Weekend Update

So, lots to report this time around. On Friday night Daudo brought us home some Mozambican beer to try. One was pretty much the same as other beers, but the dark beer had an unusual flavour… coffee! Yes, coffee beer, which actually tastes better than it sounds.

On Saturday morning I went with Daudo to do the weekly house shopping. We bought a few things for the house (a non-stick frying pan, a lasagne dish and a muffin tin in the shape of hearts) and then we went to get the food. On the way there we saw a big commotion – lots of people gathering and yelling. Daudo asked what was happening and the guy said that there was a thief that has been caught. The whole street was filled with people, and you could find anymost anything being sold on the street – movies, pots, plugs, belts, jeans, etc.

They do have supermarkets here like back home, but they are more expensive, so we went to this little place tucked away downtown. It’s like an old style general store, except much bigger. We went in and sat down with a lady at the computer. We told her everything we wanted (5 kgs of rice, cereal, tuna, sugar, etc.) and then she typed it all in and gave us a print out. We took the printout to the cashier and paid the amount. Then we took the printout to another table and gave it to a guy. We sat down on a bench while the store workers went and collected all the things for us. We checked we had everything, and then made our way home.

Later that afternoon, I went with Lilian and Marco to Costa do Sol by chapa (the Mozambican matatus). Costa do Sol is a little community on the coast just outside Maputo. The beach was quite nice, though the water was quite dirty. I touched the Indian Ocean! There were a lot of small bars and restaurants along the beach, as well as people selling all sorts of things. We walked along the beach for about half an hour and then caught the chapa back home. On the was back it was so crowded that I thought my bones would break! Not so fun, but apparently Marco and Lilian made friends with the chapa driver.

For those of you who don’t know (which is probably everyone), Mozambique is having their national elections on Wed this week. There are several political parties, but the only one that really counts is Freelimo. They were the party that led Mozambique to independence and have produced Mozambique’s only 2 presidents (the first of which was a strong AIESEC supporter by the way). Freelimo has a huge backing and so really no other parties stand a chance. But campaigning here is definitely not like campaigning back home. On every wall, every lamp, every street corner, there are Freelimo posters. Guebuza, the president, is on the side of buildings, on billboards, everywhere. There are trucks of people that drive down the main streets with people singing and waving Freelimo banners. Tons of people walk around wearing Freelimo t-shirts. This morning on TV we even found out that you can buy a CD of Freelimo songs! I can’t imagine there being a song about Stephen Harper!

Lilian and I went for lunch today at Karim’s house. Karim is the president of Social Sciences at ISCTEM. Afterwards, we met up with Marco to go to a Freelimo concert that was being held in a park nearby. We wanted to see Guebuza and hear some local musicians. Unfortunatly, by the time we got there, most of it was over, but there were still a lot of people there cheering about Freelimo and littering the poor park with posters and flyers and postcards and envelopes of Guebuza.

Last night we decided to make banana muffins. The turned out very well, and looked very funny as little hearts (since the only muffin tin we could find was in heart shapes). Now tonight there is a thunderstorm outside with some sheet lightning. Hopefully it will be gone by tomorrow since Lilian and I have to walk to ISCTEM.

This week we are doing more classroom presentations and continuing with recruitment, plus doing some interviews. Wednesday is a holiday though, because of the election so we have only four days to get everything done.

Tchau!


The view from Costa do Sol

Some observations

During the days I always see things and think “Oh, I should write about that on my blog” and then when I actually sit down at the computer, I can never remember what it was. Such is the case now, but I have thought of a few things to share with you.

The sidewalks here are very wide, yet there is never enough space to walk and we often end up walking on the edge of the street instead. The main reason is the cars, as I mentioned before. But there are also a lot of people selling fruits, vegetable, extension cords, paintings and several other random things on the sidewalks. Also, every five steps you find someone (usually a young guy) selling cell phone credits for one of the two companies.

On the way to ISCTEM, the university where Lilian and I are working right now, we pass by a policeman who stands in a little booth. Around the booth is a box painted in red on the sidewalk. Nobody is allowed to walk through this box. If you do, he yells at you to get out. One day Lilian asked him why he had the box. He replied that if people were in his box, he couldn’t do his job. Maybe there is some good reason for it, but it is still pretty funny seeing this guy there everyday protecting his little red box.

The other university, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM), is a lot bigger and is sitting in a large field of sand. It’s like walking through a dessert to get there. Marco is working there right now. We did some presentations last Friday and he has been receiving a lot of applications. At ISCTEM things are moving a little slower. We finally have our posters up, and this week we are presenting to classes. Just two applicants so far, but we are expecting many more over the next couple of weeks. A lot of the students seem very interested in AIESEC, which is awesome. It will be a matter of making sure we select the right people to get us started.

