Obama Inauguration...

I receive a monthly email from the Mozambican Investor updating me on what's going on in and around Mozambique. Under their Over the Border section, they highlight international happenings. I thought you might enjoy what Africans took away from Obama's inauguration.... (and yes, there was a good contingent of Africans tuning in for the event - it made the front page news 2 days straight).

After Historic Inauguration - Obama Begins Remaking America
Barack Obama, Tuesday, January 20 made history by becoming the first black President of the United States of America. In front of historic numbers, over two million people who braved frigid temperatures to witness the official inauguration at the National Mall in Washington DC, President Obama called for a new era of responsibility in the US. Obama also used the occasion to call on a new order in relations between nations, especially relations with the Muslim world. "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect." With those words, Obama signaled a fundamental departure from the policies of his predecessor, George Bush. In direct reference to poor nations, Obama said: "To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds." (allafrica)

the Update

So I've been trying to post for a month now, but well, the site has not been working in my favor.  I realize it's probably more me than the site but anyway... (how can I teach a Mozambican how to copy DVDs on a computer but can't figure out how to use my own...?)

Some thoughts from the month...  

(I'll begin posting backwards now, or is it forward...?)

January 27, 2009

My dear friend (my "old shoes") who days ago peaced out of town recently sent me a text message willing me to "enjoy all the little things..."

My response...

I'm really enjoying all the little skeeter bites on my legs.  I think I could connect the dots with them.  Saturday night I went to the bar at the train station with my new flatmates, wore a skirt, and woke the next morning with pink polka-dotted legs.  Hot, I know.  I'm beginning to think that even the male mosquito population finds me attractive.

But in way of appreciating Mozambique for its little things... Last night (Sunday) wound up being a random but an oh-so-good random night.  I went for a run and returned sweaty, many shades of pink, and in need of a couple of showers... and sure enough we had a visitor at the place, a new acquaintance, for whom my disheveled look would forever be my lasting impression.  Good thing he had an alcoholic beverage in hand (beer goggles, they do serve a purpose).  By the night's end, we were hanging out at the neighbors - true Mozambicans... Drinking the local brew (some sort of marula moonshine), girls downing shots of whiskey, guys doing the same with 'firewater' (apparently this is typical, some sort of 'cultural' thing)... all of us just sitting in a big circle listening to African blues, jams, vibes... eating, drinking, dancing, and truly getting merrier by the minute.  It truly was just a fun, fun night.  One of those, I can't believe I'm here, a part of this... Surrounded by people (and a language) I barely knew when the night began, a night that began with our visitor hearing the merriment from our 3rd floor flat, shouting down asking if we could join, and hours later leaving with an invitation to return for their next party - February 28th (a monthly festivity, apparently).  So I'm appreciating Mozambicans for always keeping in mind the importance and know-how of having a good time. They may be considered lazy but not when it comes to partying.  :)

Other little Moz-isms... Was eating at a relatively nice eatery this evening with my colleagues when the place went black.... moments later when electricity had returned, ABBA could be heard playing, followed by a Mariah Carey Christmas tune... 

January 24, 2009

Presently sitting at a Portuguese-style restaurant overlooking the Indian Ocean.  A lovely view really.  Mozambicans playing soccer on a sandbar, others selling their crafts, a fellow begging me to allow him to wash my car for 10 meticais (50 cents), and hopefully soon a plate of crepes smothered in ice cream before me.  I just left the home of my best friend here.  She just left on a plane bound for home.  So obviously I have been in better spirits - hence the need for crepes and ice cream!

Every so often you're reminded of just how timing is everything - and that that time is precious. Just wishing that the reminder came a bit less frequently these days.

January 18, 2009

Well back in Maputo, Mozambique, been back about a week.  Initially, I had that high that everyone seems to have when spring finally rolls around after a long dreary winter.  Too many farewells of late... saying goodbye to family & friends back home, saying goodbye to my best friend here in Moz, and hours ago said goodbye to the place I called home since my arrival in Moz.

I think I need to go for a run.

January 11, 2009

as composed by a hyper-caffeinated drunk... spell-checked the next day.  clarity admittedly questionable...  

Not sure quite how the evening unfolded.  It began innocently enough, sitting at an Irish pub drinking coffee (perhaps it was of the Irish variety...), perusing an Indian travel book and ending with a circumnavigation of the pub (no Tibetan prayer beads in hand) and somehow winding up in my present room... 3:42am.  Caught between the soporific qualities of alcohol and a java-induced high.  I do not welcome tomorrow.

Rewind... hours ago... 8pm-esque.  Reading India travel book, a 2-week destination for a friend's wedding in March.  Quite thrilled by this upcoming venture.  Consuming the rare cup of joe (jet lag...).  South African couple across the way taking an ever-growing interest in me, apparently confusing my India travel book for the Bible.  Given the setting, the book's prodigious size and relatively fine print, the somber look upon my face - their curiosity understandable.  A bible-toting gal at a bar isn't an everyday experience, I don't think.  Granted INDIA capped, vibrantly-colored ubiquitously graced the cover of the book... but they'd already been well-acquainted with Jack Daniels long before I entered their line of vision.  Blah, blah, blah... in short time, numbers exchanged, names written phonetically on hopefully an irrelevant ticket stub (accents really trip a person up)... one more shot of whiskey and we would've had the final chapter of my memoir composed.  But alas final call came and went; the 'tap ran dry,' and the wife's languid tongue was beyond my scope of practice (the hubbie requested that I intervene with my esteemed clinical skills.  A futile attempt, indeed, but an attempt made on the behalf of my profession, nonetheless.  I refrained from John Hancock-ing my credentials when closing the tab.)

Twiddle-dee, twiddle-dum, I don't care for anymore rum...

(insert disclaimer here.)

January 9, 2009

Couple days later... Hostel near Johannesburg, South Africa airport... flew in 12 hours ago

It is now 4am... I hear crickets.  My laptop charger and its adapter are being propped up with the support of a wastebasket into the room's lone outlet.  Listening to O.A.R.'s "Shattered."  I hadn't heard the band on the radio for ages... and then a friend informed me it'd been playing since this summer.  Oh... Presently trying to glean some wireless from the nearby airport.  Having sporadic luck.

It's 9pm back in the States so instead of becoming more alert, I should be dozing off.  However, I have this gnawing hunger ache that's keeping me up.  Plus, I was so excited for fresh air that I forgot that in opening up the windows I was inviting the mosquitoes in for a feast.  And the hostel doesn't serve breakfast until 7am.  So my mind keeps drifting back to my favorite hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant in Maputo.  Despite its derelict appearance, it has the best chai tasted outside of India.  The walls are bare save for a curious Arabic wall hanging.  Tables and chairs are placed haphazardly about the room.  A tiny Bollywood-tuned-in T.V. sits on the corner counter.  The mostly male clientele lounge around as if everyday is Sunday.  I like this place and what I wouldn't give for a cup of its chai right now.  Warm, sweet, aromatic goodness.

In closing, from an O.A.R. song not played on FM wavelengths...

"Many days from now I'm sure

I'll be back among your faces

And with you I won't pretend

No, not at all..."