Sunday, January 31, 2010

Rollercoaster of a week

First week of school is over and done with- what a trip. I may have shed a few tears in both frustration and discouragement, but they didn’t see me cry so I still have the upper hand. Student 0, Anna 1. I did kick out a student- I first threw chalk at her (told you the throwing would happen eventually). Hopefully she knows not to sleep in my class from now on. So I’ve come to realize, even though I’m suppose to teach an elevated level of English in 12th grade, I’m going to have to start back with basics and pretty much review for an entire trimester. As I said earlier there are those few students that really do know a lot, but the majority are really struggling. I’m trying to stay optimistic! I just really want to be a good teacher. And it’s so much harder to teach my native language than I thought it’d be! I’m definitely brushing up on the basics, or at least trying to.
So, school aside, I made a friend last week. She was a student last year and friends with the last volunteer, so she and her family have kind of adopted me because they know how hard this is for me right now. The first day I came over, we made cookies, ate lunch, and talked. The next day I came by just to say hi but ended up staying for a good five hours just hanging out. Today was the best- I came home from the ‘city’ and walked over to their house on my way home. I was warmly greeted, handed a chair, and involved in conversation right away. We sat and chatted for an hour without awkward silences or conversation happening around me rather than involving me. It may not seem like much, but it felt hug to me. It felt like I actually belonged somewhere. After four months of being on the outside I finally felt part of something. Total highlight.

Monday, January 25, 2010

SCHOOL!

Today was my first day of classes!! Well, kind of. We were supposed to start last Monday, but then things got postponed, so we started Thursday. However, on Thursday I had literally zero students come to class out of all four classes (only one other professor showed up) and on Friday I had a total of seven students (and one other professor) so I don’t really feel like those counted as my first days. So today I had five douplas- five sets of two 45 minutes classes. Forty-five minutes can be a long time! I didn’t really know exactly how to prepare for all the classes because I had no idea the level I’d be walking into, but it wasn’t too much of a train wreck. I had a few students that could carry on conversations with me in English and others that didn’t know how to say good afternoon- all in the same class. The way they divide classes here has nothing to do with the level of the student, it’s based on when they registered or their age (depends on the mood of the person forming the turma (class). Anyways, it became very clear very quickly that I’m going to have a few students who are where they should be after six years of learning English and many students who can’t form a sentence. I’ll have to start from the basics, move quickly, and be patient yet forceful. There was one moment where I thought I might either faint or throw my notebook at a student, but it worked out that I did neither. I think the throwing will happen first. I let the students ask me questions- in English- the popular ones were am I married, do I have a boyfriend, how old am I, how many kids do I have, who’s my favorite student, and one student asked did I think the political shift between president Bush and president Obama was a good thing for my country. Huh?!?! Well, the power was out all day, which didn’t really matter because we don’t use lights during the day, but once the sun started to go down and the students started to leave I was pretty much SOL. I was somewhat bummed that I couldn’t teach my last class, but getting out an hour and a half before I was supposed to wasn’t really that bad.
Now I’m sitting, eating and typing by candlelight, melting away from the heat and humidity. It’s been around 34 and 35 for the last few days- that’s in the 90’s, which doesn’t actually sound too horrible. But believe me, when you don’t have AC, no fan (remember no power!), no breeze, and you have to wear a bata (button-up lab coat for teachers) all day, ninety-something is disgustingly hot.
Oh, and I have an ‘intern” type figure who follows me around. He’s a Mozambican university student who was a Portuguese teacher for four years but is now becoming an English teacher, and is about to start his internship elsewhere yet wants a bit of experience first. I find it strange that he’s asking me for advice about how to lesson plan and give said lessons when he’s been teaching for four years longer than I have, but hey- what can ya do. I’m really hoping I learn a thing of two from him in the process.
So I had my students complete a few sentences- here are my favorite answers. “I am tall boy”, “I like to drink”, “I am wonderful and thin boy”, “I like to matapa” (matapa is my favorite food here- but when I read that it made me think of some kind of dance “I can mash potato”), “I like to chicken”, “I like to pass this class.”
The last few weeks have been a weird limbo between not being on ferias (vacation) anymore yet not having solid/ consistent work. It was a bit hard to know what to do with myself or how to feel about what was going on around me, but after today I have hope that once I get into the swing of classes and my students get a bit more comfortable with me it’ll start to come together a bit more.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

More pics







The top are all from swear in, the one with all the boys is at our family party (my brother´s the one holding up the peace sign) and the last is me and my host mom cooking.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Change in Address!






