20 days!

Today as I was teaching one of my classes one student, Quizito, told me, “Teacher you know we only have 3 weeks left of classes.” I paused for a minute and was thinking about this and realized it was true. I was both really excited and stressed because that meant in just 20 days I’d be leaving for America but I somehow need to finish my classes before that!

The schedule started off weird and I missed out on two classes with one of my turmas so I’m a little behind. We are taking the first test next week and then somehow with only 3 class periods left we need to learn more information and take the 2^nd test. I’m a bit nervous and of course trying to pack as much into each lesson as possible. Wish me luck these next few weeks! Hopefully my students don’t get too frustrated with me as I make them do a lot in such a little amount of time.

At the beginning of every 6-week session I tell myself that I’m going to finish early and not be stressing out at the end. Somehow I have failed at that every semester. I really need to make that a goal of mine in the New Year! However being stressed out and trying to finish my modules means that I’m coming home very soon! I cannot tell you how excited I am to be coming home for Christmas! I know I was just home at the end of August but it feels like it’s been forever. I’m really looking forward to the cold winter weather and hopefully some snow! I’m going to be really happy to get away from this summer heat in Nacucha.

On a positive note the library is progressing slowly but surely. We’re getting the wood for the bookshelves this week and then we’ll be organizing the books an decorating the library! I’m also working on making some resources for the kids to use with the cardboard and materials we have here. I’m hoping to have it mostly done by the time I come home and the training planned! When I get back from my trip to America it will be time to recruit the tutors and give them a training before we can start when the school starts back up in February. As soon as the library looks pretty I’ll upload some pictures!

20 days until I’m on my way home!! See you all soon! 

Warm & Fuzzy’s

The past few weeks I have been feeling like I’m not doing the best I can as an English Teacher. My students haven’t been doing that well on the tests and there just isn’t enough time in the semester to explain the information—with only 6 weeks for each course I feel like I’m always leaving something out and moving too fast. I know I can do better but sometimes I just don’t even know how to go about it. I think the break in December will be a much-needed rejuvenation. I want to come back in February and have students that are learning and speaking English more fluently. I want to not feel rushed in my lessons and I want to see that spark that my students actually understand what I’m talking about.

This week, I got a really nice warm and fuzzy—it made me feel a bit better about my teaching. Do you remember from school or retreats when people wrote you warm and fuzzy’s—positive notes about yourself? Well earlier this week after we finished with the oral presentations one of my students, Neves, got up and said he wanted to make an announcement in English. All throughout the class I saw him scribbling notes in English and I wondered what he was writing. He then got up and said he wanted to speak for all the students since it was our last class for this set of modules. Neves started to say that they were all thankful they had me as a teacher and were going to remember all the information I gave them. He thanked me for being a good teacher with patience for the class and told me they would always remember me. It was very sweet and it gave me a nice feeling inside knowing that they felt that way and thought it was important enough to tell me during our last class together. I’m really proud of him because he gave that speech all in English and it was perfect—I can’t take credit for that since I’ve only had him in class in two modules but it makes me happy he’s trying and learning English well.

I know I have things to work on and I always will but sometimes it’s nice to hear that the students appreciate you and want to thank you. I didn’t thank my teachers enough in school and I regret that. I had so many amazing and inspiring teachers throughout grade school, high school and college that I want to go back and thank—so I’m going to do that here.

To all my teachers: I really appreciate everything you did for me both in the classroom and behind the scenes. I think as students we take for granted the hard work and dedication that all teachers put in to each and every day. I’m so thankful I had you in my life to help mold me into the teacher I am today…I’m not as good as my favorite teachers but I’m striving for that every day. Also I feel like I should apologize for my bad behavior as a student in grade school and high school…in 5^th grade I never shut up and as a teacher in a high school now I know how annoying and frustrating that can be…I’m really sorry. I also was one of the students who without trying could and would fall asleep during a lecture and I never thought much of it. However, now that I have my own classroom full of teenagers who are sleeping I feel your pain when you had to deal with me when I fell asleep during a test.

Teachers are amazing, wonderful and put so much love, hard work and dedication into their classes. They do not get enough recognition for what they are doing so I want to say here and now to all of my past teachers and others out there who need a warm and fuzzy… You are an inspiration to your classroom! You are thought of and loved and you will always be remembered! Know that your hard work is paying off and one day your students will look back and smile knowing they had you as their teacher. THANK YOU! 

