A Minha Escola em Guija

We technically started school last Thursday, however I have still yet to meet all of my students. The first few weeks of school are spent enrolling students, teachers still planning lessons and students deciding when they are finished with holidays and ready to come back. There are about 1000 students at the school and 4 English teachers - two English teachers for 8^th-10^th and two for 11^th and 12^th grades. The students in the 8^th-10^th receive 2 classes of English/week, while the students in 11^th and 12^th receive 5 classes/week. I will be teaching only in the morning (from 7am to 12:05) and will have 4 turmas (classes) of about 40 students each. My schedule changes depending on the day – Mondays I have six classes (3 doubles/duplas) with my three 11^th grade classes, Tuesday I have two classes (1 double/dupla) with my only 12^th grade class and Wednesday…So far the students have pretty good I have yet to have a full class with all of my students so we’ll see how things go when I get 40 students in a classroom. I did have something funny happen the other day in class when we were going over classroom rules. I asked the students what it meant to respect yourself and then asked them to give me examples in English/Portuguese…one student decided to say in Portuguese with the most serious face that not peeing in your pants was one way to respect yourself, besides being true his comment definitely generated some great laughter! More stories to come…

Escola Secudaria em Mozambique

The secondary education system in Mozambique is set up in two cycles – the first cycle is 8th-10th grade and the second cycle is 11th and 12th. Students have to take national exams after 10th grade and 12th grade in November if they pass they can move on to 11th grade after 10th or university after 12th. If they don’t pass they can retake the exams in December and if they still don’t pass they have to retake the courses they did not pass on the exam. All secondary schools in Mozambique are open to any one who wants to go to school and the classes are not determined on the age of the students, but whether or not they have passed the previous grade. For instance, there could be a 16 year or and a 36 year old in the same 11th grade class. The school is set up on a trimester system – the first trimester is January to April, the second is May to July and the third is August to October. There are three cycles of classes at most schools one in the morning, one in the afternoon and then one at night. The schools that do not have electricity will only have two cycles during the day because it makes it impossible to hold classes at night without electricity.

"Voce conhece crocodillos?"

This is the question I get at least once a week by the same people who I meet alongside the main road in my town…those people include a man by the name Manuel who sells used clothes a few building down from where I live, a women who sells refrescos near the central market, the chicken vendor and many others I may come into contact on my passear-ing journey to the “ponte” or bridge that goes over the Limpopo River and connects Guija with Chokwe. This is definitely my favorite spot. There is a little baraaca at the end of town right off the river where you can get a drink and relax. Typically everyone who frequents this spot sits at the tables provided by the barraca, but we take our drinks and go sit on some rocks under the bridge where you can watch the beautiful sunsets and catch the nice breeze off the rio. The thing about going to the ponte is that everyone in town enjoys bringing up the fact that the river is home to crocodillos and how it is dangerous for me to go there because one man has been eaten and a month before I arrived another had his arm bitten off while bathing in the river at night (I think he had to be asking for that…who thinks to bathe in a river with crocs when it is pitch black outside?) Anyways I reassure people that I am not taking a bath or even entering the water in any way, but they are usually not satisfied because the conversation replays itself each time. I know they are only looking out for my well being and I appreciate it, but I have decided that I will not give up frequenting this incredible spot for the fear of having my arm bitten off by a croc.

“Uma fotografica e vale um mil palavras”

So since school is not supposed to begin until the middle/end of the month I have had quite a bit of free time and usually spend part of my day just sitting under talking to people about how yet again it is another hot day. So I have been trying to spice up that convo a bit and decided to bring out all my lovely pictures of family and friends back to home to share. It was such a wonderful idea too because it has helped me “trocar” (exchange/trade) experiences. We have talked about how there are non-white people that live in the U.S. (thanks to many pictures of Bernard and I), how old people live to be (thanks to my wonderful grandparents who just celebrated their 63 wedding anniversary on January 1^st), going to university, sports (specifically baseball, hmm I wonder why…love you Tony!), the different climates, markets, types of buildings, languages, Uganda, HIV/AIDS and much much more…It’s crazy how something as small and insignificant at times can spark some incredible conversation and help people feel that much more connected to you. So now when my neighbor’s see that I am on the phone with my family and friend’s back home they can picture their faces.

