Four weeks and still smiling!

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.