Like in any poor country there are many people on the streets trying to sell you lots of stuff. We all know the scene, when you are on holiday and locals offer necklaces, bracelets, wooden crafted statues, paintings or just some local snacks. Here in Maputo you have the same and then a 'little' bit more.
It starts quite simple with some 5 guys just outside the hotel (and outside every hotel or touristy restaurant) spreading wooden pieces of art on the side walk. Oh, and by the way, these items include 2 meter tall wooden giraffes. Try to explain that at your airlines check-in counter.
You walk buy and they ask you relatively politely whether you would be interested in acquiring a piece, or maybe a few more. Like ten or so. Of course, they do not understand the meaning of 'no, thank you' (or maybe your English pronunciation is just not up to par) and make sure you really think about your decision. So they ask again... and again, totally ignoring whatever you say. It's almost like being on the phone with the corporate help desk.
It is even worse if you are a female tourist (i.e. a white woman). Then you're in for the ride. With guys, one comes up to you, asks the question 4 times and once you've shrugged him off, the rest kind'a just points at their stuff but know you'll just mumble the nao obrigado and that will be it. A woman comes along and all 5 guys grab as many items from their 'display' into and onto their arms, run up to her and surround completely surround. Buy mine! Mine! Mine! For some inexplicable reason the local salesmen think women really love shopping...
So if you're a guy, let any woman walk past them first and then it's free sailing for you all the way past the market. But the hotel guys are quite innocent compared to the rest. Once you get further into town, the market place becomes more diverse and so does the approach styles. And it really gets diverse.
Outside any restaurant you can buy jewellery, paintings, batik cloths, t-shirts, socks, suits (!), DVD's (Yes, Harry Potter, the Simpsons and Bourne Supremacy are already available here), prep-paid phone cards, Mont Blanc pens, Ray Ban and Oakley sunglasses, Havaianas, cashew nuts and candy bars. Overall it is fair to say that the side walk here has as good a collection as the Albert Heijn To Go at the Utrecht Central Station, but it comes without their rats of course...
I even could buy, and this is the best of all, electric extension cords and outlet adaptors! I really have no idea when and where someone proved that selling those items in particular was a profitable way of making ends meet, but I guess it happened...
Then you go further into town. In the area where all the (non-touristy) shops are. There the side walk market only gets better. Ever thought of starting your own business? Maybe you wanted to be Al Bundy and start your own shoe store? Be independent? Define your own marketing and sales strategy? Do things the way you think they should be done? Great! Of course, starting up your own shoe store is not easy. The most expensive part of course being the store itself. You need to find the right location, hope there's a building available, pay x months rent upfront, get some interior decoration done, design your display and all of that before you've sold a single shoe!
Why not do it the Mozambican way? You buy your shoes at the wholesaler, throw them on your wheel barrel, push that around town until you find the perfect spot, throw a few blankets on the pavement, line up your shoes on it and start selling. If you want to, you can even do so right in front of a 'real' shoe store. The owner won't like it, but hey, it's a free world here (at least since 1992). And I do not mean a single guy with a blanket with some 20 or so pairs on it, but basically an entire shoe store is laid out in front of you. With staff!!! I wonder if they have performance management cycles also...
Of course there is more than only shoes. Anything, and I mean anything is sold through these street 'stores'. You can buy clothing, books, CD/DVD's and yes, car parts straight off the side walk. You can also have you shoe soles repaired or get your own tailored suit fitted. And the guy will actually sew your suit together right there on the pavement! Guaranteed hand-made!
Sunday, 29 July 2007
Now also Interactive!
This blog has just been taken to the next level! Not only one, but two new functions have been added and they are both interactive!
First we have the 'who in the world is reading this blog' map. Quite a cool gadget showing the different locations from where it is being read. Technically it can be rigged and is therefore not 100% accurate, but in general it should be quite trustworthy. My mission of course is to get as many dots on this map as possible, so please do keep on reading during your holidays! And go really far away during these holidays! Go to Alaska, China, Japan or Siberia! Even if it is just to read this blog! I beg you!
Second new addition is the poll. Or I should say the survey. It is a quick survey for you to let me know what you would like to hear about. Currently the following four options have been listed:
The Office
What it is, where it is, what it looks like and what it is supposed to look like.
Mozambicanas
Maybe you are really interested in the local girls (for the ladies, we can discuss men in the future).
My Hotel
Or 'mi casa' as I call it. This dump I live in.
