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!!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Christmas
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!!
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
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.
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.
Local Languages
One giant cultural difference between the U.S. and Moz are local languages. These are languages have been being spoken by the native Africans for hundreds of years. A majority of Mozambicans learn Portuguese (the national language) only when starting school. Imagine growing up speaking English (like I did) and then going to school and having to learn and do all your work in Chinese. That’s what a lot of these kids have to do. The local languages are basically dictated by geography, so depending on what region of the country you live in you speak that certain local language. In Namaacha it was Xangana (changana) of which the only word I knew was “mulungo” which means white person. Since we are trying to learn Portuguese we are discouraged from learning Xangana during training. Now that I’m in Angonia the local language is Chichewa. All the languages are very similar—for instance now all the kids in the neighbor hood yell “muzungo” at me when I’m walking down the street. Also now that I’m living here for the next two years I’m free to start picking up the local language. In the case of my site since we are so close to the border of Malawi it is imperative that I learn at least the basics. The national language in Malawi is English, and Mozambique is Portuguese. When everyone comes together in a border town, what is their common language that they use all the time?? That’s right—their local language, Chichewa. On our chapa down to Tete city for Christmas the only Portuguese spoken the ENTIRE time was when they were specifically speaking to us. I would have liked to understand some of the stuff going on around me so I have an even stronger urge to learn it.
One of the funniest conversations I have with people is explaining that we don’t have local languages in America. I explain that recent immigrants from Asia or Mexico speak Chinese or Spanish, etc. but that’s not a local language. When I tell them that all I’ve ever spoken in school and at home is English they don’t get it. But what do your parents speak? English. Grandparents? Still English. I try to explain that our country is comparatively still pretty young and most people came from all over so they had to use English to communicate, but all I get are blank looks. The closest I get to explaining it is that Native Americans have their own language, and if we weren’t a country of immigrants from all over the world we probably would too. It’s just a mind-blowing concept to them, and really entertaining for me to try to explain.
One of the funniest conversations I have with people is explaining that we don’t have local languages in America. I explain that recent immigrants from Asia or Mexico speak Chinese or Spanish, etc. but that’s not a local language. When I tell them that all I’ve ever spoken in school and at home is English they don’t get it. But what do your parents speak? English. Grandparents? Still English. I try to explain that our country is comparatively still pretty young and most people came from all over so they had to use English to communicate, but all I get are blank looks. The closest I get to explaining it is that Native Americans have their own language, and if we weren’t a country of immigrants from all over the world we probably would too. It’s just a mind-blowing concept to them, and really entertaining for me to try to explain.
Site!!
I have a home!! I am living in Professor housing at a teacher training institute (IFP) with a fellow PCV roommate Arielle. Our house is pretty swanky by PC standards and it’s really starting to shape into our own home. We have a large countertop/sitting area in the kitchen with a separate room we use to cooking in and a pantry. We also have an indoor bathroom which is a big deal (no squatty potty in Moz for me!!). No running water though so no flushing (to flush we manually pour down water). There’s a living room with a sofa and chairs for hanging out. We’re lucky because the school has a wood shop and welding class so we have a lot of furniture provided for us. Then there are our two bedrooms, including built in closets which I’m loving . Since we are replacing two other volunteers we arrived to a fully stocked house which is nice. We have a fridge, dishes, pots and plenty of reading materials. After a heavy cleaning and purging of 3 years of built up stuff from the previous volunteers plus some new curtains and couch covers, we’re really enjoying it.
We inherited a guard dog who is really smelly but really on the job. His name is Wonder and he barks at everyone so we’re always aware if someone is around the house. (Also for the men in my life all the windows have security grates and every single door in the house has a lock (even the pantry) and there are bars that we can put up on the doors at night—VERY SAFE. Plus there’s a guard at the gate to the IFP and they lock the gate at night (as we learned trying to leave for Christmas at 4:30 am and were locked in)). Another amazing inheritance is our empregada (maid) Avelina. She’s a sweet lady and comes every morning to do laundry, dishes, sweep and mop the floors. Plus anything else we need like the massive cobweb removal that was necessary upon our moving in. She’s so great and I really appreciate the work she saves us.
