Impossible to see the future is

Ok i'm enjoying my last days without energy. Well, without my energy activated atleast. I know there are plenty more energyless days in my future. So the energy in all the village had been out the last few days. I have been reading, playing music, working a little at school, cooking, eating, working out and reading more. The usual! In many ways not having connections to the outside world is nice.

I have some more exciting things to share for a change. But first i want to comment on how i feel like i'm half Mozambican now. I can comfortably ride on top of coals in the back of trucks, or almost anywhere when i travel. I eat a stupid amount of salt with my all my meals. I really enjoy corn meal porridge. I get a bit cold when it is below seventies.

Before returning to site i had an action packed weekend. There was a lot of volunteers in Maputo because people are going home for good and the holidays. I had gone to pick a few things up from the Peace Corps office and hang out.

Friday night, our big group split up and i ended up with the crazy latino ladies group. We crashed this party for the bank. No big deal, except everyone was Mozambican, dressed very, and all wearing white shirts or dresses. Everyone except us of course. There was an open bar which the girls took full advantage of. I ended up at this American's house at the USAID compound because the people i was staying with were still partying. Their house was crazy nice full of stuff from America. Maputo is a different world for us PCV's.

Saturday, i met up with Mona, one of the crazy drunk latinos, and we walked around the outdoor market. She had spent hours buying things for her family because she was leaving the next day. Well we get on a bus and she leaves her bag on the bus. Luckly she noticed quickly so we got on this little golf cart like taxi and explained what was up. This ride was like something out of an action movie. He was driving in and out of traffic and literally in the middle of the road. This was a two lane street with cars going both directions. It was awesome! Looking back it should have scared the poop out of me but in the heat of the pursuit it was great. Finally we catch the bus and extremely luckly the bag was still there. Then he gave us a ride back like a normal person. Mona meet this Marine a while back. We were on our way to his house before that ordeal. His house is even more ridiculous than the other one i mentioned. First time ever i was wishing i was back in the Marines. This house could have been on MTV Cribs. It had a pool table, ping pong table, bar, giant flat screen, a cook, four frigs, and an amazing gym. I'm so jealous!

Saturday night, i was with four of the girls that live near me in Gaza. We were going to watch this band and walking over to a bar when two guys tried to rob us. One guy grabbed my arm and i noticed he had a matchete and the other guy didn't. The other guy tried to grab one of the girls bags. It all kind of happened fast but i grabbed the matchete and the guys hand, the girls ran off, the other guy came to help with the Matchete, and i pushed the guy away and ran after the girls. It was crazy but we were all safe and nothing was stolen. I had a small cut on my hand but it was fine and it's pretty much healed now.

Sunday, i went to visit my host family. My host mom is so awesome. I got there and lunch was waiting for me and my old room was ready for me to stay there. Just like always! We chatted and ate. Then i took a nap and washed my clothes. It felt so nice being back in Namaacha and being treated so well. My host mom wasn't just nice because the Peace Corps paid her. She actually treats me just like a son. She makes sure to remind me that there is my first home in Mozambique and that i'm welcomed anytime. She also makes sure to tell me that i have to marry a good woman, one who will cook for me, wash and prepare my clothes, and all that stuff. I try to explain to her that isn't important for me but she says she won't allow it, haha. Sorry ladies!

Old man, tried to call back but couldn't. I'm learning blackbird that isn't that hard, look it up on youtube.

Jodi, that is about all that is new. Thanks for the update! The last place Alicia should go with Gallo is the Whiskey River, haha. How was that outcome?

Peace, love and do good things


Jimmy
ps i cant remember what Star Wars quotes i have or haven't used, sorry if it's a duplicate

I don't know where you get your delusions

It’s been a while. I’ve alternating being bored and busy. Ok maybe not busy but having things going on.

I have been chilling on the beach a lot lately. The beaches here are so awesome plus it is summer. So to rub it in a bit I am tanned and constantly out enjoying the sun while it gets cold back home. I hurt my foot but it is better now. I ran the other day on the beach in Tofo. I went surfing twice while I was in Tofo. Google search Tofo, it is very beautiful. The waves were ok but not for me I was getting beat up out there. It was so much effort to swim out and then just getting rolled up by the waves. But it was a lot of fun and a good workout.  I’m in Maputo now. I might go visit Namaacha to see my host family. Then I want to head up north.

I miss traveling. The last week I was hopping beaches and you meet so many cool people traveling. You hear their cool stories. Travelers are so interesting to talk with.

We hosted our first Couch Surfers a couple weeks ago. That was really fun, a couple from Europe. They stayed with another volunteer and wanted to see something different. So she sent them out to us. We cooked, chatted, jammed, went to the river, and showed them around Mabalane. On our walk back from the river I accidently took them through the prison. That was interesting. They were a little freaked out when the guards started yelling at us and had AK47s. Then the guards took us to their office and started giving us a hard time. I knew I wasn’t supposed to walk through there but everything in Mozambique is very relaxed and I didn’t think it was a big deal. Apparently it is. After scaring our guest they let us go. Almost getting locked up aboard was an exciting twist to the normal couch surfing experience.

School is over. I found out my neighbor, who is also the other English teacher stole my test from my computer and was selling it to students in the village. That was cool and a waste of the student’s money because I gave them all lower grades than the students who didn’t cheat. My neighbor said he wasn’t and wouldn’t do that but I know he was lying. Then the first week of national exams was interesting. One of the other teachers was giving students the answers without even trying to hide it. But not all the students, probably just the students who paid him money or he wants to have sex with. But I checked those student’s results and they were horrible, so he must have not know the correct answers either. I told him to stop when I found out he wasn’t helping all the students. But it was good to see those things, I can just imagine how the classes I wasn’t in were. Figuring out how to handle those things is difficult. I just let it all slide. I feel I’m here to teach not get teachers fired and fail students. I might tell my director later but he has to know already, he is intelligent. So I just want to try to reach out to as many students as possible and hopefully they can help improve things in the future.

I gave an assignment before school ended about their happiest day of their life. It was very interesting how a lot of students said it was the day they got their job. Some said the birth of their child or wedding. Many of my 11^th graders failed. I felt really bad and tried to help them by giving more time and extra credit. But so many just didn’t do the work. I feel bad because I don’t think it is their entire fault. I hope next year I can be clearer on my expectations.

