One Year.

June 1st marks one year in Mozambique. Ep pah! Where did the time go? To summarize the past 365 days, here are a few highlights from the day-to-day...

1.       Dancing—whether in the rain in my yard, at a wedding or at CACHES, it always proves to be a good time.

2.       Making peanut butter with the activistas at Tshembeka. As the maes literally were licking the peanut butter from their elbows, I could tell they loved it as much as I do.

3.       English lessons with the activistas at CACHES—All of them, but one in particular, always get so excited when he gets something right. He starts clapping and says, “Yes, Yes. I am learning.” It makes me smile every time.

4.       Puppies—Between finding them in the sinking latrine, to leaving them when I was evacuated for the floods, to giving them all away, it was quite the adventure for Mel and me.

5.       House-sitting in Inhambane City for a week. A week of food, fun and friends. We lived the dream that is the every day day-to-day of the PCVs in Inhambane City.

6.       Mambas soccer game in Maputo. Vuvuzela and all!

7.       Banana week—when Nelio showed up at my house with a branch of bananas and listed off all the things he wanted to make. Banana bread, banana pancakes, banana crumble, banana jam, chocolate-covered bananas, banana parfait. The whole week was BANANAS!

8.       Halloween at CACHES—Despite realizing that bobbing for apples probably wasn’t the most sanitary game to be playing as a health volunteer, it was a fun cultural exchange for all.

9.       Chicumbane Entretanamento music video—Some of the guys I work with are also part of a music group called Chicumbane Entretanamento and just last month they showed their music video at the one bar in town. It reminded me of a 90’s Boys II Men video. It was a riot.

10.   Homestay cooking day in Namaacha—Complete with killing a chicken, making banana bread and guacamole with my host family.Too bad my family was more excited about the chicken killing than the guac.

11.   Easter Egg Hunt—It was all fun until I realized some of the neighborhood boys helping me hide the eggs took the game a little too seriously as they started hiding the eggs in the sand making it impossible for the kids to find. But in the end, everyone got an egg and were just happy about that!

12.   Swearing in as a PCV—Despite how terribly we sang the Mozambique national anthem, the day was a really nice celebration of finally becoming a PCV.

13.   Mango season—Here in Mozambique, fruits are always in season, but hands down, mango season is the best. And once mango season hits, then its pineapple, then avocado, then tangerines. Doesn’t get much better than that!

14.   Snail mail and care packages. Without fail, a letter or care package always makes my day.

And along with all the highlights, there have been some blue days. But, with those blue days, there are always some life lessons learned. As I have continued to say, I have been learning every step along the way of this journey that is Peace Corps. But some of the greatest lessons I have learned are...

1.       Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

2.       Live simply.

3.       Presentation is key—whether we are talking about raking the sand yard or my host mom insisting that I clean my sneakers that are just going to get sandy again, how you present yourself is extremely important.

4.       The beauty of just sitting and being with people.
5.    Dependence on the land. Hours a day are spent in the garden just to be able to put food on the table at night.

6.       Tudo bem? Are things really tudo bem (all good) when people say they are?

7.       Family is really important and people are very interested in your personal life. "Why don't you have kids yet?" "Well, you'll just have to marry here in Mozambique." "What do you mean you don't have a boyfriend?" "Just change your nationality to Mozambican."

8.       Importance of lanche--lanche is the beautiful thing that is snack usually around 10 a.m. and sometimes offered at 3 p.m. when you attend conferences or workshops. If lanche is not served, people will get a little hangry (hungy-angry). And once you get into the routine of having lanches, you expect it, get a little hangry yourself and miss it when you don't have it.

9.       People are thankful for any gift you give and when they are willing to give whatever they can in return, they do.

10.   Importance of speaking the local language, even if it is just a couple words like "Lixchile" "Kanimambo" "Salani", they will say,”Voce fala.” “You speak.”

11.   Behavior change is hard. Mozambicans often have a certain way of doing things and that is the way it is done. Introducing new ideas or ways of doing something takes time, patience and dedication.

12.   "Job" has many meanings, people use this term to refer to anything from just going to do homework or going to the market for someone or going to the office to work.

13.   Cheese—there are just some foods you will always really miss. A lot. And when you can have them in the capital or on vacation, you eat them in abundance. To the point of making yourself sick.

14.   The Importance of planning ahead. Period.

15.   Honesty—Mozambicans are blatantly honest, but at the same time, they have no problem lying to you. For example: "Colleen, today you look really pretty. You should wear this more often. But, that long gray skirt you have, that's ugly. Don't wear that." or "Where were you?" "I came by your house, you weren't there." When in fact, I was there the whole time.

16.   Formality of the culture here—Everything has to be presented in a formal letter and documents need to be stamped in order to have credibility. Don't even think about approaching a chefe without a letter prepared as such.

17.   You can’t have tea without sugar or bread. So it is really odd that I don’t drink tea and just drink hot water. Mozambicans ask so many questions every time. So in return, I ask them about the three tablespoons of sugar they are adding to their tea. But, those three tablespoons seem to be the norm.

18.   Ferias—Between December and February do not expect anything to happen. It is the time of holidays and will be a little ways into the new year before things get going again. So just sit back, relax and enjoy the ferias yourself.  
19. "Do you pray?" Mozambicans are really concerned if you pray. It doesn't necessarily matter where you pray, just as long as you are doing it. 

20.   Never leave home without a capalana—It is very versatile and can become a sweat towel, an umbrella, a cover for your knees, the possibilities are endless.