"Brad Beats Hitler! Buy! Buy!"

It's been a busy week. On Thursday, I rode with Veki, my house owner, to Maputo in Mozambique to take care of some issues she's having with her husband's visa. Malaria is a major issue in the area, which made me pretty nervous beforehand; once we got there, though, I learned that mosquitos aren't really out this early in the year. Because we're starting the rain season and entering summer, next time I visit, I'll have to take more precautions. I'm still processing everything, but let me try to summarize the experience. The country and its people are so much different than Swaziland! Because of the Portuguese influence in the gene pool, the people even look entirely different than Swazis.
Maputo is a great place. I hear that crime (pick-pocketing, mostly) and corruption among police are common, but I didn't have any problems. People haggled me on the street to buy their products, but to be honest, I didn't really mind it. This one man in particular was selling pirated dvds and he had an illegal copy of the new Quentin Tarantino movie with Brad Pitt. He couldn't at all speak English, but he tried when I walked by, which is where the title for this entry originates.
The food. Veki and I ate lunch and had really good draft beer at this restaurant on the Indian Ocean (my first time seeing and touching it!) and I ate a platter of clams caught the day prior. In the evening, I went to the market and bought a handmade ashtray and picture frame for the very reasonable price of $6.00 US. And I bought a huge painting of the market for $40.00--once I move into my new place, I'll post a picture of it on here. Like all major cities, you need to spend more than a couple days to really experience what it has to offer, so I can't wait to go back. All-in-all, it was a successful trip.
In other news, tomorrow begins the annual Swazi festival known as the Reed Dance, at which Swazi women from all over the country present themselves to the king as potential wives. Apparently, over 80,000 women will be present and dressed in traditional garb. I'm going tomorrow, and I'll definitely have a follow-up post sometime shortly afterward. In early October, a group of us will travel to Johannesburg to represent Swaziland in the annual southern African ultimate frisbee tournament. I want to take this moment to publicly apologize to the Kingdom of Swaziland for impending embarassment.