Montanan In Mozambique

Rage in the ATM line...

2012-03-16T03:44:00.002-07:00

Even if I lived in Africa for 5 years, I don’t think that I will ever get used to the incompetence I see at the ATM. First of all, my villa recently removed my banks ATM, which means that there is only 1 usable ATM in the entire town. Fabulous. This means ONE ATM for probably around 10,000 people (honestly not sure, just a guestimate). And all these people get paid around the same time every month, myself included. Imagine arriving at the ATM with about 10 people in front of you. In Africa this would mean about 2 hours of waiting. They are big believers in “hold my spot” so that even if there are 10 people in front of you, there could be 10 more technically in front of you, only at the moment they are sitting in the shade or running to the bakery. Ugh. Then people that don’t want to wait give their cards and PINs to other people in front of you. So each of the 20 people in front of you in line are using 2-3 cards each. It’s a nightmare. Plus, they’re not as advanced in technology as the U.S. which means, at times, massive confusion. I have experienced around 3 or 4 times where everyone is just standing in line waiting for the machine to be loaded with more money. Turns out the machine isn’t out of money, the person who said that actually had no money in their account so they think that the machine is out when really they are the ones out of luck. Ugh. This is not an ideal situation, especially right before the weekend and you want to have a birthday party. Just had to get it out there.

New School Year

2012-02-25T06:30:00.008-08:00

The new school year is now in full swing. Classes started January 17th, and I started teaching February 2nd. Normally it takes about a week for word to get out to all the students that classes have started seriously, so the first week is a wash. Then I had my mid-service conference in Maputo the 2nd week of classes. Then the (officially) 3rd week of classes, after I returned, the room wasn’t ready yet so I had to organize it for a few days before beginning teaching.
I guess I should mention that this year my only subject that I am teaching is TICs (Technologias de Informação e Comunicação) a.k.a. Computers for super beginners. I am actually really excited to just focus on one subject. Also, since we need computers to have class, the students come to me and I stay in one room instead of moving around like all the other subjects that just require a chalkboard. AND I got to make my own schedule, so I have year of 3 day weekends ahead of me which is convenient for my travel desires. TICs meets once a week for 2 hours for each class, meaning that I only have to develop 1 lesson plan each week and just teach it 10 to 20 times. Some may hate the thought of repeating so often, but I really love that I have to put minimal planning into each week. I have the entire 12th and 10th grades to teach this year, for a grand total of 10 classes of students (each with about 60 students therefore, a grand total of ~600 students).
I have written a previous entry last year about teaching computers to complete beginners, but I think that this year things will be much better. Last year I was unprepared for the difficulty in explaining how to move a mouse or click on an icon, much less in a second language. This year I have a co-teacher that is teaching all the 11th grade classes and he knows how to format the computers so now they all look the same and have the same programs. Also this year my language is at a higher level so it is much easier to run a class in Portuguese, plus way easier to discipline the classroom and keep everyone on track. It seems that the teaching part this year should fly by.

For Mom :)

2012-02-25T06:30:00.005-08:00

I was on vacation a few months ago, staying with a friend in her beachside apartment (she´s also a volunteer, not all sites are made equal  ). I mentioned to my mom in a skype call that I was staying in a super nice beach apartment and she jokingly said “Does it have a flushing toilet!?”( I´ve been here long enough that she know what a luxury flushing toilets here are. ) I then proceeded to explain to her all the different levels of toilets here in Moz, and she thought it was hysterical, so I am going to explain it to you all now—
The worst is just grass matting up and you pee right on the ground. You have a little privacy, but depending on the strength of your pee you can end up splashing yourself if you’re not careful.
Another step up would be a latrine with a dug out hole. You still squat over the ground, but there is a hole that you’re aiming for (like a long drop toilet while camping). Most likely there is no cover, leaving an inviting place for all sorts of creepy crawly bugs and creatures. NOT fun to do at night, especially with a cockroach phobia.
The next would be still an outdoor latrine style, but there is a toilet built over the hole instead of just the open hole. Although most of the time the toilet is too gross to sit on, it seems cleaner than the open hole style latrine. Downside is squatting over the toilet bowl is way more taxing to the muscles than squatting over a hole flush with the ground (It is best to squat over the ground or sit on a seat. That conclusion is undebatable). Plus you have to pour water in to flush it. It takes a special talent to get all the contents down with the least amount of water used.
Yet another step up is the same idea except it’s inside the house. A pour down toilet that doesn’t have a tank on top, or the tank is not functional. Some may argue that this is a step down because it tends to smell a bit, so maybe it’s on the same level as the previous outdoor pour down toilet. Either way, it’s debatable. (This just so happens to be the situation that the beach view apartment I was staying in had. So not horrible, but still not the premium level).
The second best situation is what I have in my house. A toilet with a functioning tank on top where you can pour in water (because there’s no water running to it) and still get the flushing action of the toilet.
Finally, the best of the best is a toilet with a tank on top connected to running water that automatically fills so you can flush it whenever you want. Which is what 98% of Americans are used to (I just made up that statistic, please don’t take it too seriously).

PS—Soon after making up this list I experienced another kind of toilet in Tanzania, which is a porcelain flushing floor toilet, common in the Arabic world is my guess. I have no idea where to fit that into the list. Maybe right after the outdoor toilet covered latrine.

