April 7, 2013

Hi everyone! 

Whew. It’s been a while since I’ve had access to internet and electricity! This weekend we’re in Pemba to celebrate a late Easter/birthday/Passover. There are three volunteers who are living in Pemba. Two live together and they both teach future teachers English. The other is a health volunteer.

I’ve been reading a lot recently! I’m feeling much more comfortable with my Portuguese. It’s surprising to see how much I’ve improved in four months. I just finished reading “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”…. IN PORTUGUESE! This is either proof that I have improved my Portuguese or that I know those books like the back of my hand. Probably both haha but my goal is to read all seven books by the end of these two years. I also read another book (in English ;) ) called “The Poisonwood Bible.” It is a great read if you want to learn more about life here in Africa. Liz and I are also on season 4 of the TV show “How I Met Your Mother.” When we are in Mariri, the only time we can charge our electronics is when the agriculture school randomly decides to turn on the generator. We grab our computers, leave it there for an hour or two, and watch media until it runs out of battery. We also charge my ipod, which is great because then we can listen to audiobooks and music! We have finished “The Prestige” and right now we are half way through “Hyperion.” 

A lot of people have been asking us what we do with our free time. The funny thing is, I never really feel bored. We have a lot of housework (cooking, cleaning) and lesson planning to do. For fun, we are either making our house our home (making a spice rack and cute curtains), reading, or hanging out with students and teachers. I’m healthier here than I was when I was in college back home. I now eat three meals a day and sleep throughout the night. Plus, I am less stressed and lost weight! I can’t complain. Life is good :) 

Here are some photos of the food we made these past few months: 

Nick’s asian care package!

Homemade quesadillas 

Liz’s monkey bread (the neighbors thought we put actual monkeys in it lol)

The most delicious/American dish we have made so far. Cheesy bread sticks with marinara sauce! 

Huevos rancheros 

Tuna and avocado sandwich. We love and miss avocados! 

Mozambican food: Matapa with coconut rice. Yum!

 Honey peanuts

The fish a random guy caught and sold to us from our lakes (yes, we have catfish!)

Homemade pizza

Green banana pancakes with chocolate chips for St. Patrick’s Day!

 We get really excited when we have vegetables! Made an omelet. Yum :)

Teaching is a lot of work. I am still trying to figure out what I want/need to do to become a better teacher. I am still struggling with the whole Mozambican education system in general. During the second to last week of school, we gave provincial tests that were supposed to be standardized. It was extremely frustrating because it was really only one professor who wrote the test that everyone has to use. Liz was upset that on her organic chemistry test there were questions such as “Where is charcoal made in Mozambique?” and “What is the importance of cement?” She had taught her students actual chemistry and, therefore, all her students failed. On our English test, one of the multiple choice questions was “Michael Jackson is an….” and the correct answer was “American singer.” Teaching my students the nationality of famous singers was not in the curriculum. 

Dealing with cheating is another frustration. All students cheat and the teachers don’t do anything about it. Some teachers handed out the provincial tests and then just walked out of the room to socialize or talk on their phones. Others tell their students the correct answers if they are given a bribe. I always do everything I can to prevent cheating in my classroom but it still seems unfair that other students are able to cheat in other schools and classrooms throughout Cabo Delgado. 

I had a lot of fun with my students this past trimester though. After our first test, I let them vote on an English song they wanted to learn. I didn’t have any charge in my ipod so I ended up singing a Rihanna in front of my class alone haha so embarrassing but they got so excited when we finally got the lyrics down! Another highlight this past trimester occurred when it was pouring rain with thunder and lightning. When it rains here in Mozambique, it is almost impossible to teach. Students can’t hear teachers speak over the rain hitting the tin roof and we have no electricity so they can’t even read the board. My students in my other English class, however, begged me to still teach them over the rain. It was so encouraging to see how excited they are to learn English. My students are also a fan of our review game of Jeapordy!, especially when the winning team wins American candy :) 

April is also blog about malaria month. Just wanted to mention a few things about my experience with malaria so far here in Mozambique. Whenever a Mozambican is sick, they always blame Malaria. Most people don’t have the money or resources to take a malaria test to see if this is true or not. All the clinics/hospitals only have medicine to treat malaria. I taught about malaria in my 11^th grade biology class and all of my students knew how deadly this disease is and how important mosquito netting is to prevent malaria. Unfortunately, the beds in the dorms do not have netting. Liz and I finally got mosquito netting on the windows in our house when our bathroom was done and I am still taking my prophylaxis. I’ve already heard many volunteers who have had malaria and I have no wish to go through that as well if I can help it. 

Peace Corps has a meeting for us coming up in a few weeks called Reconnect. Can’t wait to see everyone who is also in the northern part of Mozambique! There are a little more than thirty of us here. It’s been about four months since we’ve seen each other. We’re going to learn how to improve our teaching techniques and share tips/suggestions. Can’t wait!