Baseball in Africa

Today in my basic Informatica class I decided to play a review game since we are having our first test next week. I found a Baseball review game online and decided to try it out since all you needed was a chalkboard and chalk (which is all I had). Going into the class I thought that my students would know how the game of baseball was played-I was wrong. After drawing a baseball diamond on the board and trying to explain the concept of bases and 3 strikes then you’re out (in Portuguese) we started playing the game. Each of the 4 corners of the classroom represented home plate and the 3 bases. Each time a student got the answer correct they moved to the next base-after the first round they started understanding it a little more. 

My 8^th graders really got into the game and started cheering and shouting when they got on a base. Which at first was few and far between since they had not done any studying. We may have gotten a little too rowdy because the teacher next door came over and stared in the classroom during our game. Oops! At least they were having fun and learning at the same time. I was really proud of myself because normally my 90 minute basic Informatica class is something I dread each week. I feel like I can’t talk for 90 minutes in Portuguese about the history of computers and how to use them when they have no computers to use for practice. Today I had class for the full 90 minutes and they were all participating and finally getting the answers right. I’d call that a success-yes it’s a small success but I’ll take anything right now.

I’m so happy it’s Friday! This week has been long since I’ve been sick since Monday…I swear Africa is bringing out the weird illnesses in me more so than in America. I never used to get rashes in America…maybe when I was a baby but never after that. Yet while I’ve been in Mozambique I’ve had a bad rash for over 4 weeks now—that can’t be normal. Thankfully Peace Corps provides each PVC with a medical kit with practically a whole pharmacy full of medicines for almost any problem. I’m going to run out soon if my body doesn’t start to get better quick though!

This weekend I’m hoping to write my tests for next week, go food shopping in Nacala (for Chicken burgers!), help some of my students with English tomorrow and finally weed my garden. It’s starting to look like a jungle out there and I can’t tell what’s weed and what are the actual plants….oh boy.  

National Peace Corps Week starts this coming Sunday! Each day has a different slogan…here they are:

Sunday—“Grow Your Peace Corps Family Tree”

Monday—“Inspire Global Learning”

Tuesday—“Make Peace Personal”

Wednesday—“Invite the World to Your Table”

Thursday—“Foster Global Citizenship”

Friday—“Champion RPCVs as Global Professionals”

Saturday—“Act Locally to Influence Globally”

I better think of something so I can participate in Peace Corps week here in Nacuxa!

Missing home and snow during this crazy snowstorm back in Nebraska and KC! Hope everyone stays safe and warm—I’ll try and send some of my African temperatures to melt the snow :)

Pictures of my PCV life

I finally got my camera cord and am uploading a few pictures from the past few months. School has been interesting this past week and a half. I've been teaching a lot and trying to learn about computer theory (since that's what my informatica basico class is all about). It's been a hard few weeks but thankfully, by some miracle, I got lots of packages from my family and friends back home today! It truly means the world to me to receive any letter or package from my loved ones back home. I feel so loved when I receive my mail-I hope you know how much I appreciate the thoughtfulness you all put in to sending the packages! They came at a perfect time and are helping me stay sane this weekend. My motto of the week: "Just keep swimming....just keep swimming" yes it is from Finding Nemo but the message is really helping me this week. I just have to take it one day at a time and I can do it. 

Just. Keep. Going. 

I promise to keep the pictures coming! 

Anna and I at the waterfalls in Namaacha

Outside my homestay 

"Pilaring" peanuts to make dinner with my host family

Welmer (Anna's host brother) and I...he's such a cutie

Some of our students from Model School during training. The two girls on either side are my host sisters!

My host family and I at the home stay celebration the last week of training. 

Anna, Hannah and I rocking our capulanas :) 

Jamie and I at the home stay celebration-language group buddies! 

My host brother and sister, Jamito and Deolinda

My school that I teach it...yes it is basically a farming school. 

Our house--it's pretty big inside and we have a nice backyard with a garden!

My favorite neighborhood "criança" Anu-she so reminds me of my niece back home! 

Victor and I and someone's host brother at the end of training celebration! 

All the kids love coloring-thanks for sending some new coloring books and crayons! :) 

All of the Moz 19 volunteers after our swearing-in at the Ambassador's house in Maputo. 