Holiday Travels

2012-01-03T07:14:00.001-08:00

So, this year for Christmas vacation, instead of traveling back home to visit friends and family I decided to take the opportunity to travel around Africa some more and see things that I have never seen. My trip started out on November 17th. I traveled across Malawi to get to Lichinga in northern Mozambique for a Thanksgiving celebration, then took a train to get out to the coast and enjoy some shrimp and beach time. Then it was off to Tanzania where I went on a 5 day safari and logged some hours on the beaches of Zanzibar. Then another cut back down to Malawi to get back to my house here in Mozambique. That’s the short version of things, and if you want the full details, continue below….

Zanzibar

2012-01-03T07:13:00.001-08:00

Amazing beaches, amazing food and no giant buses, oh my!
Zanzibar was a paradise---literally and mentally. After our bus accident, we still had to take 2 10-hour bus rides to and from our safari starting point. It was such a relief to finally be beyond our buses, and onto a ferry ride. We stayed at a lodge on the eastern side of the island which felt like our own island paradise far away from the tourists. We spent 1 day on the beach, did the Jozani Forest tour to see the only-on-Zanzibar Red Colubus monkeys, and then did a spice tour combined with a tour of Stonetown. We got some amazing seafood with some very westernized cooking styles that were delicious, and really cheap when compared to being a tourist in Mozambique. In the forest we got to see the monkeys up close and personal. They literally hit us jumping from branch to branch. Then we saw a red mahogany forest as well as a mangrove forest. Also we visited some sea turtles! Stonetown is the old part of Zanzibar from back in the sultan days and all the buildings are made out of limestone. We watched the sunset at the big central park and ate seafood fresh off the grill that they had hauled in that day. A great and relaxing end to a somewhat stressful trip.

SAFARI!!

2012-01-03T06:36:00.001-08:00

What time spent in Africa could be complete without a safari?! I, along with 2 fellow volunteers, booked a 4 night/5 day camping safari and it was fabulous. We spent 1 day in Tarangire National Park, 2 days in the Serengeti and 1 day in Ngorongoro Crater national park. In the Serengeti and the crater we actually camped in the park. There was giant elephant poo outside our campsite in the Serengeti and you couldn’t leave your tent at night because there were hyenas. That I did not expect. It was great fun. The safari vehicle has a pop top so you can stand up and see the animals really well from the vehicle, but still close it in case it rains (which it did a little). They also took care of all our meals for us, and we had our own personal driver and cook for the week. Highlights were: A giant family of elephants crossing the road 10 feet away from us in Tarangire and just sitting there watching them for 45 minutes; having to be careful to not hit the giraffes that run across the road between parks; A lion popping her head up just as I took a picture so that she didn’t just look like a rock; talking our driver into being the first people to arrive at the crater and feeling like we had it to ourselves for an hour; a momma cheetah sunning herself on a rock while her 4 cubs played in the grass around her; being in the middle of the great migration and having wildebeest, gazelles and zebras as far as the eye can see. I am so glad that I am here and had the opportunity to experience the Africa that everyone envisions.

Pole Sana

2012-01-03T05:57:00.001-08:00

The first language of Tanzania is Swahili. Pole Sana is Swahili for So Sorry. Unfortunately this was the first phrase we learned in this new language. Continue reading….

Tanzania is an entirely different world. It’s really remarkable that just a few days travel away is a giant city (Dar Es Salaam) filled with tons of people and modern development. However, to get to this developed city, you must cross the undeveloped part of northern Mozambique and southern Tanzania. My trip started out with a 3 am open back chapa ride to the border. This road was very undeveloped and bumpy, and I was sitting on some sort of spare car part. Needless to say the next day my butt and back were pretty sore. The border is the Rovuma river which is an important landmark in Moz. When talking about the country of Mozambique, the saying is “from Rovuma to Maputo”; it’s even part of the national anthem. (Rovuma River is the northern border and Maputo province is in the southern border). We arrived in Mtwara, which is the first big town in Tanzania after the border. We stayed there for the night, and bought some bus tickets to head out in the morning. The main form of transport, we discovered, are giant greyhound-esque buses. However, they are generally painted crazy colors and have a personalized horn. What we didn’t realize is how dangerous some of these companies could be.

Our bus was scheduled to leave at 6 a.m., and we almost missed it. For some reason, Tanzania and Mozambique have 1 hour of time difference (who’d a thunk since they lie north and south of each other). But we were still in Africa so of course they didn’t leave on time and we made it. Little did we know that it was not our lucky day to catch it. The roads in southern Tanzania are still being paved so it was all pretty much one giant construction zone, with you driving on a dirt road running parallel to the in-progress paved road. These buses travel pretty fast, and sure enough, on one of the dirt turns our bus lost control and we shot out into the countryside, bumping along all the way. We were in the second to last row and got bounced around pretty good. Luckily the bus didn’t tip over, and there were only slight injuries, the worst being my friend cutting his forehead and needing stitches. We got to the hospital surprisingly fast for Africa standards. We also got in contact with Peace Corps Tanzania and their medical officer drove down to meet us and check us out personally that night. We got a nice ride into the capital (we only made it about half way when the bus crashed) and were set up to stay with an American family living in Dar Es Salaam while doing D.C.-mandated tests at the hospital there. I repeat, everything turned out fine. I just have an ugly black eye in all my vacation photos to help me remember. Like I could forget…

