civil construction kids
Carpentry students
3rd year students capinar-ing
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Dia da Mulher
toasting
mid living-room dance party
little women. slash note rosa's husband who has been banned from the house
Sunday, April 17, 2011
7 de Abril - Dia da Mulher Moçambicana
7 de Abril - Dia de Mulher Moçambicana
April 7th is the Day of the Mozambican Woman (“is there a day for American women?” ….. shame…. “nope”) So what better way to spend this national holiday than with our friend and fellow profesorra Rosa?! She invited us to her house for the day – and as usual, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. So we went over around noon (with some cupcakes, because, ya know, I don’t like to go places empty handed) and she put us to work peeling about 40 potatoes. Hint number one that this was not a small-ish gathering. Rosa is 29 and married with two absolutely adorable little boys (ages 3 and 5. Precious) and teaches computer classes at Dom Bosco. She’s probably one of the most welcoming Mozambican women I’ve ever met – which is how we ended up at this little party for Rosa and her sister-in-laws.
When the rest of the women showed up (and promptly kicked Rosa’s husband out of the house….this is woman’s day remember), we all sat around in the living room and feasted on all kinds of delicious foods : 3 types of chicken, fish, pastas, salads….. well done Rosa, well done! Not only did about 5 other Mozambican women come over, but we probably had about 15 little kids/babies there too(mostly girls, of course).
After we’d eaten and talked to everyone for a while (it was about 4 o’clock), we told them we were heading out (we have “banditos” in our neighborhood and therefore have been strictly warned by our overprotective army of students that we are NOT to walk around after dark…..so that kilometer walk from the main road to our house any time after 6 pm is a no go). Well. These ladies were having none of this. They freaked out! “Someone will take you home later!” “We have a car!” “But we haven’t danced yet!” So…. Clearly we weren’t going anywhere. At which point I accept it and crack open another beer (I mean, if I’m going to have to dance ……) And they were not kidding about the dancing. They started blasting music and breaking it down in the living room. Naturally, I’m totally incapable of dancing like a Mozambican but they made me try. So there we are. Just dancing and drinking with a bunch of Mozambican women around Rosa’s living room. I’m not kidding, this went on for ohhhhh 3 hours. We listened to Mozambican music, traditional music (the dances for those songs are crazy hard ps), Michael Jackson. You name it, we listened to it and danced to it.
At one point, they broke into chants (slash songs?) about Mozambican women and Josina Machel – who was the First Lady of Mozambique and is the main cauase of Women’s Day. And afterward the oldest lady with us cracked open a bottle of champagne and we toasted to women everywhere. Around 9:30, Rosa’s husband (who had been banned from the house) drove us back to Moatize. All in all – such a great holiday!! Why don’t we have a day off work that’s designated to just have fun girlie parties?
Unfortunately, Eduardo (or other roommate) greeted us with some bad news at home. Padre Eliseo – the priest that is Eduardo’s boss and owns our house – was driving a mission truck with some local Moatize kids (none were students at Dom Bosco). He had just given a mass at the Catholic church for Women’s Day and was headed to the city when he failed to make a turn in the road. His truck rolled off the road, and even though they eventually made it to the hospital, he had passed away. The kids he was are in the hospital with some broken bones, but apparently they’re in decent shape. All of our “games” were cancelled at school today because of the tragedy, and instead, our carpentry students built a casket and our auto mechanics received the totaled truck to see if they could spare any parts.
Please send good thoughts and prayers our direction – that the community will be able to fill the shoes of this caring man. Sorry this ended on a sad note, but I guess that’s the way it goes sometimes.
Lots of love to yall back home!
April 7th is the Day of the Mozambican Woman (“is there a day for American women?” ….. shame…. “nope”) So what better way to spend this national holiday than with our friend and fellow profesorra Rosa?! She invited us to her house for the day – and as usual, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. So we went over around noon (with some cupcakes, because, ya know, I don’t like to go places empty handed) and she put us to work peeling about 40 potatoes. Hint number one that this was not a small-ish gathering. Rosa is 29 and married with two absolutely adorable little boys (ages 3 and 5. Precious) and teaches computer classes at Dom Bosco. She’s probably one of the most welcoming Mozambican women I’ve ever met – which is how we ended up at this little party for Rosa and her sister-in-laws.
When the rest of the women showed up (and promptly kicked Rosa’s husband out of the house….this is woman’s day remember), we all sat around in the living room and feasted on all kinds of delicious foods : 3 types of chicken, fish, pastas, salads….. well done Rosa, well done! Not only did about 5 other Mozambican women come over, but we probably had about 15 little kids/babies there too(mostly girls, of course).