Bridget Jones
Don't ask me why I added this option, but it was playing on the television when I created the survey, and since I didn't have a fourth option at hand...
Now all rush out and vote! Voting is your constitutional right so make sure you make use of it! Vote as many times as you like if you feel really strong about a subject. Don't vote at all if you don't care!
Hasta la victoria, siempre!
First we have the 'who in the world is reading this blog' map. Quite a cool gadget showing the different locations from where it is being read. Technically it can be rigged and is therefore not 100% accurate, but in general it should be quite trustworthy. My mission of course is to get as many dots on this map as possible, so please do keep on reading during your holidays! And go really far away during these holidays! Go to Alaska, China, Japan or Siberia! Even if it is just to read this blog! I beg you!
Second new addition is the poll. Or I should say the survey. It is a quick survey for you to let me know what you would like to hear about. Currently the following four options have been listed:
The Office
What it is, where it is, what it looks like and what it is supposed to look like.
Mozambicanas
Maybe you are really interested in the local girls (for the ladies, we can discuss men in the future).
My Hotel
Or 'mi casa' as I call it. This dump I live in.
Bridget Jones
Don't ask me why I added this option, but it was playing on the television when I created the survey, and since I didn't have a fourth option at hand...
Now all rush out and vote! Voting is your constitutional right so make sure you make use of it! Vote as many times as you like if you feel really strong about a subject. Don't vote at all if you don't care!
Hasta la victoria, siempre!
Sunday, 22 July 2007
Chow and Booze
There just has to be an article on the food and, especially for Avinash, the local brews. No Avinash, no weird potions that'll turn me into some creepy animal (Hey, I know a few guys like that!) or even worse, into half IT-er half snake, a Boa Contractor!The local brews I've seen so far are actually all beers. Maybe you'll find some home-made moonshine out in the rural areas, but here in the city it is Laurentina, 2M and Manica beer. All locally brewed and I must say, very very good. The first two are the most popular. Laurentina, or as I call her "Loira" meaning Blonde, is slightly softer, more buttery. 2M or as I affectionately call them "Dois Malucos" (Two Crazies), is a dryer, more
'gassy' beer. The blonde also has a raven haired sister which looks and tastes like a Guinness.The locals love their beers and rightfully so. You will hardly see a Heineken, Bud, Fosters or whatever non-Mozambican beer here in the bars. I've actually only seen these in the hotel bar where new guests are not yet brave enough to try something they do not know.
As for the food? Yes! Especially if you are into sea food (and I am!) you will find this place paradise! I already wrote before about the shrimp being the Rolls Royce and it has lived up to its reputation. Hubba Bubba Bubba! I've had fried shrimp, cooked shrimp, curry shrimp, baked shrimp, raw shrimp, pepper shrimp, grilled shrimp, cajun shrimp, boiled shrimp, shrimp on a stick, butter shrimp... (no, I'm currently not scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush).
Other than shrimp you can enjoy all relatives of the shrimp: langostinos, lobsters and prawns. Other sea-food greats are clams (as a starter), barracuda, garupa, lengua and sole. If you're not into sea food then there's always the local churrascaria. Yes, a Brazilian crossed the Atlantic and opened up a Gaucho style churrascaria, appropriately called Rodizio. Those of you that have been to Brazil (or to Amazonia restaurant in Aruba) know what I am talking about when I say: You will be attacked by meat!
Being a former Portuguese colony it is obvious this place and its food is very influenced by the
Iberians. Many Portuguese restaurants can be found which blends in well since their kitchen also relies heavily on fish. Watch out with a Portuguese restaurant though! When you get seated at your table they tend to immediately put 10+ little dishes in front of you, almost as if it concerns welcome snacks. Obviously, as you and I know, nothing in this world comes for free. But one of our Dutch colleagues had to discover this the hard way. A Dutchman! Somebody coming from the land where a customer has to pay separately for mayonnaise and even for a toilet visit! How could he not have known!He went to one of those restaurants by himself and was so grateful for all the snacks, he tried them all! Of course one main course and coffee later he was presented the bill only to see all these not-so-free gifts listed on it. This happened 5 days ago and he is still complaining about it now. Oh well, food is quite cheap here. This huge bill of his, the largest I've seen so far, totalled 875 Meticals (=25 Euros).
There's also this fish market here where you can go, buy a kilo of whatever and then walk to the back where old ladies will cook your fish or prawns over an open fireplace for less than 2 euros per kilo. Finger lickin' good!