Thanksgiving

2012-01-03T05:07:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving this year was one of the most true to the spirit Thanksgivings I have ever been involved in. Volunteers up north in Lichinga teamed up with the local Doctors Without Borders to put on a joint American-Mozambican Thanksgiving and it was amazing. Thanks to packages from the states, we had tons of Thanksgiving window stickers, table confetti, table cloths, wooden ornaments and home-made hand turkeys straight from your Kindergarten craft days. Plus Indian and Pilgrim headwear for our 5 minute play explaining the first Thanksgiving. We gathered everyone, served some drinks, and then put on our play. Goal 2 of the Peace Corps is sharing America’s culture with the host country, and that is just what we did. It was a super-cheesy Kindergarten play that we put on for all the Mozambicans to help explain how the tradition started for our country. There were Indians with headdresses, Pilgrims on a Mayflower and “Paulo the Peru” (the Portuguese way of saying “Tom the Turkey”). I, of course, was a pilgrim since according to my genealogy-loving grandmother I actually had a relative that came over to the Americas on the Mayflower. Then it was time for the food. We had 2 turkeys, mashed potatoes and gravy (shout-out to my dad for the gravy), cranberries (canned from a care package), green bean casserole, 2 versions of stuffing, sweet potatoes, Canadian maple-syrup (from fellow ex-pats) glazed carrots and bread. THEN for desserts there was apple pie, sweet potato pie, pecan pie and pumpkin pie. I have never hurt that bad from overeating EVER. It was a great Thanksgiving.

Rainy Season Returns

2011-10-06T23:31:00.001-07:00

So, since February we haven’t had any real rain to speak of. Maybe once or twice is all. This means that by September everything here is D-R-Y. There are 2 paved road in the entire town which means any slight breeze and you have giant dust daredevils spinning all around you and nothing you can do to stop it. It gets in your hair, sticks to your lip-gloss, and coats your feet in the red dust that is the dirt here. Ugh. Luckily our water situation was never awful. I know of others who could only take baths every other day because of a lack of water in their town. We just complained when there wasn’t enough water to water the vegetables in the garden.

Suffice to say, we just got our first big downpour yesterday, October 5th. Huge torrents of muddy water came off the roof (washing off previously mentioned dust), the slight hill we climb to get to the town was a mini-creek, and an umbrella was a necessity, not an option like I’m used to in Oregon. I am now over my umbrella shame and carry around a giant one everyday now.

Now, we will have the opposite problems of the dry season. Our clothes will start taking days to line dry in the humidity, I’ll have mud caked to the back of my legs and all over my feet and shoes, the power will go out inexplicably for hours everyday. It doesn’t matter if it’s 10 am—if the power’s on you cook whatever food you want to cook because you never know when you’ll have power again. Also bathing whenever the electricity is on unless you want a cold-water bath (which some days you do).

Number one plus of rainy season---Mangos! Papayas! Pineapples! Oh my 

One Year Anniversary!!

2011-10-06T23:30:00.000-07:00

September 28th marked the 1 year anniversary of my departure to Africa. In some ways it seems so long ago and in others it seems like just yesterday.

Some of the things I miss:

--Reliable and familiar foods. I can no longer imagine walking into a grocery store and having thousands of items to choose from (just think about it—how many different chip options are there? Ruffled or plain; flavors; white corn, yellow corn, the options are endless!!). I get really excited when I get to a store in the city that has potato chips (tomato, chicken or beef flavored). I miss: boneless skinless chicken, ground meat, sour cream, tilamook cheese, corn chips, salsa, ready-made tortillas, skim milk, broccoli, asparagus, bacon, lean meat, constant access to every vegetable needed for any dish you want to cook, sausage, and different spices.

I also miss (in no particular order):
Seatbelts, running water, high heels, cushy couches, constant electricity and phone network, full keyboard cell phones, chocolate, television, new episodes of tv, fast internet, constant access to family and friends, guaranteed original electronic products, driving, always knowing the correct social etiquette for any given situation, not being constantly stared at, marked prices at stores, fitted bed sheets, and not worrying about language ability (will this person understand Portuguese? Or do they only understand the local language?).

I have been spending inordinate amounts of money on the big C’s—cheese, chocolate and Coke Light. On a possibly unrelated note, I’ve gained back a few lbs…

Things that I love:
Dance parties can and will break out at anytime, anywhere; I have adjusted to my student’s poor English so much so that if they manage to stutter out even 3 words I get the general idea of what they’re trying to say; Everyone constantly talking to you and being (generally) super friendly and helpful; Not being stressed out by a job; Easy access to amazing beaches; Having a network of ~200 people that I can travel and stay with at the drop of a hat; after about 4pm the sun is a beautiful red; my kids carrying my backpack to class for me

Things I will never get used to:
Corruption, cheating, passive-aggressiveness, cows roaming free at out large market (seriously, Mozambicans are terrified of dogs but a giant cow with horns walks by and they don’t even blink), unscheduled transportation (the bus goes when it fills), unexplained power outages, eating goat meat, all the goats and chickens roaming free ALL OVER, people die frequently and usually you don’t really know exactly why, chefe syndrome (people in positions of power who let it go to their head), the amount of time it seems to take anyone to do anything here

Time is flying by...

