ONE YEAR!!!

So, it's been a very exciting few weeks.... First I had my 25th birthday. Exciting! The girls in Chokwe threw me a party with champagne, cake, twister, and movies. I'm so lucky to live next to such amazing girls. Then, for the weekend, I went up to Gorangoza to visit some other volunteers and take a mini-vacation. It was a LONG trip but totally worth it. Five of us that went have Septmeber birthdays so we had a lot of celebrating to do. I'm starting to realize just how different parts of Mozambique are. Down where I am everything is flat and dry- nothing like anything I've ever seen before. Inhanbane is more tropical, with so many coconut and banana trees, and of course gorgeous beaches. And then Manica/Sofala are more hilly and colorful. I felt like I was driving through the states, with the changing colors of the leaves and the mountains (hills really) in the distance. Too bad I dont live a little bit more central so I could travel a bit more. Anyways, I saw my first wild animal!!! It was a baboon- and I was SO excited a punched Colin who was sleeping next to me. Apparently I'm the only one in this country that's never seen a wild monkey because he just laughed at me. During our weekend celebration we went to the river close to Brian and Jordan's house twice each day. It was fabulous! And hilarious actually- a large group of molongos marching down to the river, turning rocks into water slides, playing catch with soap bars, washing our hair then putting on sunscreen... it was great. We cooked amazing food (ok, they cooked, I helped), played card games like we did during training, and camped outside next to the bonfire. Amazing weekend. I'm here with a fantastic group of people.

So, today I am celebrating not only being in country for one year, but also the birth of Lucy's 4 babies. Bright and early this morning she perched herself on my bed and went into labor. After promptly revoming her from my bed I sat with her and tried to make her a bit less confused about what was going on (if that's even possible...) She seemed pretty clueless about what to do once they were born- she kept pacing through my house- but hopefully she figures it out here soon.

One year down, One more to go. I've learned so much, grown so much, been knocked down more times than I can count, but this has definitely been one of the best years of my life. A year ago today I had NO idea exactly what I was getting myself into. I can only imagine what this next year has instore for me...

I´m over it

Monday and yesterday (Tuesday) I had the worst two days of teaching since training. My lesson was how to write a resume, something I think is pretty important for students about to graduate high school. I was well prepared, had several activities, and thought it was going to go fairly well. SO WRONG! I think it was a combination of lack of understanding, inability to see the importance, and lack of motivation for any schoolwork that led them to sit there are stare. My students don’t participate a lot, I’ve gotten used to that. But there was something different about these last two days. Each class I’d change a few things and make my lesson clearer, more interactive, more basic, whatever, but nothing got them going. I currently have 2 hours before I have to go back and continue teaching them and honestly, I’d rather just sit here today. I’m trying to find the motivation to persevere but it’s getting difficult…

REDES

Just got back from our provincial REDES conference- it was quite a success! We had about 40 girls in all, 7 Mozambicans, and several PCVs. I brought three girls from my school and they all seemed to have a great time and learn a few things. Also, Paulina Chiziane, the first Mozambican woman to be a published novelist, came and spoke to the girls about her life. She was a phenomenal speaker, and the girls said they enjoyed it so much and were very inspired by her story. Seeing as though I am now the national coordinator for this project, I definitely have my hands full to make the next conference just as enjoyable and educational.

REDES

Just got back from our provincial REDES conference- it was quite a success! We had about 40 girls in all, 7 Mozambicans, and several PCVs. I brought three girls from my school and they all seemed to have a great time and learn a few things. Also, Paulina Chiziane, the first Mozambican woman to be a published novelist, came and spoke to the girls about her life. She was a phenomenal speaker, and the girls said they enjoyed it so much and were very inspired by her story. Seeing as though I am now the national coordinator for this project, I definitely have my hands full to make the next conference just as enjoyable and educational.

Funeral part 2

The funeral process ended up lasting 4 days, that I’m aware of. The first three days were all the same- women under the tree, singing, chanting, screaming, crying, processionals to the grave with flowers, more weeping. The fourth day was silent but many people were around. I happened to be teaching a lot that day so I might have missed something but from what I could tell it was pretty calm. I’m still very curious what kind of religious or cultural impart suicide has on a family. I’m curious if there are implications for the surviving members of the family, or if the grieving process is the same. There are many funerals around here, and although I haven’t seen too many first hand, like this one, I’m pretty sure there’s not usually a lot of wailing and carrying on. I will do some research and post about it.

Cat Attack

I woke up at 2:30 this morning to something trying to come into my house. I quickly realized it was only a cat, but it wasn’t Lucy because she was with me in my room. So I got out of bed to try and shoo the stray out- bad idea. S/he flipped! This cat tried to jump out the window and got caught, leapt a good 12 feet into the air, meowed and cried for a while, then ran into the kitchen, knocking things off my shelves. Garfield (as I will call him) perched, hollering, for a good five minutes. I didn’t want to get close just in case he’s rabid, so I threw pencils at him trying to get him to move. Finally, at least 15 minutes after I got out of bed, he finally went for the open door and escaped. So I’m thinking Garfield is one of the past volunteer’s cats because this isn’t the first time he’s come into my house to eat Lucy’s food. And to be honest it really wouldn’t bother me except he’s too fat and once he gets in my house he can’t get back out. No good.

Market Day

I spent the entire day in the market this afternoon. I brought my capulana and camped out with a woman all day. The women loved having me there- they’d joke around about how horrible my Changana accent is, or how I was saying the wrong words, or how every other people that walked through the market stopped to ask why I was there. The kids loved it- they gathered around to talk to me or to ask me questions they knew I wouldn’t understand. I learned a fair amount of Changana and definitely got in a few laughs, even if they were at my own expense. It was anything but eventful, but I felt accomplished at the end of it all. I don’t know if I could spend another entire day there anytime soon, but to stop in for an hour and practice my Changana I can definitely do more often.