Mathews Adventures in Africa!

From Lions and Elephants to Reindeer!

2011-12-20T01:46:00.000-08:00

It's official....We're moving to NORWAY!
The boys keep telling everyone, "We're going to live in the 'happiest country in the world' (according to a Forbes) and we are going to freeze!!"
We are all super excited about our new assignment, but, really...we are going to freeze!

Look who won the 2011 Miss Universe Pageant!!

2011-09-13T02:02:00.000-07:00

No, not me! (But good guess!)
It's Miss Angola!

Leila Lopes is Angola's first winner and one of just a few blacks ever crowned Miss Universe. I think it's great to see that she seems to have big plans for using her title to help the people of Angola...

"I've worked with various social causes. I work with poor kids, I work in the fight against HIV. I work to protect the elderly and I have to do everything that my country needs," she said. "I think now as Miss Universe I will be able to do much more."

I think it's going to take a lot more than Miss Universe to make major improvements in this country, but I guess every little bit helps.

Way to go, Miss Angola!

A quick "Summery" (Summer 2011)

2011-08-22T01:06:00.000-07:00

Wow-wee! Another action packed, busy, fun, fun, fun summer! And now we're back and ready to enjoy the last 5 months of our 3-year stay here in Angola. I have been a bit lazy about the blog for awhile, I think because at the beginning of our assignment here everything was new and exciting and it was so fun to report about it, and then I slipped into just living here. (Not to say there aren't new and exciting things that happen around here...this place never ceases to amaze me!) Anway, I'm sure I've lost some readers along the way, but I plan on getting back into posting now that we are wrapping up our time here so that I can try to capture the essence of Angola as much as possible.

So to start, here's a quick "summery" of our Summer 2011...

Nothing says an American summer like a spontaneous day at the ballpark!

One of the first things Zach and Cobly think of when you say "summer" is camp...so they headed back to Camp Cho-Yeh for another awesome week at overnight camp!

With recording breaking temperatures in Houston this summer, we got creative and beat the heat by inviting good friends over for a day of waterslide fun!

And you just can't have an all-American summer without a trip (or two) to Chuck E. Cheese with friends!

Since we couldn't all be together for Christmas this year, my family decided to just have "Christmas in July". It was so much fun! We decorated a little bit, played Christmas music all day, had a big dinner, and, or course, opened Christmas presents!

For the first time ever, we took the boys up in the St. Louis Arch. It was a long wait...but well worth it!

For me, it just wouldn't be summer without a trip back to St. Louis to spend lots of time with family and good friends on my old stompin' grounds. Whether in St. Louis or in Houston, we crammed in as much friends and family time as possible!

A trip to the Doctor's Office

2011-03-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

A day at the doctor's office...
Going to the clinic here is quite an experience. The doctor (from South Africa) is quite a character and the office itself is quite interesting too. Today we went in just to make sure Nolan's fever was not something beyond the norm.
Before we even got into the doctor's office Nolan said, "I think he's going to prick my blood." He knows the routine by now- any sign of fever and they prick your finger to do a malaria test.
Luckily, today we were the only people waiting, so we got right in (not the norm: 1doctor + lots of expats = long wait time). The Doctor took Nolan's temperature with the ear thermometer and then said, "Oh, we've got a broiler boy." Nolan thought that was funny, but then said with a worried look on his face, "But I have two ears. What about my other one?!" So the doctor took his temp. in the other ear just to appease him!
Then it was on to Nolan's favorite part...the search for poe-tay-toes! During the typical exam the doctor always says, "Let me have a look and see if I can find any potatoes in there (in there meaning just about anywhere...nose, ears, throat, eyes, etc.). If indeed there is some sort of infection, you will be diagnosed with "a patch of potatoes". If not, just a simple, "nothing in there."
Lucky for us, today we had no potatoes and no malaria!

This is the whole doctor's office...a desk, a bed, and one tray of tools...oh, and an eye chart!

Checking for potatoes!

We Give Our Time and Idol Gives Back

2011-03-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

February 2010, Zach and I participated in a Saturday morning community service project at a nearby oceanside village. The project had four goals...

1. To help clean up all the trash on the beach.

2. To help sort and deliver school supplies to the children of the village.

3. To educate the adults about malaria and distribute mosquito netting.

4. To give American Idol a backdrop for their "Idol Gives Back" segment.

Housing in the village.

Zach with the children of the village, who are eagerly waiting for new school supplies to play with.

Doodling with the village girls, using their new colored pencils and paper.

Listening to a message about the importance of sleeping under a mosquito net and how to use it properly.

American Idol contestant, Elliott Yamin, and American Idol judge, Kara Dioguardi, talking to the film crew about current malaria statistics and the campaign for "Malaria No More!"

The women walking back to their houses with their new mosquito nets.

Collecting trash off of the nearby beach, so as to make it a more sanitary area, and therefore less of a mosquito breeding ground.

Elltiott was so nice and down to earth. He took time out to say hi and pose with Zach and his friend, Brayden.

The "Idol Gives Back" segment of American Idol aired April 21, 2010. An article on the internet reports that this year they raised almost $45 million dollars for children's hunger and health charities in the United States and Africa (inluding the "Malaria No More" foundation...yippee!) Even though it was a really hot day out in the African sun and it was hard work, it was well worth it. Elliott was Zach's favorite during Elliott's season on American Idol, so he was thrilled to see him in person. While we were snuggled up on our couch in the U.S. back in 2006 watching Elliott sing on the 5th season of American Idol, I never would have dreamt that we would meet him someday, and in Africa of all places. It's also crazy to think that our friends back home were watching clips of Elliott in Angola during the "Idol Gives Back" show and we were standing just feet behind the camera man!

Special Painting

2010-10-03T02:51:00.000-07:00

One day while looking at a bunch of different local Angolan artists' paintings I half jokingly said to one of the painters, named Antonio, "All of these paintings either have lots of people in them, or only one or two people. I have three boys, I need a painting with three people!"

A painting we have hanging in our kitchen
...with lots of people in it!

He said, "I don't usually put three people in my paintings (I'm not sure why), put I can make one for you." Then he said, "Do you want black boys or white boys in your painting?" This caught me off guard so I said to him, "Uh, we're in Africa...I'll take black boys!"
He just finished it last week and I am so exctied...I love it! So here it is!...

"Zach, Colby and Nolan Playing Around the Imbondeiro Tree" by Antonio

Me and Antonio the day he showed me the finished painting

Fall (actually Spring) 2010

2010-09-20T06:20:00.000-07:00

Oh, what a summer! It's always bitter-sweet to get on that plane to return to Luanda.

Almost every day of the 2 1/2 months that we were at home for summer break we smashed in as much fun as possible. Whether it was hanging out or eating out with our good friends and family, it felt like we were always on the go. With all that smashing, intertwined with a couple mini-vacations, a full week of overnight camp for both Zach and Colby,

Colby and Zach all packed up and ready for an awesome week at Camp Cho-Yeh!

and of course lots of shopping trips to get ready to come back here, it made for a busy, chaotic, awesome summer.
I had tears in my eyes as we all waved at our house and said, "See you in 10 months!", but I was also super excited to come back here and see our friends, meet the new families that have moved into the compound, and most importantly, see Will (who was not able to make it home at all this summer.) So, although it's hard to say goodbye, at the same time, it's just as exciting to come back, and it's nice to have a break from all the running around!