Other often seen cuisines include Italian (of course) and Thai. I do not know why this place has 5 known Thai restaurants, but only half an Indian and half a Chinese restaurant. For some odd reason the Indian restuarant here serves a full Chinese menu. That basically means that this tiny 20 seat restaurant has a target group of around 2.5 billion people! The owner must've been thinking "Hmmm, how can I start a restaurant that appeals to as many people as possible?".
The most popular restaurant with the Dutch colleagues here is Mundos, which is basically a cross between a sports bar and a Scheveningen beach restaurant (but then without the beach). The food is typical cafe-food and therefore quite boring, apart from their pizzas. Those are actually very good. I prefer to go there when there's something on. I've been watching the Copa America, Wimbledon and even the FIFA Youth World Cup (being played in Canada this year)!Well, all this talking about food has made me hungry again. Bom Apetite!
PS: My Argentina is in the final again of this Youth World Cup and with one of the players that was in my team in 2005. Sergio Aguero, now with Atletico Madrid but back then a dreamy little 16-year young kid, is the captain and they play the final against the Czech Republic this Sunday. For those of you who have no clue what I am talking about, have a look at these pics.
Thursday, 19 July 2007
Street Scenes
Just a couple of observations made while driving around this town on any given day.
Saturday
A wedding here is an event by itself. Not anything like a generic Dutch wedding, where people dress up in their daily outfit, get married on Tuesday morning because it is cheaper and the guests are provided with one coffee, piece of cake and a single drink ("please leave your gift/envelope on the table"). No sir! Here it is done the third world way.
First of all, Saturday seems to be the only wedding day in Maputo. The chapel is quite close to the hotel so we get to enjoy it all. First everybody gets seriously dressed up and I mean everybody! No matter how poor or young you are, no matter how hot it is, you are dressed up. The place is crowded with 4 year old boys wearing 3-piece suits. The guests arrive in cars with the license plates covered. The front license plate will have the name of the bride and the back of the groom. Quite a cool touch!
After the ceremony and the mandatory pictures on the stairs of the chapel, the entire entourage sets of on a journey to take more pictures. Not just the couple with the photographer. Nope, everybody! First stop, the park. On any given Saturday afternoon there will be at least 3 large groups of people following 'their' couple. It looks something like this. The couple is being directed by at least 3 photographers providing conflicting instructions. Behind them the bride maids (and there are at least 6) stand and look at the scene. Around them the guys are just being guys. They stand with their hands in their pockets, probably talking sports and wishing they were in a bar. All other women (and some of the older men) position themselves in a circle and sing tribal songs of celebration while doing some slow ritual dance steps. A fantastic scene!
After the park, everybody gets into and onto their rides (many of the guests are sitting with their best suits in the back of a pick-up truck) and head for the coast for photo shoot numero 3. Here the scene repeats itself, but instead of grass there's sand. If you drive along the coast line on a Saturday afternoon, you will see a marriage mob every 200 meters. Of course, the entire thing ends with a big party where there's food and, more importantly, booze for all!
Sunday
On Sunday entire families pack their Tupperware storage containers filled with meat, self-made salads and corn, drag along a few coolboxes (i.e. ice cooler of 'jug') filled with ice and beer, and then heads off to the beach. There you swim, BBQ and drink beer. Similar to a Sunday in Curaçao. There is one major difference though. In Curaçao the men drink beer and operate the BBQ. Here, the men just drink...
On any weekend night (and on Sunday evening) most cars on the road are operated by male drivers that have enjoyed a bit too much moonshine (and I don't mean a night of stargazing under a full moon with your fixed or floating partner). As I mentioned in a previous post, traffic police over here is very fanatic. However, there's one thing they cannot check because of the lack of means. Yep, you guessed it! Cheers!
Any day
There are car park attendants everywhere! Well, actually it concerns mostly dudes hanging around parking areas, claiming they have guarded your car whenever you are getting back in your car to leave. Of course this is is a very valuable service which deserves an equal valuable reward. And for just a little bit more they will "wash" your car, leaving it almost as clean as it was before you parked there!
Just like on Curaçao, there are mini-buses all over the place. In most western countries, public transport in the city is mostly taxis and buses. Larger cities have trams and subways (i.e. metro, i.e. tubes), but third world countries have mini-buses. It is basically a modern version of a VolksWagen bus (yes, as in Little Miss Sunshine) with small handwritten signs behind the front window saying where they intend to go to. They are very flexible in many ways. They do not necessarily need bus stops and can therefore pick you up and drop you off anywhere along the route. If you're nice to the driver, he might even do a little detour to drop you off exactly there where you want to be.
