Okay, from the title it might seem like this is going to be an inane or awkward (or both) blog post, which are both most likely true. The thing is that I haven´t updated in a while and often when I do it mostly consists of random musings and spouting streams of consciousness instead of actual concrete writing about day to day life in Mozambique. I often want to write about such things, but then it is frustrating to even attempt to put into words the things that I experience here on a daily basis so then I end up just not writing anything at all. But I have had a few requests so here comes inane topic number one: getting clean.
I love hot showers. A lot. Hot showers are nice. But then I moved to Mozambique. The preferred method of bathing here is the banho–portuguese for bath–which involves a bacia (bucket) with some water in it and if you are lucky, a cup to use to dump the water over your body while you squat awkwardly next to the bacia and try not to fall over. (Sometimes there´s no cup and you are just supposed to splash it on yourself… don´t even get me started on that one.) My first time doing this in Namaacha at my host family´s house involved me going to the casa de banho outside, whose walls are only about six feet high and my house is on a hill, so my neighbors could definitely take a peek if they wanted. (And I know the little kids did…”Hey, look at the crazy naked white chick!” Awesome.) I pulled off my clothes, tried to splash enough water on my face and head so that it looked like I actually bathed myself, and then went back inside. Success! (I think it took me a week of practice before I could actually shampoo my hair… gross.) But anyway, it is definitely an acquired talent and something I became quite proficient in with my ten weeks at homestay. Although I did miss running water… enough to write a poem about it, which I will post here if my mom (the sole possessor of this priceless piece of work) will send it to me. It is also important to note that Mozambicans take cleanliness VERY seriously. Everyone bathes two times a day, or three when it is hot out (before every meal time). Many people think of the white people as dirty because many of us don´t see the problem with taking just one bath a day, especially when you aren´t dirty or sweaty. But to Mozambicans this is unacceptable, so you go through the motions anyway–no one wants to be thought of as the dirty mulungu (white person). But that´s what you will be thought of anyways, so it´s better just to not fight it. Especially because you probably suck at bucket bathing anyway, and therefore actually ARE a dirty mulungu. T.I.A.
But then I moved to Vilankulo, where I was greeted by the TRUE Peace Corps Jackpot: a SHOWER!!! With RUNNING WATER!!! And good water pressure!!! This is a rarity for many PCVs, especially in Mozambique. Now I had never been into the cold shower thing, so the first couple times were a bit painful–although the water was almost lukewarm, considering it sits in a HUGE (read: ten feet tall) black plastic container that sits in our compound and bakes in the sun all day. So for the next couple of months, I was able to live in the blissful peace of cleanliness rather than realizing I still had a chunk of shampoo in my hair and had just used the last of the two inches of water in the bucket… good times indeed.
Então. This is all well and good but one thing I failed to really conceptualize in my first few months in Mozambique is–it gets COLD here. FREEZING. Okay, it´s probably like 70 degrees mais ou menos. But when you spend a few months in humid, tropical, African summer, the seemingly 30+ degree tempature swing is overwhelming for your body at the least. The last few nights, I have been sleeping under my sheets and two thick blankets, while also wearing pants, a tank top, a flannel shirt, socks and sometimes even a sweatshirt to bed. (Bamboo houses don´t exactly retain warmth). This is in contrast to January where I would fall asleep on top of my bed wearing as little as possible, and would wake up in the night when the power would cut out, because my fan would turn off and I would start sweating profusely. Sexy. But while this cooler season is wonderful, it also means something else…
My shower is now absolutely freezing. FREEZING. As in occasionally when I get in, I scream out of necessity (singing at the top of my lungs helps a bit too, however I don´t want to do that to my roommate, or all the Mozambicans who hang out right outside the fence). But the choice becomes either suffering through a frigid shower that will take your breath right out of your chest but take less than ten minutes and leave you relatively clean, OR take a bucket bath, which involves ten minutes to prepare the water, at least that long to take and then on top of that I am pretty much guaranteed to still have soap in my hair or still be dirty. And additionally, I have not been taking bucket baths for the last four and a half months, so I am a bit rusty–I tried this week and at one point completely missed my head with my cup of painstakingly heated water. FAIL. So this is the choice I end up making. And it is definitely an internal (and a physical) battle–I am trying to use visualization techniques to get me through it. I imagine a serene, peaceful morning, standing on the top of a glacier. I feel the ice beneath my bare feet, and the icy wind blows by me, stinging my cheeks. Then I gracefully execute a swan dive into the icy water, getting swept over an icy waterfall, submerging myself in the refreshingly icy Arctic sea as i try to avoid the large chunks of ice that float by me in my little swim through Antarctica.
Maybe this visualization is not really helping.
Regardless, I am getting toughened up. And realizing how lucky I am to have a shower in my house. And laughing at how when you join the Peace Corps and move to Africa, little routines like getting clean, that you never even paused to think about in the States, become important enough to you to warrant a blog post, perhaps more for my own entertainment than anyone else´s. But I´m done now. And I promise, if anyone comes to visit, I will prepare a kickass bucket bath for you. Hot water and all. 
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