7 Months Down.

Hello all my loyal North-American and Mozambican blog readers! I hope this reaches you well and you're enjoying the very nice, warm spring weather. As I sit here and type this it is “misting” and about 64 degrees...in Mozambican terms, its very cold. It's funny because in NY some people would be out in shorts but here people are wrapped in their winter parkas and all the winter apparel you could think of. I walked into one of my classes the other day and this very skinny boy was wearing what I can only describe as a sumo-wrestling suit. It was so hilarious I had to just walk out of class and take a breather. You had to be there.
Last week I finished what we call conselhos which are just meetings to discuss grades and where we make the “report cards.” It was an interesting time. Compared to some of the stories I have heard, mine was really easy...despite having no clue as to what to do. But then again thats a pretty standard feeling here as a PCV in Mozambique.
I love teaching here and I have a really great time with it...my students seem to really like me as do my colleagues, except when it comes to some of my students' grades. The educational epidemic in this country solely lies with the students and their choice not to study. It's that simple, the students here do not study. The rationale behind their logic is easy – they think they can cheat and pass. Well kiddies, not in my class. To mention it, not in any of my fellow American teachers classrooms either. For this we (PCV teachers) are always the epicenter of long and sometimes dramatic, escalated discussions about our students grades. Basically the other teachers and sometimes school direction tries to get us to “boost” grades to a passing score. It's pretty upsetting and morally I just can't do it. I don't.
After we finished all of the conselhos, teachers had some free time so I traveled around the Gaza province and visited the sites of Chokwe (central Gaza) and Massingir (on the S. African/Moz border). It was nice to see people and I found out that Chokwe is only like an hour from my town, which is awesome. We had a good time celebrating the birthdays of the girls in Massingir. Everyone got in a good dose practicing the Pasada (a Mozambican style dance; see also: elegant grinding) and frango assado. After I had my fill of a good weekend I had to head back home to Chibuto and prepare for school to restart the next day. So yeah, it's official I'm in the second trimester of my first year already! It's really exciting but kind of scary at how fast time goes here. Damn, I hope life isn't like this everywhere...
For the first time Gazans got a bit of taste of home vicariously through two of our fellow Moz 12-ers by having parents come and visit. It was the first parental visit of any of us here in Gaza. Emily’s parents are here in Mozambique and Jesse and Emily had a dinner party with Gazan PCVs and her parents. It was good to get a taste of home and just see some parental figures. I’m starting to get excited for when my parents come here next January!
I just started getting my Science Fair secondary project rolling this past week. It’s pretty exciting since it will be the first time something like this will be happening at my school. My students seem to be quite interested as do some of my colleagues. I’m pretty excited and I hope it will be a success!
All in all, Mozambique is a great country to live and serve in. Sure it may be insanely hot most of the year but there are some months when we are actually cold (makes the bucket baths a b*tch!). Not to mention that I am only an hours drive from the beautiful and picturesque Indian Ocean. The language is Portuguese so it's not unbearably difficult to pick up, though still hard at times. All in all I do love it here and I am having a great experience.
Thinking of where I was a year ago: not knowing where I was going in Africa, thinking Equatorial Guinea, speaking Spanish, and teaching biology to where I am today: living in Mozambique, speaking Portuguese, and teaching chemistry is astounding. I still don't really know how I got here or why I'm here. All of a sudden I was on the phone with PC Washington arranging my flight from Albany to Philly then I was saying goodbye to everyone not knowing anything about what was to happen, a real adventure. I do know that I am supposed to be here and I feel that as every day passes that feeling of belonging intensifies. I think it will be on my flight out of this country that I finally know why I was here. And I like that.
Thanks for all the support from back home. I really appreciate it and hope you appreciate hearing about my life here! Enjoy the photos!

Your Striving All-American-Mozambican,

Jon