Quick Basketball Update

The Lady Divas competed with two other schools in our town for the past three Saturdays.  The first two games we lost, but yesterday, we squashed the other team like a cockroach! The girls sang and danced with their smiling faces beaming in the sun. I was very proud of them.

 There won't be any more games for a while.  In the meantime, the damas, ladies, will continue practicing  their lay-ups and free-throw shots.  Their defense is good, they steal a lot of balls and jump for rebounds, but they need to score points and handle the ball better. At the same time, it's amazing to see how much they've already learned in the past three months.  When I first started coaching, many of them didn't know how to dribble a ball.  I'm excited to see how they'll be playing in the next few months.  I'll upload a video of them playing soon.

How much does food cost in Mozambique?

I bought corn, dried beans, a kilo of rice, 10 sweet potatoes, 8 bell peppers and carrots for only five

dollars yesterday.  If I want to travel from my town to Nampula, a big city about five hours away,

I'd pay about $7 USD for the

bus ride.  Produce and traveling is very inexpensive here.  That is, if you're earning a a decent salary 

according to U.S. standards.

In the past, when I visited other cities over the weekend, the teachers asked me how I was able to travel so

much as a volunteer.  They were stunned that I could visit so many sites

in Mozambique, seeing sites that they've never been to.

How much does an Ipad cost?

While produce can be inexpensive here,  electronics like smart phones, digital cameras, and laptops are very expensive.

An Ipad can cost about $2,000 USD here.  It's no wonder

the teachers hover over my  kindle touch when I bring it to the teacher's lounge, asking me the cost and if I could get them one from the States.

Unfortunately, I always have to say no and tell them that I won't be going back to the U.S. before my

service ends. 

How much do some teachers make in Mozambique?

The other day, I was in the teacher's lounge and a teacher wanted to know about how much it would cost

to visit the U.S.  I told him that it would depend on which state he wanted to visit, but if he were to go

to the East Coast (which would probably be the cheapest option), it would cost about 60,000 metacais, or

around $2,000 USD.  He replied, "Wow, that's very expensive.  Let's see, I make just a little over that each

year. I make around 75,000 metacais per year." My mouth dropped learning that he made only $2,500 USD every 

year and $208 every month as a secondary English teacher.  I was even more baffled at the fact that

I earn more than that as a volunteer.  It made me sad to think how little many of the

professors here earn, as

they grade tests and some teaching 40 hours a week. I wonder how these teachers have enough money to support their families.

Although food, transportation, and housing are relatively cheap here, it's not that inexpensive where

 a full-time teacher only earns

$2,500 per year.  Now I understand why many people, including professors, think I'm rich here.  

How much is my Peace Corps experience worth?

Recently, I've stopped

complaining to my friends about how little I make in Mozambique.  The Peace Corps treats us very well.

I don't pay rent, I have medical and dental benefits, and I have enough money to pay for internet, food, household supplies,household help,

and for traveling with great friends.

Invaluable.

Caranguejos

Sometimes, the experience of learning a new word

 helps me with remembering words in Portuguese. Today, I learned a new word, that I probably won't soon forget. I was coming home

from a trip in a chapa, a minivan that is used as public transportation in Mozambique, when I felt something

tapping the tip of my shoe.  Breathing heavily, I asked if there was a chicken on  the chapa and everyone said, "No."

I thought that I must have been imagining the tapping. So I stretched my legs as much as I could in the compact vehicle.

 About two minutes later, I felt something running on 

the arch of my foot like a pianist running her fingers across black and white keys. I screamed and said, there's some kind of animal down there. Right then, the woman next to me started screaming as well, claiming that she felt it, too.

The man next to me, moving slower than molasses, looked down at his feet and said, "Acho que os meus caranguejos saíram da minha pasta.  'Ta bom.  Só são caranguejos."

After he explained that his little friends escaped from his bag, he said that I can put my feet down and he'll get them.  I said that my Portuguese isn't the best and I didn't know

 what caranguejos were and until I knew what they were, I wasn't 

letting them use my feet as a playground. Biting my fingernails, I wondered, "Are caranguejos tarantulas, a type of mouse, or could they be baby alligators?"

 The woman on the other side of me explained, "Sabe, vivem na beach.  E tem..."  She then formed her hands into a claw.  Half relieved and still a little scared, I said that caranguejo probably meant crab in English.   About four other people and I laughed at the fact

 that because I didn't know one word in Portuguese, I was afraid and confused

because I had no idea what had escaped.  Then someone asked the man next to me in Portuguese, "Why the heck do you have a basket full of crabs, anyway?"

He explained that he just got back from the beach and he was surprising his family with caranguejos.  They were for dinner.

Naturally, I'm learning a lot of

Portuguese since I have to use it every day with co-workers and community members and I learn new words all the time like caranguejo.

Anyway, it's been awhile since I last posted a blog and I just wanted to share this story with you. This is just one of many examples of 

awkward and silly encounters I face as a someone who isn't a native Portuguese speaker or knowing any of the local languages here in Mozambique. 

Further, I just wanted to check in to say that all is well here and I've been very busy teaching and with secondary projects.

Also,  my basketball team has a game next week and perhaps I'll write a blog about the meninas, girls.  Até logo!

Water

Water. Such a simple word for such an important resource.  

In the US, I never woke up wondering if I would have enough

water to drink, to shower, or to wash my clothes. I would wake up, turn on the faucet where gushing water

fell onto my toothbrush.  After brushing my teeth, I would wash off strawberries that would go into

my banana strawberry smoothie. Afterwords, I would look up at the shower head that sprayed

warm water on my face that made steam rise from my body like a volcano.

