Wednesday, 17 April: Getting Cultured

Today, two of Christina's friends, Vanessa and Cecilia, were joining us to go to Masana. They were both Argentinian. Since they would be four of us going, Christina called a cab. The operator had a hard time understanding the house number and she had to repeat it numerous times. Fortunately the cab driver showed up on time.

When we got to Masana, one of the boys had a book that was in Portuguese. He was showing us his reading skills. Then he handed the book to Christina for her to read from it. She did very well. Next, he handed it to me. Needless to say, Christina and he were both laughing by the end of the first sentence from my mispronunciations.

On Wednesdays, a lady brings games to Masana for the boys to play. The first game she had was a game where the boys formed into two teams. One person from each team was blindfolded and had to draw something. Then a winner was chosen.

Making sure the boys don't cheat.

Next, they played a game similar to Duck-Duck-Goose, but was the exact opposite (Confusing? Now you know how I felt trying to play it.). They had a certain saying they would say and the person it ended on got to choose someone to leave the circle. Despite not having a clue what was going on, I almost won the first time. The second time the boys made sure I was one of the first ones out.

The final game involved standing in a circle and tossing a ball to someone else. If they dropped the ball, they were out. Eventually two other balls were adding to make it more difficult. I don't want to brag, but I won this game easily.

After the organized games, the kids had free time. Most of them used the balls from the lady to play soccer or a form of volleyball. I ended up playing volleyball with a couple of the boys. Later I moved on to soccer with the boy who I had taught to work the alarm on my watch.

It started to get hot, so I sat down at one of the tables under the roof. The boy who I was playing with decided to play a game where he tossed the ball to me and I had to head it back to him. We played this game for quite a long time and Christina was impressed with my "hidden" talent, or at least until I headed one right into her face by accident. The boy enjoyed this; Christina didn't.

Christina had an English lesson scheduled with her pastor that afternoon, so she called the cab company and we left before lunch. Back at the house, Christina and I ate lunch and then she worked on her lesson. A little while later, she got a call from the pastor saying she couldn't meet today. This freed up our afternoon.

Katie called Christina to see if we wanted to join her mom (who was visiting) and her to see a movie at the Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano (French-Mozambican Intercultural Centre). We decided to take them up on the offer. We concluded that we could also get our picture taken with the Morrisons Cove Herald (The Herald is our local newspaper. People submit photos taken with the Herald when they travel. The paper prints the picture in a special feature called "The Traveling Herald".).

Christina wanted to give me a real African experience so we took a txopela (pron. "sho-pella". Also called a chapalana (pron. "chop-ah-lah-nah") in Beira.). A txopela is basically a scooter pulling a rickshaw. Riding in one can be quite thrilling and a bit dangerous with the crazy Maputo traffic. You can get a better idea of what riding in one looks like by watching this video. The driver wasn't quite sure where the Centre was and neither was Christina, but we found it relatively easily.

A typical txopela.

We arrived at the Centre before Katie and her mom got there so we viewed the current exhibit. It was on the architecture of Maputo. A couple artists and art students made models of different buildings from throughout the city. It was fun for both of us as we recognized buildings that we knew.

When Katie and her mom arrived, we got seats in the theater. The movie we are going to see was part of Semana de Cinema Africano de Maputo 2013 (Maputo's African film festival). We saved some seats and then asked Katie if she would take our picture with the Herald in the circle outside the Centre. This roundabout had a large statue of Samora Machel, Mozambique's first president. Katie was a good photographer and we got a few different pictures we liked.

Not a bad picture!

The final picture we chose. Katie was a great photographer!

We returned to the auditorium to watch the film. It was called Man on Ground. It reminded me a lot of a Denzel Washington movie. The main actor sort of looked like him and had his mannerisms down to a tee. The film was about two Nigerian expats, one in the United Kingdom and the other in South Africa. The basic gist of the plot was the brother from the United Kingdom goes to South Africa to try to find his brother who is missing. He learns that his brother has been killed in riots over foreigners taking free housing that was supposed to be for black South Africans by paying money. The film was confusing because it was short with a lot of random flashbacks and the viewer doesn't really know what's going on until the very end. However, visually the cinematography was very well done. There were a lot of interesting camera shots, but at times it felt like the cameraman tried to use every technique and trick he knew in one movie.

After the movie, Christina and I caught another txopela to her church for their Wednesday evening service at 6:00 pm. The service started with some singing and sharing of testimonies by people from the congregation. Then two missionaries from Brazil gave the main message. One of the ladies in the church sat between Christina and me and translated for us. The missionaries dragged on and on and didn't end until 8:30 pm. Afterwards, the lady who lives in the other apartment in the Perssons' house walked us back to the house so it was safer.

We got back and realized how hungry we were. We started dinner by making eggs and toast and somehow ended up with a feast of papayas, mangoes, avocados, hummus, tomatoes, and passion fruit. Papayas aren't the best tasting fruit when eaten on their own. Christina compares the taste to that of a fart (don't ask me how she knows what a fart tastes like). Fortunately, this papaya tasted slightly better and only tasted like half a fart.

The real treat of the feast for me was dessert. Christina brought me a mango pop she had made for the Perssons' kids. This was the most heavenly thing I've ever eaten. The frozen mango purée had a hint of coconut which sent my taste buds into ecstasy.

After our meal, it was time it was time for bed.