A Typical Weekday

 A Typical Weekday

My phone alarm goes off at 6am.  Depending on the temperature in my room, how motivated I am feeling to work out, whether or not the electricity goes out, and how loud my neighbors play their music in the morning, I roll out of bed sometime between then and 7am.  I work out, doing my Jillian Michael’s, P90X, TurboFire or some other exercise, then heat up some water in my electric water boiler to take my bucket bath.  I get dressed, choosing which knee length skirt and t-shirt or tank top to wear that day, and quickly putting my hair in its standard bun or maybe a braid.  I then make breakfast, typically either an egg or oatmeal. By now, it’s around 8am, I say my good-byes to Adrienne and it’s time to head to school.

I leave the house taking the same path through the neighborhood, greeting children along the way as they excitedly shout “Sara, Sara, Bom dia, Sara!”, their moms laughing while they wash the dishes or do their laundry and greeting me as well.  I arrive at the school about 10 minutes later, and open up the computer room, checking to see if the electricity is going to cooperate today, opening the windows, turn on the master computers, and write my notes on the board.  I usually have a few minutes before my class period starts and I join a few other teachers or students sitting outside the office for quick hellos.

Some days, the school janitor guy will hit a metal tire rim to signal the end/start of a class period.  However, most days I rely on my watch and politely knock on the classroom door to signal to the other teacher that they need to get out.  Some days, I look around the school, wondering where all the other teachers are, why my class only has 20 of its 50 students attending that day, why the other students are not in classes, why people don’t follow the schedule, and I just shake my head because what else can you do...

My students stand to greet me as I walk in the classroom, “Good morning, Teacher.”  When it’s not all together or some students don’t stand, I make them repeat it, enforcing and showing them that they are to treat me just as they would any other Mozambican teacher.  I make general announcements then we head over to the computer room where I call the names of the 20-25 students who will use the computers that day, the rest will go later in the week.  20 computers, classes of 50 students, you make it work…

Then it’s time for a quick lesson; how to use the mouse, open a program, what is the start menu, how to close a window, etc.  The students are timid still, afraid to touch the mouse and not really understanding the whole concept of my giving instructions which they then should follow, meaning touch the computer.  Patience is key, especially when I have to give the same lesson 12 times in a week. 

I walk around the classroom, helping those students who are especially lost, forcing myself to not just rip the mouse out of their hand and do it for them, asking those who understand to help their neighbors, and trying to repair problems like magically opening 20 windows when you seemingly don’t know how to click, moving the task bar, rotating the computer screen, erasing icons, right clicking everywhere.  Again, patience is key.  It is fun though and the students have fun with it.  It’ll be more fun though as the year progresses and we get past just how to click or move the mouse…

I have three periods of class Mondays thru Thursdays, 8:40-11:10.  Afterwards, I sometimes stick around to help some students with questions about Math, English, Physics or whatever.  I typically head home around noon, sometimes passing Adrienne as she is walking to school, quickly relating our frustrations from the morning and wishing each other good afternoons.  I make a detour on my walk back to pass through the market to see if they have anything other than tomatoes and onions that day, hoping to be inspired on what to make for lunch. 

Some goofy visitors

I finally arrive home, ready to eat and relax for a bit.  Mondays and Wednesdays I have afternoon meetings for English Club at 3pm, so I’ll spend those lunchtime hours planning a short lesson for the meeting.  Other days, I’ll work on planning for my Saturday REDES and English Club meetings, planning for the library project execution, playing with some visiting children, cleaning up the house a bit or just watching TV shows on my computer.  Around 5pm, Adrienne comes home from school and we catch up on our days, venting to each other or reliving funny moments, then discussing what we should make for dinner.  We cook, eat while watching a movie, and then get ready for bed around 8pm.  I brush my teeth outside, spitting in to the grass yard and venture in to the latrine, shooing away the cockroaches so I can squat over the hole one last time before locking up.  I get in to bed, carefully tucking in my mosquito net and aligning the fan, then I read for about an hour and usually get to sleep by 10pm.

That’s my exciting day to day life.  It’s filled with its ups and downs, frustrations and excitements, highs and lows, but it’s all part of the routine now.  Yes, some of my lifeis a little different than you may encounter in first-world living, the standard of house I live in, latrines, bucket baths, so many children everywhere, cockroaches and other critters, lack of privacy, etc. but overall, I don’t think it really differs that much.  It’s a slower, simpler pace to life.

A huge spider in the kitchen! Adrienne made me kill it by smashing it with a broom.