November 1, 2017 was my favorite day in Mozambique, since I arrived in September 2015.
The Best Mozambican Day Ever, TBMDE, if you will.
I know this because when I laid down in my bed on that Wednesday, I thought to myself:
Wow, that was my favorite day in Moz to far.
And I was happy and told a couple of close friends about it. They were happy too.
What made November 1, 2017 so special to me, you ask? I don’t really know. Nothing overly out of the ordinary happened; on the contrary, it was just a normal day filled with some work, some play, peaceful normalcy, and lots of joy. I’ll walk you through my day and talk through all the not-super-exciting happenings that made it so good.
I woke up and went to class.
On Wednesdays, I only teach one double period of 90 minutes. It’s the first class period of the day so I arrive at 7:00am and am done by 8:35am. I like this schedule because I get to do something productive without having to be at school for hours and hours. This class was an especially fun one to teach because it let me rant about how silly math is sometimes.
I introduced imaginary numbers (i is equal to the square root of -1). The concept of the imaginary number i is pretty absurd, because by the definition of a square root, it’s impossible to find the square root of a negative number. So, someday way back when, some math dudes with no life decided to give the square root of negative one a value anyhow, so they called it a letter, and they said it was imaginary because the square root of a negative number doesn’t actually exist. But for some reason these dudes wanted it to exist so badly that they named it i for “imaginary”. *EYE ROLL*. And now hundreds of years later my Mozambican 12th graders, who will not ever need to know this in order to be successful in their future jobs, are learning it as the last topic of their entire secondary school experience.
So here I am at 7am on a Wednesday explaining to my students that sometimes mathematicians do way too much and they need to chill out. I explained to them that the letter i actually represents a number that doesn’t exist. The number/letter/thing helps us put a value to the square root of other negative numbers, which actually don’t exist either. Ranting about this was pretty fun, because they laughed at how outwardly annoyed I was at the whole concept (and I felt like a huge nerd in good way).
Successful class, and first step to TBMDE (The Best Mozambican Day Ever).
I delivered two beds to children who have slept on the floor their entire lives.
My mom and her husband, Michael, met my Mozambican family when they came to visit in April. Everybody got along swimmingly and it was really great to have my Moz and American families together for an evening. When my mom and Michael learned that the kids didn't have beds, they wanted to help. Fast forward to once the new house was finished being built, we got the beds ordered from South Africa and delivered to the house. The middle daughter, Selma, and I put the beds together and reorganized the kids' room, so that when the others got home from school everything would look nice.
Selma was super excited. The others came home a couple hours laters and were over the moon about their new beds. Joyful celebration is quite an understatement in this case. I'm so happy to have been a contributor of their pure joy.
When Mana returned from work later that day, she gave me a hug and sobbed. She is so grateful to have beds for her children, a strong house of their heads. The joy and gratitude were palpable, and it's a moment I won't soon forget.
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| Two of the kids seeing the beds for the first time. There were giggles and tears and jumping up and downs. |
Nélcia's raw reaction to her new bed:
I came home and hung out with Adozinda.
Adozinda is the lady that comes over once a week to clean up the kitchen and mop the floors and wash some of my clothes. The Mozambican word for her is emprigada, which means “worker”, but I don’t really like using that word. I guess an American would refer to her as the cleaning lady, but, besides that, she is my good friend. She is close with the nuns and her mom is the gardener that comes nearly everyday to water the crops and bring produce up to where the nuns and nuns-in-training live. Adozinda comes every Wednesday with her infant, Geraldinho, and switches off between working, drinking tea and breastfeeding. She is honest and hardworking and did not get dealt the best life hand, if you know what I mean. She has a great heart and we really care about each other.
When I got home on Wednesday, she had already finished washing the clothes and she was doing the dishes while Geraldinho was tied to her back. I began baking a cake (more on that later) and soonafter the baby started being fussy. So, Adozinda put him on the floor nearby the kitchen thinking he wanted to lay down. He relaxed and then a really cool thing happened: he met Amêndoa. She approached him very slowly and gently, let him touch her face, and gave him gentle kisses. It was a sweet and quiet moment and Adozinda and I got to witness it together.
Now that I live alone, I look forward to coming home to somebody to chat with on Wednesdays. She’s around my age and we indulge in brief neighborhood gossip, complain about how terrible the heat is, and agree that we wished puppies could stay puppies forever. I’m super glad that TBMDE happened to fall on a Wednesday so Adozinda could be a part of it. But, now that I think about it, she’s probably one of the reasons that it became TBMDE anyhow.
I got in a nice sweaty workout.
If you know me at all, I can’t label a day “the best ever” without a good workout. I followed a PopSugar Fitness Cardio Boxing Video, and then practiced some yoga. Adozinda was still here while I was working out, but I didn’t feel self-conscious. We’ve finally gotten to a point where even though I’m certain she doesn’t understand why jumping around like a nut and sweating is even a little bit enjoyable, she understands and respects my fitness routine enough to not gawk or laugh at me. Here, where the concept of exercising for the sake of exercising is so foreign, I consider that a big win.
