Please Stop Feeding Me Ice Cream!

This weekend has left me tired.

Friday night was a huge leaving party for Patty and Luis who have left Maputo for new adventures in Haiti. They will be seriously missed, though we did see them out in grand style - live timbila band, dj, lots of Mozambican food and cake, dancing and an open bar to fuel all the activities.

In an interesting turn of events, Hugh Marlboro came to the party. It was nice to interact in a completely social setting, but being at a party with my boss made me nervous and I ended up drinking too much too quickly once he'd left to calm my nerves. I was sorry for this move the entire day Saturday.

Yesterday I went to a good Spanish movie with Vero and her friend. It was called something like "Las Cosas que Hacen con que la Vida Valga la Pena". Long title, but a surprisingly good movie. After the film we went to Café Camissa at Núcleo de Arte and listened to a band and had some drinks. It was fun, but I should have called it a night and gone to bed at 8pm instead of past midnight.

Good thing Hugh Marlboro is out of town on Mondays. I was dragging at work today.

I had a funny interaction with Ahmed, the warehouse manager. What started out as little welcome gestures - sending me a plate of bananas or a soda (I finally managed to pop the cap off a coca-cola using the door jamb!)- have escalated to him buying me lunch nearly every day! It comes as a total surprise, as do the other treats, and despite all my protests I've been unsuccessful at convincing Ahmed that I bring my lunch to work now and would like to eat it lest the food spoil in the not-cold-enough refrigerator. I tried all sorts of arguments - including the "my husband gets jealous when other men buy me lunch on a regular basis" one, but nothing was getting the message across.

This morning Ahmed sent up his helper from the warehouse to ask what I wanted for lunch. I said nothing, that I'd brought soup to eat and wasn't that hungry anyway. I thought I'd been clear, but apparently not because about an hour later, Ahmed was like, "Do you want piri-piri or no piri-piri?" and let me in on the little surprise that he'd gone ahead and bought me a quarter grilled chicken with salad!

I ended up eating it, but that's beside the point!

So after the chicken incident (this is the second time it's happened), I knew I had to talk to Ahmed again. Today, after much back-and-forth, we finally reached an agreement. I ended up playing the work card, saying that as of next week I will be analyzing the warehouse operations (which is true), and that nobody could get the impression that he was trying to suck up to me, or that I was somehow favoring him because of all the free food. I said I needed to remain impartial in my position, and that the surprises had to stop (a bit of an exaggeration, because I won't be making any critical decisions about the warehouse, but still a plausible excuse not far from the truth).

Ahmed conceded after much consideration, on the condition that he could still buy me an ice cream every day. I said he was free to buy me ice cream as long as he was buying for the entire office and not just for me. He said, "Clever girl, because of you now everyone will be enjoying ice cream every day."

Epa...

It's funny, I still don't know how to read this situation. My initial thought was that Ahmed was trying to suck up. Then I thought he liked me. But there is something in his attitude that makes me think that possibly, just possibly, he's just a nice guy. Or maybe I'm just a sucker. Either way, I'll be eating a lot of ice-crystal-laden neapolitan ice cream in soggy-with-humidity sugar cones.