What a difference a year can make. I remember my first day of school last year. I remember feeling nervous, unprepared, and overly terrified. Flash forward one year, and it felt like walking into high school the first day of senior year. You think you own the place. Correction, you know you own the place. This time, even though my Portuguese still isn’t my strong point, it didn’t matter. I didn’t have to script my introduction. I wrote down points. I wrote down a basic outline of what I wanted to go over, and I let my mouth take it from there. For the first time in a long, long time, I really felt like I actually knew the language. I was putting together paragraphs upon paragraphs of fully scripted based on what I thought would be comprehensible sentences. No, no no, and it was incredible! I asked if the kids understood what I was saying, and they said yes. And then, knowing that these kids are incredible bullshiters, I asked them to restate what I had said in their own words. And they did it! Wow!
Now onto business: First day of school here is pretty weak. Half the students don’t come because half of the teachers don’t come, because half of the students don’t come, and so on and so forth. It’s a miserable cycle, but it’s the reality here. Neither party will try to change because they know it’s a waste. What a shame. So we pretty much waste Week 1 by doing nothing. Anything you teach, will have to be retaught anyway, so instead, most of the teachers who do show up just spend their periods doing “Apresentacao,” which is essentially just an introduction. That’s what I did. I walked in, introduced myself. Told the kids (a lot of whom I had last year!) about myself, where I came from, and my experience, and then opened the floor up for questions. First, they all wanted to know how old I was. Then, as if it were planned, someone would ask if I was married. When I replied no, in unison, they would all give me give me the most perplexed face you’ve ever seen. It was like they tied their faces in knots. “How could you not be married? You’re so old!” Wow, thanks kid. I would explain that I hadn’t found the right girl yet, a girl who I not only like, but one who likes me back. They all seemed to get a kick out of this, sadly the girls were laughing too.
Marriage for love is a pretty new concept. For men, you look for a woman who will have sex with you. For women, they usually look for a guy who has and/or comes from money, thus improving the chance that he can provide for you. Actually, it kinda makes sense. At least from the woman’s standpoint. The man’s side makes sense too, but there’s not really a whole lot of thought about picking. I’ve found that a lot of educated Mozambican’s (though certainly not all of them) are starting to look at marriage through a pair of western glasses and now try to find more of an emotional connection, but outside of the cities, this isn’t as common. Meh, it is what it is.
After the laughing was all said and done, I finished the Q&A session by thanking them all and telling them how much I was looking forward to not only teaching them Physics, but getting to know them as well. I told them to look forward to the following week when we’d enter the marvelous world of physics. Then I told them to bring me snacks and not make fun of me for being white. Neither of those things will happen.
I miss my family.
