Life in Mozambique

I've been thinking lately about the things that are different about my life here in Mozambique. Now some things are the same as they were in South Africa. For instance, I'm still a foreigner. In S.A. everyone knew I was a foreigner everytime I opened my mouth...my accent was so different. That hasn't changed, except here not many people speak English, so I really sound different when I speak! Also, when I go into a grocery store, most of the brands are the same as in S.A. - Koo veggies in the tin, Flora margarine, Clover milk and cheese, Omo, Sunlight, etc. etc. You can even find Grapetizer and Appletizer here! The taxi drivers drive like crazy-people here, too. No one gets in too much of a hurry (except the taxi drivers.)

But there are many things that have changed in my life, so I thought that today I would make a list of some those things:

1. When I fill the bathtub to take a bath the water is brown before I ever get in!

2. Here we have to filter the water that we want to drink.

3. Everywhere I turn here in Maputo I see someone selling bananas. I feel like I'm in the banana capitol of the world.

4. I get to see the sea every day that I drive down Kenneth Kuanda street!

5. I have lemons growing on two trees in my backyard.

6. I hang out all my washing outside on the line.

7. I am far away from my friends in S.A. :-(

8. I'm just as far away from my friends and family in the U.S.A. :-(
9. I can buy fish and prawns(shrimp) andy day from vendors on the street.

10. Everyone around me speaks Portuguese or Shangaan.

11. It's HOT in Maputo!!!

12. I don't have hot water in my house right now because the water heater broke last night - double ugh! :-( (we are waiting on the plumber to arrive)

12. There seem to be lots more flies and lots more lizards here - ugh! (I'm not even thinking about the snakes that inhabit this country...I'm just thankful I live in a city right now with lots of concrete around me!!)

13. There is the possiblity of getting malaria here.

14. For those of you who know Joburg traffic, the traffic here is WORSE! Charlie argues with me about this...there are no free ways to sit on for hours, but there are plenty of people pulling out in front of you or just BARELY scraping by you. I think the guardian angels work overtime in this city!

15. And finally, I go to Portuguese classes 5 days a week now.

With all the differences in my life there is one MAJOR thing that is the same: God is still on His throne and He is still with me all the time. I'm so glad about that.