From my first days at site

Sorry I have been absent for several weeks!  To start, here is something I wrote during my first week at site….

It’s difficult to begin to describe quite what it feels like to be in our current situation.  The first word that comes to mind is overwhelming.  We just finished ten weeks of training, but nothing can quite prepare you for the feeling that comes when you first arrive at your new house, your home for the next 2 years.  It feels just as crazy as one might think it sounds, but slowly we will make this into our home. 

On Monday, December 12th, Erica and I were driven in a Peace Corps car to our site in Murrupula.  Though only about 70km from Nampula City, the ride seemed much longer than the hour or so it took, and as more and more time passed, we both got more and more nervous, completely unsure about what to expect. 

We were first taken to our school and met the school director and then we went to our house.  The director was so excited to show us our new house, but Erica and I were totally and completely shocked by what we encountered.  So I guess that is what culture shock feels like…  The walls inside desperately needed a paint job to cover up the dirt, random patches of cement, and just random feel of dirtiness and old, broken down feeling.  The doorways are tiny, just wide enough to walk through and short so you have to bend over when passing through.  I have already hit my head many many times.  There are almost no windows, only one small one in the bedroom and another small one in the kitchen.  And the house was totally empty, only a table and three wooden chairs which have seen better days, and a small wooden bookshelf, nothing else.  Nothing on the dirty walls, no plates or kitchenware, no bed frames nor mattress, no dresser or nightstand, basically nothing. 

There are actually two houses, one with a bedroom, kitchen, and living room area and the other with a bedroom and living room with some concrete benches.  We have an outdoor bathroom, one side, a key-shaped hole into the abyss with two foot-shaped concrete sections to indicate where to place your feet, and on the other side, a place for our bucket baths.  We also have (and our favorite parts) a gazebo with a thatched roof for some shade relief from the ridiculously hot African sun and a reed fence around the entire property for some privacy.

Initially, we were totally shocked, thinking what in the heck have we gotten ourselves in to and why!  Luckily, and thank god, the Peace Corps driver stayed with us and, along with another professor, helped us buy mattresses, pots, and big buckets for storing water.  They also arranged for another guy to get us water and fill up the buckets.  Slowly things were coming together and the initial shock and total overwhelmed feeling began to subside a bit.

Once we were on our own, Erica and I took a seat in our living room and surveyed our house for a second time.  Though there is a ton of work to be done, we actually have a pretty awesome set up here.  With a little paint on the walls, building some shelves or something for storage and making it so we don’t have to live out of our suitcases for two years, this house can and will become our home, slowly.  We even have some papaya trees of our own!

For the first few days, we lived without electricity.  Having no lights was okay to deal with, but the heat, especially at night, was miserable with no fans!  Our first night, we barely were able to sleep as our house felt like the inside of an oven and we resorted to soaking some t-shirts in water and laying them on ourselves to try to cool off enough to fall asleep.  Needless to say, it was a long first night.

But, thankfully, our director, who seems pretty on top of things so far, arranged for us to get electricity set up a few days later.  And the first thing we bought that day was two big fans :). 

It’s been a long week, but we have come a long way from that first day.  We bought some paint and painted the walls in our living room a super super bright blue and a bright green and had enough paint left to paint one wall in our bedrooms.  We have gotten crafty during our free time (we have lots and lots of free time), weaving capulana strips together to make a wall hanging and hanging another cool looking capulana up as art work.  I made a basket out of sticks lashed together and covered in capulana and another out of taped together cardboard from a cereal box.  I “repaired” our kitchen counter using some rocks and duct tape (only a picture can really explain).  We even braved up enough to sleep in our separate houses!

It’s a lot easier to stay in our backyard, but we are trying to force ourselves to leave and at least walk around the community.  So far, I really like the feel of the community here and the town itself.  Most everyone we have met has been super friendly!  Our school director took us around to meet some administrative officials including the governor of the district of Murrupula, the city’s one doctor, the director of the hospital, the secretary of the district, and the district educational administrators.  We have met several other teachers, many of whom are our neighbors or live really close by.

The town itself is actually pretty big and spreads out in either direction for a while.  (I’ve never been the greatest with distances, but I’ll try to find out some numerical values or something soon.)  There is a small market with not many food options other than rice, beans, tomatoes, onions (so many onions!), potatoes, mangoes, bananas, eggs, and some pasta.  But the options really vary depending on the day and time of day you go.  We also discovered a dried fish market, quite the smelly place and not something we will ever be frequent visitors at.  Luckily, Nampula City isn’t too far for a day trip to a somewhat larger “grocery store” to include a little more variety into our diet.

So that was my first week at site, and my how things have changed since then!  Unfortunately, Erica decided to return home to the US so I am on my own now.  Also, my school got a new director, yes a new director just a week before school begins.  But I am embracing this new independence and taking it one day at a time.  Recent changes I have made to my house include making a shelf out of stacked plastic bottles and two others out of bricks and reeds, organizing my house a little more, meeting some more neighbors, hanging up some new artwork, and cleaning.  School starts on Monday so that should keep me busy and help me meet more people.  Each day has its ups and downs, but I am hanging in there!