The constant rain that finally found its way to Machanga last week has decided to stick around. It's been a much different rainy season this year. Last year, when it rained, it poured and poured and poured. And the rains started in December and kept up a good pace through March and April. We didn't get our first rain this year until January, and it's been far from a wet rainy season. Until this week.
It's a pesky rain that we've had, raining in fits and starts. Strong winds have kept clouds moving in and moving out. I don't think it's rained for more than an hour at a time, but when it rains, it's a good rain. Such was the rain on Sunday. It stayed just dry enough to not make the roads miserable, but it was also just grey enough to keep us from going very far.
I spent most of the day sitting around reading, catching up on news from August. Who knew that six month old news could be so intriguing. I did manage to get one thing done: I finished correcting the rest of the exams from Friday. In a strange reversal from last year, the letters kids did better than the science kids. I know that seems counter-intuitive. The letters kids should do better at English. But it really comes down to one simple fact: the science kids are smarter.
There have been two major upsides to all of this rain. The first is that the bugs have been kept at bay. The monster grasshoppers – the ones that are big enough to eat (we haven't tried them...yet)– seem to have all but vanished. The ants that invaded our beloved porch have mostly disappeared. And mosquitoes have yet to really make an appearance. The other upside is that with the cooler weather, it has been significantly easier to sleep. It's still fuckin hot, don't doubt that. But it's not wake-up-with-the-sheets-soaked hot. It's more like struggle-to-fall-asleep hot. Regardless, it's a step up.
Sunday evening to Monday morning was catch-up time with the family. I got a call from my grandparents Sunday night and “woke up” to my parents on Monday morning. Of course, I was awake 90 minutes before they called, but I was still drowsy. They caught me up on real news and I caught them up on, well, nothing.
It was rainy again on Monday. Luckily, the furthest I had to go was to the school. The dreaded call from the director came. I'm starting to not fear these calls anymore. This one was about the basketball court that we are trying – and failing – to build. This meeting basically confirmed the fact that what we are trying to do is near impossible. Under different circumstances, like being in America, I'd say this were possible. But as we know, things move at the speed of smell here. This does not look promising.
Other than the meeting, it was a slow day. One of the great benefits of my family was I got a new computer battery. This means that I can now get some work during the day. I did the work that I dreaded doing: punching in all the names into a spreadsheet. At this moment, I was extremely thankful for only having 113 students (as opposed to the 260-some I had last year).
I didn't do much for the rest of the afternoon. I got a bit of a nap in and read a magazine and tried to not get completely drenched when the wind blew the rain into our house.
I was in charge of dinner again tonight. We were doing beans again, and we actually had tomatoes tonight to do it properly. For some reason, though, I think they were better with just the tomato paste. Strange. For our entertainment for the night, we got away from sitcoms and went for straight, stupid humor - “Step Brothers”. John C. Reilly. Will Ferrell. Boats and Hoes.
As usual, I had a slow Tuesday morning. I should come to embrace these mornings because come second trimester, I'm putting an end to it. It's a little late in the game to start computer lessons for this trimester, especially since I'll probably be in Maputo, again, in the middle of March. I want to have some continuity, so I will wait until April to get going. I spent the morning perched on the patio, reading an Economist from way to long ago.
The morning was especially slow because I didn't have to lesson plan. I only had 45 minutes with each of my classes and all I had to do was return exams. The students, for the most part, did alright. There were no grade disputes, other than three miscalculations I made. And I'm pretty sure I made an enemy for life out of the girl who I called out for cheating. She didn't admit it at first, but after I showed her the exams, she had no choice but to agree. I was kind with her: I only took half the points instead of giving her a zero, like I usually do.
I was happy to have a short work day because I had some work to take care of for some other teachers. As usual, a couple teachers turned to me to type up an exam. I have no problem with this, but I have come to like the social science exams a lot more than the hard science and math exams. There is way to much notational stuff – square roots, subscripts, other stuff I've never seen – and it ends up being a royal pain in my ass. Regardless, I made my way through this math exam. It took me a couple nights and one afternoon to finish.