A blog in pictures

I have been really behind on posting blogs recently and decided it'd be faster to post some pictures from the past few weeks. Most of the pictures are from Dia dos professores (Teacher's day) on October 12th. I hope to have some free time this weekend and a break from grading to write another blog post. Until then here are some pictures from the past few weeks. :)

At the dinner with Irma Rita, a professor's wife, Professor Filomino and one of my students, Hostalina. Hostalina taught me how to dance Mozambican style...maybe when I COS I'll be a better dancer :)

At the praça for Teacher's day a school gymnastic group performed and this was just one of their stunts. 

 Mozambicans love to dance. Here are most of my colleagues showing off their dance moves.

For Teacher's day we had a big dinner and party. Somehow I was given the cake cutting job--which apparently was a big deal. It was a really nice time to hang out with the other professors.

National Anthem ceremony at the closest praça (about 25 minutes away)

Some of the professors, Irma Rita and I at the Teacher's Day ceremony. 

Our local praça/Administrative offices where the Teacher's Day ceremony was held.

A church I visited when I was in Carapira. It is gorgeous inside and out.

Dia da Paz

Today was Dia da Paz (Peace Day) in Mozambique, which meant no school, yay! I was really looking forward to just sleeping in and having a lazy day. I was lying in bed most of the morning (after waking up at 6am—of course I couldn’t sleep in on my day off) reading a book and feeling lazy. Thankfully my counterpart, Irma Rita, asked if we could study English since she has a final exam for her class next month so I was able to stop being lazy and get out of bed.

I was over at her house for about 5 minutes before I heard students making a commotion outside. I asked her what was going on and she told me they were going to Crusse, a beach near Nacucha. Anna has been telling me about Crusse since I arrived in Nacucha last year. She only went once but told me it was the most beautiful beach she had ever seen. So of course when I heard this I decided to go and get Anna and see if we wanted to go with all the students. The students were leaving right then so we only had 2 minutes to get our stuff together and I didn’t have time to change into my swimsuit. I didn’t care I was just so happy to finally be going to this wonderful beach.

There were two tractors with flat beds attached for the students to pile in and one car. Thankfully the students made room for Anna and I to sit in the car otherwise we definitely would have gotten sun burnt on the ride. It only took us about 30 minutes to get there on a pretty mato “road”…I’m not sure if it should even be called a road, haha, but for my site it was a decent route for transportation. After driving a few minutes out of Nacucha there was nothing—no houses, people or animals. It was so serene and I truly felt like we were driving in a safari. I was expecting to see a lion jumping out from the high grasses, I know, I know…not very realistic. I didn’t actually see anything exciting though, maybe next time.

When we got close enough to see the beach and ocean from the road I was speechless. It. Was. Gorgeous! The water was such a pretty turquoise blue. When we arrived and got closer it was more beautiful than I imagined. The beach was pristine…no one was there besides a few fishermen. You could tell when you walked on the beach that it was hardly ever used. The water was clear, clean and the sand was so smooth. I could have lain there listening to the waves all day. However, we only got to stay a few hours. We went swimming, took pictures with the students and just relaxed.  Since I didn’t have time to change into a swimsuit I just had on jean shorts and a t-shirt. I tried going in there with that but I didn’t want to have to wear wet clothes back and not going in wasn’t an option. The ocean was so warm and the water so clear that I just had to go in! I was wearing a sports bra and since none of the female students had swimming suits either they just went in their bras and shorts so I figured hey I can do that too. Let me tell you something…I have never, let me repeat never, gone to a pool or the beach showing that much skin. I always wear a one piece or a tankini but today a sports bra was my only option. I felt so exposed and was so nervous wearing just that. After saying “estou gorda” about ten times I decided to just ditch the shirt and enjoy the beautiful ocean. Of course when I got out of the water I quickly covered up…I don’t think bikinis are in my future. :)

It was such an amazing day! I wish we could go to the beach every weekend—Anna and I are going to try and get there more often though! We can’t really walk there since it is pretty isolated and there is no cell phone reception or anyone out there. We’ll just have to talk some of the nuns or priests into going one weekend!

I took so many pictures of Crusse but I don’t think they don’t do it justice. I wish everyone could see this beautiful, untouched and mesmerizing beach. Since that probably isn’t an option for most people I’ll post some pictures here from Crusse.