2011-08-08T11:33:00.003-07:00

What just happened to the last trimester? It seems like just a month or so ago I was finishing my first trimester and getting in some beach time. Now I am back at the hotel where we stay during conferences in Chimoio (the Central hub for us PCVs) and I have no idea where the last few months of my life have gone. Here are some updates about what I’ve been up to lately:

I have mainly stayed in my home town, only traveling down to the city for a birthday and to pick up some meds. And I know that life is starting to be normal for me considering that I haven’t written in my journal since my last vacation.

My roommate traveled down to South Africa to meet her family and go on safari and she brought me back some amazing coffee and a new kitten for our house. He’s super tiny, and I’m convinced that if it were in the states he would still have to stay with his mom. We named him L.O., short for Little One. It’s verrrry cold in Angonia now so he spends most of his time cuddled up with us under our sweatshirts or blankets and he’s really cute. I have been warned though that he needs to be watched carefully since the traditional communities where I live like to eat cats. Guess that explains why I’ve only seen 2 since arriving at site :/

The Third Annual Science Fair at my school took place, see my other blog post.

I am currently attending a conference learning about developing small projects to help develop my community and help with HIV/AIDS. And as always the best part of conferences is the amazing hot showers and great food that they serve at the hotel.

My vacation this time will consist of a meeting and training down in Maputo, with a few days of traveling in Maputo in between. I hope that it will be filled with Thai food and hope to make a quick stop in Namaacha to visit my host mom. I don’t quite know what my plans are yet for my off days. I will be in the land of constant internet access though, so I’ll be sure to keep you updated!!

Science Fair!!

2011-08-08T11:32:00.000-07:00

I pulled off our local school science fair. And by I, I mean that I bought some pens and typed up a few documents while my amazing science teaching colleagues organized about 35 students presenting 20 experiments. It was a science fair unlike any I ever attended in the states, so I really was no help. Many of the experiments were not really experiments but demonstrations of scientific phenomenon (for example the fact that fire consumes oxygen so you put jars of differing sizes over a candle and wait for the flame to go out). It was a huge production with some amazing prizes provided by the school, and the best part was that I wasn’t needed. The main goal of the Peace Corps is to be able to transfer our skills to the people living here so that one day when the program is no longer in the country they can continue developing instead of losing a bunch of resources. I was very impressed by the initiative taken by my school to pull it off.
Then we took 4 winners from our school (two from primeiro ciclo (8-10th grade) and two from Segundo ciclo (11-12th grade)) to the provincial fair down in Tete city. Since Tete has not had many volunteers until my group arrived, it was a first fair for a majority of the schools as well as for the province. Long story short, my kids won 5 of the 10 prizes, and much deserved too. It was the third annual fair for my school and it was a huge event (even bigger than the provincial fair) so I feel the trip to the national fair is well deserved. The national fair will take place in Beira in August at some time with the Escola Secundaria de Ulónguè representing Tete province. Wish us luck!!!

Dia das Criaças

2011-06-07T07:09:00.001-07:00

June 1st marks Children’s Day here in Mozambique, and since I help out at a local pre-school it ended up being a pretty fun day. Every major holiday (women’s day, children’s day, any sort of government official visiting) is accompanied by a parade to the praza where important people make political speeches and they have dancing and singing. So, on Children’s Day I met with the kids at the newly built pre-school and we walked about one mile to the praza. My thoughts were that it would be chaotic and crazy and we would be chasing 3 year olds all over the road. My worries were way below standards. In actuality there were 38 three year olds, and they all got a balloon and whistle before leaving for the walk so not only were we yanking kids out of the road, but we also had kids chasing balloons into the road, super-annoying whistling, popping balloons and kids chewing on the remains. It was out of control, typical Mozambican style. Luckily we arrived at the praza late so we only had to keep the kids quiet through one speech and then we got to see all the dancing groups, including our own preschool showing off their English and singing skills.
Then it was time to head back to the preschool grounds. At this point the kids were so worn out and tired that there was no way they were making the walk back. They wouldn’t even sing some of their favorite songs. They ended up arranging a chapa to take us all back. I think that this 5 minute trip gave me the new chapa-record: 38 children and 6 adults. I had 2 kids on my lap and had to keep the kids next to me from shoving and biting each other because they were squished. Bottom-line it was hysterical.
It was great because it also marked the day that the pre-school is officially at its new location, all ready to go. It is amazing to see it go from a flat, barren piece of land to a fenced-in play ground with a building for eating and classes, a teeter-toter (another amazingly dangerous thing to let children play on here), and two sets of swings. Another building specifically for a classroom and an office are still to be built, but it really happened. It was done by a grant that the previous volunteer got, so it’s nice to see that the fruits of my labor here can actually result in something physical.

Vacation Time

2011-05-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

The end of April also marked the end of my first trimester here in Moz, and also my first opportunity to travel a bit and get to know the rest of the country. I took the free time to catch up on my beach time. I traveled to Tofo, Bara and Vilankulos down south. Bara is one of the most beautiful places I have every been--I felt like I was living in a post card. The south is definitely a different world from the Africa I know and live in, with all the tourists and development. It made me glad to know it was an option, but also that I didn't have to live down there and be mistaken for a tourist everyday of my life. Really made me appreciate what I have in Angonia. It was also great to get to see some of the PCVs I haven't seen since swear-in and catch up with them and their lives.

