happy Hannah

my mozambiquan visit continues to be a delight. so much so that i'm not going to leave on monday as thought possible at one stage, it looks like i'll be leaving on the 4/5 april when the lovely bernadette can accompany me to blantyre in malawi where we can stay and have a nice break for a few days and then she can see me safely onto a bus from blantyre to pretoria through zimbabwe. so i get another couple of weeks here at least!
the pace of life here suits me fine, i'm really not doing all that much day to day just sleeping, cooking, eating, shopping, visiting, playing with Hannah, chatting with Alexandra, bit of reading.. the visiting is often funny. yesterday in particular i went to visit a pastor i know well and then another friend, both of them don't speak english and i barely speak any portuguese so it was a day of communicating with a dictionary and gestures! i guess it was also a day of being most out of my comfort zone but that resulted in one of the best times here, just such a privilege to be fed by those who have so little and to learn how to peel pumpkin leaves and crack peanuts to help prepare the meal, to entertain the children with my photos and just enjoy a day with friends despite the communication barrier.
innocence has been away most of the week sorting out his truck that is broken in nampula - an 11 hour bus journey away. so its been a week with the ladies at home, getting to know alexandra and hannah a lot better.
i am starting to smell more mozambiquan, which may not be such a good thing! i am changing shape a little, and my skin is getting more used to the sun, and otherwise my body is still loving it here. the food presents me with daily delights like coconut rice, butter beans, guava, we even made pancakes the other morning. i tasted cashew nut fruit on thursday which i didn't even know existed - a strange taste but pretty good. i really do like the diet here, although what i'm experiencing is no doubt the luxury end of it, but its so nice having a lot less sugar and fat.
i am still struck daily with the differences - washing under stars, rain or scorching sun; cooking that takes 3 hours for one meal; the many greetings in portuguese or amusing english wherever i go; the generosity of some bread or a fizzy drink whenever i enter someone's home; endless fly swatting; nightime noises of insects, dogs, radios, and laughter; the money that comes in nothing smaller than 500 so i'm always a millionaire; the rain that suddenly comes in torrents and disappears again in no time leaving slippery mud everywhere...
it would be fair to say that i am a very happy and content Hannah