Anda Anda A A A.....

This month was actually really hectic. My roommate and I seemed to be very busy. Haleigh is wrapping up her service so she was constantly traveling and we literally see each other for a day and then we would be busy doing our own thing.

The first week , I began my official community library project. My counterpart Derreck and I were really excited to have a set schedule and guidelines of what we were doing. I received about 165 Portuguese books to share with the kids. I was so excited because many of you know my family and I are book nerds and LOVE reading. The first day, only 5 kids showed up but by the end of the month we had up to 15 kids. My plan is to work with at least 25 kids or maybe more. I really want to get my project organized before I can think about opening it up to more kids. Even though it is still early these neighborhood kids are loving it! Not sure if any of you have seen my videos on instagram if not you should or ask my family to show you. So far they understand one book and connected words with the pictures. This month they learned the letter A, and B. They can recognize the letters and even write them. This is a huge accomplishment for me. The next month or so they will begin learning the letter M and N. I work with these kids every Tuesday morning, for about 45mins but some days we go for almost 2 hours. I have three little kids that come over every day just to look at the books. It's exciting to see the children so interested in the books and coming to my porch just to read for an hour.  I can't wait to actually have bookshelves for the books and open a room for them to sit like you would at Barnes n Noble.  I will keep you updated on how it is going. Meanwhile here are some picture of "VAMOS LER" 

Derreck showing them how to write the letter a in the sand

Read aloud!

My little classroom

My JUNTOS kids are actually quite amazing. They have been holding their own meeting without us since we've been busy with work. It's so great to know that we have such responsible teens running such a great project.

Another event that happened in the Manica Province was SCIENCE FAIR! Yes I said it science fair. My favorite fair by far. We had one student in Vanduzi participate. He's mentor was a physics teacher Laete who is also a very good friend of ours and an awesome teacher. Also an important note I was helping my roommate Haleigh with the science fair since I will be planning it next year. It was a great fair and the students had amazing projects. All were very creative but very nervous to present them. The student from Vanduzi made an environmental project to help clean the lakes and rivers in Mozambique.

Before the fair started though, three of the judges didn't show up so two other volunteers and myself became science fair judges but remember you wouldn't be in Mozambique if everything ran perfect! This science fair was really special to these kids because not only they were able to share something they did by themselves in a subject they love but if they won this fair they would go to Maputo for the national science fair. Some of these kids have never traveled and if they did it was probably local or to Tete. So it's a huge deal for them to make it all the way to Maputo. All the projects were good so deciding who wins was really tough. 

Science Fair Judges

Some Projects

Everyone that participated 

After science fair my roommate and I didn't get a break. English theater was right around the corner. Haleigh has a group of students that love practicing English and started their own English theater group. What is English Theater? Well it's a project where the students are given a theme and they make a theater piece in English. It helps them practice speaking and understanding English. It is a great way for them to get practice outside the class room and also these students love theater so each piece will be very creative and funny. We had 10 different schools participate in English theater and our students did an amazing job! They won third place which is a big deal to them because they didn't place last year. WE WERE SO PROUD of them. The theme this year was find your voice and they did a story about two families one where their wife is respected and has a say in the family and the other where she is beat and only allowed to speak when spoken to until she finally finds her voice. 

Vanduzi English Theater group

Tivemos Saudades!

 Guess who got the traveling bug again. Yes I traveled again after working so hard! I deserve a little vacation. When I got to Maputo I was able to see Wendy for an extra day before she was off to America Land. So we went to the fish market ate delicious shrimp and went to the art market. It was nice to actually see her one more time and say see you later, *tear*.  

 

 

Amigos

 

 

Central people (Ariel, Steven, Wendy, Aleesa)

 

Freshly made shrimp!

 

After that I was on my way to the beach. I did the same route again central Mozambique to south of Mozambique to north of Mozambique…. Except in the south I stayed in a beautiful site called Quissico. Two of my friends live on a beautiful lagoon that is 3 hours away or maybe less from tufo beach. I spent almost a week at their site literally relaxing and enjoying the view. The best part was traveling to their site. I took a 6 hour chapa to get to their site and of course got the princess seat (which means the front seat with leg space and no one smashing into you) but I was lucky enough to sit right next to the drunk man. Don’t worry mom the story gets better. This was literally the funniest chapa I have ever been on. Yes the man was annoying and all but I saw something I thought I would never see Mozambicans do. So every time the chapa would slow down or we pass a big city he would by a bottle of cheap liquor, he would set it down and one of the passengers would hide it quickly because the man was that annoying and needed to stop drinking. I found out later that it’s illegal for chapa drivers to have drunk individuals on their chapa. Anyways, they hid about 6 bottles on this 6 hour chapa. The best part was when he tried talking to me in English, please stop I speak Portuguese and he would continue because he’s English were madeup words. Every time he tried talking to me because he would forget, everyone would yell at him over and over again that she speaks portuguese. I literally sat on the bus with my earphones ignoring him but laughing. Then I made it to quissico finally.

So the chapa ride was well worth it.