I also took the chance to try out scuba diving. Scuba is very big here in Moz since it is a ton cheaper than doing it in the states. They happen to offer a one-day course where they sit you down and make you watch a video and practice in a pool in the morning, then in the afternoon you go out on the ocean and do a 50 minute dive. It's the same philosophy as tandam sky diving--you always have an instructor right there by you. I never thought I'd ever be tempted by scuba, but the opportunity was there so I took it. Unfortunately for me the entire experience turned out to be a bit of a struggle, but I'm glad I tried. From getting the wet suit on, to jumping in the boat after pushing it out to sea, to motion sickness and vomiting it just was not my day. Unfortuantely once I finally started descending down, I could only make it 3 of the 12 meters before my ears felt like they were going to explode and no amount of nose plugging and blowing or jaw moving and swalowing was going to pop them. So, I did scuba dive, I just didn't see any cool fish or coral. Like I said, worth the experience.

Other than that, vacation was just filled with lots of sun bathing and great meals (sausage stuffed crust pizza, hamburgers, seafood chinese stirfry, prawns, ice cream, club sandwiches, etc. etc.) Needless to say when I get back to site I'm going to get quite a few "Esta a engordar!" ("You're getting fat!") but it was worth it. I'm excited to get back to site and back to teaching, back to what I now feel like is "life as normal".

6 month marker

2011-05-01T12:08:00.001-07:00

April 29th marked the sixth month anniversary of my arrival in Mozambique. Hard to believe that it’s gone by so quickly. Living here is like living in a completely different world. I have adjusted to the way of life here, and sometimes it is hard to remember how I used to live. Like taking hot showers; having boneless, skinless chicken readily available; or that eggs in the states can be white. I wanted to list some of my most memorable moments so far:

-My first day arriving in Namaacha and all the host moms dancing into the gym singing a welcome song. It was such a moment—the singing was amazing and it was my first “Holy s—t I’m in Africa” moments

-Being stuck in Maputo for an extra day after swear-in and successfully negotiating Maputo. After the first time and being so overwhelmed by everything, the second time we spent going to the Museum of Natural History and tracking down Thai food and ice cream successfully. It was a great time of relaxation and a great way to celebrate officially becoming a volunteer.

-Waking up to my first Christmas morning without my family to a drawn-up Christmas tree hanging on the wall with our homemade stockings strung above it and our white elephant gifts laid out below. It was the best Christmas away from home one could ask for.

-Officially bonding with my roommate over our spider-ridden house. We didn’t know each other well and our shared opinion on cleanliness made me feel like we’d get along just fine over the next two years.

-The two days of travel hitching back from Chimoio to Angonia. The first ride was in a semi-truck and I spent it chatting with the driver about AIDS in America and discussing all sorts of different cultural aspects between here and there. Then my second ride on my own and completely missing my classes due to the loading of 400 lbs of bananas in the middle of nowhere along the way, the entire time not caring because the sky was so beautiful.

-Making a friend with a Portuguese professor who makes me feel like we’ve known each other forever. This also helped make Angonia feel like home and quieted my urge to travel and visit other volunteers every weekend.

At times it feels like I’ve been here forever and others it seems like just yesterday I was waking up late for my plane and struggling with my giant bags through 3 different airports. Its been an amazing trip so far with many more life-changing moments to come, I’m sure.

First Trimester, Check!

2011-04-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

So, I have survived the first trimester of my first year in Africa, and it has been a learning experience to say the least. Each year I am required to give 2 tests and 3 “other evaluations” be that homework, oral exams group projects, or whatever else you can imagine. The year ended with finals tests being held in the 11th week, 2 weeks before the semester ended. This does not make much sense to me but I just do what I’m told. As thought many of my students stopped coming to class for the last two weeks, so I used these smaller classes to do fun activities like listening to music in English and group competitions. Once all was said and done my 11th graders only had 25% failing and my 10th grade classes had about 40% failing. Sounds shocking to Americans, but trust me that is an accomplishment. The grades here are on a scale of 0 to 20 and you need a 10 to pass. The average on my exams is usually an 8, and it’s rare for a student to get over a 15. That’s just how the system is here. I handed in my final grades and then it was off to Chimoio for reconnect conference.
Reconnect is meant to be a time to celebrate surviving our first 4 months at site and review and refresh on Peace Corps policies. It also means a few nights in a hotel with a pool and hot running water in the shower (I’ve never felt so clean!), a giant smorgasbord of food, and lots of quality english speaking time with 12 of my fellow trainees. I’m pretty sure I gained at least 5 pounds over my stay here. The fact that you do not have to make the food, there is cheese and drip coffee and CHICKEN makes it hard to not eat at every opportunity (3 meals a day plus 2 snacks). I’m so full it hurts, but I know when I go back to site I’ll be missing it. It has been a fun conference getting to share our own experiences and learn from others. I’ll be taking back a few tips to site and try to use them in my teaching for second trimester. Well, I’m off to enjoy the rest of my vacation! Talk to you soon

Speed Walking

2011-03-13T07:19:00.000-07:00

I have discovered to amazing-ness of slowly meandering while walking instead of American power walking my way all over Africa. Mozambicans walk soooooo slow, which is pretty much how they do everything. As I learned from an early age trying to keep up with my mom, I walk as fast as possible everywhere I go. It was brought to my attention by a local friend that at first he thought I was really mean because I speed walked everywhere and I always had my sunglasses on. Now, I refuse to give up the sunglasses because 1) the sun is INTENSE here and 2) Saleena has me concerned about developing wrinkles from squinting (thanks a lot Today Show). But, after another pair of people here from Cuba commented on my fast-walking I decided to slow it down one day on the way home from school. It was amazing. Kids played with me, adults greeted me and asked who I was, and I was meeting all sorts of new people. Crazy that it could make that big of a difference, but I’m totally embracing it. Now me and my roommate just go out and slowly wander and it has been helping a ton with integration. I don’t know if I’ll ever get down to Mozambican speed, but I’ll try my hardest.

