Year 1 - Week 48: "Here's to the Improbable"

For the amount of libation that was consumed over the course of Saturday, I felt surprisingly good Sunday morning. Not only is Afro Bar good for dancing your concerns away: the resultant sweat is also the best preventative for a hangover.

So since we were feeling okay, and we had an entire flat of beer left from last night, we figured that we should get to work. Combined with delicious pancakes and cheesy scrambled eggs, it made for a delicious breakfast.

The rest of our morning was rather calm. We spent some serious time in the ocean, talking to the new Trainees. I mean, if we’re going to talk to them about the pleasures and problems of living in Mozambique, why not do it in the glorious Indian Ocean?

We had initially planned to stay in Vilanculos all day Sunday and return to Machanga on Monday. Instead, we opted to go to Inhassoro and try to get back to Machanga from there tomorrow.

About nine of us – Moz 12s, 13s, and 14s – headed up to Inhassoro. But we didn’t just pile into a chapa and go. We divided into three teams and raced our way up. My team came in last – very sad – but we still got a good ride up to Inhassoro. The guy who took us up went twenty kilometers out of his way to get us to the crossroads.

Inhassoro was (and still is) beautiful. It’s a shame that Inhassoro doesn’t have the amenities that Vilanculos has because I would be just as happy to go there. Inhassoro does have, however, a restaurant right on the beach. It was wonderful, made better by the company, and improved further by the poker game that we got going. It was quite a lovely night.

Almost everyone reconvened for breakfast on Monday. Two of the teachers stationed in Inhassoro had to go to work early in the morning. It’s a shame: they missed out some delicious basil-filled scrambled eggs. After breakfast, it was time for us to get on the road.

That’s when the fun began. We barely waited five minutes before a truck rolled up and we got in. As if that wasn’t good enough, before we got out of the first truck, we had a ride from the Inhassoro crossroads to Pambarra. The second ride was even more fun. Having sixteen other people in the back made it interesting. The real kicker was trying to figure out why the driver kept passing people, then throwing it in reverse to pick up more people. It took us three times to catch on, but we finally realized that the car had no functioning brakes.

We managed to survive that boleia and before we even got out of the truck, another truck was waiting for us. This truck, with an additional seventeen people, thankfully had brakes. We made good time to Mambone and did some shopping before crossing the river back to Machanga.

Between all the traveling and the unbearable heat, we were pretty exhausted by the time we got home. We didn’t really bother to unpack: both of us put our things down, ate something, flipped on a fan, an took a nap.

Rejuvenated enough to make it through the night, but not keep us awake past ten, we got cooking when the energy came on. We made delicious chicken sandwiches, watched some episodes of season five of “The Office” and called it a very successful long weekend.

We usually return from our trips on Sunday so we can get back to work on Monday. But, as Monday was the last day of national exams, we wanted to avoid work on Monday. But that didn’t mean that we would be free on Tuesday.

The work we had on Tuesday was just as mind-numbing as proctoring. Even though the kids used proper scantron exams, they still had to be corrected by hand – by two different people. At least I could listen to music while correcting. Richie and I were tapped to correct Geography exams. From my loose count, about two-thirds of the students failed. I expect worse for English.

After lunch and a nap, I went on a mission. Yesterday, I talked to the padre here about getting some material for a gutter and he happily provided it this morning. This afternoon provided us an opportunity to get to work. We have an idea, but it’s going to take some other materials and a ladder to execute.

The materials were no problem. We went over to the market to buy some screws and some sodas. With the sun nearly down, we decided to put off the work until later in the week. The energy came on a little early, allowing us to get startecd on dinner – and squeeze in some good TV before bed.

I struggled to fall asleep. The larium was messing with me, but it also managed to inspire me. It yielded this poem a lovely forty line poem.

With the “Ode to Larium” out of my head and onto paper, I slept beautifully until the phone rang. My parents called around 7:00 but the connection never really, uh, connected. It gave me enough time to wake up before the connection came through. It’s been ten days or two weeks since I talked with my family, so it was good to catch up. It’s less than fifty days until they visit, so things are getting exciting.

We had to head back to work Wednesday morning. Our colleague said that we had to go in and we kinda did. We spent an hour erasing pencil marks. And that was it. The rest of our day, we had to ourselves.

Our house has been in dire shape of recent – especially bad since we didn’t clean that well upon our return – so we decided that we would spend the morning cleaning up this house. This wasn’t just a sweep-up, mop-up, then give-up job. This was a full cleaning-under-the-bed, hand-in-the-“toilet” job. A clean house is a happy house.

I would have liked to put our gutter up today, but it was so fuckin’ hot today that it made the tin material into something scorching. So instead we gave up on the afternoon. I read some magazines and napped. Richie read a book and napped. Another rough afternoon in Machanga.

We walked over to the villa late in the afternoon to pick up some tomatoes and to grab a coke. Medinha, our market friend, has a new fridge that is pumping and the cokes are almost too cold to drink. We choose to suffer through it.

