Year 2, week 1 teaching….SO much better than Year 1 week 1. I was looking over my lesson plan notebook from last year, and it was embarrassing. So difficult to read. I wrote out every little word I was going to say and it included things like ‘We are going to have a lot of fun with science this year!’ and ‘You need to help me by telling me when you are not understanding-there is no such thing as a dumb question.’ So different this year. I walked in and was like ‘Listen up. I talk; you pay attention and don’t look me in the eye.’ Ha, I’m kidding, that would be really mean. But I did try not to smile much and talked about rules and left out all fluffy things like ‘science is fun’. And maybe it’s just because it was week 1, but the students were so quiet and all of them were paying attention! I don’t know how much longer I can keep up the really strict act though, because they are so small and cute! Maybe another week or so before nice Professora Stefania comes to class…

We had a real break in, more than just spices, right before school started. When we were out of town, someone broke my window, bent back the grate, and climbed on in. They absolutely ransacked my room and took the most random stuff ever. Luckily I had all my important electronics on me, but they took my good America toiletries and America trashy magazines and America work out videos. And rice and margarine and all but 1 box of matches. So that was disturbing. I really do not think Mozambicans appreciate the same ‘bikini body’ that those work out videos aim to achieve. What a waste.