Having fun together at the Magic House in Kirkwood, Mo.

Slippin' and Slidin' in our backyard to beat the Houston heat!

And with the end of summer vacation brings the start of a new school year. For the first time in 8 1/2 years I have a home with no kids in it during the school day. I thought I would love the quiet house and time to myself, but so far I have found I'm just not quite getting the hang of it! (But now I have no excuse not to update this blog more often!) Here are the kids on their first day of school. It is Nolan's first day of school ever! Zach (Year 4, 3rd grade), Colby (Year 2, 1st grade) and Nolan (PP3, 3 year old preschool).

All smiles for the first day of school!

Safari Time!

2010-03-30T01:29:00.000-07:00

We all had SO much fun going on safari! We were able to find the "Big 5" (Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo), as well as many other animals during our four day stay at a safari lodge (Lukimbi Safari Lodge) inside of Kruger National Park in South Africa. Here are some of our favorite pictures...

While watching the zebras up close we all came to the same conclusion....they are definitely white with black stripes (and still Zach's favorite animal)!

"You wanna mess with me?!" Nolan watching the "big, big pigs" (white rhinos).

Photographer Will at work- here he's taking 1 of the 3,000 pictures he took!

Hakuna Matata...warthogs are a lot uglier and a lot hairier than Pumba was in The Lion King (and this one didn't sing for us either)! Our safari lodge.

We followed these fresh paw prints to find these guys...

We pulled up into a circular clearing where 1 fremale lion and 5 male lions were just lying around. We sat and watched them (from inside the safari vehicle, of course) for about 25 minutes, from about 15 feet away. Once in awhile a lion would get up to stretch or find a new place to hang out, but for the most part they were just lion around. The lions really did not seem to be bothered by us at all. I actually think they enjoyed the paparazzi-ish attention. Look how well the posed for us.

We went out on two safari drives each day, for about 3 hours each time. Every trip we stopped about halfway through and got out of the vehicle (actually got out in the middle of the wild!) and had a drink and a snack. One time Lisa, Our Ranger, challenged us to put a piece of dried up antelope poop in our mouth and spit it as far as possible. And every one of us did it- all so we could get a "Junior Ranger Certificate" at the end of our stay (well, Will and I didn't get a certificate, so don't ask me why we did it!) The funny part is Nolan accidently picked up a wet piece of poop, so it got stuck in his mouth!

Can you find the leopard? He is a bit hard to see, but we were ecstatic when we spotted him (espcially Colby, since spotted cats are his favorite animal)! Our Tracker actually found him crouched down low in the bush. It's amazing he found him...although I guess that's what he gets paid for, right?

Our Tracker, Giddean, showing the boys how to make a toothbrush out of a certain kind of tree branch!

This was my favorite memory of the whole trip. We stumbled upon a journey of 13 giraffes, or as Zach named it, "our baker's dozen of giraffes". First we saw one tall, tall creature coming out of the bush, then another and then they just kept coming. It was so cool. They all crossed right in front of our safari vehicle and then stopped for a little leaf snack on the other side of us. They are beautiful and so fun to watch because they are so tall and elegant (sounds a bit like me! :)

Want to exactly which animals we found? Just ask Zach! He was a very efficient at checking off all the animals on his official Lukimbi Animal Checklist!

Family photo out in the middle of the bush.

Birds, birds, birds.

We stopped to look at a lot of different types of birds. We are not "bird people", but we did kind of get into it, as there are some really cool birds out there. Above is our pick for the prettiest bird we found and below- well, he gets the award for "not so pretty."

"What are you looking at boys?"

We found this family of baboons hanging out in the trees. Our Ranger, Lisa, estimated the baby baboon was only 5 days old!

Football Fever

2010-02-14T05:59:00.000-08:00

It has been football (a.k.a soccer) fever around here! Angola just finished hosting the Africa Cup of Nations right here in Luanda. We did not go to any of the games, but we still got to join in on the fun. One thing I noticed and love is that there was a real sense of team spirit and country pride evident all over town. Cashiers at the grocery store wore jerseys, people had Angola flags hanging out of their car windows, and vendors were lined up on the streets selling Angola souvenirs. For a country that is still picking up the pieces from having just ended a Civil War here a little over a decade ago, it was great to see the unified atmosphere.

Unfortunately, Angola lost in the quarter-finals and even more unfortunately, 2 members of the Togo Soccer Team were killed in Angola on their way to the tournament. The bus was attacked by a group of Rebels living in a province of Angola called Cabinda, which lies between the borders of the country of Congo and the country of Angola. The Rebels tried, unsuccessfully, to fight for their independence from Angola for several decades, and entered a ceasefire in 2006, but hostility still remains there. The area where the shooting took place is hours away from here (it is only 6 miles from the Angola border), so we are nowhere near the tension, but it saddens me that the Rebels attack created a negative impression on the entire country of Angola.

The Imbondeiro Tree

2009-12-06T02:28:00.001-08:00

This amazing and unusual looking tree, The Imbondeiro Tree, is very popular all over Angola. As the national tree of Angola, not only can it be found growing all over the country, but images of the Imbondeiro tree can be found on many different types of local art work such as paintings or carvings, and on clothing, car windows, signs, etc.

The Imbondeiro Tree, meaning "Giant Tree" can be found in other hot, dry, sub saharan African countries as well, where it is referred to as a Baobab or Adansonia Digitata tree. It is also known as the "upside-down tree" because the branches resemble tree roots, like it was planted upside down! According to legend...

"The Imbondeiro tree was among the first trees to appear on the land. Next came the slender, graceful palm tree. When the Imbondeiro tree saw the palm tree, it cried out that it wanted to be taller. Then the beautiful flame tree appeared with its red flower and the Imbondeiro tree was envious for flower blossoms. When the Imbondeiro tree saw the magnificent fig tree, it prayed for fruit as well. The gods became angry with the tree, and pulled it up by its roots, then replanted it upside down to keep it quiet. And it continued to grow like that."

It is said that they can live for over 1000 years! The massive trunk can hold up to 120,000 liters of water to endure a harsh drought. Sometime people live inside of the trunks or setup tiny shops or produce stands inside. The trees produce large white flowers and they have big, long, velvety fruits, called Mukua, that hang from the branches. The fruit is not usually eaten whole, but is said to be tasty when squeezed into juice. Other parts of the tree can be used for medicine, dyes, etc.

Our family has become quite attached to these trees too! They are so weird looking and it's fun to look at the windows while driving around town and find super funky ones. The name of our compound is "Imbondeiro" and we enjoy life here on the compound, so these trees will always remind of us of all the good times and good friends we've made while we've lived here!

