moving and mice, rain and birthday cake

On Friday morning we went to clean and prepare my house to be moved in to. We hung up the curtains and got the mosquito net up on the bars, but then the string snapped. After that we were going through the cabinets to make sure there weren't any places that need to be dusted. When we checked out the kitchen cabinets we discovered that some small critter, most likely a mouse, had been chewing through the tupperware. There were also some droppings left behind, and traces of other small bugs living in the area. So we have to call a fumigator and that postpones me from being able to move into my house for a couple more days.

Yesterday we had English class with three girls that meet with Lynne regularly on Saturdays to learn English. They were very shy and Lynne said this was the most they had spoken since she'd begun meeting with them. It was fun to be able to participate and even learn a few Portuguese words and phrases myself. Later in the afternoon Lynne and I walked down the street to buy a few vegetables and other small items. The market area is close and only a short walking distance away, which is good.

This morning we had church, which was started completely by the interns, here at the house. Next to the house is an outside covered awning type area where the services are held, and also where the English class was held on Saturday. The service was great, although I didn't really understand too much of what was being said. It started raining halfway through and got really loud, which made it even harder to listen for words that I might recognize from Spanish. The worship was great as well. The service is done completely in Portuguese and translated into Changana (Tsonga) for an older woman who doesn't know Portuguese. The sermon was about James 2 and having works that go with your faith. But that you can't have faith without works, and that works without faith are useless, because even the Devil believes, and shudders.

As the service ended the rain started pouring harder. The back part of the awning had a lot of rain in it, and the weight of it cracked the wood planks that were holding up the plastic covering. Luckily it was in the back and noone was around it to get plunged under. 

 After the service I got to talk to my soon to be neighbor Mary, who is from Rwanda, which means she speaks English. Mary works at, CAM,  the same school that I'll be teaching at and has two adorable children Angel and Angelo. It was helpful to have someone that I could communicate with, then we talked to a few of the interns who also know some English. I'm still working on trying to learn their names. I then played some guitar from following what they were playing. That was entertaining for a bit. They wanted me to play a song and sing, but I couldn't really think of anything easy enough to join in on.

It is a Schmidt tradition to have a big Sunday lunch in the afternoon each week for the nine interns, Mary and Felix's family, and their family. Today was special as one of the intern's birthday was this past week. His family made him a cake, which he brought for everyone to share in celebration of his birthday. There is an enormous sense of community in this place.

I am both excited and anxious for Monday morning, when I report to school for my first day. It's going to be a good feeling to have my own classroom. There is a chance that I may be trading one subject out to teach high school US History, which could be interesting. One other thing that I'm looking forward to, that I didn't know about is that I get to teach Bible. I'm really excited for that. This week should be a great time of preparation before students arrive for the first day of class next Monday.