TGIF

Just as I have always loved going to school, I have also always LOVED the weekends. The hands on the clock on Friday afternoons have always seemed to crawl as I have longingly stared at them, eager for the weekend to begin. As a student, I never realized that teachers look forward to the weekends as much or more than the kids. Growing up, weekends meant pool parties, bbqs, slumber parties, church, movies, basketball games, KFC lunches, Saturday morning cartoons, and of course TGIF on Friday nights. Every kid growing up in the early nineties should be well-acquainted with Urkel, the Tanner family, and curly-haired Cory Matthews. (side note: when my family went to Mexico this past summer, we were on the same plane as Pauly Shore and Ben Savage- they were not travelling together for the record- and after debating if it truly was the infamous "Cory Matthews" grown-up, we heard another group of girls in their twenties giggling and talking about Topanga and we knew it was him. And yes, that is how you spell her name, I looked it up.) Those of you who have no idea what I am talking about- I am sorry but you have been deprived of some high quality television and I didn't even mention the golden goose of shows growing up: Saved By the Bell.

In thinking about my weekends here in Mozambique, I came to the realization that lately they have been surprisingly similar to my weekends growing up.

Weekends here have often consisted of BBQs and pool parties. Just tonight we had yet another "Brazilian style BBQ" which includes incredibly salty steak which is delicious.
When I hear "pool party," I assume everyone will be swimming. Wrong. Apparently in grown-up language, pool party means, "kids can swim but grown-ups just stand by the pool." Still very unfamiliar with this foreign language, I wore my suit or "swimming costume" as it is referred to over here, and was very disappointed to find only children in the pool. Since it was over 100 degrees, of course I couldn't resist jumping in and teaching all the kids my favorite pool games. Then I went and pushed off the wall too hard during a round of "colors" and my bottoms were at my ankles. Excellent. One of the girls in the pool is a student of mine and I'm pretty positive she saw my white rear- teacher/student relationship forever changed.

The following is a list of things to expect at a typical slumber party at the Hardeman household when I was growing up: movies, junk food, frozen undies, toilet papering, sleeping bag game and chocolate whirlpool game (don't ask), giggling, and a terrifying lecture from my tired, grumpy dad in the middle of the night. There were no frozen undergarments or toilet papering trips at last weeks' slumber party at Lisa and Sabina's, but there was plenty of giggling, junk food, and movie watching. (Granted the "junk food" was banana bread instead of banana splits but it was still sweet. I highly recommend Juno by the way- hilarious.) I am so thankful for Lisa and Sabina because we can all act very grown-up at times but when we're alone, we can get a bit well...I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.















































Some things I would like to point out before you can: 1- the rat tail was intentional. 2- apparently my chin disappears into my neck when I sleep. Lisa looks quite angelic while I was drooling and catching flies- thanks a lot Sabina.

Of course church was always an essential part of weekends growing up. I have so many fond memories from Super book Olympics and years of Sunday School at EV Free. I also have vivid memories of squirming and suffering through "big church" during second service. ( I still regret that I was too young to appreciate Chuck Swindoll's preaching) Unfortunately, when I listen to the sermons at the International Church, those same feelings of being trapped in big church resurface. Although they are speaking English, I have to use every ounce of concentration to understand the words they are say and even then, I usually don't understand the point of their message. I confess that I often zone out and read the Bible so I won't fall asleep. How I wish there was a 7 11 across the street so I could come better prepared like I used to!
I don't mean to sound so negative about church here- I love the worship and the time of fellowship. I've finally stopped giggling at the worship leader who opens his eyes way too wide when he sings and have greatly appreciated the worship. Natasha, one of my seniors, is the female lead and has an incredible voice but shares the mic with a girl who may in fact be tone deaf. The other day she was so off that even I, who am pretty tone deaf myself, cringed and then couldn't suppress my laughter when I looked at Natasha's face who couldn't hide her look of surprise and confusion.

Feeling deprived of "spiritual food," I have been listening to the podcasts from Francis Chan and learning and growing from these amazing messages about grace and a right view of God. I highly recommend you listen to his message from February 24 about having a heart for worship. He talks about how all our problems can be solved if we have the right view of God and goes into the passages where prophets have seen God and attempted to describe Him. If we caught just a glimpse of Him, our lives would be radically different: our priorities would shift, our attitudes would change, our problems would shrink. I am praying now for glimpses of God so that I might have a larger view of Him and more reverence for Him. That being said, here is my latest theme song:

I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk
By your side

I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When your face
Is before me
I can only imagine

[Chorus:]
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine

I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself
Standing in the Son

I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever
Forever worship You
I can only imagine

I realize this song is so overplayed on the radio that it sadly has lost some of it's power but reading the lyrics, I am again reminded of the day when I will meet God face to face and that blows me away. I am trying to imagine this future encounter every morning as I wake up to help me live in a way that will please this great, holy, awesome God we serve.

