October 28, 2012

Next day I woke up late (around 7am!) and one of the guys, Kevin, told my friend Andrea that he would take us to the “Cascades” or waterfalls that are near Namaacha. It was misty/rainy this morning but humid! We met up with another guy, Nick, and Kevin’s dog. A lot of people here are afraid of dogs because of rabies and kids throw rocks at them. It’s really sad. But, because people are afraid of dogs, our security advisor told us that it would be a good idea to adopt a dog. If I do, I might ask you guys to send me flea medicine :) But yeah, Kevin’s dog is about 7 months old and almost got hit by a car as we were walking down the main road. So scary! But it really was the dog’s fault. Hopefully he’ll learn to avoid cars before anything worse happens. After that, we hiked to the cascades and the scenery was awesome. Saw some goats and took some pictures. The hike itself took a few hours but the cool weather made the trip completely worth it. 

The beautiful flowers I saw everywhere.

 

The waterfalls (cascadas).

From left to right: Me, Nick, Andrea, and Kevin (Max is hiding behind us).

 

These past few days we learned how to make a perma-garden! First, we made a compost pile (I remember you teaching me why steam comes off compost piles Dad, thanks! It helped me with a question on our test!). Then we dug trenches to make a veggie garden. The ground is so rich and fertile here! The second day we went back and planted seedlings and seeds. Tomatoes, cove (a type of collard green I think), sweet potatoes, corn, banana tree, and also a medicinal tree that I only know in Portuguese. Apparently you use it to make tea though! Yum! One of my brothers, Assane, helped us hoe and wow those kids are good workers! Assane is still my favorite. I think the reason why he is so helpful around the house is because he is not actually my adopted mom’s son. Kinda like Dulcinia (she’s my host mom’s niece). I’m not sure how he is actually related to the family yet but I’ll figure it out eventually. The other night he was in my room with all the other kids. They were helping me bring hot water into the bathroom when I noticed that my shampoo and soap was already there. I was confused because I couldn’t remember putting it there and I didn’t know how/what to ask him in Portuguese when he said, “Who put that in here?”. I said “Yes.” And he answered “Me!” I could not stop smiling for a full five minutes. I also made a complete mess in the bathroom the other day. I was wearing my sandals outside and got dirt on them and there was water on the floor of bathroom. I’m not allowed to walk barefoot around the house so I, therefore, made a lot of mud. I went to change in my room and after I was done, I walked back into the bathroom and saw that it was clean. Assane was outside in the hall and told me he had cleaned for me. Thanks Assane! The kids like to show me how they do on tests. Assane does pretty well and I tutored him a bit in fractions and percentages. My youngest sister, Mae, however failed her tests. She got a 1 out of 20 on her math and 4 out of 20 on Portuguese. I was helping her figure out how to add by using some crayons I brought. I then realized that she doesn’t even know the alphabet and can’t read or write. She’s a smart girl though so hopefully I can teach her some things before I leave (update: I just found out Mae is moving onto the next grade! I’m pretty annoyed. This is a clear example of corruption in the schools and I’m worried about her future education. Schools are required by the government to pass a certain amount of students each year and it is common for teachers to change grades at the end of the year to meet this quota. What a joke. But Mozambique won't get funding from other countries like the U.S. if they don't pass a certain amount of students. Schools also get more money if they pass more students. It's a never ending cycle).  

Tutoring Mae. She's a cutie :)

Let’s see. The weather. So we’ve had freak thunderstorms pretty often these past few weeks. The rain is so loud that it actually wakes me up (and I’m a heavy sleeper!) at night. Whenever it rains, I lose reception and internet on my phone. The electricity also goes out. Yey. Haha I’ve bathed by lightening twice now and that was quite an experience. I left my head lamp in my other bag so I’ve been using the flashlight on my iphone. Fun times. But I’ve really liked it. We never had crazy weather back home.