Finally we are starting to interact with the students and get a better understanding of them. Of course the others have the advantage, since I can’t talk to all of them… yet. One thing that surprised me a little is the variety of people here. In Kenya, pretty much everyone was black with the odd mzungu around. Here, there is a lot more variety. Everything from very dark to very light, with a large Indian and Middle Eastern community. If I showed you a picture of the students here, I doubt anyone would guess they were Mozambican. There are also a lot of Portuguese people here. And of course the odd Asian as well. So overall, much more diverse than Kenya was.

Speaking of Kenya, I was thinking this morning about what I missed from there that isn’t available here. Not including specific people (because that is not fair), I have to say I miss the English (duh) and also the Kenyan tea. I guess that what I get for going to a former Portuguese colony… no tea culture. The downtown of Nairobi is cleaner than the downtown of Maputo, including garbage and air quality, as well.
Daudo mentioned at lunch today that just yesterday he witnessed some corruption in action. He said that we has shocked that the two men discussed their “arrangement” right in front of him, like it was not big deal. Just goes to show why an organization like AIESEC in so important for countries like Mozambique.

And lastly, because I always end up writing too much, something completely non-AIESEC and non-Mozambique related. I have become totally addicted to Great Big Sea! I can’t stop listening to them J Also, I finished Davita’s Harp last Thursday and really enjoyed it. On Friday I started The Picture of Dorian Gray and I finished it on Sunday night. I am going through my books much too fast! We have more free time in the evenings that I expected and no internet at home, so I have been doing a lot of reading. I might have to make a trip to South Africa to stock up!

P.S. Tried to upload a picture but 20 min later no pic. Sorry.

OK, here is the picture that wouldn't upload yesterday, to demonstrate what I meant about the parking :)



And for Bonnie... some bats we found in the park!

Team Days and First Week

So the free Internet in our apartment died and now we are a little more limited in terms of access.

We spent the last weekend on our team days. We stayed at home and talked about our goals and plans for the next few months. On Friday morning, our session included walking around downtown and seeing some of the tourist sites of Maputo. We saw the City Hall and a nice white church. The a house made entirely out of iron and designed by the guy who did the Eiffel Tower. Turns out it wasn’t such a good idea though, as nobody has ever been able to live there because of the heat. Now it is a ministry for the government. We went to a park where you are not allowed to walk on the grass (what a waste!) but it has trees from all over the country and some of them are really gorgeous. Then we went to see the war memorial and train station (apparently the 6th most beautiful train station in the world) Then we wandered over to the Municipal Market, where they sell vegetables, fruits, meats, fish, seafood and cheese all fresh made. It’s quite the place! And apparently very cheap, though we didn’t buy anything.

On Saturday we went to a large store near the coast, so I had my first glimpse of the Indian Ocean. We bought a few things for the house and then continued with our sessions back at home. At the end of the Team Days Daudo gave us some videos and letters from our friends back home with words of encouragement. It was so sweet! Thank you guys!

Now we are on our first real week of work. Lilian and I are working at ISCTEM, which is a private university specializing in science and technology. The boys are at UEM, the largest public university. These first weeks are all focused on recruitment, which is my department, so I have been doing a lot of planning. Lilian is making the posters and flyers, Daudo and Marco are coordinating the other campus. Next week we are going to visit the classes and tell them about AIESEC. Things will be crazy for a couple of weeks and at the end we hope to have selected the new executives for two new local committees here in Maputo!!

We have also been busy filling out house. We have bought garbage cans, pots, plates, bowls, spices, sugar and a million other things. It’s seems like every time we leave the house we return with something new. We finally got a stove!! So now we can cook out own food instead of always eating out. We also got a TV because Daudo likes to watch the news. We just have the antenna stations, and it is all in Portuguese so I haven’t really watched much. I haven’t done any baking yet because we don’t have any baking pans, but I’m hoping to get some soon and fill the house with muffins and cookies J We had a little trouble with some small uninvited guests in our house, but we have been slowly dealing with them.

Hmm, what else. One random thing: It is strange to have a person named Marco in my house. Every time someone calls “Marco!” I think that he should reply “Polo!”.

I mentioned last time about the crazy parking on the streets. Well I found out why that is. Apparently until very recently only the very wealthy had cars. Then Japan came up with the brilliant idea of selling their used cars in East Africa. All of a sudden anyone with $500 could buy a car. The wave of cars was so fast that nobody had time to develop any kind of system for it.

The main streets are kind of interesting as well. They have two lanes going each direction in the middle, then a barrier on each side with breaks every once and a while, with one more lane on the outside. I saw the same things on the Marginals of Sao Paulo. The idea is that if you are going a ways, you stay in the middle so the traffic flows. If you need to turn off, you go on the outside lane, which moves slower.

