rain right now!

sodadi di springtime in Humboldt County 

10 p.m. I take a quick bucket bath, sit down to write my blog post, then get ready for bed, tuck in my mosquito net as the mosquitos seems to be multiplying exponentially lately, and go to sleep.

Again thanks for reading, and I really appreciate all the comments and support you all have been sending!  Oh and I forgot to take pictures while doing errands in  São Filipe today, so the few that are here were snapped from the car window as we left town.

Love,

Szasha

A Week in My Life- Wednesday

Welcome to Day 4 of a Week in My Life- Wednesday! I also put up a post about Tuesday today since there was no internet yesterday. Enjoy!

My school from the road

6:30 a.m. I wake up and it is already super hot! I get ready, make my kamoka breakfast and head off to school, already sweaty.

The courtyard and two of the classrooms at school. The artwork was a project of  previous Peace Corps volunteers  

7:30am-1pm – School! Today is a great day at school. My kids all listen relatively well, I finish all of my material before time runs out, and I think almost everyone seemed to understand today’s lessons! SUCCESS! I thought you might like a little run-down of my school responsibilities, so here it goes. I teach English as a second language at a rural satalite school of the main highschool in São Filipe, Fogo’s capital. My small, adorable school is attended by only 7^th and 8^th graders (highschool begins in 7^th grade in Cape Verde), and after 8^th grade, students must travel to the island’s capital to complete their schooling (this is sadly very expensive, so many students do not continue past 8^th grade, but that deserves a post all its own). There are 3 turmas (classes) of 7^th graders, and two of 8^th graders who come from numerous surrounding zones. Some walk over an hour each way to school, others live across the street, and still others live so far that they must pay for a car to bring them from their zones-making each class a diverse group of students with very different educational backgrounds. I am the only English teacher at my school, and I work alongside five other Cape Verdean teachers. Students at my school do not have English textbooks, a library, or many other resources that students in America may take for granted. Therefore, whatever I write on the board IS the textbook, adding a great deal of responsibility to my lesson planning and delivery of the curriculum. I have to get creative as far as material development since all that is available is a blackboard and chalk. So far I have made grammar posters out of empty rice sacks, used recycled cereal boxes to make BINGO cards with beans as the markers,  and countless other teaching resources from scratch.  Our school is very lucky to have internet (when it is working and there is electricity) as most people in the area do not, but at the same time, we are in need of more desks, windows, and lights in our classrooms (during the rainy season, the classrooms flood and it is too dark for the students to see the board, so we have many a chuva day (rain day) when school is canceled).  I also teach two classes of 6^th graders (bringing my total number of students to 250)  at a primary school up the hill from my house two days a week. The primary school is quant and lively and teaching this younger, eager to learn group is always a pleasure.

Happy Students at the end of the day! 

1 pm- walk home, stopping along the way to chat with people on the road. It’s pretty common for it to take an hour to make the 15 minute walk to my house when the road is busy. Stopping to talk to everyone is expected and usually pretty fun.

The goat adventure begins! 

2pm-I Txiga at my house, stop in to say hi to my neighbors, and head to my house to relax. Just then, my neighbor friend (and one of my 6^th grade students) calls me from the street. She says she wants to show me her baby goat and to put shoes on since it is far. I run inside, lather on a thick coat of sunscreen, put on my shoes and meet her in the street. As we are about to leave, the lady who sells bananas walks down our road, carrying a huge tub of bananas on her head with ease. I quickly buy my fresh bananas, chat a bit, and then we leave on the goat adventure.

An abandoned stone house and animal pen along the way 

My student, neighbor, and friend with her baby goat

2:30-5  We walk on a path, through a canyon, and through countless now dried bean fields down the mountain. We wonder through many abandoned homesteads of traditional Cape Verdean houses built of stone (these houses all used to be inhabited, but now many people chose to live closer to the road and electricity, leaving abandoned, crumbling communities behind) . We stop to pick tamarinds along the way and chat about school, how hot the sun is, and whatever we see along the way. Finally, we txiga at a grove of cashew trees, and there laying in what shade there is to be found is a tiny, nearly new-born goat and its Mommy. The baby is excited to see us and prances towards us. My friend is very proud of her new cabrito (baby goat) and poses for a picture with the little guy. We have carried water down the hill for the animals, so we dump it into their dry bucket, move them to a new tree, and rest while playing with the new addition to the goat family. Then we begin the climb back up the mountain. On the way, we stop at a fig tree and my friend shows me how to climb the tree to check if the figs are ripe. None are ready, but she picks some of the green ones to feed to the pigs back home.