Well this blog seems boring to me. Sorry! Maybe next time. I have been reading a lot. I read 18 books the last year. Which is a lot for me, I probably only read about 20 something books before that. I hope to read even more now that I have a kindle. Thanks mom!

I just found out that Uncle Mikey passed away. So my thoughts and love are with him and my Aunt Jojo.

Many of you I want to send personal messages to. Jodi , don’t cut me off. I read all my emails, even if I do not reply so don’t be afraid to write and keep writing. Peace, love, and do good things

Jimmy

Ps I need to go. I didn’t spell check or reread. My bad!

No, there is another

We had a party for the teachers Saturday. It was supposed to be this
formal party with speeches and performances from the teachers and
students. Forrest and I were scheduled to play music throughout the
ceremony. Well Forrest left Thursday night to go party in Maputo and
said he would be back for the party, yeah right. So to no surprise
Forrest doesn�t make it back Saturday. Anyways I had a joke, poem, and
about 6 songs I was ready to rock. They told us the party was starting
at 4pm, so that usually means about 6pm. But on this day 4pm meant
about 10pm. It was crazy we were waiting around for the Mayor, who
lives across the street, to show up for about four hours. By the time
the ceremony started everyone was so hungry and tired that people were
not really paying attention or even caring about what the presenters
had to say. The ceremony was rushed and we ended up eating cold food.
It was still really good though. I felt bad for the people who worked
all day to prepare all the food and everything, then we just had to
sit around and watch the food collect bugs and get cold. I ended up
just playing one song, WHAT I GOT by Sublime.

Barry, actually school here is not free. It is very cheap but steal
some families have trouble sending their children to school, for a
number of reasons. But life is different out here, school attendance
is better in the cities.

This leads perfectly into something I probably mentioned before but
was thinking the other day. It is just a vicious cycle of cheating.
Students learn that to pass they have to cheat or pay money. Then
there are all these students in high school without the skills to
learn and do the work. So how will they pass? Cheat or pay for the
grade. Cheating is the most commonly practiced study skill, and the
only study skill for some students. Even the bright students cheat a
lot. The teachers know they cheat also. The teachers probably cheated
too when they were in school. Some teachers even will do work and give
answers for money.

I have my students writing me reports on a problem in Mozambique. They
have to identify, explain why, give results, and offer a solution to
their problem. It is very difficult for many of them to develop their
own ideas. But it is good practice for them and I am also learning a
lot of about Mozambique from this assignment. Many students are
writing about corruption. And the common reason for corruption is
because people to not make enough money at work to provide for their
families. The real problem is people do not have enough money to
provide for their families. That is the small scale corruption done by
the police and education systems. Then there is the big scale
corruption from the corporations and rich and powerful people. Even
though Mozambique gets a stupid amount of money from foreign aid, most
of you would be very upset if you knew how much of your tax dollars
were used on HIV and AIDS programs that are arguably useless, the
money disappears and employees end up not getting paid or
organizations are without supplies. Forrest and I were talking about
how Mozambique started off as a socialist country, which is great for
poor people. And now has evolved into a capitalist country, which is
not so great for poor people. There are plenty of rich people here
making a lot money and living these crazy lives. Unlike the US (or
maybe like the US depending on your opinion, but a lot worse), the
people suffering from poverty here have very little to no chance to
improve their lives. It just sucks to know that this country receives
and has money. And the development of things people need to live like
water and food are lacking. Or things that people should have access
to like education.

Back to my assignment, many of the students also agree that the
solution to their problem is education. I couldn�t agree more! Change
takes time and when talking to random Mozambicans they realize these
problems and want things to improve.

Last Friday one of my students came over to use my computer, to cheat
on his math assignment. Then I caught him trying to steal my final
test off my computer. This is one of my best students too. He doesn�t
speak that well but he does all the homework and always comes to
class. I�m thinking about giving him a zero for this term and because
he had high grades in the last two terms he will still pass the class.
Or should I just give him a zero for the test? It was a pretty bold
move of him to try and steal my test especially when I�m helping and
allowing him to use my computer.

I just want the students to learn things that will help them in life.
Maybe there are even things to learn from cheating? To steal a
military principle of mission accomplishment. They might not be
learning the material but aren�t they at least learning how to get
stuff done? That is probably a more important skill for the work place
anyways. If your boss gives you a task is there such thing as cheating
as long as you get it done? I don�t really care that they cheat,
because I feel that is what they have learned in school, as long as
they are being responsible, coming to class, and doing the work. I
feel they are learning how to accomplish tasks at least. Of course I
try to find ways to prevent them from cheating, and a lot of my
students quit trying to cheat in English. But stealing from my
computer is breaking the trust I give. What do you all think? How many
of you would have tried to steal the test when you were in high
school? This students wants to go to college next year so giving him a
zero might make it harder for him.

I read THE GRAND DESIGN last weekend, it is a physics book by Stephan
Hawking (the guy in the chair that talks through a computer). If you
like physics or science it is really good. Some ideas are crazy to
grasp but after reading them a few times you can almost understand
them a little bit, haha. But it gives the history of theories from all
the great physicists like Newton, Einstein, and Galileo. It is amazing
how these people discovered the things they did when they did. But the
book explains the current theories that best describe how the universe
works and was created. It gives many new perspectives of the world.

These two students that work at the prison missed a month of school so
they were explaining to Forrest why they were gone. So apparently a
prisoner/s escaped and they had to go track him down in Maputo. And if
they didn�t find him then they would have had to take his place in
prison. I don�t know if I believe this, but another student said that
it was true. Haha, what a wild reason to miss a month of school
tracking down a prison break so you don�t take their place in prison.

Summer is coming, and I am already missing winter. It is humid and
muggy. I feel nasty all day and am getting pimples on my back and
chest. The bugs are increasing and the nights are getting warmer. I
would trade back that hour or two of day light for the dry and cooler
conditions and water problems.

Ok I think that is about it. Any questions? Peace love and do good things

Jimmy

Han: How are we doing? Luke: Same as always. Han: That bad huh?

Quem não tem cão, caça com gato.

I came across this studying Portuguese earlier today. It's a cool phrase. Translation, who doesn't have a dog, hunts with a cat. Significance, make do with what you have.

