Feira Recovery

Santo Cristo. I'm worn out from the crafts fair, though I only did 4 1/2 of the 6 days myself since my friend A. was able to stand in for me during the time I had to be at the office. Still, I'm exhausted. My feet and legs hurt. I have a lot of materials to organize and tallying up to do. I am, however, basking in a pleasant glow of satisfaction that the fair went exceptionally well. I enjoyed good sales, and made several really interesting contacts. I am already looking forward to participating in the December fair (should I be selected again by the jury).

So, other than mad jewelry-making and super-intense selling, what have I been up to lately?

- 7:15am private pilates classes in our living room with a trainer who is an ex-olympic athlete from Ecuador. She is brutal, but in the best possible way. I've learned that I am nearly incapable of sitting up straight. The position I swore had my spine like a plank is apparently still curved and lacking. I'm humbled each time we have our classes by how inflexible my body has become.

- Enjoying an unexpected but very welcome mid-term houseguest. She is a volunteer here in Maputo for the next 6 months, and her homestay experience didn't quite go as planned. There were some safety issues that came up, and Rico and I gladly took her in when it became apparent that the organization that runs her volunteership was not interested in really helping, aside from the fact that they failed to recognize the very serious and real nature of the situation at hand. It's nice to have company, especially since Rico and I are going out of town for a few weeks and are glad to have a housesitter.

- We leave on Friday for a trip to Europe to visit my grandmother in Italy and Rico's sister and her family in Austria. I'm super excited. Airfare from Maputo to Joburg is ridiculously expensive right now (think US$450 per person for a 45-minute flight), so we're driving to South Africa to catch our flight. It should be about 6 or 7 hours, including the border. We'll leave our car at long-term parking in Joburg, which is a fraction of the cost of flying, even including gasoline.

- I'm looking forward to leaving my current consulting assignment at Big International Company. It's time to do something I find challenging as opposed to pushing paper and harrassing other people to properly do their jobs so I can, in turn, do mine. Viva October 1st when I start my new position. More on that later, once I've actually signed the contract, so that I don't inadvertently jinx myself.

- I am tired. Haven't been sleeping so well lately, mostly because our mattress has slowly morphed into the same unfortunate crater-shape we had to contend with in Chimoio. Other contributing factors are cats and mosquitoes. I'm looking forward to good sleep in the European fall weather for a few weeks.

- And on that note, time for bed. I've just finished my celebratory snifter of Amarula to mark the end of a successful fair, and Rico is yawning across the room. Boa noite!