Surprises and Obesity

 

Surprisingly, Friday morning I was up early and feeling rested. It was a good thing because we were supposed to travel. Andy went to Durban, Paul and I to Nelspruit. We should meet TD, but he has a gig today and can only be here Sunday or Monday.

 

It was a good day in general. The first positive surprise was finding workers closing the big holes on the Marginal. Finally! It was such a good way to start our travel! The journey was better than usual because it was a light rainy day, meaning fresher. We even escaped from the traditional police fine. The border wasn’t so bad despite the huge number of holiday people from South Africa entering in Mozambique.

 

The day was as planned. No unpleasant surprises. One thing that I am going to retain from yesterday is the growing number of South Africans with obesity, We sat having lunch and counting the number of people with overweight problems passing by. Indeed a sad situation.

 

Just to remember how easy it is to be there (I mean obesity), left me very energetic and missing my daily-exercise. I used to exercise at home, but I was feeling a little stressed and my day-to-day routine wasn’t doing a lot for me. I started walking, but soon I was into running because I do what my body asks me to. The “guy” was asking for something faster than walking!

 

Going out for a walk has something of a social event. I recognize a lot of walking habitués, like a young red head who walks her Ridge-Back dog, a ex-colleague of mine who also walks and teaches her Labrador, and a long time friend ex-smoker and now a walking enthusiast… I also recognize some couples and guitar players seating on the benches. Sometimes it is a music group doing reversals, other times an old guitar player, but most of the times it is a lonely young man who seems to be a composer…

 

A week ago I discovered something really terrific: since I started running, my migraine disappeared. Only people suffering from it can understand what that means. Yes, it is a truly miracle! Even Paul, used to contest my running against his walking, decided to adhere. He brought appropriated sneakers and feels ready.

 

Middle afternoon, at South African border, I was running and dancing in a discrete but noticeable manner. Dancing is something that I haven’t done, the way I have yesterday, for a while. It was OK because everybody was in good (read holiday) mood.

 

To finalize my journey, I have done something for Paul. Usually, when we go to South Africa we buy a lot of food because of quality and freshness. For instance, I only eat one kind of bread baked in Nelspruit. Really delicious! The problem is that when we arrive home, Paul seats tired and eats a lot. Today, despite his muttering, I made him wear his new sneakers and go out for a running first try. It wasn’t a long distance, but I feel that he ate half of what he is used to eat in the same circumstances.

 

I went to sleep dead tired. Today, at 7pm, the building that was supposed to be Hotel Quatro Estações (Four Seasons Hotel) came down and I was there. After all, it was the disappearance of a landmark of the tourism boom during the last years of Portuguese colonial rule.

People From The Sea-Dreamer

 

There is a girl somewhere in the world that I love to the last consequences. We don’t speak often because she is very busy. Sometimes, from the result of her work depend the job of 200 to 800 employees and the future of their families. It is one of those stressing jobs that the actual society has created and puts in the hands of a few. She also knows that I am not a long distance communication kind of person…

 

But we have proved to each other, without magnificent words, that kind of love capable of actions like giving our lives for each other, as it happened in a couple of occasions.

 

I particularly remembered her on the 24th and 25th of December, because of a conversation that we had. Like so many people, she lives between reality and dream. For her, reality is a demanding job with the correspondent money and independence. Dream is a home in the country, maybe even the sounds of laughter from a kid playing in the background.

 

During our conversation she was in reality mood, after almost a year dreaming. Perhaps because she was on holidays and enjoying life again, she told me that she had to rethink her timing in what concerns dreams, because she also likes the comfort and security that her job offers.

 

I wish I could tell her then, that we all live between untouchable dreams and possible realities!

 

That night my gift was reality, but who knows if next year I am not wrapping for myself a nice new present with a tag written on it: “Seabell’s dream.”

Test

 

Yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity to remember why I hate exams. Following a decision taken some time ago, it seemed to me the right time to do my English test.

 

First of all, I have to say that the personnel is very nice and helpful. My first and only mistake was looking at the first of 45 questions and assuming that the test was just a piece of cake. Usually they give an entire hour to the students but I had to answer the questions in less than 10 minutes and, above all, to ignore the rule of reading questions and answers again, something that I know to be useful in such situations.

 

After finishing, I sat in the library waiting for the teacher. I was captivated by the place in terms of improving my English. When the teacher showed up, he told me, in a question of minutes, that I had 39 correct answers, what he considered to be good. When I was checking the incorrect ones, I could see my mistakes at once, except for one involving verbs, a problem that I do have.

 

As a conclusion, I was qualified as a student of intermediate level, what is not bad at all. I feel like this after discovering that some staff, working in the place and speaking English all the time, are doing the same level.

 

After the test I had to face the big decision: should I take the lessons or no? If I decide in favor, knowing the kind of person that I am, I have to spend a year and a half studying. Positive aspect: I am sure that I am going to learn a lot. Negative aspects: a) I am not sure if a classroom is the best place to learn colloquial language; b) It looked to me that the English learned is specifically addressed to students and business kind of people.