Colby and Nolan making a pit stop in front of an Imbondeiro Tree while cruising around the compound

Rain Day

2009-11-27T22:59:00.000-08:00

This morning my alarm clock went off at the same time it always does and just 3 minutes later, as I’m still lounging in bed, the phone rings with a message that there’s no school today! (There’s a large electrical problem.) Right away there was that familiar “snow day feeling” in the air that I remember from when I was a kid. So, I decided to make a big pancake breakfast to celebrate the special occasion. After eating (Isabel, our maid, joined us too- she had never had pancakes before!) the kids went out to play. Shortly after they went outside it started to drizzle, which is very rare here (It has only rained about 10 times in the year that we’ve lived here.) As the rain picked up the kids decided to play slip-and-slide on the trampoline…just like sledding! Then we all danced around in the rain, complete with a water fight…just like a snowball fight. The rain was actually chilly, so after about an hour we headed home to warm up with a nice warm shower- too bad we couldn’t have a nice, warm fire in the fireplace! It was only lunchtime, but the kids put on their pajamas so they’d be comfy to lounge around on this wet, wet day. And to top off our “Africa Snow Day”, a nice big mug of hot chocolate for everyone!

Hip! Hip! Horray for a Rain Day!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-08T05:32:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween!

Can you guess who??

The boys showing off their tie-dye pumpkin shirts Transformers Colby and ZachThe Super heroes! The parents joined in on the fun too!

The kids went trick-or-treating around the compound. Zach and Colby ran from house to house and Nolan took his time and sampled some candy along the way saying, "more candy! more candy!" after every house.

the professional trick-or-treaters the whole gang- all the kids on the compound dressed up and ready to party!

After trick-or-treating there was a party up at the rec. center for all the kids, complete with games, dance competitions and lots of food!

Colby and his friend, Ty, competing in the doughnut game- racing to to see who can eat a doughnut off a string the fastest, without using any hands!

Willy trying to bob-for-apples... He got a little wet!

Happy Halloween from Superman Nolan, Transformer Colby, Transformer Zach, Batman Will and Cow Sandy!

Maritius Vacation

2009-10-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

Mauritius!

We just got back from a week vacation in Maritius (rhymes with delicious!)- an island on the East Coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean (to the East of Madagascar).

just hanging out around the hotel

We had a great time doing beachy things like playing in the beautiful ocean, finding coral (no seashells on the beach!), and searching for the best "skipping rocks" to throw. We also went out in the middle of the oceon on a glass-bottom boat to look for fish. Our favorite activities from the week were playing in the hotel pool (where Zach learned how to do a back flip into the water!) ... ...and going down to the bottom of the ocean floor in a REAL submarine!

Oh, and we enjoyed all the delicious (Indian and seafood) meals and the beautiful sunsets everyday!

Whale Watching

2009-10-02T23:11:00.000-07:00

Ay-yi-yi! We’ve been back from summer break for a little over a month now and I haven’t updated our blog. We had such a great trip home for the summer! It went by fast but we sure crammed in a lot of fun- lots of visits with friends and family, lots of trips to yummy restaurants, and lots of running around to get ready to come back here!

So, by the time we got back to Africa we were all ready to take a breather and slip back into the “simpler life” we have here. The big highlights since we’ve been back are; we’ve made some new friends with some really nice families that moved in, Zach lost two teeth in two days so we had our first visit from the African tooth fairy, Colby started kindergarten and is super excited about learning to read, and Nolan learned to ride his bike and wear big-boy underwear (which he likes to do at the same time!) Today we did something else new that we’ve all never done before- we went whale watching! We went out on the boat with some of our new friends, The Gants, who also have a household full of little boys. So there we are on a little boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa surrounded by new friends, good food, and big, huge whales! They were so big, so loud and so close to our boat! It was amazing! Zach said, “This is awesome!”, Colby didn’t like the sound they make when they blow water from their blowholes, and Nolan got excited to see “tall, tall fish” so close up! Pictures definitely don’t do it justice, but here’s a collection of some of our favorites!

check out the waterfall behind his tail!

look how close they are... that railing is the side of our boat

his bumpy head and tail

three of them together

4 of the 6 little whale watching fans

more tail...so cool

flipping over to wave goodbye :)

A short video of our whale watching trip

Home Sweet Home!

2009-06-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

Yippeee! After a 14 hour plane ride and an additional 7 hours in airports...we're home!! The boys and I will be home for the entire summer break and Will is going to join us for the last two weeks. We've got a lot of fun stuff in store for the summer, but what we're looking forward to the most is just hanging out with friends and family and "enjoying 'All-American' lazy days of summer" (that's my motto for the next 7 weeks!) Over the last 48 hours I have realized how easy it is to forget everyday things! I haven't driven a car in 6 months and I had to ask the man at the car rental place how to put the car into drive. No joke...and it's a regular ol' automatic mini-van! When we pulled into our driveway for the first time Colby goes, "Oh! Now I remember this house!" Whenever we get in the car Nolan asks me, "home?" meaning "are we going home now, to our house in Africa?" Zach couldn't find the handle to flush the toilet! (The toilets in Africa have knob type things on the top of the tanks.) And my favorite....As the boys were parading from room to room in the house discovering things they had forgotten about, Colby said, "Oh, I have to go the bathroom!... Where is the bathroom in this place?" But, it didn't take long for us to readjust to American life- in the just 48 hours we've...been to McDonald's, shopped at Target, eaten Pizza Hut, enjoyed Slurpees, played at Chuck E. Cheese, met up with friends and eaten at our favorite sandwich shop! It feels great to be home. It's very true- there's no place like home! :)

Hospital Bags

2009-06-14T06:17:00.000-07:00

I just started helping out with the “hospital bags” for the AIDS/TB hospital here in Luanda. The service project was started by a group of ex-pat wives because the conditions at the hospital are not very good. The only things that the hospital provides for its 250 or so patients are medicine (which doesn’t include pain medication) and a bed to sleep on (no sheets, just the mattress). These people are not provided with any food during their stay. It is assumed that relatives will bring them food, although this is often not the case. The patients sometimes have no family, the family could live too far to travel, or they feel that money is better spent on food for the children rather than someone who is dying. So a group of volunteers make up hospital bags every week to be distributed to the patients every Wednesday so that they have something to eat at least once a week. The bags contain; powdered milk (to be made into milk by adding water), a can of sardines, a hard-boiled egg, a yogurt and a piece of fruit. Tonight, Zach (with his love for Math) wanted to help me sort and count all the items to make up the bags. He was racing me- trying to see who was faster- me opening the bag or him measuring out the milk powder. He somehow also won. We had fun doing it together and I tried to explain why we were doing it, but it’s a pretty hard concept to grasp. I have not actually gone into the hospital because I don’t want to risk bringing TB back to my family, but I have heard that some of the patients are so hungry that they can’t get the containers of food open because their hands are shaking so bad. I decided to jump on the “hospital bag bandwagon” about a month ago because my friend, Hallie, is really involved with the project, it is something that I can easily do with kids at home, and I just can’t imagine being that hungry. As I stuff the bags I do often think to myself, “I wonder just how hungry I would have to be to enjoy that can of sardines!"

Check this dude out!

2009-06-11T06:43:00.000-07:00

Check out this praying mantis we found at Zach and Colby's school!

He was huge! He was so fat he was having trouble walking- he was like waddling!

We moved him onto the grass because he was going so slow that he was going to get squished. And then I gave him a little advice- I told him to start praying that he loses a little weight (or he's not going to see too many more days)!

A Brighter Orphanage

2009-05-09T06:47:00.000-07:00

Today Colby and I went on our first CAT (Community Action Team) Project with our friends Hallie and Ty. We went out to the Irmã Domingas Orphanage to help paint the orphanage’s classroom walls- to make a bright and cheery learning environment for the kids.