 

We went exploring a tad and got to catch up with one of my best friends here. It's nice knowning he lives in a vacation spot. Jealous but not so much cause I love my site.After spending time there, laying by the lagoon and getting to know their site, we traveled up to tufo beach because yes I definitely needed beach time.

 

Sticke bridge at the Quissico lagoon

Kids working hard

Carrying stuff over the stick bridge

We met up with other volunteers who I am close with but never see because of the travel ban. I enjoyed every second about it. We camped at the beach and talked about how much has changed since we got here.

Literally September is coming up and that means we have been a year in Mozambique….A YEAR. Crazy. I feel like I just said goodbye to my family.

 

This one is for you mom!

The beautiful Beach

 

So after spending a good amount in the South it was time to head north for a week. I went to Nampula for a very special conference…. My community library project! I am starting a library in Vanduzi, I will be teaching little kids how to read and write in Portuguese and I will have about 175 Portuguese books to teach them with. These kids have never seen a book and I get to change that. I already started the project with four kids and found an amazing dependable counterpart. We spent the whole week not only eating amazing food but he was learning different teaching methods and how to read to the children. I am very excited for this project because it was exactly what I wanted to do and heck I already attract all the little kids. Sometimes I think it drives my roommate crazy that they are always over here but she totally understand how much I love them. The best part about this project is, knowing it is something I am actually really good at it. I have to say I love my job.

 

 

 

Counterparts doing a theater

Some books we have

Joe teaching the secret word

Our training group (Fei, Jules, Joe)

Can't forget the thumbs up

Everyone together

 

My best friend/Counterpart

He got his certificate!

Dombe and Zobue counterparts first time on a plane!

Derreck ending his journey

 

After the conference I was ready to go home and sleep in my own bed even though I was enjoying the hot showers and good food. I wasn't exactly ready to start teaching again because I was so tired but got right back into it and turned out my kids missed me. Here in Mozambique when a teacher enters the classroom all the students stand and greet you with "Bom Dia Senhora Professora" I respond "Bom Dia Como Estao" They say "Estamos Bem de saude" and then I tell them they can sit.  In one of my classes they decided to say "Tivemos Saudades" I couldn’t' help but laugh. Oh my ninth grade students I missed you too.

 

Side note...it's starting to get hot and even amendoim can barely take it!

 

Senhora Professora...estamos pedir sou livro

 

 

Oh July! One more month until a mini vacation! This trimester my kids seem to be so much better and seem a little bit more interested in biology. Yeah who would have thought kids loving Biology? Their test scores have improved drastically and they aren't cheating anymore, they are learning!

 

Some of biology kids studying in front of my yard with my book

 

We are in the month of July so that call for Fourth of July!

We explained to our colleagues how this was our independence day and how we usually celebrated. We decided to invite all the PCV's to our home for Fourth of July and attempt to cook American meals the best we could. We also invited some of our close friends at site to come join us. Haleigh and I decided to make, burgers with cheese (yes I said cheese), mac and cheese, beer batter onion rings/eggplant, black bean salsa haha and so much other good food. We had a huge feast! One down side was I had a terrible stomach problem first ever bacterial infection in my stomach so I couldn’t eat the food I wanted to but luckily there were leftovers and since I started medication after the big celebration I was capable of eating it. It was soooooo good. Also don't worry I recovered!

Mine and Matt's Prom picture

My Fellow Central 21ers

Our JUNTOS group had a conference this month. We had to choose 5 students from our group which was fairly easy because we only have about 8 and there are 5 that show up every time. The conference was in Gondola, They got to meet other groups in Manica and exchange ideas. Of course we were worried they would be intimidated since Vanduzi is a new site and they just started their group but they surprised us. These kids were speaking up, performed there song, and came out more motivated. These students came back and pushed our Juntos group to work harder and explained other art projects we can do. It was such a good experience for them. So hopefully they continue on this awesome self-motivation.

A group doing a theater piece

 Graca our JUNTOS girl wrote a poem that day and read it to every one, we were so proud

Haleigh and I being Silly

Me with the JUNTOS kids

Everyone that was there for the conference

All of us together!

Joao, Manuel, Neto, Ana, Graca

 

July meant my best girlfriend in Chimoio was going back to California. NOOOOO,to soon to soon. I was sad but we should be reunited very soon. We had a big despidida for her and ate really good food made by our Mozambican friend Silvino. He makes the best chicken and beans in all of Mozambique.

 

 

Augusto, Osvaldo, Wendy and I

Wendy and I having a dance party like always

Macho partied to hard at the despedida

 

Okay drum roll please.........

I also found out about my application for my community library and…..I was approved! The month of August my counterpart and I will be traveling to Nampula for a week for intense training. I can't wait, my counterpart is so excited because

1.       He has never been on a plane

2.       He has never been to Nampula

3.       We are getting books!

Hopefully he learns a lot from this conference. I am so excited I cannot wait to actually get a good start on this project. It's actually happening…I get to work with kids, something I am really good at, preteens are little too much for me! Here are some pictures of the kids I want to work with. All kids need is some paper and crayons and their imagination will grow!

 

 

 Also we have personal ninjas in our yard

Our neighbor is best friends with our dog

 

Okay tchau voces!