Look Ma, I'm blogging

Mozambican's Law
The Mozambican version of Murphy's Law is this: if that American woman starts blogging, turn off the power.  Internet connection has been less than sporadic and has the attention span of a gnat.  A battle to get in and a war to stay connected.  Difficult enough under "normal" circumstances but complicated even more by power outages, which have been numerous.  Every time the power goes out we have to reset everything.  We learned the hard way it is not just the connection that matters, it is the order in which it is done.  Instead of 1-2-3, we were doing 1-3-2.  Since that seems to be the way most things operate here, it should have worked.  The IPad often continues to work for emails.  According to the IT guru it has something to do with short waves and long waves (cut and highlights?).

Who knows where the time goes?

It has been a while - sometimes it seems like a LONG while - since my last post.  Some things have changed - a great trip to South Africa and a job.  Some things have not - we are still in the same house living out of our suitcases and eating off the Corelle plates that came with the Welcome Kit.  We do have a new apartment as of August 1. Just not quite move-in ready.  As in it had not been painted for 4 years and none of the lights worked.  On August 12, patching of walls and removal of dysfunctional light fixtures commenced.  As of August 14 the walls that had been patched were not painted and the walls that had not been patched were painted.  Light fixtures had been removed but not replaced.  We need to move next weekend.  Too bad the timing does not work for a Halloween Haunted House.  On the plus side, the views from the verandah are fantastic and we often go at sunset with cheese, crackers and a bottle of wine.  Things always seem better on the way out than they do on the way in.

Current balcony view - the water truck filling the cisterns

News flash!  We are actually (almost) moved!

A contrast in  black and white

South Africa is a beautiful country and Capetown rivals any city in the world.  It is defined by Table Mountain and water and is in easy driving distance of gorgeous wine country and a northern Californian-like coastline.  If it also weren't also defined by apartheid it would be perfect. 

Looking up at Table Mountain

Looking down from Table Mountain

We had a wonderful respite enjoying drinking water of the tap, walking on pavement, spending time with our son and seeing Fishhoek where he lives, and taking full advantage of the wine country.

Fishhoek Beach

Visited the town of Hermanus, known for viewing whale migrations.  We were early in the season, although we did see some whales and fell in love with the town. 




            Seals sleeping upside down

But wait - there's more - a bonus side trip to Betty's Bay to visit the largest penguin colony outside of Antarctica.



March of the Penguins at Betty's Bay

Brian is working with a UK based volunteer group, supervising programs for children and youth in the townships.  We visited one day care site housing 35 infants and pre-schoolers in two rooms smaller than most American family living/dining areas.  The outside play area was minimal and the main attraction was a small sinkhole in the concrete the kids have turned into a sandbox. Kudos to the woman who runs the center, the volunteers who give their time and my son for his commitment.

 


The three of us spent several days in Stellenbosch touring vineyards.  Stellenbosch is an old university town, quite charming and quite dominated by whites and money.  The contrast from the townships was literally a black and white experience.

Seidelberg Vineyard near Stellenbosch
Table Mountain in background

Goat tower at Fairview Vineyard.  The goat cheese here
 was as good as the wine.



This is a marriage cup.  The couple each drinks out of one side at the same time but the woman is not allowed to use her hands.  The first person to finish is "in charge".  Guess who won?



Life in a freezer
Mozambican Law number 2: have the coldest winter ever when Pam and Carl arrive.  All we heard before we came was how hot it was here so packed appropriately with all summer wear.  We have now come to agree with the locals that it is COLD.  Our house, as are pretty much all buildings, is constructed of cinder block and concrete effectively creatingthe ambience and warmth of a dungeon.  Some days we wear more clothes inside than out. 

Let the games begin
Maputo will be hosting the All African games in mid-September.  There is a "push" to get things ready.  There is a praca (circle) nearby that is apparently part of the beautify Mozambique campaign.  They have been digging dirt and pushing it around for about a month.  There is also a pile of plants.  The plants have yet to make it into the dirt.  This is also the only place in town that has a disguised utility pole and box.  See if you can find them in the pictures.

Alphabet Soup

Oh yeah, the job.  What was I thinking?  I am now the Communications person for the Mozambique Center for Disease Control office.  Work is from 7:30 - 5:30 and because I am the eligible family member (EFM - read dependent) there is an automatic salary reduction to about one-third of what any sane individual would want to be paid.  CDC is populated almost entirely by staff with highly technical and or medical backgrounds.  To date the job is composed largely of deciphering acronyms on multiple tiers: the U.S. Government (USG); the Center for Disease Control (CDC), which is under Health and Human Services (HHS); medical terminology (not even trying on this one); and, because the focus here is HIV/AIDS using PEPFAR funds, another layer of terms unique to that culture.  See what you can guess below:

ANC, AVT, OVC, CT, MISSAU, DPS, HES, HESS, MC, MICS, MIS, MOH, NRTI, NNRTI, SDP, SI, QIP, QAP, ABC and 1,2,3...
(Please send answers to P Doran, c/o/ CDC)

Journey to the center of the earth
Potholes, often qualifying as sinkholes large enough to swallow small children, are ubiquitous.  Occasionally one gets filled in only to create two more.  Perhaps a variation of the moving dirt piles.  Speed bumps are present outside all ex-pat or high end areas.  The odd thing is drivers will do whatever they can to go around the speed bumps only to sink into a 2 foot hole on the other side.  I have been told much of the work has been done by the Chinese.  Maybe there is lead in the pavement as well.

Move it or lose it
There are several military and/or presidential compounds in Maputo, recognizable by white-washed walls and relatively clean sidewalks.  There are also guards.  Throughout the city there are piles of broken concrete along the streets and sidewalks, remnants of the potholes.  Apparently these piles can indicate a no-walk zone.  Found this out after stepping over a pile and having a guard chase me with a gun.  In contrast, the smaller city of Nampula had a smaller compound and a smaller pile of rocks.  There the guard just clapped at me.  Life in the big city.

To have or have not
This is a culture of haves and have-nots.  Unlike many third world countries and our experience with Latin America, it does not have a highly visible and concentrated area of wealth.  Rich and poor are sometimes separated by just a wall in the City and there does not seem to be enough of a wealthy class to support concentrated consumerism.  However, since we arrived two large South African based grocery stores have opened in the City.  Now we can buy four rolls of dollar store quality paper towels for $12.  The plus side is you can now probably find what you want; the down side is it takes a paycheck.  Cost of living is cheap if you are willing to buy off the street vendors and clean your vegetables with bleach.  Otherwise this is a surprisingly expensive place to live.


And as the sun sets...
Later these days.  We now have light until almost 6.  Everyone keeps saying the weather will be hot soon and we have paper towels of sorts.  A friend from the states was here last week and brought us New Yorker magazines, Sports Illustrated for Carl and Fitness for me.  I am looking forward to thin thighs and killer abs.  As they say here....ciao, ciao.

These boys were watching a very fancy carnival at the Portuguese International School.  It is emblematic of how I often feel - on the outside looking ibn.