Peace Corps Mozambique Pocket Dictionary

A Dozen Useful Words

Bacia (Noun) - A bucket. Used for positively everything, from bathing children to carting water to cooking to peeing in -- just make sure to never mix up your cooking and peeing buckets.

Capulana (Noun) – A patterned cloth with unlimited uses, including: skirt, dress, baby-carrier, towel, sheet, picnic blanket, swimsuit, tablecloth, curtains, umbrella, sweater, grocery bag, mosquito net, bandana, hat, fashion accessory, belt, carpet, etc.

Chapa (Noun) – A minibus used for public transportation. May have some TARDIS-like capabilities, judging by the impossible amount of people routinely squished inside.

Criança (Noun) - A child. Pack mentality - tend to form swarms. They travel in packs and go crazy about things like candy and stickers. Often have sticky and/or charcoal-covered hands. Amusing most of the time, but have very limited definition of personal space.

Demorar (Verb) - To be late. This occurs often when Western Time clashes with Mozambican time. To convert: Mozambican Time = Western Time + ~3 hours. Example: If an event is supposed to start at 8 a.m., Mozambicans will show up at 11 a.m. at the earliest.

Engordar (Verb) - To become fatter. Mozambicans want you to do this. They want to prove that you are eating well in Mozambique. It takes a lot of explaining that, no, Americans don't actually want to become fatter. They get really upset if you in fact start losing weight.

Fofocar (Verb) – To gossip. This is a passion that the Mozambican and Volunteer communities share. Good luck trying to keep a secret in the Peace Corps.

Fugir (Verb) – To run away or escape. People tend to fugir when you need something from them – such as when you want something back that your neighbor borrowed, or when your Pedagogical Director promised you that he'd get a copy of the National Curriculum to you by the end of the day.

Lá (Preposition) - Vaguely means "Over there." Used in a huge variety of contexts and can be elongated for exaggerative effect. Examples:

• Where did you come from? "La." (Translation: "From there.")
• Where is Páscoa? "Laaa...." (Translation: "I don't know where she is, but she's not here.")
• Where is your site? "Laaaaaaaaaaaa." (Translation: "Tete.")

Lanche (Noun) - Pronounced "Lunch-y". Does not, however, mean lunch or lunch-like. Weirdly means "snack" instead. Go figure.

Passear (Verb) - To walk or wander. Vague enough to make a great cover story for when your neighbor, the nun, asks "Where were you?" The correct response is "Passearing with my amiga," not "Drinking beer at the barraca with my amiga."

Sozinho (Adjective) - Alone. Considered very strange. A volunteer that prefers to stay in and read or watch a movie instead of sitting outside and socializing once in a while must be sick or angry, because that is clearly NOT normal human behavior.