Eu sou Dr. Do-Little

Okay so sorry I bet you didn’t imagine that I would continue to write about my pets (yes there is more than just Piri) but being that I am waiting on the school year to begin this is the most exciting thing I have to write about. Yea so the other volunteer I am living with got a cat last spring sometime and it disappeared about 2 months ago and decided to come back a week after I got Piri. Then this past weekend I brought home a kitten because the two volunteers who live in the town next to mine went back to the states for the holidays and needed someone to look after the kitten. So now how do they all get along…they don’t. The first cat thinks this house is his terrain and wants nothing to do with Piri or the gatinha named Kanimambo (Thank you in Xangana – the local language here). Piri is still just wanting to bite everything in sight including the gatinha – another small chick was murdered, but we are not positive it was Piri because she was not caught in the act, but I did wake up on New Years and had the skin of a goat in my front yard – she took it from the neighbor’s house who killed it the night before. She also ripped the mosquito net of my neighbor’s last night…ugh! Her biting has been a constant stress of mine – I actually dreamt about it last week. Luckily my neighbors are understanding and are really positive about her though…Seriously though the house has turned into a petting zoo with crying, purring, barking and growling ALL day long…!

Chapa Rides

Okay so I have mentioned this word Chapa in a number of different blogs of mine, but I don’t think I have taken the time to elaborate on what it really is. A Chapa is a Toyota mini van that has a front seat that fits the driver and 2 other people and four back seat benches. Each of the benches are made to fit 3 people but they put four and usually as many babies and chickens as well. Also the driver has what’s called a cobrador who collects money and sticks his head out of the window to yell their route and fill up the Chapa and so he will sit on the fist bench directly behind the front seats and control the door and stand hunched over if there is no room on the bench – other people will stand too if there isn’t room so basically they just jam it until they can’t close the door, sometimes the chapa is so old that the door doesn’t really even close and so the cobrador just holds it shut. I have a love hate relationship with these chapas (they have the same thing in Uganda as well so I have ridden in my fair share of these Toyota vans) I love them because all of my best stories stem from riding in a chapa, however I hate them because they take so much more time and make you feel like you are in a corset, straight jacket or can of sardines the entire ride…On Sunday on the way back from the beach it was raining, which made belay-ing not an option and so myself and two other volunteers had to take chapas back. We stopped to have in Xai-Xai town before heading back and I had the rest of my lunch in a box ready to take home. As I stopped to situate myself in my rain jacket and such I forgot to pick up my food, but didn’t remember until we got on the chapa. But because we were the first handful of people on the chapa the driver had to drive up and down town waiting for people who were ready to go to our same destination this took a good 45 minutes and in the meantime I was trying to accept the fact that I would not be seeing my Indian leftovers anytime in the near future. But then to my surprise we happened to turn around in the dirt lot next to where I left my food and to my surprise it was sitting on the table right where I left it! So the chapa stopped and left me get out and grab it before we went on our journey that took much longer than the hour and a half journey I took a few days prior…

BEELAYUH (spelled phonetically…)

So the word “beelayuh” means getting a free ride by a complete stranger here in Mozambique. Often times this free ride can come in a number of different varieties – backs of pick-up trucks, in an air-conditioned Land Cruiser with a Mozambican, Portuguese or South African. Now I know coming from the U.S. where hitch hiking is not a common occurrence (and I think might even be illegal), here that is not the case and often times this ride can be much more comfortable than being jammed in a chapa that was originally meant for 15 people and actually have 26 people – not to mention safer. Okay so over the Christmas weekend I spent my time in Xai-Xai beach with some other volunteers and the other volunteer that I am living with and I decided to get a beelayuh to our destinations. After standing on the side of the road for about 20 minutes flagging down whatever car would pass we got ourselves a beelayuh straight to Xai-Xai, which couldn’t have been any more perfect. I like to call him “Speedy Gonzales” because he lives in Chokwe (the large town closest to mine) and works in Xai-Xai meaning he drives this normally 2 hour drive in a private car in an hour and a half during the day and in 45 minutes at night (mainly dependent on the number of cops on the road during those hours…). Speedy was very nice bought us waters at the gas station and gave us his number for whenever we wanted to head back to Xai-Xai. Because of how fast I got to the beach I arrived way earlier than the rest of the group and was able to get a head start on my Christmas tan. My friends who were coming from the same place, but wanted to leave a bit later took chapas and it took them about 5 hours! Oh yea so on Christmas eve a friend of mine and I decided to go to town from the beach which is about 6-8 km trek on our way back we were once again belay-ing and happened to get a ride in a brand new Hummer-3 with air-conditioning, leather seats and a new Akon song playing…will be sure to continue to keep you all updated on my beelayuh stories!