In the fig tree! 

5 p.m-6:30p.m. – When we get back to our houses (they are right across the street), our other neighbor is sitting in front of her house shelling beans and holding her laughing baby, so I sit down, play with my favorite baby friend, and help shell her beans in the shade. When we finish, she gives me a warm bowl of doce de papaya she has just finished making, and tells me to come back when it’s gone and she’ll give me more. As you might have realized by now, my neighbors are also my best friends, they are like my family here, and they love to give me food.

6:30-7:30- I take care of some stuff around the house. I start dinner, put fresh water in my filter,and wash dishes using two large bowls ( I don’t have a kitchen sink, and washing dishes in two bowls of water – one for washing, one for rinsing saves tons of water). Then I water the plants in my kintal with the same water. Many of my patio plants have burst into bloom, and a particularly beautiful flower has appeared today! As I head up to the roof to check out the sunset, I am excited to see a ripe papaya in the tree-what a great surprise to end the day!!!

The newest bloom! 

Picking the papaya! 

7:30- 9 I eat dinner- rice, beans, and sweet potatoes, then sit down to write my blog post, lesson plan, and prepare a presentation for a meeting I have tomorrow.

9pm- Bucket bath time! I actually really like bucket baths and with the amount of water that they save, I may even continue the tradition when I return to America. I am now a bucket bath master and can get squeaky clean with less than a gallon of water.

candle light bucket bath! (no electricity) 

10 p.m. I get all of my materials for school tomorrow together and go to bed.

Hope you have been enjoying these posts!

Love,

Szasha 

A Week in my Life- Tuesday

Hello all! Sorry for the delay, but the electricity was out yesterday, so I was not able to get online. So today, I'm posting Day 3 and 4.  Here is Day 3 of a Week in My Life. Welcome to my TUESDAY!

6:30: a.m.- If you have been reading then you know the drill by now, 6:30 donkey alarm clock, get ready for school and head off to save the world. Today the Bruma seka has dispersed a bit and I can see the ocean as I walk to school for the first time in days!

Some of my 7th graders

7:30 am-1pm – Today is a busy day at school. I teach all of my 7^th and 8^th grade English classes, and as usual the day is full of highs and lows. The lows being the usual behavior problems bound to happen when you pack 35, 45, or even 50 rambunctious, and often hungry, teenagers into one classroom and expect them to sit and learn for six hours straight (they only have 5 minute breaks between each 50 minute class). The students don’t change classrooms for the entire 6 hours, and do to the use of corporal punishment up until 6^th grade, they have a hard time listening to anyone without a stick. Also contributing to the madness that is 7^th and 8^th grade today is the fact that this is the last week before a two week feria (break) for Festa São Filipe, so as you can imagine, focus levels were not at their highest today. The day was not lost however, and in perspective the majority of my students behaved great! I taught food vocabulary and phrases using “how much” to my 8^th graders. Then, using paper food and money we set up a mock market and students took turns selling and buying, using their new vocabulary. Seventh graders learned frequency adverbs (always, usually, sometimes, rarely, never) and modes of transportation.  As students wrote example sentences on the board, I looked up to see, “We usually go by car to school and always love teacher Szasha.” A strange sentence yes, but I appreciated the gesture, however genuine it was.

Tamarind trees on the walk home 

1pm- School’s out! I walk home with my students who are going the same way and we run into some of my 6^th grade students under my favorite tamarind tree. As we all relish in the shade and pick the now drying tambarinas, I find out that the primary school, where I teach 6^th grade English, has started their break a week early. That means that I won’t be teaching again this afternoon. Usually Tuesday is my longest day as I teach from 7:30 am-1pm and then again from 4pm-6pm, but today I’m free for the afternoon!

Freshly picked Tambarinas!

1:30p.m.- I txiga (arrive) at my house and notice that my neighbor is wearing a fancy, black blouse, and I immediately know that she is going to a funeral or to visit the family of someone who has died. As we exchange greetings, she explains to me that a friend of her family from a much greener zone farther up the mountain has passed away today. It turns out that I also know the woman, as I had accompanied my neighbor to her house several times. She was one of the kindest, friendliest, and most adorable old women I have ever met, so I decide to go with my neighbor to the visita.