(Colby and Ty ready to get to work!)

We painted all of the classroom walls light brown and white to freshen them up. Colby did such a good job painting! He was working so hard to cover the walls with paint! I could tell he was proud of his work. And I was really proud of him. He never complained- just worked his little heart out.

(Colby concentrating on his painting)

At the end of the day we got to take a tour of the orphanage. Irmã Domingas (Sr. Domingas) started the orphanage at the beginning of the war after she gathered all the homeless children off the streets and kept them safe in a small shelter. As word spread more and more children found her and the group of children grew to be very big and turned into what the orphanage is today.

(Hallie talking to Irma)

When we first walked into the living area, I was shocked to see the kids watching tv! I just didn’t expect for them to have electricity, much less a tv! But they were watching Transformers (in Portuguese) so Colby and Ty just slipped right in and started watching it with the kids!

(Inside the orphanage, watching TV)

All the girls were dressed alike in little outfits that somebody hd sewn for them. They were so happy to see us- just full of hugs and smiles. They were excited to show us their home. There was one long room that had picnic tables for eating meals and the tv area was at the end of the room. The bedrooms had 4 bunk beds and one closet type thing for all their clothes and belongings. Many of the children have to double up in beds because with 45 orphans there just aren’t enough beds for everyone.

(A bedroom in the orphanage)

After spending time with the kids at the orphanage it was sad to leave. I couldn't help but cry as I looked out the bus window and watched all the kids wave us goodbye with their big, happy smiles. As I looked at all their faces I just kept thinking, "But these kids have no Mom or Dad and it's Mother's Day Weekend." I told Will when I came home, “It’s a good thing Angola doesn’t allow their orphans to be adopted outside of the country or I would have to bring a few back with me.” I was so sad yet so touched by those little kids. I really want to go back. This little guy’s name is Weeza (I’m just guessing on the spelling of his name!) and he is so cute!

(Weeza!)

He instantly reminded me of Nolan. He just had similar mannerisms, the same little attitude, and he’s about the same size. He was so full of hugs and he LOVED having his picture taken! As soon as I took the picture he would run over and sit on my knee so he could look at the picture of himself on the camera...It was so cute! All the kids loved having their picture taken and then looking at themsleves on the screen because they don't see photographs of themselves very often, if ever, and there are no mirrors around. I can't imagine not really knowing what I look like.

I found out later that Weeza was just 6 weeks old when the police found him lying in the middle of a trash pile. They brought him to the orphanage and Irma took him in and nursed him back to health. Now he’s two years old and he’s a spunky little guy!

Sticky Situation

2009-04-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

I am standing outside in our driveway talking to my friend, Julie, when Colby comes out with his bottom lip trembling and says, "Something's wrong with Nolan. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I knew it wasn't going to be good since I can hear Nolan's high pitched screams coming from inside and since Colby is continuing to apoligize. As I'm running inside the house I have visions of blood pouring out of his head and I am mentally dreading having to handle an emergency medical situation in the middle of Africa (with Will out of town). But when I get close enough to him I can see that there is no blood and I quickly realize there is no medical emergency- just a little decoration in the little brother's hair...

I ask Colby, "What happened?" and he says, "Nolan wasn't listening to me, so I took out my gum and put it in his hair like this" (and he moves his hand in circles to show me the swirling technique he used to get it in there) . I still can't quite figure out how that was going to help the situation, but...

I immediately get on the phone and ask Julie if she knows how to get gum out of hair (she has 4 kids, so I figure she's tackled this before). She says, "First, you have to take a picture- you will laugh about this later!" (so, as you can see, I did). Then, she gets on the internet and finds about 2 dozen different methods for getting gum out of hair. Many of the ingredients I do not have on hand here in Africa, so I have to pick from the things I can find in my pantry. First I try applying straight cooking oil, but it just keeps dripping out of his hair. So he's sitting on the kitchen counter still screaming, has oil dripping down his face and won't let me touch his head at all because his scalp is sore from continually tugging at the wads of goo stuck in his hair. I quickly look for another ingredient from the list- peanut butter. This ends up working only because I am able to sneak globs of it onto the top of his head without him knowing. I'm having to feed him spoonfuls of it between plops! One bite for Nolan...one plop for the head...one bite for Nolan...one plop for the head...

After I let it sit for a few minutes, per the internet's instructions, I comb it out (ouch!) and we head upstairs to take a bath and rinse it all out. On the way to the stairs I glance over and see Colby. He is zonked out on the couch! I think he was truly exhausted from the guilt (or maybe he just shut down after listening to constant screaming for 30 minutes)!

After 4 scrubbing hair washes he still smells like peanut butter. I figure there are a lot of less desirable smells in the world, and I decide to give up and just pretend he smells like homemade peanut butter cookies.

So I let him play in the bubbles for awhile (he deserved lots of extra bubbles after all that trama) and I go to the next room to put the laundry away. When I walk back into the bathroom he says with a cute, little smile, "Mamma. Poo-Poo." You've got to be kidding me...now he does smell like something less desireable! He just pooped in the bathtub!

Oh my! Time for a shower to rinse off...again. Phew! By this time I am in need of a shower and I need a nap. But I realize we haven't had dinner yet- so I make some peanut butter sandwiches and then it's off to bed (which is no problem for Colby- he's still sleeping!)

Oryx

2009-04-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

When our friends called to see if we wanted to have dinner with them tonight I said, "Sure! What are we having?" She said we were having Oryx. Sounded like a crazy kind of casserole to me, but turns out it's game...a wild African animal!

So, here is a picture of what we all had for dinner...(isn't he cute?!)

Here's a quick blurb about them that I found on the internet:

"Oryx inhabit eastern and southern Africa. Oryx live in herds on deserts and dry plains. They avoid exertion and direct sunlight. Oryx are capable of climbing mountains to reach water springs and salt licks."

The blurb does not mention that people hunt them and eat them for dinner. And it also does not say anything about them tasting a lot like steak and being yummy (even for 3 little boys) with a creamy gravy sauce poured over the top!

Vacation! Bukabong Bush Lodge

2009-04-11T04:46:00.000-07:00

We spent the last two days of our vacation staying at Bakubung Bush Lodge, located inside of Pilanesberg National Park. Bakubung means "People of the Hippo".

Will, Zach and Colby went on a safari the first day and then I went on a safari the following day. A quick summary of the safari experience is to say it was amazing. Some of the animals were right next to our safari truck! Here are some of our favorite safari pictures...

It is kind of difficult to see some of the animals in these pictures because they were far off in the distance and these pictures are pretty small. If you would like to them larger, or view all 110 pictures we took, here is a link to the album:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=496298013/a=132428679_132428679/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish

This last photo, of the lake, is one of my personal favorites from my safari trip. Although it is difficult to see, this is a picture of a hippo. He came up out of the water and opened his mouth super wide and I just happened to have my camera on and ready. It was so cool! I still can't believe how wide he could open his mouth! Everyone was in awe of having been at the right place and the right time- I felt like I had just witnessed a solar eclipse or something!

The elephants were definitely the closest, the most plentiful and one of the neatest to just sit and watch (they're so big!!) However...

