Firday

Well today was a really good day, Ella and I and our driver visited 2 Orphanages. They are about 1.5 hours from our house. It was a very interesting trip. Our driver helped me find them by asking around and then he went and bought 7 bags of fresh baked bread for them.  The last 30 minutes of the drive we went through back roads, you know the ones that you can only see from the street. They whined and weave all around. It was really eye opening. We saw lots of homes where people lived and children everywhere and of every age and usually with no parents in sight. I saw a little girl about 5 or 6 with a little baby on her back around one or so. It seems that the children look after each other, probably because there parents are out working.  I have always wanted to see what was behind the street walls and it was so interesting.

We also had to 4x4 through some huge mud holes. We arrived at the first Orphanage which was run by Madame Irma (I think that was her name) she is a little old lady that looks after all 56 children. Their was a 19 year boy there who was the first boy she ever took in 15 years ago. He spoke pretty good english and showed me all around and told me about the place. Most of the children were at a Festival so we didn't get to meet them all. I was told the things they need the most was food and shoes. Most of the children there are very young - I think around Ella's age and most are girls.  Ella was pretty shy but interested.  The young boy then took us to a bigger Orphanage down the road named Saint Isabel's Children Charity (OCSI). You can check it out at www.ocsiangola.org.  We will probably go back this week to visit again and bring them some fruit which the children love.  The  OCSI was a lot larger and more equipped, they have over 200 children and their main goal now seems to be sending them all to school.  It is run by sister Isabel and some other ladies.  I was really moved by both places, but the first one was very basic, the children had nice beds and misquote nets but they would not be effective because there were holes in them.  I didn't see anything to play on for the children it was just a kitchen, bedroom and then an open area. The kitchen was very basic.  There was one lady there that I meet who the Orphanage hired she had a little baby boy who was so sweet but his poor little eyes where a yellowish brown color. I think at the very least if the children could get vitamins  it would be a huge help. They eat mostly beans and rice, -fresh fruits and veggies or meat everyday would cost a lot but if they children could get a multi-vitamin that would help, although they need so much more as well.

Well that was our day, it was such an experience.  I don't want to say a good experience because there is nothing good about seeing others live this way, but it was humbling for me.  It makes me want less for my self and more for others. It just doesn't seem fair that some have so much and others have so little and that the mere fact of where on this earth you are born will determine that.  I don't understand how everyone seems to be okay with children living on the streets here. There are many street children, mostly little boys, little boys some who look so innocent. They have the saddest look in their eyes -scared, sad, broken.  There is one little boy who sneaks into Shoprite and always tries to find me because I gave him money I don't know how you couldn't.  He is so little- maybe 8 years old in the body of a 5 year old. He is so sweet. He found me again and I gave him $5. He was so happy. He always smiles and waves at me when no one is looking. These boys usually wonder the isles in shoprite staring at the food or the toys until security kick them out. A lot of them hang around the parking lot and will try to help you with your grouches and cart hoping for some change. They are willing to work for money which I think is admirable. When we were paying for our groceries I saw my little guy and his friend buying some cooked chicken, fries and an apple. They looked so happy. The other little boy had a huge scar across his neck like someone tried to slit it. I can't even imagine what these little guys have been through....

Things are slowing down and looking up...maybe

Well today was actually a quieter day. Ella and I had a relaxing morning and chatted over a banana chocolate chip muffin and coffee. (Muffin for Ella, coffee for me).  Then  she went to school this afternoon and is over a Baya's house right now playing.  I also talked to a lady about getting our washing machine and she said it will be here today or tomorrow. I really believe her this time, although it hasn't came today.... so here is  hopping for tomorrow. Plus I talked to the cable guy and he is also looking into cable for us. PLUS, surprise, surprise there are 2 guys out side the house right now, one is the maintenance guy and the other looks like a guy who makes decisions. I am hoping they are talking about putting a fence in. I may have been touring the dogs around the neighbourhood off leash, everyone is a little scared of dogs around here ( ok a lot) so maybe this will help encourage a fence.....   Brett is trying to come home early today to play with Ella. She really misses him because she only sees him for about an hour or less before bed. Things should slow down a bit over the holidays.

We were invited over the our neighbours house for dinner on Christmas eve! People here really are sooo nice and another couple with Twin 5 year old girls are coming as well, so it should be fun.

Well I have to say the hardest things about being here is trying to cook something for dinner that is somewhat healthy. I was challenged before in this department and now I am basically crippled. I had cooked (tried) to cook dinner 3 nights in a row (one was not eatable - the sick chicken) but the others were ok. Then Brett cooked one night (Saturday or Sunday I think) and was like "look our first home cooked meal in our new house"  I was like what?  - what would you call the dinners I made last week?   All I got was umm ah  oh ya  sorry.  Ouch.