School is coming to a close and as usual things are getting a bit crazy. We have had a lot of holidays lately and a couple in the middle of the week. So students have not been coming to school. Teaching and school feels like a joke right now. Luckily the year is almost done and then i get a break to wonder around Mozambique and rejuvenate my motivation. Already time to start thinking about what is next in life. Crazy! How time goes by.

Four of the volunteers, Jenna Scooter Anna and Joe, ran a marathon last weekend. I went to support and hang out. It was awesome! They ran the whole thing and it was really motivating. Ali and i rode bikes with them the whole time. We carried the water food and tried to keep them motivated. I might do it next year. That afternoon all of us and a bunch of the other volunteers went to eat at this restaurant by the bridge in Guija. The next day i went to the beach in Bilene with Mark, Peggy, kaitlin, and Ali. It was such a beautiful day and perfect weekend.

Forrest and i have been jammin and wrote our first song last week. Unfortunately not much else going on. Yesterday i watched our soccer team play another school from this roof top of an old Portuguse building. The rat died up in the ceiling of my room, after all the time i let him crash here that's how i was repaid. Ants moved in. We might get electric installed in our house soon. I hurt my foot running but have been cross training and lifting everyday. Then just reading and living the simple life. I'm excited to go surfing first chance i get! Any questions about life here?

Peace love and do good things! JIMMY

They’re not going for it Chewy… Ok I told you it was going to work, no problem

No Woman Non (in Jamaica people say “non” instead of “don’t”) Cry

Said I remember when we used to sit in the Government yard in Trench Town

Observing all the hypocrites as they would mingle with the good people meet

Good friends we had or good friends we lost along the way

In this bright future you can’t forget your past

So dry your tears I say

No woman non cry

Said I remember when we used to sit in the Government Yard in Trench Town

Then George would make a fire light as it was logwood burning through the night

And we would cook cornmeal porridge of which I’d share with you

My feet are my only carriage so I got to push on through but while I’m gone

Everything’s gonna be alright, everything’s gonna be alright

I wanted to share this song with my students and you! I taught my classes this song. Bob Marley is a great songwriter, I never really noticed before. So make sure you listen closely. This song is perfect for Mozambique and my students. The grammar is really good for Bob Marley. Bob Marley is singing to Women and the developing world in general. He is specifically talking to women in a ghetto of Trench Town called Government Yard. But the message is about the future getting better and to keep trying. Mozambique is very undeveloped and shares many of the struggles Bob Marley was singing about in Jamaice. Women are not treated equal here, unemployment is very high, and life is difficult in many ways. Mozambican’s and Jamaican’s both love cornmeal porridge, not really that important but I think it is cool. And the message in this song is very powerful. So we jammed in class. Then for homework I asked them questions about the meaning and their opinions before I gave mine. I felt like many of the students understood the song well.

Teaching is very rewarding. My classes and students are getting better and better with time. Some students I can see I am reaching out to. I am able to have good conversation with many of my students now. One of my students came by yesterday for guitar lessons and help with an extra credit assignment I gave. I also had a student teach a lesson last week and he did really good. Some of my students try hard and that makes teaching feel really cool.

Forrest and I have been jamming a bit. We are learning some blues (Old Man still waiting for that email) and had our first ukulele and guitar solos today. I am hoping to make a video of our life out here to put on youtube. We’ll see if and how that turns out. Ashley sorry the Old Man wisdom didn’t make it this time. Ask him he’ll hook you up.

Peace love and do good things

Jimmy

Fear is the path to the dark side

I'm finishing up the second week of school, but it is more like the first because i only taught about five students the first week. This week everything is back to normal. No classes Monday night because the power was out. Problems with water.

We were luckily saved by the rain. We had no water here for over a week. We were waiting for this guy to come by to transport water from the river for us. Of course he did the "i'll come tomorrow" trick on us for a few days. Then Monday night it finally rained. Now we have about a month worth of water. And don't have to worry about when this guy will show up, at least for a little bit. I survived one week on ten gallons of water. I was eating tangerines to supplement drinking water. I normally drink more water than that in a week. I was so happy to hear that rain. I was down to my last five gallon bucket and had a nice collection of dirty clothes growing. Now all my clothes are clean and the water problems are pushed aside.

Forrest returns next week. It will be nice to have him back. He is also bringing a projector. And who knows what other types of goodies.

I don't know how or why, but Bryan Adams is extremely popular here. So i learned to play "Everything I Do" yesterday. Then this morning i sang and played it in class. What better way to show my students i care about them then with a Bryan Adams' love song. The students already knew this song pretty good, so it sounded awesome. I should have recorded it.

After class i made peanut butter. I roasted the peanuts, smashed them, then added some salt, sugar, and oil. It takes a lot of work but i don't have much else going on. And it tastes better, is richer, and a lot cheaper too. But im not really worried about the money, the Peace Corps gives me a lot more money than i need to live out here. I'm more excited about producing less trash and not needing to buy South African imports.

Well that is all for now. Peace, love, and do good things

Jimmy

Your focus determines your reality

Last Sunday: Trying to hitch a ride out of Tete city with my friend Patricia. Patricia is on the road trying to flag down a car and im hiding off the side of the road...

We just recieved a short ride but we still have about five or six hours of traveling back to Chimio. Tomorrow im going to head out to climb the highest mountain in Mozambique. It is a day hike to the base of the mountain than a day hike up and down. So ill be off the grid for three days...

Ok so my travel days are my new designated blog writting time. Enjoy the random updates. Just scored our last and very comfy ride. We had been chillin with some local kids the last hour or so. We were jammin and playing in the tree. This ride now makes it well worth the wait.

Last night we stayed at a volunteers house in Tete and went dancing at this club. It was a private party and this eighteen year old kid got us in. It was ok. One of my friends was so drunk, she reminded me of my cousin Amanda. Haha, she was elbowing guys on the dance floor and just out of control. It reminded me of being back home. Waiting for all my drunk friends so we could go home.

Before going to Arielle's site in Tete we hiked up to these rock paintings outside of Chimoio. It was a nice easy hike. There is this "old witch" that you are suppose to pay before going. People here believe in voodoo, ghost, and stuff like that. Even the people that are well educated. Some locals told us if we didn't stop and pay her she would put a curse on us and change our sex. So we snuck by her. On the way down we intended to stop and pay because we figured she would probably use the money in the community and not on drugs and booze. But we didn't cross her path on the way down and we needed to get back before dark. So we pulled a fast one on the old witch.

