We arrived in Soyo four weeks ago. We are unpacked and now settling into our daily routines. Although my husband's work schedule has been demanding (7 days a week), we have tried to make the most of our short time here. We are meeting and socializing with other expats, reaching out to participate in local activities in the community, enjoying quiet evenings together, meeting for lunch once a week and taking evening strolls to the river (a tributary of the Congo River), which is a few yards from our house. Fortunately, the "wildlife" sightings so far have consisted of beautiful birds, a few frogs and many lizards. The slithery African snakes have not appeared in our yard yet, and I would not be disappointed if I did not see any of them ever. Mr. Lizard below is a welcome visitor, as he likes to eat mosquitoes and other insects.
Mr. Lizard comes to our back patio for a visit
We've discovered a few excellent South African red wines and even tasted the Angolan delicacy of "funge" ( if made with a corn meal mixture - it's called Pirão, if made with cassava/manioc/yucca flour - it's called funge). My "Gal in Soyo" award goes to the South African Cabernet Sauvignon wines we have enjoyed vs the funge. The funge is rather bland but can be spiced up with kundingo (a very spicy Angolan hot sauce). I'd rather save up my carb intake for the wonderful bread that many small mom & pop bakeries produce every day in their back yards. So much for the "South Beach" diet. Hopefully, my early morning walks will help offset my indulgence(s).
Hot bread fresh out of the oven!
I now look forward to the Wednesday afternoon sessions of playing Mahjong with the other expat ladies. The first couple of weeks, I observed the game intently. I thought that I'd never get all of the possible combinations for setting up a hand, let alone winning! It didn't matter, by the third week I agreed to play with the "newbie" rules of everyone playing open hands. I have enjoyed the experience in the last couple of weeks. I even won a game last Wednesday! Yeah! The game is actually quite fun and the opportunity to join a gathering with other expat spouses is one of the highlights of my week. Even the spouses that do not play Mahjong join the gathering, a couple of hours later, for coffee or tea and the great discussions that emerge. Typical conversations include passport visa challenges (my passport was sent to the capital of Luanda when I arrived in Soyo and so far there are no signs of a resident visa on the horizon), a spotting of a fresh vegetable or fruit at a particular market (soon to disappear, once the word gets out), or any maintenance issues encountered in the houses. This gathering time is more than a visit, it seems to be a much needed group therapy session. The laughing is prevalent and I know that the ladies that have been here the longest (now going on 3 or 4 years) have survived the experience by keeping their sense of humor alive. Just as I learned from them through the many emails prior to our arrival in Soyo, I must observe them now to gain the knowledge I will need for my "survival tools". I know that at this stage of our lives, dealing with setbacks and challenges along with the beautiful and unique experiences will mold us into "different people" and I am curious as to what that will mean for us.
Lunch with ladies at Kinwika
Billy is back. What a charmer!
Speaking of beautiful and unique experiences, in my last blog I described the birds that grace us with their presence and chirping each day. This morning, my husband's alarm went off as usual at 5:30AM. Both of us decided to ignore it. Very soon thereafter, a bird perched on our balcony and started singing. His song was so loud that he seemed to be perched on our night stand tweeting away. What a way to wake up! There is no alarm clock that can match this. This bird was belting away the best morning song I have every heard!
After my early morning walk today, I sat at my laptop to finish this blog posting and once again, I was distracted by yet another bird singing. I tried to capture some of it in a video...unfortunately, what I captured was not as loud nor as beautiful as I have heard, but it will give you an idea of the sounds that surround us....what a gift! Toward the end of the video clip, look out for a bird that was hiding in the Flamboyant tree. It flies away as I approach. I guess he's not photogenic or I was filming his bad side. :-)
One of my husband's friends is from Scotland and a huge Celtics team fan. He has formed a club to support one of the boys' soccer teams in Soyo (known as football here and in Scotland, of course) and has furnished them with uniforms, balls and a huge banner displaying their newly created logo. We were invited to watch their game last Sunday afternoon and we had a blast. When we arrived, 2 other teams were finishing their game. It only took a couple of seconds of watching before I noticed that some of the players were playing either barefooted or in socks. Also, the soccer "field" was pure dirt, not a spec of grass anywhere. Soon after "adjusting" my eyes to ignore what seemed "odd" to me, I sat in the makeshift bleachers and watched an exciting game. This game was no different than the countless soccer games I had attended throughout my son's school years. These boys were just as athletic, talented and fired up about playing the game. It was exciting to see the Soyo Bhoys Celtics team arrive with their striped green and "bright" white shirts and white shorts. Having said that, let me state that none of the boys on any team seem to be at all affected by what my "filters" have projected in this paragraph. They were there to play "fubol" and they played their hearts out...shoes or no shoes, white and green beautiful shirts, ragged dirty shirts or no shirts...they had so much fun and so did we! The Soyo Bhoys Celtics soccer team tied their game. The team is still undefeated. I took a video and a few pictures so that I could share the experience with you in this blog.