Celebration

2011-03-13T07:17:00.005-07:00

My birthday was a great day. My roommate surprise got my packages arranged to be delivered to the house while I was at classes so it was a great surprise to come home to. Big shout outs to Mom, Dad, Aunt Anja and Uncle Rhom for the Christmas turned bday presents. Also to Lil Lindsay who sent me a letter from where she is teaching English in France. I was reading a letter sent from France from a college friend while I’m living in Mozambique. What has happened to my life?  I am now fully equipped with a GIANT box of candy (mostly Reese’s PB cups obrigada a deus) and I’m trying to keep it down to 2-3 pieces a day. Also got a great new journal (the one I came with is almost full), some spandex to wear under my above-knee skirts which fit perfectly and a bunch of office supplies (new sharpies Whoo Hoo!). Also to celebrate my birthday we decided to do chips, salsa, guacamole (it’s avocado season finally) and chicken fajitas (with real chicken, no fake soy protein!). We had a few friends come over and enjoyed outselves. And a lemon pound cake for the birthday cake. Sorry, I left my camera in Chimoio a few weekends ago so no photos to post, but my roomie has one on her camera that I’ll get posted later.
In regular-life news I just started a new schedule at the secondary school. The first one had way too many people having conflicts so they just entirely re-did it (what’s to stop it from having new conflicts all over again I have no idea) and so far it’s working out. The first trimester is almost at an end, and I’ve almost been in Moz for almost 6 months. It’s a pretty crazy life and I’m still loving it.

My 24th Year

2011-03-13T07:11:00.001-07:00

Wednesday will be my 24th birthday, and the first one I’ve celebrated outside of my country. I have to say that I am pretty satisfied with my life at this point. I am living in Africa, which is one of the coolest experiences of my life. I am teaching which I am actually finding fun because of my students. I am fluent in my third language, and have yet to get malaria or any other serious disease. Life in Angonia has really been coming around. My roommate and I have been making friends out in the community and so we are starting to feel really integrated. The kapulanas I buy at the market are now only 90 mts each (as opposed to 100 mts) which means the vendor is starting to recognize me and want my business. My school collegues are starting to realize that I in fact DO speak Portuguese (how they just assume I only speak English is beyond me). I am really coming to realize that I’ll be living here for the next 2 years. Crazy enough that is the longest consecutive time I’ll have lived in one place since I moved out to college at age 18.
To celebrate on Wednesday, first off I have to teach classes all afternoon. My wonderful roommate is a great baker so we’ll have a few of our friends over for some cake or some other yummy dessert. Then all of the Tete volunteers are going to come up to Angonia around the 18th for a joint my birthday/St. Patrick’s day party so the real celebrating will have to wait until then. Eddie is going to go check for packages in Malawi again on Monday so hopefully I’ll actually have some presents to open on the day of my bday, but we’ll see!!

TICS Class (Computers)

2011-02-16T05:42:00.001-08:00

Computer classes here are out of control. Mozambicans have no computer skills and those that they do have include playing music and DVDs and giving every computer every virus possible. In a country with minimal technology they sure do have their share of viruses. Hence, the teacher computer that has the projector is infected with a virus that makes a pop-up window block everything that you try to do, making it impossible for them to see anything I want them to do. Luckily enough my school is equipped with a large nice computer lab with A/C and about 50 computers. Unfortunately there is no specific program for me to follow and only about half of the computers are usable.
Then all the kids do is bring in zip drives and cds of music and dvds. There were boys watching rap videos with topless women dancing. Plus due to a scheduling confusion we had about 4 classes worth of kids coming in. The professor that got the scheduling confused then decided to leave since there were so many kids. I caught him going out the door and jokingly said “Esta a fugir? (Are you fleeing?)” and his response was “For sure. This is out of control”. Well, thanks a bunch for the support.
Oh, and I am also the “Delgada da disciplina” aka head of the department, so I’m thinking of abusing my power and laying down some laws. I’m going to go into the computer lab and re-organize all the computers so the functioning ones are together in one area. Then I am deleting all the downloaded music and videos off the computers and banning all CDs and flash drives from entering the room. Then maybe I could actually teach them some useful skills. Now I just have to get up the nerve to tell my fellow professor and get the time to do it. Ugh, and explain it all in Portuguese.

I'm a Teacher!!

