Goats & Sears

Friday the boys were out of school for a teacher work day. Jacob needed some colored paper for a poster he is making for his presentation on the circulatory system. We decided to go to Kero and look for paper and we found some. That is a first...to find something you are actually looking for. :-) It cost $9 for 10 sheets and I did not want to buy it but I had no choice. I will be bringing back 200 sheets of construction paper with me in January and watch the boys will not use any of it. :-)

On the way to the store Katie and I normally see a goat head on the BBQ so I told the boys to watch for it. Of course it was there and I was able to get a picture of it this time. I am sure this is what you want to see...try seeing it in person. I have seen it millions of times and I still get the chills when we pass it. 

There is a Sear's in town!!!! Don't think it is like Sear's in the US but it does have clothes. I will have to stop in there one day and check out the prices.

The boys started RE classes this week before church. Jacob did not want to go but after class he was asking if they could go every week. I take it he had fun!!! He served in church along with 7 other kids. Before long there will be no room for Father at the alter. He couldn't get anyone to serve last year and so this year he lets them all serve every week. 

All the servers waiting with Father to shake hands.

This is Jared's leg. He woke up Friday morning with this rash and said it itches really bad. I took him to the clinic on Saturday and he was running fever. The doctor said it looked like some kind of bug bite but definitely not a mosquito. He put him on Vit. C, Benadryl and some Cortizone cream.

Jared's 6th Birthday

I can not believe that Jared is 6 years old. He has grown up so fast. I love the little boy he is becoming. He is so sweet and caring. He will do anything for anyone at anytime. He is very patient and easy going. He is loving kindergarten and learning how to read. They started doing math a couple weeks ago and he is an adding fool now. He walks around the house adding everything. I love it when they figure something new out. He has also learned how to tie his shoes in the last couple of weeks. He is still a little slow but he is determined to do it himself.

For his birthday I let him have 3 kids over last Tuesday. One of them road the bus home with him and for them that is the coolest thing in the world. He had Miles, Dieter and Toby over. They had a water balloon fight and then had cake and opened presents.

Monday night after Jared went to sleep Jacob, Kenny and I decorated downstairs. We put a trash bag on his door and filled between it and the door with balloons. Tuesday morning Jacob and I stood outside his door and sang happy birthday until he woke up. It was a sock to him when all the balloons fell on him. 

Jacob made this poster for Jared and taped it on the wall in the stairs. It says, Happy Birthday....You are awesome!

Jacob and I decorated the front door.

Jared's cake!!!

Thanks to Sela...Jared and his friends had water balloons to play with. She filled up over 100 of them.

My 3 guys!!!!

Birthday boy!!!!

Jacob and Dieter.

Molly and Miles

Watch out!!!

Birthday Boy!!!

Jared getting ready to blow out his candles. Miles was cracking us up....he was so excited and just kept hugging Jared.

One last hug. I bet he hugged him a dozen times. :)

What a team...they worked together to get the trick candles out. Miles, Jared, Dieter, and Toby.

Miles and Jared opening his presents.

OU SOONERS BABY!!!!

A new gun!!!!

Jared opening Dieter's present. It was a baseball bat and ball. If you know Jared this is perfect for him.

Nelson

It's been a week since I talked to Nelson and he has came to work every day. Last Wednesday was a holiday and he even came. Sela told him he didn't have to come because it was a holiday and he said he didn't know. She said he was crazy and drinks too much. :) The holiday thing was ridiculous too. Tuesday night about 4:30 Kenny had an employee call him and tell him that the President just announced that Wednesday would be a holiday because it was his inauguration. Some people went to work and some didn't. I was lucky that all my employees came to work...Kenny not so lucky. :-) I am guessing Nelson didn't hear the announcement and that is why he came to work. I told him if he misses one day he is gone. I am waiting on the day. He usually shows up like this for a week or two and then he starts not coming again. My bet is he will not make it through October.

Chronicles of the Gardener

I was able to talk to Nelson yesterday with my driver and tell him that he needed to come to work Monday-Friday for at least 2 hours a day and if he didn't I would find another gardener. He said that last Thursday he drank to much and fell and hit his head that is why he wasn't here on Friday. I could not believe he told me that and when he did I lost all sympathy for him. I had Baptista tell him that he was a grown man and needed to be responsible and come to work because he has 5 kids at home. I told him he could drink on Saturday and Sunday but not during the week so he could come to work. He told me that maybe he would start going to church instead of drinking. :-) I told him that sounded like a great plan to me. He was here this morning at 6:30 so we are off to a good start. It doesn't usually last but a few days so we will see what happens next week. 

