Our First Hash!

On Saturday, 23 Oct., 2010 we participated in Hash #410 with the Luanda Hash House Harriers.  The Hash House Harriers is a movement that started in the 1930's by British Expats in British Malaysa.  The Hash is known as "A drinking club with a walking problem" and there are Hash clubs all over the world, wherever there are expat communities. The first Hash in Luanda was in the mid 1990's and has been ongoing ever since, every other Saturday, with start time at 4 pm.  The idea is for the Hare's to mark out a trail that the hounds follow with the ultimate goal to find your favorite refreshment at the end of the walk.  The main rule is that there are no rules.  Rule number two is that you must not break the rules. In Luanda, there is safety in walking with such a large group, 40 people, and since we looked like a bunch of clowns we received smiles on the streets and in the neighborhoods where we walked.  We walked about 3.5 miles in the inner city area close to the Gika office where Chris works.  At the end of the afternoon we sang "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" which is the official Hash Anthem.  It was very interesting and fun indeed!  Looking forward to Luanda Hash number 411!

Culture Shock

Life is expanding...African Art culture was a great experience! Inspired!  Our neighbor, Bente Vindvik is an artist.  She invited Vicki and I with her husband Jon to the Celemar Galeria at Ilha de Luanda for the Exposicao Cooperate in celebration of Angola's 35th anniversary of independence from Portugal.  Four of Bente's African theme pieces were on display.  Even though the electricity went out during the program, there was still much to hear, taste and see.  In addition to the art pieces, the Angolan Minister of Culture was on hand, as well as African women drums corp, a theatrical group, fashion models and muscians.  All in a beautiful evening setting with warm, soft breezes off the Atlantic Ocean. 

Igreja Metodista Unida Carlos Kitongo

Vicki and I drove with Mapassa our driver this morning to a Methodist church, Igreja Metodista Unida Carlos Kitongo, about 10 miles south of Luanda Sul.  I had driven with Mapassa the previous day to find the church and took pictures. We arrived this morning at 9:00 am.  Very soon we were lead to the office of the pastor whose name is Pedro.  Pastor Pedro spoke some english and he welcomed us. What a beautiful smile. It was a wonderful service.  Pastor Pedro sat beside us and translated the sermon that a visiting Pastor gave.  The scripture was from Matt 5, 1-13, the Sermon on the Mount.  After three hours we walked out shaking hands with the little children. It was an open air building and a beautiful breeze flowed during the entire service. The choirs were just wonderful to hear.  It was Christianity, Angola style.  What is amazing to were the people who are so clean and well dressed, yet, the area surrounding the church was so poor and littered.  This contrast between the people and the surrounding neighborhood boggels our minds.We pray that one day the roads here will be paved, the rubbish all picked up and the church and community politcial goals will co-exit in harmony for the people.

Mussolo

On Saturday morning, 16 Oct., Vicki packed a lunch and we reluctently left the safety of the compound to travel to Mussolo, an outer bank off the coast.  It was a 20 minute drive down to the waterfront to meet our skipper, Saltnesh.  He motored us out to Mussolo which is a 12 mile long sand bar with palm trees and beach houses and restaurants.  We had called in advance and stated we wished to visit the company beach house.  It was a 30 minute cruise out.  Smashing day! We had decided that this would be a short scouting trip and that we would go back again if we liked it.  WE LIKED IT!  Fresh air, clean, warm and salty ocean water and warm sun.  Vicki showed great form in the water swimming free style!  We plan to go back many more times.

UPS

Sleeping in a new climate, new pillow, new bed, is always a challenge.  It is the same in Angola.  Except, there is the additional issue of power outages.  The electricty for Luanda is generated by a hydro electro power plant on a river some miles away, good clean energy.  The problem, is the electric grid, whereby the power goes off and on several times a day.  At night, sometimes we wake up when the power goes off by our trusty little UPS (uninterruptable power supply) battery/flywheel box that provides emergency power.  We have our UPS hooked up to Vicki's PC.  The UPS yells "Beep, Beep, Beep" telling us to relax, all is well, we still have a little power.  In addition you notice the AC shutting down and cell phones lighting up.  But after a few of the beep, beep, beeps you roll on your side and close your eyes and normally the power comes back after five to ten minutes.  And the UPS stops beeping.  And sometimes I lay awake thinking that when we lose power in our personal lives, when we don't feel well, when we suffer personal loss, when our identity is lost, when we are at a loss and all sources of power to our being are snuffed out, that's when a divine UPS kicks in and we hear a distant voice quoting Paul, "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength."

