Oh, how the time is flying...

I really thought I was going to be better at updating my blog this year. I thought since it was my second year I'd have more free time since I was finally getting into routine but that was so wrong. My second (and final!) year as a PCV has been so busy with secondary projects, teaching more classes and my students coming over everyday to ask me random English questions. I really enjoy being busy because it is making the time go fast but it also means I'm procrastinating blogging, cleaning, exercising, etc. Basically anything that I can put off until the next day has been getting pushed to the back-burner. 

The last few weeks have been very exciting because we finally started the tutoring program at the primary school! I took pictures on the first day and uploaded them today. We currently have about 11 volunteers from the high school/agriculture institute each with their own group of 4-6 kids. We have a little over 50 kids participating in the tutoring program but not everyone shows up every time. The tutoring is every Tuesday and Thursday from 4-5p.m. I've been organizing the materials for each group every day so that has taken up a lot of time. I would like to find another counterpart who can start taking this over to make it sustainable as well as getting the community more involved. I'm hoping within the next few weeks/months things will start to run smoother and I'll get more pictures :) 

Two weekends ago Anna and I were able to spend the weekend with our Spanish friend, Jose Maria, at his house in Nacala. It was a beautiful little house with air conditioning, hot showers, running water and comfy furniture...not to mention a wonderful breakfast served to us every morning. It was very nice to get away and relax for the weekend. We went to a restaurant on the beach, watched TV, and enjoyed all the nice amenities. I posted some pictures from our weekend and beautiful balcony view of the ocean.

Since this weekend is Easter a lot of our students are going home to visit their families so we don't have class Thursday and Friday. I'm very excited to relax and plan ahead my lessons for the next week or so. I don't have any big Easter plans but hopefully going to Nacala to buy some fresh fruit and vegetables. I'm also planning on coloring some hard-boiled eggs and bringing them to the nuns sunday. I miss playing my family's easter egg cracking game so I told the nuns I would show them the game on Easter. 

Hope you enjoy the pictures! 

Two of our tutors with their group of 2nd/3rd graders

Our volunteer teaching the letter i with his 1st graders

Anna and I relaxing during our weekend in Nacala. 

The gorgeous view of the ocean from our balcony.

Our little house with AC, hot running water and comfy chairs for the weekend!

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.

2 steps forward, 3 steps back

This last weekend some friends and I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day by having a spa day. So I traveled to Meconta, about 2 and a half hours away to celebrate Valentine's Day with my friends Jamie, Liz and Pam! We had a lot of fun...Liz made us some chocolate coffee face masks and we even got to soak our feet and have manicures and pedicures. It was just a really fun and relaxing weekend. 

I ate better in Meconta than I have in weeks! The amazing chef, Liz, made us pad thai, guacamole  banana pancakes with mango and guava jam, cucumber and avocado salads, french toast and even lasagna (that tasted just like america)! It was so fun I wish I could have stayed longer to enjoy the good food and chick flicks but I came back yesterday to prepare for my English classes this week.

Last night I got everything planned and decided to go to bed early to start off my week right. This morning is when the confusion and frustration began. I got up and was walking to the school office for the morning national anthem when my counterpart, Irma Rita, called me. She asked me to come over to her house right away. When I got there she told me the primary school had a problem. One of the classrooms was flooding with water every time it rains...and it being the rainy season it rains pretty much daily. They currently have no other free classrooms for the students to move into since one of the buildings is being used by the secondary school (until they finish building their new classrooms hopefully in March or sometime after that). Irma Rita then told me that the 5th grade class in the morning and 7th grade class in the afternoon had no place to learn and therefore weren't having classes. I agreed with her that they need to have classes but the only way this can happen is if they study in the classroom currently being used as the library. 

Here comes the bad news. In order for them to use this classroom we have to take everything out including all the books, materials and even the bookshelves. So there is no more library until the secondary school finishes building their classrooms and the 5th/7th grade class can move out of the library. I'm hoping that happens next month but I have a feeling it'll be longer than that. So this afternoon I have to go over there and put all the books back in boxes and move all the materials, wood and bricks into a storage room. 

I was so excited to start the library activities this week but it looks like that won't be happening. I know I can still do activities with the books outside until we have a library so I'll try and do that. I felt like I got so much accomplished setting up the library and getting organized just to have to be pushed back a few steps and undo the library. It is important for that 5th and 7th grade class to have their own classroom and learn each day like everyone else so until they have a new space the library will be put on hold. 

Nacuxa is always bringing me surprises. Now to figure out and plan some outdoor/mobile library events so I can start those this next week and continue them until we get our space back. 

Biblioteca Hakuna Matata

As promised (but a little late) here are pictures of the finished library! We still have to hang up a few signs and paint the library name on the wall outside but it's almost fully completed :) We haven't had our official opening since it's been crazy the past 2 weeks with school but hoping to have it soon! We're also getting ready to start training tutors for the Reading tutoring program. 

A primary school student helping me label books by level with colored stickers

They wanted to get a picture after helping label the library books

The library in progress...