I also have been attending a worship service on Sunday nights at the US ambassador's home. (OK he's actually the Chargé d'Affaires but I didn't know what that was beforehand and assume most people don't and didn't want to sound like know-it-all throwing in that term and pretending like everyone should know what it is. When Sabina first met him, she asked him what he did at the US Embassy and he said, "Well, I run it." Ha- I'm glad she asked instead of me.) I love these informal services because many of my students attend with their families and the worship is wonderful and I feel like the early Church meeting in a home. However, last Sunday they sang a song a bit too high and knowing my limits, I quit trying right away but Lisa kept going and finally stopped when she saw my shoulders shaking from laughing so hard at her try to hit the incredibly high notes. I also often find myself chuckling during songs because we often sing "Awesome God" by Rich Mullins and I can't help but picture Heidi and I singing it when we were little, thinking we were rapping. ("For the Lord wasn't jokin when he kicked him out of Eden. It wasn't for no reason that He shed His blood..." Gosh we were cool Heid.)

Movies will forever be a part of my weekends and I hope my future husband loves them as much as I do and is willing to "movie-hop" with me. We may not have a Blockbuster here, but Isaac is even better. Isaac is the guy who sells me pirated DVDs which are excellent quality. However, I went against my better judgement and bought, "There Will be Blood" since it was nominated for an Oscar and getting great reviews. Not only was it a terribly boring movie in my opinion, it was quite dark and I watched it with a bunch of missionaries who seemed quite offended when the movie mocked the Church. When it was over Henrik looked at me and said, "Are you embarrassed that you just subjected a bunch of missionaries to that?" Thanks Henrik. Now I am. If you are tempted to debate with me about the merits of this movie and it's central message about greed, the cinematography, yada yada yada, I don't want to hear it- it sucked. Period. However, I have also had great movie experiences- Isaac recommended the movie Once to me and I LOVED it! It's a musical set in Ireland and although a bit slow, the music is amazing and it has a great story.

Instead of watching Saturday morning cartoons, I woke up a few weekends ago and watched Benchwarmers which was on TV A missionary couple was staying in Madalena's room since she had been gone for a few weeks and they joined me in front of the tube. It must have made for an odd site when Henrik walked in to see me sprawled out on the couch in my PJ's watching a somewhat crude comedy with a highly-respected elderly missionary couple, all of us laughing hysterically at David Spade and Napoleon Dynamite. (who knows his real name?) If you haven't seen it, this is another recommendation if you enjoy stupid humor. Trent and Travis are my brothers so of course I have aacquired an appreciation for this type of humor.

The basketball games on the weekends growing up were either mine, Heidi's, the boys', or my dads' teams'. So basically, we spent thousands of hours inside of gyms. The basketball played here a few Friday's ago was quite different. One of my students suggested a "teachers vs. students" game and it finally came together although the teachers only had 5 participants. (remember- we only have 13 teachers total) We took on about 15 kids and barely won, but yes, we won- that's all that matters. Our star player was our librarian from Kenya who is literally blind in one eye and has uglier shooting form than my mom. (sorry mom) She got a blister and said she couldn't continue to run so we parked her under the basket we were shooting at and would chuck the ball to her once Heldio or I got the ball on defense. She actually made about one out of every 10 shots from right under the basket and considering she took about 50 shots, she racked up the points for us. It was pretty hilarious and yes, of course I got competitive and even snapped at Heldio who tried to give me incorrect advice. I need to work on not becoming Dr. Jeckle on the court. (or is the bad one Mr. Hide?) Besides the blind librarian, we also had Xeniaon the teachers' squad. She is the school secretary and pretty much keeps the school running and I love her because she can be totally random and she is Russian! Those of you know me well, know that I ooccasionallyspeak in a Russian accent and to be able to hear a real one every day is so fun for me. Heldio is in front to the right and although he's very "Americanized" he still makes English errors and says funny things like "humping the horn" instead of "honking the horn" and he does wonderful imitations of the other teachers. Golden is to the left and I've never before met someone who is as chipper and hyper as this man is every single day. I have a theory that his wife slips speed into his morning coffee. It was such a fun match and the kids are already demanding a rematch.

After church growing up, we used to beg our parents for KFC. I'm not sure why we loved that chicken so much but we did and ironically KFC is the only fast food in Maputo. (it does not taste the same though) Last weekend we went out to lunch with the whole OC team to a seafood restaurant right on the beach. The fish I ordered had some mondo chompers and stared at me the whole meal. (See picture) A bit different from KFC but equally delicious. We were celebrating the arrival of our newest teamates, the Franks! I met Tony and Leila back in June during training and a long and frustrating process, they have finally arrived. I enjoy them both so much and am thrilled they are finally here. We had a game night last weekend and I realized Tony and I have something in common: we are both gamers. Definition of a gamer: one who loves games and is overly competitive in ALL types of games. Competent players who are determined to win at all costs. We played a rousing rendition of "Cin-QUE!" in which you have to describe and act out celebrities. The highlight was when a very animated Doug tried to act out Winnie the Pooh by skipping, getting stuck in a hole, floating away with an umbrella, winning a race and finally- using the toilet. They never guessed it and we let the time go past just so we could watch him continue on the pot.

Weekends here also mean plenty of long runs with Gizmo, naps in the hammock, grading papers, and trips to the icecream shop. (I was recently mocked because the only times I use Portuguese are to say, "I don't speak Portuguese. All is well with me, thank you- Is all well with you? and I would like 2 scoops in a cup of Cookies and Straciatella, please.") Dinners out with friends are also a regular occurance on the weekends. In the picture I am at the Thai restaurant down the street with 3 fellow teachers.

Sometimes I feel guilty for longing for the weekends like I do. I love teaching but I think it would be impossible to teach with energy and patience without a weekend of rest. Good thinking God:)