Crazy "Crianças"

Christmas in Angoche with my fellow Moz 19ers in Nampula

First Day of Classes

Yesterday was supposed to be the first day of classes and the day we received our teaching schedule. That of course didn’t happen since Mozambique runs on a different time schedule than I’m used to back in the states. 

I got up early and was told to be at the school by 7am…at 6:30 I was already ready and looking out my window to see if the students were getting ready. No one was in uniform and they were still eating breakfast! Finally at 7:45 everyone showed up and we had an assembly to start off the school year and introducing all the professors. That afternoon we had a 2-hour long meeting where we were supposed to get our class schedule but instead we talked about everything but that. (My roommate found out at the meeting that she was now going to be a professor since she’s been helping write the new lab tech course curriculum…that was a surprise for both of us.)

This morning we were told to show up at 6:45am to sing the national anthem and then for classes to start. My roommate and I went outside to wait at 6:40 and we started the anthem around 7. Thankfully the director of the school had all the class schedules finished and we received them this morning right before classes started. It was really nerve-wracking not to know the schedule until the morning of classes! I’m a person that really likes to be organized and have a schedule so it was a little unnerving not to have any idea what time or where I’d be teaching!

I’m teaching 22 hours of English and Informatica (Computers). I was pretty surprised to be teaching computers since my supervisor made it seem like I was off the hook for that. At least it’ll help me improve my Portuguese! I’m teaching 8^th and 11^th grade English and Computers. In the 8^th grade computer class I’m supposed to be teaching the class without computers….we’ll see how that goes!

My first class was 8^th grade English. The students were about 11-14 years old. I was told the livro de turma (class book with rosters and grades) would be in the room as well as chalk. When I got there nothing was in the room. Thankfully one of the students went and got me chalk, which was really helpful! All in all I’d say the first lesson didn’t go half bad. I had a lesson plan ready with an introduction game to get them talking in English and boy did that turn out differently than what I had planned! When I got in there I realized that most of the students have a very basic knowledge of English so I had to talk a lot in Portuguese for them to actually understand what I was telling them. The game did not go over well. All they were supposed to do was find the person with the same card number and introduce himself or herself (say “My name is….” I am ___ years old.” Etc). Well after about 5 minutes we finally had everyone paired up but when I told them to begin talking and completing the sentences on the board they just stood there and then walked back to their seats. I think I have a long way to go before trying to play that game again!

At the end of the 45-minute class one of the other English professors at the school and I looked over the curriculum for the 8^th grade class. While we were doing that another professor came up to me and told me I was supposed to be teaching an 11^th grade class right then. I am supposed to be teaching 11^th grade but half of the students aren’t here yet so my class got cancelled for today. I guess this other group of 11^th graders didn’t have a teacher so they roped me into teaching.

At first I was a little panicked because it was a 90-minute class and I had no lesson plan…I was wondering what the heck I was going to do for an hour and a half with these students. Turns out they know about the same as my 8^th grade class but could play the game a lot better! I had them practice introducing themselves and writing sentences about their lives. Class was a tad difficult because they had no chalkboard or anywhere to write so I just had to use my notebook. When we came across the sentence “I have a girlfriend or I am single” they asked what if we have more than one? I laughed & asked how many they had—one of the boys said 7! After talking with the class I found out that they were all seminarians in their first year studying in Nacuxa. I was pretty shocked when I found out they were seminarians because one of the students said they had 7 girlfriends. I asked if they were going to have girlfriends once they became priests and thankfully they all said no. We all got a good laugh out of that conversation!

Overall I’d say my first day wasn’t half bad. I was a little freaked out at first but now I have my first class under my belt. Tomorrow is my first day teaching Informatica so we’ll see how that goes since it’s all in Portuguese…

4 months down

I can’t believe I have already been in Mozambique for four months! I still miss my family and friends back home but I’m adjusting to life over here pretty well (at least I think so). It’s been nice to get all settled in my house at site and meet all the people in Nacuxa. I’m feeling more and more integrated everyday.

I started a garden this week in our backyard! I brought Broccoli, Pumpkin, and Corn seeds with me from the States—and the nuns gave me amendoim (peanuts) and mandioca (a type of vegetable that looks like a stick). Sister Sandra found a woman to help us clean up the weeds and other junk in our backyard. She then proceeded to plant all the peanuts she gave me (which was a LOT!) and wanted to go get more from her house. I told her I didn’t know what I would do with all those peanuts if she got me more. She then told me that since I love peanut butter I could make my own. That’s a good thought but we’ll see if that happens. However, today I did make my own hummus—I was proud it turned out pretty nicely…just a little too much garlic (oops).