Singer and Bobblehead

Last Saturday on the way to church Jacob and his friend, Max, decided to sing and dance to a Portuguese song. I think this is the start of something very good. :-)

One of those days

I should have known since yesterday was such a great day with all the great finds at the grocery store that I was in for a not so good day. That turned out to be today...lucky me. I have really tried to have a positive attitude since I came back in August and be happy and not let anything bother me much but today was the breaking point. I am not sure why but living here and dealing with the same things that could happen in the US just seem 1,000 times worse.

I woke up this morning with what I believe is pink eye. I do have antibiotic drops here that we brought from the US so I started them this morning. I went to exercise class this morning and it was good but now I am so sore I can hardly move.

The plumber came to the house today after being asked for two weeks to come. You would think the fact that he showed up would be a good thing and it was until he finished. Our downstairs toilet has been running and with our water problems we wanted it fixed so we didn't run out of water in our tank again. This guy is very cocky acting and acts like it is a burden for him to have to do HIS JOB. So he fixes the toilet and says it's good madame and I ask him to wait and let me flush it and make sure.....after all he has been here numerous times for this same problem. I can tell that he is a little upset that I do not believe that he fixed it but I don't really care. I flushed it and it stops running and he gives me a smirk and says ok madame (like I told you so). Then water starts flowing back into the toilet worse than before he fixed it. I look at him and ask if it is suppose to do that and he tells me he doesn't speak any english. I point to my eyes and then the toilet telling him to look in it. He looks and says oh no and takes the lid to the tank off and the inside is broke in half. He starts turning the water off and tells me he will have to come back tomorrow. This guy is known NOT to come back tomorrow so I ask  if he is sure he will be back and he just smiles and in his sweet little child voice says over and over madame, madame, madame tomorrow I promise. If he comes tomorrow I will put on my surprise face just for him. :-)

If this wasn't enough....Sela, my maid, came to me and asked where our gardener has been. She said she has only seen him a few times since she has worked here. I told her he never comes and she said Chef(Kenny) says do not pay him if he does not work. She got me thinking....I pay him almost as much as her and she works all week for at least 7 hours a day and he has only been working maybe one day a week for an hour or two. Kenny has talked to him numerous times about coming to work and it works for a week and then he stops coming again. I talked to Kenny about it and we decided I would talk to him tomorrow. I am going to tell him that he can come one day a week and that is what I will pay him for or he can come everyday for a few hours and I will pay him for the month. If he chooses everyday and doesn't come I will find a new gardener. Kenny said he has already been talked to and that I should just tell him the time has come. I feel that way too but then I think about where he probably lives and all 5 of his kids and that they probably sleep on the ground and don't have much to eat. That is what makes me want to give him another chance. If I was in the US and had this guy working for me he would have been gone long ago. I guess I do have a heart....sometimes!!

For the grandparents. This was after only two lessons. We are so proud of how good he is getting. 

Ode to Joy....September 2012

Great finds

Today was a day of great finds. We found sandwich bread, something they haven't had since I came back in July. I have been making sandwich bread everyday since then. I was planning a post this morning about how much I hate making it and then I hit the jackpot and bought 8 loafs. We also found peanut butter, and butter. No eggs or can green beans but maybe tomorrow.

On our way to the grocery store we seen another goat head on the Bar-B-Que and started talking to my driver about eating it. He said that sometimes people will prepare a dog and say its a goat so people will eat it. He told Katie it would be like taking Fletcher, her dog, and grilling him with a little garlic and a small glass of wine. He said he never tried it he always says he wants chicken because there is no mistaking dog for chicken. :) 

As always we seen numerous guys on the side of the road taking a leak. Baptista told us that it was against the law to do that and the police can take them in. I asked why so many people do it then and he said, "because they don't make a place for us to make a pee". I know it's not nearly as funny for you as it was for us and I wish I would have got a video of it. He wasn't very happy about not having places to make a pee!!!

Santa and China

The boys have been making wish list for Christmas to send to the grandparents and Jacob said he wanted a remote control helicopter. I told him his brother already had one and he seen how well it worked. Jacob told me that Santa's toys are better because he makes them himself....but he still can not figure out why the remote said made in China on it. :) I think he might be figuring this thing out. 

A little bit of everything.....

Jared and Miles are taking swim lessons together at the compound this year. They have only had one lesson but they did a great job. Here are the two cuties chilling at the pool.

I was on "watch the kids duty" at the park the other day and this is what happened. As I was holding Max up in the swing so Jacob could unhook it I kept thinking how am I going to explain this to his mother. I was picturing him at the clinic getting the dolphin cut off his legs. After a few minutes Max was able to get the swing off his legs and we went from being a little nervous to laughing at the situation. 

We found a little piece of heaven in Angola. It is a new bakery about 10 minutes from our house. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and have loads of homemade breads and sweets. 

This is the grill area.

Fresh homemade bread and cakes. They charge for their cakes by weight. This cake would cost about $1,300. I think I will make my own.

Here is another one of their cake. This is a beer that they have here. 

