I'm alive

I guess it's been a few weeks since I last posted, judging by the reminders I've been getting in my e-mail (again, thanks!) so I thought I'd put something quick together in the interest of saying hello.*

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind here, as I hit the 3-month mark in Africa I finished the first part of the ongoing forecasting project at work which has consumed a lot of my time.  By all accounts the result was a big improvement  -- maybe purely because we implemented a process where there wasn't much of one before --  but there's still lots of room for improvement.  I'm not out of a job yet, at least.

In personal news, continuing what someone called my "club med" experience in southern Africa, I've spent the last two weekends in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.  Mozambique could not be more different from Swaziland.  As soon as you cross the border you can feel a difference, though that may just be relief after making it past the guys with huge semi-automatic rifles that guard the entrance (and patrol the streets in the city). It's a great city, full of people, energy, nightlife, the beach, tropical weather, etc., nearly all of which don't exist in any real way in Swaziland.

We were there for an Ultimate Frisbee tournament on the Costa del Sol beach the first weekend.  I can barely throw a Frisbee but for some reason I decided to play.  (See below for one example of me failing to at the game -- don't ask about the headband, wasn't my decision.)   The second weekend we went back for a night with a guy who was leaving town and hadn't been yet.  

I am terrible at Ultimate Frisbee.  But I enjoyed sitting on -- being
relegated to -- the beach (riding sand?)

This was my real contribution to the weekend,
organizing an American-style Flip Cup Game

The highlight of both trips was the other-worldly fish market, where one half contains a few dozen vendors selling very fresh seafood, and the other half comprises a bunch of restaurant/shacks where they'll grill the fish for you and serve you Mozambican beer over the course of a 3-hour lunch.  Worth a trip just by itself.  Maputo also has an actual coffee shop that sells freshly-roasted coffee and decent bagels where you can sit overlooking the ocean.  You can't get bagels or decent coffee in Swaziland that I can tell, so that shop also is worth a trip by itself.

Next weekend is the Swaziland Umhlanga (pronounced Um-schlanga), which is a Swazi tradition not to be missed, apparently. I'll let Wikipedia describe it for you:

Umhlanga, or Reed Dance ceremony, is an annual Swazi and Zulu tradition held in August or September. Tens of thousands of unmarried and childless Swazi/Zulu girls and women travel from their villages to participate in the eight-day event.

It's a signal that the cold winter is finally ending, so as you all head into the Labor Day end of summer, we'll finally be starting to warm up here.  In other words, time to come visit.

Anyway, I keep writing more than I intend to when I start these things, so I'll leave it at that.  Hope everyone is doing well, I love hearing from everyone even though I'm a terrible correspondent.  I will write back eventually, I swear.

-Garrett

*I'm in a downward spiral it seems, 8 posts in May, 6 in June, 4 in July and now it's the middle of August and this is the first of the month.  I will improve.  I hope.  Keep bugging me, please.