School should be starting next week (At least I hope so!) and I’m still not sure of my schedule. This last week the priest asked me if I could teach an introductory French class if they didn’t find a French teacher in time. I told him maybe but then tried to rack my brain for all the French that I have studied and couldn’t remember much at all. Studying Portuguese for the past 4 months everyday has made me forget all the French I know. Thankfully at church Sunday two new professors were introduced and I’m pretty positive one of them is teaching French, whew! I’m anxious to start teaching and forming a club or group outside of school as well! I’ll be sure to post next week after my first week of classes J

Last week it rained a lot, which was really nice because we were able to collect it since we haven’t had water coming out of the faucet for over a week. I can definitely understand the meaning of the rainy season now. The storms come up out of nowhere and just downpour for an hour or so then just stop and the hot, humid sun comes out again. It surprised me how fast the sand can absorb all the big pools of water.

We have been really lucky at site because we haven’t had any flooding or problems with the rain. However, the rest of Mozambique hasn’t faired so well. Many PCVs in Gaza province (which is in Southern Mozambique) have had to be evacuated to Maputo due to the flooding of the Limpopo River. Over 100,000 people have been displaced. The water in some towns is as high as the roofs and the roads are getting washed out and many people are stranded without fresh food and clean water. With the rainy season not even halfway through there is bound to be more flooding and problems for those along the Limpopo River.  Many prayers are needed for the PCVs in the south as well as the many Mozambicans who have lost their homes and are without food and clean water.

Today was a success!

Finally I had a day where I felt like a productive PCV. Here’s a little glimpse into what I did today…

-Skyped with my mom back home! 

-Cut my hair for the first time since leaving home (yes you are reading this right—I cut my own hair with sewing scissors my mom sent with me. I’ll admit I don’t I cut it straight…probably because I did it outside with no mirror…oops.) :)

-Talked to Irmå Tassy about the English and Computer Curriculum. She then told me that she wants me to do more projects outside of the classroom so I’ll only be teaching 11^th grade English and probably not Computers anymore (which is fine with me!)

-We started talking about how Bryson (5yrs old) and Ano  (4yrs old) don’t go to the Primary school yet but have a lot to learn (they don’t even know their colors or how to count to 10). She mentioned that she wants to teach them or do things educational things with all the little kids living at the school. I jumped at that idea and told her I would love to teach them and even had some books for kids in English. She asked if I really wanted to do that with them everyday and of course I said yes (finally something to do! And teaching little kids!). I think she’s getting an idea of the Professors’ kids that would come and going to tell me more about it tomorrow. She even said she has little chairs I could borrow for the kids to sit in while I teach them in my “Quintal” (backyard)

-Made an Omelet that actually looked like an Omelet-success!

-Wrote more lesson plans for my 11^th grade English class

-Made no bake cookies :) 

-Helped a nun (Irmå Lucia) set up her very own email account! It wasn’t until after we set up the account did I find out that she doesn’t know how to use a computer. Probably should have taught her a little bit about that first before introducing her to the email world. You wouldn’t believe how long it takes to teach how to double click and type all the weird accents on Portuguese words. Today we just learned how to send and check email and write in a Word document. Tomorrow we’ll practice again

-Today is one of the seminarian’s birthday and I think my roommate and I got invited to a mass/party for him…I’m not quite sure though. I guess I’ll find out in an hour if someone knocks on my door wanting me to go to this mass.

I’d say overall this has been the best day of 2013. I’m glad I finally have things to do and a purpose to my life in Nacuxa! More to come later once I start teaching the little “crianças” (kids) :)

Funny Stories from the week:

-On Sunday at church I somehow got pulled into dancing with the girls who were dancing in front of church to the songs. (Let me just tell you…I’m not a good dancer in America or Mozambique…so it was slightly embarrassing but I had fun dancing with the students and looking like a fool) :)

