Quick Update

On Wednesday I had a meeting with Daudo and we decided to meet at a restaurant a ways from our house. I set out walking along the road and ran into one of our new AIESEC members along the way. She was going the same direction so we walked together.

We arrived at the restaurant and we were just chatting while waiting for Daudo when a guy came over who was selling some small paintings. He started showing them to us and then a very strange thing happened. The AIESECer asked me, "do you like them?" and the guy kind of exploded (and in English too). It went something like this :

"Why are you asking her if she likes it? If she likes, she'll buy it. You shouldn't interfere, telling her if she like it or not. You think I don't know? You think I just sell stuff on the street? Well I have an education and I go to school. But I have to pay for my school so here I am trying to earn some money in a good way, not in a bad way. So just let her decide for herself if she likes it."

He spent the entire time talking to her and forgot to even sell the painting to me (which I wouldn't have bought anyways). When he finally finished yelling at her, he just walked away. Very random...

Daudo and I had our meeting and then he said he had a surprise for me. He took me to the two museums downtown. Unfortunatly the Natural History Museum was closed (booo..) but the Geology museum was open (and free!) so we went in and had a look around. They had a few interesting fossils and a lot of interesting looking stones, including a HUGE amathyst. I'll have to go back to the natural history museum another time.

On the way home we had a very interesting discussion about cultural differnces. He asked me if there was anything that I had experienced here that was completely different. I replied that there wasn't that much new, because I had already been to another former Portuguese colony, so I was familiar with Portuguese cultural quirks like kissing for greetings, and I had been to another African country, so I was familiar with things like eating with your hands. There are a few small things that are unique to Mozambique, like the special way that men shake hands or some of the types of food, but nothing really big that was totally new for me.

Lilian and I were also talking the other day about the things we hear the most often and came up with a list of three:

- How do you like Mozambique/Maputo?
- We are so happy to have you here!
- If you need anything, just call me

We hear these from pretty much EVERYONE we meet. Yes, Mozambicans are very friendly.

I am also improving my portuguese a lot now. I am trying to speak it more and getting more comfortable with the words. Still a long way to go, but I'm getting there.

Entao, pode ser muito logo eu vou escriver um post so em portugues!