Ode to the bata

This is just a random smattering of some of the day to day stuff.

So we have to wear these batas to school now. They are these thick polyester white lab coats that make us sweat even more than normal. Our bosses insisted this year that we participate in this typically ridiculously formal Mozambican tradition. On the brighter side, people LOVE it when we wear these things and tell us we are so much more beautiful which is weird cause we're just putting on a big baggy polyester sack:-) whatever.

The view from the desk in my room is one of the things I will miss the most about our house.

It's been raining just a bit lately. Check out the rainbow. Hopefully the weather starts cooling off soon.

This is Aryan, and his mother/our friend, Ranjan in the shop their family owns.

Lately we've resumed our afternoon dates at the city plaza to watch the sunset. This photo was taken by my roomie Alexi.

New School

Here's some quick shots of our shiny, impressive new school. These are some of my 8th graders from turma D, by far my roudiest bunch.And this is them taking notes. I wish I could say that all our problems disappeared with the new place, but that would be far from correct. Whoever purchased desks and chairs did not think logistics through very well. Instead of buying newer desks that can fit 1-3 students at a time, single seating desks were purchased which means fewer students sitting in a chair and more on the floor. 8th graders lucked out because they are smaller in stature and the 8th grade population of Angoche was split in two groups, 1 group remaining at the old school on the grounds of the cashew factory as a run-through before that school takes on all other grades.

Open-air hallways...something I've never seen until comming here. I could get used to this. And look at that view! This is the courtyard between the administrative part of the school and the classrooms.

Another view from a classroom balcony into bairo de Horta, one of the major neighborhoods.

And one of the reasons I'm in love with this place...

See that building??? That's our apartment building. We are soooooo close now!

Many things have gotten much easier here, but a lot still needs to change. One thing that continually drives me mad is the idea here that if something is beautiful, it is therefore, good. Many people say that we used to have a bad school and now it is good, completely overlooking the fact that we didn't get bigger classrooms or more classrooms. We didn't get rid of a drop of the corruption, we haven't improved the curriculum, and we aren't much more organized or motivated than we were last year (as the weeks have gone by there has been less and less excitement about the new school and poor attendance to match on the part of teachers and students). "New" wears off fast.

Valentines Day

There he is folks! The man I love!
Ben, I know it's a few days early but wanted to be sure to wish you a happy Valentines Day all the way from Mozambique. This is the last one you'll celebrate sozinho! Thanks for loving me and takin care of me. Your genuine excitement for Mozambique, my students, the PC, my family, and my friends is a huge part of making me able to do this.
Te amo muito!

11 things to get excited about in 2010

1. I am teaching the 8th graders again this year, meaning I already have all lesson plans and curriculum prepared from last year and can actually improve! Plus, I don't have to deal with the older boys in upper classes, most of whom are my age and sometimes older which makes it weird.
2. We are in the new school! This year we no longer have to walk 2 miles alllllll the way out of town in the blazing sun to the tin shacks by the cashew factory. Instead, we walk 3 minutes to a beautiful school that has a beautiful breeze and view of the Indian ocean.
3. The new school has a door that actually shuts on every classroom--does great things for classroom management.
4. The new school has bathrooms!!! No longer have to hold it or run into the field behind the cashew factory!
5. The new school has nice chalkboards!
6. The new school has electrical outlets, so maybe I can use a computer and show the students stuff!
7. So far, I only have about 80 kids per class--half of my numbers from last year!
8. Everyone seems really excited about learning this year. We actually started classes just a few days late and we're still going!
9. I am now in charge of the bio department. Don't know what that means, but it sounds great and I'm excited to see what I can do.
10. Margarida, a new health volunteer has joined the team in Angoche. She is so sweet, wonderful, and willing to help with our REDES group (girls empowerment group).
11. I get to help this year with REDES national conferences and we're revamping the program.

Well those are just a few things...stay tuned.

