Nothing Like the Lion King

So I have decided that Mozambique is nothing like the Lion King. The amount of chickens I have killed in order to make dinner is crazy. Today I actually held a chicken while a "Medicine Man" killed it in sacrifice for all the volunteers to have good luck. It was pretty intense. I knelt with him in front of all the new volunteers and staff as he killed the chicken and spread its blood on the tree we were gathered around. We then cooked the chicken, made some xima and ate haha.

The other day my entire lingua group, consisting of 5 of us, cooked lunch for out maes (moms). We made stuffed peppers, and they hated them haha. It was a lot of fun though. We got to learn how to cook here in Mozambique, share a great meal, and some great times between the 2 different cultures.

My family is very very awesome. My dad smuggles liquor, my mom works at the boarder of Swaziland, and my sisters all go to school.

Last weekend a group of us hiked up the mountain where the boarders of Swaziland, Africa de Sul, and Mocambique meet. It was soooo gorgeous. It took us about 5 hours round trip, but we got to just sit and stare at our new home.

Weather here is very crazy. One day it will be about 42 and sunny then the next day it will be 25 and rainy. Despite the weather changes I have yet to get sick. Keeping my fingers crossed. Last night was particularly crazy. A bunch of volunteers decided to go to Xaviers. It is a bar here in Namaacha. We had a blast. James, the bartender, actually opened up solely for us. His cousin had died that day and he said he was going to keep the bar closed all day out of respect, but he saw us come and couldnt resist opening. He loves it when the volunteers go hang there.

As of now I am just living day by day. Learning more and more Portuguese each day.

Tchau

PS. I bought a capulana today. now i just need to find a tailor to make me a tunica out of it.

Namaacha

Sorry for the delay. My internet resources have been lacking here in Namaacha Moczmbique. The past few weeks have been extremely crazy. Starting with a day in Philly, then a busride to New York, followed by a 15+ hour flight to Africa de Sul and another hour flight to Maputo. We spent a few days in Maputo learning about our future here in Mocambique. Then we had the awkward journey to Namaacha where we met our homestay families. My family is huge!!! I live with minha mae(Mama Rosa), meu pai(Adolfo), minhas 3 irmas(Angelina, Nercia, and Adorosa), and minha prima(Suzana). We have 3 dogs and 4 puppies, 8 ducks, 5 chickens, 2 cats, and a huge machamba(vegetable garden). Along with every type of fruit tree you can imagine. Including the heavenly fruit called ata.

My life consists of learning portuguese all day everyday. No one in my family speaks english. It is rough, but I cant believe how quickly I am learning portuguese. I can hold basic conversations with people, and get better everyday. I am running out of battery juice at the moment but I will share one quick story.

Next week my language group has to cook an american dish for all of our moms. There are 5 of us. So we decided to cook stuffed peppers. The word for full in portuguese is cheia. So we said we were going to make pimentos cheia. They did not understand and frantically kept correcting us to say muito pimentos which means many peppers. It took about 10 minutes to explain that we are going to fill the peppers with other food.

Tomorrow I am hiking to the borders of Swaziland, Africa de Sul, and Mocambique. I will post again soon.

Tchau