Soyo Bhoys logo and flag displayed at games
I'm a bit late in publishing this blog posting, so I'll close for now. Life is settling down into a routine, but we are still in awe of our surroundings. So far, we are still smiling. Maybe that is yet another valuable lesson we are learning from the Angolan nationals.
My goal is to provide you with a balanced view of our new
life in Soyo. To that end, this blog posting will give you some insight into
the colorful experiences we have had this week but also to let you know about a few
surprising challenges.
Bells ringing...Last Sunday we decided to attend the Mpinda Catholic Church
mass. We had a great experience at the downtown church which was close to our
Kimbumba neighborhood, however, we wanted to experience mass at the “oldest
Catholic church in western South Africa”, Mpinda. Boy did we hit the jackpot! OK, maybe
the wrong use of terms…the “Bingo” of all masses! Our driver took us for what we thought was a
one hour mass and we arrived at 9AM. The actual mass did not start until 9:30AM
and upon our arrival we could tell that this was not going to be an ordinary
mass celebration. There were trucks and buses around the mission. People were
already starting to gather outside, sitting on tree trunks and logs. The church
benches were portable and were being transported outside near a
make-shift altar under the many tall and majestic mango trees. After asking one
of the ladies wearing a sash (I figured she was an usher) if mass was to be
held outside, she nodded and welcomed us. We immediately laid claim to the edge of
one of the tree logs and took our seats. What followed kept our attention and
brought smiles to our faces every moment. A lady by the name of Magdalena (yeah…bible
reference there!) looked like she wanted to sit beside us, so I invited her in
my best Portuguese…OK, so I’m still working on it…but it was “my” best. She immediately
sat next to us and after a few minutes asked her mother (who happened to be an
usher) to bring us a bench. Magdalena
explained that this was a very special mass. One of the priests was celebrating
his 25th anniversary as a priest and there was a married couple celebrating
their 25th wedding anniversary. Many of the parishes around the area
had come for this celebration. Shortly after that, one of the men ushers invited
us (and Magdalena) to sit in one of the chairs up front! Wow…What hospitality! I
guess we stuck out like a sore thumb too…we were the ones with the big eyes and
the jaws dropping every time we saw another bus or truck droping off another load
of parishioners.At 9:30AM, a
choir of ladies
stood in front of the church as the bells were ringing to sing and sway.
The mass
started about a half hour later. The singing, dancing (yes, dancing) and
praying was amazing. I captured several videos of the event and some of
them
are attached below for your enjoyment. At first I felt a bit irreverent
about
videoing the mass. However, once I saw one of the priests videoing with
his iPad from the
altar, I figured it was fair game! By the way, I videoed him
videoing…too funny
to pass up! We stayed until 12:30 PM as we had to leave for a luncheon.
After 3 hours, the mass had progressed to the offertory song and ritual
which was quite impressive. Unfortunately, we were not able to stay for
communion. Our new friend, Magdalena, had to leave as well. She is a
nurse and had to get to work by 1PM that day. We gave her a ride back to
town. I rationalized that God would understand our leaving early.
Let me assure you that we enjoyed every moment of the time we were
there!
Our new friend Magdalena
Birds singing…Every morning we awaken to the sound of many different
birds singing outside our bedroom. They come and go all day, but are an especially welcome
addition to our morning routine. I don’t know if I am romanticizing their appearance
or their song, but these are the most beautiful and melodious birds I have ever
seen and heard. Some look like martins, others look like small finches with
green bellies. I need to research these soon to be more informed about these
species. There are also doves and pigeons that fly in and out. For those of you who
remember my mother, you’ll know that the doves are very special to us, as “La
paloma” is a special song that reminds all of us of her. I like to think that she is
watching over us as we begin our new life here in Soyo.
