They say it’s your birthday-

My roommate had a birthday last week. It was quite eventful. It started with a party at our house with 10+  volunteers. Of course when we finally decided to have a festa at our house, the water and energy both went off. On top of that there was a rather frightening rain storm with house-illuminating lightening and ear bursting thunder. We taught some Mozambicans some American card games, did some dancing and enjoyed some delicious birthday cake (courtesy of Emily’s baking prowess). Then we went to bed rather stinky and tired.

 

Then the party continued the next week with a neighborhood festa. We (and I mean mostly my roommate) spent all day baking and preparing for the party. We made banana bread, coffee cake, American cake, sugar and peanut butter cookies.

Criancas love to help eh?

well kinda...

 

This was a great chance to meet the new neighbors, catch up with old neighbors and practice Portuguese. I spent most of the night running around with criancas (children) attached to me. They are so adorable! (usually!)

 

We talked about the similarities and differences in our birthday traditions and we enjoyed each other’s company. It was nice to hang out with my colleagues in a casual atmosphere.

 

Singin Happy bday in Portuguese

Awe roomies...

She just blew out the candle and is cutting her cake

 

That weekend we had an all-day conference with our colleagues that was presented by company called Pathfinder. They came to teach us about some controversial topics such as: gender, contraception, and HIV/AIDS. This was quite an experience! My colleagues got into a heated debate about whether men or women have it easier in life. I thoroughly enjoyed their reasoning, even though I was too shy to contribute much myself. Then two of my colleagues had the privilege of demonstrating how to properly use a male and female condom. Plastic parts included….AWKWARD! After the conference we kept the party going. We headed to the beach on Sunday with our friend Lina and her children. She is actually our embregada (maid). Yea that’s right we have a maid. Essentially she makes it seem like we are still in the states living at home. She carts our water, washes our clothes and dishes, and sometimes makes us food. In return we pay her well, teach her daughter English and feed her lunch almost every day. I often feel spoiled for having a maid, but we are giving someone a job and an income and she is AWESOME! She is my favorite person in Mozambique by far. She helps me practice Portuguese and shares her cultural experiences. Her children come over and play. Her 3 year old daughter Milka has a laugh that could melt scrooge. So adorable! We took them to the beach because her children had never seen it before. Two chapas and one boat later we were swimming in the waves and getting sunburnt. The Milka never left the water in the 4 or so hours we were there. She was fearless and adorable. Have I mentioned how freakin’ adorable she is!!! Then we treated them to a lunch at the market of chicken and sodas. We ended the day with some of the best ice cream in Mozambique.  It was a great day!

 

Seriously so precious!

Icecream with the family!