House-sitting

 

 It’s a strange concept to house sit your own house. Well, to be fair, it will be my house in just under a month. It is just 10 feet away from my current abode.  Yep, I spent this past week living in Vivienne’s house getting a taste of my future life here in Chicumbane. It was a nice change to be able to sleep in a bed, to give the Baygone a rest and be able to use a more established kitchen. Vivienne had to go to Maputo for her Peace Corps COS (Closure of Service) conference and so the dogs and I held down the fort. I was more than excited to be sleeping in a bed and to move into a more established house. Just this past weekend, we had some pretty windy weather Saturday night and as I tossed and turned all night I listened to the metal sheets of my roof rattling in the wind. When I woke up in the morning, I noticed that in one corner the metal sheet had curled up and I had to recruit Nelio’s help to set it back in place with some cinder blocks. Also, in the past few weeks I had gotten to know some of the creatures of Chicumbane: the spiders, cockroaches, mice, ants and lizards. I am starting to think that my apartment back in Allston, Mass. with our cockroaches and mice was just preparation the friends I’d have here. I have gotten pretty good with the Baygon and rat poison to take out most visitors. Only the lizards have earned their keep to stay. I watched one the other night just scurry down the wall and scoop up a cockroach. So needless to say, it was nice to move into an established home. Don’t get me wrong, there are visitors in Vivienne’s house as well, but just not as many and her house is settled as opposed to my space between the four cement walls.

The first morning in her house, I snoozed my alarm and then ended up sleeping an extra hour. Oops. That just shows how comfortable I was in her bed. I have spent the last month sleeping on her guest mattress on the floor so I am excited to inherit her full sized bed.

And it has been nice to get to know some of my neighbors. Throughout Vivienne’s service, she invited the local criancas to come over and color on the weekends. This past Sunday before she left, some of the criancas came over to color. First it was just Lucia, one of the young girls from CACHES, so I joined her coloring out on our porch for a bit. She is definitely starting to become one of my buddies at CACHES. She mimicked all my moves at the dance party after the troca, has been trying to teach me Changana and stops by our house on her way home from school. For being so young, she speaks Portuguese very well.  Usually the younger kids speak Changana to one another so I usually have no idea what they are saying. After a little while of just us coloring, more of the neighborhood kids came by to color and the Changana commenced.

This week, I have had some of my other neighbors stop by. They are probably really coming by to see Vivienne and then are super surprised to see a white girl with blonde hair walk out instead of a petite little Asian girl. But, they still stay and chat for a little while, which has been nice to work on my Portuguese. After our empregada, Dona Rachel, cleaned the house Tuesday, we sat and chatted for a while. She has been working for Peace Corps Volunteers here in Chicumbane since 2000. She went through all their names and the various chores she would do for them. Now for Vivienne, she just comes once a week to wash clothes, clean the house and get water. She also then takes care of her dogs when she goes away. As much as I loved washing my own clothes in Namaacha, I am probably going to have her do the same chores.
 

With a more established kitchen this week, I was able to do a little more cooking and baking. However, there were a few minor mishaps. When I was cooking soup the other day, the gas tank ran out. Eek. At first, I was dumbfounded by how I was going to carry the tank to wherever I needed to go in order to fill it up. Then, I remembered how Vivienne said Dona Rachel had gotten her gas in the past. She said the last time she filled the tank was last October. I guess it lasts a while when you are only cooking for one. I called up Dona Rachel and asked her if she would be able to fill it up for us. Luckily she said she could and did it the next day. Six-hundred and ninety mets later, our tank is full. And we can continue cooking. Hopefully for another year. The next day, I was heating up some of the soup I had made, but in the middle of this, one of my landlord’s grandsons came by asking if I could help him with his English. I was so excited, I took two chairs out to the porch and we sat down with his notebook. We started by writing the alphabet. Then, he wanted to learn more about verbs, so we went through the conjugations of “to be”. It was only then that I remembered m soup. Oops. I rushed inside only to find it had totally exploded over the pot. No good deed goes unpunished, right? After I ate the tiny bit left in the pot, I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning off the stove, the floor and the wall behind it. Baking was slightly more successful. I made no-bake cookies. I gave some to Calvino and Nelio when they walked me home Thursday night. They were surprised at how sweet it was, but they said they really liked it. And then when Dona Rachel stopped by Friday morning to bring us some eggs, I had her try one as well. She really liked it and said she wanted me to teach her how to make them some day. She then told me about some of the American dishes like lasagna and guacamole that she had learned from previous PCVs.

As part of my house-sitting responsibilities, I had to take care of Mel and Magadorchu, the pups. I learned how to make dog food for them: a delicious mix of xima (flour and water) with dried fish. Yum. Yum

And the other day I had to go into Xai-Xai to do some errands. It was a super rainy morning so I waited until the rain stopped before heading to the chapa stop. I was not the only one who did so because there was quite a crowd waiting at the chapa stop to head to the city. One of our neighbors was out there selling doors. He saw me and came right up and started chatting. He noticed how I was not nearly as pushy as the other people waiting for a chapa. So he took the liberty to help me get on a chapa. When the next chapa pulled up, he weaseled his way through the crowd and made a spot just for me. I thanked him kindly and told him he didn’t have to do that. He really didn’t have to do that, but it was definitely nice to have the help to expedite the process of getting a ride.

So my first week alone at site has come and gone. But, really it was just a taste of what is about to come in the next couple months. I definitely missed having Vivienne around: someone to eat with, debrief the day with, cook with, speak English with and just have someone to hang out with. So it will definitely be nice to have her back for at least another month. But, as much as she is preparing for her move home, I have to start preparing for the reality ahead. This week, I realized how spoiled I have been and what is about to come in the next few weeks. However, it was so nice to know I have the support of my neighbors and community on my side. So while I may be the sole American here in Chicumbane in a month, by no means I am alone in this adventure. I can see that in the little things: the kids coming to color, Dona Rachel helping with the gas, Senor Munez helping with the chapa and the jovens always there to walk me home after CACHES.