TODAY: Random highlights over the past few days. Our chapa broke down going to Tete. So we hitched a ride. Our ride was so awesome. It was comfy, fast, they bought us lunch, and even went out of their way and took us all the way to Arielle's house because it was getting dark. I was hanging out with a fun group of girls all week before hitting the mountains. They remind me of all my crazy cousins in Cali. Seen some hippos in a river. Seen this crazy homemade electric guitar and amp. Played TI's "Whateve you like" for a crowd of people in Tete. Ate Mexican food twice.

The last three days i was hiking in the Chimanimani mountain range. It was just what i needed. It had been too long since i had been hiking up and down through the mountains. I went up to Mt Binga, its the highest point in Mozambique. I met a Canadian, Phillip, on my way to the park. That worked out great because he had a two man tent and i had nothing to provide shelter. Phillip has been traveling Asia and Africa for almost a year. He was an interesting person to hike with. I carried his pack about half the time to earn my stay in his "home". Today was a long day, still traveling in a truck. Yesterday was a very strenuos day of hiking. So im due for some rest. Hopefully this weekend on the beach i'll catch up. There are probably some cool things i missed but im tired and it is hard to see because this truck and road are really bumpy. Peace love and do good things

Jimmy

There is always a bigger fish

Quick update. I hope to write more soon. Still living the dream! I just hiked to the highest mountain in Mozambique yesterday. I'm tired now. And need to hit the road soon. I loaded new pics of Facebook. Ok im trying to download some of Jake and Kier's music. Peace and love


Jimmy

ps Mom im still alive

Be mindful of the living force

Im trying to travel up north. Just finished up a conference yesterday it was very brutal. I had a lot of work before finishing up our term before i left Mabalane so i didn't get much sleep before leaving than i had a long travel day. Followed by poor sleep in my hotel room because the bar and drunks across the street from our room were so load. Then on top of that i could see the beach, blue sky, and beautiful days outside while i was stuck in a conference.

Now a mini adventure starts, and about five minutes after getting on and paying for this bus we are broke down on the side of the road. Maybe i should try to get my money back. Ok ill return to this post later.

Im still on the same bus. I'm just reading and trying to sleep. I ran and did squats this morning and now im really not enjoying being crammed into a bus for ten hours. But i seen the sun rise running on the beach the last 3 mornings it is a great way to start a day.

Friday i had an interesting interaction with some French people. They are working about an hour away from Chokwe, maybe three hours from Mabalane. Well, Valorie and i went to go talk to this group of white people with backpacks and no car. And we had a conversation with French people in Portuguese in Mozambique. Kind of random.

There are so many cool types of trees in Mozambique. I just noticed there are trees that have a ridiculously large trunk, then the upper part or branches are normal tree size. I'll put a pic on facebook.

Friday and Saturday night we crashed weddings. The first night a group of the girls said they were invited to and going to dance at this reception across from the hotel. So Drew and i went to go hang out. And we walk in to find no American girls. But of course the two white guys are now the center of attention. We get pulled and pushed out onto the center of the dance floor. Everyone was quite drunk and this one lady especially, we called her the bulldoser. She was getting it on the floor, but she was constantly losing her balance and slamming into people. So we had to keep an eye on her. Then it was difficult to sneak out. The next night the girls actually went. It was more fun and we stayed until the music stopped. There were these cute little girls dancing, like six years old. When they left their mom told them to say good bye to the foreigners. It was really funny they gave us hugs and kisses on the check. Imagine if your'e at a wedding, a group of unknown foreigners show up and then before you go home you make your children hug and kiss them goodbye, haha. Thanks how nice the people here are. Eventually the only people there were us and a group of Mozambicans. Then i found out that they didn't belong there also and that they snuck in with us. We atleast asked permission, they probably didn't.

I'm traveling the next two weeks i'll try to keep updated on any exciting events. Peace and love Jimmy

Boring conversation anyways

It is Tuesday morning, i wrote most of this yesterday as i was hitch hiking and riding chapas home.

Im traveling back to Mabalane. I have had a nice weekend down in the Maputo providence. I met my friend Kaitlin in Maputo Saturday and we stayed at her site in Moamba. She has a very nice home by Mozambique standards. Its a big house, hard work floor, high ceilings, running water, energy, toilet/bathroom inside, and it is bug and rodent free. She lives on the campus of a Catholic school, with priests, brothers, nuns, and all the students. Her community is very nice. And she is only an hour from Maputo.

Then Sunday night i stayed with friends at this teacher trainer institue near Manhiça. They also have an awesome site and home. Their school is very nice and the compound looks like an older military base. There apartment style house is nice by any standard. They have cable TV (CNN, ESPN, ect), an oven, and nice furniture. I had pizza and brownies waiting for me when i arrived. The school has a music department so i got to jam with another guitar player and pianist, Anne one of the volunteers. It was really fun, although i didnt get any videos. Next time! Then thier students cooked us dinner. Their students are awesome and were a blast to hang out with. In my group of volunteers there are many cool, smart, talented, and interesting people. Barbara is one of the most awesome people. She is near seventy years old. She grew up in the Bronx, is a 13th generation descendant of 2 passengers who came over on the Mayflower, she was a model, she has a PHD, is a retired teacher, a mother, a widow, and now a Peace Corps volunteer. So needless to say she is a great person to be around. She is full of wisdom and is always hounding me about why im not dating any of these nice young ladies out here with us. Her and Anne were great hosts. I was well fed and slept like a rock. It was like being with family. Actually it is a lot like being with family whenever i stay with the other volunteers.

I have been thinking that i have it so great out in Mabalane. This weekend i realized i actually have it pretty rough, living conditions and work. I still love my site and students and would not trade for any of these other sites. Mabalane is perfect for me, if anything i would want less luxuries. But these other sites are something else. Barbara and Anne are really living the dream. Im just living my dream.

I have been thinking about how i have always wanted and tried the harder challenges in my life. And there is something appealing to me about living without power, having struggles with water, and all the little challenges that come with life in Mabalane. Im not sure why i like to struggle or suffer but that is why i joined the Marines and probably why i enjoy running and hiking so much. Plus doing something harder is more rewarding, at least for me.

