A Long, Strange Week

I honestly don't even know where to start telling you about my week.  To say that it's been a doozy would be a giant understatement, but at the same time, I know that it could always be worse.  Still - it's pretty darn amazing how many things can go wrong for one family in a short period of time.

So - we moved out of our house on Tuesday.  After the kids left for school, Adam and I packed up our things and loaded the car with everything we needed for four days in the hotel.  It took a little while, but finally we were ready to go....and then the car wouldn't start.  I called a friend who lives in the neighborhood, and she kindly sent her driver to get us.  We transferred all of our stuff to their car, and went to the hotel.  The hotel has about 15 'chalets' for extended stays, and we were put into one of them.  This is supposed to be one of the very nicest hotels in all of Angola, and it IS very nice - as long as you keep in mind where you are.  The furnishings are a little odd....like this coffee table.

Less coffee table, more coffin table

But the kids were jazzed to stay in a new place, so we tried to look at it as a little adventure, and settled in.  The thing I was MOST excited about was taking a bath.  It's been so long since we had hot water in our house, and this hotel has a beautiful big bathtub!  After getting the kids tucked in, I had a lovely hot bath.  I left the water in for Adam (we do this a lot, since he doesn't like having a HOT bath) and went downstairs.  As I was putting things away in the kitchen, I heard water draining, and knew he had finished with his bath.  I thought to myself, "That sure sounds like the water is draining right over my head!" but I figured the pipes must be right above me.  Until....water started raining down on my head!  Yep, we didn't leave our water problems at home, we somehow brought them with us!  I was so tired, so overwhelmed with dealing with stuff like this, that I simply threw a towel on the floor under the leak and went to bed.  

On top of this, we've all been battling a nasty cold.  I woke up yesterday (Thursday) with no voice at all, and feeling awful.  I've been to our house twice to get more supplies, and both times I've been appalled at what a disaster area it is.  They've drilled through the cement walls, the entire place is coated in a thick layer of dirt....it's a mess.  Supposedly we're going to be able to move back in today, but I'm not packing my bags just yet.

Since we're in a hotel, I haven't been able to cook.  This means we've gone out to dinner THREE nights in a row!  Twice we've gone to a Chinese restaurant that our driver took us to, and once we went to a new little bakery/restaurant nearby.  The Chinese food was really good, and when we asked our driver what the name of the place was, he told us, "Chinese Restaurant."  Okay, that'll be easy to remember!  And at the bakery/restaurant, they have a little store.  When JoAnn and I were in there a week ago, she had mentioned to the manager that it would be great if they carried peanut butter.  Well, this time I looked around the store and what did I see?  Skippy peanut butter!!!  It was the high point of my entire week, which is sort of sad.  

I guess it's a little morbid of me, but whenever I start feeling really sorry for myself, I always think about parents who have really sick children, or parents who have had children die.  It sounds terrible, but it does quickly bring me back to the reality of how little my problems really are.  So many times in the past year I've felt like I couldn't take one more problem, one more inconvenience or stress....but I guess we have no idea how much we can bear until we have to do it.  And as crazy as it sounds, I still do believe we're in the right place, at least for now.  Our kids are happy and thriving, making friends and learning amazing things.  Hearing each of them speak Portuguese makes me so happy, and teasing Adam about his Portuguese makes me happy, too.  So don't worry about us, we're doing okay - even if we do seem to be magnets for domestic disasters!

Two Months, 11 Days, and 12 hours

Our house is officially a disaster.  We're being moved tomorrow to a hotel, so that they can shut off our power for four days and (supposedly) fix it.  I've asked, suggested, begged, and demanded that they move us permanently to another house in the compound, but that doesn't look like it's going to happen. So instead, I get to pack up my three children, the dog, school supplies, clothing, and everything else we'll need for four days, and completely disrupt our lives.  I've got to figure out where to move all of our refrigerated and frozen foods for four days, and find someone to fill in for me on bus duty.  Oh, and just to keep things interesting, I've also got two kids home sick!  So....I'm counting the days until we go on vacation.  This stinks.

Punished

When we first moved to Angola, I felt like I was being punished for something.  I'd go for a walk around the compound, surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards, and it literally felt like I was serving a 3 year sentence in prison.  Now it's been a year, and my feelings have changed so much!  Our neighborhood feels safe - our kids can run around the compound, visit each other's houses, and play at the playground.  Going to the grocery stores is no longer a scary prospect - it's still not a good time, but it's gotten to be no big deal.  Our driver is so friendly and dependable, as is our maid - these things make life here pleasant.

HOWEVER..... our house is a complete disaster.  Every day there is something new that's going wrong, something that should be fixed but instead is made worse.  I have become the most hated wife in the compound, at least to the maintenance supervisor.  I am exhausted, and so frustrated at being powerless to do anything about these problems.  It turns out that our water problems were due to the water heaters being installed improperly, and all they needed was to have the valves adjusted.  This simple process took over a week to get done.  And guess what?  Now that we have hot water, the entire city is in the middle of a water shortage!  The electricity is a nightmare - now, not only is the downstairs breaker tripping, the upstairs breaker tripped at 3am and will not go back on.  This means that I've been up since 3 am, and now we have no air conditioning in our bedrooms. I'm back to feeling like surely I must have done something horrendous in a previous life, because these problems are insane, even for Angola.

