I got through week 2!

Hello again! Sorry it has been so long since my last post. The internet here in Namaacha leaves much to be desired and there is always a long line to use it. I´ll try my best to post something once a week though. Please leave comments! I like to see what you guys have to say and I miss you all so any contact whatsoever is lovely...
Ok, so like the title says, I survived my second week of training and living in Namaacha. Things have definitely gotten easier, or at least I´m used to them more, but I still have new surprises every day. For anyone that has talked to me on the phone, it is common knowledge that I do not like my host father. Apparently I got stuck with the most patriarchal family of all. His name is Jorge and he is the most authoritative person ever! All he does is ask me when I´m going to cook and wash clothes. When I did do those things he could not have looked happier. FYI, I do in fact wash my clothes on a rock. Yeah. Pictures to come. I´m constantly wishing that Jorge would fall down the poop chimney but it hasn´t happened yet...As it turns out, after talking with my host mother, Eliza, Jorge has a woman on the side that he has 3 kids with. I asked my host mom if she was ok with that and she said no, but her sister died of AIDS last year (her daughter is staying with us) and her mother died a long time ago so she doesn´t have any other family she could go to. It made me really sad. Women and girls here, especially within the interactions of my host family, have nothing. The little girls act as servants to all the men (host father and 3 host brothers). The girls and mother eat on the floor in the bamboo shack that is the kitchen. They don´t even get the same food as the men of the house. Since I´m a white American it´s a little different for me, I eat with the men and eat their food, but it´s still expected of me to clean and cook. I´m constantly being told by Jorge that I study too much. It´s taking a lot of adjusting. I knew the culture would be different coming here, butI could not have prepared myself for going from a place where I was respected by my male friends and family, to just being expected to fulfill certain gender roles. I doubt I´ll ever fully adjust to it. Hopefully once I start teaching and am at my site I can more actively fight against it.
It´s also difficult to get used to the absolute poverty here. Yesterday I saw little girls playing jump rope. The rope was made of trash bags tied together. Very few of the children (and I mean little kids, toddlers and older) have shoes. They are constantly filthy and their clothes are torn. Toddlers walk around in packs without any adults. There are just so many things you wouldn´t dream of seeing in the US.
There is still an incredible water shortage here as well and the people are suffering. It has only rained twice since I´ve been here. A volunteer that had training here in Namaacha last year said that he can´t believe the difference. All the wells are dry and the river is nothing but a stagnant creek for washing clothes and dishes now.
As much as I can´t believe it, I´ve actually grown to enjoy my bucket baths! I wasted SO much water showering in the US. Here, just a small bucket and cup is all I need. They are quite refreshing, unless it´s cold in the morning. Then I miss my private, indoor shower.
I´ve learned to make a few Mozambican dishes, wash clothes, light charcoal for cooking, pilar amendoim (smashing peanuts colonial style) and my Portuguese is improving each day. I´m constantly tired! I wake up at 6 every morning and I haven´t stayed up later than 9 so far...ah the life of a Peace Corps trainee.
The only wildlife I´ve seen has been an ostrich. It was huge with prehistoric looking feet. I´ve seen lots of crazy lizards, some cockroaches (in my room and crawling around my poop chimney), and one HUGE spider (black with white stripes...my host sister killed it while laughing at my fear). I´ll be in a more rural area for my service so hopefully I´ll have more exciting animal encounters then.
I think that´s all for now...please leave your comments! I miss you all SO much!!