The magical whitey of Homoine

So, being the only white person in a small town in the Peace Corps has some advantages. The locals really look out for you, they take care of your dog, they teach you Portuguese and Xitswa... you get the idea. But, they also come running when a family member is sick. This happened the other day when I was sitting on a mat in my yard correcting papers. My maid's son came running in asking me to come with him because his little brother was sick. My maid's family lived out in what is called the caniço or reed part of town. Its where the Mozambicans were usually forced to live by the Portuguese colonisers. Anyway, I grab some ibuprofen from my drawer and head out. When I get to the house, my maid is cradeling here son and crying cause he is burning up and REALLY sick. This is last Sunday, so the hospital was avaliable (yes they close on Sundays too) and I could tell from seeing this kid that it was Malaria. I didn't even have to touch him to feel the fever, you could just see the heat and the disease radiating off of this poor little 3 year old. Anyway, I gave some of the ibuprofen to the kid just to make him comfortable so he could sleep. That is really the best thing to do for Malaria besides get the medicines from the hospital. Anyway, my maid insisted I stay for some crab lunch that she had just cooked so she could thank me for coming to help. I stayed, barely able to stand upright in her house the size of my childhood bedroom and ate up. All of a sudden I just started shaking. Not crying or anything but just shaking. I had to stop eating because the fork kept banging against the tin plate and was making me really nervous. so I excused myself.

When I got home I just lost it. WHy? I thought I was roughing because I didn't have running water. Why? Three people live in her house and I have three rooms to myself.

I just don't get it.

Um pedido

Just a quick question for all you out there. I'm looking to outfit my house with the standard peace corps furniture - a hammock. But true to Mozambique fashion, I can't find one in this tropical country! :O) So, anyone that is in EMS or some store like that, can you price a light weight hammock for me so Monique can bring it for me in December, or if you want to use it as packing in a next package.

More soon
Ian

Viva Mocambique e Corpo da Paz

So this morning I have had a complete trip out. First it is the 4th of July... FELIZ DIA DA INDEPENDENCIA! Yes I am still in Maputo, things take longer to heal in the tropics. But I am slowly going crazy down here. It should be a day in the life. That may be what I change this blog too. Let me catch all of you up with what is going on here. Anyway, I am a Peace Corps Volunteer but am a millionare (YEAH BABY) but in the currency called meticais. There are now two currencies in the country (technically, in actuality there are four) and it goes as follows. The money that was here when I came was called METICAL or MZM and the exchange rate was 26,500 to the american dollar. Now we have NOVO METICAL or MTn and it is 26.50 to the dollar. So basically they just loped some zeros off. But I think it is all a big lie because all the banks are down, they have been since the first, and no one has seen more than a fleeting glance of these new bills. No idea how long the banks will be down until but hey the answer to all questions in this country is

ITS MOZAMBIQUE! :O)

So, going on I turn on the TV today and see the face of this kid called Robin Dejesus in this movie called CAMP. NOw I just never had the desire to see it because of many reasons, not the LEAST of me being bitter because I remember him as that little eighth grader who's first show EVER was a summer stock performance of Grease and now I am seeing him on a South African network in Mozambique. Little weird, besides the fact that I gave the kid rides home to Roodner Court area of Norwalk many times. Great singer but the acting, blame the script Ian blame the script... I made my friend Rhett watch it with me and needless to say she wasn't too impressed. Anyway, our friend Kelly comes into the room saying she say a really cool staff member of PC Mozambique and we bolt out of the room. Once we get out into the street, we see her in the car stopped at a light and we are in a really n ice area of town so she didn't have her car doors locked. It was hysterical because the three of us just pile right into her car and say we are kidnapping you. Who was driving??? But it's Mozambique. So we had some coffee and caught up. But she made us realise how cool what we are doing really is. She just came back form the States and was telling us how much respect she had gotten when she told people she works for Peace Corps. She speaks perfect English and sounds British (lived there for two years) so no one believes she is Moz.

Another friend of mine just got back to the States after finishing up her time here. She was coming back into the states with her dog and the customs official was an RPCV and let her right through. I love this place

Ianinho

Things that make you go WHAT THE!?!?!?!?!?!?!

So many of you I'm sure have been watching the football/soccer world cup on television. Or if you are in Germany in person. But anyway, a few nights ago Portugal trounced the other team in the quearter finals of the FIFA world cup. I just left the movie theatre here in Maputo and the city was in chaos. Horns were going off, lights were flashing, people were leaning out of there high rise apartment windows, there were cries of VIVA PORTUGAL punctuated by the chants of COLONIALISTA...COLONIALISTA from some drunk Mozambicans that just came out of the bar across the street. My question is, Portugal seriously messed up this country, largely within living history, yet the language ties are so strong that Mozambicans will root for them in the world cup?

HUH?!?!?!?!

Now if Portugal wins.....uh oh