Now in Curaçao these mini-buses (or "autobus" as these are known locally) seat 9 persons. This number is determined by law and stated explicitly on the bus. In general, all drivers stick to that in order not to be fined and not to practise some sort of unfair competition with your colleagues, the other mini-bus drivers. In Maputo, these slightly larger buses seat 15 people and that is also explicitly stated on the Chapa (as their known here), but that is exactly where the comparison ends. Every Chapa here seems to be competing for a mention in the Guinness Book of Records, specifically in the section on "How many people can I fit in...". A British student I met the other day, shared a Chapa with 26 (!!!) other people. Okay, I will not exaggerate, one was a baby...
Saturday
A wedding here is an event by itself. Not anything like a generic Dutch wedding, where people dress up in their daily outfit, get married on Tuesday morning because it is cheaper and the guests are provided with one coffee, piece of cake and a single drink ("please leave your gift/envelope on the table"). No sir! Here it is done the third world way.
First of all, Saturday seems to be the only wedding day in Maputo. The chapel is quite close to the hotel so we get to enjoy it all. First everybody gets seriously dressed up and I mean everybody! No matter how poor or young you are, no matter how hot it is, you are dressed up. The place is crowded with 4 year old boys wearing 3-piece suits. The guests arrive in cars with the license plates covered. The front license plate will have the name of the bride and the back of the groom. Quite a cool touch!
After the ceremony and the mandatory pictures on the stairs of the chapel, the entire entourage sets of on a journey to take more pictures. Not just the couple with the photographer. Nope, everybody! First stop, the park. On any given Saturday afternoon there will be at least 3 large groups of people following 'their' couple. It looks something like this. The couple is being directed by at least 3 photographers providing conflicting instructions. Behind them the bride maids (and there are at least 6) stand and look at the scene. Around them the guys are just being guys. They stand with their hands in their pockets, probably talking sports and wishing they were in a bar. All other women (and some of the older men) position themselves in a circle and sing tribal songs of celebration while doing some slow ritual dance steps. A fantastic scene!
After the park, everybody gets into and onto their rides (many of the guests are sitting with their best suits in the back of a pick-up truck) and head for the coast for photo shoot numero 3. Here the scene repeats itself, but instead of grass there's sand. If you drive along the coast line on a Saturday afternoon, you will see a marriage mob every 200 meters. Of course, the entire thing ends with a big party where there's food and, more importantly, booze for all!
Sunday
On Sunday entire families pack their Tupperware storage containers filled with meat, self-made salads and corn, drag along a few coolboxes (i.e. ice cooler of 'jug') filled with ice and beer, and then heads off to the beach. There you swim, BBQ and drink beer. Similar to a Sunday in Curaçao. There is one major difference though. In Curaçao the men drink beer and operate the BBQ. Here, the men just drink...
On any weekend night (and on Sunday evening) most cars on the road are operated by male drivers that have enjoyed a bit too much moonshine (and I don't mean a night of stargazing under a full moon with your fixed or floating partner). As I mentioned in a previous post, traffic police over here is very fanatic. However, there's one thing they cannot check because of the lack of means. Yep, you guessed it! Cheers!
Any day
There are car park attendants everywhere! Well, actually it concerns mostly dudes hanging around parking areas, claiming they have guarded your car whenever you are getting back in your car to leave. Of course this is is a very valuable service which deserves an equal valuable reward. And for just a little bit more they will "wash" your car, leaving it almost as clean as it was before you parked there!
Just like on Curaçao, there are mini-buses all over the place. In most western countries, public transport in the city is mostly taxis and buses. Larger cities have trams and subways (i.e. metro, i.e. tubes), but third world countries have mini-buses. It is basically a modern version of a VolksWagen bus (yes, as in Little Miss Sunshine) with small handwritten signs behind the front window saying where they intend to go to. They are very flexible in many ways. They do not necessarily need bus stops and can therefore pick you up and drop you off anywhere along the route. If you're nice to the driver, he might even do a little detour to drop you off exactly there where you want to be.
Now in Curaçao these mini-buses (or "autobus" as these are known locally) seat 9 persons. This number is determined by law and stated explicitly on the bus. In general, all drivers stick to that in order not to be fined and not to practise some sort of unfair competition with your colleagues, the other mini-bus drivers. In Maputo, these slightly larger buses seat 15 people and that is also explicitly stated on the Chapa (as their known here), but that is exactly where the comparison ends. Every Chapa here seems to be competing for a mention in the Guinness Book of Records, specifically in the section on "How many people can I fit in...". A British student I met the other day, shared a Chapa with 26 (!!!) other people. Okay, I will not exaggerate, one was a baby...
