As I sat in the back of the PC truck, my bags, boxes and wonderful water filter sitting a on floor next to me, curiosity was getting to me. Where exactly was my new home going to be? What is the house going to be like? What is my new host family going to be like? Is it going to be really awkward since they know that there were issues with my last host family? All questions that would be answered soon enough. We drove down the bumpy, dirt road down into the bairro where I’ve never been before. I was trying to remember all the landmarks I could since I would need to find my way back by myself after school. Then the best landmark possible was right near my house, a bring pink house and I mean flamingo pink!

The house sits off the road a little bit, so we drove down the dirt path and pulled up to the house. As we pulled into the yard I heard a loud SNAP! Not sure what the heck just happened, but pretty sure that it’s not the best way to make an entrance. I got out the back of the PC truck and looked around, sure enough the driver took out a metal clothes line. I grabbed my bags and with the help of the PC driver and my Mano(older brother) grabbing the rest of my things I was able to get everything into my room right away. Since I only had a short time between classes I only had time to meet Mano Paulo, drop off my things and head right back to class. After class I went back home for lunch and it was just Mano Paulo and me. We had some time to talk a little bit and he showed me around. Lucky for me he could speak English, this made things easier for trying to be understood and for understanding what he was trying to tell me.

The property had five buildings on it. When coming from the road along the dirt path, there is a small building made of mud and stone, with wooden posts to help support the structure and a tin roof. The wooden door is old and beat up with a large hole in it. It’s about ten feet long by five feet wide and about five and half feet high, it’s used as a storage space and an extra bedroom when people come to visit. There is a large pile of stones outside next to the spare room and two clothes lines hanging from the roof, one going to the kitchen and the other to a tree in the middle of the yard, this is the one that was taken out by the PC truck. A mud and stone walkway leads from the spare room to the kitchen, which is built the same way as the spare room. The kitchen is a little bit bigger, about 15 feet long, 8 feet wide and about 6 feet high. There are two gutters hanging from the roof in front of the kitchen, which are used to collect rain water in a big water barrel. The kitchen has a door that is part wood and part tin roofing, with two small windows on both sides of the door. When you walk into the kitchen the right part of the building is a storage area, walled off with a door. To the left just inside of the door is the two burner, coal stove that sits uneven, so they use a stick to level it out as best as possible, and it gets to be very messy and smoky when starting the coal. Along the left wall towards the back is a metal, four tier shelving unit, used to hold buckets, dirty dishes, cooking supplies and a ralar-er. To the right of the shelves are two big barrels used to store water. Along the back wall is a wooden table used to prepare all the food, and on it sits a two burner, electric stove. Just in front and on the right side of the table is another big barrel used for storing water. Behind the kitchen is a large cube rock, about two and half feet on each side, used to wash laundry on that sits on the edge of the hill in the back yard. Off to the left of the rock is the casa de banho, another building made from stone and mud. It’s about six feet by eight feet with a high eight foot ceiling. Walking in the wooden door, directly to the left in the corner is a large black cube, about four feet on each side, that is attached to floor and walls, and holds water. Along the left wall past the black cube is a large water barrel, both are used for getting water to flush the pour toilet that sits along the right side parallel to the barrel. Just past the toilet and barrel is a cement divider, about four inches high that leads into the showering area. There is a plastic, pink shower curtain with floral prints that hangs over the divider. On the left side of the shower area is a solid, cement shelf, two feet wide, two feet long and three feet high. The shelf is used to hold the black, plastic bacias(basins) used for bucket baths, and enough room for your soap and shampoo.

Off to the right of the washing rock is a few more clothes lines tied to trees and wooden posts. Following the hill down the back yard past the clothes lines and washing rock sits some trees and a field. There is a large shade tree at the base of the hill, a couple rows of banana plants running along the right side, and a row of banana plants along the left. The larger field is open and used as a machamba(garden for food).

