Hey again! So what was I doing in Nampula on a Thursday to have made that post yesterday? I have either a lot of bug bites, or an allergic reaction, so I came to see the doctor. It looks almost like I have chicken pox, but not quite that bad.
Not much is new at site, there are a few projects I want to get started, but I’m having some difficulties due to lack of development in my district. I have been wanting to start English classes for adults, but there isn’t anywhere to do that at night because no place has electricity. And it seems kind of pointless to do it during the day because a lot of the people who are interested will be working. I also want to run a Future Business Leaders of Mozambique course, but again there’s no place to do that. FBLM is an 8-week course in which each week has a specific business related topic, such as ethics, managing a budget, demographics, etc. Groups of interested future business leaders participate, and create a business idea during these 8 weeks. At the end, they all do presentations, and the winning group is awarded money to actually implement their business idea.
I made goat burritos for some colleagues a few weeks ago. It was the first time I personally cooked goat meat. When I went to the butcher in the morning, the goat was still hanging from the tree where they killed it, and they were cutting the hide off. I went to buy a few things at the market, and then came back to buy the meat. The legs and head were sitting right there next to the meat that was for sale. It a very different experience from buying meat it the US. Also, I’m looking for a better term than “goat meat,” because that sounds very unappetizing. Beef and pork sound so much better than cow meat and pig meat, so if anyone knows the euphemism for goat meat, please let me know.
There is another rat in my house. I heard a noise when I was going to bed Wednesday night, so I got my flashlight and investigated. I found a bug. I didn’t think the bug could have made the noise, but I didn’t see anything else so I went to sleep. Early Thursday morning I was awakened by a noise coming from my bookshelf. I got my flashlight and went to investigate again. A shadow ran from the bookshelf to under my bed. Was it a rat? I looked around the rest of my room, but didn’t see anything. I went into the hall just in time to see a rat--definitely a rat--run from the other bedroom to the kitchen. I went to the kitchen doorway, and grabbed my rat killing stick on the way. But then the rat ran towards me, and got very close to my feet. I screamed. The rat ran into the other bedroom. I called my guard, but he was out fetching water for me, so I closed the door, crammed sandals in the opening between the flood and the door, and waited for my guard to come back. When he came back I sent him in to kill the rat, but the rat had disappeared. So now this rat is alone in my house making itself at home. I dreamt about it last night even though I’m about 100 miles away in a nice hotel.
A lot of my colleagues have very young babies, so I’ve been playing with them a lot lately. They’re so cute!!! And if I start playing with them when they’re really young they learn not to be afraid of me.
Well, that’s all for now.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Back in the city!
Hey everyone! I’m back in Nampula doing some shopping and going to the bank. I’ve had an exciting past month and a half since I last posted. I went to visit Ilha de Mozambique twice, just for the day both times. It’s really pretty, and I got to go swimming! I also went to another city, Namialo, to watch our soccer team play. (We tied 0-0.) There is another game tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll win!
Big news: Winter is here! It’s been getting cooler and cooler during the past month, and this week I’ve been chilly walking to school in the morning with long pants and a sweater. It still gets pretty hot in the afternoon, but it gets in the lower 60s at night.
I’ve got my English club started! It’s been going really well, the teacher I’m working with is really enthusiastic about it, and the students really like it too. The first week we did introductions, the second week we talked about malaria, the third week was Mozambican culture, and the past two weeks we’ve done story telling. Next week the topic will be HIV/Aids, and then after that we’ll start rehearsing for an English Theater production. We’ll be doing a 10-15 minute play related to HIV/AIDS to perform in a competition with theater groups that other volunteers have.
The second trimester at school is going really well. I’m more organized, and I’ve been planning better. The scores on the first test were really good for the students who usually come to class, but absenteeism is a big problem, so there were still a lot of students who failed. We’ve also been assigned by our director to do observations of other teachers, so it’s been interesting to see some other lessons. For the most part, the lessons seem pretty good. Some other teachers whose lessons I wasn’t assigned to watch invited me to come anyway, so in the next few weeks I’ll be seeing a lot of disciplines. I’m interested to see what the students are learning in other subjects.
After hearing some other volunteers stories about their colleagues and schools, I think I got pretty lucky when Peace Corps placed us. At the end of the 1st trimester we had to do the grade sheets for the students. Not on teacher asked me to change any of the grades, and my director didn’t ask me to raise the average or anything. Stories from other volunteers include teachers going around with lists of names making sure that these students passed, sometimes asking teachers to change the grades, and sometimes just taking the grade sheets and changing the grades themselves. I really like my colleagues I have a lot of fun hanging out with them during the breaks. At first I really didn’t like that the school is a 15 minute walk from the village, but it’s actually really nice walking home with other teachers and talking to them.
Well that’s all for now! I’m don’t have any plans to travel in the near future, so I don’t know when I’ll be posting again.
Big news: Winter is here! It’s been getting cooler and cooler during the past month, and this week I’ve been chilly walking to school in the morning with long pants and a sweater. It still gets pretty hot in the afternoon, but it gets in the lower 60s at night.
I’ve got my English club started! It’s been going really well, the teacher I’m working with is really enthusiastic about it, and the students really like it too. The first week we did introductions, the second week we talked about malaria, the third week was Mozambican culture, and the past two weeks we’ve done story telling. Next week the topic will be HIV/Aids, and then after that we’ll start rehearsing for an English Theater production. We’ll be doing a 10-15 minute play related to HIV/AIDS to perform in a competition with theater groups that other volunteers have.
The second trimester at school is going really well. I’m more organized, and I’ve been planning better. The scores on the first test were really good for the students who usually come to class, but absenteeism is a big problem, so there were still a lot of students who failed. We’ve also been assigned by our director to do observations of other teachers, so it’s been interesting to see some other lessons. For the most part, the lessons seem pretty good. Some other teachers whose lessons I wasn’t assigned to watch invited me to come anyway, so in the next few weeks I’ll be seeing a lot of disciplines. I’m interested to see what the students are learning in other subjects.
After hearing some other volunteers stories about their colleagues and schools, I think I got pretty lucky when Peace Corps placed us. At the end of the 1st trimester we had to do the grade sheets for the students. Not on teacher asked me to change any of the grades, and my director didn’t ask me to raise the average or anything. Stories from other volunteers include teachers going around with lists of names making sure that these students passed, sometimes asking teachers to change the grades, and sometimes just taking the grade sheets and changing the grades themselves. I really like my colleagues I have a lot of fun hanging out with them during the breaks. At first I really didn’t like that the school is a 15 minute walk from the village, but it’s actually really nice walking home with other teachers and talking to them.
Well that’s all for now! I’m don’t have any plans to travel in the near future, so I don’t know when I’ll be posting again.
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