Monday, 16 July 2007
BREAKING NEWS!
We interrupt this blog for a news story that has just broke. Please be advised that the following story contains items which might be disturbing to some. It is rated PG-13. Parental discretion is advised.
RUMOUR OF MAN TRANSFORMED INTO SNAKE GRIPS BEIRA
Maputo, 13 Jul {AIM} - Even in Mozambique's second largest city, Beira, superstition and rumour still have such a grasp that on Thursday large numbers of people gathered outside a police station in the hope of seeing a man who had allegedly been turned into a snake.
The story that spread through Beira was that the unfortunate man had been bewitched. His legs were still human, but from the waist up he was a large snake. ccording to the Beira daily paper "Diario de Mocambique", one colourful version of the story was that a woman went to a local witch-doctor to buy a potion that would stop her husband having sex with other women. She put the potion in her husband's bath, from which he emerged with his upper body transformed into that of a snake. is horrified relatives were then alleged to have seized the wife, and the witch-doctor, and dragged them off to a police station.
A completely different story claimed that a local street vendor transformed himself into a snake, after he was beaten up by municipal policemen who had accused him of selling goods in an improper place.
But it was the story of the woman bewitching her husband that grabbed the imagination of Beira citizens. A large crowd gathered in Chipangara, the neighbourhood where the transformation from man to reptile was supposed to have happened. But at the Chipangara neighbourhood offices, municipal officials assured the crowd that there was no snake on the premises, let alone a man-snake.
So the rumour changed direction. The man-snake was somewhere near the Beira city hall, and his wife was under detention in the first precinct police station. Hundreds of people gathered outside the police station, anxious to catch a glimpse of the man-snake. Photos published by "Diario de Mocambique" make it clear that this really was rather a large crowd. Some people had even paid for transport from distant neighbourhoods in the hope of seeing this unnatural marvel.
The commander of the police station, Simao Isaias, was at a university class when the crowd showed up. He received an urgent phone call from one of his subordinates warning him that the police station was being "invaded" by people who were demanding to see the man-snake and the woman who had bewitched him. The police had to clear the crowd away from the station, and sought reinforcements, including a tanker truck from the Beira fire brigade, ready to hose down the crowd, should it try to storm the police station.
The police assured the crowd that they were wasting their time. There was no man-snake, and the whole story was just a senseless rumour. But a section of the crowd refused to disperse, and shouted "No smoke without fire ! The police are hiding something !"
"Diario de Mocambique" heard that one man was arrested for spreading the rumour, but the police refused to confirm this.
{AIM}
PS: The author of this blog is in no way responsible for the effects this story might have on the readers nightrest. Any claims due to traumatic thoughts and dreams are to be directed towards the writer of above article Clark Can't, also known as Snakeman.
RUMOUR OF MAN TRANSFORMED INTO SNAKE GRIPS BEIRA
Maputo, 13 Jul {AIM} - Even in Mozambique's second largest city, Beira, superstition and rumour still have such a grasp that on Thursday large numbers of people gathered outside a police station in the hope of seeing a man who had allegedly been turned into a snake.
The story that spread through Beira was that the unfortunate man had been bewitched. His legs were still human, but from the waist up he was a large snake. ccording to the Beira daily paper "Diario de Mocambique", one colourful version of the story was that a woman went to a local witch-doctor to buy a potion that would stop her husband having sex with other women. She put the potion in her husband's bath, from which he emerged with his upper body transformed into that of a snake. is horrified relatives were then alleged to have seized the wife, and the witch-doctor, and dragged them off to a police station.
A completely different story claimed that a local street vendor transformed himself into a snake, after he was beaten up by municipal policemen who had accused him of selling goods in an improper place.
But it was the story of the woman bewitching her husband that grabbed the imagination of Beira citizens. A large crowd gathered in Chipangara, the neighbourhood where the transformation from man to reptile was supposed to have happened. But at the Chipangara neighbourhood offices, municipal officials assured the crowd that there was no snake on the premises, let alone a man-snake.
So the rumour changed direction. The man-snake was somewhere near the Beira city hall, and his wife was under detention in the first precinct police station. Hundreds of people gathered outside the police station, anxious to catch a glimpse of the man-snake. Photos published by "Diario de Mocambique" make it clear that this really was rather a large crowd. Some people had even paid for transport from distant neighbourhoods in the hope of seeing this unnatural marvel.