I will be teaching at the secondary school (high school) and I had a chance to help out with end of the year grading with my new colleagues. My school is really nice and new (only ~2 years old) and all my colleagues are younger and are really welcoming. Plus they’ve been working with a PCV for the past 3 years so it helps that they know I’m going to be a bit strange in my ideas and teaching. I’m still not sure of what exactly I’ll be teaching yet but I’ll keep you updated.
My town of Ulongue is about the size of down town laurel. We can find basically everything we need (except I am still on the search for meat besides canned tuna) and there’s a giant market that you can get lost in. There is a ton of produce and a lot of variety which is key here. Also through the previous volunteers we’ve inherited the sweetest little vegetable lady and she always throws in free stuff like extra tomatoes or bonus carrots or something. She even has her kids trained to throw in extras. Really nice and it shows that she recognizes us as part of the community.
Everyone in town that sees me knows that I’m a teacher. Walking down the street all I hear is “Good Morning Teacher” or “Good Afternoon Teacher, How are you?” Also the previous volunteers close friends in town Eddie and Juliet have made us feel really welcome. They run a preschool (started by a grant from the pervious volunteers) to start teaching kids English at an earlier age and their house is always open for us to go hang out at. Funny enough we speak English with them since Juliet is from Malawi so she doesn’t know Portuguese. Also they are graciously letting us use their PO Box in Malawi so that I can get mail a little more securely and hopefully a little faster. My site is amazing and I’m going to enjoy the next two years.
We inherited a guard dog who is really smelly but really on the job. His name is Wonder and he barks at everyone so we’re always aware if someone is around the house. (Also for the men in my life all the windows have security grates and every single door in the house has a lock (even the pantry) and there are bars that we can put up on the doors at night—VERY SAFE. Plus there’s a guard at the gate to the IFP and they lock the gate at night (as we learned trying to leave for Christmas at 4:30 am and were locked in)). Another amazing inheritance is our empregada (maid) Avelina. She’s a sweet lady and comes every morning to do laundry, dishes, sweep and mop the floors. Plus anything else we need like the massive cobweb removal that was necessary upon our moving in. She’s so great and I really appreciate the work she saves us.
I will be teaching at the secondary school (high school) and I had a chance to help out with end of the year grading with my new colleagues. My school is really nice and new (only ~2 years old) and all my colleagues are younger and are really welcoming. Plus they’ve been working with a PCV for the past 3 years so it helps that they know I’m going to be a bit strange in my ideas and teaching. I’m still not sure of what exactly I’ll be teaching yet but I’ll keep you updated.
My town of Ulongue is about the size of down town laurel. We can find basically everything we need (except I am still on the search for meat besides canned tuna) and there’s a giant market that you can get lost in. There is a ton of produce and a lot of variety which is key here. Also through the previous volunteers we’ve inherited the sweetest little vegetable lady and she always throws in free stuff like extra tomatoes or bonus carrots or something. She even has her kids trained to throw in extras. Really nice and it shows that she recognizes us as part of the community.
Everyone in town that sees me knows that I’m a teacher. Walking down the street all I hear is “Good Morning Teacher” or “Good Afternoon Teacher, How are you?” Also the previous volunteers close friends in town Eddie and Juliet have made us feel really welcome. They run a preschool (started by a grant from the pervious volunteers) to start teaching kids English at an earlier age and their house is always open for us to go hang out at. Funny enough we speak English with them since Juliet is from Malawi so she doesn’t know Portuguese. Also they are graciously letting us use their PO Box in Malawi so that I can get mail a little more securely and hopefully a little faster. My site is amazing and I’m going to enjoy the next two years.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)