What a week....

Johan and I decided that we need to learn Portuguese. We joined a group at our friends house last night but they were already on their 4th lesson and they've all been living here for years, so we felt a bit out of it - my favourite word so far is "adeus" pronounced - a-day-oosh - "Goodbye".
Cecily gave us a CD set "Learning to speak Portuguese" - so we'll learn step by step together at home rather. Its been quite a challenge communicating with the maid and gardener. I'm glued to my dictionary most of the time and even when I find the word - pronouncing it is another story! For example an R is pronounced airy and an H is pronounced aghaar.

'Loopy' the Black Great Dane and the runaway Chicken

Yes, well this is quite a story! I joined Denize and her massive great dane 'Loopy' for a walk on Wednesday morning. I was a bit nervous as he is as large as a shetland pony and seemed to be quite a handful on a leash. There are also a number of stray dogs generally walking the streets. The stray dogs benignly watched us walk by except for the odd one that had to be fought off with much yelling and waving of arms.



'Loopy' the Great Dane



To get away from Loopy!!



We were probably talking too much, and not focusing on the task at hand - there were chickens in the road, at this point Loopy pulled away from Denize with such a force she thought she'd broken two fingers - he locked onto a poor unsuspecting chicken



and chased it, I tried really hard to stop him but to no avail! Well, let's just say the chicken died a horrible death. The owner was watching ffrom his balcony and a shouting match ensued  - in Portuguese. I gathered that Denize was very angry with the fact that he lets his chickens run around in the street. He wanted compensation for the loss of his chicken he then sent his gardener to follow us home. We were very worried that the purpose of following us was to find out where the dog lived so that it could be poisoned at a later stage! Certain portuguese words were flung about by Denize, the gardener eventually turned back. We decided that probably the best thing to do would be to compenste the owner by taking him some money, which we duly did - he wasn't at all satisfied with that so Denize bought  him a live chicken. He seemed happy with that.....

I felt as though I was on some weird movie set!

I ended up having to drive her to the 24hour clinic in town - a bit hectic for me, as this was my first experience of driving in Beira - which is in itself an experience. Man these people don't know how to drive, what with more water filled potholes than road and no rules.
Anyway after x-rays it was established that she had dislocated two fingers. Whilst sitting in the waiting room waiting for Denize I met Rachel who gave me the cell number of an artist by the name of Beatrice. I called her and will meet her tomorrow.

 

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Johan and I have been for long afternoon walks on Macuti Beach, which is in front of our complex. We've come across an old lighthouse and strangely enough, a shipwreck right next to it. Apparantly the shipwreck was actually moved there to act as a barrier.

There is a cafe on the beach - a nice spot to walk to, have a beer or a coffee and walk back home again. Everywhere you go the coffee is amazing and I've even taken to drinking expresso (John will be happy!)

 

Beach cafe



I just love the fishing dhows - the fisherman are amazing in the way they control them on the sea.

I met Beatrice an artist who is a missionary working with teenagers. She holds drawing classes in her home and invited me to come and join in on Friday mornings.

Johan went away on a business trip North of Beira yesterday, and will be back on Saturday afternoon.  Eeeek! I will have to just get out there on these awful roads in our massive 4x4 automatic vehicle (I'm used to a tiny corsa lite ok!). Check the picture of the main road which takes you into town



Here's another example

Friday morning and I'm on a mission today - first of all I'm going to Club Nautica for an expresso and to find out if we can keep our surfski there - when it comes next week. This club is the local place to buy amazing breads, they also serve a good plate of food and of course great expresso! It's also probably the safest place to launch our surfski from hence the request to keep it there - obviousley at a fee. But its relatively cheap approx. R100 per month.

Then I went on to search for Beatrices house - she did show me on a map - but, there are no street names - well after driving around through massive pools of water, past loads of chickens and stray dogs (shame some of them are really sad looking) I eventually found it. I had a great morning drawing and met enthusiastic local teenagers eager to learn how to draw. I met Jo, a nurse, originally from Zim and previously lived in the Nagle Dam reserve - her husband was the manager there. She ended up showing me around town - where to buy fresh vegetables and fish. It's amazing how friendly and helpful people are here.

Here are some photos I took on the way to Beatrice this morning.



Old college building



Cathedral in the centre of Beira







Old empty shells of buildings all over the place



 Some really interesting buildings here - difficult to take photos though - not really allowed.

Adeus until next time!................