Mr toads wild ride

So, I was returning from a little visit to Kayunda (Hannah’s site) this week – and had quite the ride home .  There I am, stuffed into the back seat of a full chapa (chapas are vans – about the size of the airport shuttle vans –that serve as “public transportaion”………I’m using that term very loosely because there are no maps or designated stops).  It’s a full chapa, so there are roughly 23 people in this van.  In fact, its so full that the cobrador (the guy who takes the money) is literally riding on the outside of the van – standing on the ledge and holding on through the window. So,  we’re cruising along through the mountains – man riding on ouside- and we stop to pick up some extra “cargo.” This cargo happens to be about 30 live chickens tied together in buddles by their feet. And where to do the chickens get to ride? Under the back seat, of course. Directly under my seat. So in go the squawking chickens (they, also, are not pleased with this arrangement) and away we go.  We’re zipping through these mountains pretty fast, maybe 50 or 60 miles an hour, and the chickens start to slide around under my seat. Fabulous. They start flapping into the back of my legs and I freak out. I squeeled and tried to jerk around to avoid the angry chickens, but I can barely fit my knees in the row because of the seat in front of me. (Keep in mind there is only one other woman on this chapa and I’m definitely the only white person there  - so they’re all pretty shocked to see me anyways.) Luckily, after the guys I was sitting next to finished laughing at the little white girl who was scared of the chickens, they reached down and tried to shove the chickens back under the seat. 

T.I.A.

virtual tour....sort of.....

living room

hallway

view from one of my bedroom windows

opening our stockings christmas morning

that tree was a christmas miracle

stop being so cute!! (Juno, Jack...he's the alpha male, daisy and bruno)

Random Happy things from this week....

Things that have made the past few days particularly exceptional.

1.     Pineapples appeared at the market! Just in time, seeing as I was beginning to mourn the end of mango season. They’re tiny (which makes them cute) and so so sweet…

2.    
      Padre Ricardo told us that he’s bringing us a freezer! Right now, we have nothing – so any kind of cooling device is much appreciated. Ice cubes, here we come.

3.    
      We went to play with some local kids (about 60 of them) yesterday with some Chilean volunteers. And let me tell you. Nothing boosts your mood like being treated like a rock star by a swarm of children jumping to kiss your cheeks.
      
      Janet and Luc (two Moz14 PCVs) are returning to Tete today from the states…. And bringing one of my Christmas presents from home with them! (I know what it is – a Kindle. So. Excited.)
 I    
       I have talked to 4 friends on the phone! Thanks for dishing out the money on skype kids. Not you Delevan, I know your parents got stuck with the bill…

"Tete" is pronounced like the word "bet" (not "tee tee" .....)

cough cough lauren, steph and kelly....

Ok so it’s been a while since I’ve written anything – and its not just because I’m being lazy (which, I’ll admit, would be a likely reason) BUT because there’s just not a a whole lot going on are here right now. Seriously. This is by far the longest stretch of “down time” I think I’ve had… and to be honest, I’m ready to be busy and productive again! School starts sometime around (after?) January 14 – and then I’ll be zipping around here like a crazy person again!

So. What do I do in all this free time? Well, I wake up painfully early (thank you African sunrise and pheasants and roosters). I ritualistically hope that our water tank will fill and supply us with water for the day … it ritualistically fails, hence my huge pile of dirty clothes. I eat selected, delicious fruit from the market for breakfast OR reward myself with one of my quickly diminishing stash of Cliff Bars if I worked out.  Take a bucket bath (or shower if I’m lucky). Read. Read. Read. Watch an episode of Mad Men/ How I met your mother/ movie. Creep around the market looking for new, weird food... Case in point- this spikey green fruit that I have yet to eat. Make lunch. Wander around outside. Study some Portuguese. Read some more. Make dinner with Helen. Eat dinner while watching an episode of the Sopranos…..and yeah that’s pretty much it for right now

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas and Happy Ho-li-days! (a la ‘nsync)

Christmas morning,  I woke up at like 5:30 (because, ya know, that’s the latest I can sleep here anyways) and whipped up a batch of sugar cookies for breakfast. And on my way into the kitchen, I noticed a huge paper tree that had been hung in a corner of our living room…complete with a giant “merry Christmas Tete” sign, and all of our White Elephant gifts displayed underneath.  When everyone finally made their way out to the living room, we opened our stockings first. Complete with 5 BonBons, tons of candy, a lighter, a deck of cards, a bag of “magic naks” (off-brand cheetos) and a mini packet of dish soap.  Overall, we were very pleased with the stocking presents! Then, we started our White Elephant game (I’m apparently the only one who calls this game “dirty santa” so they made me switch to white elephant….for the record, I’m sticking with Dirty Santa).  Highlights included a world cup capulana, a jar of peanut butter, some American snack food, dishes, spices, seeds AND (this was the present that I ended up with!) some beautiful handmade beaded jewelry from our own little artist, Eden. I literally could never have too many earrings, so I was super excited about this.

