Garden ..take 2

Well as you may have read in an earlier post my original garden flopped, there is nothing left of it and I have decided flowers will look better in that area anyways. So this weekend my lovely husband helped me put in a new garden! It is about 4 times the size of the first one and we planted: Potatoes, green beans, carrots, cucumbers, peas, sunflowers, cauliflower, a mango tree, an avocado tree, and an aloe vera plant. Heres hoping something grows.

Since moving here I have discovered a lot about myself.  Two things have became very obvious to me: one I am not the best cook,and 2) I do not have a green thumb AT ALL. However, as I tell Ella everytime she becomes completely frustrated at not being able to do something good right away (like her latest frustration not being able to shoot hoops) ... you have to practice, practice, practice.  Like they say it takes 10,000 hours of practicing something to become an expert. I will settle for competent which I am hoping take far less hours. I figure I have 3 years to become good at these 2 things, one I enjoy and the other I feel obligated to do or else we will starve (however sadly, sometimes starving is a better alternative).
 You lucky readers get to watch my progress (hopefully), let me begin by showing you my current plant situation:

So this is an Aloe Vera plant that I transplanted. As Brett put it " No one can kill an Aloe plant ..." Well apparently I watered it too much and now it has turned brown. However one of our neighbours commented on how nice it looked and then I told him that it should actually be a nice shade of green, not brown. Apparently I am not the only one who know little on plants. 

So this is the new and improved flower bed. My vision is to have this area vibrant with lots of different flowers.  Currently it has some dead ones and some okay ones and some that are still deciding if they want to die. 

This is one of my many rescue plants, yes I rescue plants from around our neighbourhood. Yes this is a true need, because many people have moved out and there is no one to water their plants so I gather them up and bring them back to my place so they will at least have a 50-50 chance of survival.  The empty pot is a mango seed Ella and I planted about a week ago - no action on that one yet. 

Here is my soon to be Herb garden! I have basil, mint and lavender in there (not sure if lavender is a herb but I had the seeds so I planted it). 

Okay so this is the Frustrating thing. I have worked hours on planting and replanting everything and nothing grows, then Brett decided to put a tomato seed in this pot and it has sprouted up. I think it is about 3 or 4 weeks now and it grows about an inch or more a week. I have a love-hate relationship with this plant.  Seriously it is  his only contribution and look at it.  Needless to say he excessively brags about his "magic touch" or as I like to call it his 2 year diploma in Land Rec.   The other two are Ella's peach tree and Plum Tree she is growing...I don't have a lot of hope for those but you never know. 

My First SUCCESS !! While kind of. I bought this basil stem at the store - you know the bag of herbs you can get. But I put it in water and it grew roots so I transplanted it and hope that I get more.  (yes, it came in a bunch, sadly this is the only one that survived my testing methods). 

 We worked all day Sunday making the new garden and Brett lectured me nicely on how I have to water it everyday in the morning and maybe even at night, and use the sprinkler and then the hose in the middle,  but not too much sprinkler because it will erode, but it is really important that they get the sprinkler because the seeds are on top now and if I only water the rows in between they wont get enough water....... Anyways I went out to water it this morning and notice that he had already watered it, .... I am thinking he doubts my ability a little.

Brett starting our new Garden!!

Here it is almost finished...not too bad hey?

my second aloe plant doing much better then his brother...  I think this one thinks it escaped. 

Just though I would throw this one in for all you lady followers . Haha and because Brett loves it when I put pictures of him on the internet. 

All finished !!!!

The happy gardeners!

Anyways I think the garden looks great, but it is also kind of creepy because it looks a little like a grave yard, I am really hoping this is not symbolic of my gardens future.

Exercising in Villa Leticia (VL)

Well this morning I was decided that I should take advantage of the weather and get some exercise outside. It had just rained around 8:30 and was still a little overcast -  probably around 30 degrees still, but this is cool for Luanda. So I put on my shorts and runners and got my ipod ready to go.  You have to understand that exercising here in VL has its ...ummmm challenges and perks.  I planned on just going for a fast walk and doing lunges around the compound (which is only 15 house so it is pretty small. I think 4 laps = 1 mile.   I am trying to work on my legs....yes the dreaded thighs have always been my problem area.

 First mistake were the short shorts I put on (I thought they would be nice and keep me cooler). Well apparently I have gained a bit because these were tight and tight. No problem though I told myself I have a longer shirt on so that will cover any overflow.  Side note: Last summer I decided to wear some shorter black dress shorts. I was a little unsure at first but when I came out of the room my sister gave me a look that said it all... and then walked away.  I think we were going golfing that day. I noticed the  look and thought "well if they were really bad she would tell me so maybe they are just kinda bad" but I was hoping to get a tan on my legs so I thought who cares. Well later that day when we were out on the golf course my sister brought up my shorts again. I asked her if they were really that bad. Her responds "....err ...ummmm well I just don't wear short shorts because they don't look good on me, and your legs are really white hey?" Translation--- Ummm yeah those are bad, what the hell were you thinking?"  oh and "your legs are REALLY white."  So now I have learned the objective truth and I am stuck out on a frigging golf course.  All I can think of is getting home and changing.  I don't consider myself to be a person who cares that much about appearances, I am not vain nor do I think I self criticize too much, but a spade is a spade and there was no getting around this one. 

Anywho how does that story relate to my walk....well once again I made the mistake of wearing short shorts but this time they were even too small. AND despite living in Africa for the past 2.5 months my legs are still painfully WHITE. 

