Update

I’m in Gurue again, to help the Gurue girls with their local Science Fair. I haven’t even started mine yet. The posters for our first meeting have been posted, and on Sunday – cross my fingers – kids will show up.

Last Wednesday was Ile Day, a much-anticipated holiday and convenient excuse for the entire adult population of Ile to drink for at least 24-hours, starting at 9 AM. This year’s festivities must have been quite festive, because no one returned to work for about two days after Ile Day. Dio went to school on Thursday morning and encountered dust and tumbleweeds in the schoolyard. Dio went to school on Friday morning and – still – no one was there. So, lucky for me, I didn’t have to teach last week.

After the usual ceremonial stuff – during which I tend to go foraging for fried cakes and jogo beans - my JOMA kids presented a theater piece about the development of Ile (the recent installation of a Vodocom cell tower, it was a humor piece – not our usual AIDS and discrimination stick). I waited nervously at the back of the stage, like any good mother. They did well. Lots of laughs.

Claire and I were invited to a VIP party by the Directora of Education, so, at around eight, we dressed up and arrived half-an-hour late… to find the place empty. We waited another hour for everyone else to show up. Eating and drinking ensued, followed by dancing into the morning. It was quite a good time. If there had been school on Thursday, it would’ve been hard to get myself out of bed for it.

On Tuesday, I’d gone to Mocuba, accompanied by my friend, Quadrado, to fax a grant, and I almost missed Wednesday because of it. My fax thing took longer than I expected, so I didn’t have a chance to get to the stores before they closed for lunch. I hung out with PCVs Jodi and Gabe until the stores opened again at three, did some shopping, visited Quadrado’s twin sister (who has a new adorable baby), and then we went to the bridge to get a ride home. This was around three-thirty. We waited for hours…

During the afternoon, a giant hippo was making its way down the river, and occasionally would lift its slick, massive body out of the water. The screams of small children bathing in the river would signal us to turn and look about twice every hour. Mocuba is my civilization – cereal, canned goods, cheese – so it’s strange to think that a place like that could still have game life. But, crocs and hippos have the sanctuary of water to protect them from poachers. Eventually, after the children had all retreated to their houses for dinner, we heard a rumor that a car was coming at 7 for Ile. I could’ve stayed with Jodi, but I didn’t want to risk missing the kids perform if transport was late in the morning (Mocuba – for being on a main road – is awful for transport). I stuck it out, and the rumor was truth, and Quadra and I hopped on the bed of a truck. Luckily, it had been unaccustomedly cold when we left in the morning, and we’d grabbed jackets before we left. If I hadn’t had that jacket, I don’t know how I would’ve survived. I don’t think I’ve been colder in my life than that night, being hit with 60 Kmh winds on the bed of that truck. We got home at 11, and Quadrado made me some hot chocolate before I went to bed.
Holidays are coming up soon. In July there’s another vacation (mid-winter vacation?), and I’m planning to meet up with my PCV friend, Sinead, to get my scuba diving license at a gorgeous southern beach. All I have to do these days is repeat the mantra “Swimming with whale sharks”, to help me get through the semester. It’s not so bad. I’m done with the digestive system, and have moved on to the more tangible circulatory system. Pulse, veins, blood. I like them more than macromolecules, carbs, absorption; the later is a particularly hard concept for my students to understand. I’ve already ingrained in their heads from previous lessons that the circulatory system is the method of transport in the body (like a road system, even). So… if my students retain that small bit of information, at least, I’m golden. I made them take their pulses the other day, and they were so excited. I wish there was some way I could incorporate more physical activities in my lessons. It’s just too darn hard with 60 students in a classroom.

July. August. In August, I go to Nampula to help Jamie set up the regional Science Fair. A week after that, I meet the PCVs of my training group down south for our Close of Service conference. September. October, school ends. November 26th, I will no longer be a Peace Corps Volunteer. I’ll be a RPCV. Two years later... Peace Corps makes a cynic out of you. Granted, we did all start off as unreasonably idealistic. I think I’ll feel differently about all of this when I’m extricated, and can look at it more objectively. Right now, it just feels like I have an awful lot of free time.