These past few weeks have been crazy busy for me, just as I'm sure they have been for all of you, too. Just wanted to send a quick email letting you know how I'm doing.
December 24, 2010
Wow, I cannot believe it is Christmas Eve already. It really doesn't feel like it. Why? Well, for one thing, I spent the day drinking beers with friends and swimming in the Indian Ocean with something like 15 Mozambican children-- none of whom spoke Portuguese -- so literally no communication was possible besides non-verbal. Not exactly a typical Christmas Eve for me. But it does feel nice to have friends over, so it's not too lonely for the holidays. There are eight of us here to celebrate together. We're doing a white elephant gift exchange and everyone is taking turns cooking meals. It's a great arrangement.
So the past two weeks have been crazy. My school is... interesting. It has 4,000 students in 8th-12th grade, so that's bigger than my college, which is kind of intense. Also, last year the classes had up to 150 students each, and they were really short staffed on teachers. So that's kind of concerning. They haven't told me for sure what I'm teaching because they don't find out which teachers they will have until right before classes start, and they will have me teach whichever subject (of the ones I listed I can teach) that they need teachers for the most.
The school did just get remodeled so it looks pretty nice, but due to the overcrowding they had to continue to use the makeshift school they put up for use during the renovation to house all of 8th and half of the 9th grades. It's about a thirty minute walk from my home here, while the main school is just down the street--so I'm really hoping I will be teaching the older grades so I don't have to worry about walking all that way in the heat everyday. I'm really excited and nervous about school, but for now I'm still focusing on getting integrated into the community and improving my Portuguese skills.
December 25, 2010
So... this was definitely my most unusual Christmas yet. I was woken after about an hour of sleep to French Toast and presents. We had a white elephant gift exchange and I got some African Jungle silly bands. We then cooked some food and got ready to go over to the house of some South Africans we met yesterday who are living nearby. They came and picked us up after lunch and we spent the whole afternoon and evening at their place drinking and eating prawns that were, I'm not kidding you, longer than my hand. I almost didn't believe it when I saw them. We cleaned them and then grilled them and they were delicious. Those, along with corn bread, salad, rice, and potato salad, made for a fabulous Christmas dinner. After eating we played some hilarious drinking games taught to us by the South Africans, one of which was called yee-haw and was SO fun.
Next we went to the beach. It was already dark and the stars were absolutely amazing. Not only that, but the ocean water here has bio-luminescent algae, which means when you move through the water they light up bright green. It was SO AWESOME. I can't even really describe how cool it was.
Okay that is all for now. We think we're going to leave tomorrow or the next day to go to another friend's site, and then spend New Year's on the Island of Mozambique, which is a little bit up the coast. It's supposed to be beautiful, so I'm really excited!
Hope the States are treating you all well!
Love,
Alissa
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