I´ve been really impressed with the school overall. It seems well organized, has some books, and the teachers usually show up, which is a real problem at a lot of schools here. My director is organized, helpful, and really nice. I feel like in training I heard a lot of the volunteers that we talked to had some negative experiences with their schools, directors, other teachers, etc, but I feel like the other teachers respect, and they talk to me and stuff. I have learned that 7:00 means show up by 8:00, and so on, and optional means no one is coming, and stuff like that, but when school is actually in session most of the teachers and students come. We even have a ´teachers lounge´ which is a gazebo/pavilion type thing outside under the trees. Its actually really nice to relax there between classes.
Overall I really like my community, school, and everything about site. Except rats in my toilet and house. Traveling usually sucks, takes a while in crowded vehicles, get harassed as a tourist, whistled and yelled at etc, but at site, where I am most of the time, the people seem pretty excited about me being there. The most annoying thing is people who speak really bad English insisting on trying to have a conversation with me in English instead of Portuguese, which I hate, but it´s good that at least they´re trying and want to learn and stuff.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Back to school
Finally another post! To start, I just finished my first week of teaching! It has gone well, but the students have a much more basic level than what I was expecting. The national curriculum says they should be learning “I will be doing” and “I will have done” (future continuous and perfect), and they can’t even write in the simple past. We have a lot of work to do this year. Also, about 25% of my 11th grade students are my age or older. My oldest student is 65 years old, and has never studied English before because when he did 10th grade Mozambique wasn’t even a country yet. But for the most part the students are respectful, try hard, and seem to want to learn English, so that’s nice. The other teachers have been nice, about 75% of them are men but I don’t feel that they have a sexist attitude to us female teachers, as other Volunteers seem to have experienced.
I teach only in the morning, which is nice because it is either super hot, or rainy in the afternoon. The school is about a mile from my house, so I’m glad not to walk in either of those conditions. When I leave my house at 6:30, it’s amazing how hot it already is.
Everything that’s happened since my last post:
-I got mugged. Broad daylight, on a main road, three guys grabbed me and asked for my phone and money. I gave them my phone (I have since bought a new one), and they ran away while I was looking for money. I was alone at the time, but walking to meet some friends. This was in Nampula City, something like this would never happen where I live. I went back two weeks ago with two male volunteers. They tried to mug one of the guys when we were all together, but didn’t succeed.
-We had a nice xmas celebration, all 10 of us new volunteers here in Nampula province. We decorated with stockings, paper snow flakes, and I made a wreath out of acacia branches. We had a secret santa exchange and made cookies!
-There was a rat in my house. I hate rats. But luckily I have a guard, so I made him come in a beat it with a stick. There is a much longer story of knowing the rat was in my house/room and not being able to find it for a few days and sleepless nights. various plans for how to kill it, etc, but this will suffice.
-I no longer have electricity ever. The generator ran out of gas the beginning of the month, and they are not organized enough to figure out how to collect money and keep track of who has paid and who hasn’t. I have heard that it should start again February 1st, but I’m not counting on it.
-There is still pretty much no fresh produce at site, just mangos, onions, potatoes, limes, and sometimes tomatoes and pineapples. In about a month more should be ready. This lack of food options was not helped this past week by the fact that my gas tank for my stove ran out, so I’ve been eating a lot of peanut butter or tuna fish sandwiches since Tuesday.
Fun Facts:
-here the paper and binders have two holes, not three
-blue ink is the norm for official business, not black
-breast feeding in public is normal, as is leaving the breast hanging in the open so the kid can start feeding again at will
-false cognate: constipado. It means having a stuffy/runny nose, not being constipated, but caused a little awkwardness before I knew that
-I wash my clothes in basins. I don’t know why some many people in the US hate doing laundry, all it entails is throwing clothes in a machine and pushing buttons. Here I scrub each piece of clothing my hand and get blisters.
-It’s really really hot.
I might update more in a few minutes. We will see.
I teach only in the morning, which is nice because it is either super hot, or rainy in the afternoon. The school is about a mile from my house, so I’m glad not to walk in either of those conditions. When I leave my house at 6:30, it’s amazing how hot it already is.
Everything that’s happened since my last post:
-I got mugged. Broad daylight, on a main road, three guys grabbed me and asked for my phone and money. I gave them my phone (I have since bought a new one), and they ran away while I was looking for money. I was alone at the time, but walking to meet some friends. This was in Nampula City, something like this would never happen where I live. I went back two weeks ago with two male volunteers. They tried to mug one of the guys when we were all together, but didn’t succeed.
-We had a nice xmas celebration, all 10 of us new volunteers here in Nampula province. We decorated with stockings, paper snow flakes, and I made a wreath out of acacia branches. We had a secret santa exchange and made cookies!
-There was a rat in my house. I hate rats. But luckily I have a guard, so I made him come in a beat it with a stick. There is a much longer story of knowing the rat was in my house/room and not being able to find it for a few days and sleepless nights. various plans for how to kill it, etc, but this will suffice.
-I no longer have electricity ever. The generator ran out of gas the beginning of the month, and they are not organized enough to figure out how to collect money and keep track of who has paid and who hasn’t. I have heard that it should start again February 1st, but I’m not counting on it.
-There is still pretty much no fresh produce at site, just mangos, onions, potatoes, limes, and sometimes tomatoes and pineapples. In about a month more should be ready. This lack of food options was not helped this past week by the fact that my gas tank for my stove ran out, so I’ve been eating a lot of peanut butter or tuna fish sandwiches since Tuesday.
