Water, water everywhere there is water

I posted earlier this week about our bedroom ceiling leaking and the guys were at the house all day Monday and Tuesday fixing the pipe that busted in the attic. Wednesday the ceiling stopped leaking and then Thursday it started leaking again. When we called them Thursday they said there was a lot of water up there and it would just have to dry out and then it would quit dripping. Friday morning it was really dripping bad and I didn't have much hot water to take a shower and so I asked my driver to go up in the attic and see if he could see anything wrong. He looked around and said that the hot water heater was empty and it was leaking water. So yesterday they came back out and was here all day fixing the water heater leak and so now we are waiting to see if the leaking water will stop. We are having a friend check on the house while we are in the states so it doesn't flood while we are gone. We also decided to turn all water off to the house before we leave.

Need a ride, Prices & A New Bridge

Jacob has been studying materials at school and building things with different material. Last week at home Jacob, Adam, Jared and Hana built a bridge in the backyard and wanted to see how much weight it would hold. We estimated he had about 220lbs on his bridge with all the kids.

Salsa for $9.40 for the little jar.

Microwave popcorn 3 bags for $17.00.

Last week Katie and I were going to Kero and we seen a 4 wheeler being pulled by a car down the major road and a guy was just along for the ride. 

Pepa I found whipping cream but at this cost $9.99 for 1L I will not be putting it in my ice cream. Actually, even if it only cost $.99 I wouldn't put it in my ice cream. :-)

Not sure how "Real American Hot Dogs" these are since they come in a jar of liquid. For 5 "Real American Hot Dogs" it will cost $7.19. Don't think I will be getting any of these.

Wednesday I made cinnamon rolls for the boys teachers and some friends in the compound. I ended up making 32 of them. They are so so good too. I found the recipe online and it is a clone of the cinnabom rolls.

Water again

This time instead of not having any water we have way to much. :-) After 6 months I finally got my leak in the downstairs ceiling fixed and last week they even patched the ceiling. So for 2 days everything in my house was working except we didn't have any water. :-) When we got home from the camp out yesterday we noticed some water on the first landing of the stairs and so Kenny wiped it up and then we noticed it again later. He got to looking and there was water running down the wall from the ceiling. We just laughed and said "Gotta love Luanda" and went on with our day. We all took a nap because we were so tired from the camp out and when I went to wake Kenny and Jared up I felt water drip on me and I told Kenny he needed to turn the AC off because it was dripping water and I told him it must be froze up. Later when we were going to bed Kenny noticed the rug was wet in our room and he seen water dripping from the ceiling. Then he noticed a couple spots on our bed were wet. So we moved our bed between the two leaks and put towels down and went to bed with the sound of rain in our room. :-) Today about 5 new spots have came up where it is leaking. The repair guys showed up about 1:30pm and one of them went in the attic and looked around. My driver said the plumbing is in the ceiling so I am assuming a pipe has busted or something. My driver was not here when they were leaving and the only thing the guy can say in English is, "I'll be back". Not sure where I will move my bed if it starts dripping anywhere else or if I will even want to sleep in there tonight.

I am not sure why it still surprises me when something goes wrong here. There has not been one day that has went by that something is not wrong with the house. I am not complaining though I just laugh and go on now because I know there are people a lot worse off than me here. I am just thankful I have a roof and AC. :-) I am also very very thankful that I can say 5 more days and I am heading to the US for 4 weeks. I can not wait!!!!

I still have a lot to do to get ready to leave but I can not seem to get motivated to get any of it done. Katie did come over today and we made some waffles to freeze. Tomorrow I will take her to Benfica and Wednesday we are going to make cinnamon rolls to freeze and for my boys teachers for Christmas. Thursday I am free so I think I will get all my packing done. Friday I will just hang out and that night us and the Amer's are going to take Kenny out to eat at Coconuts for his birthday. Then Saturday the maid will come to help get the house clean before we leave and then we will head to the airport at 4pm!!!!!

Turtle Beach

Saturday morning some of the boy scouts loaded up and headed out of Luanda about 54km to Turtle Beach. It only takes about 45 mins. to get there from the compound. Once we got there we put up the tents and then had a sandwich for lunch. After lunch we took the boys to the beach and let them play in the waves. They started around 12:30 or 1pm and we had to pull them out around 4:30pm. They couldn't go in deep but they still had a blast letting the waves knock them over time and time again. We did see a couple of Jelly fish but were lucky no one had contact with one. There were crab all over the beach as well. After a day of swimming we had dinner and then the boys played some American football until it was dark. After it got dark they started playing "Man hunt" I think is what they called it in the dark and tag with their flash lights. About 7:30 we went and walked the beach looking for turtles to come up and lay eggs but we didn't have any success finding any. We did see a couple that didn't make it back to the water. Around 9pm we had to make the boys go to bed and it didn't take long for them to fall asleep.

Sleeping in a tent with no air mattress is the most uncomfortable thing I have ever done in my life. It was very hot and the ground was very hard. I am sure I didn't get anymore than 1-2 hours of sleep. :-) We woke up around 6am and had breakfast and the boys went back to the beach to build a fort in the sand while Kenny, Baptista and I broke down camp. We left around 9ish headed home. We went a different way home and it ended up going by Benfica Market so I had Baptista stop and we did a little Christmas shopping. Kenny loved the idea. :-) Of course like always we had about 300 amigos as soon as we walked under the tent. I have to say I am getting pretty good at the negotiations though. I got a few things for a great price. I think Kenny was even surprised. :-) We got home around 11 and all took showers and unpacked and had lunch. After lunch everyone laid down for a nap and the boys ended up sleeping about 4 hours and I finally woke them up. Since it was Kenny's birthday the boys and I made him brownies and home made vanilla ice cream.

We had a lot of fun but I am glad it was only for one night. I could not have slept on that ground more than one night. I asked Baptista, our driver, how he slept and he said very very good. He said there were no mosquito's bothering him at night like at the home. I had brought a blanket and pillow for him to use in the tent and when we were unpacking I asked him if he needed a pillow at home and he said oh yes very much....so I gave him the one he used at camp.

So now we are back to the same routine for 5 more days and then we are off to the USA!!!!!! We are so excited to go home for a month and for some cooler weather. I have so much to get packed and get done this week. I am making cinnamon rolls for the boys teachers for Christmas this week as well. Busy week will make it go by faster. :-)