Life just comes in buckets.

So like with many of the things here in life in Mozambique that are simplified down to the bare minimum, so is my way of usage with water and bathroom dealings.  And how my life around this is currently set up, my life is technically run out of 3 buckets in my room.  I have my bath bucket and my drinking water bucket, that are used for obvious reasons.  And my last bucket is called my xi-xi(she-she) bucket, which unless you speak Portuguese is less harder to see the obvious meaning.  So what it is in a simple explanation, it is my midnight pisser.... Yep I get a simplified master bathroom in my room in my house in Africa.  And as grossed out as you might initially be reacting, which I did too at first, but after a few uses out of serious necessity of waking up at 3 am because the dang roosters already started chirping.  I actually became pretty happy I had such a simple luxury. 

Alright, so this is not where this post ends but rather starts with this background info.  I tell you this in advance so that you will get the full appreciation and unfortunate-ness and or gravity for the rest of the story to which it would rather not be a story worth posting at all.  One other thing, in my short time here I've quickly learned from my own and hearing other peoples' experiences that to stay sain it seems you really gotta learn to laugh at yourself. So I am currently chuckling.

When I am taking my bucket baths, outside in my open air "shower" area that is also conveniently made from the same structure that also holds our "toilet" area, I've been trying to let my bucket dry out as much as possible while I'm drying off to drip less water in the house when I go back in.  So, to help dry it out lately I was hanging my bucket upside down on a wooden pole that was attached to the bathroom structure holding my door up on its hinges.  While up there after one of my recent rejuvenating baths, the bucket slipped off and cranked upon hitting the ground putting a good size hole in the bottom.  Well me being the McGuiver I am, I decide to try out at being that resourceful volunteer that can fix anything and role with the punches.  I jimmy-rig a patch with some e-tape and cardboard for rigidity.  Looks good and I test it out the next night.  Holds water ok in the house so I go for it.  Make it to the start of bath and I see it's leaking already.  So screw it I tried and I know we have other buckets in the house.  I take it to my Mae and show here, tell her I'm really sorry.  She shrugs me off and takes the bucket form me. 

Morning after that, I return home from my morning run with a good sweat and am in need of that bucket bath.  So I stroke up to my Mae on the living room couch and ask her which bucket I could use to take my bath?  She says some stuff quite fast which I miss and points in the general direction of  both the kitchen and my room.  In the kitchen above the dish shelves are the buckets for laundry.  Cool, perfect I'll just use one of those for the time being.  I go and start taking down one of the buckets when she comes in the kitchen and tells me to stop.  I do and back away into the doorway of my room to get a view of her and ask here which bucket I should be using, I point at the laundry buckets and say, "isto?"  She shakes her head and points threw me into my room behind me and says, "isso." 

My stomach instantly drops, I know exactly what she is getting at.... I remind you, I live out of 3 buckets; one is full of my drinking water and another just broke, yeah.  So I quickly try to change her mind with my weak/broken Portuguese but nope, she sees no foul in this or reason why I shouldn't use my xi-xi bucket.  And me standing there all sweaty and with no good enough reason, the deed had to be done.  I used it, TIA(this is Africa).  

P.S. As grossed out as you might be now and I kinda don't blame ya.  I have to try and save face.  In my defense every morning after I ever used my xi-xi bucket during the night I rinsed it out with water.  But yeah, the principle is all the same...

The Trio

Bath bucket with hole

Drinking water bucketXi-Xi bucket......

Inny. Outy.

So I am about as stereotypical western as they come on my mind; Caucasian, male, brown hair, blue eyes, and I only speak English (hopefully only for the time being). While I expected to look physically very different from the Mozambiquen locals and they rarely spare any chance they get at letting me know that.  Pretty sure it's almost a universal mothers topic that they teach their children that it's not polite to stare, but what are the kids suppose to do when momma is doing the starring too.  Haha it's not something that bugs me at all.  It has been kinda of nice so far being the center of so much fascination and curiosity to so many people since for my entire life I've only been publicly seen as a basic white guy.  Even though all the girlies say, I'm pretty fly for a white guy.  

The children easily get the biggest kick out of the differences between us volunteers and them.  During my first day with my family.  My brothers must have told all their friends I was coming because we had quite the crowd for at our house while we were lounging and playing catch in the front yard.  When I would take a break from tossing the old pigskin around and sit on our front stoop the little tikes would all gather around me and begin to study me.  Their collectively biggest fascination had to be with hair difference, all body hair difference.  All the little guys must have ran their hands through my hair at least twice and the entire night when I'd turn to look at my little brother or take in the scenery I'd feel a lite touch of a hand stroking my leg or arm.  Just enough to feel the hairs without actually hitting my skin, like they were playing operation and if I was touched I'd buzz.  I let them get their fill of hands on operation because it wasn't like I was gonna be able to answer any of their most pressing questions. 

My most interesting difference though that was brought to my attention by my little brother Costa during my first night here.  So aside from all the awkward pointing, nodding, and hand sherades I had to use to communicate with my family then and the seemingly endless game for catch with the American football we played in the front yard, my little brother was just excited to be all over me all the time.  All night and even during dinner he was on my like a monkey in a tree.  Used to it though from years of chucking kids into the SJ River during SJJF summers.  Costa was at one point later in the night on top of my head and trying to get perched like a bird in a nest.  Sensing something bad about to come , I picked him up to move him to a more manageable height.  His shirt though had gotten tangled up and lifted above his stomach when doing so and it was at this moment I saw he had the largest outy (belly button) I had ever seen.  It was sticking out about an inch and half, I was fascinated and my eyes just happen to do a double take long enough for him to notice my curiosity.  Which must have led him to wonder why I found his button so interesting.  After being put down he immediately went for my shirt.  Lifting it up enough to see my button he was instantaneously AMAZED by my inny.  And I am not exaggerating how much he was blown away.  He quickly tried to jam his finger as deep as he could into my button acting like it was a door to Narnia because he was just giggling and smiling non stop while he examined me.  This new discovery was such a big deal that after pulling his hand out of my gut he immediately turned around and slapped my other brother, Pedro, in the face, who was sleeping.  Shouting at him to look at my lack of belly button. Pedro turned around, looked and was not nearly as impressed as Costa and mumbled what must have been him telling Costa he was crazy.  Though this didn't deter Costa in the least as he went right back to trying to jam more fingers and at one point a cell phone into my stomach.  I couldn't do much besides sit back enjoy the attention and laugh, and keep him from proding me in the gut with something too dangous.  

Was fun being someone's first anatomy experiment and since then we just point to each other's belly buttons and get a laugh out of it.

 Smiling just ain't cool. (Costa is on the far right)

 But they do love the camera.