On Thursday, going to work was about the last thing I wanted to do, but I had no choice. The morning wasn’t incredibly productive, as I had to make some stops in town first and then at 11h00 Julie, I and the girls all went to get haircuts. My hairdresser Manuela used to live really close to me, then they moved their house to a fairly new development (on the same side of town as the SIL compound), but for several months the salon was still in the old place. Then in December they moved the salon over as well. I was wondering where I was ever going to find the time to go now, but when Julie said she and the girls also really need it, it sort of justified taking the Landrover and making a whole outing out of it! I made really slow progress on Thursday afternoon and was just feeling miserable, and when I went by Cornelia’s house after work to drop something off, I got stuck there because of the rain and didn’t get back until 18h00, when it was already dark – not clever. Yesterday was much better, though, except that it started with a baaaad chapa ride. Three ladies with big plastic basins with 5 or 6 chickens in each got on at one point, and the smell of the chickens was very unpleasant. I was so happy when they started getting off, but unfortunately only two got off and then one lady was taking some more of the chickens of the lady who was staying, and they were flapping their wings and feather particles and droppings went flying through the air. Yuck! At work, despite my irritation with the workers who seem to have a knack to come and ask me, in Dr Woodrow’s absence, for loans just when I am sitting down with a cup of tea or am really engrossed in my work, it was a very productive day and I think I only have about 5 pastors’ books left to take care of, aside from some new people whose packets will hopefully not take very long. It seems that Dr Woodrow really just needs to leave for things to go wrong though – on Thursday night the church building fell down! I had noticed recently that some of the supports were very skew… O well, I guess a wood-and-bamboo structure can only last that long! I had hoped that the documents that I need to take to the customs agent would be emailed to me yesterday afternoon, but alas not, I will have to go do that quickly this morning. And then hopefully rest well the rest of today and tomorrow before the containers start arriving… Thankfully my cold is much better, aside from annoying mucus in my throat I feel fine today.
Home with a cold March 4, 2009
When I got up this morning I decided in a very short time that I would not be going in to work today! I had also arranged to see Claudia, one of my Mozambican friends, before work, since I had only heard this week that she’s going back to Beira on Saturday. I asked her to come here instead, as the thought of sitting in a smoky coffee shop and shouting to make myself heard wasn’t very appealing. We had a lovely visit, and it seems pretty certain that she’ll marry in a few months’ time and then move back to Nampula, yay! She left just after 11h00 and I tried to get some work done, updating the lists of books each pastor on the APP has, but for most of the day when I was working, I felt like I should be resting and getting better, and when I was resting I felt guilty about not working. Last night the electricity kept on going off, so much that I went to bed very early, and then today until about noon we had no water, I don’t know what has been going on. This afternoon at least I could cook and then clean up the kitchen, so I was glad it came back on. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel better and be able to do more!
Not having a great week March 3, 2009
I was really trying to be calm about the week that was ahead of me, but when I got up yesterday morning a wave of anxiety hit me. It was hot, I had left my wallet at home and I was literally hot and bothered by the time I got to work. It ended up being largely unnecessary – there was no news and today we learned that the ship is being loaded tomorrow, so the earliest I can deal with anything (copies of documents that are emailed to us need to be taken downtown to the customs agent) will be Thursday. So I simply tried to go on with the neverending APP mailing and get an idea of everything else that needs to be done. I also had to make a trip downtown with Dr Woodrow – we needed a notarised document stating that I authorise him to drive my car across the border into Mozambique, and as usual we were given the runaround on what exactly needed to be done. I ended up going by there this morning with a copy of my passport and was told to come back at 10h30, when the clerk eventually typed the letter while I was sitting there, and then I waited I think another 30 minutes for another clerk to take it to the director for her signature. I was stressed out, because I thought Dr Woodrow was leaving the house at 11h30, but it turned out to be nearer to 12h30, so I had more than enough time. Aside from these two hours in my life I will never get back, I wasn’t very productive today because of the beginnings of a cold – I got up with a sore throat and a thick head this morning and have had very little energy all day. Another reason to be thankful that I didn’t have to deal with shipping containers! I was also spoiled in the sense that I got a ride to SIL this afternoon, was able to get some library books and got dropped off at home – I simply couldn’t face walking even a few blocks. I hope this passes over quickly, there is just too much to be done to be out of action now!
So much for doing nothing all weekend… March 1, 2009
Yesterday morning early I was terribly industrious, cleaning my flat and doing some laundry, but then my plan of just staying home and getting lots of work done didn’t quite turn out that way. My friend Cornelia came by, which was nice, and then she wanted to go see Tricia Morrison (they’re the people who live in the building behind mine) and I wanted to borrow some DVDs from them, but then we had to wait for Tricia to come home, so it was almost 12h00 by the time I got home again and I felt like I had lost my whole morning! I had realised that I really needed to go by the bookshop and get all the necessary documents, now that the month was over, to have another look at the finances. So that was a fun, hot walk at 13h00 in the afternoon… I did relax a bit with a movie, but most of the afternoon and part of the evening was taken up with work. The only bit of “excitement” that I had was when I went to deal with the guard, absentmindedly only took a loose key for the back gate’s lock, and then locked myself out when the back door swung shut! Luckily one of the kitchen windows was open, so we had to tear the (nice, new) screen and then eventually got the other window, next to the door, open with the help of the broomstick, and could then open the door. I am just so glad the guard could help me and that this whole episode only took about 5 minutes.
This morning after church (which ended nice and early, I love it when Kent Woodrow leads the worship!) Dr Woodrow and I had a short meeting with 3 of our bookshop workers about the continuing problem of books and money disappearing, I really hope we can nip this in the bud. O yes, I have some good news – I’m still losing Aquiles as a worker, but at least he’s not leaving Nampula anymore! He had already regsistered in Montepuez and was making his plans to go there, when he heard that he had been accepted to the Universidade Lurio, the quite new Catholic medical school here in Nampula! I am so happy for him, because that’s what he’s wanted to do ever since he finished high school, but the educational system everywhere is just so corrupt and people don’t seem to get accepted on the basis of merit. Of course I am also glad not to be losing my translator/Portuguese checker… Praise the Lord!