When the energy came on, all I had to do was print out the exam for the teacher. We cooked up some beans and watched “500 Days of Summer”. I had no expectations for this movie, and it turned out to be pretty funny. It had a great humor about it.
I had an extraordinarily productive Wednesday. I used to the first couple of weeks to get my students acquainted to the idea of reading comprehension. This really was a three week shock-and-awe assault for them. I have grand plans to teach these students the actual national curriculum, but this can't start until I get the book. Until then, I'll be reviewing grammar with them. This morning, I figured out how I was going to get a year of grammar (the stuff I taught them last year) into six weeks. They should, in theory, know the stuff, but I know they need to see it at least a couple more times before it kind of sticks.
The afternoon wasn't nearly as productive. I didn't have to teach until 4:00 and I didn't have a lot to do until then. I cleaned up a little around the house. My room was in dire need of a decent cleaning. I didn't get so far as to mop, but at least my room was recognizable again.
Class went okay. The students seem to understand what I was getting at. At least, I hope they did. Present simple is like Day One of seventh grade English. They should know this stuff like the back of their hand, but I have to teach to the lowest of the low.
In comparison to my day, Richie's day was brutal. He gave exams for almost the entire day. As we have said time and time again, giving exams is one of the most painful experiences we have here. We constantly have to fight the cheaters and keeping a tight eye on those students is seriously exhausting. Anyways, he took about a quarter of the exams from one class. That's just depressing. So I treated him to a beer at the market. And I cooked dinner.
We didn't watch anything tonight because Richie wanted to get all of his exams corrected. I won't forgive him for this. Until tomorrow.
For the first time all week, we didn't have any rain. It was still grey for most of the day but not a single drop fell. This was highly fortunate for Richie. After teaching a couple of classes, Richie decided to embark on a journey that we not yet done: the one-day bank run to Inhassoro. Usually we take at least two days to go to Vilanculos, but Richie was poor and he didn't want to spend the night anywhere. Due to his classes, he got a late jump – around 9:30 – but with some luck, he'd get back.
Before he left, I made a run to the market. I figured that if he's going to be taking money out of the bank for me, I should at least get him some bread to eat before leaving. He only told me after that he had a loaf of bread before class. This is what I get for trying to be nice.
I spent the morning trying to do some Kakuro. I put the emphasis on trying. I failed miserably on almost every possible. I fell into a pattern. I'd move pretty well through the puzzle, get stuck, make as educated a guess as possible and inevitably be wrong. It's frustrating having to look at the answers to see where I fucked up. At least my mind was busy.
I taught first and second period in the afternoon, which was nice. Given the choice, I think I would much rather teach in the morning and just get it done. But since I don't have that luxury, the least I could ask for is getting the classes done as quickly as possible in the afternoon. With the exception of Wednesday, I teach first period every afternoon. The scheduling gods were on my side.
The afternoon was spent on the patio. Around 2:00, I got a text from Richie saying that he was “going for it”. He really wanted to make it back to day. God bless that child. It's a lot of travel for one day, even though it's not more than 250 kilometers. I kept wondering when he was going to make it, if he was going to make it at all. In the worst case scenario, he could stay in Mambone for the night, but that sort of defeats the purpose.
Around 5:30, Richie rolled up to the house. It took eight hours and a lot of sunburn, but we both had money. I owed him, big time. I cooked up dinner. He wanted to watch “Hitmen” – some movie with a lot of killing – because he said he wanted to kill everyone today. I can't blame him. After eating, we watched some random Michael Jordan highlights and “Parks and Recreation”.
Much like last Friday, I awoke to a math challenge, although this time the other teacher learned his lesson and chose not to make a wager. This was especially beneficial for me because had a bet been made, I probably would have lost. The problem involved solving an inequality with two absolute values. I know how to do inequalities with one absolute value, but it's been many years since I learned the rules of inequalities with two. Thankfully, my handy internet USB thing was working decently and I was able to get some information.