2pm-5pm – These three hours are spent at the visita. I will do my best to depict the experience for you, but the raw emotion and sadness of the situation is truly indescribable.  After catching a ride in a packed car and driving the 15 minutes or so up the winding mountain road, we arrive at the house. The wails of sadness can be heard as we approach, and as we enter the house, the sorrow is deafening.  Chairs line the wall of the tiny house, all of them full of sobbing mourners who have come to pay their respects. Unlike the American tradition of “a moment of silence”, Cape Verdeans mourn their dead in a highly vocal manner, through sorrowful, haunting wailing. The wailing, a loud exasperated expression of grief, is like a sad, sad, emotionally charged song expressing the mourner’s misery, frustration, and respect for the dead. Its sound is unmistakable and although full of misery and sadness, it is also beautiful.

 As I enter the house, hands reach out for me, I am embraced in tear-filled hugs, and as I move around the room offering my greeting and condolences to each mourner as is expected of me, I see one of my students across the room.  Her grandmother died while she was at school today, and her face is tear-stained and hysterical. I immediately go to her, holding her as she rocks back and forth wailing “Vovo, Vovo, Vovo” (Grandmother, Grandmother, Grandmother).  As I stand up to pay my respects to other mourners, she clings to me, so I stay- holding her while she cries and feeling unstoppable tears stream down my face as well.  At the far end of the packed, tear and sweat filled house, two candles illuminate the women’s body, resting as if sleeping in her bed. Her age-worn, wisdom-filled face is peaceful and it seems like she may wake up at any moment. However, the never ceasing wailing, the wetness of my student’s tears upon my shoulder, and the eeriness of the two flickering candles remind me that, no, this kind women, a friend to so many in my community has passed.   

A constant stream of mourners find their way to the house, as news of the woman’s death has spread quickly throughout the island. The wailing, although never ceasing, continues in waves of quieter sobbing and bursts of fresh mourning as new friends and family members arrive. I am in awe at the sheer emotion present in the house and in the forcefulness of the expression of sorrow and respect I am witnessing. Aside from visitas which last for the week of the death, a funeral service is also conducted and is repeated after one month, after three months, after six months, and yet again after a full year has passed.  Furthermore, the family members of the dead are expected to wear only black clothing for a designated time depending on your relation to the deceased. Siblings or children of the dead will wear only black for six months, and widows will never wear a piece of colored clothing again. Traditionally they even cover their heads in black scarves, a tangible, everyday remembrance of those who have gone.

The view from the visita

5pm- After three hours, we catch a car back down the mountain. I am emotionally drained and in reverence of the sadness and beauty of what I have experienced.  When I get home, I take a cold bucket bath then sit with my neighbors and help shell their beans. I make plans to go with my 11 year old neighbor (and one of my best friends) to see her baby goats tomorrow, and start to cheer up.

6- 7:30pm.-I grade some papers and make dinner. Tonight’s dinner is jegasida  (steamed, coarsely ground corn  which is almost the consistency of cous-cous) with beans, kale and fish. For dessert, I have a slice of fresh papaya my neighbor has given me, and some mango juice.

Dinner 

8-10p.m.-I spend some time reflecting on the day AKA writing this blog, lesson planning, and cleaning up my cooking mess.

10p.m.-I am exhausted and somehow sunburnt as usual, so I head to bed. Durmi Dretu!

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Szasha 

Monday: Day 2 of a Week in My Life

Ok, so here goes Day 2 of what I’m usually up to here in Cape Verde- Happy Monday!

6:30am- wake up to the usual donkey alarm clock who lives behind my house and some howling wind, quickly get ready for school, mix up some kamoka (kind of like a corn flavored power shake) for breakfast and head out on the walk to school.  The Bruma Seka ( giant clouds of sand from the Sahara desert, for those of you who haven’t read yesterday’s post) is in full force and I can’t help feeling like someone is constantly pointing a giant hair dryer at  me as I walk through the hot, hot wind to school.  It is a strange feeling to be walking through wind so forceful, but yet so hot.