Saturday i had the luckyiest series of chapas (buses). I went from one bus to another all the way to the Peace Corps office. I was chillin in the PC office seven hours after leaving my house. Ill be lucky to get home in ten to twelve hours.

Im in the process of an interesting chapa ride home. Everyone is speaking the native language and i keep hearing the word for white person, haha i feel like Ace Ventura. This chapa has some much weight on it. Not only packed with people but stuff under all the seats and strapped on the roof. Ill be lucky to get home before my class starts. I hope nothing else crazy happens but in case it does im waiting to send this.

Ok last update. There was a very unsanitary diaper change on the chapa, im glad i was not sitting next to that lady. Got home at six pm, about twelve hours not too bad.

Peace, love, and do good things.

Jimmy

Good, I hate long waits

This is from Thursday. One of my students is here learning to use my computer. He is one of the students who wanted an American girlfriend, so Ashley agreed to be his pen pal. I told him to practice by typing her a letter. So after about fifteen minutes i go check on him. He has not ever finished his first sentence. I had to step outside to laugh, he knows English pretty well but has never used a computer before. Ashley you got a letter coming soon. Im going to send it from my email.

Most of the rest was earlier this morning, Saturday. And i stole most of it from an email i sent to Jodi.

Im sitting on the side of the road waiting for a ride. A few cars and trucks drove by but all have been full so far. Hopefully one will pick me up sooner than later. Not much new here. I read Life of Pi. It was a really enjoyable read and had a crazy ending. School is getting better and better. I have been lifting and running the last couple weeks pretty consistant. Im going to run the second half of a marathon with a friend. Ok here comes and truck hopefully it picks me up...

What do they say? Hope in one hand and poop in the other, and see what one fills up first. Or something like that. Well im going to keep hoping. I didnt get picked up by the way.

Well after two hours and no rides. I find myself on a train. This actually works out much better. It is a cargo train and only takes two hours. So should be four hours from the time i left my house. Im standing up in the cockpit with four other people hitchin and one of them is another teacher at my school. Well i hope this dude's odometer is broken or we speed up soon because we are not on pace for two hours. We just almost took out a cow crossing the tracks. It was a little scary watching and feeling the train rock over the tracks from here. Ok i think that is about it for now. Maybe ill have something exciting after this weekend. Peace love and do good things

Jimmy

Your eyes can deceive you dont trust em

I learned how to play the Mozambican version of checkers, the kings get all steroid out but there is more strategy. Overall i like it better. So Saturday Jornecio, the teenage neighbor, destroyed me all day. Finally that night he showed me a couple moves and let me win a game.

Im reading LIFE OF PI. So far i like it. The beginning talks a lot about animals in the zoo and religion.

Yesterday both my class were so annoying. The second even worse. The students would not stop talking and laughing. It was the last two periods of the day so that was part of it, the students are hungry and want to go home.

"What is it that makes us human? It's not something you can programm, you can't put it into a chip. The strength of the human heart." TERMINATOR SALVATION

"The most dangerous animal in the zoo is man". Common saying in zoos

"There is no fate but what we make." John Conor

Class was much better today. Yesterday i lifted weight with some of my night students that work at the prison. I dont if they were trying to haze me or what. But we must of done about 30 sets of ten to fifteen. Then they told me see you tomorrow. Yeah right! I might go just to see what workout they do today. I have a feeling they will do the same thing as yesterday. Because there is not much we didnt do yesterday. Peace and love Jimmy

Jabba you're a wonderful human being

Ok this is more a test than anything. Im about ready for bed. Just finished grading one of my class' tests. Im thinking about how to grade them. Not sure yet, i dont feel its right to use their test scores because some students started with such a low level but then i dont want to reward the students who never come to class. Ideas? I have a couple floating around in my head. One is im just going to ask the students what grade they think they deserve, and ill adjust them based on their attendance.

So its a full moon, i missed some lunar eclipse tonight. But when i was walking to school i could notice the full moon. Tonight is the brightest night i have ever seen. I could read out side with the moon light. Well maybe this will work. Peace, love and do good things

I think you just can't let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight

Ok I had some cool experiences to share. I went to the beach yesterday. I have my drum and am taking it home tomorrow. So I got that going for me which is nice.

I have been reading Tao te Ching a lot. I really like it. If you like Asian philosophy at all check it out if you have been. I read two translations and both were enjoyable with some different perspectives also. My director has the book now or i would share some of my favorite quotes. But the book is all about how to live and how people should be governed. The Tao believes we should live simple lives without laws, economies, wars, and possessions. So of course i love it! Well this book, a conversation with a friend here about power, and re-reading some things in my journal mixed with my crazy sleep schedual led me to my first cool experience. this is 2am-ish and I am wide awake. I decide that I'm not going to care if my students use notes on the test as long as they are learning. So i go to class write that i trust them to do whatever helps them learn best and to use whatever they want. (maybe they thought it was a trick) But to my surprise NO CHEATING! I was shocked and it felt really good. I am going to try the same with my other classes. this was my good and small class. Hopefully things will not get too crazy next time.

Not cool experience, got really sick last week. I couldnt eat or do anything for a day. I went to class, I taught and felt odd. Then my next class, I felt really crappy and almost puked a couple times. I ended up giving a bunch of work to do and ended class early. The next day going over their assignment. The last exercise text i wrote, made absolutely no sense. I checked a few papers and realized it was my fault that is how out of it i was. I went home and stayed in bed the rest of the day. One of my students stopped by and helped me with some stuff i needed to do for my night students. The next day i felt better and went to class. But in bed i could not sleep well, had hot and cold sweats, my back and knees ached, had a fever, and was pretty much hating life. I think i got some food poisoning because i couldnt eat much the next day either. Then I realized cutting a bell pepper Friday that there was a worm in there and it was full of worm poop. I often cook at night and have little to no light when i am cutting and cooking. so i probably ate a bunch of worm poop Monday night and then got really sick.

Had big plans to camp out on the beach. I had everything i needed to survive a night out on the beach then could not find a boat ride to my desired site. I decided to head back with my two friends and crashed with them. It was fun at least going to the beach and i got to see some of the other volunteers. But I am jonesin to camp out soon!

I seen the moon set getting up to pee the other night and that was really awesome.

