Life On The High Way
The Travels and Adventures of the High Family
And… We’re back!
We are back in Luanda!
I know I haven’t posted here since March! We took a 17-day trip to Victoria Falls, Sabi Sands and Mauritius and I didn’t want to blog during the trip. I wanted to enjoy it without feeling like I needed to recap every day. And some days were very long. Unfortunately, I never picked the blog back up. I kept thinking I needed to write about the trip before I posted anything else. But, now that we are back after our summer break I decided to move on. It was a fabulous trip and maybe someday I’ll do a recap, but for now, we are fast forwarding to August!
Well, perhaps we should rewind to June. I will not sugarcoat leaving Luanda. I was ready. There is a reason Chevron encourages us to take vacations and that is because while there are amazing things about this expat life – you also need a break.
The kids and I flew back to the states on June 7. We had an 8 hour overnight flight to Frankfurt (there was very little sleep) and then a 10 hour flight to Houston (the kids finally passed out for 2 hours). You know it’s a long flight when you think to yourself “Ok, we only have three hours left.” My parents met us and all of our luggage at the airport. It was a happy reunion. They picked up El Tiempo and Whataburger as our “first meal” in the US. We were all exhausted. My goal was to stay up until 8 pm. I think I made it.
Our summer was full of all the things: swim team, sleepovers, summer camps, tennis lessons, tumbling, time spent with grandparents and other family members, playdates, going to the Lakehouse, and eating all of our favorite food. Jordan flew home in July and we were all thrilled to see him. As a rookie expat, I may (most definitely) have over scheduled us, but when I look back I can’t think of what I would remove. The kids loved their time at home and seeing friends. I enjoyed going to HEB and Target. The summer deserves it’s own recap as well and maybe someday I will get around to it.
We left Houston on August 6 at 6:30 pm with 10 checked bags, 3 carry-ons and 3 backpacks for our 10-hour overnight flight to Frankfurt. Once again, there was very little sleep. We had an eleven hour layover in Frankfurt so we booked two rooms at the transit hotel and crashed hard for about 2 hours. After some mediocre airport food, we took off at 10:00 pm for our 8-hour overnight flight to Luanda. You should be picking up on the theme here… there was very little sleep. We landed at 5:30 in the morning. Luckily, we were out of the airport in an hour! We were home by 7:20 and the kids were playing with friends by 7:30 in the morning. I have no idea how they were still standing, let alone playing.
Here is a short video I made about our 25 plus hours of traveling.
It was good to see Emerson (our driver) and Paula (our maid). While it’s still strange to me that we have people working for us, I can honestly say they are more than just employees to our family. We genuinely like them and want the best for them. Our backup driver, Custodio drove by and rolled down his window to yell “Bom Dia, Madame!” It was a warm welcome back!
The kids played ALL day long. Their lives here remind me of what life must have been like in the 70s for kids. They roam the compound on their bikes, going from house to house, eating lunch or having snacks wherever they are. I literally have no idea where my kids had lunch yesterday. I told Jordan I was feeling guilty about that and he said, “As long as we feed all the kids when they are over here it’s fine.” I’m really thankful my kids get to experience this freedom and I’m also thankful for parents who watch and take care of my children like their own. Other parents have gotten on to my children and I’ve gotten on to theirs. Other parents praise my children and I do the same. I think Monte Belo (our compound) is the epitome of the saying “it takes a village.”
Hudson passed out at 5:30 and slept for 15 hours. Lucy slept for 13. Jordan had to wake up at 4:45 and head to the office. He has been a trooper.
Unfortunately, at this point, I haven’t been out socializing much yet. Our shipment arrived (hallelujah!) while we were gone. That, plus the ten bags I had to unpack, has kept me very busy. I made great progress yesterday although there is still a lot left to do (unpack shoes, organize pantry, organize kitchen, organize “garage”). I cannot express how good it feels to have some of our things here now. There is a peace about being in this house that wasn’t there before. It feels like OUR house and that makes a huge difference.
The rest of the week will be more of the same. I’m going to play tennis this morning with my friend, Karen. We will see how rusty I am. I think I played two or three times over the summer. The kids start school on Monday and I think they are in for a shock when they have to walk out the door at 7:05 to catch the bus for school.
While I was home in Sugar Land, I kept thinking how much I loved our house there. How wonderful it is that my kids are close to their grandparents. How thankful I was for our community in Greatwood. It was bittersweet to head back to Luanda. Now that we are back I feel the same gratitude. While it certainly isn’t always an easy place to live, I am so thankful for the friends and community we have here. Everyone really does help each other out. I’m thankful for the amazing experiences and travel we get to do. Sometimes I find myself falling into a false binary option: this or that. There are times I catch myself picking between Houston or Luanda, but the truth is is can be both: Houston AND Luanda. I can find the things I enjoy about both locations and treasure those for what they are. Bottom line: we are lucky, blessed, and thankful for the stability we love in Sugar Land and our adventure in Luanda.
Let me know if you have any specific questions about our life here!
Until next time…
Sarah
Life On The High Way 
Sounds like a wonderful trip home! By the way…. That’s what it was like in the 50’s and maybe 60’s. By the 70’s kids were finding less freedom already! Sad! But so nice your kids are getting a taste of Mayberry!
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