Sunday, September 5, 2010

01/09/10

At the end of class today a student asked if they had homework and I said “no you don’t since I know that with the festival tomorrow none of you would do it.” A boy in the front row perked up and asked excitedly “we have a festival tomorrow?!” Everyone laughed at him, he has clearly not been to a morning announcements (at 6:45am every morning we concentrate for 15 minutes for announcements, singing the national anthem, and prayer. It is mandatory) in over a month since we have been preparing for the festival for that long. i asked his colleagues if anyone could tell him what the festival was for and what time is started. A helpful girl said “it’s the festival of Laura Vicuña and it starts at 12pm!” This time everyone turned and laughed at her—we have been explicitly told many times that the festival starts at 7am. Really guys?
I was biking back from town yesterday riding into the traffic when a truck coming towards me honked and pulled over, so I turned around and went back. “Do you speak English?” he asked. “Do you speak Afrikaans?” When I said no he asked if I live here. He said “well… you see…I...” That 15 second pause I have become so accustomed to here. “how can I see you again?” “Really?!” I asked “I thought you needed help! That’s all?” “Well you see in this life we have only…” Mozambicans can be quite long-winded, so I politely said goodbye and left him there talking.
A few weeks ago Pete and Tom, who British boys cycling from near Durban, South Africa, to Kenya met some PCVs in Xai-Xai. Since then they have been basically riding from each PCV to the next as they make their way north along the coast. I had met them at the Timbila festival last weekend and made arrangements with them when they said they wanted to make their next stop in Inharrime. I will need to properly update this when I have all the facts, but they are fundraising as they ride to distribute mosquito nets to people who need them in high-malaria areas. They have a blog too that I will post when I have it!

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