Now, the Berimbau

Cacauchy is playing the Berimbau.  My neighbors are here with me listening to my friend tocar. play.

I Love Letters!

A month before I left for Mozambique, I had a "See You Later Party" in San Diego with some friends.  

They wrote me letters so that I could reflect on our shared memories.  I would be able

to read them when I felt a little homesick. I told them I wouldn't open them until I arrived.

Last night, which was six months later, I finally read all of the letters.  I don't know why it took me so long to read them.  Perhaps I was afraid that I would miss everyone so much, that I would want to 

come back home.  Even though I miss my friends and family,

 I love it too much here in Mozambique and I'm not ready to return.  However, what reading the letters made me realize is that I have a great support network in California.

Some people shared how I positively impacted their lives and that made me feel more special than

a teacher's pet.

Sometimes it's easier to write out thoughts and feelings than to express them face-to-face. It made

me smile when people wrote that I inspired them and that they never had the opportunity to tell me.

  It made me tear up when someone wrote that they felt very comfortable talking to me when they

felt like no one else could understand them.  I'll keep the letters for the rest of my time

here in Mozambique. I'll read them when I want to be reminded of home and of fabulous friends.

If you want to send me letters, please send them to:

Gina Moore, PCV

Rua Dar-Es-Salam, nr 14

Bairro Central, Caixa Postal 526

Nampula, Mozambique

Or if you would like me to send you a letter/postcard, email me at mozampaz@gmail.com with your

home address.  (FYI: It may take some time for you to receive the letter.)

Things that no longer surprise me in Mozambique...

*Some people eat  mice
*People collect termites, cook them, sale them at the market, and eat them
* It's not uncommon to see livestock transported on top of big rigs
*My kid neighbors will ring the doorbell five times and if my roommate and I don't answer, they'll wait outside our house for about an hour for us to answer the door.
*Mozambican women are physically strong.  They carry gallons of water or fruit on their heads
a baby is strapped to their backs
* Some people urinate and poop in the dirty river in my city.
* Some people take baths in the dirty river.
* Some people wash their clothes in the dirty river. I wonder, "Do they drink from the dirty water?"
* I never hitchhiked until coming to Mozambique
* I can fit into a van with 30 other people and animals
* Because a lot of people are poor here, they find creative and economic ways to have fun.
For example, adults play checkers with beer caps and a board drawn on with black and red marker. In addition, as a way to practice being a mother, girls tie a baby doll with a capulana.  On the other hand, boys play dodgeball with coconut shells, push a car with a stick made out of  cans, or navigate a bicycle tire with a stick.

* My empregada's (a lady who helps with domestic chores) child sometimes eats food from the trashcan or from the cat's food bowl
* I can buy a pineapple, 10 bananas, 10 mangoes for only a dollar
* I use capulanas for everything and I love them.
* I go into a restaurant and only half of what is on the menu is available
* I go into a restaurant with friends and they literally cut off a chicken's head and pluck its feathers in the back.  Then, they serve them fried chicken two hours later.
* Children take care of other babies-- They carry them on their backs, feed and bathe them, etc
* Sometimes I see little boys walk around in dresses and skirts. Maybe this is because there
isn't enough money to afford pants for their growing bodies
*A teacher interrupts my class with a pen and a pad of paper and asks students to raise their hands
if they have problems reading, learning disabilities, or mental disorders (What happened to confidentiality)
*My school director comes to my house unannounced so that he could inform me of an important school meeting that's about to take place in ten minutes.  He adds, "Don't be late".

* Sometimes people blast dance music at 3:30 AM. Who's dancing at this time?
* People are hammering at 4 AM.  Who's building houses at this time?
* There's a two hour wait  to use the ATM
* I go to a restaurant when I'm not hungry because it usually takes at least two hours to get
food orders at sit-down restaurants
* I had to teach my empregada how to mop and wipe off the counters
* The teacher meeting that should have only been a 30 minute discussion about school improvements
and goals for new school year, turns into a three hour meeting of the directors reading off the
list of new teachers and principals in the province and teachers complaining
* I've seen boys who look about eight years old, secretly drinking hard liquor by the river
* It's rained almost every single day I've been in Mozambique

The Smiling Faces in My Community

Pictures of Quelimane, Mozambique

View of the river from a Chinese Restaurant

Old church

First 2 Weeks Teaching

My roommate and I were asked to help with the school schedule.    We used a computer program that tracked for errors and generated class schedules.  However, it took about a week. We didn't think
that it would be such a tedious process.  When we finally completed the schedule (or so we thought), it was changed two times after that.  It's a little flustering because I set my schedule where I'd had Fridays free but with the new schedule, I have to work Monday-Friday.  Additionally, I was told that the schedule still isn't solidified and may change this week.

Another challenge is that there is a national curriculum that I have to adhere to. For example, the 9th graders have to learn present simple tense for this module.  They have to conjugate verbs such as "to sing" to "she sings".  The tough part is, most of the students didn't know what a verb was, so I had to teach verbs, nouns, and adjectives.

On the bright side, there are about two or three students in each classroom who are pretty good in English and they are determined to learn more. That's very encouraging for me.  In addition,  the unit that the 9th graders are on is sports and entertainment.  To go along with the theme, I came up with an idea to have a singing contest between the 9th grade classes that I teach.  The kids jumped out of their seats with excitement when I proposed the idea.  I had each class chose a song in English.  This week I'm bringing in the lyrics for them to copy.  As a class we'll learn the meaning of the words and they'll identify the present simple verbs within the lyrics.  These kids really know how to dance and they're already planning a choreography. One class is doing Thrill by Michael Jackson and another is doing Justin Bieber's rendition of Love Me.  Another class is stilll deciding on which Rhianna song they want to sing. Unfortunately, with the schedule change, I already lost one 9th grade class and I'm down to three.  Hopefully I won't lose any more. I plan to record the singing competition and posting it on here.  I'll let you know how it goes. :)