news from maputo #002

March.25.2009 at 8:30 pm · Filed under Uncategorized and tagged: aldo, maputo, me

it’s great of you to notice how long it has been since i last wrote something here on this blog that isn’t about babies or birthdays, i understand that these might not be the best posts to get to know me and how i’m doing here, but lately it’s been very difficult to sit and write something too personal. not that birthday posts aren’t meaningful, i write them because the people i celebrate in them mean so much to me and i miss them dearly (apologizing to those who i also love and have been left out of my blog… eventually you will), but be surprised if you will, it’s been such a busy month, i have been working so much and my head is filled with TO DO lists, something i’m known for, of things i have to take care of in the 7hours of work i get… of course noone stops me from working more, and i have been lately, but the pay check doesn’t change like it used to so i tend to keep it within the 7hours.

i’ll start with a few things to give you just a perspective of what we’ve been doing. so last time i wrote something about mozambique was to let you know how our weekend in Inhaca Island had gone, and after that only about going to the orphanage and to Bilene, but in between these events we had other things happening, did i tell you aldo got sick? well, yes he did, it was on a weekend when we were coming back from Ponta do Ouro, which by the way i didn’t write about… maybe paradise beaches have stopped wowing us… naaah it’s still gorgeous we just forgot the photo camera. anyway, when we came back aldo was already feeling very very blah! so Mr. Ernesto, that takes care of Sergio’s and Marta’s house down at the Ponta gave aldo a special remedy, a tea, what kind? …the disgusting one! made out of “BEIJO DA MULATA” flower root, i actually have no idea how to translate the flowers’ name in english but identically it would be “KISS FROM A GIRL WHO HAS MIXED RACED PARENTS more specifically white and black”, let me tell you that eventhough the flower is very cute the taste is just horrible, aldo made us all try it ’cause we made so much fun of the faces he made and we all felt sorry about laughing. i just had a mini vomit again!

it would’ve been better though to have drunk 1litter of it and be done with it, but aldo started getting weaker and weaker and losing his appetite, spending more time with the toilet than with me, decided that the horizontal position in bed alone was where he was best nad all the worry of malaria started kicking in. i found out how bad i am of taking care of others and decided that it would pass, but monday afternoon everyone looked so shocked at me for not taking him to the doctor that i ran home and took him for a blood test… a few hours and one meeting later i was back at home with him and results telling both of us, more me than him, that it WASN’T malaria. this however only relaxed me a little bit as the fever kept resisting, the appetite so gone aldo had to be forced to eat two spoons of white rice, the toilet was still his best friend and i had no idea how to take care of him…

thankfully, i think, our belgian friend Benjamin, i’ll explain later, was here for a few weeks and does some kind of yoga/therapy/massage/something that soothes you and can actually have an effect on how your body is functioning, so he did his little magic on aldo and apparently it helped to the point that he slept that night without getting up 10times and slept all through until morning. i was relieved. in total he was home for a whole week, slowly eating more, stopping with the white rice and moving onto pizzas by the next saturday, margherita, but still a pizza!

belgians. yes again after 3 months we recieved the belgian dancers in our place again. benjamin was the only one that had been here the last time also in one of our guest rooms, oh so many, the rest of the group made of belgians, mozambicans and south africans i didn’t know anyone. they were here like before for almost 3weeks and at the end they presented a great dance performance, gotta say i was so much more intrigued last time, and maybe that made be expect more this time, but i really like the way they use the body movements. this time though they have come up with a logo, actually not to be too proud but ALDO MADE THE LOGO!!! lol and yes i think it’s very nice and also he designed the flyers for their performance at the CENTRO CULTURAL FRANCO-MOÇAMBICANO here in Maputo, a very intelectual/cool place to perform and to meet people. if you want to see their logo and flyers ;) and of course learn more about them you can always register on facebook: CONFUSÃO EXCHANGE PLATFORM (right now that’s all i have as info for you… i’ll try to find more) and they always do performances here in Maputo and then in Joburg before returning to Brussels.