At the end of my safari trip we got caught up in a "traffic jam." We were gridlocked in the middle of about 25 cars, just parked at a stand-still. The safari guide used her CB to contact other guides and discovered that there was a herd of elephants blocking the route to get out of the park gate. So, we sat patiently (it was pictch dark by this time) and waited for the elephants to move along. Then all of a sudden people were honking their car horns and sticking there heads out of their car windows while yelling, "Move! Back up! Go!" I had visions of being in the middle of an elephant stampede flashing through my head as everyone scooted around in a state of panic. Turns out the people at the front where just sick of waiting for them to move, so they were trying to get the whole line of people to back up. All the commotion made the elephants move so it turned out not to be a big problem. But I kept wondering what would happen if they just sat down and settled in for a good night's sleep while we were waiting in line?!

The giraffees were pretty far off in the distant, but it was still really neat watching a group of them walk across the terrain. So tall and elegant.

The youngest of our three wild animals was not allowed to go on the safaris (too young = too noisy!) so while Will, Zach and Colby were on their safari the two of us just hung out around the lodge. While walking around at a leisurely pace checking out naturey things like weird bugs, tall birds and dirt piles, I heard some scuffling right across the path. I looked up and there were 7 zebra just hanging out! It was so weird! So we sat together and just watched them munch away on dinner. Nolan got a kick out of them neighing at each other! I was bummed I didn't have my camera with me- Will and the boys had it on the safari!

I was really bummed I didn't have my camera with me when Nolan made friends with a baby monkey! When the zebras wandered off Nolan and I continued walking around. At one point Nolan sat in the grass under a tree and started picking at the grass and then he started rolling around. This little 5 inch monkey jumped up in the tree above Nolan and started watching him from a branch. Then the monkey started following him. When Nolan rolled to the right, the monkey scurried down the tree after him. They went back and forth four or five times before a bigger monkey came and jumped up in the tree too. I think he was guarding the little guy. I looked up and thought, "If I wanted to, I could reach out and touch him." Crazy! It really is amazing being out in the wild!

Vacation! Sun City

2009-04-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our first African Vacation! We took lots of great pictures, so I'll try to squeeze as many of them in here as possible!

It was so nice to get out and see a different part of Africa. We went to South Africa (just two countries south of here) for a week. We spent 5 days at Sun City (a resort) and 2 days at Bakubung Bush Lodge (a lodge in the middle of a safari park). It is amazing how different South Africa is from Angola. Angola is so run down, poor and dirty and South Africa reminded me a lot of the Midwest (but with the addition of mountains in the background!). And they speak English there- yippee! Sun City was a perfect spot for us- it’s a very family-friendly resort with lots of fun things to do, especially for boys!

They had mini-golf, bumper boats, mini-cars, an arcade area, a playground with a huge slide, a small petting zoo, a camp for kids and much more. There were a lot of swimming pools and even a water park, but it was just a little bit too chilly to get in the water (although we did try them out!)

The boys all dressed and ready for a dip in the (freezing) pool!

The scenery out the car window during the drive from the airport to Sun City and the scenery out of our hotel room window was just beautiful and refreshing.

The view from the car window

The view from our hotel window

We had plenty of time to just monkey around as a family...with real monkeys even! The first day as we were unpacking our suitcase, Will looked out the window and said, “Look! There’s a bunch of monkeys out there!” And sure enough there were monkeys running around all over the place. It was unreal! They were fun to just sit and watch- they would chase each other, swing from the trees, tackle each other, pick through each other’s fur- all while you were standing right there! One time Will and Zach were bent over looking for four leaf clovers in the grass and when they looked up Nolan was face to face (with about one foot of space between them) with a huge baboon! Will said that when he looked up in total shock the big ol’ baboon just walked away!

Colby and Nolan checking out the little monkeys (they would let you get close, but they would scurry off if you tried to touch them)

The "big ol' baboon" that was checking Nolan out (and that's our hotel room right behind him)!

The monkeys were a huge hit, and so was all the good food!! The first night we ate a place with all African Fare and it was really, really good! It was a buffet and they had tons of different things to try, but it was hard to get super adventurous since none of the dishes were labeled! I would love to tell you all the wonderful African food we tried, but I have no idea what the dishes were called or even what was in them! But the food was great and the dessert table (with at least 25 different types of desserts) was over the top yummy! The next night we found a little pizza place that had all kinds of odd pizzas on the menu so we were a little leary, but the pizza was some of the best we’ve ever had! (It may just be that our taste buds are a little out of whack since we haven’t really had pizza in 3 months, but it was really good!) The pizza place had ice cream too, which we all indilgued in, since you can’t really get that here either! So, as pathetic as this sounds, we ate there three out of our 5 nights!! Oh, and a typical breakfast buffet had so many different choices, you would never believe it- on top of all the traditional breakfast foods, they had stews and casseroles as well as roasts and sushi! For breakfast! The fresh fruit and fresh squeezed fruit juices were a great treat too! Okay, enough about eating, although it was a highlight…

This is the breakfast of champions...in Africa! The boys thought they were in heaven eating pancakes with chocolate syrup, honey, whip cream and sprinkles for breakfast every morning! Yum!

One of our favorite things that we did in Sun City was go to the Crocodile Sanctuary. It was so cool. There were crocodiles everywhere and we even got to feed the baby crocodiles. Zach was the only brave kid to feed them, the other two didn't want to touch the food- frozen chicken feet!

They are just really neat animals and it was cool to be able to watch them up close (well, not too close). We saw one crocodile with half of the bottom of his mouth missing!

Zach feeding the baby crocodiles (below)

Will and Colby watching the crocodile "smile" for us

And on our last day we took a family photo...

Then we loaded up and went to the safari lodge...

Pope-ular Papa!

2009-03-23T06:38:00.000-07:00

There's a total buzz around town right now since The Pope has been here, in Luanda, for the last 4 days! It's been pretty crazy. Even work was cancelled on Friday and Monday (the days the Pope was scheduled to be at the airport) because they predicted the traffic might be so bad that it could take the men 5 hours to get home from work (which is only 5 miles away). We were not on lock down or anything, but they did encourage us to stay on the compound if possible so as to avoid all of the choas surrounding the Pope's visit. We did not have a chance to actually go see him (for good reason- sadly 2 people got trampled in a stampede on Saturday while rushing to get a good seat to hear him speak), but it is pretty cool to think that he is in town while we are living here. The locals were all very excited to have him here too. There are posters up all over town with "Papas" face on them- they were taped to fences, store windows, brick buildings and the backs of taxis. An article I found on the internet reported: “Benedict arrived in Luanda on the second leg of his African tour, with tens of thousands pouring into the streets along his motorcade route, honking car horns and slowing traffic to a crawl. Many of the faithful wore white T-shirts emblazoned with the pope's picture and "Welcome to our land" written in Portuguese.” We enjoyed the extra days off and just hung out as a family. We had a cook-out with friends on Friday and I made potato salad for the first time ever, which was super yummy and in memory of this historical event (and to celebrate the extra days off) we renamed it "Pope-tato Salad"!