The kids and I all have colds, and we miss Adam terribly.  The only bright spot is knowing that he'll be home later today.  I know we will get through this, and I can still tell you that we are incredibly blessed in so many ways....but I really hope that this house nightmare is close to being over.

Soundtrack

This is a quick post, as the kids are off of school today and we have a bunch of errands to run.  I listen to music a lot here.  When I'm cooking, when I'm sewing, when I'm in the shower - I depend on music a fair amount to boost my mood and keep me in a positive frame of mind.  These two songs are getting played a bunch lately here.


Enjoy!

Boiling Point

Well, it's happened.  That point that I knew I'd get to eventually here, even though I've been trying my very best to stay relaxed and positive.  I am SO tired of everything going wrong in our house.  This is supposed to be the one place in Luanda that we can come to and relax - but instead it's the biggest source of stress!  I'm sure no one really wants to hear all that's going wrong with our home, but for the sake of being able to look back on this and laugh someday (long after we've moved!) I'm going to write it all down.

1.  We have no hot water.  Again.  On Wednesday a guy came to clean the air conditioners, and he apparently missed the memo that electricity and water are not a good combination.  He sprayed the garden hose up to clean the outside of an air conditioning unit in our backyard, and got water directly into the outlet where we have our chest freezer plugged in!  Immediately the power blew out upstairs, the adapter where the freezer was plugged in melted, and somehow the hot water heater stopped working.  So for the past 4 days, it's been cold showers for the Hortons.  If you've lost count, let me remind you - this is the SEVENTH hot water heater we're talking about.  SEVEN.  In 11 months.

2.  Our dishwasher isn't hooked up correctly, and floods the kitchen with water when we use it.  The guys have been out twice already, and tell me there's nothing wrong with it.  Today, without coming to look at it, they've decided to replace it.  What really gets me is that we HAD a dishwasher that worked perfectly, until they decided to replace that one because it was causing the breaker to trip (allegedly).  Now, this one floods the kitchen, and our breaker still trips!

3.  The breaker still trips.

4.  We have a security system for the house, but no code or instructions to use it.  We have been requesting these for 11 months.

5.  I still can't call the US from our house phone.  But I can call Ireland!  And Portugal!

I felt good when I woke up this morning, ready to start the week.  But when I walked into the kitchen and slid in a puddle of water from the dishwasher, it all went downhill very quickly.  I know these problems are really minor in the grand scheme of things, but when they all pile up, I feel so overwhelmed.  I've been calling people all morning, trying to get someone to come and help....but it's 2pm, and there has yet to be a single repair person at our house.  If you hear on the news tonight about an American woman arrested for going ballistic in Angola, please start a rescue fund for me.  I don't know how much longer I can keep my cool.

Flashback

When Max was in kindergarten we lived in Petaluma, CA.  We had no plans to move, we loved our little blue house, and the concept of ever living in Africa was one that had NEVER crossed our minds.
His class had a 'pet' that each kid got to bring home for a weekend, and Max was the first one to bring Zoe the Zebra to his house.

Now that Miles is in kindergarten, so much has changed!  We've lived in Alaska, and now are 'veteran' travelers, living in Angola.  But yesterday, Miles was the first in his class to bring home the class pet, Larry the Lion.

Funny how radically things can change, and yet still not be all that different.

My Favorite Things

I know I whine a fair amount (ok, a LOT!) about the hard parts of living here.  And let's be honest - it IS hard over here.  But there's also a lot of really nice aspects of our life here, and those sometimes get lost in the stress.  In no particular order, here are some of my favorite things about life in Angola:

*Surprises.  Sometimes it's sour cream in a store that's never sold it.  Sometimes it's a construction worker with a sombrero made of cardboard.  The one thing you can count on here is that nothing is ever exactly how you think it will be.  And that, my friends, can be extremely entertaining.

*Accents.  Lordy, do I love a good accent!  I can't always understand what people are saying, but I sure do enjoy listening to them.  Scottish, Irish, British, Portuguese, Brazilian, Oklahoman (is that right?  I didn't want to call it 'Okie') - it never gets old.  Call me simple, but I get a good chuckle every time I hear someone say, "I'm gonna bowl the chicken."  (This is JoAnn's way of saying 'boil' the chicken.)

*Learning.  I'm constantly learning new things - about other people, about myself, about infectious diseases....it's an education every day.

*Simplicity.  There is something to be said about not having a million and one obligations to take care of on the weekends.  Most of the time we have no plans, other than spending time together.

*Fresh Air.  Oh, the smell of body odor, unencumbered by deodorant!  Ok, so that's not really a positive.  But walking through the grocery store, you'll often see a non-local suddenly stop dead in their tracks and whip their head back like they've been slapped.  That's the BO hitting them dead in the face, and that is what passes for entertainment here.

*Appreciation.  Nothing makes you appreciate what you have like seeing people without.  I've never in my life realized how good we have it, and how little most of us appreciate it.  The expats who seem happiest here are the ones who have figured out how to really focus on the positives, and what a great life skill that is to pass along to our children.  That, and wearing deodorant.