The commander of the police station, Simao Isaias, was at a university class when the crowd showed up. He received an urgent phone call from one of his subordinates warning him that the police station was being "invaded" by people who were demanding to see the man-snake and the woman who had bewitched him. The police had to clear the crowd away from the station, and sought reinforcements, including a tanker truck from the Beira fire brigade, ready to hose down the crowd, should it try to storm the police station.
The police assured the crowd that they were wasting their time. There was no man-snake, and the whole story was just a senseless rumour. But a section of the crowd refused to disperse, and shouted "No smoke without fire ! The police are hiding something !"
"Diario de Mocambique" heard that one man was arrested for spreading the rumour, but the police refused to confirm this.
{AIM}
PS: The author of this blog is in no way responsible for the effects this story might have on the readers nightrest. Any claims due to traumatic thoughts and dreams are to be directed towards the writer of above article Clark Can't, also known as Snakeman.
Saturday, 14 July 2007
Bourbon Street?
Last week Friday I went to Gil Vicente Cafe, which is some sort of a jazz & blues cafe. It is exactly what you expect in such a bar. It is dark with small wobbly tables, thick smoke, some pimpin' dudes wearing sunglasses sitting in the corner and ladies running around serving mostly whiskey. For a second there I though I was in New Orleans, but the floor was dry (I know... that's a nasty joke).
They had a large projector screen hanging from the ceiling and a U2 concert DVD was on. The small flyers on our table said that a band named Projecto Africa would play live at 22:30. In the meanwhile, Bono & co had the honour of being the support act. Yawn! For some reason, listening to Sunday Bloody Sunday in a city which was terrorised by a civil war for many years just doesn't have the same effect. I do agree that U2 made (and still makes) some great classic songs, but the concert is so boring. Every song is played almost exactly as it is on the album. No different arrangements or cool solos. Then again, they can't all be as talented as Prince.... (O2 Arena, here I come!).
Around 22:50, as The Edge almost drove me over it (get it?), the Projecto Africa band members took the stage and that was the end of U2. No mo' Bono! At first I was not really impressed with this band. The first song sounded a bit cheesy, but once these guys got warmed up, they really started sending some serious African vibes around the room! Great bass lines, long whiny guitar solos and of course, ass kickin' drums!
The place started looking even more like a Louisiana blues joint from the 30's. The men in black were still sitting behind a glass of whiskey while smoking a cigar, but now their heads were slowly moving rhythmically side by side, a bit like watching Stevie Wonder in slow motion. And in between the tables, women in short dresses were dancing. The overall scene was just simply sexy. Not in an erotic way, but just ....cool!
During the break the projector screen came down again and we got a piece of, believe it or not, the Queens birthday concert. I'm not talking Dutch artists playing in Amsterdam in front of drunk oranges, but serious stiffness in front of Buckingham Palace. There's nothing more contrasting to the scene I had just witnessed, than following it up with images of Prince Charles trying to be cool on that stuffed dinosaur Tony Bennett (official Latin name: Tonysaurus Ex).
At least that scene was followed with Annie Lennox doing Why live, which is a highlight of any concert. she stole the scene behind the piano during Live 8 and did it again at this show.
The break ended and the local heroes took the stage again. This time just three of them sitting on chairs next to each other with just a piece of cardboard on their laps. What followed was percussion ecstasy. They did all different styles of African rhythms and solos and the place really went crazy. The Stevies were speeding up their movements and the women started to grind it! Heads and butts were bopping left and right. To quote Olav Mol (you Dutch F1 followers will know this): "Man Oh Man! Man Oh Man!". When they finally stopped I was out of breath... and I hadn't even participated!
This lasted some 20 minutes and then they all took their original positions to play the rest of the set. Obviously the room had been heated up sufficiently for all to dance the rest of the night away. What a cool night!
PS: If you never saw Annie Lennox do a live rendition of Why, then please do your eyes and ears a huge favour and check it out here!
They had a large projector screen hanging from the ceiling and a U2 concert DVD was on. The small flyers on our table said that a band named Projecto Africa would play live at 22:30. In the meanwhile, Bono & co had the honour of being the support act. Yawn! For some reason, listening to Sunday Bloody Sunday in a city which was terrorised by a civil war for many years just doesn't have the same effect. I do agree that U2 made (and still makes) some great classic songs, but the concert is so boring. Every song is played almost exactly as it is on the album. No different arrangements or cool solos. Then again, they can't all be as talented as Prince.... (O2 Arena, here I come!).
