Funny things

So there has been a couple funny stories that have happened since we got here and I wanted to post this one just because it has topped them all so far.....

So the day we were at the Orphanage there was a nurse there who checks all the children. A little boy wasn't feeling well so I was holding  him, she took him to test him for a fever and malaria. Brett and I went out to see how he was doing and I was talking to the nurse about the boy. When she finished she said...   and I quote: "So did you come here with your Dad?" - At first I was a little baffled and then I looked at Brett who was standing beside me and started laughing, I said "Nope this is my husband," --- feeling a little creepy when I said that out loud,  I added we are the same age THIRTY ONE.  She felt so bad, but  it was all pretty funny. The story got out and now everyone refers to Brett as my dad.

Funny thing is Brett brought this "incident" up continually asking if he really looks that old? Then he somehow determined that it may have been the hat he was wearing - so he took that off.  Little did he know that the day before we were at the twins house and a lady stopped by and asked my friend who she had in her house with the girls?  She said me, and the lady said "oh, it looked like a 12 years old."  (Really lady 12 ??  I have gotten 16 or 17 but  12 that is like before puberty !)  Anywho I am chalking it up to a expat cultural thing.

Christmas Day

Well guess who made it to Luanda?? Santa!  

Friends of ours are German and it is a Christmas tradition that Santa comes to their house on Christmas Eve at 4pm and gives the children one gift.  Since everyone was leaving for Christmas I may have volunteered Brett to help out (not really thinking that through). After we got him all suited up I had him do some practice HO HO HO's. Needless to say I was a little worried. Anyone who knows Brett, knows that he never really took to Drama in high school and unless he has a whole lot of alcohol under his belt his acting skills are ...hummmmm somewhat challenged.  But I told him not to let down the children, this is a small tight knit community and if he screws this up we may no longer have any friends.  

However all reports came back that he did a great job, Santa even turned down the drink he was offered, oh and they got it all on video, which one day I hope to see. 

Later Christmas Eve we went to our neighbour house for the best chicken enchiladas I have ever tasted. I ate so much I felt sick and I basically rolled home but it was so worth it. 

 Since then I have been scouring the internet looking for chicken enchilada recipes. I get my hopes up looking at the pictures and remembering that beautiful night ..... and then Brett walks by and says, we don't have  sour cream, we don't have tamales, we don't have...... why can't he just let a girl enjoy herself. 

This is Ella and her two new friends, they are the sweetest twins I have ever met, we were calling them the twinkle triplets.

Did I mention we also had Margaritas!!!!

Opening gifts. So this year needless to say under the tree was a little bare. Brett and I figured we spent about $10, on Ella this year and the rest of her gifts were all give to us by friends who actually planned ahead. Please believe me when I say I was not trying to be cheap this year, I went to the one mall twice determined to find Ella a great gift but everything was ridiculously expensive, (ei. barbies $95, dollar store princess necklace $30, Barbie nightlight $91, Princess castle - didn't even want to know).   

But when we opened gifts christmas morning Ella was so excited and happy, she even said this was the best christmas ever (note: she does say that every christmas, or any day she gets more then one new toy). So I guess it really may be true, less is more.

 Both Brett and I were thinking this is great, she didn't get spoiled, she is so happy, we don't have 50 new toys she will never look at again. We felt it was a pretty good Christmas. (Further note: by afternoon our early risers became extremely tired and proceeded to tell us this was the worst Christmas Eve ever....ahhhh )

Christmas Eve

Our drive to the Orphanage is very interesting, we travel to a different part of the City, it is obviously a poor area but it has a certain beauty to it that is hard to describe, maybe it is only something you can feel when you drive through.  These pictures (both on the way there and home - do not represent all of Luanda. It is very different in each community). We were in one of the poorest as you will see by the pictures at the end. 

I know this is a bad picture  but they women here are truly amazing.  

Some of the back roads we had to go on were flooded because of the rain we have had but our driver did great. 

So on Christmas Eve we went to one of the Orphanages about one and half hours away. We went with 2 other families that we are friends with. It was a wonderful day and such a pleasure to meet all the children. They put on a dance for us and sang songs, it was all very endearing. The school had organized for all the children at the Orphanage to receive a gift, however there were 3 little girls that were not on the list, but we managed to find them something. I had a little boy maybe around 5 or 6 come up to  me at the end and hold my hand, then he kissed it and said obrigada - which  means thank you in Portuguese. It was the sweetest thing. 

The younger children singing a song for us.

 On our way home there was terrible traffic. It took us 2 hours and 15 minutes to get home. It was pretty funny, for a good 45 minutes Brett, who was in the front seat, got to stare at a dead cow in the back of a truck with some other furniture..... sure hope they weren't taking it to shoprite!

More Christmas cookies and plans for Christmas day....

Well yesterday was a big day we went over to our neighbours house and decorated cookies. Ella's new friends came to and there were lots of cookies to decorate.











We have decide to visit an Orphanage Christmas Eve. I believe Christmas is about giving and in Luanda there are so many people, especially children who have nothing. I can't help but think about all those on Christmas this year who will have nothing special. I also want Ella to see that Christmas is not just about her and what she wants, and that not every child is as luck as she is.

  I have always wanted to spend Christmas doing something for others who really need it and this year we decided to bring fruit as our gift to the children. (It is what they asked for - food) plus I thought it is a good way to get some vitamins in the children. They usually eat one rice and beans.  So I asked Isabel if she would go to the market and buy the fruit for me since she can get a lot more for a lot less then I can.   I forgot to mention that Isabel only speaks portuguese and apparently I don't speak any portuguese.  So first I tried my dictionary and that took way too long, then I tried google translator and I thought she got it. So I thought she was going to go and then she can back to me with her phone, it was her husband, he speaks pretty good english and very politely told me that Isabel has no idea what I was trying to tell Isabel.   Wow, guess I was wrong. Anyways I told him what I wanted Isabel to do and she was very eager to help. She went all the wats down to the market place and brought back a ton of fruit, it took her nearly 4 hours. Then she was so proud she laid it  all out on the counter and told me all the great deals she got.

Christmas Time in Angola

Well after finding a tree the size of Ella in one of the local hardware stores for $320 we were pretty sure a tree would not be an option this year so Ella and I surprised her dad with a homemade Christmas tree. Ella drew out the plans first (a tree with her and me) and then we created the tree and all the decorations. I thought it looked pretty good.

A couple days later if picked up a flyer at Shoprite (kind of like a Walmart but more expensive and cheaper stuff -like dollar store made in China stuff, however every once in a while you can find some good stuff). Anyways I took the flyer home because I am still working on my conversion skills. It can be tough when you can't believe that a dollar store princess necklace is $30.00 US!  So I bring the flyer home and Brett and I both agree it looks like Christmas stuff at Shoprite is not too expensive, ei. our Christmas tree cost only $40. So we all went shopping and bought a Tree and some christmas lights and decorations. Brett and I also found some great lawn chairs for only $25 and a cooler.

That night we had a Christmas party and listen to  wait for it....... Christmas cat songs. I am going to try and down load it on to the blog. You can probably guess who insisted on that album.  While we were decorating the tree we wrote all the names of our family on each Christmas ball.  (Well Kaydence might have gotten her own ball - blue like Ella's of course. 

Enjoy the pics!!

Merry Christmas

A day at the pool!

Well Saturday we spent the day at the pool and then had some friends over and their twin girls who are so wonderful. We had pizza and amazing G&T's and the girls played the whole time ...which meant we actually got to visit. It was a wonderful night.

ella  mom  dad

Here are some pictures of Ella swimming at the pool.