Just another working Saturday

I slept in until 7:30 this morning. That was a treat.

Then I returned to my lovely breakfast; most was the same as the day before. This time I managed to get a couple of pictures off.



The pastry and fruit table



Breakfast

There was a miscommunication between two drivers so I waited outside of my hotel this morning for over an hour before the car came for me. It wasn't so bad. I got to people watch and after a short time I realized I was being watched as well as vendors started to walk past me hawking their goods -- belts necklaces, drums. The drum salesman was especially adamant as I needed to support Mozambique by spending money.





I tried to blow on the flag to make it
flap in the wind, but no luck

 The car did finally arrive with one of my new colleagues already in the car. This driver was actually playing African music on the radio, but he didn't know where I could buy such music. This is going to be tougher than I thought.

Work was really good today. My colleagues really appreciated learning about pivot tables and after following a hunch and an idea that my colleagues gave me, I was able to solve a reporting problem that I've been working on for weeks. It was a really productive morning.

In the afternoon we called it a day and Dan took me to the market. It would have been Mom's worst nightmare. Not only is each vendor with a sheet on the ground trying to get your attention, but there are dozens of mobile vendors who smell fresh meat and descend. Please Madame, I make you a good price. You need this to remember Mozambique! A gift for your family! Look at this special mask! Please Madame I am hungry! I will give you five for 200 metical! ($7.40) Then they start yelling at each other. Go away, she is speaking to me! Madame, don't listen to him. One even said,  I am already helping my large friend, here. Who do I end up finding there, but my drum-selling friend from the hotel in the morning. I did end up buying from him. At times it became impossible to move forward because of all of the mobile vendors following you and trying to get you to buy. They even followed us to the car and one even had his hand preventing me from shutting the door until the driver threatened to slam the door on him.

I think I did ok. Overall, I got several lovely gifts, but the one I'm most excited about is this one. It was made by the vendor and the brakes even work. It's springs and twisted metal. Those are little water bottles attached to the frame. Now, if only I can figure out who to give it to.

I went to dinner at a mall next door to my hotel. Of course, on the way, I was nagged to buy a painting. I don't know the name of the name of the mall yet, but it was tall (five stories) and narrow; the parking lot is unbelievably small and cars regularly park each other in; some of the floors end in odd dead ends in the shops. The fourth floor had several restaurants. I ended up at one called Big Blue.

I had a lovely seafood soup which appeared to be a lentil soup base with large pieces of fish, calamari, mussels, shrimp and cilantro. The number of staff had greatly outnumbered the patrons. Around 7PM there were 6 diners at 3 tables including me and I counted at least 8 waiters, 6 kitchen staff, a hostess and a woman who looks like a manager. For dinner I finally got to try Piri Piri Chicken. There was decidedly less meat on the chicken that I am accustomed to, but it was more flavorful that I am accustomed to as well. It was delicious and my mouth has almost stopped burning.

So here are my random observations today.

• I wish I had gotten a picture of the group of youngsters gathered around a checkerboard that was painted on the top of a short wall. They were using pieces of broken asphalt from the road for black and pieces of broken tile for white.
• I have not noticed anyone stopping or coming even close to acknowledging stop signs. They appear to be a suggestion only. With that exception they seem to be pretty tame drivers and traffic patterns are entirely reasonable.
• I have noticed this awkward pause after working with certain people. For example, I paid the waiter for dinner last night and he remained at our table for several moments and then Dan paid the tip. Apparently, one isn't supposed to leave the tip on the table.
• On a similar point, the automatic tip amount for parties of more than 18 people is 10%
• I wish I could convey certain sounds that I hear. There is a regular "Okay" and then there is a special "Ookaaaaay" where the pitch goes up and then down in a way that sounds almost like admiration. I think it's an expression of a bit of surprise.

A poor attempt to get flag pictures for my brother.

• I wish I had gotten a picture of a woman we passed in the car who had a box AND a bag on her head and a live, moving crab in her hand.
• I actually saw a picture of the Mozambique flag flapping in the wind for my brother David, but by the time I got my camera out and on all I got was...
• All of Maputo seems to spend their evenings near here at the wall that separates the beach from the road. They are listening to music and drinking beer (they were surprised and amused by our open bottle laws. It's a very social affair.
• There is some indoor public smoking, but I had imaged it would be oppressive. It's far from so.
• They seem to use the word vegetable and vegetarian interchangeably.
• I wish I had gotten a picture of dinners at other tables being served in large wooden boats.
• The time to call the bank and ask them not to shut you off is BEFORE you leave the country.
• When you use up the 150 MB you bought at the hotel and the message on the screen says, "Please feel free to purchase more internet time from the receptionist, " that doesn't mean the receptionist won't give you a disapproving reproach for using your internet too quickly.

Paintings for sale hanging at the market

For more pictures see: More Photos available here