Castigo, O Canalizador  
Or Punishment, the Plumber

So, while Moz19 PCVs are living it up in Maputo for Mid-Service Conference, yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Castigo, o canalizador, which translates as "Punishment, the Plumber."  I suppose the name Castigo could also be interpreted as "I punish" or "The Punisher."  But no matter how you render the Portuguese, there's no way to sugar-coat it.

Canalizador sounds real fancy, though.

                                   

Here's what happened:  Monday morning I woke up to the noise of water pouring somewhere in my bathroom.  Sunday, before folks came over for Texas Hold'em, I had asked friends to bring me tools to fix the leak in my faucet.  No one, unfortunately, had a screwdriver, which was necessary to unlock and fix the leaky faucet.  And since everything is closed on Sunday, there's no other choice but to wait till the next day.  What was a leak then became Vic Falls the following day.  I called PC staff Osvaldo, thinking that no one at UCM would be able to help (most are still on vacation).  Osvaldo was right on the ball, calling me back within a few minutes, informing me that a UCM plumber was on his way and texting me the number of his UCM contact.

So, along came Punishment, the plumber.  Of course, it took him a good 3 hours to arrive at around 11am.  And when he did, he estou a pedir'ed for a knife, because he didn't have a screwdriver himself.  In fact, he brought no tools whatsoever.  He diagnosed the problem, and told me he'd be back with the necessary tools.  This was close to lunch time, so he wouldn't return till 3pm.

Meanwhile, I filled up two big vacias (buckets), collecting the water from my sink.  I could have filled four more, had I more vacias.

Castigo arrived in the afternoon and he proceeded to switch the leaky faucet with the good one.  I tried asking him the rationale behind this, because I would still have the leaky faucet on the other side of the sink.  With his husky voice, he explained it'll work on the other side, which was no explanation at all.

When Castigo finished switching the two faucets in the sink, no water came out.  Great, I thought.  At least there's no more leaking.  It turns out that FIPAG (Fundo de Investimento e Património do Abastecimento de Água / Investment Foundation and Patrimony for the Sourcing of Water) had shut off the water, which they regularly do at night from 9:30pm to 6am--not at 4pm.

So Castigo left around 4pm.  A couple of hours later, when the water came back on, I saw a puddle on my bathroom floor.  The leak in the faucet was replaced by a leaky tube under the sink.  When I touched it, the casing that held the tube to the wall broke, and the water burst.  Now I had Lake Niassa on my bathroom floor.  

I called Castigo, told him the situation, and asked that he come back.  He said he would come tomorrow at 8am.  Fine, I told him.  I'll just shut off the water valve from the outside of the house--something he had shown me on his second visit that day.  So I did.  Got back to the house.  Started mopping the water that now flowed to the hallway outside the bathroom, when I got a call from Castigo.  He'd keep breaking off, had a bad reception, but I got the message that he was in a chapa and was coming to my house.  After about an hour of mopping the floor, Punishment finally arrived, for the third time that day, to save the night.  

Well, sort of.  He again had to diagnose where the leak was, so I had to go out to switch the main water valve back on.  I had to turn the valve on and off three times, which re-produced Lake Niassa on my floor, before he determined that the tube cannot be salvaged and that he would need to plug that one pipe.  He plugged the pipe with some sort of clay padding, which needed to dry over-night.  I asked Castigo if the padding was sufficient and told him I would call him again tomorrow if it wasn't.  I was truly astonished that he came back that evening, and thanked him for doing so as he left my house.  

At the end of the day, as I took my cold bucket bath, I just wondered, how are the showers in Pensão Martins where the 19ers are staying for their Conference in Maputo?  What orgiastic all-nighters could they be ensconced in right now?  And how the hell did I piss off the gods that they'd send me Punishment three times in one day?

M.I.A. for MSC

Alright, so I’m not going to Mid-Service Conference (MSC) in Maputo.  I see why not: I’ve already done all the medical, the dental, the labwork, the stool samples, and so on and so forth the week before I left for my 30-day leave in the states.  Now, I’ve never had any “mid-service” training, because we had to leave the country (Cape Verde) during the middle of our service to re-start again for “Pre-Service Training.”  I’ve ranted about this before; I won’t do it again.  But I would guess that MSC sessions deal with reflections on our first year of service, possible challenges in our second year, things to be done differently.  I certainly don’t want nor need to re-do any of the medical stuff, and I wouldn’t want to sit through any of the sessions either, but I would so totally do it all if I could meet up with all the Moz19ers again.