Around 22:50, as The Edge almost drove me over it (get it?), the Projecto Africa band members took the stage and that was the end of U2. No mo' Bono! At first I was not really impressed with this band. The first song sounded a bit cheesy, but once these guys got warmed up, they really started sending some serious African vibes around the room! Great bass lines, long whiny guitar solos and of course, ass kickin' drums!
The place started looking even more like a Louisiana blues joint from the 30's. The men in black were still sitting behind a glass of whiskey while smoking a cigar, but now their heads were slowly moving rhythmically side by side, a bit like watching Stevie Wonder in slow motion. And in between the tables, women in short dresses were dancing. The overall scene was just simply sexy. Not in an erotic way, but just ....cool!
During the break the projector screen came down again and we got a piece of, believe it or not, the Queens birthday concert. I'm not talking Dutch artists playing in Amsterdam in front of drunk oranges, but serious stiffness in front of Buckingham Palace. There's nothing more contrasting to the scene I had just witnessed, than following it up with images of Prince Charles trying to be cool on that stuffed dinosaur Tony Bennett (official Latin name: Tonysaurus Ex).
At least that scene was followed with Annie Lennox doing Why live, which is a highlight of any concert. she stole the scene behind the piano during Live 8 and did it again at this show.
The break ended and the local heroes took the stage again. This time just three of them sitting on chairs next to each other with just a piece of cardboard on their laps. What followed was percussion ecstasy. They did all different styles of African rhythms and solos and the place really went crazy. The Stevies were speeding up their movements and the women started to grind it! Heads and butts were bopping left and right. To quote Olav Mol (you Dutch F1 followers will know this): "Man Oh Man! Man Oh Man!". When they finally stopped I was out of breath... and I hadn't even participated!
This lasted some 20 minutes and then they all took their original positions to play the rest of the set. Obviously the room had been heated up sufficiently for all to dance the rest of the night away. What a cool night!
PS: If you never saw Annie Lennox do a live rendition of Why, then please do your eyes and ears a huge favour and check it out here!
Saturday, 7 July 2007
MS Office Party
Somewhere last Sunday after having seen Raikkonen win the French Grand Prix, I walked into the lobby to be greeted by Microsoft logo's all over the place. As if having been bombarded by iPhone news over the previous days wasn't enough.
Talking about that iPhone. Could you believe those Mac-heads (those that get religious about how good all the white hardware is and that think that Steve Jobs - the other Bill Gates - is the reincarnation of Elvis and Einstein in one) have been sleeping in front of Apple stores for 5 days just to get their hands on an iPhone? 5 days??? Do you realise how long that is in order to spend USD 600 and be stuck to America's worst mobile network provider for at least two years?
I just loved that news item with that chubby guy (see photo) that was the first one in NY to buy one. He actually lives in San Francisco (!) and decided he couldn't wait for the San Fransissy Apple store to open, so he took up half of his annual leave days to do 5 on 5 (that's five days on 5th Avenue). When he got his phone he was jumping, cheering, screaming (probably the most exercise he got in at least 10 years) and the best part? Everybody was applauding him as if he just found Bin Laden! Hooray for the nerdy chubster!
(Ladies, he's single. And he has one of the first of Apple's new wondertoys)
But back to the other nerds. It turned out that the hotel was hosting an internal regional Microsoft conference. Yes, internal! Meaning that after having been surrounded the previous week by over-zealous meat-heads protecting not-Barbara, I could now expect a bunch of geeks wearing company polos and jackets to roam around the hotel lobby with their laptops comparing their IRQ settings (whatever that is) and looking for the precise location for the best WiFi coverage. I was wrong...
The conference started Sunday evening with MS-Staff checking in the hotel, followed by a welcome MS-Buffet dinner. So far so good. nothing special. Your regular conference. There was even some bandwidth left for me!
Monday things started getting rowdier. When I returned from the bank, the entire MS-Hotel bar was packed with MS-People. Normally that bar is empty, apart from a few elderly European male business travellers -often accompanied by some young local girl - sit there, drinking whiskey and preparing for the activities to follow (Nasty thing, I know. Typical third world scene).
Enough about those dirty ol' men. Let's get back to the Gates Group. After their warm up drinks they almost reluctantly went for their dinner buffet. That's where the MS-Foundation was created for the rest of the night. It was party party party! The MS-Disc Jockey was playing the beats (not using iPods, mind you!) in the big party tent, erected in the hotel garden especially for the MS-Crew. They were partying as if the iPhone was never released!
