¿Qué? ¿Quién? ¿Dónde? ¿Cuándo? ¿Cómo? ¿Por qué?

Si no recuerdo mal, las reglas del buen periodista recomendaban contestar estas seis preguntas para que un reportaje fuera considerado completo.

Qué: Compartir conocimientos e intercambiar experiencias con colegas locales.


Quién(es): Fadi y yo

Dónde: En Maputo, capital de Mozambique. Más específicamente en un programa de educación a distancia para maestros, en el Ministerio de Educación y Cultura y la Universidad Pedagógica. Y con una organización comunitaria en uno de los barrios más carenciados de la ciudad. Y alguna otra cosilla en tema medio ambiente.

Cuándo: A partir de marzo abril mayo del 2012 por 6 meses en el terreno (2 años en total: 1 año de preparación y papeleo incluidos 3 meses de preparación pre-salida, y luego de la estadía, otros 6 meses de seguimiento, evaluación y recomendaciones).

Por qué: Esta es más complicada de contestar. Para saber los motivos de Fadi, tendrán que visitar su blog. En cuanto a mí, tiene que ver con viajar, y los idiomas, y la antropología, y el pasar de las palabras a los hechos, y el vivir en otros continentes, y el buscar no estancarse ni quedarse en la cómoda, y el aprender, y tantas otras cosas... aunque no siempre salgan. No se vive si no se arriesga.

Not a Midlife Crisis

For those who didn’t see it coming and think the move to Africa might be due to a midlife crisis of sorts (given my fast approaching turn of the decade), I can assure you that it was all part of a long-term plan. I’d been looking into it for more than a decade.

In the meantime, I had been working hard at arranging the pieces of the puzzle so that I would be able to quit my life-in-the-West for a couple of years. I finished my PhD, paperworked my way towards a Canadian citizenship and passport, and set up an independent online business that would give me the mobility and freedom to move wherever needed and for the time required.

The move to Africa was a long time coming.

Considerações estéticas num blog de inspiração africana

Como voçês podem ver no título, estou tentando praticar e utilizar todos os acentos possíveis :)

Mais pasando ao tema deste posting. Talvez seja pela influência dos cursos de semiótica ou de que o Umberto Eco é um do meus autores favoritos, mais tenho a mania de buscar a simbologia em tudo. A parte estética do blog não podia ser diferente.

As cores

As cores tinham que ser, claro, as cores da bandeira de MZ, que, segundo a wikipedia, são:

• Vermelha – a luta de resistência ao colonialismo, a Luta Armada de Libertação Nacional e a defesa da soberania;
• Preta – o continente africano;
• Verde – a riqueza do solo;
• Amarela-dourada – a riqueza do subsolo; e
• Branca – a paz.

As fontes

Buscando uma fonte tipográfica para o título do blog, li o nome "molengo" e gostei. Além de sonar simpático, achei significativo que fosse uma palavra na língua portuguesa. Pesquisei o significado e a definicão diz: walk or act lazily. Em português: Diz se do, ou o indivíduo indolente, preguiçoso [perezoso; lazy]; molenga. Mmm. Será um aviso do universo de me-tomar as coisas com mais calma, deixar a Lúcia germánica, eficiente e meio histérica de lado, e començar a adotar um ritmo mais adequado para o trópico africano?

Molengo, também é o nome de uma ou duas canções, de um ritmo africano, e até de uma dança. Molengo tinha que ficar. Poderia até cambiar o nome do blog por MolengoMoz ou uma cosa do estilo. O que acham?

As imagens
Por que mapas e elefantes?

Desde pequenha adoro desenhar e viajar. Geografia, com tudos esses disenhos lindos -os mapas- com promesas de lugares distantes e mágicos, era minha matéria favorita. Até hoje, a primeira cosa que faço quando planejo uma ida à algum lugar, é estudar o mapa do lugar. Careço absolutamente do sentido de orientação, e, sem mapas, estou perdida.

E o elefante? Tal vez porque o elefante sia um dos animais mais representativos da África. Ok, o leão e a girafa talvez sejam ainda mais representativos. Simplesmente gostei dessas fotos e disenhos.

