I just found out that my assistant director of program left for a government job all of a sudden so it's a bit chaotic at the office right now since the coordinator is new to the job so there's a lot he has to learn about the org and how the programs are run also. He was like a dad to me here so I'm sad about his leaving. Work has been slow this month since my coworkers were waiting for their salary and perdiem to come in before they can leave for the field to work so I spend most of my day studying languages, planning out my secondary projects, helping my coordinator with Excel, writing down ideas for activities that the facilitators can incorporate into their plans and ways to improve the current programs. I also help taught a coworker how to use Power Point. Last week I got the 3 months schedule plan of what the facilitators are doing in the field and which days I'm accompanying them in the field. Because of the rain and delay in delivering the facilitators into the field, they're changing the plan and working on a new one so I have more sitting around and waiting to do. I'm hoping to sit down with my coordinator when things get back to normal and figure out exactly what my role is and how I can help support the org better.
LANGUAGES
Portuguese- I can communicate well enough with people but I still don't feel completely comfortable with Portuguese yet. My Portuguese has improved a lot the first few months I got to site but since then it hasn't improved much more so it is stressing me out a bit. Most people here normally speak Macua to each other also so it's hard to get practice. I need to keep learning more verbs and words to expand my vocabulary. Hopefully I can be somewhat fluent by the end of my 1st year here.
Macua- I started Macua lessons and it is really hard to pronounce words! I thought Portuguese was hard.. this is harder! I'm pretty proud of my progress so far though. I put up papers and post its of Macua words all over my house and made flash cards to help me learn. I can pick up words here and there when I hear people talk now. One time while walking home and greeting people in Macua, I accidentally replied in Macua too when a guy asked me a question in Portuguese so I think that's a good sign!
SECONDARY PROJECTS (Aiming to get all of these up and running by end of Feb.. wish me luck!)
REDES- Raparigas em Desenvolvimento, Educação e Saúde (it's like a girls empowerment club)
I've talked to my language tutor about starting a REDES group and explained to him what it is. He talked to the school director about it and she loved the idea! I also asked him if he knows anyone that would be interested in helping me since I need a counterpart so that it would be sustainable when I leave. He said he has someone in mind and just waiting for her to return to talk to her about it so I'm crossing my fingers! School is starting up again soon so hopefully I can get this going asap. My tutor is a professor at the high school here so he will let me come to his classes to talk to the students about the REDES group to see who would want to join.
Community english classes & English classes for coworkers
I've been writing small phrases and words in English with Portuguese translation for my landlord to learn and helping him with pronunciation. I want to eventually do a community English class in my backyard since a lot of people asked me to teach them English. My coworkers want me to teach them English too so I am going to talk to my coordinator to figure out when and how they would want me to teach them. Available options I can think of are: small lesson whenever there's down time, one on one for an hour or so for whoever is present and done with their workload, and posting up posters of English phrases with Portuguese translation in the office and changing it every week.
Hora de Coser (Sewing hour)
There are a lot of people and children wear clothes that are ripped and have big holes in them that can easily be mended. I want to dedicate an hour a week where people can bring ripped clothes and I will help sew it up and teach them how to hand sew at the same time.
Hora das Crianças (Children hour)
I asked for coloring books in my care package and I have a couple boxes of crayons here so I am planning to have an hour a week where the children can come hang out in my front porch to color and get a head start on learning how to write the alphabets.
Vovinam Classes
I had one session a couple of months ago and they keep asking me to do more so I am planning to do it again and have a weekly class on Sunday afternoon to teach basic self defense techniques.
COMMUNITY
I need to start learning and memorizing people's name in my community.. I feel really bad because I don't know and/or remember a lot of people's name while everyone knows my name. I always had a problem with remembering names back in the states but it's even harder to remember names here! I have been calling everyone tio or tia. I also need to make an effort to visit more neighbors in my free time instead of just my surrounding neighbors.
I recorded this video on my phone on my way to work one day. This is one of the top reasons why I love living here! The kids are adorable! I have kids doing this everyday I walk to and from work and on both side of the road along the way. I feel so loved! :)
IN OTHER NEWS..
-Right now it is 'tempo de fome', hunger time. My market doesn't have a lot of food.. no more tomatoes, lettuce, and couve. I've been living off on peanut butter jelly sandwiches, mandaze, baija, eggs and spams, noodles, and spaghetti with tomato paste. Thank goodness for care packages! I went to Pemba this past weekend to buy food and the prices went up a lot! I wanted to buy oranges and carrots but it was too expensive.
-Mangoes season are over but it's pineapples season now! Except it hasn't come to my mercado yet..
-Rainy season + rain gutter = I can get water straight from my backyard lately. It's so nice! Whenever it rains hard I have neighbors running over in the rain with bucket to get water too since I'm one of the very few houses with tin roof and a rain gutter.
-Zambie and Sneezy are getting along a bit better but they still fight every now and then. Zambie has gotten really big! She used to be the same size as Sneezy.
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| A very rare moment |
-My market sell lemons now!! I was so excited when I saw them. It was highlight of my day haha. I got to bake lemon cake using real lemon that day and now I'm looking forward to buying more to make lemonade.
-I made Moringa soup to eat with rice for the first time and it was a success! It made me a bit homesick since I grew up eating soup and rice. I miss my parent's bitter melon soup so much right now!
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