Keep the change

Shoprite - Belas Shopping Center

When it comes to grocery shopping, you rely on experience.  At the checkout, you casually watch the cashier ring up your items.  Thoughts may go through your head like, "Wow, got a good buy on that" or "Man, glad my parents don't know how much I paid for that."  And if you really feel awake, you might play senior controller and do a little audit on the receipt and raise a question to make sure you got credit for the returnables.  In Angola, we are learning, when you pay at check out, there is no return change.  At first, we asked questions, in a calm manner speaking our best queens english.  When we realize the cashier does not speak english, we hold up the receipt and point to it and raise our voices and simplify our communcation to "I WANT MY MONEY!!!" thinking this will solve the problem.  Finally, after stares from the customers behind us, the cashier serenely looks at us, and throws in a box of chicklets and a mars bar.  And a quick and final glance follows speaking to our confused faces that says, "This is the way we get things done around here."  For us, this is a small but never the less change in our lives, and we keep it and move on.

Filters

After an intial panic, we found coffee filters at a grocery store.  In a pinch, we have used paper towels and I guess you could use an old sock, but for a good cup of joe, you need a decent filter.  Part of our preparation to move to Angola was a two day cultural awareness course.  During the course we learned about filters, mental filters.  These are the filters we use when we surf the internet or read a newspaper.  We develop deft skills at filtering out multi media stuff.  But, when you first arrive to a new place, a new culture, you don't have your filter system in place and you get broadsided, everything jumps out at you.  We experienced this driving last Sunday.  It was Vicki's first trip in to the Luanda city and the scenes of the people living in such poverty, carrying water on homemade wagons and on their heads, living in such small, primitive housing made a remarkable impression.  Vicki felt depressed.  I thought back to my first trip to Luanda and I also remember thinking, man, what can I do to improve this situation, where do I even start?  But over time, after several visits, my filters developed and now I tend to turn my eye from the pitiful to look instead for strong, dignified people and children playing and clean laundry drying on the line.   In Mark 6, verse 52, it tells how the disciples did not understand about the miracle Jesus had performed with the loaves of bread.  Maybe their filters made it difficult to see and understand who and what Jesus had done.  Filters are useful things, but we have to strive to not filter our hearts.

Vicki visits the doctor

Vicki's right knee has been very stiff and painful following a noticeable snap last Thursday, 30 Sep.  Today, we visited the SOS International clinic where we were admitted following a phone call.  The nurse, Paulo, spoke english pretty well.  He took Vicki's blood pressure.  When he asked Vicki her weight, she voiced it very clearly.  However, he smiled, shook his head and demanded her to step on the scales.  Oh my gosh, confrontation, the pressure is on big time, international relations are being put right on the line I thought.  However, the scale matched what Vicki had stated.  Whew!  The doctor spoke less english than the nurse but he convinced us Vicki needed an Xray.  We did that.  After looking at the X rays, the doctor prescribed some pain pills along with some other pills to hold back the side effects of the pain pills.  No problem, I told Vicki as she swallowed the pills whole at supper.  Vicki later decided to look up on the internet what kind of pills she had taken.  Synthetic opium?  Whoa...Vicki is now sitting on the couch with a smile and in NO PAIN!  We are going back tomorrow for a followup with a specialist.   

More flowers, more wonders

During our evening stroll, we took more photographs of flowers.  The colors and textures just wash over us and leave us in wonder of God's awesome creativity.  We are more and more dependent on our cell phones for communication and photography as illustrated with Vicki perparing for a new shot.

Our first sunday

Today we drove 15 miles north to downtown Luanda.  Here we attended church service at Igreja Metodista Unida Central De Luanda (Central United Methodist Church of Luanda).  We arrived late but the usher led us to our places.  The church was packed.  The highlight was a mens choir that sang acapella and literally brought tears to our eyes with their dynamic and powerful voices.  Although we did not understand too much, we did try to learn "Our Father", "Pai nosso."

Evening stroll with flowers and a dead blue lizard

On our evening stroll on the 2 km track that surrounds our compound, we took our camera.  In the backyards of our neighbors we viewed colorful flowers and green bananas.  Vicki had previously told me with eyes as big as saucers that she had seen a good size, blue lizard on the sidewalk.  I halfway believed her about the size but figured ok, a light gray color maybe, but not the color of my hometime Quincy Blue Devils mascot.  But when we came to a limp, dead body of such a lizard, I knew it was true.  Our evening walk ended with a sunset on the Atlantic.

Day three in Angola

My wife Vicki and I arrived to Luanda Angola at 06:00 hours on Sept 29, 2010.  We are into our third day and I wanted to begin this blog to record our the adventure of our time in Angola.  To date, the main impressions are the birds, the warm climate, the odors and the plant life.  We are in awe of this new and strange land.