The past couple of weeks have gone by very fast, but I'm not sure why. Jon went on a class trip to a camp in Hekpoort, South Africa. It sounds like he had a good time. The camp was on a large game preserve that had many animals. On one of the walks he took through the bush, he came across a skull of a Wildebeest that had its horns on it. Jon was able to bring it home with him which was very cool. Maybe we will be able hang it up on a wall somewhere in Jon's room or perhaps somewhere else.
We have had a visitor this week from Stone Mountain. His name is Flat Stanley. You may have heard of him...he gets around =). We are very happy to host him here in Maputo and want to give a big thanks to our friend Caleb Stansberry for sending him to us. I can't wait for Caleb and his class to hear about all that Flat Stanley did here.
I rode down to Nelspruit, South Africa last week. A friend was going to have his landcruiser worked on and invited me to go along. Nelspruit is a very american type of city; you can find just about anything you need there, and the cost of goods is much cheeper than Maputo.
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 "*!^%$#@#^ ?" (That's what I heared anyway). He was speaking to her in a language called Shangaan, which is a tribal language that was spoken before the portugese colonized here. I was standing here thinking "Great I only know a few Portuguese words I can say and now I have to figure this out?" So, I bought the shrimp, the lady asked(translating through Americo)when I wanted her to come back with more. America said to just get here cell phone number and call her when I was ready. I put in her number and asked for her name, Americo was speaking Shangaan, she was speaking Shangaan, and I was trying to type on my cell phone. After a few minutes, Americo gave up and said, "Just call her the Fish Lady".
We also have a man that comes three days a week and cooks for us. His name is Americo. He speaks English as well as Portuguese and has been a great help to us. He works for a few other American people here and has been full time cooking for around ten years. He was here late one day so I offered him a ride home so he wouldn't have to wait for the bus. It was great to go to his house and meet his wife. He was telling me how excited his children would be to meet me, but it was late, and they were already in bed when we arrived. Americo has been a great help to me by translating for the guards. Maybe one of the most times he did this was whenthings was when this woman that came by the house one day. This lady came by, and I wasnt really sure what she wanted. The guard had opened the gate and said a couple of things to her and then turned around and looked at me. I was thinking "what?" He said "camarao?" I looked at him with a puzzled look, walked over, looked in the bucket, and let out an "OH! SHRIMP...hang on a minute let me go get Americo". He came out of the house and first thing he says to the lady was "*!^%$#@#^ ?" (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".
Spring Break
Spring Break in Mozambique. A first! We were invited by some friends to go camping/diving in a small town about 7 hours north of Maputo. There were five families altogether: 11 kids and 10 adults. Our destination was a camp on the beach at Praia Da Barra. Most of the road was good and the drive up was beautiful. Check out Google Earth and look at Mozambique. You will see many of these inland lakes that are along the coast line. They are cut off from the Indian Ocean by large sand dunes that are covered by vegetation. I have heard people call Mozambique the "Lagoon Coast" and to see it with our own eyes was amazing. To look out over a big blue lagoon and then just over the dune is the Indian Ocean, it was incredible. Jon and I went diving while we were on the trip; at a dive center in Tofo (about 15 minutes from our camp). The reef they took us to was not very big, but was full of life. One reallly interesting part of going to these places is the people you meet. As we were talking to our dive master we found that he had recently finished a road trip from England to South Africa. I know a guy who drove from Snellville to Minnesota to harvest cranberry's, which is pretty awesome too! : ). The funny thing about this guy is he is leaving his job at the dive center in Mozambique to go to Tucson, Arizona to be with his American girlfriend. Sam and Spencer love being at the beach we all had so much fun playing in the warm water and hanging out on the beach.
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