The Countdown Is On!

It is now 14 days until I get to come home for Christmas. I am so excited to see everyone again. I have been day dreaming about Christmas trees, turkey, and yes I am dreaming of snow. Things have been very busy here with guests coming and going for a month straight as well as just trying to stay on top of my regular work. I am really looking forward to the break. A couple weekends ago I took a weekend away just to get some rest. I think the most challenging thing about this job is that you live and work with the same people all the time. There is little privacy and independance. So I took a weekend and didn't answer my phone, didn't see or talk to anyone at work. It was a great break. I stayed in downtown Maputo and got to enjoy a little more of the Maputo culture. One night right outside the hotel there was a huge 'FAMA' concert. This is Mozambique's version of Idol. So I got to enjoy great African singers trying to sing western pop and not doing a very good job of it. The amzing thing was that thousands of people came for the show and most of the time the crowd was louder than the performers. Overall it was a refreshing weekend and seeing it end was the hardest part. The pictures are from my hotel room balcony.

So before I head home I have lots of work to do. I will be going to one of our bases this week to do their month end and then to our other base next week. So it will be lots of travelling before I get on the plane. But I hope it will make the time go quickly. It's almost crunch time to make a decision if I will stay for another year or not. Latley I have had a daily decision because I can't seem to make one that lasts longer than a day. I have told my country director that I will have a more concrete decision by the time I come home from holidays. So please pray with me as I decide what to do. Sorry it's a short update but I will hopefully get to see you all soon.

Here are the pictures that I couldn't get to post with my last entry - Enjoy!

Maputo Weekends

Well it is the end of a busy week and the beginning of a busier one. When I am in Maputo I have to admit that I live for the weekends. Lately my weeks have been full of more work that I can do and I seem to get very little accomplished. But weekends here are very relaxing and enjoyable. There are not a lot of things to do in Maputo but enough to keep me busy. At least once during the weekend I find my way to a coffee shop to enjoy a coffee and pastry. There is one theater here that plays one movie and it changes once a week so if the movie is good I will head out with some Brazilian and Mozambiquan friends to enjoy Mozambique's latest flick and some sweet popcorn. But most of all I love to hit the beach. It only takes me 20 minutes to walk to the beach and check out what is happening there.

This is not a beach that you lay out on a towel and soak up the rays but it's a beach none the less. Maputo is located on a bay so the water is rather polluted and dirty. Some of the local kids will strip down to their underwear and jump in for a swim but other than that most people just walk along the sand. The other 'cool' thing to do is to park your car with your stereo blasting and sit on the hood and meet with friends. I'm not in with the cool kids yet so I usually walk along the sand and people watch. On Saturdays the piers are lined with wedding parties. If you get married in Maputo, you have to go to the beach and have the whole wedding party (and a marching band if you have one) walk out onto the pier and have pictures taken. So one by one the wedding parties wait their turn to have their time on the pier. It's rather humorous to watch one wedding party walking off as another one walks on and they stop to greet each other as they pass. Hey Sharon, I think this should be a consideration for your wedding plans!

I can never seem to have a beach day without a big bowl of boiled clams that usually costs me about $4. The trick is to find a place that serves them without sand. As I sit and eat my clams I get a constant barrage of people selling their goods. Everything from DVD's to wood carvings pass by with a plead to buy from them because today they have a great deal for me! Then there are the kids that ask for money for food. They are usually from poor families that have come with their friends for a day at the beach and they didn't bring food and don't want to go home to get some. They are fun to chat with and love to have their pictures taken. Those are some of my Maputo weekend adventures. But yes even in Africa Monday follows Sunday and it's back to work.