            Okay, so this isn’t exactly my second year of service.  Or is it?  I mean, this is my 2^nd year in Mozambique, though it is my 3^rd year with Peace Corps.  But really it’s my 1^st year in a new site, in the city of Chimoio.  If that makes any sense.

            It is probably better to just stay at site.  Since I’m the only CV transfer left, perhaps it’s better to keep Moz19 MSC, purely Moz19.  No need to pollute the crowd with Cape Verdean blah blah blah.  Plus, there are a bunch of good reasons to stay at site.  One, I actually like it here.   I don’t have this aching need to fugir (flee) like I did back in Cuamba.  And I still need to figure out how the system works at UCM where I’ll be working.  I’m also still just getting settled in a new house.  I find myself actually nesting, putting a bit more effort into making the place feel like home. 

            Still, I would really, really like to see all the Moz19ers again. 

            Maybe for COS in September 2014.  But here again, PC might say I’ve COSed (“Close of Service”) already.  Twice!  I will ask and pedir (beg) Peace Corps to let me participate in Moz19 COS, but it’s quite likely that I’ll never see the Moz19 group whole again. 

            So come visit me in Chimoio!  For those visiting from the south and central, I may request that you help cover the cost of utilities.  Does 50mts a night sound reasonable?  For those coming from the north, I think you deserve a special discount (i.e. stay for free).  You just need to get here first, Norte Forte.

Back in Mozambique

And glad to be back.  Last month I celebrated Christmas with folks in the states.  My parents were happy to see me, but not so happy that I wasn’t staying.  It’s hard to convince them that the distance between us is good for me, for all of us, and that I’m actually happier living and working abroad.  Every family is dysfunctional to some degree, I think, and mine is no exception.  Having been gone for over two years, and only staying temporarily for the holidays, definitely helped during our not so great holiday moments.  My mom is adorable and, to a certain extent, understanding, so it was relatively easy talking to her about my not staying.  My dad, not so adorable, and not so understanding, so it wasn’t as easy.  But hey, he’s my dad.  What can I say.  It is what it is.

I’ve been back for a week now.  Just moved to the city of Chimoio.  For New Year’s Eve, I hung out with Moz21ers Emma, Carly, Fei, Heather, Thelma, Aleesa, Brian, and Steven.  Other Moz19ers present were Haleigh and Taylor J.  Now, I have to say, our New Year's Eve wasn’t as emotional as it was last year.  Last year, the feeling of loss and being lost was almost overwhelming.  This year, I don’t know.  Don’t get me wrong, I had a good time with the PCVs here.  It just wasn’t so emotionally heavy, which is a good thing, I think.  It’s not that, after three New Year’s Eves outside of the U.S., I’ve become uncaring or disinterested.  I think I just didn’t have a lot of expectations this time or I wasn’t longing for something that wasn’t there.  Or maybe I was just out of it, recovering from jet-lag, or simply preoccupied with settling in to a new city and a new house.  Either way, even though New Year’s 2013 wasn’t by magnificent Lake Niassa (2012), or at the base of Fogo Volcano in Cape Verde (2011), it was still all good.  Or good enough for me, at least. 

About the house, by the way, it’s pretty damn grand.  Thanks to Universidade Católica de Mozambique em Chimoio, and Peace Corps staff Custodio, Ofelio and Osvaldo.  Special thanks also to RPCVs João and Don Juan.  João, rapaz de Calheta—I’ll see what I can do with that guitar (which I thought was Dan’s from Cabo Verde?), and you know I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but will probably become one now with your coffeemaker.  And Don, man, the trunk you left me is a lifesaver.  From bed sheets to kitchen utensils, clothespins to hangers, a bundle of rope to a bag full of preservativos.  Seriously, I’ll try to put it all to good use ;-)   

Again, I’m still settling in, so I haven’t taken pics, but will do so as soon as my things are in order.  I’m still waiting on PC to send me a box of my stuff from Nampula, and there are a few things in the house that need fixing.  My plan, once I get settled, is to invite my landlady and landlord, who live in a smaller house behind mine, for lunch or brunch (à la Colin).  But I’ve still got quite a bit to do before then, like fixing the gas stove, getting the gas tank filled, getting my mosquito nets up, getting my bedroom door fixed.

And we’re already supposed to start at UCM this coming Monday.

So, onwards and upwards and Feliz 2014!