Time Flies...

I have no idea how a month passed since my last post. Not much has changed, I think, besides getting more settled (although I’m about to move houses), continuing to struggle in Portuguese, and seeing some PCV friends outside of Sussundenga. I am also about to more than double my teaching load, which is great because I have been working only 6 hours a week which is wayyyy too little time to be working here. Too much free time in Sussundenga can make your brain a little mushy, especially when you don’t know that many people.
One of the classes I’m supposedly starting next week is a computer class to teach students about Microsoft Word and all that good stuff. The secondary school here actually has 20 new laptops which is fantastic and if you ask me is a sign of how things are changing (for the better) everywhere in Mozambique, even in the small towns (others say that the change was just due to election season). Teaching computers will be a great use of my time here, and I’m anxious to start (as soon as the school gets that classroom cleaned…).
The other class I’ll be starting is teaching English to adults in the community. I’m doing this with a guy who works at the Oficina Pedagogica next to the primary school and my house. I’ve never taught English (or tutored it) so it should be interesting.
Yesterday I went in to Chimoio to get 240 copies made of the test I’m giving today. I also got to see my friend Alexandra who was moved to Chimoio from Zambezia province because of robbery and school issues. If you would like to read about how my friend was robbed in the middle of the night at her house with a car jack and a machete, go to www.alexandramozambique.blogspot.com.
To get back to Sussundenga from Chimoio I took a chapa. Chapas are a part of everyday life here in Mozambique, so I thought I’d take some time to try to explain the chapa experience. Chapas are the public transportation, like the bus system in the states, but the cars are converted minibuses packed with as many people as possible (four to a row plus kids, sometimes more if people stand up). The condition of the chapas range from O.K. shape with retrofitted high tops to chapas that barely look fit to drive, with doors and trunks that don’t close and “No Fear” painted on the windshield (do you really want the driver of your chapa to have no fear?). Yesterday I was waiting at the stop and when a chapa would come about 25 people shoved their way to the door. People scramble to climb inside before people have a chance to get out. I tried and failed as two chapas came and filled up with people before I could get in. I made it in the third, but not before the door broke off from people pushing to get in. After that I just had to endure the hour drive to Sussundenga… they really need to pave the road. Halfway between Chimoio and Sussundenga the chapa stops for a couple minutes at a small village named Zembe. People outside scramble to sell their produce before the chapa motorista decides to drive away. We made it back to Sussundenga just as the sun was going down.
What else has happened? I thought about posting some pictures of my infected bug bite on my blog but decided to save people’s appetite. My right side swelled up to the mass of one, maybe two oranges. I started taking antibiotics and thankfully I’m back to my normal size and shape. I was kind of scared for a while though, at one point the liquid from the infection fell down into my abdomen and sat there, aching and making it difficult to walk.
I have been doing a lot of reading, of course, with only 6 hours of work a week. Recently I thought of a friend’s father and his reaction to me coming to Peace Corps Mozambique. He said a couple things that made me a little uncomfortable, mainly about helping people who “won’t stop killing each other” and some stuff that borders on racism. Only now have I figured out a somewhat appropriate response to his statements and it comes from a history lesson. The book “The Betrayal of Africa” is a great introduction to how European attempts at colonization created chaos in the African nations and how the west is still draining Africa of money and skill. It’s a small book that really opened my eyes. As far as how the Europeans came to colonize Africa and not the other way around, the book “Guns, Germs, and Steel” does a fantastic job of answering the question. This book is a heavier, more scientific-minded read but provides an explanation for history’s broadest pattern (essentially the book explains how bio-geographic differences between regions give rise to differences in technology and ability to conquer, not the differences between peoples of those regions).
Together these books provided me with a better understanding of why some countries (like the U.S.) are so much wealthier than other countries (like Mozambique) and why living is so much easier (and healthier)
Please, everyone, don’t stop giving me updates. I don’t get bored of reading about life back in the U.S.. Also, it would be great if someone could send me some podcasts on a CD from Science Friday or whatever else you like. I would also kill for some Meet the Press podcasts. Thanks!