Mozambican Martha

Nalia goes to horseback riding every Friday, and while she's riding, I usually talk with my friend Kevin.  Kevin went to Tulane with me, and I didn't know him well then, but through Friday afternoon horseback riding, I've gotten to know him a little better.  He and his wife have been in Mozambique for 10 years--first, we was the director of Habitat for Humanity, but then decided he wanted to do something else and opened up a coffee shop called Cafe Sol.  They bring coffee from Malawi and roast it in Mozambique.  It's good coffee. 
A couple of weeks ago, Kevin told me that they're ready to leave Mozambique and do something else...  'You know, mid-life stuff,' he explained. 'You get to a point in your life and realize you're not going to do all the important things you thougth you would, and you won't advance in your career like you thought you might... and you realize you're just an ordinary person.  But it's good.  It's ok.'  So, in the next chapter of their lives, Kevin and his wife want to work on an organic farm in Yolo County, California. 

I think I've been going full speed for say.. the last 15 years, and I hadn't really even stopped to breathe and think about any of this.  After Kevin said this, my fist thought was, 'Well, maybe he's middle aged, but not me...wait, oh shit.  He's right.  I'm 36 and that means that statistically, my life is about half over!'  That's me, the positive one.  But really, I have half my life left.  However, given who I am and how my life has been over so long, I hadn't even reduced the momentum long enough to consider any of this.  Living in the U.S., working full-time with two little kids, I couldn't reduce the momentum. 

That's why we came here, to slow the pace and do more of the things I longed for but could never do in the U.S. Sure, we did bike rides and went to the park and pool, but I was always rushing.  I was always exhausted.  There was a lot of stress.

Here, I've had a lot more time to consider this short beautiful life.  Part of the reason we came here was because I wanted to have more time with the kids-- to cook, swim, do art projects.  Last week, we picked lemons from the tree outside our house and made lemonade.  The same day, our chicken started laying eggs...last weekend, we made a parking garage for Elio's Matchbox cars out of a cereal box... it was great.  Since I've had a chance to consider more what I want for my family and for myself, I feel myself being pulled more and more towards domesticity.  Just call me Mozambican Martha.  I've been planting herbs and flowers.  I've spent a lot of time on allrecipes.com, printing out recipes for Oatmeal Carrot Muffins and Chinese Chicken Fried Rice.  And I actually make them.  Sometimes they're even good (according to Matias).

Zinnias in our garden

The words from Kevin made me think about how much time I've spent in my life apologizing for who I am... true, I'm impatient, I do things too fast, sometimes I'm defensive and don't listen, I can be cynical.  I feel guilty about too many things, and then feel guilty about feeling guilty.  But doesn't it really take your whole life to get to know yourself, work on the things you're not so good at, and figure out how to use the things you are good at to make the world a better place?  Also, another thing I'm finding out, as a mom, is that I need to take time to do the things I love!  And, for me, that's what I've missed... so, in the next postings, I'll start sharing my recipes, craft projects, recommendations for good books. 

Mozambican mailbox, aka Blackhole

Photos of Kruger Park

Below are some recent pictures of our trip to Kruger last weekend.  I showed Elio the picture of his passport and he told me, "Elio was sad that day.  He didn't like people taking his picture."  Poor Elio... he does look pretty glum. 

King of the Savanna after the kill

The hippos are the same color as the rocks!

At our hotel in Nelspruit



Fist time swimming with Floaties... all by himself!

 It's still hotter than Hades here, but I'm getting used to dripping in sweat by 7AM.  Funny how adaptable we are as human beings... today a pick-up truck full of policemen toting AK47s passed me on my way to work.  Here, there are two types of policeman.  Fat ones in white uniforms called Policia Transito-- Traffic Police.  They are fat because they take bribes from all the chapas (minibuses).  Then, there are what Mozambicans call Cinzentinhos, or little gray guys.  They are all skinny young guys and they are the ones who get to hold the AK47s.  Twenty years ago, I would have beem scared by all these machine guns, but now I hardly notice.  Yes, we are adapable...

At the Mall

Finally, we got out of Mozambique.  The kids received their Mozambican passports on January 31, and I told Matias that we HAD to get out that weekend.  I just needed a break from the heat, grime, dirt, people asking me for every favor under the sun.  So Saturday morning, we left at 6AM for South Africa and drove through Kruger Park on our way to Nelspruit.  Nelspruit was one of the host cities for the 2010 World Cup, but more important than this, it has a MALL… and a McDonalds. 

We didn’t see as many animals in Kruger as we did the first time we went—during the dry season, it’s much easy to see the animals because there’s not as much bush and the animals tends to aggregate around the water holes.  However, we were treated to seeing a male lion that had just killed a huge buffalo.  We got within about 20ft of him… he was satiated into total apathy, tummy full of the buffalo, and probably wouldn’t have touched us if we’d walked up to him.  We were also fortunate to see a very large male elephant up close, and even more exciting for the kids, we got to see him pee.  Nalia was trying to make comparisons on how much pee he’d made… bathtub full?  No, more than that.  20 buckets full… yes, maybe that.

We spent the night at a beautiful lodge near Nelspruit that had live animals roaming around the grounds- we opened the door to find an ostrich next to the car.  The next day, we went to McDonalds for breakfast… and that sausage McMuffin was so tasty.  Then, we fulfilled Nalia’s dream and hit the mall!  There’s a Chuck e Cheese type play area there, and Elio was so excited that he forgot about the bathroom and went right there next to the Skee Ball machine.  After 4 hours of mall roaming, we hit the Pick n’ Pay, or the South African equivalent of Safeway.  This was the exciting part for me… because you can save so much money by buying groceries in S.A.  Almost all packaged food in Mozambique comes from there, so the prices are a lot higher.

On the way out we stopped at Claire’s boutique so Nalia could get her ears re-pierced… amidst all the mayhem of moving, I forgot to put earrings in and her ears closed up.  She was so determined to do it—she didn’t shed one tear the whole time.  The ladies at Claire’s said they had never seen a child not cry, so they gave her a certificate. 

 After all the shopping and piercing was done, we hit the road for the border.  I asked Nalia what her impression of the trip was, and she sighed and said, “It was FANTASTIC.  It was the best day of my life.  My favorite part was the mall.”

Below... a couple of pictures from January.  Pictures of Kruger Park tomorrow!

Museum of Natural History, Maputo

Our new kitten, Little

Nalia's fist day of 2nd grade!

Mr. Elio... hair keeps getting straighter!



Museum of Natural History, Maputo