Novidades em Mavudzi-Ponte

Eesh, it's been a whole week since I updated and a lot of things have been happening in Mavudzi-Ponte.  Here are some highlights from recent days.

Summer came back with a vengeance. Gone are the balmy days of winter. It's been over 40Cevery day this week with no wind whatsoever. Everyone's burning their fields, too, so the air is all smoggy and gross. At least its a dry heat, so it's less suffocating. Still, I feel bad for my students who have to sit in class all day in this heat -- that's not a learning-conducive environment! (And they don't have minifridges with bottled water at home!)
 

It's midterm time at the Escola Secundaria. It's hard to believe, but we're already halfway through the third trimester, meaning that daqui a nada (in no time) the school year will be over. My students never fail to amuse me with their answers to test questions:

• My favorite color is Teacher Helena.
• My father ate the hairdresser.
• My mother is a cattle.

Time is running short for English Theater! In just two weeks, me and 10 of my best students will travel to Moatize to participate in the annual English Theater Competition. My students "wrote" a play (actually, I wrote most of it in the end) about two brothers who choose different paths in life. They've been having a ton of fun rehearsing, though pronunciation is difficult for them. I of course hope they win, or at least place, but either way I think they're getting a lot out of the experience -- as am I. It's so nice to be able to play around a bit with some of my most talented students.

There's a thief about! A few days ago at 4 a.m. I got a typically Mozambican text from my director saying "Rb na scola cptdr f rbdo" After staring at this text for several minutes in my groggy early-morning state, I deciphered it as "There was a robbery at school, the computer was stolen." Aaaghhh! The computer was basically brand new, and was in the locked and grated office. This severely complicates my Computer Lab plans -- if we can't even keep one computer behind locked and barred doors, what's going to happen if I bring in twelve!? We'll have to have some serious discussions about security if this project is going to continue. Frustrating, to say the least.

Linda's mother came back from the dead. Back in April, I blogged about malaria and how 7-year-old Linda lost her mother to it and now lives next door. Well, apparently when my friend Páscoa told me that Linda was at her mother's funeral, turns out that I misunderstood -- it was actually a relative of her mother's.  How did I find this out? Well, this afternoon I went over to Páscoa's house and saw a woman I didn't know there.

"This is Linda's mom! My sister!" Páscoa said proudly.

I stared, thinking but not wanting to say "Wait... aren't you supposed to be dead?"

Nope! Apparently Linda's mother is alive and well, and has just as much attitude and spunk as her daughter. Turns out the only reason Linda's living with Tia Páscoa instead of her Mamá is because the school here is better than the school in Maravia, where her mom works.

My bad!

Food is plentiful these days in the machambas! My roommate, Redi, along with most other Mozambicans, have been carefully tending to their gardens for several months, and now the fruits of their labor are ready to harvest. I absolutely love it -- on the days when no one brings me a gift of lettuce or couve, I can go to the market and just buy food -- tomatoes, lettuce, onions, couve, maçanicas, and more! For now, at least, Mavudzi-Ponte is the land of plenty!

Redi proudly holds her lettuce.

Redi showed me her garden by the riverside.

Buying a whole bucket of tomatoes for 30 mets (about $1)

A pretty flower on a spiky plant that keeps the goats out.

And those are the novidades in Mavudzi-Ponte of late! Lots of stuff coming up, like the JUNTOS conference next week, the English Theater competition, Teacher's Day, final exams, and some fun travel. Stay tuned!