Back up the hill to the front yard where the tree sits in the middle, there is a small rock border that squares off the two main houses. First is the smaller house that sits on the right, it’s made of brick with a tin roof. There is a window that faces out into a small dirt garden where a tree sits against the house. I never set foot in this house so I’m not sure what is inside of it. The house was built specifically for Mãe and she lives there alone. The bigger of the two houses sits to the left of Mãe’s house and the front part of it is an attachment that was built out of rocks and mud. The front of the attachment has been cemented over to give it a clean look, with two windows, one on each side of the door and a light over the door. The tin roof on the attachment is held on with large rocks sitting on top of the roof, so during heavy winds the roof will shift a little bit and it makes a lot of noise. Walking through the front door there is a wall to the left dividing a bedroom from the dining/living room and a hallway directly in front leading to two more bedrooms, one on each side. The dining room has a long wooden table in the middle, with a wooden TV stand against the middle of the wall on the right side. There is always a plastic bowl with fruit sitting out on the table. Below the TV on the stand is a shelf that holds food items like, sugar, salt, coffee, tea, and vinegar. There are three wooden chairs that go with the kitchen table, but one of the chairs is very unstable and not able to be sat in. There are also four green, plastic chairs. Plastic chairs are probably the most common type of chair in Mozambique. In the corner to the right of the TV was a plastic table that holds the dish ware and there were pots below the table. Around the kitchen were a picture of two little kids kissing and dressed like they are getting married, a picture of Michael Jackson, a religious poem, a clock with a picture of Jesus, a picture of a baby resting on it’s mother’s shoulder. There were also little labels around the kitchen in Portuguese to help PCTs get familiar with the terms. The most interesting part of the kitchen would have to be the four bags of water hanging from the wooden beams that ran over head. At first I thought that the bags were a religious thing, filled with holy water or something similar. I was later informed, by my brother, that they are used to help prevent bugs. This made sense as I saw people had bags of water tied to trees in front of their houses.
Continuing with the bedrooms, the first being the one room opposite the dining room. This is a small room where there is clothing and bags being stored, along with a bed sitting up against the wall. And heading down the hallway leads to the other two bedrooms. At the end of the hallway is the refrigerator, which is a nice luxury here. The bedroom along the left side of the hallway is my Mano Paulo and his wife’s. I never went into the room and the door was usually shut, but I did see it a couple times when I talked to Mano Paulo while he was working in there. From the little bit I could see there is a bed, dresser, a clothes line full of clothes on hangers and of course a Janet Jackson poster.

Lastly, the bedroom on the right is mine. This is a very nice large room. There are two large windows, each with two windows that opened like doors and the central part of the window did not open. Having two large windows is nice to try and get a breeze on the very hot summer days. Even sill I am sweating all the time. I have a large bed in the center on the right wall. To the right of the bed is a small nightstand and to the left is a couple small shelves for me to put my clothes on. Along the back wall on the left side is a nice desk and chair, something that is not common here. I put the majority of my things on the right side near the nightstand and have a place to hang my clothes above there. The artwork in the room is very interesting, and quite notorious as I talk to PCVs from previous years. The pictures include one of a bunch of roses, another of a little boy and little girl dressed up like they are getting married and a love poem on it. There is a picture of 2Pac next to a phone of a couple with their arms around each other on a beach and another love poem. There was a picture of what appears to be Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and a poem about God. Lastly, and probably the most well known picture of them all, is a picture of a man standing behind a woman with his arms around her, both are facing the camera, and both are topless. Something to keep in mind is that in Mozambique their idea of breast are not the same as ours, so I don’t think this picture comes across as being sexual.

I was outside brushing my teeth, getting ready for bed my first night with my new family and I couldn’t believe how bright it was. The moon was full, not a cloud in the sky. As I looked down upon the field at the bottom of the hill everything was illuminated, the trees cast shadows that danced on the ground as the cool, African breeze weaved through the night. This was one of those moments that as I stood there, I wanted to spend the night sleeping outside, enjoying a sight I know I will never forget.