The Pope in the PopeMobile driving down the streets of Luanda

The REAL world

2009-03-15T06:13:00.000-07:00

After explaining to Colby that you can't just go out and buy new things here (like Legos, Batman pajamas, and Fruit Roll-Ups) and that we have to wait to buy them when we go home to Houston for the summer he said, "Can't we just go back to the real world!?" Too funny! We already have a list of "real world" things to stock up on when we head home in June!

Water Weekend!

2009-03-09T05:21:00.000-07:00

Phew! We spent a lot of time in the surf, sand and sun this weekend!

It's a holiday weekend (Internationl Women's Day) so we took advantage of the long weekend and went to the beach two different days!

The first day we went with our next door neighbors to an island (that you can see from our veranda) called Masula. It only takes about 2 minutes to get from our house to the marina, and then another 10 minutes or so to get from the marina to the island via a boat taxi service, if that's what you want to call it...

The boat can best be described as a rustic, bare bones, wooden looking fishing boat with a motor on the end of it! It did indeed get us to the island, but not without a 2 minute break in the middle of the ocean to wait for the motor to restart!

That was a bit crazy, but the rest of the day was very fun and relaxing. We did the usual beachy things as well as played baseball and looked for sand dollars.

The next day we went out on the Esso boat "Discovery" with some of our friends. We spent the majority of the day trying to fish off the boat. We didn't get any fish, but we did have a lot of fun just toodling around in the ocean! Before heading home we "parked" at the island and got out and played in the ocean for a little while. The kids had a blast just floating in the waves with their friends with their life vests on!

Beach day (above) & Boat day (below)

Weather we like it or not (and we do)!

2009-02-27T00:42:00.000-08:00

So what’s the weather like?

If I was a weather woman (and I always wanted to be a weather person when I was little!) here in Luanda, here is what my typical weather report would sound like…

“Well, it’s going to be another bright, sunny day here in Luanda , folks. The sun is going to be pretty intense, so don’t forget your sunscreen and a hat. It is looking like it is going to be around 90 degrees by mid-day, with a bit of humidity. No need to grab your umbrella as you head out the door, since it doesn’t look like we'll be getting any precipitation today. The temperature will drop dramatically with the winds picking up beginning around sundown, so if you going to be outside for dinner tonight, you may want to bring a light jacket. That’s all for today. Tune in tomorrow (for a very similar report).”

For the most part the weather is comparable to summer weather in Houston or the Midwest- really hot during the day with some humidity. The sun is a lot more intense though. It’s really not that bad to be outside during the day if you’re in the shade. The biggest difference in the weather here compared to the weather at home is the extreme in temperatures at night. It cools off dramatically here in the evenings. Around 5 o’clock when the sun is going down it starts to get a little breezy and it is pleasant to be outside. It’s great to go outside on the veranda after dinner and watch the sunset because it’s nice and cool with a chilly, little breeze!

It has only rained four times since we’ve been here and they say it usually only rains during the night. I find that really interesting and I’m not quite sure how that works (I should have paid better attention in my meteorology class in college!) We didn’t even pack an umbrella! It does cool off during the “winter” months (June-August), but not enough to need to wear long sleeves or pants. Unfortunately when the weather is the best here, in the winter months, we will be at home in the United States for our summer break and won’t get to enjoy it!

Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying the “evening weather”...

Carnival!

2009-02-26T21:58:00.000-08:00

Everybody had the day off today to celebrate the local holiday- Carnival (car-knee-vall). It is basically Mardi Gras, Angola style. The actual celebration is in downtown Luanda and is said to get pretty wild, so most expats don't attend the real thing. We made our own mini-Carnival right here on the compound. All The kids dressed up in costumes and decorated their bikes or scooters and then paraded around the neighborhood making lots of noise! Zach dressed up as a baseball player, Colby as Batman and Nolan as Superman. It was a lot of fun for everyone! The celebration ended with pizza and homemade ice cream- a special treat, since you can't easily buy either of those here! Happy Carnival!

Beach Day!

2009-02-14T11:22:00.000-08:00

Today we went on our first beach excursion and it was a great way for our family to spend Valentine's Day because we love the beach! Our friends, The Fieldings, showed us the ropes and took us to a beach called "Pria de Palmerenias" which is about 2 hours south of here. The drive to get to the beach was quite an adventure in it of itself! It would have taken a lot longer to get there, but our driver knew of a "shortcut"- he just went off-roading through a big field and then drove along the side the road, so as to avoid sitting in a traffic jam! (That would be like somebody in the U.S. just driving down the median when traffic got backed up.) For the majority of the ride we were driving parallel to the water. Most of the scenery throughout the two hour drive was of the beautiful coastline, with patches of run down, graffiti “houses” or stick shelters scattered along the side of the road and throughout the hills between the road and the water. We were on a hilly, paved road for most of the trip, but at some point we needed to get from the paved road to the water. So at some random big tree (there are no steet signs, at all) the driver turned onto a dirt road. It was actually a road this time, but it was so rugged and the pot holes were atrotious. We were bouncing around like crazy (which the boys didn't even comment on because they were busy playing their handheld games!). We were only on the rugged road for about 15 minutes (that the equivalent of approximately 200 pot holes) and then "boop!" the driver just drove right up onto the sand and parked and we were at the beach! We were the only people on that beach all day! As far as you could look, all you could see is sand and water. It was amazing. The kids had so much fun. And it was double fun because the family we went with has 3 kids too- each of their kids being a year older than each of our kids. So they each had a buddy for the day and they were off and running with their friends from he moment we hit the sand. Zach and his buddy, Braeden, spent a lot of time boogie boarding and looking for seashells (they found some really cool ones). Colby and his friend, Ty, spent most of their time making up games like "run from the waves before they get you", "dig, dig, dig" and "let's bury each other"! Nolan and his friend, Ashlyn, enjoyed playing in the blow up pool we bought and eating suckers! Will and I both went boogie boarding and it was so much fun. And of course it was fun just getting away from city life, being out in the middle of nowhere and hanging out with new friends. We all can't wait to go back...

the view from the kilo window

The boys looking for seashells and exploring the secluded beach

Ty and Colby "dig, dig, digging" Zach and Braeden just chilling

Me and Nolan taking a break from the sun to enjoy a sucker

Stuff!

2009-02-09T10:54:00.000-08:00

Yippeee! Our shipment arrived today!! We are so excited to finally have all of our things and "junk" from home!

It was like total chaos in our house while the movers brought in all 36 boxes of stuff. The kids were trying to tear open all the boxes that had "toys" or "bikes" written in big, black letters on the outside of the box! Some of their friends from the compound were over here and I put them all to work helping me carry toiletries to where they belong in the house, pile up all the paper the movers used to wrap everything up in, and organize pieces of toys that got scattered in the move. They were more than happy to help- they got a sneak preview into what new and exciting toys have arrived on the compound!

It only took 42 days from door to door, which really is not that bad. It all had to go through a pre-approval process in Houston before it even left the U.S. Then it had to go through customs in Africa before being transported to our house. We've heard stories of people's shipments taking up to 9 months to arrive here because their stuff got held up in customs, so we are more than thrilled that it only took a month and a half.

It's so exciting to get all of our stuff, but now for the hard part...putting it all away!

Here are some pictures of the boys anxiously awaiting the moving truck, the mounds of stuff taking over the family room, and Nolan proving the theory that if you give a kid a bunch of toys the most exciting thing to play with is the cardboard box!

