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.