 

Some of the medium level books and Alphabet poster

A view of the library. We have some fleece floor pillows & some wall hangings that need to be put up

Full view of our finished library-Biblioteca Hakuna Matata de Nacuxa

Some of the supplies sent from the Bergan Mercy Auxiliary for use in our library. They sent us crayons, pens, pencils, markers, notebooks, coloring books, flashcards and small prizes for the kids!

A signed picture of the Bergan Mercy Auxiliary that came with the supplies

Some reference books and mini chalkboards the students can use

Nothing else new to update. Tomorrow is Valentine's day and I'm celebrating by going to visit my friends Jamie, Liz and Pam for the weekend! We're going to have a spa day. Happy Valentine's day! 

Library Cleaning Day!

The past few days I have been very productive. Yesterday I planted a garden (with the help from one of my friends, Ancha) and today I cleaned the library. I went over this morning so we could bring everything we had in the old library room to the new, bigger classroom. The other one was having serious roof/leaking problems. After talking with my counterpart-the school director, and the pedagogical director we decided the library could be moved to the first classroom. It's a lot bigger, cleaner and has no water problems! The only problem is that is used to be the 7th grade classroom so I think we kind of kicked them out to make room for the library...oops. I saw them cleaning out another classroom when I left this morning so they'll probably use that classroom for 7th grade. I had quite a few primary school students helping me move everything and set up the bookshelves. After they helped we took some pictures and I showed them the books they could use next week. The professors even poked their heads in to ask about the library. I'm really excited this is becoming a reality and hoping kids start coming when it opens next week. This weekend I'm going to set up the books and decorate the walls! More pictures to come after we open :) 

The classroom picture before

Some students helping carry the mud blocks used for the bookshelves

The students who helped me move all the wood and blocks

Trying to arrange the bookshelves

Carrying the wood Mozambican style

Some more helpers

After arranging the bookshelves we celebrated with some pictures

Those kids just love taking pictures with my camera... 

Eating lunch then back to working on the library! More pictures to come after this weekend :) 

America--Maputo--Nacuxa

I’m finally back at site (for more than just a day or two!) and almost unpacked…it’s been over a month since I’ve last posted and it’s been crazy busy. I was in America for a little about two and a half weeks then came back to Nacuxa for a few days and then traveled to Maputo for 10 days for the EGRA/Mid-service conference.

It’s weird to be back at site since I haven’t been here in over a month but also really nice. I was really happy to get to talk to my students again and they have all been asking me about my trip to America and my family.

I don’t even know where to start writing about this last month. It has been crazy...I’ll try to keep this condensed but I think it’s going to be a jumble of thoughts so I apologize in advance. :)

I went home to America Dec 17^th and was able to celebrate Christmas with my family as well as see my friends from home and college. While I was in America I was able to check off everything that I hoped to do and eat (tortilla chips, froyo and Texas roadhouse!) as well as catching up with my friends and family. It was so nice being home for the holidays, getting to make Christmas cookies and go to mass together but I was not prepared for the freezing cold weather! I was rudely awakened when I landed in Omaha with a dress and sandals on and that wasn’t even the coldest day we had. I did get somewhat used to it by my last few days just to have to come back to the summer heat of Mozambique.

I was really blessed to have been able to go home when I did because my grandma (my dad’s mother) was very sick and in the hospital. I was able to see her and spend Christmas with her before she passes away. It meant a lot to me that I was able to spend time and talk with her as well as say goodbye before I came back to Mozambique.

My travels back to Mozambique were not as expected. My first flight got delayed which made me miss all my connecting flights and caused my bags to go missing. Thankfully I arrived a day later than planned in Mozambique but my luggage was not with me. After many frustrating calls and 2 trips to the Nampula airport my bags finally showed up. I just got them to my house Sunday and it is so nice having all of my stuff back! 

By the time my bags arrived to the airport it was time for me to fly down to Maputo for our library (egra) and mid-service conference. It was a long 10 days of conferences but I learned some good ideas about library activities/planning as well as new English lesson plans. It was really great being with all of Moz 19 and catching up with friends I hadn’t seen in a long time. We had a fun time going out, eating amazing food and ice cream while in Maputo. Having A/C at our hotel was also a very nice change :) I’m really glad we had our mid-service conference this month because it was a much-needed rejuvenation and break before classes begin. I was feeling overwhelmed and anxious about the New Year and the library/EGRA but after our conference I have some ideas and am ready to get started! I already miss being with the Moz 19 group but I know we’re going to have a good final ten months at site.

Our classes in Nacuxa are starting on February 4^th and I’m hoping to get the library arranged this week!  But that depends on the rain/flooding problem we’ve been having in the current library room so we may need to fix the roof or move to another room. I’m hoping to get it figured out this week so we can open the first or second week of February. I’m excited to get started doing the library activities and tutoring program as well as start teaching my English classes again!

Here’s my plan for my last year at site (I can’t believe I’ll be done this year!):

• Open the library in February and start the EGRA tutoring
• Visit other provinces in Mozambique
• Go to Malawi in July with my friends from home
• Finish reading the Bible (I’m halfway done!)
• Start teaching English classes at the primary school again
• Host my English club once a week
•  Take more pictures of Nacuxa and my community (if I’m really dreaming maybe 1 a day but we’ll see how that goes….) :)
• Soak up my time in Nacuxa and Mozambique

I'll be posting again after the first day of classes in February :)