They also have some cute cupcakes. Jared got this one.

Jacob went for the frog. I think he enjoyed eating the head off the frog more than the cupcake.

Today I took Kenny and the boys to eat lunch at the bakery so they could see it. We had mozzarella and chicken pizza. It was very very good. It cost us about $45 for the two pizzas and drinks....not a bad price for Angola.

I had a lady(she doesn't speak much English) call me the other day wanting to borrow a silicone pistol. She didn't know the English word for it and I couldn't figure out what she was asking me for. Turns out she was wanting a glue gun. I didn't have one to loan her but we both had a good laugh from the conversation. 

On the way home from church tonight Kenny and I were talking about how dirty some of the grocery stores are here.  I told him I wish they would remodel the one closest to our house and Jared said they don't need to remodel it they just need to mop the floors and put out bug traps. If only the people here thought like my 5 year old. 

It is Saturday night in Luanda and today was a really nice day. The boys, Kenny and I played some tennis this morning and had a lot of fun. Katie's son Max went to church with us tonight so he and Jacob could serve together and there were already 6 kids serving so they passed. Sela came into work today since she will be off Monday and she also wanted to see Kenny and make sure his back was ok. She hasn't seen him since he left Angola with it hurting. I tell her every time she ask that he is good but I guess she didn't believe me. She made Kenny bend over and show her that his back was fine. She kept looking at him like she couldn't believe he was still alive. She is so sweet and caring and we are so thankful we have her as part of our family now. Tomorrow we do not have a driver so we are just going to hang out around the house. Monday is a holiday, Hero's day, so the boys are out of school and Kenny will be off work...hopefully. 

Sorry this post was all over the place...that is what happens when I wait so long between post. Hope everyone has a good weekend!!!

Wednesday

Today has been one busy day. I started out by working the school PTA store. It was our first day to be open and I had the morning shift. In 45 minutes I made $905...I think that was the hardest I have worked since I have lived here. :-) (I am sure Pepa will have something to say about that.) I had some more PTA stuff to work on when I got home and then had to ride the bus this afternoon.

Kenny and I started a 3 day diet today and I thought it wouldn't be too hard and it really wasn't until about 1:30. For breakfast we had 1 piece of toast with peanut butter and half a grapefruit. For lunch we had 1/2 cup chicken and 1 piece of toast and for dinner we had 3oz of meat, 1 cup green beans, 1 cup carrots, 1 apple and 1 cup of ice cream. If it wasn't for the ice cream I don't think I could have made it through the day. I just have two more days to go....right now I would say I will not make it through tomorrow but I am going to try my hardest. They say you can loose up to 10lbs in the 3 days we shall see on Saturday morning.

Jacob starts his after school activities next week. He picked African Art for Mondays and First Aid for Fridays. Wednesdays he has his guitar lessons and he is doing a really good job. He gets frustrated some days but he is making great progress.

Jared is not able to do after school activities until next year but he is still taking swim lessons on Friday at our compound.

These two make everything I do worth it. I love them no matter how weird they are!!!!

Food & Trash

I have been cooking, cooking, cooking. I have made homemade vanilla ice cream, hot fudge sauce, pretzels, tortilla chips, loaf bread, pita bread, Carmel, no bake cookies and of course tortillas. I am done cooking for awhile. We will eat what we can get. If it has to be made they are not getting it for a while. :-) 

Jacob has served the last two Saturdays at church. He is really liking it and I am so glad. He does such a good job too.

The first time he served he told us, "You know how you can not understand the priest from the pews, You still can not understand him when you are up front with him." 

I seen this granola cereal and it looked so good but cost $23.00.

We were excited to see Arizona tea but for $8.40 we passed.

On the way home from the store traffic was very bad so Baptista decided to take a short cut through a local village and trash field. Once we made it through the trash we found out the road was closed because they are installing a real road through the trash field. 

The lady in the picture is Helen and she took us to the Chinese farm last week to get some veggies.

On our way home from the Chinese farm I took this picture. The boy in the yellow shirt didn't like me taking a picture of his chicken because he flipped me the bird as we passed...and it was not a chicken.

Here is my first batch of pita bread. It is so good I had to stop making it because I was only eating it and hummus all day. Jacob likes putting peanut butter and jelly in them for his lunch.

These are Kenny's favorite cookies and I have never made a batch that is perfect until this one.

We did find some baby jars of peanut butter the other day that cost almost $4.00. Way to much for peanut butter but when that is all your kids will eat you do what you have to do. Katie was a hoarder and bought all but the two jars I bought.

We found Krack in Angola and it only cost $1.30. They are supposed to be like Pringles but I am not sure how they taste. I bought a couple for the boys but no one is brave enough to try them. Even if they are good who in their right mind would buy Seafood flavored chips. Only in Angola!!!