Things that no longer surprise me in Mozambique...

*Some people eat  mice
*People collect termites, cook them, sale them at the market, and eat them
* It's not uncommon to see livestock transported on top of big rigs
*My kid neighbors will ring the doorbell five times and if my roommate and I don't answer, they'll wait outside our house for about an hour for us to answer the door.
*Mozambican women are physically strong.  They carry gallons of water or fruit on their heads
a baby is strapped to their backs
* Some people urinate and poop in the dirty river in my city.
* Some people take baths in the dirty river.
* Some people wash their clothes in the dirty river. I wonder, "Do they drink from the dirty water?"
* I never hitchhiked until coming to Mozambique
* I can fit into a van with 30 other people and animals
* Because a lot of people are poor here, they find creative and economic ways to have fun.
For example, adults play checkers with beer caps and a board drawn on with black and red marker. In addition, as a way to practice being a mother, girls tie a baby doll with a capulana.  On the other hand, boys play dodgeball with coconut shells, push a car with a stick made out of  cans, or navigate a bicycle tire with a stick.

* My empregada's (a lady who helps with domestic chores) child sometimes eats food from the trashcan or from the cat's food bowl
* I can buy a pineapple, 10 bananas, 10 mangoes for only a dollar
* I use capulanas for everything and I love them.
* I go into a restaurant and only half of what is on the menu is available
* I go into a restaurant with friends and they literally cut off a chicken's head and pluck its feathers in the back.  Then, they serve them fried chicken two hours later.
* Children take care of other babies-- They carry them on their backs, feed and bathe them, etc
* Sometimes I see little boys walk around in dresses and skirts. Maybe this is because there
isn't enough money to afford pants for their growing bodies
*A teacher interrupts my class with a pen and a pad of paper and asks students to raise their hands
if they have problems reading, learning disabilities, or mental disorders (What happened to confidentiality)
*My school director comes to my house unannounced so that he could inform me of an important school meeting that's about to take place in ten minutes.  He adds, "Don't be late".

* Sometimes people blast dance music at 3:30 AM. Who's dancing at this time?
* People are hammering at 4 AM.  Who's building houses at this time?
* There's a two hour wait  to use the ATM
* I go to a restaurant when I'm not hungry because it usually takes at least two hours to get
food orders at sit-down restaurants
* I had to teach my empregada how to mop and wipe off the counters
* The teacher meeting that should have only been a 30 minute discussion about school improvements
and goals for new school year, turns into a three hour meeting of the directors reading off the
list of new teachers and principals in the province and teachers complaining
* I've seen boys who look about eight years old, secretly drinking hard liquor by the river
* It's rained almost every single day I've been in Mozambique