Friday, December 11, 2009

Officially a PCV!!!

Im in S. Africa, Swaz, and Moz!!!
We are science teachers!!

So we have made it to site!!! I’m an official volunteer and live in Monapo in the province of Nampula. I have been here for a total of about 4 hours and already love it. It’s in northern Mozambique and is completely different than the south. The only downfall is that it’s up to a 5 day chapa ride each way from some of my closest friends.

Since it has been so long, there’s a ton to catch up on.

Site visit was a blast. It was a much needed vacation from training. I took a 4 hour chapa ride from Namaacha to Chongoene. Chapas are the most readily available method of travel here in Mozambique. I would say they are roughly the same size and shape of a VW van. The only difference is that an average ride includes about 20-25 people. Chongoene is a little, dry town in the middle of nowhere. Some perks it offers are: being a short chapa ride from Xai-Xai (a big city where you can buy pretty much everything you’d need), being about 2 hours from the capital, being right off the main road that goes through Mozambique, and being relatively close to other volunteers. We went to the beach in Xai-Xai and there are no words to describe how absolutely beautiful it was. I’ve even heard it doesn’t compare to some of the prettiest beaches Mozambique has to offer, so I can’t wait to see more! I also had a chance to hitchhike and fell in love. It is faster, cheaper, more comfortable, and easier than other methods of transportation.

The education volunteers finished two weeks of model school. It was exhausting. It turns out that preparing biology lesson plans in Portuguese is hard work. I gave six lessons to 8th grade Mozambican students. Some were better than others, but I definitely felt more comfortable in the classroom by the end.

Thanksgiving came and went. The highlight of it was finding out our site placement which was followed by an AMAZING dinner. Corpo da Paz provided the turkey and we did a potluck for the rest of the meal.

As far as site placement goes, I consider myself one of the luckiest volunteers out of Moz 14. I will be living with Esther, one of my friends from training, and about ten minutes from another friend named Amanda. They are from LA and Pasadena. Go figure. It is beautiful in Monapo, and we are only about an hour chapa ride to one of the prettiest beaches Moz has to offer!!! I’m pretty sure I hit the jackpot with site placements.

It’s absolutely unreal to me that I’ve already had such amazing experiences here in Moz and it has only been a little over two months. What makes it even more incredible is to look at some of the stats for Moz: the average family income is about $350/year and it is one of the ten poorest countries in the world. The US invests about 400 million dollars in Moz each year. By next year, the goal is to get to an absolute poverty rate of 45%.

You can now mail me at a new address. Also, don’t worry about what you have sent to the other address. The previous address will always be valid, it may just take a little longer to reach me. From now on, this address will work best:

Yvonne Contreras, PCV
Corpo da Paz/U.S. Peace Corps
Avenida Rua Dos Continuadores #24a
C.P. 526
Nampula
Mozambique
Happy late Thanksgiving and early Christmas/New Years to everyone!!! I miss you guys like crazy.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Killing chickens and getting old.

He is pretty much the love of my life here...

I feel like I am doing something new with each day that passes. Here’s a couple highlights of the past couple of weeks:
1. I’ve officially killed my first chicken. It actually wasn’t so bad. The part I’m not that much of a fan of is depenar-ing, or plucking the chicken. It’s a bit too smelly/messy.
2. I’ve become REALLY good friends with my xixi (pee) bucket. Most of the time it is known as my balde, or bucket used for taking showers. The best part of this bucket, though, is its second job as a xixi bucket in my room overnight. A side effect of the malaria meds is an overactive bladder, so it has come in pretty handy.
3. I turned 23, and celebrated ALL weekend. On Halloween, Corpo da Paz held a Halloween party. We all dressed up and invited some members of our families to show them how absolutely ridiculous Americans can be. I was amazed at how resourceful all the trainees were with their costumes. We had a costume contest, limbo, snacks, trick-or-treating, and roasting marshmallows. The next day, my host family threw me the most amazing birthday dinner/dance party. My two brothers came into town from other provinces, along with some extended family members from all over Moz/South Africa. We had a feast, cake, and TONS of dancing. I also tried cow head for the first/last time. My family went above and beyond my expectations, and it was a birthday that will be hard to beat in the future. They also remembered that watermelon was my favorite fruit and had one brought in from South Africa as a gift.
Site visits are coming up this Saturday and we are all so excited to get out of Namaacha for a few days. We are going to stay with current volunteers at their sites. It should be a blast. I’m most excited about seeing different parts of Moçambique. I’m headed to Chongoene in Gaza. I’ll be going with a chemistry teacher and we are pretty much going to be on the beach. There are a few of us that are going to be in the same area, so we are all planning on meeting up a couple of the nights to hang out. This has been what we have all been waiting for pretty much since day one, so I can’t wait!!!
Thanks for all of the birthday wishes, and I’m sorry if I haven’t had a chance to respond to them. It means a lot to know all of you remembered/were thinking about me. I miss you guys and think of you often. Remember, if you’re ever bored, feel free to shoot me a letter.
Yvonne Contreras, PCV
Corpo da Paz/U.S. Peace Corps
C.P. 4398
Maputo
Mozambique
Most missed American item: a roll of Kirkland brand tp (actually any 2-ply would work).

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Bucket baths and latrines.

