As noted in the travels post, I got home to the barnyard in
Chiure on January 8th. School technically started on January 15th,
but the first month or so of school doesn’t really count. I spent a few days at
school helping with scheduling (I have software). A lot of work when everyone
else was chilling, but power to control the schedule means power to control your schedule.
I’ve actually been transferred to the new school in our town
this year. As college graduates, we are technically considered ‘doctors’ here;
the district prefers that we teach 11th and 12th grade,
or second cycle as it’s called. These advanced class-levels were transferred to
the newer school this year so we were switched too. Anyway,
this other school already has a bunch of Mozambican teachers. They get paid extra
for teaching extra hours; they don’t want us (who’s living subsidy is the same
whether we work two or forty-two hours) to take those hours. So that means that
I am only teaching 11th grade physics. I get all of the 11th
grade physics classes but because only science-track kids take physics, that
adds up to nine classroom hours per week for me. Chilling. Eric has fifteen
hours of English. 11th grade physics is my favorite material anyway.
Nine classroom hours + me making the schedule = Tuesday
through Thursday class, three hours each day. That means I will have a lot more
time to do some outside-of-school projects. Plan is to improve science fair,
both locally and on the provincial level. Would also like to setup some sort of
math help group. Travel a lot inside of Cabo (I’m done traveling to faraway
places in this country). Should be good stuff. The new school is a little more
organized (though two weeks into the school year nothing has really started
yet) and actually has some common-use space. That should translate to getting
more done, generally. Just being in a nicer space where kids don’t all sit on
the floor in a collapsing building seems to have everyone, teachers and
students, taking things a little more seriously.
So I did some intro lessons this week (“You will learn to ‘think
critically,’ damn it!”), but generally school hasn’t really started yet.
Tomorrow I am heading to Maputo (flight from Pemba) for our Peace Corps
mid-service conference. That means a week off of school, capital city-level per
diem, and chilling with lots of friends from training. The last two weeks have
been pretty laid back. Eric has been cruising around with a friend from the
States so I’ve been holding down the fort solo. Basically just sitting around
eating pineapple and mangos with the dog, the cat, and the pigs, reading a lot
of magazines from 2012 (who will win the election!?!), and yeah, chilling with
the dog and cat (who are best friends). Maybe doing some school-prep as well. I
actually do do stuff here, just the pace of life is pretty slow, especially as
the school year very slowly gains momentum.
"Old friends, sat on their park bench like bookends..."
Boi and Cow chilling on a rainy morning.
The Barnyard:
Boi looks on as Cow and his girlfriend, Box, round Pongo and Manja out of the trash pit and back into their corral.
Manja and Pongo enjoying an afternoon nap in the shade.
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