rain and honey

You know, I imagined this differently. I imagined diving headfirst into the glorious lake of African culture and community... Sure, the temperature's a little hard to get used to but before you know it I'm swimming laps with the colorful inhabitants, becoming one of them...
I never imagined that, after splashing around a bit I'd back hugging the shore, more of a cranky wet cat than a graceful cultural mermaid.
After all the stiff tediousness and technicality of training, I hoped to be able to hit the ground running, never expecting to get deposited at site like a flailing upside down turtle.
My professional accomplishments thus far into my service: I've read two health books and interviewed one neighbor about her daily schedule...(In other words, none)
My personal accomplishments: I've set up most of my house, read five fiction books, bought a fridge, and otherwise gone pretty broke.
For some reason, I have a hard time budgeting in meticais... Probably because everything seems so cheap but then adds up. And, as I've complained about before, Peace Corps does not give me more money for opening up a brand new site (hence the abandoned flailing turtle metaphor). I've reached into my own funds (hellooo international transaction fees) to buy two (hefty) things I will need over the course of two years- a fridge, and a bookcase. The bookcase is in the process of being made; the carpenter said it'll be ready next week which means I should expect it sometime in March. I asked for the most simple bookcase possible made out of the cheapest wood and it's still costing me $100 (I'm talking US dollars for your sake, dearest blog readers). But at least the six stacks of books and manuals currently on the floor will have a home away from the cockroaches. (Who knew cockroaches could be such intellectual creatures? They like to live inside the spiral bindings of my health manuals- ironic, no?)
The fridge, I decided long ago, is a must. Health and sanity at the cost of $450 is well worth it, although presently slightly depressing to think about. (My poor little bank account...) Yogurt, cold water, leftovers, produce that doesn't go bad in two days, all very necessary.
Hopefully, my spending slows down in the next couple of months as I finish the last of my house purchases. Unfortunately, unexpected expenses keep arising. For example, re- installing electricity in front of and behind my house because the bulbs are there but the lines were cut. For example, buying a new kitchen plug extension after the last one exploded during a power surge. For example, buying a new full length mirror after the last one fell off the wall and shattered into a million pieces (that the grown neighbor women later went digging through the trash pit for, to keep the big pieces). And, for example, constant Peace Corps reimbursements. Buy a bed frame, a table and two chairs, get a fence made, get a bike, get a language teacher, we'll reimburse you a few weeks after you send us your receipt. It's all very bewildering to me why they think I have so much money to front, even temporarily.
So anyway. Point is- progress is slow. I have to do things in stages, month by month, to make sure I also can afford well, FOOD. Table and chairs I have to buy next month with my living allowance. Bed frame, done and reimbursed last month. Bike is a no go, too much sand here. But I am getting a language teacher, I've decided. I met a Portuguese professor in the neighborhood, Raymundo, who can also teach Changana, the local language. Yoko (the japanese volunteer) and I both want to learn so we have set up a tutoring schedule with Raymundo who, failed to show up on time the first day (as Mozambicans are apt to do). I spent the session at Yoko's house, trying to learn what she already knows, because she's had an 8 month head start. Learning with someone else will give me more motivation than one on one tutoring, I think.
This week schools start back up again. It's kind of a mess really, with parents all trying to register their kids on the last day (when they've had months to do it), teachers having meetings that don't start until at least 2 hours after they're supposed to (sucks for education volunteers like Erica and Alycia), teaching schedules not even made until the day school starts! Sometimes, im glad im health; my schedule is more lax (too lax right now, to the point of non existence) and more community based. Well, ideally.
Back to the wet cat. The kids don't come around much, they find me boring because I just sit in the house all day and read. The men I rarely talk to because I'm suspicious that they'll turn out to be creeps (I'm usually right). The older generations only speak Changana. The preteen and teenage girls are really bratty- they like to say stuff to me in Changana, and when I ignore them they call my name over and over and over. There actually aren't that many girls my age around, I'm not sure why. The ones I've met aren't necessarily the people I'd choose to be friends with... They look me up and down with a shrewd eye, insist that I have a lot of money, and ask me for things.
Community integration is thus stalled by several factors: local language barrier, interchangeable heavy rain or intense heat, lack of open target population, my laziness...
I think that, were I to live with another Peace Corps volunteer, I would never leave the house. Mozambicans sit outside a lot while cooking, washing clothes, washing plates, eating... I haven't gotten into the habit of that yet. If I did I think it would make me more accessible, but I currently only have one chair (working on it) and that means no seat to offer my visitors when they stop by.
I have a friend who owns a shop in Xai Xai, who has offered to let me borrow a table with four chairs, for all two years I am here. (yay no spending money!)
Another unexpected free gift I've been given this week, has been a puppy. I asked for a boy but got a girl, so I hope that when (not if; there really is no spaying or neutering available here) I end up with more puppies the new Peace Corps volunteers will be arriving for me to pawn them off to...
So yes. The new puppy's name is Mel, which means honey. She's rather placid and flea bitten- I immediately gave her a bath which she gave no protest to, and I peeled a handful of fleas and ticks off her. She has some bald spots where I assume she scratched at nonstop.
Along with this pretty new girl, comes good ol Xima, the puppy I attempted to semi adopt before but who has never found my house interesting enough to stay at... Until now.
I have also been promised a kitten this week (male, please please please) by a friend of the person who gave me Mel. That's... All of a sudden a lot of mouths to feed. I am now mama viv, mother of three, or zookeeper viv, whatever you want to call me.
I do have one little problem though. I asked my Changana speaking empregada to go buy me flour (to mix with fish) for the animals and she came back with chicken feed. Now I don't know what to do. Oh, and the fish that Erica bought for me yesterday and didn't have room in her mini fridge for, came to me loaded with maggots. Now I have frozen fish slash frozen maggots in my freezer, extra protein for my new children.