So here I am walking along trying to get my speed up and I arrive at the 2nd challenge. You see in our compound we have a lot of gardeners and maintenance people - all men.  And they are all out and about today, all 14 of them (yes I counted)  plus some drivers and security guards.  And they are all literally 4 meters away from me as I walk.....fast.....with white legs ..jiggling.  Ahhhh fun times who doesn't love a huge audience as they sweat their ass off...walking (ok the sweat is more from the heat then being out of shape ... really... okay maybe both) but I am not kidding you, I was sweating like I was in a sauna ...a  steam sauna !  So as now I am walking , saying my hellos (Bom Dias) to everyone on the first lap,  second lap now really sweeting quite a bit but just hoping everyone will keep busy working.  

The ipod helps tremendously,  so I get up the confidence to start doing my lunges, trying to  block everyone out and just listen to my music in the middle of the street (since the workers are on the sidewalk. Next thing I know there is a truck right behind me full of maintenance men as I am trying to do a lunge, stay balanced, not rip my shorts in two and not fall over as the dogs tug me in every direction. Great, I think to myself, once I finally notice because the dogs are trying to get off the street,  how long have they been behind my while I have been rocking out to my music, and then  I wonder if they know I am actually trying to do a lunge or if they think I may have injured myself. 

 I was determined to go for a least 30 minutes ...I know you are all laughing at my big work out, but hey I know my limits today.  As I am finishing my last lap my favourite little people come running onto their deck and wave to me shouting "Hola Amiga !!!" These are the children in a half built house that live on the other side of the compound. I am in love with them. They are the cutest, sweetest little children and they always wave and say hello to me every time I walk by their house.  This made my morning, my whole day and all the sweet and white jiggling thighs was worth it! 

ANGOLA SAFARI!!!

Well last weekend we went to Kissama National Park, it is one of the few in Angola. They have  a Truck Tour and River Tour that you can go on and the best thing is that it is only about a 2 hour drive from our house.  We went with 7 other families, some with children and other that just came along for the road pops.
Brett and I are the youngest family here that I am aware of but lots of other families have children our age or younger.  However we often get teased about how young we are.  Brett is turning 32 on Sunday and I was thinking that does seem older but both Brett and I look forward to getting old. And really Brett was nicknamed Old Man Layden in High School so really I think we are accepting the aging process quiet gracefully. Any one who has read my previous blogs is probably well aware of how my eagerness to get old and one day be thought of as older then 17.  (Note: this longing to get old maybe getting out of control -the other day a friend of ours who is probably around my moms age was telling me how they plan on going on wine tours for their anniversary and romantic lunches, ect... I blurted out way too fast how "I can't wait to get old to do that kind of stuff!" Yeah may have came out wrong, WHAT I MEANT was that I would love to have a romantic lunch at a beautiful vineyard but we can't do that with small children. So I meant that once Ella is grown, I would love to do that. Yeah I had to back peddle really bad and in the end I just shut up because nothing I said was helping the mannner. On another note.....completely off topic I saw my first Afro Mullet!!!!!  It was the funniest thing I have ever saw because it was a real mullet but even worse then normal, what I would have given to have a photo of it. I even would have changed the main photo on this blog to it if I could have got that  thing on camera. Also other funny things I have saw/heard:
- Very popular here are those umbrella hats so funny
-Brett saw a 90 year old really sweet looking lady with a T-shirt that said " I am not bald this is a solar panel for a sex machine"
- I asked my driver to stop for tomatoes today and he proceed to tell me about the people outside how they have given up their homes because the gov't  moved them and promised them new homes.....I never got any tomatoes.
-

Speaking of funny things...back to the Angolan Safari. So a little history first.... most/almost all the wild animals in Angola were killed during the war, and I mean almost all. This fact didn't hit me until we got close to the park and you see how vast it is and it is only a small part of Angola. I couldn't even imagine how so many animals could be not only impacted by the war but completely destroyed.  I even heard (an saw later on TV) that even the animals in Luanda's Zoo were all killed and now there are only empty cages there.

Well some of the animals are coming back and we have photos to prove it....Look out Kenya you got some competition !!!

Our Safari Vehicle, aka old civil war truck

Macaco aka Monkey

Day at the Beach

Well last weekend we went to the beach with friends of ours and there twins who decide to dress up for the occasion. 

Loving the boat ride!

Also loving the boat ride!!

Looking for shells and finding lots!

Kwanza River

Well we decided to do some exploring outside of Luanda. Our first big trip was to the Kwanza River. It is located about one hour from our place about 45 minutes out of the city, a peaceful ocean drive. It was a beautiful drive there and we pasted some really interesting things along the way. We pasted a golf course, YES there are actually 2 golf courses here, one actually looks really nice, the other one you have to bring your own mat to apparently.  We also past huge cliffs that have been eroded and many little villages. 

I asked Brett if he got an pictures of Ella having lunch, he said yep, and this is it. 

This is your view from the table

We had lunch here and then went for a walk around, lunch was $50 each and was a buffet the only things we recognized was rice, potatoes, chicken and fish that later made me very ill. You can fish along the river and apparently there are crocodiles here too. 

This is our driver, he looks a little grumpy here (they don't smile for pictures - kind of funny) but he has a great smile and is wonderful, especially with Ella - he calls her bebe. 

Ella took this photo on the way home of her and baby jag who also made the trip.