By the time we were getting ready for bed last night, my
nerves were pretty well frayed and my emotions were a giant puddle of
over-tired ooze. I had a good cry and told Mark I was homesick but knew it was just a result of not getting
enough sleep for our two and a half days of travel and that I would be a new,
more adventuresome person in the morning.
Thankfully, I was right and this morning, after about 11.5
hours of sleep, both Mark and I felt like new people. This morning Susan, one
of the missionaries here, took us around town to buy some groceries and show us
around a little bit. Open markets seem to be one of the best places to buy
fresh goods, but for a lot of the packaged or refrigerated staples, like rice,
coffee, butter, and so forth, stores are available and just as good to shop in.
The store that we went to, Frutas de Africa, was nice, but
not like an American store. When I walked in, after squeezing past the crush of
people, I was greeted by a very strong fish smell. I also noticed the store was
pretty dark, with only a few electric lights spread around, somehow hanging
down from a thatched ceiling. There was also a cat running around the store. Yes,
a cat.
Food prices vary in comparison here to prices in America .
Imported items are, in general, more expensive than in the U.S. Basically, it
seems that if the average Mozambican wouldn’t use it, then it’s going to be
more expensive than it would be in the U.S. If the average Mozambican eats
it, then it’s going to be cheaper. (I don’t know if the cheap prices happened
first or the Mozambicans’ food preferences—probably the latter?) A quart (or so—measurements
are in metric) of milk is about $6.60. Cheese is about $10 per pound. Yikes!
However, at least at the one store we went to, one pound of cheddar cost exactly
the same as one pound of Gouda .
So just for fun, we bought some Gouda !
I don’t think we’ll be eating much cheese though, while we’re here! On the
other hand, I was able to get about 4-5 onions for a dollar and bread is about
$.15 per loaf.
After sharing a delicious lunch at Susan and John’s house,
we drove out to the school I’ll be working at. Rapale has just moved to a new
location and are only just, just,
getting things up and running. Tomorrow is an open house for all the parents of
the kids who go to Rapale to meet with the teachers and see the new building. I’m
probably not going to know what I’m teaching until Monday, when I can meet with
the woman who was teaching science last year. She’ll fill me in on what she was
doing and I’ll be able to go from there. So, I’m going to get some excellent
experience in planning lessons under the gun!
The school itself is beautiful. I’ll post some pictures
later, hopefully (or at least when we get back—our Internet is very slow here).
The school is L-shaped right now, with the hope that eventually it will be
expanded into a U-shape and then eventually into different buildings. The
classrooms are all connected by a wide veranda. Mike and Dilys, the couple who
are running the school are very kind and full of the kind of cheerful energy
that I admire.
I can’t imagine a more beautiful setting for a school. It’s
about 45 minutes out of town to the west and is surrounded by large granite
stones that look like mountains sticking up out of the ground. The hills and
trees roll for miles around, and the fine red dust that is so thick and
invasive in every part of the city is practically non-existent.
All in all, we had a much better second day in Nampula and
are looking forward to many more exciting days filled with work and
exploration!
No comments:
Post a Comment