I worked at this problem for a good hour or two, and the answer finally came to me. I don't know if it's the best way to solve it. I'm sure it wasn't the best way to solve it, but it was correct nonetheless. If there are any math wizards who want a crack at solving it, here it is: |x-3<|2x-3|. The answer is x<0 and x>2. Anyone who sends me an eloquent manner of solving this gets an acknowledgment I'd offer a cookie or a toy or something, but I'm a bit far away.
It's a little funny: over the year-plus that we've been here, Richie and I have fallen into certain roles. Richie is the person that people come to with news of a death. I don't know why. Richie is also the person who is also more willing to go to public events. I, on the other hand, am the problem man. If there is a computer issue, they come to me. A math problem can't be solved: they send it to the “dono da matematica”.
The technology helper is the role I especially like. Sure, there are other people who can probably figure out a physics problem, but the Casa do Muzungu is the last line of defense for computers. A couple nights ago, one of the teachers from another school came over with his virus-riddled computer. It's taken me days to get it back to functioning. This morning, I made it half way through the virus scan and managed to get rid of no fewer than 290 infected files. There will be more work to do later.
All of this problem-solving took up the entire morning. I must say that although I like having down time, I think I'd rather be too busy than too bored. The time just drags on when there's nothing to do.
On this day, however, a short break would have been nice. I went straight from problem-solving to teaching. I was due for four periods of English. I filled two periods with the first group with no problem. The second class was more challenging, even though I was teaching the same material. Two-thirds of the class wasn't there, and they ones that we're there were not really all together there. They had already started their weekend, so I promised we would move quickly. I finished class a half hour early and everyone was grateful.
I knew what I was in for when I got back to the house: drinking. Richie wanted to drink, a colleague wanted to drink, and who am I to say no? It would have been nice to drink something other than pineapple flavored gin, but we made it work. I took care of dinner – rice with shrimp. I'm no fan of shrimp, but after tonight, I am convinced that anything can taste good if you drown it in enough butter, garlic, and lemon juice.
The drinking recommenced after eating. We knocked out another flask of gin and then Richie thought it would be a good idea to go to the villa for beers. I knew as soon as I stepped out of the school that this was a bad decision. We sat around drinking for another three hours. By midnight, I was done. Richie and our colleague wanted to keep drinking. They tried to convince me to stay, but I know when I've had my fill.
My timing could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse. Three hundred yards from the house, the deluge began. I was soaked in seconds, but luckily the roads didn't turn to mud immediately. I made it home without incident, just soaked.
I found out Saturday morning that Richie wasn't so lucky. They came back at 3 in the morning. And the roads were finished. Richie simply gave up: he took off his shoes so he could trudge through without getting stuck in the mud.
We had a school meeting scheduled for 7:30 in the morning, which was just dandy. Richie and I both felt miserable. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't even bother going to this type of meeting. I know that that most of the time, these meetings don't really mean much to us. They are usually administrative things that don't apply to us Peace Corps Volunteers. And yet, on this day, we chose to go.
There was another mistake that we made. There has yet to be a meeting that has started on time, yet we chose to arrive at 7:25. What the fuck were we thinking?! The meeting didn't start until 8:30 and there was, as anticipated, nothing of importance for us. After an hour, I got up, pretending to take a very important phone call. I told Richie that he had to leave and we made our great escape.
We were both useless for the rest of the day. It was a perfect day to spend in bed. I did absolutely nothing of value and neither did Richie. The cloud cover gave us another reason to stay in. It never really downpoured like it did last night, but the constant drizzle and the threat of a drenching was enough to keep us in.
Following dinner, one of our colleagues came over with something new and interesting: white wine. People here love their red wine. They usually mix it with Coca-Cola. I refuse to taint red wine like that, but Richie says it's good. Anyways, this new white wine was pretty good. Add the fact that it was cold and I was very happy.
The clouds never left and Richie was full of hope. “It won't rain tonight, probably tomorrow”. I'll trust him for now.
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