greedy for survival

People (friends/family) have been asking me what I want for them to send me. Feel free to send me anything. A hand-written letter would be great, and if you happened to have some powder gatorade, you can put it in a ziplock bag and send it (label too, in case it's deemed "suspicious"). Or any jolly ranchers. Also, any non-completed crossword puzzles would be great (I prefer real ones from NYT or Washington Post to those books). Why do I say non-completed? I recently got a wonderful package with a delightful article by Dave Barry giving a summary of 2008. However, attached was a completed crossword puzzle. Though it was fun seeing the clever answers that person (looked like my sister's handwriting) gave, it would also be fun for me to come up with the creative answers. Any news about the Terps is always welcome (my mom keeps me a fair-weather fan, sending updates about wins). Newspaper articles are great too. About anything. Or comics. Have an extra internet phone lying around? Or send any new .mp3s to my eMail. anything funny would be acceptable.

also, photos are good, along with DVDs, which you may be able to get for cheap if you know the owner of a blockbuster and tell him/her you're sending it to a peace corps volunteer (or, if you have a program and can burn ~6 movies to a DVD).

thanks!

"put your pinky closer..."

Well, the school had a change of heart and decided the morning I was to teach math, that I would now teach biology. So I've been doing that for two weeks now. I have also been reduced from a teacher teaching 8th, 9th, and 10th grade to now just teaching 9th (Plants / Botany). Each class meets 2ce a week. So I need to prepare two lessons a week. Pret-ty easy.

I'm doing what I can bringing sexual health to the students. I mentioned that condoms ("camisinhas," or little shirts) are made from latex, which comes from a rubber tree. A student, proud that he was carrying a condom in his wallet (made from, of all places, Slocomb, Kansas), showed it off. I asked if he could be my assistant in a demonstration. Never considering doing this before walking into class, I demonstrated proper condom use by putting the condom on his curled hand, which proved to be more difficult than I thought originally ("c'mon! Bring your, no, your pinky! Put your pinky closer... tuck it... THERE you go!"). I pointed out that there needed to be a little tip on the end of the condom for correct usage. The student, afterward, asked to wash his hands.

When botany meets amusing.

A Teacher? Not sure. (January 29, 2009)

Well, school starts this next Monday (opposite seasons from the USA), Groundhog Day, February 2nd. I was told last week that I will in fact not be teaching biology as I preferred, prepared for, and expected. I will be teaching math, as it turns out, as it’s a more central course, closer related to my college major (Mechanical Engineering) than biology, and has a stronger need at the school than biology. I found out about this change less than a week before next week’s start. I—now just 3 days before the start of school—don’t know what grade I will be teaching.

What I do know is that I will not be teaching 11th grade as expected, but 8th-10th. Why does that matter? High Schools here are broken into two parts, the first cycle and the second. The first (8th-10th grade) is like many high schools in the USA in which the courses offered are mathematics, language (Portuguese and English), design, geography, history, physical education (, and a very African course about how to till the land!). The second cycle is akin to the British system. Here, 11th and 12th grade is a concentrated high school in which you choose either sciences or letters. Sciences are courses like physics, chemistry, biology, and math. Courses under letters are geography, history, language (in which French is required). (In England, I believe the system is that you go to a 2-year college between high school and Uni).

In Chicumbane (my village), 11th grade is being offered for the first time. Until this year, the school wasn’t capable of offering 11th and 12th grade, so it’s very exciting that people will now be able to complete their high school education here! The coming 11th grade class will have many people of all ages (from 21 until around 40) who were previously unable to complete their education, will now be able to!

I was eager to teach 11th grade, but I will be happy now teaching mathematics (though I really have no idea how to teach math, as biology has such tangible hands–on impacts) to 8th-10th graders. Any pointers?

Yes! They! Could! (January 20, 2009)

It impresses me how people in Mozambique know just as me or sometimes even more about Obama than I do. They all know, for example, that his swearing in is tonight. Whereas I also knew the date (and have been looking forward to it since … 2000), I didn’t know the time coverage of the swearing in would begin. Would they … could they also know what time it would begin? Yes they could: 18h30. Thanks to them, I will be watching the tube as Obama swears in tonight.

As far as the man itself, they all know his name, his face (i.e. they recognize the picture that I sewed to my briefcase), and that my country is about to be run by a man of “the same race” as them. They all also know that he is very intelligent and has been gathering a lot of support over the past few months due to his ideas and seamless way with words.

Having this new president makes it easier to assimilate into the community as an American Peace Corps volunteer. Having sewn both his picture and the flags of both the United States and Mozambique on my briefcase (showing the camaraderie between the two countries) there’s instant acceptance into whichever setting I find myself in. All I need is for anyone to see that and my smile, a hearty laugh, and I’m in.

So based on the events since November 4th and even before, my Peace Corps experience will be enhanced by the willingness of locals to pay attention to some American nut trying to teach Biology.

Pictures!

I will slowly be adding pictures to the following website:

http://picasaweb.google.com/peter.cailloux/

I'll upload as fast as I can.

Hope you're all well!