On a typical morning in Mozambique, the sun rays hit my face through my window and I run to my back

 porch and I'm often left disappointed when there

is no agua, gushing from the faucet like it did in my mother's guest bathroom.  At times, all of my buckets

of stored water are empty, except for speckles of dirt.  I scratch my shoulder thinking,

"I have to teach school today and I need to brush my teeth and take a bath." Sometimes, I can 

get enough water to wash up and take a bath from the filtered water that is for drinking and I cross my 

fingers that we would have water later in the day or the following morning.

Yesterday morning,

Ana, a lady who helps my roommate and I with domestic chores, gently kicked an empty bucket and suggested 

that she fetch water from the rio, river, about a mile 

away.  The lake in my town is a beautiful one where people scrub off their dead skin, clean their

stained dishes, and use it as if it were a giant commode.  With no other choice, it was agreed to get water

from the lake. An hour later, Ana wobbles back to our house with a huge bucket on her head, filled

with cloudy agua from the lake. She washes our dishes with the water and returns to the lake

to fetch more.  Last night, the lake water was filtered and then I cooked beans with it. It rarely gets

to the point where we have to get water from the lake but we felt that we had no other choice.

I leaped out of my bed to the sounds of water this morning.  Grinning faces and buckets were lined up at our outdoor faucet like

liquid gold was falling into their buckets.  I only got to fill one bucket before the water got shut off.

Here's a picture of one of our neighbors getting water from our house.

When it's rainy season, I'm happy because we put buckets outside that fill up with

 drops from the sky.  Rain leaves traces of starburst-colored

arches in the sky and smiles on faces.  Here are some beautiful pictures that my friend Rafael Hernandez, another volunteer who happens to be an amazing photographer, took at his

site in Cabo Delgado of children playing in the rain:

Here's a link to his photoblog: http://rhexperience.wordpress.com/

Today, I bathe and drink in a different world than I did a year ago.  Heck, I'm even excited when it rains.  Not because I can listen to the sound of the patters on my window, but because

I can actually eat, drink, and wash with the agua. I learned that I don't need to shower for twenty minutes

to wash my body.  In fact, I enough water to fill a two liter bottle of  Coco Cola when I take a bath here. I am grateful for all I

had in the U.S. and that I anticipate to have again in about a year. But perhaps the thing that I'll be 

the most thankful for is the abundance of, a small but important word, water.

I returned from my conference last Monday. I learned how to write project

proposals, so I've been contemplating which grant I would like to apply

for to cover the costs of basketballs, shoes, and sports bras for my girl's 

basketball group.  I'll keep you all abreast of the project proposal plans.

Further, I've been busy lesson planning

and organizing for the new trimester, which is the last trimester of the school-year in Mozambique.

I just wanted to check-in with everyone to say hello and that

I'm doing well.  And my cat, Lani, is doing well.

See? :D

Cheese!

Meow!

I plan on writing a new post very soon! Ate logo, until later!

Divas Play Basketball, Too

My primary job as a secondary teaching in the Peace Corps in Mozambique includes instructing

topics in English  that adheres to the national curriculum and creating and grading exams.  Teaching 

English is my priority as a volunteer here.  At the same time, we can also have a secondary project

based on community needs.

This could be any project that a volunteer creates with a counterpart in order to promote sustainability and to 

help the community.

While browsing through Peace Corps volunteers' blogs before coming to Mozambique, I read that 

it is pivotal to access community needs and then the PCV can utilize

his or her skills to collaborate with the members.  Before joining the Peace Corps,

 I thought that maybe my secondary projects

would include art or even dancing, since I love doing both.  However, one of my secondary projects

is an English Club. 

I have a new project now. Last month, a physical education teacher from my school approached 

me and asked if I'd be interested in coaching a girl's basketball group. My first thoughts were, 

"It's been ten years since I played basketball.  Do I even remember basketball rules?"  

Hesistant, I accepted the offer a month ago.  Not only are the 8th grade girls learning how to dribble 

the ball and do lay-ups, we have discussions about HIV/AIDS, eating fresh fruits and vegetables and drinking clean, boiled water. 

Never in a million years did I think that my high school basketball experience

 would catopult me into the world of coaching.  I love working with the meninas, or girls, because they smile when they make a basket or steal the ball from an opponent. 

   

The only problem that we're facing is the lack of financial resources.  Many of the girls come from families  that do not earn a lot of money.  The girls run up and down the court barefoot because their only pair of shoes are one dollar

sandals. An even bigger problem (I don't know if this is too personal) is that the girls don't wear sports bras.

As a female basketball player, it is imperative to wear a sports bra and the 8th grade girls don't have any

support for their chest while they are playing.  Our plan is to have a fundraising component.  We're contemplating if we should

make and sale peanut butter or  popcorn.  If you have other ideas, we'd love to hear them.  Also,

I'll be learning how to write grants next week at a Peace Corps conference.  Hopefully, we can receive a grant to buy sports bras, shoes, basketballs, and a ball pump.

The name of the team is Dama Divas, or Lady Divas and this is why:

These girls have attitude (in a good way, haha).  And here are some photos of the entire team:

 Anyway. every time I walk on to the

court and see the Lady Divas, I smile remembering how blessed I am to have this experience.   I will provide updates soon on how the divas are doing.  Obrigada!

Was Fuzzy Wuzzy Fuzzy?

Sometimes I have my students practice different tongue twisters to get them speaking in English and to expand their vocabulary.  This week I  reviewed the past tense with my students and I decided to incorporate the "Fuzzy Wuzzy" tongue twister since it had the words "was", "wasn't" and "had".  It goes a little something like this: "Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.  Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.  Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't really fuzzy, was he?" Now, try saying it ten times fast.

I made a video of some of my students trying to say the tongue twister.  Take a look: