What Doesn't Kill Us Makes Us Stronger

Ok...I am just doing to give you a glimpse of what I will be talking about and then go right into explaining all that has been happening since last time.

• Robbery
• Rat
• Malaria Meds
• Angoche
• Police
• School
• Vacation
• Club

Ok so robbery first. We had our house broken into 4 times in a span of 2 and a half weeks. The final two times they actually ripped the metal bars, that were cemented into the wall off the house out. I was honestly on the brink of catching a flight home. I was in such a bad place. I did not want to help anyone anymore and I sure did not want to continue living here. I did not trust anyone. I went to class on more than one occasion crying. The 3rd time it happened we had the police chief tell us that if someone should break in while we were there, it would be easy to get assaulted because no one could here us call out for help. The final time our director thought the robber was going to come back so we had police with guns guarding our house all night. The first time it happened we were away in Angoche and my laptop, spoons, saw, hammer, a pocket knife was stolen. The 2nd occurred two days after the first while we were still in Liupo at the market and my phone battery and 1000 mts (about $30) was taken. The 3rd time happened a week later while we were at school and the same day bars were put on my window. They ripped the bars out and hit my window hard enough to rip the latches out of the wood. They took 2500 mts that time. The 4th time happened a week after the 3rd time while we were at school again and again the bars were ripped out with a lot more force because the cement was fairly dry. We were moved to a nice house next to the police chief and other bosses of the community. I feel so much safer and happier now. It is a longer walk to school but I take that over not feeling safe. It is the worse feeling ever. I was sleeping in our living room for the 2 and a half weeks we kept getting broken into. I could barely sleep. I was always nervous.

Now on to splinter, the rat who decided to move in to our old house. He was huge and black with a long tail! He liked my room the best. Many nights I would see him scurry across the top of my mosquito net or the wooden beams supporting the roof. We also spent many a nights throwing shows and other objects when he would want to make an appearance in our living room. We set up two different traps but neither one worked. One night he ended up getting up on the sofa and running up my leg...it was the worse feeling ever. Needless to say that didn't help with my not sleeping.

I am on new malaria meds that I take daily now instead of once a week and hallelujah! My mood and attitude were so bad that even without the break ins I was wanting to go back to the states. My head is in a much better place now.

We still make our monthly trip to Angoche for the bank and have a lovely time with the volunteers there. We sure are going to miss them when they finish their service at the end of this year.

The police have been involved with trying to catch our robbers. I had to file a police report in Portuguese. The police chief was called to our house the 3rd time when the bars were ripped out. He said we were not safe and that if someone wanted to physically hurt us no one would be able to help because they wouldn't be able to hear us call for help. Lets just say and he was explaining that, in Portuguese by the way, Arden and I gave each other questioning looks. The 4th time he came back and left two armed officers to guard the house because a lot of people believed the robber was going to come back while we were there. Even though this has happened and it was terrible, I feel like a more resilient person. Our boss from Peace Corps came by the other day to check on us and told he would not have blamed us for leaving. Our school has also been really great through all of this. They are very protective of us. I will definitely be more appreciative of how we "safe" we have it back in the states compared to here. It is just a way of life here and that is a sad realization. We have gotten star treatment. Nothing would have been done if this was some other Mozambican.

Teaching is still difficult. We just finished our 1st trimester. I still can't believe kids don't know the alphabet and some can't even spell their names. It just blows my mind. At the end of the trimester we have provincial exams. The provincial exams for my 9th grade class had 3 or 4 errors in it, so I can imagine the other English classes had them too. How are kids expected to learn English when their teachers can't speak it or write it well.

Now the trimester is over, we are leaving for vacation tomorrow, 2 weeks of vacation. We are staying in Nampula City for 2 nights, then heading up to the province of Cabo Delgado to visit volunteers, then back to Nampula City of a Peace Corps conference, then to Ilha de Mocambique for my birthday and beer olympics...Don't worry next post I will talk about beer olympics.

Soooo after the many break-ins and me being unhappy, the school decided to let me clean an unused classroom where I can have my club activities so I will be starting my club back up 2nd trimester.

Thank you all for the continued support and encouragement. It DOES NOT go unnoticed.