Even though it is quite hot here (though today was unusually cool) nobody seems to wear shorts. Like Egypt I guess. The office we have been working (temporarily, until our office is ready) has super duper air-conditioning and is SOOO cold! We have been walking to the office, Lilian and I, each day. It’s about 30-40 min depending how fast we walk. Today on the way home we of course stopped of in this big store full of cheap imported stuff from China and bought some more things for the house.

The cell phone system here is just nuts. There are two companies. One old (Mcel) and one new (Vodacom). Every few days, one of them just stops working for no apparent reason. Because of this, almost every Mozambican carries two cell phones, one of each company. Cell minutes are a lot more expensive here than they were in Kenya! There it was 1 shilling per minute, which would be the same as 50 cents per minute here. Yet it’s more like 6.5 Meticais per minute! But on the other hand, you can buy a big bag of fresh vegetable for about $2.

Last thing and I promise I will stop. Portuguese is the official language, but people in different regions of the country speak different local dialects which are mixed with African languages. When bargaining on the street, the sellers know they can charge you more if you can’t speak the dialect. Even Daudo can’t speak it because he is from the north. Luckily for us Vera speaks it, so she does most of our “street shopping” and gets good prices.

And I’ll stop before you all explode. Till next time!

Oh P.S. The other day I wanted to order peach juice, and I was thinking the word "peach" so I said "sumo de peixe por favor" but peixe is not peach, it's fish! Mmm, fish juice!

The apartment

So yesterday evening, after a long day of running around and picking up bags from various places, we moved into our new apartment. We are on the third floor of a something like 8 story building on one of the main avenues of the city. That means things are pretty close and we can walk most places.

The apartment has three bedrooms. The biggest one was claimed by the boys (how did that happen?) and the girls are in the smaller second bedroom for now. The previous owners were in a bit of a rush to leave, and didn’t finish removing everything, so they stashed a bunch of stuff in the third bedroom and will come back for it later. Once we get it back, it will either be another bedroom for me or Lilian, or we will make it the office. The office was our original plan, but Lilian and I are a little squished in the second room so we will see.

The apartment came furnished, but we will have to change a few things. Some things are a little old and we have done some rearranging. There are screens on all the windows and doors so we don’t have to worry too much about bugs. Our room (the girls room) has a big closet but no shelves. There is a big double bed right now, but ideally we will change it for two singles. There are also two end tables, a chair and a chest (full already). The boy’s room is basically the same except a little bigger and they have a balcony. There are two bathrooms, but one is much nicer than the other. We have hot water and good pressure.

The living room and dining room are together. The dining room was really crowded when we arrived because they had a big table with a long chest and a long display is a long skinny room. The boys took the long chest into their room, so now we can move the table out a little and have more space. The living room has a stone coffee table, a couch and three chairs, all bright orange! There is another balcony as well. Off of the living room is the third room. The kitchen is a little small. It has a stone counter, single sink, an oversized fridge/freezer, a table and chairs and a shelf-type thing. The light is broken right now, so it’s a little dark. Behind the kitchen is the area for washing clothes and hanging them to dry.

The lady who works at the house is named Vera and we have yet to decide exactly how we will work with her. Today she was here in the afternoon with us. We went to the office in the morning for a meeting at ISCTEM and then stopped to buy some things on the way home. We have a lot of things we need! Plates, cups, cutlery etc. The furniture is included but we have to get the rest. So we loaded up with stuff and spent the afternoon cleaning and doing some unpacking and organizing. There is still a lot to be done though before it really feels like home. Especially when we know the other people are going to come back to get their stuff still. This weekend we are having our team days and then next week it’s back to the office for lots more AISEC work.

Cultural tidbit for today: The cars here are parked everywhere. On the side of the street, on the sidewalk and even on the median in the centre of the road. It’s pretty strange to see.

Primeras Dias

Four days now here in Maputo. I left Nanaimo at around noon on Wednesday and flew that night to Seattle. Early the next morning it was off to Washington. I was hoping for a nice view flying in, but I couldn’t see anything of note, except some baseball diamonds. A couple ours later it was off again, this time to Dakar in Senegal. We had to stay on the plane while they refuelled though, so again I didn’t really get to see anything. Then on to Johannesburg. The Joburg airport is really amazing, so new and modern and huge! Some guys from the national team (MC) of AIESEC in South Africa came to pick me and took me around the city a little. Then we went back to their house and I tried to sleep. I had to get up early again the next morning though, because I had one more flight to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, my home for the next months.

The airport in Maputo, we’ll say, was not quite up to the standards of Joburg. It was a small, one story building that looked to be from the 70s or so. I walked to the terminal and went through the passport control and then had to scan my bags again on the way out. My team hadn’t arrived yet, so I waited for a little while outside the airport and some locals talked to me, or at least tried to, in a mixture of broken English and broken Portuguese. Then my teammates arrived, Daudo and Lilian, along with an AIESEC alumnus from Portugal and a random guy from Zimbabwe that somehow tagged along.

