13/07/10

In the double hours this week we have been doing exercises in groups. I tell the kids, “this exercise is like a test, except you are working together and can use your notebooks, so there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t all get 20s (out of 20) on it!” They all laugh at this, as if it’s an absurd thought. So then when they begin working I specifically call them out “why isn’t your notebook open? I wasn’t kidding, open your notebook and find the example we did that is exactly like this problem!” And I could shake them because literally every problem from the exercise was exactly like an example we had done in class. So then they will open their notebooks only because I am watching. In one class I got so frustrated I said to them “you guys always want to cheat during the tests! Now you are ALLOWED to cheat, so do it!” They all laughed at this but it actually spurred a couple of them to flip through their notes. Open-note tests they can’t relate to—cheating they can.
When the school year started, I was going through the projects Mary had started while she was here, including science fair. One of my colleagues who I asked about science fair said “oh yeah, I can do science fair. I did it with Mary and I know how everything goes, so don’t worry, I have it under control.” So I didn’t worry. Then it became clear that if I didn’t do everything there would be no science fair. Unfortunately I realized this a little late. So the past week has been an awful scramble to get everything ready for our district science fair, which will this Saturday the 17th. I was talking to my director about some of the people I need to talk to and she said I should ask my colleague, since he had done this before. I said “yeah, I did a little” vaguely, not wanting to throw my colleague under the bus. But she right away said, “yeah he tends to like to be out in front of things, but getting him to actually do the work to get there can be difficult.” It was nice to know at least that someone else was aware of the situation. The past two days have been a nice little introduction into the nightmare that can be Mozambican bureaucracy and trying to get things done here. (And Mary has been a HUGE help.)Everything MUST be signed and stamped, otherwise they aren’t official. So general invitations to VIP members of the community, invitations asking certain people to be on the jury to evaluate the kids’ projects, and posters to hang around town have to be all sorts of formal, signed, and stamped. Then came of the task of delivering all of these letters, because if I didn’t personally stop in and meet with these people, the letters might never actually get read. The first person I stopped by was the chief of police. I was expecting a ~50 year old guy with a potbelly. I was completely shocked when I found out that our police chief is a fairly young, super friendly and hip woman! I’m still reeling from that one. Spent all afternoon walking from one end of town to the other trying to catch people which they were actually in their office. So far I have 6 confirmed judges which is wonderful, but Mary said she had 9 confirmed judges the night before her fair and only 3 showed up.