I’ve added my new address for mailing letters- they’ll get to me a bit faster (hopefully). If you decide, out of the goodness of your heart ;), that you want to send a package, send it to the (new) Maputo address on this blog, that way I don’t have to deal with customs. Not sure if I’ve already mentioned this, but due to Mozambican curiosity to see what’s in packages and possibly take what they like, write “jesus saves” or something along that line on the outside of the package- this seems to have helped previous volunteers. Also, when writing what’s in the package, no need to be exactly accurate on what you’re sending; it could be religious reading/teaching materials, tampons… Just an idea.

p.s. The 4:45am jog mentioned in the previous blog did not happen. I was too tired. But I did find out if I go jogging at 5 or 6pm I don’t have as much of an audience, and no livestock, just kids. And I saw another snake- huge! Practically the size of my leg! (maybe not my leg but bigger than my arm for sure). Dead but still scary. It put the garden snakes I was seeing during training to shame. I’m really hoping I don’t run in to a living one…

p.p.s The pics are old but I'm posting them! Be happy

Monday, January 11, 2010

Beautiful Sunrise

I started my morning running again. Last night Nando took me on a little tour of our neighborhood and showed me the road that leads out of town, where it’d be best to go running. This morning was beautiful, watching the sun come up. I had first thought I’d be somewhat alone at 5am, but there were SO many people (and livestock) walking out to the machamba (large garden- working field). It was a little uncomfortable at first, having everyone stare, but I got over it after a few minutes. I’ve heard stories of volunteers that run through their towns and are followed by children- I instead was followed by cows. When I’d pass a small heard of cows, they’d see me and start running along with me. The first time I was a little scared because I thought maybe they were chasing me, sharp horns and all, but after the third group I got used to it. We’d jog together for a hundred yards or so and then they’d get bored and stop and I’d continue on to pick up another heard. I’m thinking I may have attracted a bit less attention if I’d been running without the cows but what could I do? Tomorrow Nando and Professora Telma have both asked to join me, and I’m interested to see what happens. Most Mozambicans don’t understand the idea of running- it’s lost on them. And when they do go for a job, it’s usually 10 minutes and then they get bored. Then again Nando says he used to go running with Matt and Paulo (two volunteers that were here before me) so we’ll see.
The tour last night was beautiful, as the sun was going down. My town is very flat and there are no mountains or hills for as far and I can see, so it’s definitely a different view than I had during training. Once you get out of my town, about a ten minute walk from my house, there are no other towns for about 4km, nor are there trees or tall bushes, so it’s quite a flat view. Anyway, it was beautiful both last night and this morning, and I’m interested to see the sunrise again tomorrow at 4:45am with my fellow joggers.
On our walk last night, we came across the cemetery for our bairro (neighborhood). It was the first time I’d walking through a cemetery here in Mozambique. All the graves were above ground which is a change from cemeteries in the states, and this change made me notice the size of the graves. Many of them were very small. I guess I can’t say I’m surprised because we (volunteers) have been told children die frequently around here, but it was still hard to see. But it was a beautiful place, with flowers growing on and around the graves.
This morning started with an amazing sunrise and ending with the stars. I’ve gone outside at night only one or twice since I’ve been at site because I’m not a huge fan of the dark or the mosquitoes, but I just went out to brush my teeth and I’m pretty sure I brushed for at least ten minutes. The sky is just full of stars here- it’s amazing. In those ten minutes alone I saw two shooting stars. I’m feeling the backlash from the mosquito bites now but it was worth it. The sky is beautiful.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

One Month!!