We dropped off my stuff at an alumni’s house, where I would be staying with Lilian for the first few days. Then we went apartment shopping, and found one with three bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room and area for laundry, for about $500 per month, which is a very good deal. It’s about a 20 min walk from downtown and a 30 min walk from the office.

Then we went to Daudo’s aunt’s house, by chapa (Mozambican matatus). It was very squished but we met a guy who spoke English and was very nice. Everyone was looking at us as we spoke English on the chapa. At Daudo’s aunt’s we had Xima (Mozambican ugali) and some other traditional foods. His four-year-old cousin is sooo cute! Then we headed back to town to our host’s place and had dinner with her and some of her family. Her place in on the 7th floor of a building (with no elevator) and has a really nice view of the city.

On Sunday we were invited for Daudo’s uncle’s birthday party. We drove with his cousins to a place a little ways out of town where a lot of his family were gathered and had a huge lunch with salads and meats and some pasta and lots of snacks and desserts. We stayed their the whole afternoon, just talking and watching everything. Once it got dark we headed back to town.

The next day Daudo came to pick us up and then we were to go back to his uncle’s place for a meeting, but we somehow managed to get distracted walking around town and stopping for lunch and taking some pictures. Once we finally arrived we had a short meeting to discuss recruitment. Then we went out for dinner with the Portuguese alumnus that had picked me up on Saturday. He gave us lots of tips for living in Maputo.

Yesterday (Tuesday) we walked to ISCITEM, the university where we will have our office and start our first local committee. We met with the executive director briefly, and I was astonished to discover he is from Chemainus!! Then we met with the president of the Junior Enterprises, who was very nice and eager to help us out. Our office wasn’t quite ready yet, but it will have internet and a phone. We walked around downtown by Maputo Bay and ran a few errands, stopping for lunch at a huge and very new mall (Maputo Shopping). In the afternoon we cam back “home” to do a little work and plan the next few days. As we are moving today (Wednesday) to our new place, last night we took our lovely host out to dinner. She picked a place a little out of town, part of the casino. It was incredible. I had a steak that was probably the best I have ever eaten in my life! And it was about $10! Very delicious!

Today we are doing a little work this morning (or in my case, finally updating my blog). This afternoon we are off to the bus station to pick up Marco at the bus station and then tonight we are moving to our new apartment! Hopefully everything will go well, and it will nice to be able to unpack and get ourselves established. We will have to do some shopping this weekend to buy things for the house, but we should be up and running shortly. The maid debate still continiues, and should be resolved this weekend (most Mozambican houses keep a maid, but I don’t think we need one). This weekend we also have our Team Days, to get to know each other and to start doing some more detailed planning now that we are more familiar with the city and how things work here.

OK, so that covers what I have done. I also have tons of observations about the city and the people here. I think I’ll save them for next time because this is already pretty long. I will just start with this:

The main streets in Maputo are all named after famous communists. Karl Marx avenue (where we will live), Vladimir Lenin avenue, Salvador Allende avenue, and even Ho Chi Minh avenue!

I’ll try to write more as soon as I can. We are looking into possibilities to get internet at home, but it will be a little while before we decide and get it set up. Hopefully pictures to come too.

Bye for now from sunny and warm Maputo!

Edit: Just FYI, it is 39 degrees today in Maputo. Melting... even inside....

Back in Action

Hello again! It's been six months since my last post, but as most of you already know, I'm heading back to Africa in just under two weeks. This time I'm off to Mozambique, in the south east corner of Africa.

I'll be working on the Expansion Team for AIESEC there. AIESEC, which I have been working with for more than 5 years now, is present in over 100 countries around the world. AIESEC was started in Mozambique in 1999, but after a couple years it dissolved due to various problems. So 10 years later we are going to try again!

Our team is headed up by a Mozambican who discovered AIESEC in Portugal. We also have a Portuguese guy and a Brazilian girl and, of course, me. I'll be doing Talent Management and Exchange, which means I'll be in charge of recruiting, training and tracking members, helping them to learn and then (hopefully) go on an international experience. Should be a great challenge.

I'm flying on Sept 30th, arriving on Oct 3. and staying until next July (assuming no visa problems). It'll be intense right from the start, getting used to a new environment and getting AIESEC started. The students go on their summer vacation soon after we get there, so we have to be quick!

I think Mozambique will be similar to Kenya, with local flavour. The language is Portuguese, so I will be brushing up and doing a lot of learning right away. As for other similarities and differences, you can bet I will be discussing them here once I see for myself.

I don't know what the Internet will be like there, but I hope to be able to write updats on a fairly regular basis. As always, I look forward to and encourage your comments!