These guys must have been the commercial sales staff of that company. Because, if these people were really the ones actually designing and developing the software, we would all be operating on MS-Fiesta instead of Vista with the MS Office Party package containing cool software called MS Word Up!, MS Powerjoint, MS Stoutlook (or Foutlook) and of course, our favourite spread(-sheet) MS Sexcel. Don't forget to install a proper anti-virus tool before using this software! And those of you for whom the standard party edition if not enough, you can upgrade to the pro party version containing MS Excess...
This lasted three days. The way these people were behaving I'm pretty sure no one pressed the Home button. It was Up- and Download all the way!
PS: I know. This entire blog entry is full of Nerd humour. Well, I guess I'm a bit of a nerd too. But if you smiled at least once while reading this piece, then you are at the very least a little bit nerdy too. Don't worry, that is not bad.
Just get yourself an iPhone and you'll be cool as a Dutch summer!
PS2: by the way, check out the miPhone! It's the Mozambican equivalent of the gadget that has got everyone going nuts! All you need is an iPod and this cool accessory.
Talking about that iPhone. Could you believe those Mac-heads (those that get religious about how good all the white hardware is and that think that Steve Jobs - the other Bill Gates - is the reincarnation of Elvis and Einstein in one) have been sleeping in front of Apple stores for 5 days just to get their hands on an iPhone? 5 days??? Do you realise how long that is in order to spend USD 600 and be stuck to America's worst mobile network provider for at least two years?
I just loved that news item with that chubby guy (see photo) that was the first one in NY to buy one. He actually lives in San Francisco (!) and decided he couldn't wait for the San Fransissy Apple store to open, so he took up half of his annual leave days to do 5 on 5 (that's five days on 5th Avenue). When he got his phone he was jumping, cheering, screaming (probably the most exercise he got in at least 10 years) and the best part? Everybody was applauding him as if he just found Bin Laden! Hooray for the nerdy chubster!
(Ladies, he's single. And he has one of the first of Apple's new wondertoys)
But back to the other nerds. It turned out that the hotel was hosting an internal regional Microsoft conference. Yes, internal! Meaning that after having been surrounded the previous week by over-zealous meat-heads protecting not-Barbara, I could now expect a bunch of geeks wearing company polos and jackets to roam around the hotel lobby with their laptops comparing their IRQ settings (whatever that is) and looking for the precise location for the best WiFi coverage. I was wrong...
The conference started Sunday evening with MS-Staff checking in the hotel, followed by a welcome MS-Buffet dinner. So far so good. nothing special. Your regular conference. There was even some bandwidth left for me!
Monday things started getting rowdier. When I returned from the bank, the entire MS-Hotel bar was packed with MS-People. Normally that bar is empty, apart from a few elderly European male business travellers -often accompanied by some young local girl - sit there, drinking whiskey and preparing for the activities to follow (Nasty thing, I know. Typical third world scene).
Enough about those dirty ol' men. Let's get back to the Gates Group. After their warm up drinks they almost reluctantly went for their dinner buffet. That's where the MS-Foundation was created for the rest of the night. It was party party party! The MS-Disc Jockey was playing the beats (not using iPods, mind you!) in the big party tent, erected in the hotel garden especially for the MS-Crew. They were partying as if the iPhone was never released!
These guys must have been the commercial sales staff of that company. Because, if these people were really the ones actually designing and developing the software, we would all be operating on MS-Fiesta instead of Vista with the MS Office Party package containing cool software called MS Word Up!, MS Powerjoint, MS Stoutlook (or Foutlook) and of course, our favourite spread(-sheet) MS Sexcel. Don't forget to install a proper anti-virus tool before using this software! And those of you for whom the standard party edition if not enough, you can upgrade to the pro party version containing MS Excess...
This lasted three days. The way these people were behaving I'm pretty sure no one pressed the Home button. It was Up- and Download all the way!
PS: I know. This entire blog entry is full of Nerd humour. Well, I guess I'm a bit of a nerd too. But if you smiled at least once while reading this piece, then you are at the very least a little bit nerdy too. Don't worry, that is not bad.
Just get yourself an iPhone and you'll be cool as a Dutch summer!PS2: by the way, check out the miPhone! It's the Mozambican equivalent of the gadget that has got everyone going nuts! All you need is an iPod and this cool accessory.
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