Ok I am tired and finally loaded some newer photos on facebook, not really new though. Also I may of found a way to make post from my email. So I might be able to update more often from my phone. Then I can actually share more without trying to remember what I did the last month.

Peace, love, and do good things


Jimmy

Laugh it up, fuzzball

Im in Chokwe, downloading stuff and looking up things for my students to practice reading with. I went to Guija yesterday and stayed the night there. One of my close friend's boyfriend is visiting from the US. So I went to hang out with them, they cooked dinner and we just chilled. Today I help them with some gardening and got some nasty blisters now.

It is winter here and finally starting to get cold at night. I wore my sweatshirt last night for the first time this year. I have been battling boredom a lot lately. I watched every episode of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia in the last couple weeks. Those guys are such scumbags but they make me laugh. But now I think I back on track. Im motivated to try some new things teaching. Im also downloading some music stuff and a chess program.

My Portuguese is improving. I have been studying and started tutoring with my Director most days once again. He also gave me a ride to town yesterday and that was awesome. Then we had lunch n Chokwe and he took some groceries back to Mabalane for me.

I have been playing basketball most days and there are some weights at this one guys house in the village. Maybe I wrote about it already but it is really cool to be able to lift weights a couple times a week. They are old train parts but i can get good workouts with them. Actually i have a few pictures I will add to facebook. Nothing too exciting. I have a rat that is visiting me every night, so i am going to try to get a cat. Plus the girls here have cats and I kind of like cats now.

Ok my friends computer is almost dead. Maybe I'll try to add a comment from my phone. Peace and Love


Jimmy

Look, I aint in this for your revolution, and im not in it for you princess. I expect to be well paid. Im in it for the money

I got home earlier today. I had a long break in and around Maputo. I needed the break. The last two weeks of school were kind of crazy. We had tests, a holiday, and the President come to visit Mabalane.

President Guebuza came out and spent the night at the Majors house. The next morning he came out to the school. He was on time (which was a big surprise, because usually nothing is ever on time in Mozambique) and made a short visit, it was perfect. Forrest, all the teachers, and I got to shake his hand and he asked a couple questions. Then he planted a tree and said a few words to everyone and was gone.

The presidents appearance was pretty good for Mabalane. It is responsible for the school getting energy and the road getting fixed up a little. So it was cool to get to meet the president, get the road fixed, and the school now has energy. We should be getting energy at our house soon.

Forrest and I were ready to get out of Mabalane. Tuesday night, two weeks ago, we stayed up all night grading. We finally finished about 3am and then we got all our stuff ready and left at about 4am. We barely got on the bus and I didn't even have a seat. So after staying up all night I had to stand up for a couple hours on a crowded bus. It was a long day for me and I ended up sleeping on the floor at a friends house. I was burnt out and I was not enjoying Maputo the first couple days. There were a lot of volunteers in Maputo for a couple different things and it was cool to hang out with everyone. But a hassle trying to figure out where to meet up and waiting for people. Saturday I finally checked into the hotel my conference was at, and it was awesome. Then I got to sleep on a bed, take a shower with hot running water, and didn't have to carry my stuff all over the city anymore. The food at the hotel was free and really good. We went out dancing one night and there was a live karaoke band. He was fun. Then the last night at the hotel Drew, Eddie, Forrest, and I played Nintendo 64 with four controllers on a laptop. It was awesome. We played Mario Cart and 007. It reminded me of being back in high school. We were acting like kids playing video games and talking trash. One of our battles on 007 Forrest's weapon of choice was unarmed. Haha (Maybe you had to be there and most of my audience probably doesn't know what I am talking about but...) Anyways, it was hilarious and a lot of fun. At first I was so burnt out of traveling, not getting good sleep, and I hated being in the city. But after some rest I really enjoyed myself and look forward to going back to Maputo sometime.

I finally bought a guitar and this really awesome drum. I bought a punching bag, a couple other hand crafted instruments and miscellaneous items. I start school again tomorrow night. Not sure how many students will show up, but I'll see.

Before returning home I went back to Namaacha and stayed the night with my host family. It was really nice. They made me feel right at home, just like it was during training. Had dinner cooked for me and woke up in the morning with breakfast waiting for me. They put me back in the room I had before, made the bed with new sheets & blankets, and all that. It was also cool to be able to communicate better and see that my Portuguese is improving. I brought some gifts for my host niece and photos for the family. I will visit again for sure when I can.

The next night Forrest and I stayed at a hostel. I had walked all over the city that day and bought my drum. Then we walked around that night and went to the bar that had a African jazz band. They were good but the night was cut short because Forrest had to poop. I was kind of tired for walking around all anyway. But now I know the city really well for the next time I go.

The transportation here is crazy. The buses and vans will literally be packed until no one else can fit, not when there is not any seats. So you are often standing with someone right in front and behind. I'm talking about so close you are touching the person in front or you and behind you. Warning about to tell a fart story! Well actually it is not much of a story, but I was farted on the other day traveling to Namaacha. At first I was a little weirded out but I guess it is not that big of a deal. I mean he could have probably moved around a bit to not just rip one right up against my leg. But maybe it is just part of the culture. Also people pick their noses any and everywhere. I am really enjoying that. You got a booger in your nose, get it out! no big deal. I think I might bring that back to the states with me. In Iraq we would pick our noses all day because it was so dry and dusty. Then I had to relearn to not pick my nose when I got back to the states.

O I almost forgot. I had a stalker, Ivon, for a few days. The guys here are like Italians or maybe worse. Many men have two wives or houses with families. And the females volunteers are always getting harassed by men. So I finally got a taste of what this is like. I was walking home from playing basketball. This guy runs up, is talking really fast, and is pretty intense. I had class that night and wanted to get home to eat and shower. He wanted my number and I was trying to go home. So I gave him my number. That was a bad idea. I got a text late that night in English and I didn't speak English with Ivon at all. I thought it might have been one of the volunteers that I didn't have their number saved. But no, it was Ivon, kinda odd. Then the next day I get a call from Ivon. I didn't understand what he was saying in English or Portuguese. So I hung up. He continued calling me and finally I answered again and just ignored hoping he would hang up because phone calls are expensive here. But that didn't stop Ivon. Finally I hung up on him again. The night before Forrest had rode the train to Maputo and met Ivon on the train, I didn't know that. So that kind of made more sense to what he was saying. But anyways this dude probably called me 20 times in 3 days. And this is what the girl volunteers here have to put up with. So no more giving out my number. He was probably really drunk in his defense because at one time I passed the phone to one of my students and he didn't even understand him. Guys here are hughe alcoholics too. The people that do drink, drink to get wasted. And come weekend time they will be ridiculously drunk the whole weekend. They are like Jim Layhe (from Trailer Park Boys, probably spelled his name wrong).