One Year Later

I can’t believe last week marked the one-year mark of my Peace Corps journey. I remember last year at this time getting settled into my first home stay family—I was SO nervous and could not communicate a single word in Portuguese. I’m so glad to have this year under my belt and not be the PCV newbie anymore.

Last week brought up a lot of memories from getting ready to come to Mozambique (the packing disasters, Sheridan’s overload, and Vala’s Pumpkin Patch), PST (Halloween and Thanksgiving celebrations) as well as thinking back to my first few months at site. So many things have happened this last year and I have grown so much—in my knowledge of Portuguese, Mozambican culture, as an English teacher and in many more things.

I'm so glad that I’ve gone through this year with my fellow Moz 19 PCVs. I could not imagine staying sane without these wonderful “government mandated” friends. I feel so happy to say that I’ve been here in Mozambique for a year (well…except for those 12 days in August)!

During my first week in Mozambique last year I was very nervous and unsure of what I was getting myself into. Even though I still have days where I feel unsure of my work and if I’m making a difference I can truly say that I am in the right place. Mozambique has become my home in so many different ways—

•  I realized that there are some words I don’t even remember in English. While I was home in August I think I got some weird looks when I kept saying crianças, lá, chique, bolo, etc. Portuguese seems to always be in my mind now.
• Spiders on the ceiling are now a normal décor in my bathroom and they don’t faze me anymore.
• Air-conditioning makes my teeth chatter from being too cold.
• Baking in a big pot with sand is so easy to me now.
• I crave Matapa…sometimes even more than Runza or froyo.

Peace corps life is an amazing, challenging, inspiring, happy, funny, sad, rewarding, and indescribable experience. The Peace Corps describes service as “the toughest job you’ll ever love,”…and oh boy is that saying true. Peace Corps has its ups and downs but it is the most influential volunteer experience I have ever had. I am really looking forward to what these next 15 months of service brings.  Estamos Juntos MOZ 19! :)

Back to Reality of Life in Nacucha

After a very long hiatus from my blog I’m finally posting again. Sorry it took me so long…readjusting back to Mozambique and the time zone here was a little rough. As you know a few weeks ago I was in America for my best friend’s wedding. It was such an amazing trip home! I got to eat at all the places I had been thinking about since last September and got to see most of my family and friends! It was only a short trip, about 12 days, and it felt even shorter. The jet lag wasn’t too bad but because I was busy 24/7 with wedding events and then just out and about seeing family and friends it was crazy busy and tiring. When I finally got back I slept the whole weekend trying to catch up on sleep and the jet lag.

Before leaving America (the first time—last September) I was really nervous about coming home during my service and then have to leave to come back to Mozambique. At first I thought maybe I didn’t need to go home during these 27 months because it’d be too hard to come back. After about a few weeks of training I decided that I was crazy to think I could go without seeing my family and friends for 27 months.

I’m so blessed that I was able to fly home and be with my best friend for the most important day of her life. I know a lot of PCVs miss out on weddings, funerals and major life events and I felt so incredibly happy to be able to go to America for that day. I knew it was going to be sad to come back to Nacucha after spending so much time with my family and friends but I made it back! Yes, I did look like a bit of a crazy person in a few airports when I started crying but I have made it back to site and am back into my teaching routine.

The first weekend was really rough with jet lag—I couldn’t sleep at night so I ended up sleeping everyday until noon. I hadn’t done that in so long it felt weird. After 4 or 5 days I was finally back to normal. On a side note I have an amazing roommate…she was happy to have me back in Nacucha (even though I think she was more happy to get her computer charger and ranch dressing) :) and wanted to help me adjust back to life at site. She offered to watch Pitch Perfect with me anytime I wanted, even in the middle of the night since I couldn’t sleep. If you know Anna you would know she absolutely hates those kinds of movies but I love them. In her words she thought I was emotionally vulnerable after coming back from the states and wanted to help me through it by watching my favorite movie. I’m so happy to have such a nice roommate/friend who puts up with my craziness.

When I went back to class and saw my students again it made life easier—they were all so excited to see me they gave me hugs and kisses on my cheeks. It’s good to be back teaching English again…even though they keep asking me why I didn’t bring them cake back. I tried to explain that I had no room in my luggage and it wouldn’t make it back in my bag on the airplane. They were still happy to have me back.

The past few weeks at site have been crazy—we’re ending this set of modules and get a new schedule next week. I have been grading nonstop since I got back and have been trying to get caught up with my classes. Thankfully I’m almost caught up with grading all the tests!

