The Fish Lady

One part of living here that is taking some getting use to, is having people working for us at our house. Don't get me wrong, I think I will be able to adjust to it fine =). We have three men that work at our house as security guards. They are employed by a security service that contracts through the U.S. Embassy. These guys work 12 hour shifts and rotate so the same guy is not here at the same time each day of the week. They are not paid much by the company they work for. One of the guys told me he's paid 2,500 meticals per month, or 100.00 u.s. dollars. The guys we have at our house are good, hard working men that are look for opportunities to earn extra money. None of them speak English so we(or at least I)have to talk with our hands or draw pictures in the dirt. I'm sure anyone that sees us would think we were having an argument with all of the arm flailing and body motions that we do. I don't know how, but somehow we understand each other. I will sometimes tell Beth about what these guys are doing, where they live, or about there family. She always wonders how in the world I can understand all of it. We are glad to be able to help these guys out. They always wash the car, clean the pool, or do yard work, and sometimes just stand next to me while I try to enjoy a little peace and quit outside, which is usually strange.

We also have a man that comes three days a week and cooks for us. His name is Americo. He speaks English as well as Portuguese and has been a great help to us. He works for a few other American people here and has been full time cooking for around ten years. He was here late one day so I offered him a ride home so he wouldn't have to wait for the bus. It was great to go to his house and meet his wife. He was telling me how excited his children would be to meet me, but it was late, and they were already in bed when we arrived. Americo has been a great help to me by translating for the guards. Maybe one of the most times he did this was whenthings was when this woman that came by the house one day. This lady came by, and I wasnt really sure what she wanted. The guard had opened the gate and said a couple of things to her and then turned around and looked at me. I was thinking "what?" He said "camarao?" I looked at him with a puzzled look, walked over, looked in the bucket, and let out an "OH! SHRIMP...hang on a minute let me go get Americo". He came out of the house and first thing he says to the lady was "*!^%$#@#^ ?" (That's what I heared anyway). He was speaking to her in a language called Shangaan, which is a tribal language that was spoken before the portugese colonized here. I was standing here thinking "Great I only know a few Portuguese words I can say and now I have to figure this out?" So, I bought the shrimp, the lady asked(translating through Americo)when I wanted her to come back with more. America said to just get here cell phone number and call her when I was ready. I put in her number and asked for her name, Americo was speaking Shangaan, she was speaking Shangaan, and I was trying to type on my cell phone. After a few minutes, Americo gave up and said, "Just call her the Fish Lady".