Tuesday, March 07, 2006
A day in the life...
... here´s a ´normal´ day (for me at least), and as normal as things get here :-)
Wake up at 5 am for classes, at which point the sun is already comming up and it is hot hot hot! (Only the breeze keeps us cool here, and that doesn´t pick up until later!) At this point I have to feed the cat his xima and fish, or he drives me crazy with his meowing. As a side note, I saw the neighbors empregados eating almost the same meal of xima and fish that we feed our cat, for their lunch today. We have one lucky kitty.
I boil water for my bucket bath, then water for Milo (lwhich is ike hot chocolate with vitamins) that Eli and I will then drink with powdered milk. Eli swears the powdered milk is better than real milk, so you can see what kind of effect Peace Corps is having on us already.
I head out for school by 6:15 if I have early classes, and since I´m wearing long pants, shoes and my shirt is tucked in, I´m sweating buckets by the time I reach school- which is an uphill hike. Once there I throw on my lab coat (bata) and start teaching- usually 2-5 classes. (Eli does 4-5 every day).
Classes are only 45min. but they usually come in a duplo- 2 classes back to back. We only have 3 classes a week with each group of kids, so it´s really not that much time! Anyways after teaching, I head back home, then rest in front of the fan and drink a lot of water to recover.
We fired our empregada yesterday, for various reasons, but usually she or Eli would start to make something small for lunch, like a salad, or rice and fish in a coconut curry sauce... And right after lunch Eli goes to school.
In the afternoons I get some Portuguese tutoring from one of the teachers (actually he´s an english teacher, although I usually can´t understand his english, and he has to write things down). Thats not helping as much as I wish... but he´s too nice for me to get rid of him now.
Eli and I usually make a trip to the market to get some food for dinner, which is always interesting, because we try to speak some Macua while we´re there. Also, we´re getting to know some of the market vendors and they´re really friendly. Then it´s usually my job to start the coal stoves (the coal here is preburned chunks of wood, it´s kind of an interesting way to cook) while Eli cuts up and prepares whatever food. We do a lot of grilled fish and chicken, pasta dishes and some seafood and rice things. I had tried to get into the peanut sauce things by buying that giant wooden pilao (that I mentioned in an earlier blog) but the inside part grew a thick green mat of fungus so I´ve taken a break from that recently. Eli and I are actually getting to be really good cooks!
We also have to spend a lot of time in the afternoons lesson planning and napping, thats part of the job. As you can see most of what we do is eat and work. Also playing with the cat takes a lot of the afternoon, as does listening to the MP3 player (books on tape are wonderful!). Its usually so hot outside- although today was only 90 degrees, the sun is intense here- so we don´t just go out and wander.
A lot of times we get visits from people selling wood carvings or vegetables door to door which is usually interesting.
Also, good news- we´ve got a new house! We´ll be moving in like 10 days or so. It´s almost as close to our current house as possible, just across the street, and much much smaller, but it should be nice. It´s only 30% of the cost of the current house, so the school is happy and they said they will be spending some money to get it fixed up and maybe get us a fridge (we hope!). It has a little balcony facing the bay, although as its only on the 2nd floor I don´t think we´ll get a view of anything. Still, we´re both really excited!
Also, we´ll be traveling on the 17th to a Peace Corps meeting, which will be fun and we should get mail! In April, I will be going to Inhambane for a week for a boys conference, and will be bringing 2 boys and a fellow teacher with me to learn about HIV/AIDS , leaderships skills and awareness, so that should be interesting. Keep us posted on how things are back home!
-paul
Wake up at 5 am for classes, at which point the sun is already comming up and it is hot hot hot! (Only the breeze keeps us cool here, and that doesn´t pick up until later!) At this point I have to feed the cat his xima and fish, or he drives me crazy with his meowing. As a side note, I saw the neighbors empregados eating almost the same meal of xima and fish that we feed our cat, for their lunch today. We have one lucky kitty.
I boil water for my bucket bath, then water for Milo (lwhich is ike hot chocolate with vitamins) that Eli and I will then drink with powdered milk. Eli swears the powdered milk is better than real milk, so you can see what kind of effect Peace Corps is having on us already.
I head out for school by 6:15 if I have early classes, and since I´m wearing long pants, shoes and my shirt is tucked in, I´m sweating buckets by the time I reach school- which is an uphill hike. Once there I throw on my lab coat (bata) and start teaching- usually 2-5 classes. (Eli does 4-5 every day).
Classes are only 45min. but they usually come in a duplo- 2 classes back to back. We only have 3 classes a week with each group of kids, so it´s really not that much time! Anyways after teaching, I head back home, then rest in front of the fan and drink a lot of water to recover.
We fired our empregada yesterday, for various reasons, but usually she or Eli would start to make something small for lunch, like a salad, or rice and fish in a coconut curry sauce... And right after lunch Eli goes to school.
In the afternoons I get some Portuguese tutoring from one of the teachers (actually he´s an english teacher, although I usually can´t understand his english, and he has to write things down). Thats not helping as much as I wish... but he´s too nice for me to get rid of him now.
Eli and I usually make a trip to the market to get some food for dinner, which is always interesting, because we try to speak some Macua while we´re there. Also, we´re getting to know some of the market vendors and they´re really friendly. Then it´s usually my job to start the coal stoves (the coal here is preburned chunks of wood, it´s kind of an interesting way to cook) while Eli cuts up and prepares whatever food. We do a lot of grilled fish and chicken, pasta dishes and some seafood and rice things. I had tried to get into the peanut sauce things by buying that giant wooden pilao (that I mentioned in an earlier blog) but the inside part grew a thick green mat of fungus so I´ve taken a break from that recently. Eli and I are actually getting to be really good cooks!
We also have to spend a lot of time in the afternoons lesson planning and napping, thats part of the job. As you can see most of what we do is eat and work. Also playing with the cat takes a lot of the afternoon, as does listening to the MP3 player (books on tape are wonderful!). Its usually so hot outside- although today was only 90 degrees, the sun is intense here- so we don´t just go out and wander.
A lot of times we get visits from people selling wood carvings or vegetables door to door which is usually interesting.
Also, good news- we´ve got a new house! We´ll be moving in like 10 days or so. It´s almost as close to our current house as possible, just across the street, and much much smaller, but it should be nice. It´s only 30% of the cost of the current house, so the school is happy and they said they will be spending some money to get it fixed up and maybe get us a fridge (we hope!). It has a little balcony facing the bay, although as its only on the 2nd floor I don´t think we´ll get a view of anything. Still, we´re both really excited!
Also, we´ll be traveling on the 17th to a Peace Corps meeting, which will be fun and we should get mail! In April, I will be going to Inhambane for a week for a boys conference, and will be bringing 2 boys and a fellow teacher with me to learn about HIV/AIDS , leaderships skills and awareness, so that should be interesting. Keep us posted on how things are back home!
-paul
# posted by Paul and Eli @ 5:31 AM 