O and speaking of drunk men. Our night watchmen here at the school, is like a very kind Layhe. I like him and cook extra dinner for him sometimes. But I don't think I have ever seen him sober. He usually has a strong booze odor. And sometimes when he is really drunk he tires to kiss me, that is usually pretty weird. But he is a nice old man. He just tries to kiss me when he is super drunk. Ok I think I am out of stuff to share. I'll try to update more often with shorter more interesting reads. Peace and love


Jimmy

Great kid, dont get cocky

I had a figuratively cool day today. Actually, last night too. Still living the dream!

Yesterday I taught the students a really important lesson about the late great Tupac Shakur. It was fun and they probably liked it better than normal grammar or discussions most students cannot understand or participate in. I tried to play a song and have them tell me what it was about. No Way! He raps to fast. Then I just told them to listen for any words they knew, that was better. Next week, I am going to try again but write the lyrics out first. So school is coming along. One of my classes drives me crazy most days. Other than them, it's cool. I just have to remember to be patient and not expect too much.

So last night our house was stupid hot inside. I went outside, laid out on a mat, and went to sleep. Of course, my parents called and woke me up. Although we had a good conversation and I was wide awake. I played on my phone a bit until I noticed something to marvel at: the bright stars, the cool breeze, and the peacefulness of Mabalane. I laid there, my sheet as a protective layer from the bugs, and truly appreciated a simple life. If you are not jealous or some form of enviousness, you should be. If you can, get away from all cars and lights, and find a place to lay down at night. Then, while you wait to fall asleep, think about life, the Milky Way (which looks milky to me), or, even better, the universe.

This morning, I got up early and went to the beach. I had a ride from my student who drives for the mayor. What a privilege!relatively comfortable, fast, and free. From Chokwe, I met up with two friends, and we hitched to the beach. I have not shaved or cut my hair recently, so they made me hide off on the side of the road like they do in the movies to let the girls catch the ride. Kind of a dirty move, but whatever. I don't know why people don't want to pick up hairy men who look like a mix between a bum, stoner, and caveman????

We even hitched a boat ride to this island, while I was off swimming of course. White chicks! Haha. I laugh, but there plenty of disadvantages that accompany this ability to get easy transportation places. Most obvious being sexual harassment, which I never get. 

Other highlights included pizza, music, and internet. Bob emailed me this excellent parable.

A big, burly samurai comes to a Zen master and says, “Tell me the nature of heaven and hell.” 

The Zen master looks him in the face and says, “Why should I tell a scruffy, disgusting, miserable slob like you? A worm like you, do think I should tell you anything?” 

Consumed by rage, the samurai draws his sword and raised it to cut off the master’s head.

The Zen master says, “That’s hell.”

Instantly, the samurai understands that he has just created his own hell: black and hot, filled with hatred, self-protection, anger, and resentment. He sees that he was so deep in hell that he was ready to kill someone. Tears fill his eyes as he puts his palms together to bow in gratitude for this insight.

The Zen master says, “That’s heaven.”

How short, sweet, and powerful. I want more gratitude in my life. Maybe I should be grateful that I might be reaching a few students instead of frustrated that I am not reaching most of my students. 

Do good things, be grateful, and create your own heaven



Love Jimmy

One thing's for sure we're all gonna be a lot thinner

Seen some odd things the other day. There was this cow and it had some of its internal organs hanging out of her vagina. It was so disgusting... so Forrest and I were straying at her trying to figure out what is was then its baby came over to drink some milk. And the mother cow, with her insides all on the outside, urinates all over the baby cows face. So just when you think this cow cant become more disgusting, she does something like that and totally redeems herself.

I was correcting papers yesterday and students are such cheaters. It is sad that they can make it through the school system without learning and cheating so much. But some of papers are pretty funny. Lucky Dube, a South African reggae star, is very popular here. He is a hero and idol for many of the students. And I asked my students to write a paragraph about their idol or hero. Well one student writes the opening paragraph on first website that shows up on a Lucky Dube google search. Other students have the same paragraphs even though I had two test with different questions. One student made an honest mistake, well she might of cheated also but that is not the point. She wrote, “I quickly fucked myself to bed”. She meant to say tucked of course but that was really funny. Seriously though grading these tests were really disappointing. It took me over a week to finish grading all of them and several students actually earned a score of zero. So I needed up giving everyone at least 5 points. But the classes average grades were about 45%. They didn't study is one reason, I asked harder questions than they have probably seen in English, and I didn't let them cheat.

It is stupid hot and humid tonight. The bugs are really bad too. So I am hiding in my bed under my net. Sweating and typing up a blog entry.

If anyone has any ideas for teaching basic critical thinking skills let me know. People here have a lot of trouble with problem solving and critical thinking. So I want to try and work that into my classes. So if you know any activities that are short and easy send them my way.

Ashley,

Thanks for the email. Portuguese is still a struggle and I have been busy with school and not studying much. I got the Little Prince in Portuguese so I want to start reading that more. I think it should help my Portuguese a lot.

Jodi,

It gets really boring out here on the weekends, weekdays too. I have been sleeping a lot and feel like I am wasting my time. Im trying to workout more because I am out of running shape. I played basketball the other night and that was really fun. I want to start doing that more. Then I can practice my Portuguese more too.

O and we can travel outside the provibce now and I want to go get a guitar soon. I have not been playing music much. I played the drum a lot the last couple days. But not the ukulele. Last Sunday I played on my computer most of the day. It was painfully slow and a waste of most of the day. But I had my mind set on downloading some Dirty Heads. I finally succeeded after 7 or 8 hours. But we had my computer charging two phones and kindle, connected to the internet, downloading a CD, and playing on facebook. All at our house with not energy or lights at that. So in the dark playing on Facebook for my Sunday night. It was kind of nice playing online. We might be getting power soon. I don’t even really want it. Then just other things to distract me from school and Portuguese. But having some light will be really nice. I want to get a desk to study on at home too.