After we’d eaten and talked to everyone for a while (it was about 4 o’clock), we told them we were heading out (we have “banditos” in our neighborhood and therefore have been strictly warned by our overprotective army of students that we are NOT to walk around after dark…..so that kilometer walk from the main road to our house any time after 6 pm is a no go). Well. These ladies were having none of this. They freaked out! “Someone will take you home later!” “We have a car!” “But we haven’t danced yet!” So…. Clearly we weren’t going anywhere. At which point I accept it and crack open another beer (I mean, if I’m going to have to dance ……) And they were not kidding about the dancing. They started blasting music and breaking it down in the living room. Naturally, I’m totally incapable of dancing like a Mozambican but they made me try. So there we are. Just dancing and drinking with a bunch of Mozambican women around Rosa’s living room. I’m not kidding, this went on for ohhhhh 3 hours. We listened to Mozambican music, traditional music (the dances for those songs are crazy hard ps), Michael Jackson. You name it, we listened to it and danced to it.
At one point, they broke into chants (slash songs?) about Mozambican women and Josina Machel – who was the First Lady of Mozambique and is the main cauase of Women’s Day. And afterward the oldest lady with us cracked open a bottle of champagne and we toasted to women everywhere. Around 9:30, Rosa’s husband (who had been banned from the house) drove us back to Moatize. All in all – such a great holiday!! Why don’t we have a day off work that’s designated to just have fun girlie parties?
Unfortunately, Eduardo (or other roommate) greeted us with some bad news at home. Padre Eliseo – the priest that is Eduardo’s boss and owns our house – was driving a mission truck with some local Moatize kids (none were students at Dom Bosco). He had just given a mass at the Catholic church for Women’s Day and was headed to the city when he failed to make a turn in the road. His truck rolled off the road, and even though they eventually made it to the hospital, he had passed away. The kids he was are in the hospital with some broken bones, but apparently they’re in decent shape. All of our “games” were cancelled at school today because of the tragedy, and instead, our carpentry students built a casket and our auto mechanics received the totaled truck to see if they could spare any parts.
Please send good thoughts and prayers our direction – that the community will be able to fill the shoes of this caring man. Sorry this ended on a sad note, but I guess that’s the way it goes sometimes.
Lots of love to yall back home!
The “break” that wasn’t
This week at Dom Bosco was “interopçõa lectiva”…. Basically it is a week long break in between the 2 quarters of this semester. Helen and I talked about going somewhere fun since we have this random free week. However, I am a very skilled procrastinator and didn’t get around to making any crazy plans. Which is good for two reason. 1. This “break” was not an actual break… I have been at school every day this week (except Thursday because that was a national holiday – more about that later!). All of the teachers have been working on recording grades in the “livros de turma” that contain hundreds of tediously written grades for each homeroom. For real, writing grades out for 40 kids in pencil and then writing them all again in pen? Its kinddd of a pain. But what are ya gonna do?! And reason number 2 my procrastination has paid off : our visas expired about two weeks ago and Peace Corps put all Moz15 volunteers on Stand Fast. That’s code for “you can’t leave your site.” So really, it’s a good thing I didn’t plan anything! Some things just work out that way…
In other news, the students this week took turns working around the school and having little “mini retreats” where they play games and watch movies and whatnot for the day. So since I’m not a “director de turma” and I don’t have my own fancy grade book – I’ve been creeping around school seeing what everyone else is doing. I’ve been roped into playing something that resembled Simon Says and weaseled my way out of the Moz version of Duck Duck Goose that has been modified to include throwing things at the runner. I’ve worked a little – mostly just because my students think its funny for me to use a hoe out in the fields. The last time I had to “control” students was before I knew any of them, the first week of school. Well this week, not only were they excited to have me there with them – but I knew all of their names and could actually WRITE their names down! Which is a HUGE improvement from not being able to readdd their names. I mean, when there and N’s and G’s and H’s all next to each other – I don’t know what to do with that. Ha!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Dia de Cidade
Tete City celebrated its 52 year this March. These are pictures from the festa in the city. Then men covered in feathers/mud/masks are respected (and feared) members of community because they chase away any evil spirits. However, they also come out on special occasions just to dance....although it was still a little scary!
Gnous (sp?) dancing for the celebration
More dancing slash scaring children
Some of my students and me having some ice cream in the city
Soccer Pics
campo de futebol. Dom Bosco
Soccer tournament
Crispen. Pre PK (they win, btw)
Helen and I, after the girls game
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