The Polyglot Dilemma: Which language do you choose to communicate?

My Move to Mozambique? Minha mudança à Moçambique? Mi mudanza a Mozambique?
English? ¿Português? ¿Español?

The first consideration is always which language to use for the blog, as every option has its pros and cons:

* English serves in many cases as the lingua franca.

* Spanish would be easier and would reach family and friends who don't read English that easily. Plus it would serve to link and (hopefully) help to bridge that huge knowledge gap that sadly separates both continents.

* But I'll be working in MZ and I need to start using my very rusty Portuguese and bring it to an appropriate level of work-related correctness.

In all likelihood I'll be switching from one to the other, according to the mood, or the topic, or the language I've in my head at the moment. And I'll be mixing and Spanglish-izing, or Portuñol-izing, and even Engluese-izing things, butchering each language in the process. For that, I apologize to native speakers.

Using Google Translate or any other automatic translation tool will be enough to give you an idea of what the posting is about (use the button included on the right side to pick your language).

If you do know the language, in particular Portuguese, feel free to correct my writing. In no way will I get offended. On the contrary, I'll appreciate it enormously. Pointing out factual mistakes or any other inaccuracy, also appreciated.

Disclaimer.- If, initially, the postings in Portuguese seem to be a tad erratic and pointless it's because I'm following the advice I often give my students: there's no better way to learn a language than actually using it. As I haven't written in Portuguese in 20+ years, I will use any excuse to ramble in Portuguese about everything and anything even mildly related to the move to MZ. I apologize in advance.

Key combinations for funny symbols

On a related, multilingual note, I've been figuring out key combinations to be able to write in Portuguese. The c cedilha and the circumflex accent, at least on a Mac, are as follows:

Ç shift + option + c

ç option + c

ÂÔÊ option+i+[capital vowel]

â ô ê option+i+vowel

ãõ option + n
à option + `

And, while we're at it, we might as well learn the combination for Spanish symbols:

á é í ó ú option + e + vowel

ñ option + n + n

¡ option + 1

¿ shift + option + ?

Until later! ¡Hasta luego! ¡Até logo!

O novo vizinho em Limpopo

Upcyling: How to turn waste into wallet

After running into a Uruguayan artisan who recycles waste products and turns them into beautiful and useful objects, I had to try it myself. Being too far away to attend one of her workshops in Rocha, I looked into how to make one of the lovely wallets she created out of Tetra Pak boxes from milk and juices. Because these can be tricky to recycle in places where there are no adequate facilities, a great solution is to upcycle them.

1) I looked for a How To video (even a child can make them!):

2) Gathered the materials (an empty coffee bag) and tools (measuring tape, duck tape, scissors and stapler):

Upcycling: mejorando a través del reciclaje

Hay una nueva tendencia que se llama upcycling en inglés, algo así como mejorar a través del reciclaje. Antes incluso de saber como se llamaba, había visto algún ejemplo venido de Asia o África: canastos hechos con papel de diario o carteras hechas de bolsas de plástico.

Pero no en Uruguay, así que fue una linda sorpresa descubrir en la feria de artesanías de La Paloma, un puesto con montones de cosas (carteras, bolsos, papeleras, canastos, bandejas, juguetes, lámparas) hechos de material de desecho (revistas y diarios, cassettes y CDs viejos, cajas y bolsas de alimentos).

Más lindo aún saber que Susana, la artesana y dueña del puesto, tenía un taller en Costa Azul, Arteazur Reciclados, donde enseñaba a reciclar estos materiales y darles una nueva vida. Y mejor aún, saber que iba a dar charlas a las escuelas para enseñarles a los niños sobre las famosas 3 R: reducir, reusar, reciclar.

Las anécdotas de Susana, un placer: niños que enseguida se prendían, usaban las cajas de los juguitos para hacer billeteras y cartucheras y empezaban a traer a la escuela su propio jugo casero, al viejo estilo, hecho con agua, limón y azúcar. Está claro que para cambiar comportamientos nada mejor que empezar de abajo.



Si te interesa comprar alguno de los productos reciclados o aprender como hacerlos, podés comunicarte con Susana a través del correo electrónico del taller.