Breakfast Birthday Bash!

2009-02-04T22:45:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Zach's 7th Birthday with a "Breakfast Birthday Bash"!

February 4 is Zach’s birthday and lucky for him it is also a local holiday, “National Armed Struggles Day” (I had no clue what that was, but I just google-ed it and it is...the anniversary of the outbreak of the armed struggle against Portuguese colonialism). Since everyone gets the day off of work and school we decided we would have a party in the morning and make breakfast for everyone. The kids all came to the party in their pajamas and slippers. We served pikelets (pancakes), blueberry muffins, cut up bananas grown right here on the compound, juice, coffee and, of course, birthday cake! It was really fun! The pikelets were a big hit! After breakfast we played a few games- balance the egg on the spoon relay and duck, duck goose- and then we opened presents and had cake! Short and sweet! And Nolan was nice enough to volunteer to clean up all the sticky syrup and cake crumbs for us!

The Championship!

2009-01-31T07:30:00.000-08:00

Zach had a soccer tournament at the school this weekend. Will did not know until they arrived that he was volunteered to coach a team! They were "Team Barcelona" and they are both very proud to say that Team Barcelona won the championship in their division! So after a long day at the tournament Zach came home with two medals and Coach Will came home with an African sunburn!

Checking Out the "Mall"

2009-01-25T10:46:00.000-08:00

We went and checked out the “Mall” for the first time this afternoon.

It’s an indoor mall, but it has more of an outdoor mall feel to it. Only bits and pieces are air conditioned. There are a lot of stores which makes it look like an ordinary mall at first glance, but if you really look in the windows most of the stores are not selling things you would actually buy. They are selling odd, not-so-everyday things, like big circular beds, fancy jewelry and boutique type clothes. And everything is SUPER expensive. As I walked through the mall I just kept thinking, “So who actually buys this stuff?!” It seems like the foreigners wouldn’t pay the crazy prices because they can get that stuff at home and the locals can’t afford it. I guess it’s the richest of both groups. Not sure how the stores stay in business, but I can guarantee you that I am not going to help them out.

We didn’t buy anything, but we did enjoy our first meal out- a pizza at the foodcourt. The foodcourt pretty much looks like a foodcourt from a mall at home. There were a lot of different options for places to eat (a hot dog place, a burger place, a chicken place, a chinese place, etc.), but we played it safe and stuck with the pizza place, called “Paradyse Pizza and Pasta”! We ordered a cheese, tomato and chorizo sausage pizza. I was shocked when it came out as expected because the man who took our order did not speak any English and he wrote our order down on a random piece of blank white paper…with a pen that didn’t have any ink!

It really did turn out super yummy though. Our large pizza and 3 cans of soda cost $40. Will summed it up the best when he said, "You get a sip and a slice for $5!"

Pikelets

2009-01-24T08:51:00.000-08:00

Zach treated us to a “pikelet” breakfast this morning. He came home from school on Friday all excited about the recipe they learned how to cook at school. They are called pikelets, and my best guess is that they are New Zealand pancakes, because his teacher, Miss Nikki, is from New Zealand. They tasted like more like crepes, but had the consistency of thick pancakes. Super yummy! Here is the exact recipe and a picture of Chef Zach at work!

Pikelets

Ingredients: 1 egg ¼ cup sugar ¾ cup milk 1 cup flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1. Beat the egg and sugar until thick. 2. Add the milk. 3. Put the flour and baking powder in. 4. Mix until smooth. 5. Put spoonfuls of mixture into the frypan. 6. Turn over when they start to bubble.

Scouts Honor

2009-01-23T21:39:00.000-08:00

Zach joined a Cub Scout troop! They meet right here on the compound at somebody's house. He came home from his first meeting so excited about earning badges! Rumor has it they even go camping! Pretty crazy to join Boy Scouts for the first time...in Africa!

A perfect way to end the day...

2009-01-18T02:11:00.000-08:00

"Loo-Coo"

2009-01-16T01:45:00.000-08:00

When our maid, Isabelle, left for the day today she said, "Bye!" (the only word she knows in English except "cookie") to all the kids. She said, "Bye!" to Zach, "Bye!" to Nolan and then she looked at Colby and said what sounded like, "Bye Colby me loo-coo!" Now I only know a few Portuguese words at this point, but I quickly figured out that she was saying "Bye Colby My Crazy!" We've only been here 11 days and she totally has Colby pegged!

Cooking on the Fly

2009-01-15T23:56:00.000-08:00

I decided to make some homemade pumpkin bread and hand it out to say "thanks" to the many people who have been so helpful to us our first week or so here. Before I even started baking I had to put the eggs I was going to use through some rigorous testing. First, I had to wash them off really well and do the visual test to make sure there weren’t any “extras” on the shell, like chicken poop droppings or tiny feathers. Then I had to put them all through the sink test. I put them all in a bucket of water to see if they sink or float. If they sink, they are still good. If they float, they have gone bad- probably sat out at the grocery store at room temperature for too long! So, 1 out of my 6 eggs was a floater and I had to throw it away. So sad. I was ready to start mixing all my dry ingredients, so I measured out the sugar, baking soda, baking powder and flour and dumped it into a bowl. I started to measure out the spices to go in the mix and I realized that I did not have any teaspoon measuring spoons, only tablespoon. No problem, I’ll just wing it! But then as I looked a little closer I realized that I didn’t have tablespoon measuring spoons either, they are metric measuring spoons! I called Will on the phone at work to help me out and he tried to give me some conversion lessons. Ended up being way too much math for me, so I scrapped the project- didn’t want to waste my precious canned pumpkin- I only brought 6 cans over here! So I began cleaning up. I had to toss out all the ingredients I had already measured out because they are all white and there was no way to separate them and save them at this point. As I tossed the measuring cups in the sink to be washed I realized that they weren’t right either- they are also metric! Oh my! Before I do anymore baking I either need to go back and get a major in math, move to England, or just patiently wait for the package my dear friend Liz is sending me with real measuring tools to come in the mail! (wonder how long that will take to get here...) After I discovered that baking was not going to be easy, I decided to try my first “new recipe” for dinner, and what that helped me discover is that this house has no smoke alarms! I was SO excited about making dinner tonight! I bought a fresh, locally grown mango at the grocery store and I couldn’t wait to use it! I also had a green pepper and some thawing chicken in the refrigerator, but I don’t have any recipes with mangos in my recipe collection. So, I got onto Allrecipes.com and found the perfect recipe which uses all three ingredients, called “Chicken and Pasta in a Mango Cream Sauce.” I printed out the recipe and then I Google-ed “how to cut a mango” as suggested by some of the reviewers on the website, since it can be kind of tricky. I took careful notes on how to do it and I was all ready to go. When Will got home from work I started chopping everything up and then I heated the olive oil in the skillet, as it says to do on the second line of the recipe. While it was heating up I finished prepping the rest of the ingredients and then the next thing you know I was yelling, “Will! I need help!” because the kitchen was filled with smoke! It was so thick it was hard to see and it smelled really bad. (I guess I’m not quite used to the gas cooking and the cheap pots and pans they supplied us!) We had to open up all the windows in the kitchen and open up the garage door and the door between the kitchen and the garage to get some air flowing in there. When we finally got the air quality back to normal I put the scorched pot in the sink and decided to start over. Just as I was starting to heat up the oil again I realized that the kids’ fish stick dinner was burning in the oven (the dials on the ovens do not have any numbers- they got washed off- so I just have to guesstimate what temperature I'm using!)! Long story short, I saved the fish sticks and our dinner was not ready until after the kids went to bed, but it was well worth all the hassle and the wait- it was delicious!!