 

A friend of mine told me that she had tried everything to learn English but she only started talking after six months in a place where everybody talked English. The first 6 months, she couldn’t talk at all.

 

In order to make short all that I have to say on the subject, I gathered information in the place, wrapped all the experiences of people that I know, and even of people working there, and I have decided: 1) The qualification is fair. What is not fair, in my opinion, is the time and effort required to complete 3 levels of learning; 2) To repeat the exam in order to be qualified as an upper-intermediate for July course, the level that I am interested. I don’t want to study more than 5 months, at least for now; 3) I don’t even think about advanced level, because my interferences are too strong due to my knowledge of Portuguese and French. 4) I need creative and colloquial English with a touch of grammar. For now I can get that from the library, with the system books and audio.

 

While driving home, I was a little concerned about the practice aspect. That’s when I remembered that I live 300 meters away from a bar that is the main get together spot of English speaking people living in Mozambique.

 

“Perhaps I should start to drink a beer at the end of the day!” I concluded. Later I suggested the same to Paul. He smiled openly with the idea but I am not sure if he or Andy would like to go with me.

Freedom and a Rose

 

Monday afternoon, while I was busy going up and down, I could hear pieces of Brazilian TV. From a gossip program, for instance, I learned that a certain movie star is keeping his wife locked at home. Minutes later, they were talking about a grandfather who kept his one year old grandson in his backyard with a collar and lead next to three dogs, one of them a pit bull. Someone alerted the police who acted in favor of the child. When asked, both grandfather and mother defended such cruel control system. Revolting! What is the problem of some people with freedom?

 

That same evening, inspired by a freedom sudden urge, I went to the cinema with Andy and a friend. We watched Babel, a movie with important messages told in a powerful language.

 

At some point of my afternoon conversation with Andy, he asked me: “Have you seen my rose?”

 

“Rose? What rose?” I replied.

 

It was then that I saw a sugar-rose that he was pointing with some pride in his voice: “I have done it!”

 

I couldn’t avoid smiling because to learn that Andy, a macho type of guy, has done a rose for a cake is one of the few hilarious things that I came across lately. Coming from him, it is really difficult to digest! But the main aspect is that, to our surprise, he is persevering in with his cooking lessons.

 

When I questioned how the rose was done, he told me in a very good mood: “Secrets of the job!”

Transporting

 

 

 

 

Platforms are busy working spaces. For instance, just assembling diving equipment in a platform it is a demanding operation. After that, equipment is gathered on a spot of the platform while other specific tools have special places like this diving crane.

 

Other important support in the construction and maintenance effort is transportation. In this process are used special boats like a lay barge to set pipes under water. Most of the operations rely on light transport boats and helicopters. Boats and helicopters approach the platform doing the useful tasks.

Classical

 

It is the second time, since I write in this space, that I am forced to recognize that I have urgently to change something in my life. The last time that I felt like this I ended up approaching my sister, something that was a wise move.

 

Last Tuesday, I was feeling so down that since then it only could improve because there was no more down way to go. Only good things happened during the week but despite this I never felt 100% well. To make things worst, I returned to the old pattern of trying to feel better eating mille-feuilles and chocolate marzipan. It is easy to guess what has to change in my life: eating sugar doesn’t make reality better! End of subject.

 

We had a quiet weekend. I watched movies and slept well. Sunday morning I woke up thinking that I could sleep more but I had such restful night that I didn’t had to sleep until so late in the morning as usual. I tried to sleep a little more, but I couldn’t. I had a really good night sleep.

 

The rest of what I can qualify a classical Sunday: facing hot weather, preparing tomato soup, going out for lunch, having a nice chat with Emmanuel, clams, prawns, blue photos, organizing a few things upstairs during Paul’s siesta, walking and so on.

 

Hopefully, to avoid boredom, I am planning a much more interesting week: 1) Start cleaning and organizing things for the next season, something that doesn’t requires a lot because we don’t have a real winter; 2) Doing my English exam. 3) Keep writing; 4) Pick TD in Nelspruit; 5) Photograph the demolition of the Four Seasons Hotel tower building, witch was never finished and has been like a ghost in Costa do Sol area. 6) Above all, stop eating sugar because it depresses me.

Morning Highlights-6

 

I’ve been asking a lot from my body. Not because I want something from him, once it is the only part of me responding and behaving. I am starting to feel myself again, after that it is just a question of time. What I really ask of my body is a gigantic task: to cure my mind, to pacify my soul. I don’t know if it can succeed but for now I feel so damn tired that any thing is possible.

 

Wednesday was my day out. Paul and Andy are very protective but I fight for some space of my own. The next morning, Paul woke me with his usual concerns and daily news. According to him, it was organized a debate around the unexpected tide that flooded down parts of the town.

 

The big holes opening on the Marginal were also a subject. Paul said that at a certain point someone said something like this: “We shouldn’t repair the damage. What has to be done is: the developed countries should stop polluting immediately!” The guy can be right, but imagine what is going to happen if his “do nothing theory” gets more adepts than the existing ones!