"La paloma" perched on top of our house annex in the backyard
The water and power story…Here in Soyo, power and water supply
are shut down from time to time without warning. If you happen to be in the
shower at the time, you are out of luck! The good news in the time that we have been here is that these services have usually
been restored within 10-15 minutes. I have heard that others have experience
longer delays. We have learned to have patience. Maybe that is a good time to
relax and say a prayer? Most of the Angolan nationals in the city of Soyo do not have running
water or electricity in their homes. It is quite an experience to ride around town in the
eveningsas there are hardly any lights
on anywhere. Every now and then, however, we see some Soyo residents enjoying their favorite pastime of watching a
TV outside of their house, with many family and friends gathered around a 10-12”
screen. We are guessing that a small minority of the residents must have a generator and satellite dish or TV antennae.
Quite an interesting sight! After seeing this at night and seeing many
of them carrying very heavy water containers to their homes during the day, it
is hard to complain about our temporary utilities outages.
We
were informed this week that the first and second graders at the local schools would start
preparing for testing next week. Also, their classes would end in
November.
Therefore, our school trips would cease until the beginning of
February.
This came as a disappointment to me and the rest of the expat spouses,
as these
visits are one of the highlights of our week. The children are always eager to
engage in the
arts and crafts projects and seeing their faces light up as we come to
help
them is such a rewarding experience. We traveled to one of the mission
schools on Friday to deliver some goody bags filled with chocolates, pencils,
balloons,
etc. and said our goodbyes for the semester. This trip was not without divine intervention. You can be the judge...Although we did not have an exact count of the students that were in
class that day, one of the ladies had included a few extra
goody bags to ensure we had enough. To our amazement, we had exactly
enough for each one of the students in each of the 3 classes. We even
stopped before entering the last classroom, to count the bags, as we
thought that we did not have enough for the last class. We ended up with exactly one bag for each student, not one more, not one less. The story
of the fish and loaves comes to mind! God was working with us. These children were ever so
grateful. One class sang a song for us. Such
a great group of children. Do you know how they like to say goodbye? They blow
us
kisses! Does it get any more rewarding than that??
Mpinda mission school class making flower baskets
The
expat ladies had planned a trip to Kinwika Hotel, a very small local hotel, for coffee and tea
after our trip to the school to deliver the goody bags. We were surprised by some of the
"visitors" we had while sitting outdoors. "Mr. Billy the Kid" joined us
and treated us to a "serenade". OK, so maybe he was complaining that we
were invading his space...but we chose to enjoy his "serenade". One of
the ladies in our group kept making eye contact with him, which seemed to
encourage his advances. We suggested that she ignore him and it seemed
to work. :-) Then the guineas chose to join in with their singing as
well. I shot a video of Billy so that you could get the feeling that you were
there with us. Enjoy!
Last week, I told you about the challenges we face here trying to get food for the table and to shop for things that we as expats consider "necessities". I was able to go to the different markets in town with one of my neighbors and her driver. I was thrilled to get plantains and African sweet potatoes (they are white not orange...but are very tasty). Also, on another drive around town with my driver, I found a mop. The little things keep us happy here. :-)
The local market where I found sweet potatoes
Once
again, I have managed to ramble on about everyday life here. If you
cannot tell by now, we are adjusting to our new surroundings just fine.
Of course, the wonderful expats here have made us feel very much at
home. Their great sense of humor, hospitality and their very valuable
advice before coming here has made this a "soft landing" for us.
What a better way to begin this blog than by posting a picture of the shoe shopping possibilities in Soyo....enjoy! :-) For those of you that don't live in Mobile, the title reference to Shoe Station is to a favorite shoe store with endless shoe types, sizes and colors. Seriously, I'll be sharing more meaningful pictures soon. I just thought I would begin with a bit of humor.