I’m going back to washing my clothes by hand…having a washing machine was so nice in America. I forgot how easy it is just to throw your clothes in there and they get clean and dry in a few hours. It was very different to be back in America but at the same time felt like I had never left. Now being back in Nacucha feels the same way.

I’ll be posting again soon…no more month long hiatus. I can’t wait to post pictures of the library when I get all the donated supplies from the Bergan Auxiliary…the kids are going to be so excited to see all the nice stuff they can use at the library. It filled 10 boxes that are now in transit to Nacucha. I think the Priest is going to be a little curious when I ask him to go get all those boxes. :) Now I guess I better go and hunt down bricks and wood to make some bookcases. 

Thoughts before traveling to the USA

This past week I’ve been feeling a bit lonely and friendless. I’m not sure if was because I was so close to coming home for a visit or if I was just stressed trying to plan all my classes for 2 weeks and pack. However, today really changed that and made me feel like I was loved.

Today being my last day at site for a few weeks it was a crazy day! Everyone kept asking me to bring them back something from America (a lot of times they asked to bring back cake from the wedding I’m going to or a cookie for them). Of course I just laughed and said “vamos ver—we’ll see.” Many of my students asked when I was leaving and when I was arriving in America…they couldn’t believe it would take a whole day on an airplane. Lastly everyone made sure I was coming back by asking what day I’d be returning—hopefully they actually study and speak in English while I’m gone! One of the lab techs from Portugal has extra time and offered to teach my lessons—I’m so thankfully they will have a teacher during these next few weeks.

This afternoon, I was not really looking forward to my last English class of the day. One of my 8^th grade turmas can be a bit crazy and they can never stop talking. I decided to try and guilt them into changing their behavior by telling them that if they don’t become a better class I’m going to go to America and never come back. Haha, probably not a nice thing to do but I think it really will work with them. They all looked so serious and started talking at once saying they would be a better class and follow the rules. One of my favorite students in the class came up to me after class and he just looked so sad so I asked if he was okay and he said no. I was getting worried at this point and he went on to say he was sad because I was leaving. I felt really bad for joking about their behavior and not coming back that I told him I was just kidding…I think he’s doing better now since he asked me to bring him back a pen from America. J A few of my colleagues came up to me to ask when/if I was going to America because they had heard talk about my trip. I told them yes but also had to set the rumors straight…no I wasn’t going for 5 weeks or 5 months, nothing is wrong—I’m going home for a wedding and YES I am going to return. I swear I told each of my classes all of these things but somehow people thought I was leaving and never coming back. Oh Nacuxa fofoca!

After classes I went over to the nuns’ house to talk with Rui, who will be teaching my English classes while I’m gone. I saw some of my students who were supposed to be in my crazy 8^th grade class but never showed up so I gave them a hard time. Then I ran into some other students and talked with them for a while about my trip. The next thing I see is Irma Sandra coming out of her house with a large bag that was covered. She asked if I was free because she wanted to come talk and give me a despedida (a get together Mozambicans/PCVs do before going away or going on a long trip). I felt really loved at that moment and after the day I had I felt like I had a lot of friends and good people in my life. She came over and pulled out fresh, warm bread from the school’s bakery, tuna and two bottles of beer. We ended up drinking our beer and chatting for about an hour. It was really nice just to hangout and catch up about her life and what she wants for her future. We also talked about Mozambican men and their methods for getting women.

Having that time talking with Irma Sandra and talking about our future helped me to realize sometimes I’m only lonely because I don’t get out there and ask to hang out. Despite what I once said on a blind date one of my talents is not making friends. I don’t like to get out of my comfort zone especially when that includes trying to make friends while speaking Portuguese. I’m very excited to go back home to America, enjoy protein-filled food (So I don’t lose any more hair) and being reunited with my friends and family! However, I’m also really looking forward to coming back to Nacuxa, starting the primary school library/tutoring program and no matter how awkward it feels I’m planning on taking my friend’s advice of just showing up at my Mozambican friend’s house and sitting there with her in hopes we can become better friends.

After today I know I have friends at site and people who will miss me in America; but I want to improve that and have friends who I can hangout with during the weeks and weekends! I need adult friends instead of just the crianças. Wish me luck for when I return! Until then I’m going to enjoy good food, good company and a beautiful wedding next week!