i would’ve been a much happier person if he, benjamin, would’ve by now delivered my birthday presents in Antwerp… waiting, waiting, waiting…

so… since then we have done a great deal of work! aldo has been developing ’til exhaustion the plans, sections and facades of the new orphanage… i will do more in the near future i promise honey… and we are about to ask some construction companies to give us a price for it so that UM PEQUENO GESTO ONG can start asking for subsidies. it is exciting to think that we can really become part of this wonderful thing, it’s beautiful to see how aldo is dedicated to it. it has been and i know it will always be a pleasure to see this orphanage slowly taking up our lives.

but unfortunately, for both of us who believed we’d be selling coconuts on the beach wearing nothing but sandals and capulanas by now, have both been swamped by work, at our offices. i have myself a project finishing this week… or maybe next week, depends on how much more in panic people will get but it’s a public garden which my office had already done a few months back, i’m now in charge of the BAR, ironically! aldo and i designed the interior, the bar itself, so now i am following the making of it, and getting ready to open it in 10days… give or take… which will definitely be take! it is exciting but now that everyone is on their most stressy behaviour i have to sometimes deal with a few attitudes.

aldo is also handeling a few chaotic projects, yes we have noticed a big difference between working above the hemisphere and below it, as the portughese say “not 8 nor 80” in the sense that we arrived from belgium where everything SEEMED so organized it would fall apart if something was off, to a place where you practically need to live with the contractor to be able to make sure he does what you told him to do already 5times… and still you’re not sure, ’cause the man is bound to leave to go toilet. anyway, differences like this is what makes all of it so challenging but i admit my patience has already adapted to it, on the opposite. i really hate the way people who are working for you expect you to do the work for them. they sit down and stop literally if you don’t look and check. it almost feels like you’re talking to walls. of course there are people like this and fortunately there are others who work really well, who seem very professinal and who are available for you to suggest, critise and with whom you feel relaxed enough to BE critisized… but then the monster appears… there will always be someone who will simply not listen, who will hear white instead of black, who will say “it will be done” (expression which has become a pet peave of mine ’cause it means nothing around here) and then VOILÁ surprise… “no it didn’t”. so i have ended up having to deal with really unpleasant episodes, workwise and mainly not, because i become acountable for mistakes or uncomunications other people had. not saying that i don’t do things wrong, i just don’t wait for anyone to do anything for me and i expect the same professionalism as i expect of myself towards anyone i work with. i know aldo agrees.

and this my friends, happens in anything around this city, i’ll reduce it to the city ’cause it makes me more polite. but you see this attitude in any store. you walk in and almost in that instant you feel you shouldn’t! ok, so it’s hot, i agree that 40º in the shade can throw someone off balance and start understanding why everyone and i mean EVERYONE drags their feet instead of lifting the ankles off the ground, the heat makes us slow and so the brain also needs a few coffees to hold it together or a boss who really loves airco… but back to the store. you walk in and there is that moment, the moment when you look around and you think you see noone… is it really open? and then there she is, usually a chubby woman almost lying on top of the counter of how bored she is, she looks as if the 40º are inside of her rather than outside of the shop. she looks up, you establish visual contact but still feel a bit sorry for having disturbed her and proceed with your question/querie/demand/apology… the answer will alwasy be NO. it’s funny how many times you have to explain what you want, and this is a country where we both, me and the woman speak the same language. you wouldn’t have guessed! they start with no, then move on to something you didn’t ask for, then it feels as if you’re asking in chinese, then it’s back to NO. this happens whether you ask for a special wall paint, flour at the supermarket or simply bubble gum. everything that requires moving their arms further than where they are comes with a NO or “hei-de ver” (i’ll see), if they would at least come back to give me an answer when they went on their search. i’ve made many efforts but somethings just can’t be explained!

if i have the time, i’ll explain how you’ll have to drive around here, and you thought that driving on the right side of the car and on the left side of the street was already tough!!! think again!

may this post not distract you. the main idea was to tell you that we are doing very well, kind of need visitors ’cause we have found gorgeous places and beaches up north and would really like friends or family to come on over to go on a paradise island with us! yes there are many around here, but aldo and i are not used to this 24hours, 7days a week together business so if anyone would like to give us a break, we’d be happy to HOLIDAY with u!!! ;)

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