Si quieres leer más sobre temas relacionados date una vuelta por esta página donde organizo los enlaces que tienen que ver con entradas sobre reciclaje, reutilización, upcycling, etc.

Why does the title of the blog keep on changing?

The title of our blog, as you might have noticed, keeps on changing. Leaving a trace of the changes reflects the changes in direction, obviously, but also shows how the overarching goal of our trip becomes clearer as we move along.

You would think we would know what we were doing when we decided to sell everything and leave. Well, kind of. We love Vancouver and it's probably the best place in the whole world for us to live, but we felt it was time for a change. A next step.

Fadi blames that feeling of restlessness on his Third Culture Kid (TCK) status and his last name, which in Arabic means "bird." I can't do the same: my last name means"earth" or "soil" in Latin; you probably can't get more rooted than that. In my case it probably has to do with my ancestors, who kept on moving from country to country. If the records are correct, the different branches did some major moving: Netherlands, Portugal, Brazil, Switzerland, France, Italy, Argentina. And ending up in Uruguay didn't help. Either the condition of "pueblo transplantado" (transplanted people, according to Brazilian anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro) of its people, or its open, barrier-less and windblown landscape makes it too easy to want to go out and explore.

But I digress. Regardless of reasons, our moving was just the next step from a change that began more than 10 years ago when we decided to make quality of life a priority. Since then, we have been trying to live our lives so that they match more closely our values and beliefs (more about that later here and here).

As we move along, we seek (or, as it turns out, we run into) people that help us learn more about alternative ways of living, sustainable transport and energy, bio-construction, organic and urban farming, garbage and recycling, and other issues that we care about, and we also get a chance to give these alternatives a try.  

Not a bad way to learn and grow. And not a bad way to end the year. Plus an appropriate posting for the end of the year.

Our New Year Resolution? Be greener :)

Happy 2012 everyone!

 

(For those in Vancouver, if you want to start the year on a green note and let Canadian government know that we want Canadian behavior to match Canadian image, join the rally on January 1st by the Art Gallery downtown. Ahhh. I miss Vancouver).

Cityscapes: why a megalopolis is, by definition, not pretty

I feel vindicated.

I’m reading Michael C. Boxall’s latest thriller “The GreatFirewall.” The action is taking place in Shanghai when I read the following comment about subways: “[Shanghai’s] subway didn’t smell like [a heady blend of vanilla, balsam and ambergris]. But neither did it have the roachy fetor  of New York, [...]”

My first thought: Thank you!

Since I commented on my not-love for NY, people have been jumping about how is that even possible, eeeeeverybody loves NY, because NY is sooo great. Apparently not linking NY is akin to not liking Paris. A cultural faux pas.

My take on the whole issue? People don’t really look at famous places for what they are, but for what they represent.

Kitchen Series #8 - Christmas Dinner Potato Salad

Before (ingredients) and after (prepared salad)

We would have never guessed we would spend Xmas with a bunch of ex-pats from Canada, the US, Chile, Italy, Thailand, and I don't know where else, in Punta Fría, up a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

The hosts asked us to bring some salads and we prepared a nice cold potato salad that would go well with a hot summer celebration.

Cold Xmas Potato Salad

Ingredients:

potatoes

red onions

olive oil

dijon mustard

honey

raspberry vinegar

Adobe dreaming / Construcción de casas de barro

I love how sometimes life has a way to tell you you're on the right track. I re-connected with a former colleague I hadn't seen nor talked to in years and guess what she said: "Pueden venir y ya de paso conocen mi casita en construcción. Te cuento que estamos al mango construyendo una casa de barro con nuestras propias manos". Yeap. They happened to be building their own adobe house. How perfect is that?

The structure already in place: wood, stone, mud on the walls, grass and a traditional quincho on the roof

Awaken your inner child: how to play with mud with a purpose

Casas de adobe. Ladrillos de barro. Bio-construcción. Vivienda ecológica. Hay quien sabe a lo que me refiero. Y hay muchos otros que, a la mención de barro, largan una carcajada mientras sacuden la cabeza y mascullan algo sobre hippies o tribus prehistóricas. En Uruguay, donde la construcción de barro y paja es lo que tradicionalmente se usó en el campo para hacer los ranchos, surgen miradas preocupadas y comentarios sobre vinchucas y taperas.