Sapateiro (shoe maker) and a car wash next door (pink bottles on the left)
Next Saturday
we will have been here in our new Soyo home for 2 weeks. So far, we
have had the pleasure of meeting some very nice and welcoming expats and
Angolan nationals. The expat community consists of folks from all over the world. My Portuguese is improving (not hard to do when it was not very good to start). OK, so maybe I'd
better ask the Angolans I have encountered for an
objective opinion. Regardless, I'm getting things done despite
the fact that I sometimes use Spanish, Portuguese, English words and I
have even dusted off my high school French words (yes, plenty of cobwebs
there!). To those of you who were my high school classmates at El Liceo Ponceño de niñas: "Wouldn't Ms. Armstrong be proud??" It turns out that some nationals have spent some time in the
Democratic Republic of Congo and are more comfortable speaking French.
Accomplishments this week include:
1) A visit to the Catholic mission school to assist first graders with an arts and crafts project. It was truly a very heart warming experience for me. These children were eager to use the crayons and scissors provided in order to complete their fishbowl projects, despite the fact that many of them had limited experience with either of these. As each approached the end of their fishbowl creation, you could see their sense of accomplishment (and and for some, relief!) on their little faces. Believe me, with their smiles and their can-do attitude, they taught me something more valuable than I could ever teach them! I am looking forward to these weekly school visits.
Beautiful road to the mission school
Fishbowl project is complete
2) Education about our surroundings. I completed a security
briefing class. It was interesting and chilling to find out that unexploded ordinance (different
and more dangerous than landmines) abound in the area...that
knowledge alone keeps expats very appreciative of our wonderful drivers
that keep us "on" the beaten path. I was also briefed on the snake species
that tend to visit the neighborhood (spitting cobras, puff adder, green
mamba, black mamba....need I go on?) The health topic included
importance of not skipping your malaria medication, not ignoring flu
like symptoms no matter how mild and cleaning all fresh vegetables and
fruits (OK, so they are scarce...but when you do find them) with a
disinfectant before eating or cooking with them.
3) Multiple attempts to become Ms. Susie Homemaker 2012. I successfully made homemade yogurt with the yogurt maker
that I purchased from New Zealand before I left the states. It's the
little things that are going to make a difference to us during our stay
here....and you would have thought that I had discovered penicillin when
I opened the yogurt container and found the delicious plain yogurt.
How exciting! Then there was the chicken that I marinated and attempted to bake in the
small kitchen oven...I had to put the chicken on its side (I was
attempting the beer can recipe chicken)...then it took me about 45
minutes to figure out that besides turning the power and temperature
knobs on, it was the timer that would actually start the oven once it
was set to an appropriate time...who knew??? Of course, if I had not
stubbornly decided that I had to figure it out myself, I could have
probably called one of my expat friends to learn the secret...but that
would have been too easy and not quite as satisfying. :-) Nothing like surprising your husband with a wonderful home cooked meal...especially when it took you all afternoon. The good news is that he was just as thrilled as I was (or at least he seemed to be)...nice guy I married, huh?
Tomorrow I'm supposed to go on a shopping trip with one of my new expat
friends. She has graciously offered to take me to different markets and introduce me to the best ones according to the items desired. I'm
still looking for a mop...but have been unsuccessful in finding one. I
have one for the house, but I have been advised by our wonderful cleaning lady that
she will need one for all of the outside perimeter, as many critters
abound outside and we don't want the "inside" mop to get contaminated.
I'll also focus on getting food for the following week's menu. It is hard to explain how much advance planning must be done just to get one meal to
the table. However, hopefully after a short time here, I should be able to whip
up any kind of meal anywhere, anytime. :-) Yeah, that's me
talking....Ms.Career Focus herself (prior to mid2011)....God has a sense of humor! And He's working on mine too! :-) Seriously, it is hard to complain when
everyone here is so nice and you see that poverty abounds and yet people
are so appreciative and happy! What an important lesson in life.
I see God's work everywhere I go and with everyone I meet here...one more confirmation that He wanted me to come here to experience this way of living and to make a difference somehow...I will continue to "listen" for my cues on "how".
Most mothers carry their babies in a back carrier matching their attire...quite colorful!
OK, so if you haven't already quit reading by now because my first blog post is
getting too long...I'll say goodbye (adeus or tchau in Portuguese) and
hope that you will find this blog worthwhile in the weeks and months to come.