The mountain that's shared by Swaziland, S. Africa, and Moz.
Walking to morning class.
Our welcoming to Namaacha!!
The group!

A lot has happened since my last blog. First, I moved to Namaacha to begin pre-service training (PST). Namaacha is beautiful and high in elevation compared to Maputo. It is pretty cold and I have had to wear a jacket or sweater almost every day. There’s a certain scent to Mozambique that almost reminds me of home, the smell of campfires. The only thing that makes it different is that it’s trash being burned on a daily basis.
My host family has been absolutely amazing. I definitely don’t have the most luxurious house out of the volunteers, but it is great. I have a host mom, two sisters, 2 nephews, a neice, and a cousin. Everything is different here, which makes for interesting days and lessons. I have had to relearn how to wash my clothes, wash my hands, take showers, cook (not that I knew how to before), and pretty much everything you could think of doing.
Training is going well. The majority of the first five weeks are focused on language. Portuguese is a lot of fun to learn, but I’m a little bit bitter about losing Spanish. They are similar and it’s hard to get myself to separate the two languages. I live for our ‘hub days’ when all of the volunteers are reunited for group lessons. These are usually focused on safety or HIV awareness.
Here’s a couple of the biggest adjustments:
1. Showers: Because there is no running water, I have to take bucket baths. They are surprisingly easy to do and leave me feeling clean. The only downside is having to take them two times a day. It is a long process and I usually have to get up a couple of hours before our 7:30 lessons.
2. Food: It’s actually pretty tasty (with the exception of cow liver). The only things I haven’t liked so far had nothing to do with taste, it was more of a texture thing. Almost everything is fried or carbs, so I’m pretty thankful for all the walking that we have to do.
3. Adjusting to my host family’s schedule is challenging, but necessary. I get up at 5:30 every morning to do chores (sweep the dirt, clean room, sweep house, wash dishes, etc.), I have to eat 3 meals and 2 ‘lunchies’ everyday, take 2 baths, and so on. It is going to be nice when we get to our own sites and can set our own schedules. We find out on Thanksgiving where we are going to be placed!
It turns out that Halloween is another volunteer’s birthday as well. We are thinking about doing some sort of themed party, which should be a hit (maybe masquerade with all of our sleeping masks from the plane). My family is planning on making me a bolo and they want to have a little vino as well.
I got a phone and would looove to talk/text! The country code is 258 and my number is 82 27 71 536 (I think that’s how they separate the numbers =/).
Most missed American item at the moment: washer and dryer.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Quick Update

Okay, just a couple of things before we go a while without any communication.

1. Do not mail through DHL, use the first address only.
2. Do not send any packages after week 5 (Early Nov) until I get you guy a new address.
3. Put "save Jesus" or any other religious things on packages. Apparently it significantly reduces the chances of theft.
4. When you are claiming what is inside of a package, lie. Not completely, but change it up a bit. For example, if you are mailing cds/dvds, write educational material on it. Please don't let the value listed exceed $50(the real value can). We have to pay to receive these packages and it can get expensive.

I'm off to Namaacha to live with my host family. There will not be internet there, so chances are you will not hear from me until late December. I will try to mail a few things, but I don't have many people's addresses so I will mail it to somewhere close.

On a different note, we have started training for many things and it has been interesting. I can't move either of my arms well because of all the vaccinations we have received. I also started taking malaria meds and am eager to see what kind of vivid dreams or other crazy side effects occur.

Until later...

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Finally in Mozambique


After a solid day of traveling, we have finally made it to Mozambique. We are staying the first three days in a hotel here in the capital, Maputo. The hotel that they are putting us up in is amazing. I feel like they are trying to butter us up a bit before showing us the true conditions of Mozambique.



Everyone in my group is amazing. I feel so lucky to be surrounded by people who I can learn from and have great conversations with. On Sunday, we check out of the hotel and head to Namaacha for 10 weeks of pre-service training. The training consists of TONS of language training as well as learning about the history and culture of Mozambique, teaching strategies, and ways to stay safe. It was pretty cold today, which forced me to wear pants and a sweater. I've been told Namaacha is at a higher elevation and tends to get even colder.




It hasn't hit me yet that I'm in Africa. I'm pretty sure that'll change as soon as we leave this hotel. But until Sunday, I'm going to enjoy my single room (I must have won some sort of lottery), warm shower, swimming pool, bed, pillow, and internet service.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Last Minute Post

I know, I have waited for the last minute to post this very important message. I have spent the last day and half here in Philadelphia and it has been a blast. I have met about half of the 65 people leaving as part of the Mozambique 14 group. Everyone I have met so far has been amazing. We come from every part of the US and from many different schools and majors.

Some important information: If you want to mail me (which I highly encourage) please send it to

Yvonne Contreras, PCV
Corpo da Paz/U.S. Peace Corps
C.P. 4398
Maputo
Mozambique

But, if you want to mail through DHL then send it to

Yvonne Contreras, PCV
c/o U.S. Peace Corps Mozambique
Avenida Zimbabwe 345
Maputo
Mozambique

Don't forget to number each letter you send. If one gets lost, I will know about it and start the search. Please don't hesitate to send mail asap...the last thing I want is to be the Harry Potter of our group =(

Thank you all for your support and an amazing last few months. I love you and will update as soon as I get the chance.

-Von =)