7:30am-1pm- Teaching time! Today, I teach all but one of my 7^th and 8^th grade turmas (classes). Today’s subjects include: Prepositions of Time, practicing telling time in English, quantifiers, clothing vocabulary, and some of my favorite life lessons such as  “If you don’t listen, you won’t learn anything” or  “You know I can hear you when I’m writing on the board.”  During the break between first and second period, I hear shouts of “CHUVA JA BEN” (rain just came), and poke my head outside. Sure enough, huge raindrops are plopping onto the parched earth and an atmosphere of excitement engulfs the entire school. Although the real rains won’t come until June or July, today’s short-lived showers were a stark contrast to the nearly 6 months of complete dryness which has scorched the life out of  nearly all the vegetation on my side of the island and  brought new meaning to my definition of dry. As many people are now without a constant water source on the island, the excitement over the rain is overwhelming, and of course boils into the classroom. I take my students’ bubbling energy as an opportunity to review weather vocabulary and I can’t help by smile when a level one student properly uses the new vocabulary AND the correct form of the verb to be “Teacher, it is rainy today.”   SUCCESS!

1pm- I leave school and walk, in the now baking mid-day sun, to my house. On the way, my community is very concerned about me not having my SUNbrella (a little term I accidently said once ,but have continued to use, for my umbrella I use to keep the sun off). When I get back to my house, I stop by my neighbor’s house across the street to chat, visit my very cute baby friend, and see what the neighborhood has been up to. Turns out to be an excellent decision because, not only do I have a great time playing with the baby, but my neighbor is making kamoka today, and I have been waiting to see how it’s done.

2-5pm Preparing corn to make Kamoka with my neighbor. We start with large dried corn kernels already taken off of the cob. Next, we build a fire and begin heating a big, cauldron-like metal pot over the small fire.  The pot rests on three rocks above the flames and as it heats, I help gather more fire wood and hold the baby while his mother expertly adjusts her fire to the correct temperature.  We pour the waiting corn into the pot and let it sit for a few moments. As the kernels begin to roast, we stir them with a large wooden stick to keep the kernels from burning and to make sure each kernel is roasted on all sides. I fazi sonu (make sleep) for the baby and lay him in his bed as my neighbor (who happens to be one of my closest Cape Verdean friends) stands over the fire, amid the heat and smoke on an already hot day, stirring  and stirring. We switch on and off mixing the corn over the hot fire and the air begins to smell of roasted corn, like pop-corn, but with a richer, smokier scent. I am not sure how much time passes as we are having a great time joking, gossiping, and discussing the differences between life in America and in Cape Verde, but eventually, the corn begins to take on a rich caramel color, and as a few kernels reach a dark, dark brown, we are done. Now the kernels will be ground into a fine powder. Although this process used to be done with a giant mortar and pestle (and many corn products, coffee, and even flour are still done this way), today the final grinding of our kamoka will be done with a machine. We carry our roasted corn up the steep hill to the man who grinds corn for our community and wait. What emerges is a corn powder, almost a dust, much finer than most flour. This powder is then mixed with water, milk, or coffee to create a rich fomi (hunger) fighting drink, which I have come to love.  Check out the photos at the bottom of the post to see the whole kamoka process!

5pm- Go back across the street with a jar of fresh kamoka and mix it up with some sugar and cinnamon for a quick, satisfying afternoon snack. The I check on my arm rash/ fungus….seems to be getting better….or at least not any worse which is a good sign, more cream from the med kit it is!

5:30- 7 – I grade the homework my 8^th graders handed in today, and am pleased to see that most of them seem to understand how to use should, need, have to, and must in a sentence and can demonstrate the difference between obligation and necessity in English….SUCCESS! 

7pm- Heat up dinner….left overs supplemented with some fish my neighbor gave me in return for letting her store her fish in my freezer.  I always tell her she doesn’t have to give me anything and I am happy to let her use my refrigerator, but she insists on cooking me a bit of whatever she has, a kind and greatly appreciated gesture since I know she does not have a lot.

8pm- Two young women who dropped out of school, but are now attending a continuation school in the island’s capital, come by for some help with their English homework.

9-11- lesson planning for my biggest school day tomorrow (7:30am-6pm)

11 pm- Brush my teeth and apply cream to the hopefully- going –to- be- gone- in- a -few -days arm rash/ fungus. As I turn around, I find a giant preying mantise on my bedroom door and put it outside so it could roam free and not jump on my face during the night. Then, I tuck in my mosquito net and go to sleep.

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Szasha 

Kamoka step 1

corn in the pot

Putting the baby to sleep 

The corn begins to roast 

Stirring and Stirring over the hot fire 

The roasted kernels ready for grinding 

KAMOKA POWDER! 

KAMOKA