Back to School

Usually we get two weeks off between the trimesters, but since Mozambique is trying to increase school hours, this year we only got a one-week break. However, since information dispersal here is as ineffective as in the kids’ game ‘telephone,’ lots of people did not know we had school this Monday, plus it was raining, which always depresses attendance. I showed up to teach my first period class on Monday and found just 6 students, I combined terms A, B and C to make a class of about 20 and gave the lesson realizing how much easier it is to teach a group of this size than the normal 50. Since most teachers actually showed up on Monday (which wasn’t the case in many communities around the country), word got out and attendance was back to normal by mid-week. Unfortunately during our week away, Romão may have unwittingly introduced some flea-like parasite into our domestic environment while he was watching our house for us, and Janet has been waking up with miniature red bites all over. Our mattress and linens are currently out in the sun, hopefully baking out the bed bugs!