Week One...and Two

We're happy to be able to post our first Sunday night update from Mozambique. The internet was finally hooked up at our house last night at 6:30. Yes, an actual human came to our house at 6:30 on a Saturday night. I guess that's one difference from America that we don't mind! There is so much to report that has happened in the two weeks since we arrived. After safe and trouble free travels (with the exception of the luggage loading and unloading in Johannesburg) we arrived in Maputo with the Holiday Inn as our temporary home. We went looking for houses on day one and settled on a nice one only to have the landlord back out two days later. So we moved into short-term hotel living (similar to a Residence Inn) where we stayed for one week before moving into our new house last Saturday. We spent the Thursday and Friday prior to move in cleaning - scrubbing toilets, floors, kitchen, bedrooms, etc. You name it we cleaned it. Then we loaded up our Volkswagen Van (twice) to bring all our possessions to our new home. The landlady left us a lovely leather orange sectional (it really isn't THAT bad!!) and a dining room table with 8 chairs. The chairs are dark wood and covered in crushed red velvet! Think very royal looking. Just our style. She also left two beds, a dressing table and some end tables. It has really been a blessing not to have to buy lots of furniture. We are very happy in our house. It is on a relatively quiet street (except for the barking dogs) and looks out to a Mozambican school and schoolyard which is actually a huge sandlot. The kids start their schoolday at 6:15 am and the last class lets out around 5:15! So there are lots of happy kid noises throughout the day. Our neighborhood is quite safe and as long as we use common sense (keep the gate closed, don't go walking at night, pay attention to who's around in the day) we shouldn't have any problems. We have a little garden area in the front and a concrete slab in the back. You would be AMAZED at the games kids can come up with when forced to entertain themselves in a small area. Speaking of kids they are all doing well. Lucy started Kindergarten last week and has loved every minute. Although she was a little perplexed when she asked me on Friday "Mommy am I done with school now?" and I replied, "No you go every week for the rest of the school year." Her response, "Everyday? I thought it was just for one week!" Ah silly girl. Her teacher says she is a great addition to the class (K and 1st meet together) and is always eager for a new activity. Kaleb starts school tomorrow. He is very excited and very ready to meet some more kids and have some routine. Both kids start school at 7:30 and end at 2:30 and of course their schools are on opposite sides of the city. So we are carpooling with some other families to get everybody to the right place on time. Mia is good. She is missing her dear little friend at home in Minnesota, but will hopefully make some friends soon. All the kids have been such troopers during this transition. That has helped us all settle in a little easier. We still have so much to learn about life in Maputo, but each day gets a little easier. Tomorrow we meet with a Portuguese tutor to discuss getting together daily for one hour for 6-8 weeks. That will really help us to get the language. Right now we have a girl working in the house who only speaks Portuguese and a night guard who doesn't speak much English. It's been creative communication to say the very least! So once we have a bit of a handle on the language we should have an easier time living here. We have found a good grocery store (Shoprite) to get most of our food and a great place to buy fresh bread (fabulous rolls for about 5 cents) and a Target replacement (called Game) to find most of the other things we need. We have a great fruit stand a block away where we buy fresh oranges, bananas and pineapples.

Steve has done a great job driving - right side steering wheel, left side of the road - and has really gotten to know most streets in town. The constant driving of his former business has well equipped him for this latest adventure. I have driven on two seperate occassions and am fine to be chauffered around town for the future! The roads are crazy, there is really not much rhyme or reason to the way people drive. Half the stoplights (called robots here) don't even work, the chapa drivers (basically local taxi service) are worse than NY city taxi drivers - pushy, horn honking lunatics behind the wheel and there are very few street signs or road markings. So if you thought Steve was an aggressive driver before wait until you drive with him now!!

It's not just the driving that is backwards here. We find everything to be opposite. To turn off a light you push the switch up, to turn off the water you turn it towards the faucet, the sense of disorder is almost overwhelming. Nothing feels normal or familiar, but God will work it all out. Before too long we will be just as backwards as our new country. ( We hope.) Some of you may argue we're already backwards!!

Well I could type all night and I know some of you wish I would but I must stop. I promise to update often and will try to include pictures very soon. God bless you all and touch base with us every once in a while. You can e-mail us directly from our blog (Ok wait until Kellie gets back from vacation to re-install the link). Look at the icon to your right. Feel free to ask specific questions so we can give you a good understanding of life in Mozambique!

We are looking at an online long distance company that provides absolutely free phone calls to anywhere in the world over the internet. It is call Skype and you can check it out and call us. Please remember the time change. (7 hours in CST)

So as they say in Portuguese - Ciao!!