Week 4: A lot of Beach Photos

It’s hard to believe we have been in Angola for four weeks. Some days I feel like we have settled in to our new home and other days I am wondering when we will head “home” to our normal lives.

We had a good week with a couple of not so great moments. We didn’t have a driver on Monday which was fine, but not normal. We met our back-up driver, Paulo on Tuesday. He will work two days a week so Emerson can have some time off. Emerson had worked every day for three weeks straight so I was happy he was getting a break. The other notable item on Monday was that maintenance installed a gate on our stairs so that the dogs (really, just Mollie) won’t go upstairs. Mollie has been pretty terrible since she arrived here. Her main offense is using the restroom on our beds. Yes, our beds. It also doesn’t help that we have the smallest washer and dryer ever so to wash bedding takes some time! I was seriously asking Jordan how we tell the kids she is leaving our house forever, but we found out maintenance will install a gate so we are trying this first. The gate works, but now she is pulling off shoes from our shoe rack by the front door and chewing them. She is the worst dog.

On Tuesday, I went with three other ladies from our compound to Cantinho do Sossego, a traditional Angolan restaurant, for lunch. The entire restaurant is outdoors and the tables are under several huts. One of the ladies speaks Portuguese so explained the menu to us. It’s so nice to have someone who speaks Portuguese in your party and it’s even better that I really enjoy her company! We ordered way too much food, but [most of] it was delicious. Funge, one of the more popular Angolan dishes which is made from cassava flour whisked in boiling water, was a strange consistency. You are supposed to eat it with a sauce, but the texture was just a little too sticky for me. The rest of the food, which included fish, beef, rice and beans was tasty though and I’m glad we tried it. I plan on taking Jordan and the kids soon.

On Tuesday, the kids started swimming with Coach Joao. There are a lot of Coach Joao’s in our life as this is the name of their tennis coach, too. Swimming Coach Joao went to the Olympics in 2000 and seems to be a great instructor. For the first thirty minutes of their 1.5 hour lesson, they did conditioning drills that consisted of squats, push-ups, running, and crunches. I don’t know much about swimming, but Joao had them working on technique and was great at explaining what they needed to do differently.

Jordan went to the bank on Wednesday so we could open a local account and get a debit card. In America going to the bank is a normal, if irritating, errand. Here, it’s an ordeal. First of all, the bank is only open on Wednesdays which means it gets crowded quickly. Jordan left the house at 6 am even though Banco Sol didn’t open until 8. Once he was there it took a couple of hours to open the account and get a card. He came home around 10:30 am to an elated wife who was very excited to have a debit card. I will still carry some cash around, but I won’t have to carry such a large amount. Later that day, we found out the bank will open on Tuesdays as well to hopefully alleviate the very long wait times.

Later that afternoon I was sitting at my desk and Mollie was outside. She had run through the sprinklers and was soaking wet. Our grass is still growing in so there is a lot of red dirt in our backyard which had turned to red mud in the sprinklers. Mollie, per usual, was a disaster. I decided to leave her in the backyard to dry off. A few minutes later out of the corner of my eye I saw two large dogs run in my backyard. They did not look like they wanted to play. Almost immediately Mollie came running to the back porch as the larger dogs were trying to pin her down. I started screaming Jordan’s name. He started running down the stairs, which now has a gate and therefore slowed Jordan down, and Paula rushed in from the kitchen. I had two thoughts going through my mind. One, I don’t really like Mollie, but I didn’t want to watch her die. And two, I was hoping that we could get Mollie taken care of before the kids buses arrived. I seriously thought they might come home to a dead dog and lots of blood on the back porch. As I was panicking, I kept thinking didn’t want to open the back door because I was afraid the larger dogs would push their way in, but Paula, who was much calmer than I was, opened the door about 4 inches. Just as Mollie was about to really get torn apart she was able to flip out from under the dogs and rush in. Mollie was shaking all evening long, refused to go in the backyard, and wouldn’t eat her food. We could tell she was sore and had one small tooth mark in her side. We were very lucky that is all that happened to her. Like I said, I have seen these dogs before on the loose. They seem OK with people, but I have genuine concerns about what they would do to a toddler if they wandered into someone else’s backyard. We have let the correct people know about the dog attack, but I expect little to be done about it as people have complained about these dogs before. They live with an Angolan who is a few houses down from us. I’m not sure who they are, but I know they are important as they have a police escort when they drive their very expensive car out of the compound. At least there is a record of this happening so that when, not if, it happens again, there will be a history. I know make sure the gates are closed before I let Maisie and Mollie outside. And I made sure to tell the kids Paula saved Mollie’s life.

I can’t remember what day it was, but Paula brought Lucy a dress. I’m not sure if she bought it or made it, but it’s darling. When I asked her how much I owed her she said “No, madame! From me! From me!” I’m still not 100% comfortable employing two people full-time, but I genuinely like them both and want to do as much as I can to be a good employer and take care of them the best we can.

