Hi everyone! I hope that all is well back in america...things are moving along quicky here. I cant believe that I have already been gone almost a year. It is a pretty crazy thought. Sometimes I forget that I am living in Mozambique....but the things that remind me that I am here always make me laugh. For instance: the other day I was wearing this dress that I had recently purchased, not the most beautiful dress ever, but I wanted it to use as a patten for a different dress, but anyway I was walking to the market, and this guy calls me over to his house and says in portuguese “ cecilia you are not pretty today, you are ugly and that dress is ugly too.” ok thank you! And then I continued a little ways down the road and this old man says in english “cecila today you have beauty, you are very much beauty.” sometimes the honesty makes me laugh, but I love the fact that you can be told you are ugly and beautiful within 10 min. the other day some of my students were looking at my pictues from america and they were telling me that I used to be fat and that my skirts were too short.ohhh mozambique. In class the other day I teaching time and my studetns asked if if was the same time in mozambique as it is in south dakota, so the next day I brought in a globe to show about the rotation of the earth, and they told me that I was lying because if the world were turning we would fly off. There is a year 12 student at our school and everytime she comes over she yells at me for not wearing my flip flops in the kitchen. Mozambicans are pretty big on the idea of wearing house shoes( for that matter if any of the new moz invitees are reading this, despite what peace corps say bring flip flops because your host family will want you to wear them in the house.) last saturday we had a meeting that lasted over 7 hours ( just a note, it was supposed to be 3) I honestly thought that I was going to die, it could be on the top 3 of the most miserable days of my lifer Ohh ya when carries mother came to visit she brought carries comptuer, and we now have battleships! That was thrilling. I never know what is going to be interesting for you guys...so if you have questions let me know. I did just find out that our villa has a population of 20,000...never really realized that.....now I am curious as what what percentage are under the age of 7....i think it is probably about 20-25%. we are also going to be getting a bank here, how is that for exciting? But apparently a bank means a supermarket too....not a supermarket like any of you are thinking, but something that sells more than beer, whiskey, and really gross cookies. In my wishful thinking I am also hoping that it means internet...but I am not getting my hopes too high for that. The other day at our market I got a new shelf for our house, and the guys that I got it from are zimbabweans, and they had left zim at 4am walked to catandica, a 12 hour walk. And as soon as they sold their shelves they were going back home. 2 guys one with a shelf one with a coffee table, and they would be walking for about 24 hours in total to make less than $20. makes you think about how tough life actually is huh? Better cut if off before you are all bored to death. Love and miss you all! Just a friendly reminder.....dont forget the importance of september 14th....... I am 17,000 miles from home :P and I really like fruit snacks, cereal bars, and my ears wound not mind some new music, and my eyes would like some new magazines....i promise that somewhere in my soul I still have some amount of shame.and if you want to check out some of carries(my roommate) pictures they are on webshots, I think you just have to search carriecarnevale, but beware they might make you want to come visit even more than you do now. So I never know what to write anymore so if there is anything that you want to know... leave me a message!
Linds :)