Not too many things have changed in the last month, but I can only guess with the quickly approaching start to school that my life is about to take a turn. Today is Saturday and we start Monday so I’m looking forward to that.
I bought a fridge! Not sure if I mentioned that in my previous blog, but it’s been quite a help this last week. I finally have cool water, and somewhere to put leftovers. I’ve been cooking a lot lately which has been fun. Today I made roasted peanuts and then coconut rice. It was the first time I opened and ralared (‘ralar’ means to grate- they have a little stool thing here that has a round grate on the front, used for coconuts) on my own! I made coconut milk from the grated coconut, which is delicious, and then sweet rice with cinnamon. It’s been an interesting experience having to start everything from scratch here, even cheese. For example, I bought peanuts the other day, had to soak them, dry them, and roast them before I could eat them. I had to buy a coconut, break it, grate it, make it into milk, and then cook it. Or for sprouts I take beans, soak them in water, and wait five days for sprouts to grow. Cheese is one of my favorites to make because it’s so delicious when I can finally eat it. And I miss cheese. I first thought I could probably lose weight here because of how much work and time goes in to cooking EVERYTHING, but I’m realizing it may take more time, but I’m cooking large quantities and eating everything (because of no fridge) so no worries mom, I’ll be nice and plump when I come home.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

**2010**

I found internet two towns away so this might mean I'll be posting more oftne! We'll see...

So Christmas was great! Nine of us volunteers went down to Xai Xai beach for a few days to soak up the sun and speak English for a bit. It didn't feel ANYTHING like Christmas, it being 100 degrees and summertime, no Chirstmas music or decorations, but it was wonderful all the same. We made hambugers and french fries and enjoyed each others company. Chirstmas morning Valerie and i sat under a mango tree after retieving said mangos for a snack, and enjoyed the breeze while (unfortunately) listening to a squeeling pig being made into Christmas dinner. Not something that I've ever experienced in the states for sure. After the beach, I went home for a few days to spend time with my neighbors, althugh most everyone was gone for the holidays. I regret to inform you that my electric porch has been fixed and I now have about 20 kids that come by regularly. I'm learning a bit of Changana so I can tell them to "get away" when necessary, but really they can be a lot of fun. I taught them how to throw a frisbee even though I'm awful at it, so that's been a nice change in activities, rather than them sitting and staring at me. I came back out to Chokwe for New Years, which turned out to be so much fun. Five of us went with a Mozambican friend to his house to celebrate- for the most part the festivities are the same here as in the states. We danced, corked champagne at midnight, had a huge dinner around 11pm, and stayed up as late as we could keep our eyes open. New Years day had to have been about 110 degrees so we stayed inside in front of the fan, made french toast (I'm becoming a good cook!), and eatched movies. Pretty tame, and it was great. We walked down to the Limpopo river and sat under the bridge for a bit watching people swimming in the rivier, and one of our Mozambican friends asked if I was used to all the cows and bulls wandering around in front of us. It's something I'm still trying to get used to.

I'm looking forward to starting school next week. I'm nervous about the whole experience but I'm ready to have something to do with my time. And once school starts there will be more people in my town (the teachers and students willl come back from break) and I'll have more people to converse with and practice my Portuguese with.

We (those of us in Gaze; Clancy, Valerie, Jenna and Louise) have come to the realization that all the things that used to shock us when we first got here (no running water, lack of electricity, chickens in the yard, carrying water on my head,the herds of cows walking down the street, the market, my two to three baths a day, peeing in a whole... the list goes on) no longer seem that strange. It's become comfortable. I miss my family and friends like CRAZY, especially during the holiday season, but i know things will get easier.

And I'll try to get some pictures up! Definitely something I'll work on in these next few weeks. But feel free to blog-stalk other Moz volunteers and look at their pics. I know some of you already do ;)