Is this for real?

So, school is suppossedly starting tomorrow but we shall see if that actually come to pass because after all this is Mozambique. We had a week of meetings last week plus yesterday, Monday. I was told last week that I would be teaching 6 classes of 10th grade English a week. It is very good because it lets me have time for my secondary projects as well. But anyway, last week's first meeting was two hours late because the director couldn't get out of bed... dont know why. The next day he wasn't even there. Monday's meeting was basically me sitting around and reading (I'm going to be EXTREMELY WELL read by the end of these two years!) and getting to know my fellow teachers. I then escaped to the wonderfulness of the Bay of Inhambane.

The local PCVs were invited to a concert organised with the help of the American Embassy and one of our fellow PCVs. It was of an American Man named Vinx who is a wonderful Jazz Singer and Drummer. He was accompanied by his friend Stewart who just happens to be the presenter of Mozambican Idol. They both are very good singers and the show was rocking. It was held in this old school building built by the Portuguese in 1922. An absolutely beautiful building. Anyway, after the show, the man representing the embassy comes to get me about some teaching materials he has for Inhambanian Teachers and that the guys want to meet the Americans and thank them for putting all this together. So we go up on Stage and talk. Pretty much the next moment we are all going out to the local bar, read trailer that sells beer, and having a blast. The guy who is presenting Mozambican Idol is named Stewart and we chatted for a good part of the night. Guys I dont know what I can say to stress how big this guy is here!!!! I was sitting next to him talking to him as if it were nothing. All of a sudden I have his cell phone number and email address in my phone and he's chatting about how the next time I come to Maputo I need to call him and we'll go out for coffee. Let's just say, I've never lived this good before!!! It was definitely not what I thought would be happening when I signed up for Peace Corps, but I'm not complaining. I think the funniest part though is my friend Kara and I were talking to Vinx, the American about how much we make per month here. $200 to be exact. Anyway, he was shocked and all of a sudden he is slipping $20 into my hand! He took care of the whole bill for the night as well! Now I've got to go email them a thank you......and sleep dreaming of the Fame that may come my way in Africa.

Who'da Thought?

Ian

Boring old update

Nothing really interesting to update ya'll about here. The temperature peaked at 100 degrees Farenheit today. It was rough. But luckily the internet cafe has the AC cranked so I can cool off a little bit. OOOO Wait, I finally saw my school. But before I get into that, let me tell you about the boat trip I had last week. See, I live right near a bay. This bay seperates two great cities, Maxixe and Inhambane. Its only 2 KM across the bay or 60 KM by boat. So as a group of four of us are walking to the boat last week some girl tells us to get into a bus to go to Maxixe. Its about 20,000 Meticais more so - and an hour longer so we decided against it. We got in the boat and the waves started ROCKING. I think okay we can do this, we can do this, but the waves get bigger! The boat is not the most seaworthy of vehicles but we are allowed to go on it because its only a two kilometre distance. There is this sandbar around which all the waves were breaking. When we went through that area, I thought I was going to have to get out and swim! But we made it, the last boat to Maxixe that day. It's amazing how much people bond over experiences like that. Oh did I mention, a couple sharks live in the bay!

Anyway, very quickly. School starts in 3 weeks. I'm going to be teaching 10th grade. That constitutes people of 17-27 depending on how long it took them to get through school. But I should have only about 50 or 60 in a classroom. Some others up north have 100 pluse students in a classroom!!!!! The best thing, I will be teaching in a reed classroom, no windows, lots of desks and a chalkboard. Thats it. I wonder if I'll ever complain about lack of supplies again?

:O)