Un proceso eminentemente colaborativo

La construcción en barro es milenaria, pero hay un movimiento de vuelta a esta técnica entre arquitectos, incluso en Uruguay. Entre estos arquitectos está una amiga mía que es gran defensora de ese tipo de casas y que me viene comiendo el coco hace más de una década con los beneficios del barro: mejor aislamiento del frío, del calor y del ruido, más económico, más maleable y con mayor posibilidades creativas, duradero, seguro, agradable. Lógico entonces, que cuando ofrecieron un taller de ladrillos de barro en mi universidad en Vancouver, aproveché.

Musings on the simple, nomadic life

Scaling down in a consumerist society is not a simple, fast or in any way easy  process. I'm still trying to figure out this working-living-traveling thing and I'm feeling a bit confused. The living out of a backpack gets harder with age. Right now I just want a place of mine where I can leave my stuff. Can you believe I still have stuff?

Missing my office

The getting rid of everything was positive in one very specific way: you get to see what you really miss. So far: rice cooker, electric kettle & thermos.

Close second: yoga mat-second big computer screen-ergonomic keyboard-mouse combo. My hands + back + neck are suffering the lack of a proper office setting (hence the delay in posting).

In short, you miss what makes your everyday life easy and smooth,  food- and work-wise. I also realized most objects I owned were so irrelevant that I couldn't remember what they were even a few hours after I gave them up.

Kitchen Series #7 - Fresh Summer Salad Combo

There is so much you can take in terms of asado, pasta and pizza - the staple food that shows up in every gathering and outing in Uruguay.

After only a few weeks I was killing for some fresh veggies that would better suit the warm weather we were having. Also, salads is the easiest way to make sure everything is GF.

Anything corn is difficult to find in Uruguay, so, for the guacamole, I substituted the corn chips with thin GF crackers.

The main ingredient of the other salad is the palmito, or heart of palm, not very popular in Vancouver, but super common in Uruguay. Time to indulge then.

Women, violence, and media

Curious how sometimes they connect, the randomly drawn information dots:

 

Women against domestic violence (photo taken from here)

* a thousand black and purple women march in Montevideo against domestic violence and a picturesque gobbling of a president handles pro-women pamphlets, 

Natural Uruguay: from words to action

"Uruguay Natural" is the slogan the Uruguayan Ministry of Tourism adopted a few years ago to convey the idea that one of the top attractions the country has to offer is its natural environment, the clean and wide open spaces of beaches and countryside.

Unfortunately, the waste disposal system is lacking at many levels, the doubling of the population due to tourism puts more pressure on the environment, and finally, Uruguay is not isolated and garbage that ends up in the ocean makes its way back to the shore.

As a consequence, the state of the beaches after the winter months, when there are no cleanup services, was on the disgusting side of things. Not wanting to sunbathe surrounded by plastic bags and discarded boxes and thinking of our soon-to-visit young nephews and niece, we participated in the International Coastal Cleanup Day that takes place around the world every November.

This was the result:

After just 1 hour collecting garbage in a 10 sq.m. area

"Ocean" brand cigarettes: it doesn't mean that they have to end up there!

Putting the garbage back where it belongs

Uruguay natural: de las palabras a los hechos

Hay un largo a trecho a recorrer para llegar a hacer realidad el slogan del Ministerio de Turismo. La calidad de "natural" deja un poco que desear cuando vemos el estado de las playas después del invierno.

Después de una hora de recolección en 10 metros cuadrados de playa

Cigarrillos "Ocean": no significa que tengan que terminar en el idem

Poniendo la basura en su lugar

Día de Limpieza de Costas / International Coastal Cleanup Days

Homesteading in Uruguay: What to do when mushroom picking goes bad

We had been discussing mushroom picking options with Dan & Angie back in Baltimore, when I commented my mother's famous pickled eucalyptus mushrooms. Because of the pickling process they last for months, but they never survive that long because they're just too yummy. As a result, I rarely get to try them - they grow in the seasons I avoid visiting (fall and winter) and are long gone by the time I make it to my parents' house. This time, though, one mushroom made it to early springtime. And not any mushroom: a giant one!

