The End of the Beginning of the End

Time is moving at a ridiculously fast rate.

The phrase, "I can't believe it's April!" doesn't really seem to cover it.  Instead, I find myself saying, "isn't it still November?" and, worse, "isn't it still last April?"

When I arrived in Mozambique (September 2011), the beginning of my first school year seemed so, so far away.  I felt like I had ages to learn Portuguese and prepare to teach English.

Somehow, time seemed to slow down and accommodate my needs.  In the space of just three months, I learned an entire language.  Not perfectly, of course, but I learned enough to get by.  I learned a new language, established meaningful friendships, readjusted to a new country, and prepared a year's worth of English lessons.

Then, when school started, it was as if a rubber band had snapped.  Suddenly, time was wildly, crazily, running away. I was always moving-- running, pacing, teaching, standing, scolding, talking, laughing, cooking, cleaning-- and the days just globbed together in a blurry mess of ink and sweat and xima.

This year, if possible, is going even faster.  I feel like I had barely swung my arms through my bata before I found myself removing it, washing it, and storing it in the closet for my first trimester break.

So we've reached the end of the first trimester.  We've reached the end of the beginning of the end.

What have we been doing?  Well, Dan is making progress on the basketball court.  We are currently storing eight tons of cement in the Teacher's Lounge.  He is also teaching three turmas (classes) of eighth grade math and two turmas of tenth grade ICT.  I have been teaching four turmas of eighth grade English and one morning computer class for members of the community.  In the meantime, we have been organizing planning meetings (Dan), creating budgets (Lisa), tutoring, grading, writing, plotting, and, of course, spanking children and throwing parties with bunny hats.

And what are we doing now?  We are packing away our chalk, of course, and zipping off to Victoria Falls.  We'll be on the road for the next week or so, but expect a lot of pictures!

End-of-the-Trimester Wrap-up:

Community Computer Classes at the Secondary School

Grading madness!  220 tests, 220 notebooks, and 440 assignments

And, of course, the traditional "Giving of the English Name."
Here, we see Suzana Domingos Qualquer earn her English name:
"Susan Sunday Whatever."
P.S.  Check out the sentences that she created
 using words from the first line in red.  Haha. 

Until the second trimester- much love and take care!