Life as a PCV

Life as a PCV has been full of surprises. We were officially sworn in as Volunteers (before that we were Trainees) on Tuesday at the Charge's house in Maputo. After one last night in Namaacha, I said bye to my host family, promised to come back to visit next year, and headed to the airport to fly here to Nampula City on Wednesday.

We were put up in a really nice hotel, and my roommate and I were excited to find out there was a pool there. After dinner we decided to go for a swim, which was really refreshing. Since we arrived at night we hadn't been able to see what the pool looked like very well, and we joked about how funny it would be if we woke up and realized the pool was green, or had poop in it or something. Well, sure enough, we awoke to find out that the pool was VERY greeen (although hopefully feces free), and everyone was disgusted when we told them we went swimming.

Yesterday (Thursday) we had the regional conference for all the new volunteers here in the north and our supervisors. My first conversation with my director went something like this:

Me: So are there many other English teachers at the school?
Alexe: Yes, we have a lot of great English teachers. We are very excited for our new chemistry teacher.
Me: Your new chemistry teacher?
Alexe: Yes, you teach chemistry right?

Well apparently now I do. Which I'm actually kind of excited about cuz I'll get to teach in Portuguese.

That was surprise #1. Surprise #2 was this conversation:

Me: So what is my house like?
Alexe: It's very nice. It's big, it has a table, chairs, bed, etc. And when our district gets electricity next year we'll buy a small refridgerator for you.
Me: There's not electricity?
Alexe: No, the whole district of Nacaroa doesn't have electricity, but I think we will get it next year.

So I have no electricity. The school has no electricity, although it recently got running water. But with no electricity I'll have no way to charge my phone. But since the market in my village sells primarily rice, peanuts, some beans, and a few canned vegetables and fruits, I'll have to make frequent trips to neighboring towns, and hopefully I'll be able to charge it then.

One final surprise: My house isn't ready, so I'll be staying in a Guesthouse or something for the first week or so. Of my various surprises this is the most annoying, even though it sounds like the least significant. But I really wanted to get settled into my house, see what else I need to buy, get organized, etc. Hopefully it will be ready before xmas.

Me and one other volunteer are both opening extremely rural sites, so while everyone else headed out to site today, we got to stay here in Nampula to do some shopping. We managed to buy matresses, stoves, gas tanks and gas, pots, dishes, etc all today, without a car, in a foreign city we didn't know at all, and transport them all back to the PC office here. We also went for another swim in the green pool, since there were no adverse side effects from my first swim.

My school director seems really organized and on top of things. He was brought to Nacaroa in 2006, which was when the district first got a secondary school. Before that, students didn't really have the opportunity to go past 7th grade unless they moved away to another city. This is the first year that there will be an 11th grade, and next year right before I leave the first 12th grade class will graduate, which will be really exciting to see that happen. The school building is apparently rather new, but there are not enough classrooms to accomodate all of the students now, but they are building more now. My director used to work in Nacala, and there were PCVs at his school there, so he's familiar with PC and stuff, but I'll be a new experience for Nacaroa.

I still haven't found out much more about my roommate. He said she will probably be the new French teacher they will be getting, but she hasn't been assigned yet. Since teachers are government workers they really don't have much choice about where they teach, and they get assigned to schools, usually somewhat near their homes. Teachers have to be at school starting Jan 8th, so with moving, xmas, and new years, I think I'll be pretty busy. I also found some cheap books in Portuguese on the street today, so I'm excited to start reading them, if I have much free time.

I'm really excited for our Xmas celebration here. We have to stay in our Provinces, but there are 10 new volunteers in Nampula, so we're all getting together. We drew names for a secret santa, and two of the PCVs have sewing machines, so they are going to make stockings, and the rest of us are going to bring little stocking stuffers for everyone. These two PCVs also have a ridiculous amount of games, so we will have plenty to keep us busy. Hopefully I'll be able to post again around xmas. Happy holidays!