Exploring nature around our new "casa"!

2009-01-14T06:09:00.001-08:00

The weather is unusually warm (as opposed to super hot) around here right now, so we've been outside a lot-meeting new people, swimming in the pool and exploring all the new

nature things Africa has to offer.

There are many different bugs, but most of them we've seen (so far) aren't big, scary or hairy. There are lots of large black ants that scurry around everywhere super fast and bump into each other- great entertainment to watch or try to squash or try to catch. (Colby is demonstrating that in the picture below).

The landscaping is a lot greener and more colorful than what we expected. We have many new kinds of flowers and trees around our house, none of which I know the names of, except the "lime tree"- that one's pretty easy! (Nolan is standing in front of it in a picture below). Although we can actually eat the limes off the tree, we've only used it for shade so far! *note: since I originally posted this we have discovered that this is not a lime tree- it is some sort of fig tree!

And my favorite "nature thing" is the view of the Atlantic ocean and the sunsets right outside our windows everyday! I'm sure with three boys we'll be finding more fun nature things around here, just hopefullly not in our beds or food!

Getting around town!

2009-01-07T03:56:00.000-08:00

Did you know that Will has a new name around here? He goes by Oscar Quebec! Well, only to the chauffeur service that drives us around. Oscar Quebec is our "call sign." So when we are ready to go somewhere we have to contact the headquarters to let them know that Oscar Quebec at Casa Foxtrot (that's the name of our house, instead of an address) needs a "kilo" (taxi) at such and such a time. Crazy! So we are trying to learn Portuguese and Kilo-talk all at the same time! Zach and Colby ride to school on a mini-bus. It only picks up the kids on our compound and lucky for us, it picks up right in front of our house! Zach and Colby love riding the bus (and Nolan likes riding along just for fun too!) The roads here are interesting- sometimes you have paved roads with lines down the middle and sometimes you have curvy, dirt roads. In both cases, there are many, many ruts in the road and there are no set lanes- the cars just merge and pass to get to where they want to go! They never use blinkers, but they use their horns all the time! Amongst all of this chaos are street vendors walking down the middle of the road (remember, there is no "middle" it's just all one big conglomeration of vehicles) trying to sell things to the people in the cars! Most locals drive beat up looking cars and trucks or they get around in the local taxis which look like bright blue mini-buses. They also walk a lot- right on the side of the road! You often see men pushing wheel barrows full of materials and women carrying goods in baskets on their heads. Here are some pictures of the boys getting on the bus their first day of school, a local blue taxi, and the closest picture I could get of women carrying things on their heads...

School Days!

2009-01-06T12:09:00.000-08:00

Zach and Colby loved their first day at their new school- The International School of Luanda. After school I asked how their day was- Zach said, "It was awesome!!" and Colby said, "I made like a hundred new friends!" I really like the school too- it has a very open, friendly, nurturing feeling to it. All of the classroom doors open right up to a huge outdoor courtyard. They have all the classes they had back home- math, reading, science, social studies, music, art, p.e., lunch, recess, etc. with the addition of swimming! The swimming pool at school is a huge hit with the boys! Here are some pictures of their first day...

"Magic" Beds!

2009-01-05T11:11:00.000-08:00

We weren't sure if the boys were going to like sleeping inside of the mosquito netting around their beds, so when we got here we told them they had new "magic beds" in their rooms and they totally bought it! They love their new magic beds!

Food!

2009-01-04T20:47:00.000-08:00

Going to the grocery store- what an adventure! I feel like I'm a detective, analyzing all of the packaging to figure out what exactly is inside of there! Some things are obvious, other things...not so much! For my very first trip to the grocery store I tagged along with a neighbor- thank goodness! We went to a store called "Casa dos Frescos", which I would say is more like an oversized quick mart than a grocery store. Picking stuff out wasn't that hard because I was really just going for the basics- milk, cheese, water, etc. But the whole different currency thing (the Angolan money is called Kwanzas) just threw me for a loop! Since it was a Sunday, the "cambio" (change booth) was closed, so they said they would take American Dollars at the register. When I got up to the register, I unloaded all of my groceries onto the counter and waited for the cashier to check me out. When he was finished he blurts some big number out at me so I panic and just fan a bunch of 20 dollar bills at him. He takes 4 of them and then types the total amount into his cash register. Then he comes back and says, "240 Kwanzas" so I say, "Oh, you want more money?" and he shakes his head and says "noooo." So I ask, "Oh, you want less money?" and again he says "nooooo." Oh my, what else could he possibly want?! At this point I'm getting nervous because I don't know what to do and I feel like everyone else in line is starring at me, so I shoot the neighbor a look and say "He keeps asking for 240 Kwanzas, but he doesn't want more or less of my money. I'm so confused." The neighbor pays the cashier 240 Kwanzas and we walk out of the store. I later realize the cashier just didn't have small enough Kwanzas to give me change, so he needed me to give him some Kwanzas in order to make change. No clue what I would have done if I was by myself! So here is what I bought that day... 1. Six 1-liter boxes of milk- 1,118.5 Kwanzas ($14.91) 2. Four 4-oz yogurts- 1,095.1 Kwanzas ($14.60) 3. Four 1.5 bottles of water- 592.8 Kwanzas ($7.90) 4. Two cartons of juice- 569.4 Kwanzas ($7.59) 5. One block of cheddar cheese- 616.5 Kwanzas ($8.22) 6. One can of Pringles potato chips- 481.3 Kwanzas ($6.42) 7. Two rolls of paper towels- 366.6 Kwanzas ($4.89) 8. One bottle of kids bath soap- 399.4 Kwanzas ($5.33) For a grand total of- 5,239.6 Kwanzas or $69.86! So everything is very expensive and things can be hard to find. People say they have become hoarders- buying up as much of an item as possible when you see it in a store because you never know if the store will have it the next time you go in...or ever again! Here are some pictures of my bounty from my first shopping trip and my very first Kwanza!

We're leaving on a Jet Plane...

2009-01-02T06:54:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of our 13 1/2 hour "first class" airplane ride to Angola! The kids did great and enjoyed the first class service!

Stocking Up!

2008-12-04T20:38:00.000-08:00

We are taking as many toiletries and food items as possible since it may be difficult to find what we like or need (can't live without Kraft Macaroni and Cheese!) once we are over there. Here are a few pictures of my first (of a handful) of trips to Sam's to start buying all the necessities!

Passport Time!

2008-10-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

So we all went to CVS together and got our passport pictures taken, which was quite comical for everyone else shopping there at the time! Then on Monday we headed over to the Post Office to fill out the rest of the paper work and send our passports away. The post office attendant was super nice (a pleasant surprise) and helped make the process fast, easy and fun for everyone. The kids thought it was funny that they had to raise their right hand and swear that the information on their passport applications was true! One step closer...