Bringing it back to a more superficial topic, I had dyed my hair more my natural color before moving to Luanda. I wasn’t sure what my options would be to maintain my highlights so that felt like the safest option at the time. After I lived here couple of weeks though, I knew I needed to find someone who could take me back to blonde. One, it’s warm and tropical here so my brown hair didn’t feel right and really, I just didn’t feel like myself when I looked in the mirror. I went back to VIP Beauty Salon where a lady named Mirna, who is from Lebanon and one of the co-owners of the salon, highlighted my hair for me. She was a lot of fun and she did a good job. There was one moment though I was concerned because she asked me if I wanted gray. “Gray?!” I asked! “Yes, gray,” she replied. I said “umm, no gray!” The other interesting thing was that there were five people helping with my hair! FIVE! Mirna and a lady she trained were highlighting it. (Mirna was doing the front and the top and the other lady was doing the back). Then there were two people holding the dye and another lady handing out the foils. I also was given a fresh passion fruit juice! My hair turned out well and I am thankful I found a place here I can maintain my highlights.

Most of the time, having one driver isn’t really an issue, but Thursday afternoon it was. I was done with my appointment and ready to get home knowing the kids would be home soon, but Jordan had asked Paulo to take his copied passport to be notarized. (Remember how important notarized passports are? We don’t want to be on the wrong side of a police stop again!) I waited for thirty minutes hoping Paulo’s task would wrap up before I asked a friend if their driver could come get me. Luckily, he could and 45 minutes after my appointment was done, I was finally headed home. I do miss my independence in just heading out when I want to. For example, today I need bananas and chicken. In Sugar Land, that would be a quick trip to HEB. Now, I’m waiting on Emerson to finish getting the car washed and when he gets back then I can head to the store. Maybe this is all teaching my patience. Or to stock up on groceries.

The kids didn’t have school on Friday which was nice. We went to the store for food for for the weekend and our day beach trip. Then we had a mostly lazy day around the house. Later that afternoon we went to the pool for a little bit before I headed home to prep for our beach day on Saturday.

Saturday, we met up with several other families around 8 am and headed to Cabo Ledo. Cabo Ledo is roughly 2 hours south of Luanda and the drive was beautiful. We first went to Praia dos Surfistas (Surfer’s Beach) and were amazed at how pretty and fun it looked. The sand isn’t white, but the water is crystal clear although a little chilly. Hudson also loved the large rocks on the beach and found a few “caves” he and his friend, Lucas, explored. There is a small restaurant you can order food and drinks from as well as cabanas you can rent for the day. They also provide surfing lessons (Hudson said he wants to do it next time!) for about $14/hour. The surfing looked like fun. I might even try it next time we are there. We stayed for about an hour and then headed to our reservations for lunch at a resort, Carpe Diem, nearby. We estimated it was about 15 minute walk (maybe 25 with kids), so we sent the gear with the drivers and started walking. The walk ended up being more like 35-40 minutes, but it was enjoyable. The restaurant has plenty of room for the kids to play and the beach was close by. The parents took turns watching the kids when they were in the water. While the food at the restaurant was delicious, the service was inconsistent. It took me 1.5 hours to get my first caipirinha and lunch overall took about 3.5 hours. It was ok as we weren’t really in a rush, but it did make for a long day. I think I would only go back to Carpe Diem if we had a reservation for the night there. If we were just going for the day I would stay at Praia dos Surfistas.

On our way home, we saw several monkeys on the side of the road. Emerson told us they like cookies, so Jordan held an Oreo out of the window and a monkey ran up to the car and took it from him! We really enjoyed our time in Cabo Ledo and I am trying to find a way to get back there as soon as possible. I see us spending many days at Praia dos Surfistas.

Jordan went mountain biking again on Sunday and rode 43 km (26.7 miles). He had a fall and is a little sore, but I can tell he is proud of his war wounds. The kids and I were lazy most of the day Sunday. I prepped my usual food – made hummus, boiled eggs, and cut up fruit – for the week. Lucy had a friend come over to play and they pretended they got married. They also pretended they honeymooned in New Mexico. I can’t say that would be my first choice of a honeymoon destination, but they seemed cool with it. Lucy said “it’s what we both agreed on.” They are already learning how to compromise in marriage. Hudson was able to play Xbox with some friends in Houston. While I’m not the biggest video game fan, I do appreciate that he is able to keep in touch with his friends at home though them. Around dinner time we FaceTimed family. After watching a Lego Masters, everyone went to bed ready to start week five in Luanda.

I think this was our most “normal” week here so far. We are settled into routines. We are making good friends. Not everything is new and different anymore and we are able to relax a little. When everything is new, it’s exciting, but also exhausting. In small and slow ways, I can tell we are making this place our home. Now… if only our shipment would leave Houston.

Until next time…
Sarah