 So tonight I am googling recipes and trying to think of something to make.  The things is we are limited in ingredients.  We have cheese, pasta, rice, tomatoes, beans, couscous,  frozen cauliflower and broccoli - but both were kind of gross.  Frozen corn, bread, ham... I know what your thinking - there is lots I can make but I have made pasta in a tomato sauce with - chicken, lobster, and sausage. I can't do tomato and pasta anymore.  So far we haven't found any good meat, except for this imitation lobster which I am sure is 50% plastic.

Oh that reminds me we actually had to throw out 2 dinners - We tried making shrimp - not tomato but in a teriyaki sauce and it smelt soooooo fishy and then stunk up our whole house, plus 90% of the little shrimp weren't deveined. I was eating it until I notice Brett picked all his out and said he wasn't going to eat it, it would kill him.  So we don't buy the shrimp anymore.  Oh on a side note - you can't comprehend how much guilt I have every time we have to throw something out here, especially food.

The flowers are for you mom xoxo.

Busy Sunday, tour around Luanda and Cookies with Santa

Our new friend Dan took us around yesterday to tour Luanda Sul and the surrounding area. It was great we found a new delicious pizza place 5 minutes from our house, we visited this crazy market where they had everything there from Ivory to baby monkies (pretty sad) but they also had a lot of beautiful art.  We also went to this restaurant on the beach which looks so relaxing.  The pubic beach is right next to it and you  can see the difference. 

 Above - Private Beach 

Below- Public Beach

 

After the tour we went to Cookies with Santa across the street from our house. They had lots of crafts for the kids to do, lots of treats and then Santa came and all the kids took turns on his knee. Ella asked for a Ariel music box, know idea where I will find that ....or how much it would cost here.

The Inside of Our House

So this is the inside of our house. I have had Brett move the furniture around lots to try and make it more cozy. He has been so good about moving thing and it is slowly coming together. This first picture is of our family room up stairs. The doors go out to the deck and then to the left of the doors is a hallway that goes to our bedrooms.

 This is Brett and my bedroom, it is cozy and there is a bathroom off to the left.

This is Ella's room. It is a bit small but has its own bathroom too, which she loves.

 
This is Ella in the downstairs living room. The room you always see behind us on Sykpe.


This is the Kitchen, it is very big with only 2 outlets.

This is my favourite place, out on the deck. It is always so sunny out here and warm. I hope to get lots of plant out there soon.

So that is most of it there are a couple other rooms that don't have any furniture in them yet so I will show you them once they look better.

Busy Friday

Ella rode the big blue bus this morning. She was really excited but tired this morning, she even tried going back to bed 5 minutes before we had to leave. I couldn't find her and then I saw her little sandals by my bed and a big lump under the covers. But once she was on the bus with her friend Baya - in the very back seats she was really excited.  Her teacher just wants her to go for half a day today, which Ella will not like because they have swimming in the afternoon. But we have a BBQ tonight and they have a pool there so she can go swimming tonight.  I also have coffee with some of the other Chevron wives today in an hour. It will be nice to meet more people.  We are still waiting for our wash machine and things are piling up but lots of our neighbours have offered to let us use theirs.  We should get it soon. Still waiting on Cable too but we don't really miss it.

Brett's job is going good. He says he is really  busy and with traffic doesn't usually get home till after 7, so then we eat and go to bed. We are all exhausted by then. I tried to make dinner last night. Chicken in tomatoes with cheese (of course) and scallop potatoes - we don't have a ton of options. Anywho  thing were going good until the potatoes started to burn right when Brett came in. The chicken was also local (yes I am trying to eat meat again because there are not a lot of options now) the chicken was really tough. Brett is such a trooper he ate as much as he could, but Ella was honest she said the chicken was gross.... it was.  We also made Banana chocolate muffins, they turned out good but I could only cook 6 at a time because I only have one muffin dish which has six muffins.  It is funny, we don't have a frying pan so we make grill cheese in a pot -- it works ok, we don't have any measuring cups or spoons but the muffins turned our not bad.  Plus our oven only goes up to 190 so I have no idea what temperature  I am cooking at.  Good Times.

Well my next post I will post some pictures of the inside of the house.

ELLA'S FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL!!!!

 Ella just woke up and I found her and Chase  getting ready for school.

  This is Ella in front of her school on her way to class.

 Ella and her new friends at school. There are 9 boys and 6 girls but they also join the other classes which includes another 75 children.

This my favourite picture, they went speeding by and it was the cutest thing.

The Garden

THE GARDEN

It took us a while to find the perfect spot for our little garden. We decided to do a small one in the front and a larger one in the back, which has yet to be planted. 

Ella helped to pick out the seeds that she wanted to plant in the front.  I wrote the words and she decided to draw pictures of each of the vegetables.

This picture is about 20 minutes into the garden and Ella was about done with gardening. It was 7 am and really hot already. The garden was done by 9 am, it was so weird to have so much done and still have the whole day ahead of us.