Luanda, downtown

On the balcony - that's my 'I'm not going any closer to the edge' look.

August 11, we moved in over the last couple of days to the residential building connected to Jeroen's work.(Torres Atlantico). It is a nice apartment with all we need and we're happy to be here.
A few little curiosities: there are just under 100 (including wine) glasses and with the 2 of us, there are 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Plenty of space...get your yellow fever vaccine and come on over! (ok, and rabies, tetanus, hepatitis etc).
Also, check out this picture to see the front door featuring peephole.



Peeping Jeroen

And now it's time to do our own washing...yay, normal activities. But first some learning! Thank God for the internet and Google translate.

Translation needed first

 August 12, ventured out by myself to the mini-market across the road. What a drama to actually cross the road but I've learned, shoulders up high, back straight, look ahead and walk confidently. All well except the packet of biscuits had the first few bikkies missing. I had a giggle then thought, Ok, I'll get rid of the first couple but ditched the whole lot after tasting one bite. Spit and gargle!.

August 13, a surreal day driving through downtown Luanda with Edgar and both singing to Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida'.
Edgar is a very nice guy. He stops to let the elderly/handicapped or women cross the road and also gets indignant when other drivers are driving dangerously.
Together we're learning how to communicate in Portu-Ingles! Edgar proudly showed me the Portuguese/English lessons he is studying. Like my first Dutch sentence, I don't think he'll use the following sentence very often:
'Did you accuse him of pride? No, I accused him of being lazy!'

I have encountered the word 'Negro' here several times and I had always believed it was an insult. Meaning 'person from Africa of black skin' the word is merely a descriptive term. I've seen it on a taxi and today, chocolate Negro muesli bars.
I spotted this guy watching over the construction site downtown...there has been a lot of construction in Luanda over the last years and in another 10 the place will be unrecognisable I am sure.

On duty

View from lounge/kitchen - note the little church

The Marginal - view from kitchen/lounge

August 14th, I find it fascinating to see what is going on around us. Today I took myself off for a walk along the Marginal. People were very friendly and it felt safe. I made sure to say Hi to all of the guys watering the grass along the walkway (this is their job for the whole day and why it looks so green).It was wonderful to be out walking again and to be near the waterfront.

August 15th, Language lessons with Jade and teacher, Mariana. Mariana is Angolan and today she brought her 5 year old son, Marcio along.

Jade, me, Mariana

Mariana and Marcio

 August 17, Our first guests, Kurt and Cherif came for lunch. At the soccer stadium a couple of blocks away, Angola was celebrating a success in soccer and the people who lived nearby had great seats from their balcony's.

Soccer stadium -game on..view from our balcony

In the lounge

August 22, the week so far, Church Sunday, language Monday, Bible study Tuesday, Orphanage Wednesday.

Most days I also go to a different supermarket as often what you find in one will not be there the next time you go. So you need to shop around. Added to this is the ever present challenge of not understanding the language, making sure Edgar knows where I am and what time to be picked up, and the traffic. Traffic in a developing country is an amazing experience every day. Regularly there are near (or actual) prangs involving the ever zippy scooters/motorcyclists who weave in and out of the traffic. They think don't need to stop for red lights, the Police or anyone and blast through the traffic honking their horns for people to get out of the way.  Definitely look 10 times before stepping out to cross a pedestrian crossing! Another daily feature is the large presence of military police halting the traffic in order for a sleek dark car (or 2 or 7) bearing the unknown Government official(s) through the streets. All you can glimpse is a silhouette and yesterday Edgar suggested I shouldn't look at the occupants of the car (certainly not at the President who is said to be private). Daring not to think of what may happen to me if I did, I averted my eyes. This warning by Edgar was then promptly followed up by his blasting the horn at a Police vehicle in front of us who wasn't moving!

The orphanage I visited yesterday(along with 6 other expats) was a very pleasant surprise. The children appeared content (mostly) well fed, cared for and clean. There was a bit of a mix up about whether we were allowed to take photo's and this photo was taken before the boss said it wasn't allowed so it is unlikely I will be posting any more.

I spent most of my time with another boy - young blind, paraplegic and aggressive who is approx.5 years old. I like that little boy, who found it fun to get my hair undone and my hairclip in his mouth in a blink! It was challenging to find a way to connect with him. Lying on the floor and him checking me out in that way did the trick and after time, he calmed down. I look forward to seeing him next week.

Today, our container arrives from NZ, 8 months since I packed it up! I have no recollection what is in there now nor any idea how we will get our 4 metre double kayak up 10 floors! 

August 23, Ok, so we didn't need everything I painstakingly packed into our container last Christmas! It is good to be reunited with my craft gear and although a lot of my clothes (and our pillows, printer inks and other bits) are missing, (the boxes had been opened at customs) we have more than enough for the place to resemble home.

Today Edgar told me (as he does every Friday) - Sexta-feira (Friday) makes the people crazy! Meaning, the locals drive like crazy just because it is Friday. I teased him and suggested that he wasn't then? It is good to have a laugh together. He likes my pronunciation of words and often has a laugh. And we use a lot of hand signalling to get by.

