One Year Later: Returning to Namaacha

This has been a very special week for me. This week, I was invited by Peace Corps to come down to Namaacha, where I went through 10 weeks of training last year, to visit this year's training and help out the new trainees. Every week of training, Peace Corps selects two or three volunteers to come to Namaacha -- lots of people apply, so I felt very lucky to be able to go! I remember really looking up to the volunteers when I was a trainee, and it was really cool to be able to be in the other set of shoes this time.

Also visiting Namaacha this week were my friends Eric and Jay -- and we had a surprise fourth volunteer, Matt, making it a really fun week. I felt a little bit like I was living the Peace Corps version of New Girl.

Shared a house with these dorks for a week.

Week 8 of training is all taken up with Model School. It's a time for the trainees to take all the things they've learned about Portuguese and teaching skills and use them to practice teaching on Real Mozambican Students. They can make mistakes and experience teaching in the "shallow end" before jumping into teaching at their sites when the school year starts in February.

Trainees put their knowledge to use.

This dog just ran into the class mid-lesson and refused to leave!

... and so he just curled up and learned Chemistry like everybody else.

Volunteer students have great behavior! (Note the Pokémon sweater.)

Being at Model School this time around was opened my eyes to how much I've learned this year. Just one year ago, when I was a trainee teaching model school, I was on the brink of a panic attack whenever I walked into the classroom. I had no idea if I was teaching the right way. I had no idea how to control my students. I couldn't read their handwriting, and they couldn't read mine.

After just one year of teaching in a Mozambican school, all those things seem like silly worries to me. Now I know that you're supposed to fill out the little book at the end of the lesson. I know that if the classroom is dirty, I can point at any student and tell them to sweep it. I know that their P's look like H's and that their Q's look weird.

Another thing that has changed, apparently, is my Portuguese. At one point this week, I went over and said hi to my old Portuguese teacher Meque. He asked me, "Your site is in Tete, right?" When I asked how he remembered, he said "I didn't remember. You sound like you're from Tete. The moment you opened your mouth, your Portuguese screamed TETE."

Funny how fast things change. When I left America, my Portuguese was 100% Brazilian and rusty, and just over a year later, I've completely changed my accent and am speaking fluently, at an "Advanced-High" level. It's amazing how fast you learn when you're immersed.

Meque, my old teacher.

Eurico teaches the newbies about Present Conjunctive.

Trainees struggle to put complex sentences in order.

The week went by MUCH too quickly. With everything canceled Wednesday due to Election Day, I had only a short time to get to know over 50 new members of the Peace Corps Mozambique family. However, I at least did get a chance to get to know the seven (count 'em! SEVEN!) new volunteers coming to Tete in two weeks, including -- drum roll -- MY NEW ROOMMATE! Laura, a fellow English teacher, is coming to live with me in my house, and I'm so very excited to have her. I can't wait to have someone to share the wonders of Mavudzi-Ponte and the fun of Tete City with.

Which brings me to my last nugget of news -- next year, with Laura taking some of the English classes that I was teaching last year, I will be teaching -- another drum roll -- Physics! I'm keeping my 10th Grade English classes, but I'll be tacking on 8th Grade Physics, too. I'm very excited to be able to teach in Portuguese, but I'll have to brush up on my Physics before jumping in. It's been a while, but I really enjoy Physics, so I'm looking forward to it.

Tomorrow, I get on a plane back to Tete, and after a few short days, I'll be heading out again for Thanksgiving with some friends at a different site. Shortly thereafter, Laura moves in. A week or so later, I'm meeting my parents in Johannesburg. It's going to be a really busy couple of months, but so very exciting!