Seattle to Mozambique

I’m alive and well but without regular access to email . I don’t know if this will change anytime soon so these entries might be even more sporadic. Things are going well but I’m starting to feel the intensity that comes with this job. It is a lot of work and then a lot more work on top of that. Then I have to squeeze in my dissertation in the off moments as I sit around and boil in the heat.

Everyone has been asking about the food. I’m afraid that I haven’t had very little traditional food. I finally had real Mozambican food last night. I went over to Flora’s house, who is a nurse and runs many of our maternal health programs. She cooked massa, a typical Mozambican/African dish which is essentially corn flour and water mixed together to make a paste. I liked it despite hearing from many others that it was awful. I thought it was much better than rice. That was accompanied by a bean and vegetable stew and some beef with tomato sauce. It was a really good meal. Yum. I ate my food with my fork but I think next time I’m going to dig in with my fingers like my Mozambican colleagues. I love to eat with my fingers.

The coffee here really is bad. Bad bad. Luckily I did bring a couple packets of Hawaiian coffee but it is going to be a sad day when this runs out. I did finally figure out where to buy vegetables without having to go to the big South African supermarket. Wendy and I went on a search for hot peppers and realized that just around the corner from the Guest House there were many people selling all the things I love…collard greens, potatoes, carrots, onions, nuts, and yummy fried potato things.

I’m having difficulty deciding on a place to live. Right now I have three options. 1) a two-bedroom apartment above the offices in the center of town 2) a huge house by the beach 3) a room in the house of a fun bubbly woman who works at the hospital. Here are the things to consider (I would welcome thoughts on this):

-The city apartment is secure and I could have access to HAI cars because there is a place to park them. The drawback is that during the weekend the whole place is kind of a ghost town. The upside is that it doesn’t feel too big, it’s close to markets, and its close to work.

-The huge house by the beach is by the beach  but I’m not really a huge beach person. I could park a car there but I would need to commute into work. Living alone in such a huge place would feel weird and lonely. It would also feel like the most imprisoned/colonial option. The upside is that I would have lots of room for visitors.

-The room in the house of Laurinda has its definite benefits. It is in a neighborhood outside of town that is a REAL neighborhood. Not like the beach house which is in a neighborhood of closed walls, lots of ex-pats and not much life on the streets. This neighborhood has people, corner bars, and lovely fruit trees. The drawbacks are that it is far from work and I would not have a space of my own. I would have to take two chapas (minivans that pack pack pack people in) to get to work. I also wouldn’t be able to use HAI cars because there is no secure place to park them. But the huge thing…I am starting to think that I really want a space of my own. It has been so long since I’ve lived by myself. It would be nice to have my own space and my own things. Laurinda lives with her 5-year old daughter and I would have my own bedroom but I would still feel like a visitor in the rest of the house.

Those are the options. If you have suggestions/opinions I would love to hear them. Now I’m off to work again. Hopefully there won’t be so many power-outages today. The battery on my laptop is not the best in the world.