Look beyond the stars

Friday October 29, 2010

I had the most rewarding Edson’s class today. We read a scrip on commits and meteorites. It was a bit advanced for the class but as I explained it paragraph by paragraph, I had never seen eyes so engaged. Only a few of them knew what the solar system was, but even they didn’t know the planets or how they all orbited around the sun. I have a thirty year old in my class that remembered when there was an eclipse, he was so curious how it happened and why. I explained to them that most of the stars were bigger than the sun, but they were so far away that they look tiny. With the language barrier it’s hard to give the full effect of the lesson, but I figure that if they are learning even small bits and enjoying it then I have made a difference. At the end of our lesson I had them all draw a picture of the image they saw in their head after our discussion. Every picture was different but well thought out and interesting what got across through broken communication. The only thing that would be better is to have the resources to give them the full effect.

Tonight we went out to dinner at a near resort, Beach Lodge. It is a beautiful 5 star hotel and restaurant. Even there you will see geckos climbing the wall in the midst of your meal. A girlfriend and I split a brick oven pizza for dinner. There were a few choices but we agreed it had to be something familiar from home. There was nothing traditional about it, but it was delicious.

After dinner we went out as a bon voyage party for my nearest and dearest roommates. Who would have thought that there would be clubs in a small Mozambique village? Well there are, and many of them. It is very important to stay together and like any other place you have the good the bad and the drunk. We had a blast and danced to a live African band out on a large cement patio that opened up to the beach. The air was hot but it was fairly windy.

We finally made it back home around 2am. As I just finished getting ready for bed I had a mental flash from home. It should be about 6pm in San Francisco. My brother should have just finished his P.E. test and having one of the most relieving drinks at the bar he ever had, then on to enjoy a well-deserved sight seeing weekend in the city. I have never seen anyone with so much determination and dedication for what they want to achieve. I’m sure you did well. It’s finally over, ahhhhh…. ;)