Primero Dia das Aulas

It had all been leading up to this, the first day of school as a volunteer.  From the applying to the Peace Corps, acceptance and waiting, getting to Mozabique, 10 weeks of training, learning a new language, figuring out a new culture and style of living, integrating into my site for 2 months prior, and also a lot of dinking around in those 2 months trying to stave of complete boredom at times.  But really all of that was so I could be here and teaching at this school, end result.
The night before on our way back from the market, we stopped at our neighbors’, the Pedagogical Director, house and asked him about what the plan was for tomorrow.  Telling us that the first set of classes were getting started at 7.  So a good dinner, I get all my lesson plans in order for tomorrow and check a couple Portuguese words so I don’t have a complete flop, and clock out early for the night.  Waking up at 6 to the sound of kids starting to go past my window on the way to the school.  Luckily the night was relatively cool so waking up in a puddle of sweat wasn’t a problem that morning, although it happens more often than not here in Tete.  Rolling out of bed and walking into the living room, Drew has already beaten me up and had hot water for out instant coffee out.  Mix up my African mocha: insta coffe, coco powder, and sugar.  After a cup I start to come alive and those ‘first day’ of anything butterflies are starting to flutter.  After getting dressed and busting out my first bow tie here in Moz we grab our things and head out towards the school.  It’s only about a few hundred yards or so.

(The white coats of Prof.s are called Batas)

  Outside the school we see the Senior Director and he is having all the coming students forming up in lines around our flag pole.  Coming up and greeting him he is kinda of surprised to see us here and ready to go, we had beaten the Ped. Director and any other professor there, ain’t hard when its our front yard, and it was already 7.  He goes into the typical first day speech, from what I could gather here and there, and then he starts to give us introductions.  These are our new white professors, yadda Americans, yadda Volunteers, yadda yadda Obama; don’t really know why he mentioned Obama I missed the lead up to that but it made me laugh.  All the students stare at us with the widest of eyes are about as deer in the headlights as you can be.  Ped. Director shows up and he gives he’s speech, leaving out us and Obama, then we sing the Moz national anthem and school has started!

Or at least you‘d think it was going to.  The students all run into their designated classrooms for each turma (like a homeroom) and we head back to the admin building to see when we are teaching.  Walk into the teachers’ lounge and all the other are professors are just  using the room for what it is for, lounging.  A bit confused, I ask about the class schedule and they kind of laugh and say its not made yet.  Then I notice the bit of chaos that is kind of happening about.  Students are in and out of classrooms, others and parents are lined up out the Directors door to register late or inquire about something or other, professors are shooting the breeze waiting to have an idea of where to go.  Honestly though we had a good hunch this would happen.  All PCVs former and current we talked to said the first week of classes is like college syllabus week expect even less serious or organized.

So after chilling with the other Profs for a bit and seeing the Ped. Director swamped with people waiting to talk to him.  It’s obvious that he hasn’t even got time now to finish the schedule or start if he hasn’t.  This is going no where I tell the Senior Director that I have a program the PC gave us that does schedules and I could help the Ped. if he needs it.  Side note, I’ve looked at this program once briefly and didn’t plan on using it, they never asked us to help on it, and  figured I’d take whatever schedule they gave me.  He immediately perks up and pushes me in front of the Ped. and says he can make the whole schedule.

Yeah, I created the entire school’s schedule for 2,000 students on a whim and an afternoon with  another professor explaining the combinations of double and single classes each subject has a week,  gets kinda wacky with 11th and 12th grade.  And the professor who helped, didn’t find out until I was printing the schedule, teaches English!  My Portuguese was being strained harder that clothes through a press.  I gave him some flack for that, in English, and he just laughed and said he thought it was easier to do in port.  Though it was some a solid pain in the ass, worked on it for close to 5 hours and was sweating bullets in the lounge once it hit high noon, it was all worth it.  I stacked mine, my roommate’s, and one of our friend’s schedules, nobody having to work on Fridays, gonna be a good year.

And yeah nobody taught classes that day.  Morning students just cleaned the rooms, which the students  of the school must do all the cleaning all year, builds character.  And the after students just worked in the school machamba(garden) in their uniforms.  So the first day here at do Vale de Chitima was not the typical beginning day of school but a first day non the less.  Glad to be starting my first job outa college.