Boa vinda a Moçambique!

"Say, all I need is the air I breathe, and a place to rest my head." - Onerepublic

After leaving the comforts of Hotel Kaya Kwanga in Maputo on Saturday, we arrived in Namaacha, Mozambique- our training site and homestay for the next 10 weeks. All the families came in singing and holding up post-its with our names on them, and then held our hands all the way home.
I live in Bairro B with all the other Health volunteers. I have a mai, a pai, four host sisters ages 4-20, and a host brother (22). We have electricity but no running water. My bathroom is an outdoor latrine (aka hole in the ground) with a chimney on top, and I take bucket baths no less than 3 times a day, as it is Mozambique custom to bathe before every (large) meal. (We eat three big meals a day and two small meals.) Food is generally very carb-heavy: bread, pasta, crackers, french fries, more bread... Mozambicans love to feed you, and being fat is good here. I find small cockroaches in my house sometimes, but its a part of life here. The one thing I havent gotten used to, is hearing the roosters start going off at 3 in the morning, and the big rats that scuttle around on the roof above my bed.
When I arrived at my home on the first day, I was surprised to see a Justin Bieber music video on the TV, followed by Lil Wayne and Rihanna. I visited a middle school the other day, and the students were eager to ask if I knew Beyonce and Justin Bieber personally. I guess I just cant get away from Bieber fever... even in Africa.
On a similar note, I was caught off guard to see how Westernized everything is. They refer to toothpaste as "Colgate," yogurt as "Danon," and kids run around with Nike shoes and Western brand clothing. When I met my pai, he was wearing a Miller Lite shirt.
However, Mozambicans tend to have little concept of geography (which I was warned about beforehand)... The first day I showed my family pictures from my camera. "Las Vegas" I said, pointing. My mai gave me a confused look, until my oldest sister (a teacher) clarified, "En Espana." (In Spain) Everyone nodded and then continued on scanning through the rest of the photos.
My Portuguese is improving immensely, even after less than a week of being here. It is certainly not as similar to Spanish as I expected. Now I can understand most things and even speak a minimal amount... I guess being immersed in a foreign culture will do that to you. Or maybe the 10 hours of language classes a day.
Something else I find interesting, is the difference in concept of privacy. Here, being alone is a bad thing. Mozambicans take it to mean something is wrong. However, Americans enjoy their alone time and for this reason, by the end of the first day I just wanted to shut myself in my room and journal and go to bed.
As I was taking my first bath in Mozambique, my mai walked around the corner of the bath hut and told me I was doing it wrong. I needed to tie up my hair, she said (or motioned, because I had no idea what she was saying) so she called for my sisters to get a hair tie for me. Then, before I knew it, two of them walked around the corner and I suddenly had three pairs of curious eyes on me as I was already naked and soaking wet. They finally left and I was able to finish my bath in peace.
My second bath, no such luck. Because it was dark outside, my mai had a flashlight which I assumed she would leave with me. Instead, she held it up for me and waited for me to bathe... So I did, slowly and awkwardly. After a couple of minutes, she shook her head, spewed some foreign Portuguese at me, and proceeded to bathe me, literally. She scrubbed me with her hands and a bar of soap like I was a baby. (And in many ways, I am, because I dont know how to speak or prepare food in this country- or bathe, apparently.) I didnt know who should feel more awkward, me or her, but she seemed to have no problem with it. I guess that was my introduction to Africa. Welcome to Mozambique.