A few days back, I was talking to some ladies in the market and they were referring to Maputo and the United States, pointing their heads in different directions for each of the two. I worked out the directions in my head as I was leaving and they had instantaneously known exactly where these places were, relative to their position at the moment. This ability, clearly, I do not possess. I found it really quite incredible how automatically they knew where anything was - a little insight into how the Mozambican mind works.
Yesterday, I woke up at 6 to go get my picture taken at 7, but the photographer didn't show up, so I went to a parent-teacher meeting with the parents from my turma, at 7:30, but nobody showed up and then I went back to the school and waited 2 hours to get my picture taken, then an hour for a meeting to start, then waited an hour and a half for a special lunch to be served which took three hours to eat.
I rarely give a second thought to days like these.
I've got a new schedule now, and though I've added two turmas of 8th grade and dropped one of tenth, it'll be a slightly better schedule as I have one whole day off. However, my goodbye to that turma of 10th grade was anything but encouraging. When I announced I was no longer to be their teacher, they cheered wildly. I know exactly why - it's because my lessons are hard to get through, the new students don't understand me too well, and my tests are hard and controlled well. Plus, the new pedagogical director essentially told me she "rethought" some plans when she dropped one of my 10th grade turmas, saying that there might be some problems "understanding" me.
I feel hurt by this because I've worked so hard on exactly that - and if I received a fraction of the effort on the part of the students to understand me that I put in to be understood, they would be fine. I may not speak perfect Portuguese, but I know that they don't speak it all that well, and that it's heavily influenced by their native tongue. I've been mistaken for Portuguese, even by Europeans. So it's because I still don't think like a Mozambican (and never will). I feel hurt because they don't accept any of that responsibility or understanding. I admit, it's only fair, but I still don't like it.
The goodbye lunch was nice and quite a few people showed up and had some brief and sentimental words for the teachers leaving. I got up and said something along the lines of, these teachers will be missed and we hope that the new teachers will be able to fill their shoes. But I regretted afterward not trying it in Changana, as I think it would have meant so much more. I am resolved to give my next "speech" in Changana.
Peace
John