Ok I think this is about it. I just moved my bamboo style mat outside it is a lot nicer but the bugs are driving me crazy now. These are the tough decisions we have to make out here in Mabalane! Peace, love, and do good things

Jimmy

The garbage masher! What s wonderful idea! What an incredible smell you've discovered

13Feb2011 

            Yesterday we tried to go to Chokwe but could not find a ride; actually we did not see a single car leave town in three hours. But there was this group of people outside the Majors house singing and dancing with some drums. So I walked over to check it out and Forrest stayed under this tree waiting for a ride. My direct of the school, the major, head of police, and all the important people from town were there. My director tells me everyone is waiting for the Minister or Administrator of Mozambique to arrive, one of those two billets can’t remember which. Anyways, some high ranking political person to come to town. And as everyone was standing there to greet her, I watch Forrest try to hitch hike with them. Haha, it was pretty funny, they did not pick him up by the way. There was the Mozambican version of the secret service escorting her. We ended up just chillin at the house. I ate a big bag of cookies, took a nap, did a push up workout, played music, and watched Across the Universe. Just another exciting day in Mabalane!

            The school has a basketball team and I am going to coach it, so that will be cool. I need to find out more about it but it will be nice to occupy some of the free time I have. I have been taking a lot of naps out of boredom and not sleeping well at night. So I need to try and adjust my schedule some. Having night and morning classes does not help either.

            I have not been working out that much either for some reason. I'm relatively pretty out of shape. When I do a workout I feel all fat and out of shape, but I'm probably not going to get any sympathy from anyone reading this. Maybe Jodi wills, o and Jodi I would be a horrible running partner right now.

25Feb2011

            This week the students were annoying me. I think part of it has been because I have been too nice and now they are taking advantage of me. But the other part I think is that I was teaching a lot of grammar at the beginning and it is super boring. So I have been trying to do more interesting stuff and follow the curriculum. But the curriculum is ridiculously unachievable. Here the class stays in one room the entire time, like grade school in the US. And the students are all in the same class based on grade not ability. I think I mentioned it before but it is difficult to find what level is appropriate to teach so most students can understand. Well I think I was trying to teach too difficult of material and the students were just talking and goofing off because they didn’t understand. So I have had to get the classes back on track. My first quiz, the students did a lot worse than I expected. Lots of cheating, even with the night class (the night class is more like a community college class and the morning is like a US high school class). Even the students that can speak well did poorly. Yesterday I did a really easy lesson (and boring for me) and the students were a lot better, like they actually wanted to learn. I might have to keep it basic for longer. Some students cannot read or write (even in Portuguese) or know very little English. And they never do their homework! Ok enough complaining about my students, because I really do like them a lot.

            I got a little taste of how life really is here. The other day no one did the homework except for one student. So I had them do it in class. They were to write about their family. Out of four of the students paragraphs that I read two of the four, both of their parents had passed away. This one girl has an 11 month old daughter and no parents, her friend watches her baby when she goes to school. One of the 12^th graders joined my 11^th grade class because his French teacher kicked him out of class, he told me she kicked him out because he didn’t pass last year and she said he would not pass this year either. I’m not sure if she actually told him that, there is a bit of a language barrier. But this student is one of my favorite students, and I feel bad. It is kind of is unfortunate to see how the education system works here. The teachers often do not show up for their classes. On Fridays the school is dead. Students and teachers do not go. I had about 12 of 24 students in class this morning and the 11^th grade maybe had 5 or 6 of 40+. The expectations of students are extremely high and the students just get passes along and end up being in 12^th grade without being able to read or write. It is not their fault but makes it hard to teach. But the 12^th grade has a test they have to past to graduate and it is not that easy. So I have to teach them so they can pass that, which half the students that will not be a problem. But how do I teach the students who cannot read, write, or don’t speak English? So this is what I am trying to figure out.

            I could have such an awesome two year vacation if I wanted to be a dirt bag teacher and go live at the beach. But everyone in town wants me to teach them English; the other professors, students, and all the prisoners running the streets. A friend has a birthday party at the beach tomorrow. But I have to teach tonight. So I will probably just chill here for the weekend. Forrest took off this morning because he has no class Fridays, lucky! Haha. Ok wanted to write a little something. But my computer is going to die soon. And I have been rushing to write this. Sorry Will, you’re going to have to deal with the grammar!

            Last weekend had a party in Guija played guitar, joked about the Peace Corps life, back home, and stuff. Peace, love, and do good things

Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid

02Feb2011 THE RAT

            I had a rat try and crawl in bed with me this morning. I heard and felt something hitting to my pillow so I pulled the mattress and there was a rat in the corner of my room under my bed. So I tried to chase him out but there was nowhere for him to escape so I had to chase him out my door. He was running back and forth across my bed frame. Finally I got him or her out. And it runs into Forrest room, haha, my bad. This is about 530 or 6am also. So I was a little tired and did not think where the rat was going to go next. So then we had to find and chase it out of Forrest’s room which is pretty messy, perfect place for a rat. Finally we track him down and chase him out and then he runs around our living area for a while before we can get her to leave. Not the worse way to start my day but whatever.

08Feb2011 Day to day

            So I teach 18 hours a week. I have two classes of 11^th and 12^th grade. One each in the morning and at night. So some of my free time goes to preparing for class. Then the rest of the day is spent reading, cooking, playing music, working out, studying Portuguese, walking to the market, and playing on my phone if it has power. And overall trying to integrate and become part of the community.

            We have a decent variety of food here. Lots of rice, beans, bread, and noodles. Lots of tomatoes, onion, garlic, and potatoes. Not too much different that back home for me. Lots of mangoes and bananas. The mangoes are so good here, im going to cry when they go out of season. Sometimes when can get pineapple, cabbage, green pepper, and I found some oatmeal in Xai Xai. That was so awesome to eat! I miss my oatmeal in the morning. But I can buy it here just have to stock up when I find it. So my diet is good. Then maybe once a week I eat a huge bag of cookies.

            I think that about covers my day to day life. There is a lot of stuff I want to write about but my mind is blank right now. 

Peace, love, and do good things

Jimmy