Pictures from March!

The past few weeks have been crazy busy! I have been giving tests, lesson planning, helping students and teachers with English as well as planning the volunteer training for the tutoring program. We were supposed to have the training last Saturday but only 2 students showed up because there was a women's football game going on. We are going to have the training on Wednesday and then hoping to start the tutoring program next week. We still do not have a physical library but are hoping to move back into the classroom within the next few weeks. Between regular class work, English lessons/club and the volunteer training I have been keeping busy! 

Even though I have been working like crazy every day, I did go to the beach with some neighbors last weekend and hung out with two of the nuns at my school. Here are some pictures from the last couple weeks that I wanted to share. 

Irma Rita (my library counterpart and good friend at site) eating an ata which is a sugar-apple

Irma Rita and Irma Leontina wanted to take pictures together by the ata plant

Close up of the ata fruit 

Irma Leontina really enjoyed taking pictures :) 

A local fisherman trying to get us to buy his early morning catch

When we first arrived at the beach the tide was out quite far. It looks so different before the tide comes in but the water sure came in quickly.

Eliza (a professor's wife and our neighbor) and Mate (a Spanish volunteer) enjoying the ocean with the tide out.

A look at how the local fishermen catch their fish

Miguel (another Spanish volunteer) holding one of the ocean creatures we found. When we were walking back while the tide was coming in Mate stepped on one of these guys and got it's pokers stuck in her toes. 

A very small but fast starfish 

Some crianças rowing their boat in after catching fish

The local fishermen getting a look at the fresh fish just coming in from the ocean.

Some of the fishermen just getting in from their morning work.

A fisherman trying to get Miguel to buy the octopus.

Fish for sale!

I was surprised by all the bright colors and patterns on the fish they were selling. They were beautiful.

After the fishermen were done for the morning these kids used their boats to play.

Birds, Bugs and Wifi

The past week or so my days have gotten busier. I teach everyday from 7am until 12:10 and then make lunch. Depending on the day I either have some time to relax and read a book or have meetings/need to lesson plan or grade tests. This week I gave tests to all my classes so I had over 200 tests to grade…not one of my smartest ideas to give tests the same day/week. I also started practicing English with students during their obligatory study hour on Tuesday and Thursday evenings with the new Spanish volunteer. Between grading tests, study hours, giving make up tests, and meeting with my library counterpart I’ve been pretty busy—but it makes my week go quickly and I feel like I’m really getting a lot done.

The library is still not in a classroom and opened but we have started recruiting volunteers for the tutoring program. We had an informational meeting yesterday and had 9 students show up. I think some other students want to be volunteers but they forgot about the meeting since we made the announcement on Tuesday. I’m really excited for the next few weeks and to get our tutoring program started. I’m going to talk with the primary school teachers this week and get their input about students who need the tutoring as well as ask about volunteering. We’ve planned to have our training on March 22^nd and then we are going to start the tutoring program the next week. Hopefully by then the library space will be available and we can move back there.

I have been busy with classes and forgot to blog a few times this week when I had some good stories. So instead I’ll just put them in this blog. Earlier this week I forgot to bring my laundry back inside before it got dark because I was in Nacala buying groceries. When I came back I went outside, put the light on and left the door open (in case I had to run inside from big bugs-yes you can laugh but I have not gotten over my dislike of bugs yet). As I was getting my clothes a bird flew out of the nest and down at me. I think it was sick and struggling because it couldn’t fly straight and kept falling down. I finished getting my clothes and prayed that it wouldn’t decide to fly into our house since I left the door open. Sure enough two minutes later I see it swoop into the house. I ran in and opened the front door to encourage the bird to leave but it just flew at me again. So of course I ran outside with all my clean clothes on my arm. All of our neighbors heard the commotion we were making and kept shouting at me asking what was happening but I couldn’t remember the word for bird. Thankfully one of our neighbors ran in and caught the bird in his hands. My friend, Irma Rita, came running over and asked what was wrong and just laughed when she found out. Boy was it a site to see that night. If they didn’t think we were weird before I’m sure they do now!

I’ve also had a few run ins with cockroaches in the bathroom. Last week I went into the bathroom before bed and saw cockroaches in our cup with toothbrushes. I was so grossed out I threw it out and now keep my new toothbrush in a bag in my room. The next day as I was taking a bath I grabbed my loofah (sponge) and was going to use it but thankfully saw something brown in it. I looked closer and a cockroach was stuck inside the loofah dead. I don’t even want to think about how it got smashed or if I used it while it was in there the day before. It’s safe to say I’m never using a loofah again in Mozambique.

Besides all my insect/animal problems the last few weeks life in Nacuxa has been pretty normal. Our school got wifi and we finally got the passwords! Now we have pretty fast Internet which has been a good thing but also has made me procrastinate a bit more. Looking forward to the next few weeks of classes and preparing for the tutoring program to start at the end of March.