2011-02-16T05:41:00.001-08:00

School is in full swing now. I have almost got everything figured out except for one scheduling conflict. I’m actually amazed that there was only one conflict considering that the schedule for 60 teachers was arranged by hand. And that’s 60 teachers over 3 different time periods (morning, noon and night) and 5 classes (8-12 grades). Scheduling is like a giant mind-blowing puzzle getting all the teachers teaching the correct subjects for the correct grades and not overlapping with others they’re teaching. Next year I will be bringing in the scheduling program that PC gave us to make it a much simpler process (and hopefully leaving me with Fridays off).
Each of my classes have 50+ students. English is going well and at times hysterical. Some of my favorite moments so far:

Talking about future professions and one student said “Pirate”. I thought well, we are kind of close to Somalia, laughed and added it to the list. Then the next class they said “pirate” again and so I asked what a pirate does, wondering if they meant something else. Sure enough my student says “Teacher, that is not how it is spelled”. They were actually saying “Pilot”.

I asked “What did you do this weekend?” and one student said “I went to Musacama to eat chicken and po-taw-toes” and I said “no, it’s po-tay-toes. Well, actually po-tay-toe, po-taw-toe, to-may-to, to-maw-to” and laughed hysterically while the entire class just stared at me.

One day was about traditions and customs and when I asked for examples they kept throwing out all these local language words that I didn’t know, laughing at me the entire time. The first one was “Ngoma” and after I got it spelled right I said “Well, that’s a new word for Teacher Amanda”. About 5 minutes later I looked again and exclaimed “Ngoma!!” and started laughing (please see previous blog post) saying I didn’t realize that was a real word Mozambicans used. Their blank looks were priceless.

During my first day of computer class I was not really prepared since it was the first time I had been in the computer lab and I had no idea what to expect. I ended up making them draw pictures on paint to practice using the mouse (trust me, double clicking is hard for them). I walked by one kids drawing and it said “lame” over and over. I was offended, and asked him if they knew what that meant in English. His response was “Teacher, it is my name” pronounced “La-may”.

Just some of the gems I’ve experienced so far, with a ton more to come I’m sure 

I heart Tete

2011-02-16T05:40:00.001-08:00

Hello!! First of all, disclaimer—my province is pronounced like “Tet”, not “teat” as most of my friends and family like to snicker at back home 

Our little crew up here is the best. Not only do we have the seven of us in my group, but we also have a married couple that has been here for a year already. This past weekend we went down to visit Luke and Janet in their village about 2 hours from mine. First, in pure logical Mozambican form, the only chapas aka public transportation out of Angonia (where I live) is to the border about 20 km away or to Tete City. So our options to go visit their village was to pay a chapa and get out half way (big waste of money) or to hitch-hike. Option #2 it was. Hitching is actually very common here among the volunteers and is often a safer and cheaper way to travel. Many times the cars you hitch in are in much better condition and sometimes free (which when you’re living on less than $200 a month is a huge plus). We jumped up into a semi on the way down, grabbed another truck to the border and were there.

They live way into a neighborhood through all these twisting paths. They have a cute little house, not on a school campus like my duplex. As a consequence/bonus of this they constantly have Mozambican children in their yard hanging out, and their helper around the house is an 8th grade student Ramão that is there constantly. It was super fun to be there for the weekend, and Janet is an amazing cook. When we got there we had a lunch of homemade hummus and gazpacho with salad; dinner of bean burgers and fries; breakfast of coffee and cinnamon rolls; lunch of fajitas that really made me crave sour cream. Plus care packages from their holiday in the states. Mine had Jr Mints, a granola bar and Jelly Bellies!! Throw in a poster of Puck from the “All about Glee” special edition US magazine and I was in heaven. I sweated off the 5 pounds I gained from eating so much scaling a mountain to take some photos at the border marker between Moz and Malawi (my 4th African country!!). And by scaling, I mean I was looking for footholds on some of those rock faces—the closest I ever want to get to rock climbing. It’s Wednesday and my quads are just starting to feel not sore.

It was a great weekend of bonding with my Tete crew, swapping stories of the first week of teaching, comparing what lessons we were planning, lying on a grass mat in the shade reading, enjoying a beer, and sharing squatty potty maneuvers for aiming (my first experience with the squatty potty and aiming is hard when you’ve never had to do it before, trust me). I’m really enjoying my replacement family this side of the ocean 

School has Begun

2011-01-20T00:13:00.001-08:00

So, school has started for all of us here in Moz. The school year runs the actual year so it starts in January and ends in Nov/Dec (depending on what exams you have to take). Jan 17th was our “opening day” and in true Moz fashion there was a big assembly where all the important people made their important speeches. Just imagine all that paperwork about rules and such that gets sent out to parents before school starts being read out loud instead of copied and sent out to everyone to read for themselves. That was 75% of this meeting. 33 rules of conduct…ugh…then some repeated in local language for the benefit of parents at the meeting. My personal highlight of the meeting was the dance version of “I’m in Miami Bitch” being the song choice for background music before the meeting started. I literally laughed out loud a couple times at the hilarity of it all.