-One night this week my counterpart, Irmå Tassy, came over and sat by me on my porch and we started talking about school, Nacuxa and cooking. She then asked what I had been cooking…well we really don’t have much access to meat or vegetables or fruit (besides mangos) so I’ve been eating a lot of eggs and peanut butter sandwiches. After I told her this she laughed and told me she’s going to help me learn how to cook. She even brought me over to their house that same night and cooked an egg for me and gave me a huge plate of rice. I tried to explain that back in America I cooked every night at home—I don’t think she believed me. She then told me she would take me to Nacala to the stores that sell vegetables and meat (that you don’t have to kill). After we do that she wants me to come over to her house for a little bit everyday to learn how to cook. They must think I am an idiot in the kitchen. I need to explain to her that I like to bake more than I cook. Since I’ve been here I have made coffee cakes, sugar cookies, oatmeal cookies, French toast, pancakes, and no bake cookies! I just didn’t no how to say all of that in Portuguese so she thinks I’ve just been eating bread, peanut butter and eggs. Oh boy. I have a long way to go to reassuring them I can cook!

Here are some quotes that I wanted to share this week:

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  ~Jeremiah 29:11

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you may go.”  ~Joshua 1:9

“The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.” ~Walter Bagehot 

(However, for me it’s doing the things I thought I could never do…like living on a different continent, speaking a different language, killing scorpions in my room and not thinking twice seeing lizards in my house) :)

New Year, New Resolutions

It’s hard to believe it’s 2013 already! I am happy to say that I accomplished half of my New Year’s resolutions from last year! I’m hoping to go for all of them this year so we’ll see how it goes. This year already has been different than 2012…I’m in Africa killing unknown bugs every night in my house. I never thought I would be happy to just have a normal looking spider in the bathroom to kill rather than some freaky mutant insect. I’ve been trying to get better with my fear of insects, bugs and anything “creepy crawly”…I like to think I’ve made some improvements but when I feel a bug crawling on me I still freak out a tad bit.

**On the plus side the past 3 nights in a row we haven’t had our nightly part spider/part scorpion/part very weird looking insect in our house. We had been having these things running around our house every night and it took an extreme amount of bug spray to finally slow them enough to sweep them out of the house. Knock on wood that they stay out of our house for the time being!

I wish I could tell you how productive I have been during the New Year or all the new projects I’ve started but I can’t. Everyday I go over to the school’s office and ask the same questions—“when do classes start? Do you know the class schedule?” Unfortunately I have yet to truly get an answer to this. I think I have the school start date down to sometime in early February (so at least there is some time to plan lessons). I still don’t know what grades I’m teaching or the curriculum for the English and Computer classes. I’m hoping to get that sometime this week so I can be productive and start planning lessons.

The most productive things I’ve done so far are make new resolutions for 2013, bake oatmeal & sugar cookies (the oatmeal one’s actually tasted like cookies whereas the sugar cookies tasted a little odd), and have been reading a lot to fill my days. Usually the most exciting part of my day is sitting on my front porch coloring and talking with the 4 year old living a few houses down. I wish I had more exciting things to share with you about life in Nacuxa but the school is eerily quiet with all the students gone. (It reminds me of Jewell on the weekends. But Liberty at least had a 24 hour Wal-Mart and sonic) :) Hopefully in my next post I’ll have more exciting news to share!

My goals for this week (so I can be more productive!):

•  Figure out the curriculum for English & Computer class and write the first few lessons
• Sit outside once a day and talk in Portuguese to my neighbors
• Start reading the one book I have that’s in Portuguese (The Princess Diaries…yes I know how lame that sounds but the sad fact is that book will probably still be a little challenging since it’s in Portuguese)
• Figure out a way to make a closet so bugs don’t get in my clothes
• Make cinnamon toast and more coffee cake!

As I was looking through my quotes to find one to share with you I came across this quote. I remember reading it in high school and thinking how truly blessed I was for everything.

As I read it now it could not be truer and make me feel even more blessed than the first time I read it. I’ll admit there are days when I stop and think about how hard it is being away from my friends and family back home and how easy it would be to go home and live with all the luxuries of life in the U.S. (washing clothes in a machine, gong out to eat, driving a car, having running water (that is clean) and electricity 24/7). But then I’m reminded of why I chose to join the Peace Corps. I’m blessed by having some amazing nuns who want to just sit on my porch and talk, students who are eager to learn, kids who would be happy just coloring with me all day (and who don’t laugh at my terrible Portuguese)…and that in itself makes up for the days when I feel homesick and like I’m not doing enough. I know I can’t change the world in 2 years…but I hope I can at least inspire students to “dream big” (as Mr. Young would say) :) and work hard for what they want.

