Low Tide and High Times

         Yesterday I went to the beach with the boys from Masana. There were 50 of us in three cars, 16 people in the car I was passenger to in a nice Mozambican version of a four-runner. We listened to Jay-Z and the car was full of shoulder-shrug dancing and Portuguese accented singing, which is all that could be accomplished in the clown car that was our transportation. (Side note: There is a law in Mozambique that you cannot put any body parts out the window. Hands, fingers, butts, etc. However, there is no law against the amount of people in a car, but possibly a seat belt law?) Anyways, the beach was beautiful. It was one of those rare days where I wish I had brought a camera to capture the moment (sorry, mom). It looked a bit like this except with a bit more glass and water patches about:

                                          Thank you, Google images.


            The sandy beach stretched enough to give us plenty of room to play soccer, Frisbee and sand wars and enough space to outrun Saul and his miniature sand crab (He thought it was hilarious until I had one too). There was a lovely breeze and a minimal amount of sunburn on my part, the boys went even so far as saying, "Wow, beautiful." when I put my sunscreen on. Real charmers. 


            It was the nicest kind of Mozambican day and I don't think I will ever be able to get the sand out of my hair. 

Uno: 8472728 Me: 0

Waterfalls or, Cascadas de agua in Portuguese (Which, mind you, sounds much nicer. Cascades of water...) is what I was fortunate enough to enjoy in South Africa last weekend. The whole family piled in the car early on a Thursday morning. All seven us, plus luggage, plus snacks, books, kicked-off shoes, toys, tangled ipod strings, five seats, plus some laps, oh and Adventures in Odyssey, can't forget that. I wonder what ever shall happen to Connie? It was a nice time though, 4 days of a nice time in fact. We visited eateries, the botanical gardens, the neighborly South African mall, where there is a guard for each parking section, and of course those great waterfalls. Here is Allie and myself after waterfalling, which has now become a great verb to own personal advantage. 

                       Yes! Pictures, I know! You may actually make it to the end of the blog now. 


        Well it was such a nice trip, but I was quite glad to cross the border back to my home where I could get back to speaking my fluent Portuguese... or something like that. It was comforting though, to return to the populated streets, the hectic driving, baby's on backs, clown car chapa's, all things attached to the Mozambique that I am becoming quite attached to. 


                                                          Plus, I missed my friends

         Here is Armando and Francisco, two boys from Masana. This great caption in time was taken out my window as we were stuck in traffic. They are the best. 

       Speaking of Masana, lately we have been playing basketball (altered due to the fact the baskets are buckets on chairs and the ball is a soccer ball), dodgeball (forgot that whole no-aiming-for-the-head rule), and charades (flower and cat, best choice). I'm trying to stay creative, but please feel free to add to my idea fund. As long as it is not Uno, it will be well received. 

        This week a boy named Chico, (Short for Francisco. I was a bit disappointed when I found that it was only a nickname) from Masana, was reintegrated and now lives at home with his family. Hoorah! I miss him, but it is great to experience the process of the entire ministry (The staff of Masana will continue to do home visits with Chico and his family for at least a year) and knowing that Chico will always have a loving family at Masana who want the best for him. Plus, on our way to buy fruit today, we picked up a new friend along the way, both him and his toy disguised as a tire. 

        Ate a proxima vez!