Some students came over to celebrate my friend’s birthday.
My friend Filipe turned 34 on October 31. Typically he comes over on Wednesdays just to hang out and have some practice speaking English. He’s one of the only Mozambican men I trust to not have ulterior motives (aka I know he won’t hit on me) and we have been friends since I first got to site. Last year, he co-lead English Theater with me, too.
I told him to come on over at 15:00h, but didn’t mention that I had invited our English Theater kids over too. Five students, plus Taylor (the new volunteer that will replace me next month) and myself were all waiting for Filipe when he arrived. I baked a cake and did a pretty badass job decorating it (if I do say so myself…). It was a small white cake with chocolate frosting and white lettering: HBD Filipe! We ate the cake and sang happy birthday (in English, Spanish and Portuguese) and chatted about the school year winding down, and my upcoming going away party. It was casual, nothing over-the-top, but a really nice time.
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| Filipe and his almost-professional cake. |
Cake and friends and gratitude and English speaking students: TBMDE.
We walked to the bank and Amêndoa came with.
Nélcia (Mana Marta’s daughter and my student), Taylor, Amêndoa and I walked to the bank (30ish minutes) as the sun set. We walked slowly and joked around and sang American songs. We laughed at Amêndoa pooping in the middle of the street and were collectively relieved to see there wasn’t a long line at the ATM. We all got some fresh air and a nice view of the sunset. Nélcia told us how Mozambicans sometimes change the words to American songs when they don’t understand them. Example:
Work by Rihanna
Actual lyrics:
work work work work work
he said me have to
work work work work work
Mozambican Lyrics:
wonk wonk wonk wonk wonk
galinhas fazem
wonk wonk wonk wonk wonk
Translation:
wonk wonk wonk wonk wonk (as in…the sound that ducks make aka quack)
galinhas fazem: Chickens make [noise]
wonk wonk wonk wonk wonk (quack quack quack quack quack)
They turned Rihanna’s song about love, being used, moving on, etc…into a song about how farm animals talk. Hilarious and creative.
We laughed. A lot. Until tears came and bellies hurt. TBMDE
We played Uno at Mana’s house with the kiddos.
After we returned from the bank and dropped Amêndoa off at home, we headed over the Mana’s house to eat dinner. We sat outside on a straw mat, ate beans (MY FAVORITE), and played Uno. Uno always leads to some light banter (read: shit talking with smiles) and I always, always lose. Lindo usually wins and Angelica usually doesn’t have a clue what she’s doing (she’s the youngest). Taylor is never the winner or the loser but when she emphasizes the wrong syllable of Portuguese words on accident we all get a great kick out of it. The best way I can describe dinners on Mana’s porch is: joyful and comfortable. There is laughing and joking, and it’s the time when I feel most at home in this foreign country. Seeing Taylor get along so well with my family also made my heart happy; I think I would feel much less okay with leaving here if the volunteer replacing me sucked. Luckily, she doesn’t suck at all: she’s got a great attitude and an open mind, and she’s a little bit weird like me (aka she brought more than one pet rock with her to Peace Corps. One is named Pedro). I know that she will do well here, and both she and my family will be in great hands with each other.
Beans and Uno. I mean, really, do I have to say more about why that fits into TBMDE?
I went home and ate dessert and decided that today was the best day ever.
I left mana’s around 19:00h after it was dark, and stopped on the way home to grab some vanilla yogurt and packaged coconut cookies (my lazy dessert when I don’t feel like baking). I brushed my teeth and washed my face, then laid in bed and reflected on the day.
From the funny math rant, the the bed delivery, to Gerladinho meeting Amendoa, to Filipe’s mini birthday get-together, to the sunset walk and silly song lyrics, to semi-competitive Uno and giggles, to cold vanilla yogurt and my sweet snuggly dog in my bed, I decided that I wouldn’t have changed anything about the day.
I was able to show a good friend that even though his wife is many miles away, he is not alone. MY students gave my cake five-star reviews all around. I walked around town with my dog on a leash and felt like I belonged. My family excitedly served me beans because they know they’re my favorite. I said snarky things to Lindo and he didn’t get offended. I grew closer to the new Manjacaze volunteer, and my faith in her heart continued to be affirmed. I was able to be myself.
Throughout the day, I crossed paths with people who not only know me, but have begun to understand me. I punched air along with an aerobics video and my Mozambican friend didn’t blink an eye. I showed love in a way I prefer (little surprises) and it was accepted with the utmost gratitude. I had conversations with a person I had just met, and it felt like we had been friends for way longer than just two weeks (thanks for being you, Taylor). I obnoxiously laughed without embarrassment and when tears started streaming down my face I just laughed harder. I lost at Uno and wasn’t mad about it. I told mana that she’s the best and meant it completely.
Upon arriving at site, I wrote about how the main goal of the first three months was to “integrate into the community”. I also wrote about how I didn’t really know how to define that, or how I would know when my goal was met.
Today, I know. This little rural town has become my home. My place. And some of my favorite people live here.
Thank you Manjacaze and friends, for giving me my TBMDE.
