Today was an awesome day.
I felt like I really made a bond with both Diamentino and Georgito today, cooking a "Chinese dish" for them (basically a stir fry, but for lack of proper materials, it was a stir fry in a pot without any sesame or soy products), which Georgito enjoyed, but Diamentino couldn't stand due to the piri-piri. The recipe, as close as I can approximate it:
1 Met worth of piri-piri
1/2 head of ginger, roughly shredded
2 small onions
3 cloves garlic
2 cucumbers
4 green bell peppers
Cilantro
Salt
Brown sugar
Instructions:
Cut all the veggies to a dice, or as close as you can without killing yourself. (THIS IS MOM -- REMEMBER, HE HAS NO CUTTING SURFACE OTHER THAN HIS HAND....)
Get a pot.
Put a dash of oil in (by Moz standards, this is 1/2 C).
Saute the piri-piri and ginger.
Add the onions and garlic.
Remember that you need to make the rice. Start boiling water.
Add the cucumbers once the onions have started to get transparent.
Add the bell peppers once the cucumbers have lost most of their juices.
Find the rest of the ingredients to buffer the incredible hotness of the piri-piri, in this case cilantro, salt, sugar and two eggs.
Pick stones out of the rice and add to boiling water.
Go exercise.
Find some mint tea your mother sent and introduce it as an additional buffer for the piri-piri (this actually worked very well). One teabag makes a cup for everyone, no matter how many people there are.
I also got a haircut today, on my way to get bread, coming from the Internet Cafe where I helped solve a computer problem (yeah, yeah, laugh all you want - I can go literally to the other side of the world and I'm still fixing other people's computer problems). This was after teaching Milles Bournes, after playing a 2-hour UNO game, but before explaining exasperatingly to the secretaries at school that I don't eat meat.
Music is always playing and though most of the time it's not mine, much of it is American rap or hip-hop. I'm getting to know all of the popular songs real well. There's this guy named MC Rager, who is Mozambican, but writes some pretty catchy tunes, and also has a good grasp on English. Hehe...catchy tunes. And I though it would take the full two years to get out of touch.
I had a lot more "Tober" calls today. He's the guy who was here before me, and we look alike, at least to people who aren't used to seeing very many mid-20s Americans with glasses, short hair and half-goatees. I try not to resort to Changana to correct people to call me Joao, but when I do it's effective.
There was this group of neighborhood children, average age of 5, playing in the middle of the street. They called out "Tober" and I responded with "Aqui Joao!" (literally, "here Joao", but equivalent to "I'm Joao".) However, they kept calling "Tober", so I broke down and said "Hi mina Joao" ("My name is Joao" in Changana). In the same tone and pace, they called "Joao". It was true African magic.
I also met Diamentino's girlfriend and 4 month old son. We had a formal presentation, after they watched us eat dinner. His son's name? Tober.
Boy, I have a lot to live up to.
Peace
John