Swaz Safari

Most people envision Africa like a sceane from the lion king, but a lot of it doesn't look a bit like that terrain and lions, zebras, and elephants don't roam freely. Much of the remaining large animals were killed or fled during the civil war in Mozambique, the survivors live on a number of wildlife refuges where they are trying to build numbers again. Fortunately for me, many of Mozambique's neighbors have much more populated wildlife refuges. When I went to visit Swaziland, I went with a couple Swazi PCVs to Hlane, the king's royal park.





We actually decided to camp at the park which was interesting. The camp ground is surrounded by the kind of fence used to keep cows in pastures in Iowa. Call me crazy, but I think someone needs to re-think the differences between cows and rhinos. Oh well. We were informed by the staff that we could quietly and calmly approach the fence to take pictures. As we set up camp and made dinner we actually got to see rhinos and hippos.



The next morning at 5AM we all piled into the safarimobile with our driver/guide and headed off into the park.



At first, some of the animals were a bit shy, so we did a lot of grass-gazing.



Sweet. A turtle. Can we see the lions now?



Anyone know what this guy is?





White rhino



Giraffes

Antelope



Warthog

finally...the king
And my favorite...elephant. Definitely the most exciting. This one actually charched the jeep. Still pissed after we disturbed him last night.

This is him the night before. We were makin dinner and he was just on the other side of the fence eating. We quietly approached him to take pictures and he got really really angry and charged. Good thing there's a big fence. Can you see it?

Visiting Swaziland

From Namaacha Mozambique, it's only a walk to the outskirts of town to be at the border of Swaziland, so I made my first visit out of Moz. What beautiful country. Reminded me so much of the terrain in Namaacha. It's suprisingly well-developed compared to Mozambique and people speak Sswati (sp?) and English, so travel was super easy. Just look at that beautiful paved road!
Such an interesting little country. It's the last monarchy in Africa and practically surrounded by South Africa--just shares a bit of it's border with Mozambique. Because of it's rather uniform culture and strong monarchy, it was able to resist take over by any of the bigger guys and is a quite stable and calm place to be. It also boasts a suprisingly diverse array of terrain and many large game parks where a huge percentage of African game safely roam. It's certainly not without its problems. Swaziland has an even higher rate of HIV than Mozambique and many of the other issues I've experienced here.

A couple of months before I left for Mozambique, I crossed paths with Jaclyn and learned that she would be starting her 2 years in PC Swaziland. Not long after that, I was placed in Mozambique. Bada-bing! Banda-boom! Neighbors! I got the chance to visit her a few weeks ago, so I took it. What an amazing and refreshing experience to talk to someone who grew up in the midwest, loves Jesus, has a ton of mutual friends, has been working in a southern-African country for over a year with the Peace Corps! I got to see her site, learn about her work, and listen to her perspective on things.

Her site is pretty matu (bush). But so beautiful! This is the view walkin out of her front door!

Jaclyn, me, host family squirt.

Kids are pretty cute there too. As you can see.

Back to Namaacha

First of all, sorry for the long break in blog posts. Couldn't have been helped--I was on the road. Thanks to those of you who didn't get bored and give up on me. So first off, when I returned to the southern half of Mozambique, I took advantage of my proximity to the 'ol host family and went to hang out with them for a bit (normally a nearly impossible trip to make from Angoche). The last time my host family saw me was the last day of training in December of 2008. I was informed by them that I had gotten fatter (a compliment here), whiter, and could finally speak Portuguese after a year in Angoche and a month back in the States. Gotta love em. We covered a lot of ground...we could communicate so much better. And it was kinda sweet that I wasn't treated as some sort of awkward princessy guest that no one understood...I felt like a part of the fam. So here's some updated pics of the fam.
Nilzu
Mana Neida

Ilda, Sancho, Xirene, Mana Neida

Sancho and Nilzu...not gonna lie...they're my favorites!

Sancho

Our house

Ilda

Sancho, Mama Come, Nilzu, and some random cousin

Sancho

And last but certainly not least...my nephew! My host sister had him the day I left for Angoche and I didn't even get to see him. he played hard to get at first, but then warmed up to his tia branca.