Winter on the Indian Ocean

We were due to restart our Portuguese lessons today, after a week and a half off due to Dad's travel.  We arrived at our language school promptly at 9.  To our surprise, there was a class using our classroom.  Dad went in search of the headmaster.  We found Dad about 10 minutes later, waiting in the office for the headmaster to arrive.  The headmaster is a jolly man.  He has a truly delightful laugh, and he uses it often.  He was very apologetic, but for reasons I'm still unsure of, he informed us that our language instructor was in either Maputo or South Africa.  Orlando had mentioned that his mother was having surgery, so we think this may be part of his absence.  In the space of our conversation, we were told we would have another language tutor assigned to us.  Our new tutor will begin teaching tomorrow.

Afterwards, we ran a few errands.  Dad made Trip 2 to the bank to try to set up an account.  Now he knows a bit more of what he needs to establish an account here.  I think he should be able to do that in another two trips to the bank!  We also went to the equivalent of Staples for a few things.  As we drove around, we saw this athletic fellow:

He balanced on his hands for a few minutes.  On an earlier trip around the same praca (plaza), we saw him swinging from his knees on the metal bar (behind him in this picture).  

The city looked and felt different today.  It is cold and overcast today, although Dad laughs at me when I say it is cold.  The temperature is about 70, but I've felt cold since waking up.  There is a cold wind coming in from the ocean.  

The beach was gorgeous when Mom and I went for our walk today.  The sand was clean and washed smooth from the tide.  Because it was colder today, there were only a few other people on the beach.  I have always loved overcast days at the beach.

I commented in an earlier post that I love Out of Africa but have never actually finished the book.  I took the book with me when I went to Michigan in June.  I loved it.  At one point, Karen Blixen wrote, "Yes, this is how it was meant to be."  That perfectly describes how I felt today at the beach.  Yes, this is how it was meant to be.