Christmas in Africa

This Christmas was very different…not just because I was away from family, friends and snow but I spent it on the beach and it truly felt just like any other day. I was able to go to mass on Christmas morning so that was nice (I didn’t understand a majority of it since it was in the local language) and they sang the “Gloria” song from back home at the end of mass. I missed the Christmas season back home—seeing the Bell ringers outside Hy-Vee, making hot cider and watching the Grinch, making those peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses on top and mostly being with family. It was really nice to be reunited with all the Moz 19ers in Nampula and get to catch up and hear about everyone’s sites though.

We did celebrate with very good food though (chicken, coleslaw, mashed potatoes, French toast, banana pancakes with mango syrup, cookies, garlic bread and shrimp pasta—which I actually liked, shocking that I would say that about seafood I know!) and listened to Christmas carols and watched Home Alone! I even learned how to bake in a makeshift Dutch oven using pots and sand. Today I tested out my skills and made a coffee cake—it turned out great! I was so proud of myself for making a Dutch oven and baking for the first time by myself in Africa J

Traveling to Angoche for Christmas was interesting…I left my site and caught a semi chapa to take me to Nampula city. In the city I met another Moz 19 PCV at a coffee shop (I honestly would still be wandering around the streets of Nampula if not for a VERY nice mother and daughter who showed me exactly how to get to the café—thank goodness for nice people!). We then tried to catch a chapa to Angoche but the only thing leaving was an open back truck full of cargo and they weren’t planning on leaving for another few hours. So of course we decide to just walk along the highway (I know, smart right?) and hope to catch a boleia. Only a few cars passed us by but no one was going that way. Then out of nowhere a car speeds past us and we didn’t even have time to flag them down. The car turned around and started driving back towards us—it ended up being 2 nice South Africans traveling in an air conditioned car. They even had a cooler in the car and offered us cookies, pop, ham & cheese sandwiches, hot dogs and chocolate. They were so nice they even drove us right to our stop in Angoche and let us take some food with us! It definitely made up for the semi and craziness of Nampula.

When we were trying to leave Angoche we had better luck catching a chapa to Nampula at 4am. However, I did get my first marriage proposal on that chapa. I had no idea what to say to that so I just kept telling him no…then of course he had to ask why I didn’t want to be with him, etc. It was all I could do to keep a straight face and not laugh. I mean seriously—he didn’t even know me, he just met me on this truck and asked to be my husband. It was an interesting day to say the least! I was able to shop for food in Nampula and get syrup, veggies and other tasty things I can’t get at site. While I was in Nampula city I saw someone wearing an Omaha/Council Bluffs YMCA shirt! I literally stopped in my tracks because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I knew he probably didn’t know where Omaha was but the fact that I got a reminder of home made my day! And on the chapa back to Nacuxa I saw a man wearing a Whistler, Canada sweatshirt and it reminded me of when I went there with my family! Overall, even though traveling back to site was very stressful it made me smile when I had these little reminders of home and fun times with my family J

Ringing in the New Year in Africa will definitely be a bit different as well. I’ll still make my list of resolutions but I won’t be watching the ball drop on TV. I’m going to Nacala (the closest big city about 30 minutes away) with my roommate to stay on the beach and watch some fireworks!

Finishing my laundry has never made me feel so accomplished. I can’t believe how easy it is in the States to just put your clothes in a machine and add soap then go watch tv or do something else while your laundry is being cleaned. Here that is not the case…It entails a little bit more labor than that but once you have it all done you feel like you’ve really accomplished something J

School will be starting soon and I’ll be busy teaching English and computers—I’m excited and anxious to teach at the secondary school. It will definitely be different than the 3^rd graders I’m used to but it will be a great learning experience. I’m still not quite sure when school starts. I’ve asked a few times and each time I get a different answer. It’s either starting Jan 7^th, the middle of January or early February. Hopefully, I’ll be finding out soon so I can be prepared! For now I’m cleaning the house, making curtains and catching up on my reading—I’ll be glad to have lessons to write and tests to grade to keep me busy soon!

Happy New Year!! Thanks to one of my college professors I have a quote to start the New Year with that I hope is as inspiring to you as it has been to me…

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson