First Day of School

Today, was the first day of model school! If you’re wondering what “model school” is….its basically optional summer school for the teenagers of Namaacha. And why would one go to an optional summer school that starts at 7 am you ask? Well, to see what the crazy Americans are going to come up with, of course!

I tried to start my morning off on the right foot by getting up early so that I’d have plenty of time to get ready, have tea and walk the ¾ mile to the secondary school.  Naturally, none of this happened as planned. Such is my life! I woke up later than I wanted to (5:30 am, to be exact),  rushed to take my bucket bath.  Thinking I had made up for lost time, I was feeling good. Then, Epa! (“epa” is like the Mozambican OMG) We were out of gas for the stove. And before I had taken tea.  Before Mama Jonana had created something that resembles a fried egg … but …not. What a catastrophe! I’m trying to explain that I will survive without tea and that, honestly, the salad, bread, peanut butter and slice of American cheese she is going to force me to eat is sufficient.  But no. She insists on whipping out the charcoal to “at least boil water for tea.”  Knowing fully well that I was not going to change her mind, I let her continue.  I rushed through tea and breakfast – knowing I was already leaving the house later than I wanted to.  On my way out the door, Mama Joana discovers that my shoes are not as clean as they should be…and she HAS to clean then before I leave (only to walk through yet another muddy path).  Ok, that’s fine. I’ve accepted that I’m just going to be a few minutes late. No worries there. Mozambican time is like island time….  Even if you’re 15 minutes late, you’re still probably 30 minutes early. 

I got to school in plenty of time.  Got my bata (a white lab coat that all secondary school teachers wear).  Got my list of 10^th grade students. Had a minor panic attack when I saw that both 10^th grade classes had 35 students each (which was 3 times bigger than most of the other model school classes – but still half as small as a real Moz classroom…yeah, do THAT math! Ha!) Then, had another minor panic attack when I saw the ages of my students…they ranged from 15 to 34, with most in their mid- twenties.  That’s not intimidating or anything.

Luckily, the first day is always low on a attendance and we ended up with about 30 students between both turmas (homerooms).  No complaints there! And the age thing was not nearly as big of a deal as I thought it was.  Granted, I couldn’t understand every word that came out of their mouths.  They were super patient with my Portuguese and  were really participative, too.   Overall, I was pretty impressed with myself… 6 weeks of intensive language classes. Lots of educational technical sessions. And bam! My first class is behind me! It feels pretty good!