Oganawambula

Well, I was able to check my email quickly on Sunday at the house of a missionary couple here, but I didn´t get to write anything, so I thought that I would give some highlights of my life in the last little while. Last week we were in Swaziland and South Africa, and we visited Kruger Park and went on safari! We saw many animals outside of our cars. We only broke one rule, and that was out of dire necessity. There is a rule that you are not allowed to leave your car when you are driving around the park, and you are not even supposed to have your arm out the window. Well, on the way out of the park on our last day, we were driving along looking for animals when we heard this comment from Jeff, who was sitting in the middle seat of the minivan. "Um, guys, there´s a big spider up here on Autumn´s bag." We all kind of ignored him as we were paying attention to following the rest of our group in the minivan in front of us. I mean, sheesh, we shower with lizards, cockroaches, frogs, and mosquitoes, as well as spiders, and this guy is worried about some kind of daddy long legs or something? A second later I heard Autumn, who was seated next to him say, "whoa! That is a big spider!" I have to admit that at this point I was thinking rude thoughts about both of them being complainers. Why didn't they just open the window and throw the spider out? Or even just squish it? Well, I decided to look up there from the seat in back and say one of the biggest spiders I have ever seen (except for maybe on in Brazil) sitting on Autumn's shoulder bag. We all screamed for the car to stop and moved to throw the spider out (after trying to take pictures of it, of course). I am sure the minivan in front of us was in major confusion as we all jumped out of the car, as the danger of the spider inside was more immediate than the lions and leopards outside. Jeff tossed the bag out, shook the spider off, and only then did we file back into the car as we realized the possible danger of four or five defenseless humans standing outside in a place where lions, crocodiles, cheetahs, and leopards (to name a few) run free. It was definitely a humorous moment. (We found out later that the spider is not poisonous, just huge and ugly - it looked like a tarantula).
Monday was eventful as we were all standing on a street corner here in Maputo when we almost became casualties of a car accident as two cars collided and ran onto the sidewalk. Luckily, someone pulled on my arm and we all ran out of the way at the last moment. Car accidents are not unusual here, and we should have known not to stand too close to the curb.
This morning I had an interesting experience while showering. I had gone into the bathroom, brushed my teeth with my bottled water, and was going to take a nice cold shower. I went into the stall, stripped everything except for my flip-flops and threw them over the sheer material called a shower curtain. I turned on the cold water and noticed that the water pressure was really low, but easily forgot that in my eager haste to use the new loofah that I had bought in South Africa. I got wet, turned off the water, and lathered my whole body with a nice thick coat of bubbles. I even got some in my hair because I figured body wash and shampoo later might help it a little bit. I reached over to turn the water back on. To my soapy dismay, only three lonely drops came out of the spout. I pondered my options, and then I heard some water coming out of the spicket where we fill up the buckets to flush the toilets. I picked up my trusty water bottle, covered my soapy self with my towel, and ran out to fill it up. Needless to say, it was an interesting water-bottle shower. Some time and three or four trips later, I felt rinsed enough to dry off with my now soapy towel, put clothes back on, and walk triumphantly out of the bathroom. I was glad that I could be the entertaining white girl running back an forth through the bathroom to fill up my water bottle. Teh other girls were probably wondering why I wasn't doing a bucket shower like them, but we have not been supplied buckets here, and I tend to prefer running water when possible. Just one more thing to make them laugh at the Americans!
Well, I hope I made you smile with some of my experiences. I can't believe that I have been here so long, but it seems so short. A day seems like a week and a week seems like a day. We are going to the beach on Saturday, which should be nice. Hope all is well with everyone! I definitely miss my four white mothers!