 

Friday, as soon as I open my eyes, I was remembered that we were supposed to do something that we don’t do for ages: clubbing! We were invited to a restricted party organized by a cell company. The first part we had drinks and a really good South African DJ. The second part it was a live show with two Mozambican modern dance groups, followed by two different DJ’s using cell phones to produce the sound, more drinks and snacks.

 

It was a great victory to convince Paul to go and stay for at least two hours. I know that the party went on because Andy returned the next day at 7am. Step by step! Somehow Paul knows that I could have fun if I stayed because today he came to me with the idea of returning to Ponta do Ouro.

 

What I learned last night: 1) If we go out with the intention of having fun, better leave at 11pm or even later. 2) Local dress code for dancing, at least in Mozambique, is white. It makes sense due to the climate and also because with white you are visible. If I intend to go out from time to time, I do have to change a few things on my wardrobe.

Shark Attack

 

It would be nice to know that shark attacks only happen in movies. Unfortunately, we have all the real life stories of attacks in South Africa to remember us that they are something else besides a movie theme.

 

In Mozambique there are just a few fatal cases reported. One of them happened in Bilene. We don’t remember details, just the general situation that ended as the worst tragedy involving sharks in Mozambique.

 

It was a young couple that liked spear fishing. They rented a rubber boat and went diving at 1 or 2km maximum from Bilene channel. They spear fished for a while, keeping bleeding fish inside the boat. When they intended to return, the motor wasn’t working. They had to do something because they knew that nobody would come for them.

 

Now we have two different ideas about the rest. To Paul, the woman decided to swim to the coast and was immediately attacked and killed by sharks. As far as I can remember, she was paddling with her legs to make the boat move and approach the coast when she was killed. Whoever is right, the fate of that young woman was the same. Our visit to Bilene beach brought back this sad episode, as far as we know the worst of this kind in Mozambique.

War Without Enemy

 

A journalist that we know said today: “As if it wasn’t enough the floods and the dry season, we now have to face a war without enemy.” In fact, what happened yesterday in Maputo was a truly war. Due to the hot weather and the humidity, the local military deposit, situated ten kilometers far from the centre of Maputo, exploded. The blasts started around 3pm local time and the moment that I started to write these words (8pm) they are still going on.

 

Inside our house, around 4pm, the sound was very similar to a thunderstorm. “Today we have to hurry or we are going to face bad weather”, I remember to say. It was our guarda George who told us that it was not a storm but bombs exploding at least since 3pm.

 

We went first to the fish market, returned home and went to our daily walk in Miradouro. When we arrived at Miradouro the explosions were at full strength. I couldn’t hear clearly because of the tunes, but less then 10 steps walked on the Miradouro I saw Paul duck into a defense position. He told me that not only the noise was terrible but he also saw some missile or projectile passing over our heads. As you can guess, today our walk was a short lived.

 

During our return home, we could see people standing on the streets, most of them running from buildings due to the efect of the explosions. At that time, cell phones were out of service. Many of the cars parked were with the alarms sounding and some windows broke right in front of us due to the impact wind.

 

We only could witness on TV the truly devastating extend of 20 tons of ammunition exploding: mushroom type clouds on the sky, north horizon on fire, tens of thousand of people from 4 or 5 neighbourhoods homeless wondering through the streets, wounded and dead arriving at the hospital…

 

The present day had a sour taste of past. Years ago, when the war was ravaging Mozambique, a similar situation happened. The difference is that back then we were all convinced that Maputo was under attack. I had a lady friend at home and eight children. We took refuge under a bed with a telephone line and only left the place when the situation was clear. War is a tragedy. Suddenly being forced to remember this, it is quite painful.

Storm

 

The previous evening, while watching the sunset we saw an electrical storm designed above Bilene village, right in front of us. Still we couldn’t believe how bad the weather was when we woke up the next morning.

 

We left for breakfast the moment the rain started to fall. During our first meal, a basic standard breakfast, nothing so spectacular as the rice we had the night before, it was already pouring rain and the fresh balcony looked more like the deck of a sinking boat.

 

The manager was quite nervous with the guests leaving sooner than expected, calling the boat to cross the lagoon at the worst possible moments. Paulo, his nice competent right hand, was at his side trying to calm him down. “You see?” the manager explained to us. “Each time that someone decides to go away with such weather, it is a risk!”

 

Unfortunately, we also decided to go. The lagoon, under heavy rain, was a sad image of its usual beauty. After calling Maputo and knowing that the local weather was also bad, the sooner we left the better. Nonetheless, we waited for an opening before crossing the lagoon. Despite our care, in the middle of the water the weather turned for the worst. It was Andy humor, telling jokes to the skipper Xavier, what kept us in good mood.

 

We arrived at the other side completely wet, but with the good spirit of people that go through a difficult situation and escape. The rest of the journey back home was without incidents. I think Andy enjoyed the experience because he was in African music mood. We only regret that this time we only had half fun. The most positive note of this weekend in Bilene was the professionalism and sympathy of the staff. Very pleasant and inviting!