Also Monday I finally got my schedule for teaching (nothing like waiting to the last minute). I’m teaching 10th & 11th grade English and 11th grade Technology class. Also I’m the head of the technology department for first cycle (grades 8-10). Still unsure as to what that’s going to entail, but I’ll find out eventually I’m sure. I have 3 classes of 10th grade English (making me the sole 10th grade English teacher at the school), 2 classes of 11th grade English and 2 classes of 11th grade technology. All of my English classes are in the afternoon and technology classes will be in the morning with a total of 20 hours of teaching (The max I can teach is 24 hours). The only thing that makes me nervous is 10th grade since that ‘s also a national exam year so there is going to be a lot of pressure on me to get the correct percentage of students to pass (usually by helping out with the test or bumping up grades which I refuse to do). Also, there is no curriculum for technology so I’ll get to teach them whatever I want to teach which should be fun and/or stressful.

Now, just because school has started, don’t be fooled silly rule-following Americans -- it’s Wednesday and I’ve only taught 1 of 4 classes that were supposed to take place and that class only had ~15 of my about 40 students. Over holiday everyone goes back home and helps out their families in the mato (bush) and don’t start coming to school until they’re assured that the teachers are actually having classes. A colleague told me that the 15 kids I taught today will spread the word to other students in the class and everyone will start showing up soon. We’ll see about that. My one class that I did have was actually pretty fun. I wanted them to ask me questions about English, America, even me (which had the potential to backfire). Unfortunately none of them had questions to ask so I just kept asking all of them questions like “what’s your favorite subject?” “How old are you?” etc. They know a lot of vocab and could fill in the blank to answer questions, but when asked “Why is green your favorite color?” they had some difficulty. Something to work on in class I suppose. It was fun to determine their level of English. Two more days of pseudo-classes and then we’re off to visit some volunteers this weekend. Chao!!

Christmas

2011-01-05T23:51:00.001-08:00

This Christmas marked my first ever spent away from my family and it was harder than I thought it would be, but it was made better by my awesome fellow Tete PCVs. Tete is a province of Mozambique, comparable to a state in the US. Tete is unique because it is almost practically cut off from the rest of Mozambique by Malawi so it can seem a bit isolated. They made a big push with our group into Tete so 7 people from our group are now in the province, plus an amazing couple from Moz14 (but they were state side for Christmas). We like to say “7 strangers, picked to live in Tete for 2 years…” Ironically 6 of us were brought in as Biology teachers so we all knew each other fairly well before site placements. I’m excited about our group because we’re all really different but we all get along well. There’s not anyone in Tete that I wasn’t excited about (and I’m not being cheesy, just honest ).
We all met in Moatize which is right outside Tete city and also our half-way point between all the sites. Two girls are staying in Moatize and their house is actually bigger than ours and has running water. We all crashed there on the floor, played a lot of card games, read books, drank a ton of mango sangria and cooked everything we could think of (lasagna, bean burgers, Mexican night complete with chips—what more can I say ?). For Christmas Audrey hand-sewed us all a stocking with our first initial on it and we stuffed each others stockings with candy, soap and matches (all necessities here) and also did a white elephant gift exchange Christmas morning. I ended up with a water basin, a kapulana which excitingly is the same as our new kitchen curtains so we’re going to make it into a table cloth and a USA belt complete with an Obama belt buckle. Quality gift Hannah, thank you. I gave a World Cup kapulana, peanut butter and a crystal light lemonade mix. All the gifts were good and it was nice to open something Christmas morning. Plus we woke up to a surprise Christmas tree drawn on paper in the corner so it was a fun Christmas morning. I called my sister (which was Christmas eve in the States) and got sung “We Wish you a Merry Christmas” by my Jones family which made me cry. I didn’t think missing the holidays would affect me that much, but I had that good cry with my sister and it was okay. I’m just glad that as a group we made a big deal out of the holidays and celebrated the best we could. Love everyone and happy holidays!!

I've found the toughest job in the world

2011-01-05T23:50:00.001-08:00

And no it’s not yours. Or even mine (quite the opposite actually—mine’s amazing). Here in Mozambique the main form of transportation is a chapa. There’s a previous blog about my first experience that you can refer to for a refresher. Basically it’s a 12-15 passenger van that at a minimum 19 people get shoved in. Seriously, the chapa will not leave without at least 19 people on it. On average it’s about 22 people in this van. Over Christmas I heard of a new record from Derek of 32 adults, 8 children and 2 chickens (apparently people were sitting out the windows, unbelievable!!). Each seat has 4 people. Rows 1-3 have a flip up seat that can create an aisle for when someone from the back has to get out. I am now a pro at chapa maneuvers which are key so that half the van doesn’t have to empty out to get someone out of the back seat. It’s cramped and my American sense of personal space is out the window, trust me.
Back on subject—the hardest job in the world is the job of the Cobrador (or trocador as Audrey likes to say which is only funny if you live in Moz/know Portuguese—sorry America). There’s the driver of the chapa who actually drives and the cobrador is like his assistant. He signals the driver to pull over to get people or let people off; he does really intricate hand signals to see if any of the ton of people standing on the side of the road need to get on that chapa; he keeps track of where people got on and where there getting off to charge them the correct amount; he can keep track of who has or has not paid. And he does all this generally without a seat (meaning his standing up leaning over the majority of the day). Sometimes if the front row is really packed and you’ll see a chapa heading down the road with the sliding door open and the cobrador just hanging completely outside the vehicle. Emily told me of a cobrador on a 5 hour bus she was on who sat on the curved bar that opens and closes the door the entire time. And SLEPT. In Moatize over Christmas we took a lot of chapas around town, and they just amazed me. I don’t think they get the credit (or most likely the salary) they deserve.