that’s what I like about you

1. you can jump out of the car during traffic and buy any of the following: fruit, pasta, rice, vegetables; movies, paintings, boutiques; skirts, t-shirts, tanktops, pants; and my personal favorite: molds for cinderblocks.
    *when the dog bites, when the bee stings*

2. seeing little feet print everywhere in the sand :o) little toe prints make my day better, every day.  i look down and think “awwww that is so cute!” and it never gets old!
    *when i’m feeling sad*

3. never having to carry things from one place to another on base because there is always a boy around to help, especially when buying refrescos & carrying my suitcase –both super heavy.
    *i simply remember my favorite things*

4. sending boys to the market so that i don’t have to walk in the nasty heat :o) and giving them something productive to do during the summertime

      *and then i don’t feel so bad!*

5. eating with my hands

6. refrescos: i LOVE drinking coke out of a glass bottle.  it’s old school and tastes amazingly better. coke light rules.  *there is no diet, they have “light” everything instead*
7. this is a love/hate relationship: my beautiful pink mosquito net, with pretty butterflies.  i feel like an african princess.  but sometimes i just want to fall into bed but i can’t, i have to crawl through my net.
8.  i live at the beach.  the Indian Ocean beach, no less!  it’s the coolest ocean on the map because its the furthest from home! *sweet*
9. the nearby islands and the bay: beautiful and easy/cheap to get to.
10.  all the delicious fresh french loaves and fruit i can find every morning.
11. I get to (re)-learn Portuguese! *this is actually something God’s been showing me slowly: it’s a very safe environment for me to learn one of my native languages, kids don’t really care if you mess up every single word ;-)
12. My family is right next to me :o)  It’s an amazing safety net, a great comfort and such a unique and amazing opportunity to get to know them better!  This time here is going to change our relationships for ever, how cool!
13.  I live at a children’s centre, my boys are here all the time.  Which is completely exhausting a lot of the time.  But it means I get to eat breakfast with them in the morning,  I get to see them during showertime –which is so adorable—and I get to band aid scrapes, oh and hug them good night! i love night time with kids :o). 
14.  Podcasts, this isn’t unique to Africa but it’s definitely unique to my experience: I can download loads of podcasts from home and stay connected :o)