Fun Facts:
-here the paper and binders have two holes, not three
-blue ink is the norm for official business, not black
-breast feeding in public is normal, as is leaving the breast hanging in the open so the kid can start feeding again at will
-false cognate: constipado. It means having a stuffy/runny nose, not being constipated, but caused a little awkwardness before I knew that
-I wash my clothes in basins. I don’t know why some many people in the US hate doing laundry, all it entails is throwing clothes in a machine and pushing buttons. Here I scrub each piece of clothing my hand and get blisters.
-It’s really really hot.
I might update more in a few minutes. We will see.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
First trip to Nampula City
[Written by mom and dad after speaking with Jess]
I had a nice Christmas visiting with other volunteers in Monopo, but I wasn’t able to blog from there because the internet café was closed for Christmas. So I asked my parents to update my blog. [Editor’s note: Jess’s dad has been rather slow to post this.]
I had an exciting time on my first trip to Nampula City. When I arrived, after a 3-hour chapa ride, I called the other volunteers that I had planned on meeting there. As I put my cell phone back in my pack, three guys suddenly surrounded me, telling me to give them my cell phone and my money. I handed over the phone, and they started saying “Hurry up! Give us your money!” I searched through my purse trying to find the money; the guys kept saying to hurry; I kept searching; and in a few seconds they ran away. I guess I was lucky that I didn’t find the money. It all happened so quickly that I didn't even have time to get scared.
After a couple of hours at the police station, reporting the robbery, I ran into the other volunteers and we did some shopping. First on my list was a new cell phone – I opted for a more basic (ie, cheaper) model than the one that had just been stolen. Next was food and household stuff. I didn’t buy as much as I planned to, because the merchants tried charging me prices way above what they were charging the local people. When I questioned this, the answer usually was “take it or leave it,” and in most cases, I left it. Overall, shopping in Nampula City was rather frustrating. But the day wasn’t over yet – I still had to get back home.
When I went to pay for the chapa ride going back to Nacaroa, they asked for a price much higher than what was reasonable. Again, their attitude was “take it or leave it.” And again, I wouldn’t pay the unfair prices that they wanted. Instead, I found a more economical, though less comfortable, means of transportation, crammed in like sardines with a bunch of other people. The woman next to me was holding a baby, sandwiched between us. It was kind of cute for a while, but unfortunately, the baby was facing my way when his/her bladder decided to relieve itself. Finally, I got back home, washed up, and began looking forward to the next day.
I am learning what it is like to stand out as an obvious non-local. In Nampula City, they charged me higher prices. Here in Nacaroa, everybody knows where I live and that I am the new
American teacher. I’ve had kids knock on my door and ask if I would hire them to do some work for me. The school provides a guard who watches the house overnight, sweeps the yard, and replenishes our water supply as needed. The other day he told me that he also is a good mechanic, and wanted a job fixing things.
The school year will start soon. Teachers are supposed to arrive by Jan 11, and classes will start around Jan 18. It’s finally been decided that I will teach English, not Chemistry. I will have three sections of 11th grade English, which meets five days a week. I also will be Director of a quarter of the 11th grade students. I am looking forward to it.
I had a nice Christmas visiting with other volunteers in Monopo, but I wasn’t able to blog from there because the internet café was closed for Christmas. So I asked my parents to update my blog. [Editor’s note: Jess’s dad has been rather slow to post this.]
I had an exciting time on my first trip to Nampula City. When I arrived, after a 3-hour chapa ride, I called the other volunteers that I had planned on meeting there. As I put my cell phone back in my pack, three guys suddenly surrounded me, telling me to give them my cell phone and my money. I handed over the phone, and they started saying “Hurry up! Give us your money!” I searched through my purse trying to find the money; the guys kept saying to hurry; I kept searching; and in a few seconds they ran away. I guess I was lucky that I didn’t find the money. It all happened so quickly that I didn't even have time to get scared.
After a couple of hours at the police station, reporting the robbery, I ran into the other volunteers and we did some shopping. First on my list was a new cell phone – I opted for a more basic (ie, cheaper) model than the one that had just been stolen. Next was food and household stuff. I didn’t buy as much as I planned to, because the merchants tried charging me prices way above what they were charging the local people. When I questioned this, the answer usually was “take it or leave it,” and in most cases, I left it. Overall, shopping in Nampula City was rather frustrating. But the day wasn’t over yet – I still had to get back home.
When I went to pay for the chapa ride going back to Nacaroa, they asked for a price much higher than what was reasonable. Again, their attitude was “take it or leave it.” And again, I wouldn’t pay the unfair prices that they wanted. Instead, I found a more economical, though less comfortable, means of transportation, crammed in like sardines with a bunch of other people. The woman next to me was holding a baby, sandwiched between us. It was kind of cute for a while, but unfortunately, the baby was facing my way when his/her bladder decided to relieve itself. Finally, I got back home, washed up, and began looking forward to the next day.
I am learning what it is like to stand out as an obvious non-local. In Nampula City, they charged me higher prices. Here in Nacaroa, everybody knows where I live and that I am the new
American teacher. I’ve had kids knock on my door and ask if I would hire them to do some work for me. The school provides a guard who watches the house overnight, sweeps the yard, and replenishes our water supply as needed. The other day he told me that he also is a good mechanic, and wanted a job fixing things.
The school year will start soon. Teachers are supposed to arrive by Jan 11, and classes will start around Jan 18. It’s finally been decided that I will teach English, not Chemistry. I will have three sections of 11th grade English, which meets five days a week. I also will be Director of a quarter of the 11th grade students. I am looking forward to it.
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