Living vs writing

Ernest Hemingway once said "In order to write about life first you must live it." My excuse this time for a delayed blog posting is that I have been doing a lot of living. :-) Seriously, since my last blog post at the beginning of February, I've had many wonderful experiences and many things to do...I heard before moving to Soyo that one of the biggest challenges for spouses here was finding things do to fill up your days. Fortunately, I have not had that problem yet.

Cargo container arrives from the US

On February 9th, our cargo shipment arrived in Soyo after going through customs in Luanda. It was exciting to see all of our belongings arrive. It also meant that we had a lot of work ahead of us, unpacking all items and finding an appropriate spot for them. Since we were selling our house in the states, there was no "safety net" to keep items in our house. What did not get shipped to Soyo ended up in storage back home, possibly not to be seen for a few years. We felt a bit sheepish when we saw boxes marked "winter clothes". We obviously won't need those items unless we take an R&R to a place that has cold weather. It was also interesting to realize that what we thought was so "essential" when we packed items in the states, seemed very unnecessary for life in Soyo. Quite a good lesson! 

Orlanda comes out to greet the movers

Step ladder helps movers unload cargo...really??

The following week of February was the designated week for spouses to travel to Luanda for groceries. For a fleeting moment I thought that I should forgo that month's trip in order to make some headway on unpacking boxes. I quickly came to my senses and decided to join several spouses on the shopping trip. I was glad that I chose to take the trip...the boxes could wait. There were 4 spouses traveling in February. Therefore, we were asked to take a Wednesday morning charter flight vs the afternoon flight. There we were...the four of us and the 2 pilots...a private plane to Luanda. Quite a treat (never mind that it was a 16 seater prop plane...we felt special).

Luanda here we come!  Back: Jan and Cindy Front: Ana and Alma

That whole trip was fantastic. We were able to shop all afternoon on Wednesday and all day on Thursday. We did not feel the usual stress that comes with the normal monthly trips.  Typically we have so little time and can barely get to 3-4 grocery stores on Thursday due to the bumper to bumper traffic in Luanda. This time, we even ate lunch at a bakery that one of the spouses had discovered through a Luanda spouse. We visited the new produce store in Luanda Sul on Thursday that I had discovered with the help of a Luanda spouse as well in January. My biggest thrill was looking at the other spouses' faces as they walked into the store. Like children in a candy store...they were in awe, it took them a few minutes to get over their amazement before they started shopping.  We even had an opportunity to eat at a Mexican restaurant on Thursday evening. After not having had any Mexican food for months, this was an amazing experience. Yes, I know...it's the little things. :-)

Chips, salsa, tacos...what delicacies!

These trips are getting better and better! Upon our return to Soyo, we made sure to share our experience with other spouses. In March, six ladies went to Luanda to shop. Once again, we were flown there on Wednesday morning and were able to take our time to shop. First stop on Thursday morning: the new South African produce store, Food Lover's Market! 

Mary Ann

Mid-February also marked the start of a new semester at the Mpinda Catholic mission school. In December, the leader of the school projects and a dear friend to all of us at Kimbumba, Mary Ann, moved back to Houston. Her husband, Mike's assignment in Soyo had ended. It was sad to see them both leave. Mike was a great asset to the plant and had a very positive impact on the Soyo community. Mary Ann is such a great lady and had been a wonderful role model for all of us. She also made a lot of very positive things happen for the Soyo community and it will be hard for us to fill her shoes. Mary Ann had a teaching background and had taken it upon herself to teach English to a group of Mpinda Mission school girls. She also coordinated and led the arts and crafts projects for grade school students at 2 schools and spearheaded many other activities.We were determined to keep up the projects at the Mpinda Catholic Mission school. Cindy volunteered to take this project forward in February and I agreed to help her. Therefore, at the beginning of February, Cindy, Jan and I went through all of the materials that Mary Ann had left for us and organized the projects for this new semester. We also decided to change the frequency of the Mpinda school to twice a week based on last semester's experience with the children there. When we presented this idea to Mother Superior, Maribel, you could see her excitement and gratitude. She relayed the fact that Mpinda second grade classes were overloaded with students. It gave us goosebumps...God had steered us on this decision! Meanwhile, Cindy, Jan and I made headway on the projects for the month's ahead. The biggest challenge here was going to be to keep activities going consistently. Travel times and visa expiration dates keep spouses in and out of the country, the revolving door effect. The great news is that we have a record number of expat ladies now participating in the projects each week and our motoristas (drivers) are also assisting. We are having a great time with the students!

Students with their leões (lions)

Students hard at work!

Proud display of leões (lions)

Lots of work goes into their projects

Mpinda students with their gatos y flores (cats and flowers)

Students creating aquários (fishbowls)

Students proudly displaying their aquários (fishbowls)

They love to pose!

L to R: Saiphin, Alma, Debbie, Joan, Jan, Tari & Ana

L to R: Saiphin, Kris, Melania, Ana, Alma, Tari, Joan & Bhavna

The bees and the birds....I finally managed to capture a great picture of the Blue Waxbill birds at our front fence and guess what they were up to?? Yes, you guessed it...it apparently is mating season for them right now. Unfortunately for them, I did not manage to take another picture that did not have them in a compromising position...so here goes....despite their pose, it is so far the best bird picture that I have taken so far while here in Soyo. This gives you a glimpse of one of the greatest pleasures of life in Soyo (get your mind out of the gutter)...seeing these and many other beautiful birds everyday!

Blue waxbill birds on our front fence

I mentioned earlier that we had said goodbye to our friends, Mary Ann and Mike, in December. One of the highlights of foreign assignments is making new friends. One of the toughest aspects is having to say goodbye soon thereafter, knowing that you may never see them again. Thank goodness for internet and email capabilities of today! We said goodbye to Mary Ann & Mike and said hello to Alma & Nate and to Pat & Saiphin who arrived in December and January respectively. Meeting couples who are considering assignments abroad is also exciting. At the end of February, we hosted a lunch at the local Nempanzu Hotel for Eddie and Karen who will be our next expat couple to join us in Kimbumba. It is a pleasure to be able to meet new expats and to be able to answer questions that they have about

L: Margaret, Goulia, Karen, Linda, Joan R: Jan, Ana, Eddie, Cindy, Debbie

"life in Soyo". It is a form of "give back" when current Kimbumba residents can share all of their personal "lessons learned" with the visitors who are on their PAV (pre-assignment visit). You learn that everyone has a different set of "lessons learned". Everything from forgetting to bring a can opener or a grater (my case!), both items which are not easily found in Soyo (or Luanda for that matter)! However, you can also share with them the fact that no matter how prepared they think they are, they will miss a few things...but the great news is that they will have the Kimbumba community of friends available to "come to their rescue". Also, Kimbumba residents are all masters of "substitution". Residents get a daily workout for their imagination here in Kimbumba.

This morning, some of us went to Kinwica, a small restaurant/hotel for coffee/tea.

Melania, Gi and Linda

To our surprise, Gi (aka "Billy the Kid" in a previous blog) came up to greet us at our table. Yes, this time, Gi's owner gave us the scoop. He had raised Gi from a baby and she is actually quite spoiled. She only eats items fed to her by hand, nothing from the ground. She also pretty much behaves like a dog. She comes up to greet everyone and wags her tail. She also likes to butt her head up to your fist if you engage her in the game. Of course, I could not resist!

Yikes! I was blog silent for almost 2 months, but I sure did make up for it today. Hopefully, I'll keep a better balance of living and writing from now on. That's all my news from Soyo for now. Happy Easter everyone!