The energy came on as regularly scheduled; now that the sun is setting later, the energy is coming on closer to 6:00. I diced up some veggies while Richie put the beans on the stove. I did not do a good job on the chili last time, so I went out to avenge myself. I’d say I succeeded. We plowed through our food while we watched “The Office” and “House”.

I have a very simple rule that I have lived by pretty well for the last year: unless I am traveling, if the sun is not up, neither am I. It’s so easy to live by, that I have succeeded in living by it every single day. Until today. At 4:52 AM, I was awake and feeling good.

The sun wasn’t even close to out but it was still a little light outside. As a bonus, it wasn’t scalding hot outside. This is why Mozambicans wake up before dawn to do things: they hate the heat just as much as we do. Some people use this time for walking, some use it for throwing a hoe. Today, this time was used, sadly by me, to wash clothes.

Starting so early does have it’s disadvantages. I was done washing clothes by 6:30. What the hell am I supposed to do for another five hours in the morning? The answer is simple – go back to sleep. Except one of my best friends from home complicated things (thanks, Joe). Of course, I’m willing to trade half an hour of sleep to talk to a buddy.

But as soon as I was off the phone, I was back into bed for another ninety minutes. That got us to 10:30, a reasonable enough hour to greet the day. However, the sun wasn’t really out: it was covered in post-apocalyptic grey-brown clouds. On and off for the last week, we’ve had weather like this for the last week. Between the imminent rainy season and the burning of fields, it’s made for an ugly sky.

There wasn’t a whole lot to do in the afternoon. Even though the sun wasn’t out, it was still terribly hot. I spent the afternoon swapping time between bed, which has a fan, and the porch, which has a breeze. Late in the afternoon one of Richie’s students came over. This particular student loves the sound of his own voice, and that was my cue for throwing on the iPod and playing the ignoring game.

Much like yesterday’s massive cleaning session, I figured that if I might as well be productive if I had nothing in particular to do. With massive preparation needed for Mexican food night, I got to it.

The little bit of left over beans from last night, put together with some homemade salsa, chicken, rice, Velveeta and fresh tortillas made for a delicious meal. It made me want a burrito from Cotixan or Roberto’s (one more year…). We ended the night with some “Office” and “House”.

I was up early again on Friday. It’s not that I’m sleep deprived; it’s just so hot that staying in bed without a fan is not possible anymore. And just like yesterday, I was right back to doing laundry, but today was a task: sheets and pillowcases. I have no problem washing clothing, but sheets are a real pain in the ass. I’m quite sure that when I am done with them, they are not clean. They are just less dirty.

The only upside to washing sheets is that it takes time. And I have no shortage of that right now. Sheet-washing took up a good portion of the early morning, leaving me in good position to nap in the late morning before lunch.

While he was at the market, Richie bought a frozen chicken. He claims that he blacked out when he made the purchase, but I’m sure he was conscious at the time. Regardless, we borrowed a little grill from our neighbor and cooked a scrumptious barbecue chicken lunch.

Having accomplished something in the morning, I felt good about not doing much of substance for the entire afternoon. The patio provided good shade and I was happy to soak it in. Every time we think it can’t possibly get hotter, it does. And we think this knowing that the hot season has only just begun. Now we are left waiting for the rain, if for no other reason to provide us some shelter from the sun.

Friday was the last day of the first round of exams. Tenth and twelfth grades finished on Monday, while fifth and seventh grades had three days of exams to close out the week. The relief amongst the teachers was palpable and we decided that we would contrinute to the celebration with a couple small bottles of rum.

It was all a part of the master plan: drink in the late afternoon, eat dinner, watch TV, then go out to the villa for beers. I executed steps one, two and three perfectly. But by the time 9:00 rolled around, I was exhausted. Richie went out. I gave up.

Saturday was all about build-up. Mozambique had a big soccer game against Tunisia in the afternoon, which meant we had to wait nearly nine hours for the thing to start. So we did a lot of sitting in the morning.

After lunch and a nap, Richie and I headed over to the school director’s house. By the time we arrived, he already had his generator rolling, cooling down the beers in the fridge. The game was scheduled for a 3:00 start. Before the game started, one of the teachers raised his cup and said “Here’s to the improbable”.

Most of the teachers wrote off Mozambique from the start. In their collective memory, they could not remember a time that Mozambique had ever beaten Tunisia. But from the outset, Mozambique looked like the dominant. They outshot Tunisia in the first half and controlled the ball for sixty percent of time. But it was for naught: despite some great chances, it was still 0-0 at the half.

The Mambas continued their domination in the second half. They grazed a post midway through the half. Then it happened. In the 84th minute, a pass went through the middle. The initial shot was saved, but the rebound came right back to the shooter. And then the ball was in the back of the night. Every Mozambican in the room (I think there were seventeen) jumped out of their chairs.

The improbable happened. Mozambique 1 – Tunisia 0. After dinner, we went out to the villa to continue the celebration. You have to celebrate when the improbable happens.