My visual feast today included: a motorcyclist wearing the trendy black velvet/bow horse-riding helmet had his cellphone tucked nicely into the helmet strap so he could keep chatting away while scooting through the traffic. (Big traffico today says Edgar), a woman cleaning the street who had the orange traffic cone to warn traffic she was there on her head, and a group of street sellers packing up their goods very quickly and dashing across the road...the Police were coming. Obviously street selling is not allowed. Saying that, I bought my first street purchase, a lovely bunch of banana's. Price was a bit higher than the shops but the old woman was grateful.

August 26, Jeroen was very happy to have the sound system arrive in good condition and its great to have our own music here. With limited English tv channels we are preferring to listen to music.

August 27, Out early for a planning meeting regarding the orphanage I visited last week. A relatively short distance to cover but with the traffic, neither Edgar nor I knowing the location and horrendous traffic, we spent 4 hours getting very lost so in the end I picked up a few groceries and came home exhausted! And missed the meeting. I am assured this is a normal happening in Luanda.

August 28, we've just come home from a very full, but motivating, exciting, fulfilling day with a  Cultural trainer. At first we both were hesitant to attend as we knew that the person training us was not a local. How wrong we both were! Denise was flown especially from South Africa to train just the two of us on local customs and way of life and she was a 'library' of knowledge and experience. We also had telephone conference with a German woman who has lived in Angola for 20 years (now living back in Germany). This woman gave us a very interesting and detailed historical insight of Angola and a Portuguese woman attended the meeting to give a more detailed daily living insight.

I was very encouraged that my skills as a midwife/paeds nurse/nurse would be in great demand. I will let that simmer while I enjoy life at the orphanages (I will commit to two - one for the older teens I visited with when I first arrived, teaching English and the other to spend with my special needs boy).

Here are some facts we learned today about Angola:

Nearly 50% of the population are under 15 years of age. The exact opposite of NZ/Netherlands - no need for Grey Power here yet Ian!

Life expectancy in Angola is 39 years. You would expect that this age would increase now that the civil war has been finished over 10 years ago however death via AIDS is bringing the age expectancy even lower.

Angolans marry three times; the first in a family where (particularly in the traditional ethnic groups) a dowry is negotiated back and forth then a big party; next there is a Church wedding which is followed by a state wedding. There can be many years between these observances.

In some parts of Africa (where it is common to have more than one wife) the wives are known as 'Luanda one', Labungo two, Dondo three...etc. I told Jeroen I am 'Luanda numero one and onlyo!'

August 30, I have been to a planning meeting for the Mama Maxima orphanage and I plan to help out with English lessons there when I return from NZ (this is the place I visited when I first arrived, helping the older teenagers with English).

And it's rained today in Luanda! Only a few spits mind as it's only the small rainy season. I have heard a few people had asked when the rains would begin here and the answer was unanimously August 15th! Which it was.

Today is also Friday which is the usual day for weddings here - so I usually see one or two wedding parties posing for photo's on the traffic islands.

Today I could have bought on the streets: more puppies, Victorian prints of women and children, mini-drum sets and bra's. The woman selling the bras had them all on, over top of her top.

The two photo's I have today are taken from the internet as I haven't taken my camera by choice. They are a correct reflection of life here though.

I have mentioned before that the local men are rather particular about their clothing, the velvet riding helmet when on the scooter to the super polished shoes (or jandals, whatever is on their feet, they're cleaned along the way to town in any available spot of water or with one of the thousands of shoe cleaning boys/men along the way).

The women also have a fascination with their hair. So, if you're in possession of or looking for a new 'do' (wink to a friend) here's how they do it here. In some rural areas the hair is not washed and if it is it's washed in milk. Ok, add to this the heat and well, you can imagine the result. It is considered beauty here. Older or working women tend to wear the bright headscarves and then a folded/ringed scarf set on top as the base for carrying their baskets, bowls and goods for selling. The most fascinating choice of a lot of women though is the choice to wear....a theatre cap! Yes, those paper thin elasticated hats we wear when heading off for an op seems to be the best option for keeping your hair clean from dust here. Or a shower cap or even a bright yellow Pak n Save type plastic bag will do the trick.

Not many people have silver highlights like me (aka, grey hair) and that's because as I mentioned yesterday, there really are not many elderly people.

And if you really are not happy with your hair then there are plenty of wigs in special 'do's' you can buy off the boys in the traffic. A lot of women seem to favour wigs here in 50's and 60's styles.

August 31, a walk along the Marginal. Beautiful weather with Winter almost finished. Temperature 27. The city is pumping with VERY loud music all day (and still is at 2210hrs) to coincide with the half-marathon this weekend.

 I have organised a driver to pick me up in the morning for church. This is the reply:

Good Evening Dear,

Transportation will be organized as per your solicitation below.

Regards

TD: Bernardo

I am travelling to NZ on Monday via Johannesburg and then Perth. See you real soon!

September 1st, the party is still going although the music lulled somewhere around 0800. They sure know how to party these Angolans.
Look who I met this morning!

 I have spotted this little white dog with her owner several times from our high outpost. And today came the opportunity to meet her. Name = Molly and she's a Westie Chick! Well I use the term Westie loosely as like all dogs here she has a vast array of possible parentage. How very nice to have an animal fix. Little Molly must be made of tough stuff. Her owners (living in the same building as us it transpires :) bought her here through a dog 'broker'. She was in a pitiful condition having spent all of her life in a cage. Molly didn't know how to play or walk/run. She's a picture of health now and now I know I can get my animal contact (without risk of rabies).
Flying to Johannesburg in 24 hours so I best get packing! Bye for now. xs