After gifts, we moved both fans, tons of pillows and blankets into the living room to begin the Christmas movie marathon.  There was also a “food prep” table in the back of the room so that people cooking (ie. Me) could see the movies too.  So during ELF, I made homemade lasagna. During Nightmare Before Christmas, I took a nap…while Home Alone was on, we ate some kind of cheese-grit-experiment that resulted from failed corn chips….For A Christmas story, I made homemade marinara sauce….Ps this entire time, there were always at least two people asleep on the floor somewhere. We had an overall, very lazy Christmas.  After A Christmas Story, we kicked it into high gear for cooking and as we attempted to cook a pheasant our neighbors gave us. Which pretty much was just us (Eden) covering the entire bird with salt, olive oil, limes, mangos, and onions and baking it for like 2 hours. Meanwhile, I assembled the entirely-from-scratch veggies lasagna (with green peppers, onions, tomatoes and okra) and some garlic bread. Unfortunately, two of the seven of us went down early that night with a stomach bug – so the feast was just for five of us. We returned the living room to its normal state (ie sans giant pallet/nap area) and had nice dinner while we watched The Holiday (yes, I have gotten over my aversion to the Holiday).  Not to brag, but that food was BOMB. Homemade lasagna is going onto my list of successful foods that I can make here! And pheasant was pretty legit too! A little chewy, and not too much meat, but overall a success.

After The Holiday, we tried to watch Love Actually (which, as you probably know is like my all time favorite movie)….unfortunately, I can’t stay awake past 10:30 anymore, so I only got the first 45 minutes in before I passed out.  No fear though, I watched it the next morning…..

Obviously,  I was super bummed out about missing Christmas at home with my family.  And as my permanent roommate (Yessica sprenkel) so kindly pointed out, “now you know that Christmas is REALLY about family and friends” (she’s so wise!).  And it really is…As much as I would have wanted to be at home, we were all grateful that we weren’t stuck in some airport in the States being so close yet so far from our families…silver lining…. Anyways, enough of that little ramble haha!

Hope yall had as great of a Christmas as we did!  Enjoy the rest of the holiday season (where its under 100 degrees!!)

Much love from Africa!!

christmas eve eve

Out of boredom and general obsession with Christmas, I have hand sewn 7 stocking for all of the volunteers in Tete that will be spending Christmas here with us. And I’m not gonna lie, they’re pretty impressive…AND they have our initials on them.  (I’m finally a “C” now like the rest of my family lol)This took ohhhh three days. And I’m sure you’re thinking, “Why would you spend 3 whole days hand sewing stockings out of capulanas?” To which I answer, I have nothing better to do. And why stop at stockings, there are also cutout paper snowflakes everywhere. Which is ironic seeing as I haven’t stop sweating since I’ve been in Moatize…

We have inherited a gas stove from some other PCVs, which has immensely helped with “operation Christmas cookie.” However, the bruises from where I carried said (full) gas tank something 2/3 plus kilometers BACK from the gas station are still shining on my hip bones. As I told my friend Michelle (who was using tin cans to attempt to make muffins), I’m more than happy to have a little battle wound in the name of Christmas cookies. The first batch was chocolate with peanuts. They were spectacular.  

Feeding 7 people is going to be a challenge. Especially since the first few days I just ate mangos and cliff bars. BUT we have lots of goodies in the works. Aside from the Christmas cookies (which will continue to be made on a running schedule), we’re making lasagna on Christmas eve. And I mean we’re MAKING it. Like, homemade noodles. Homemade marinara sauce. MAKING IT.  So, we’ll see how it goes. Hannah has started a tortilla chip endeavor…which pretty much translates into the 2 of us sitting on the floor in my house, pounding a Ziploc bag full of corn with a ketchup bottle in an attempt to make corn flour. And that’s pretty much as far as that project has gotten…the pounding took a little longer than we expected! Ha! Shocking, I know… but I have high hopes for them this afternoon. 

Most of the Christmas’s in my life have been pretty similar (amazingly wonderful, but still traditional and standard).  Last Christmas, I would have never guessed that this is what I’d be doing right now. That I would be hosting my first Christmas…that I’d be sun burnt and perpetually sweating (instead of bundled up)… that I’d be dancing around to Christmas music blaring on iPod speakers baking cookies on the lid to a large sauce pan (who needs a cookie sheet?)….that people would be strewn about my house sleeping on the floor for Christmas eve…. Whodda thunk?!

And here we are…Kentucky, New Jersey, Michigan, Montana, California, North Carolina and Ohio representing. Throwing together an African Christmas to the best of our ability. So far, so good!

Ok gotta run. Merry Christmas to everyone back home! Miss and love you!