Though impressive in size, the results were not that great. As I always suspected, bigger is not always better (and I'm not being biased there). I tried it in a sandwich in lieu of a portobello mushroom, which you can't get here, but it was too bitter. We guessed a couple more rounds of boiling would have helped to get rid of the bitterness. Oh, well, we'll figure it out during the next mushroom season.

Nothing to worry about! Plenty of other veggies to grill. With abundant wood around and mild days, we spend a lot of time outside barbecuing: tomatoes, carrots, onions, bell peppers, potatoes and sweet potatoes, and even apples. Toss with a bit of olive oil, rosemary, thyme and salt and you're good to go. Healthy. Good. And GF!

Absolutely delicious barbecued veggies and fruits.

Compost bin in process

Fadi having a blast playing in the workshop.

The veggies we had in our previous posting were from our local feria, but the plan is in place to grow some of our own.

To begin at the beginning, Fadi built a big compost bin and we have started composting. Mom was reluctant at first, but she now gathers buckets of peelings, eggshells, coffee, tea, mate and other helpful organic stuff every week.

More bins are to follow and we hope to have some nutritious soil to feed our plants by the summer.

As you can see, quite a bit of planning went into creating the bin.

A fancy one!

Uruguayan stereotype

Watching fútbol, drinking mate and eating torta fritas on a rainy day by the fire of eucalyptus and piñas. What could be more stereotypically Uruguayan?

Staying by the fire while it rains outside.

GF torta fritas recipe

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

150 cc de agua

enough amount of premixed GF flours

Mix all until you get a dough that is elastic. Shape into flat discs and fry. Sprinkle with salt, sugar, or powder sugar and eat. It's so unhealthy, that you might as well skip the GF part and eat the common ones with white wheat flour and lard. You'll probably die either way, but it's a classic of rainy days that has to be honored every now and then. Having mate at the same time helps you believe that they will be easier to digest. Ha, ha.

Fishing + Kayaking: Survival Skills 101

Fishing for self-consumption. After having failed miserably to catch anything edible while on the sailing boat, we wanted to learn how to fish - you know, to add protein to the veggie-diet that would eventually come from our garden-to-be. So, when we heard about the 'on kayak' twist on fishing our friend Gastón had been raving about, we decided to try it. Low key, human powered, and supposedly much more successful than throwing the line while standing on land? We're in!

Heading back after filling the kayak
with fish

Fadi's first try had a success rate of 0 fish. As with my growing-veggies attempt, it seems we would both die of starvation if we lived in a society that required more than brain and computer skills to feed yourself.

Only then do you realize how important it is to have friends like Gastón, who comes every time with a basket full of fish, and Diego, who was very lucky after only having it tried once before.

Gastón congratulating Diego after a stellar performance

It was also an excuse to reconnect with friends
and share a few laughs

If you want to give it a go, contact Gastón, who organizes everything through Pesca en Kayak. Let us know if you're luckier than us. We might want to add you to our skillful-friends list.

Working on the go

Enviando artículos desde una biblioteca.
Silencio bueno para trabajar
pero olvidate de conferencias en Skype.

El sueño del pibe: trabajar para uno, sin tener que rendirle cuentas a ningún jefe, estando en contacto sólo con gente que a uno le gusta y desde cualquier lugar del mundo. Fantástico. En teoría. En la práctica, no tan fácil.

En los últimos años hemos estado preparando el terreno para hacer exactamente eso. Desde las oficinas en Vancouver, lo de trabajar de forma independiente funcionaba estupendamente. Con conexión inalámbrica a Internet y muy buen ancho de banda, dos oficinas completas montadas en la casa (celulares, fax, impresora, escáner, biblioteca de consulta, archivo, documentos de apoyo), todos los servicios a dos cuadras (biblioteca pública, banco, correo, cafés) la consultoría de Fadi y mi empresa de servicios de textos e idiomas marchaban sobre ruedas.

¡Feliz 200 años Uruguay!

El bicentenario encuentra a Uruguay con muchas novedades.

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