Back to School

School has begun again, and with it come the sounds I haven't heard since October -- students laughing and joking as they go to and from their classes, schoolkids playing clapping games every morning in the football field, and my next-door neighbor Morais shouting out P.E. drills to reluctant high schoolers. ("Up! Down! Up! Down! You call that a push-up!? Up! Down! Up! Down!")

While so much has stayed the same here, my teaching experience this year is completely different. Most importantly, I'm only teaching tenth grade two afternoons a week. "Two afternoons a week!?" I can hear you thinking to yourself, "What on earth are you doing with the rest of your time?" Well, this year I'm teaching....

Night school!

Night school is very different. "Don't teach night school, whatever you do!" people warned me, "The students never show up, and when they do, they're drunk!" Well, so far, I'm actually really enjoying it. I haven't had any problems with drunk students -- or at least, not that I've noticed. The students who do come are motivated enough that they paid the matriculation fee and came to class, so they actually learn. (Imagine that!) Plus, most of them are my age, so I can joke around with them a bit while I'm teaching. And finally, the girls in night school are usually girls that got kicked out of day school for being pregnant, so it feels good to be able to give those girls at least part of a decent education.

The downside of this teaching schedule is that sometimes I end up eating dinner close to 22h when I get home.

The Water Boy

This is Izaquel, hero of the juicy story. Today was his first day working for us as our water boy.

Getting water isn't difficult, but it's a chore, and Laura and I figured we might as well help a student out by giving them a job. Izaquel is really awesome and I was happy to be able to employ him.

We had talked to Izaquel yesterday and told him to show up "whenever" this morning to go get water.

He was here at 6 a.m. prompt. We weren't even awake yet.

He filled our water, asked us if we needed anything else, and left, leaving twelve filled-to-the-brim water jugs in his wake.

"Well, that's that," I told Laura, "I'm washing my hair tonight!"

After school, Izaquel stopped by again. "I wonder what he wants?" we thought, "Maybe there's a problem?" We had checked the wage we were giving him with neighbors to make sure it's fair, but sometimes volunteers have problems with their employees asking for more and more from the 'rich' muzungus.

To put work here in perspective, though, Izaquel makes 200 meticais -- $6.50 -- a month hauling water for us, and that's already more than normal.

But no, when I walked out, Izaquel smiled and said "Good afternoon, Teacher! Just wanted to check if you have any empty bottles since this morning that you need filled!"
 
It's only the first day, but I think we made a good choice in our water boy. If he keeps this up, we'll give him a raise soon. It feels good to be able to reward good work.

And it also feels good to not have to pump water anymore!

Foreign Service Officer Test: CHECK!

After months and months of reading and studying, the day finally came on Thursday for me to take the Foreign Service Officer Test.

The FSOT is the entrance exam to becoming a Foreign Service Officer. It's notoriously difficult and shrouded in mystery, and I was pretty nervous to take it. Lots of people fail the first time around, and, of the people who start the process, only about 2% actually make it through all the steps.

The test is made up of three parts, the first being a Job Knowledge section that covers a huge range of topics -- American history, government and culture, foreign policy and international relations, world history, management theory, and technology, to name just a few. Other sections of the test are practically impossible to study for, including on on English usage, one with personal questions that resembles a personality test, and a 30-minute timed essay at the end.

Needless to say, I was pretty nervous on Thursday morning. Thankfully, I was staying with the Foreign Service management officer in Maputo and she was very helpful and supportive. Also, I was not alone -- taking the test with me were my friends and fellow Moz 19 PCVs Grisha and Haleigh. Together we stand!

All in all, the exam went OK. I knew more of the answers on the Job Knowledge section than I thought I would. (All those books came in handy!) Being my linguistically-nerdy self, I actually kind of enjoyed the English Expressions part and feel very confident about it. The personal questions were tricky and had a really tough word limit for the responses, so I'm not sure how I did on that one. And finally, the essay was brutal -- I love writing, but I have gotten so used to taking my time (for example, writing blog posts takes me several days) that I ran out of time and didn't get to write nearly as good an essay as I wanted to.

But what's done is done, and I won't know the results until three to five weeks from now. At least the test is over, and now I know what it's like. Even if I fail (a distinct possibility) I will know what to study for and practice for the next time. And if I pass.... who knows.

Mid-Service Conference: Not All Fun and Games... but Mostly Just Fun and Games

Two weeks ago, I went to Maputo for our Mid-Service conference. The point of this conference is sort of to re-connect, share experiences, and whatever, but the real focus is on getting our mid-point dental and medical exams done, and thus there was a lot of free time for us.

It was pretty fun, especially since the conference overlapped with my birthday. I don't have much else to say other than what is said by these pictures. It was super nice to see everyone again and I had a TON of fun.

Actually doing work... but on the beach.

BUMPER CARS!

Maggie and I "exercise".

Birthday beer with Mozambestie Lisa.

Hanging out with Sanjay, our new super cool country director.

Mixed triples in Sanjay's driveway.

Getting in quality friend time with my leading ladies, Lisa and Anna.

Reflection on a Quiet Afternoon

I'm sitting in my living room, alone. Laura's gone to the city to hang out with some friends, and our weekend guests Jeff and Jay have gone home.

I'm watching the sky. It's sunny, but I can see the huge, majestic, rolling rainclouds coming over the mountains, bringing with it another torrential evening downpour. It's the calm before the storm, both with the weather and in real life.

This is the first time I've had some time to myself in a while, and I must admit, it's nice. The last few months have been go-go-go. In the last few weeks, I've been on ten flights and have spent considerably more time away from my house than in it. It's been fun, but I'm relishing the chance to take a breather and listen to the sounds of Mavudzi-Ponte that I've missed so much.

The leaves of the trees swaying in the pre-rain breeze. The laughing kids struggling to get their squeaky wheelbarrow home before the downpour. My cat purring in my lap, oblivious to the oncoming storm.

I'm soaking this up right now, because I know that as soon as I blink an eye, the roller-coaster continues. Yesterday we had our official Abertura ceremony marking the beginning of the 2014 school year. Classes start next week, but I'll be in Maputo, taking the Foreign Service Exam. (Wish me luck!) As soon as I get back, I'll jump right back into teaching and working on my library. This year, I'm teaching two turmas of day school and three of night school, so that I'll have more free time during the day to work on my library and get it up and running.

There are a lot of things coming up, but for now, I'm going to sit here, with my hot chocolate and a book, and listen to the sounds of the rain. Perfect timing -- here it comes now.