Rhea had a school concert that I wanted to attend this week, so I made the trip out to the school (one hour away on a good day) with our friend Heather who invited me to make the trek with her and then to spend the afternoon with her and her two kids, Mia and Rory.  I sent Thomas and Savvy home to be with Briant to avoid having such a long day.  After school got out, we were going to have 3.5 hours to kill before the concert, so we decided to go to the one and only mall that exists here right now (instead of fighting the traffic home and then back again).  It was great to be in a building that felt first world!  It definitely caters to the ex-pats.  The location is close to most of the oil company expat compounds and carries a lot of the products you could expect to find in the states.  NOT at the same prices though!

These "cheap," "no name"doll sets that Rhea is looking at were $168.00!!  I saw the exact princess dolls I bought for my girls from Walmart for $12, selling for $58.  And I saw some "Bratz" dolls for $118!  I was shocked (what's more shocking is that I continue to be shocked by the prices--at some point during our two years here I'll get over the prices I'm sure).  It was funny though--right as I was saying, "Who buys anything here?" to Heather, she responded as she pointed to a man at the register of another toy store, "Well someone is!"   I looked, and to my surprise, I recognized him from his blog, and then saw an LDS missionary tag.  I confirmed that it was President Merrill, the mission president for the Luanda, Angola mission!  We have tried a few times to get together with he and his wife since we've been here, but haven't been able to sync up our schedules.  So I went inside the store and introduced myself and we had a nice visit.  He welcomed me to Angola we talked a little bit about our time here.  I told him that I got a calling in our branch to be the employment specialist.  His very quick reply was, "Good luck with that!"  Not the encouraging, advice filled response I thought he would give me.  :)  He invited us to go to the mission home any time so we could visit more.  A very nice man!

We also found Christmas decorations in the mall!  They had "Santa's workshop" where you could visit with Santa too.  We LOVED seeing all of the festive decor.  Without the cooler weather and snow of Utah, decor, etc. that we're used to having, it's easy to wonder if it's really Christmas!

We found not only the food court, but a KFC!  Heather was here and actually helped cut the ribbon, for the opening of the first KFC here a few years ago!  A lot of American Investors and business people are seeking opportunities to do business here in Angola.  Besides oil, they're interested in agriculture, IT, food, consumer products, etc.  A few years ago, IBM, HP, Honeywell, and Cummins opened offices in Luanda.  

I ordered a grilled chicken burger at the "American Hot Dog" because KFC didn't have anything gluten free.  :(  As I was removing the buns of the burger, I found corn inside!  They also like to put fried egg on burgers.

Rhea was sitting on the ground and I was all the way in the back, so I couldn't get any good pics of her.  Luckily they stood up for most of it.  She was so cute though--totally into singing every song.  She LOVES singing, especially when it's just singing in her room as she plays by herself, making up songs of her own.  So I always love watching her sing!

She's actually covering up a yawn here near the end of the performance.  It was a long day for a little girl that wakes up at 5:30am to go to school! 

We thought it was funny that Rhea and Mia ended up with the same style of dresses to wear to the concert after changing out of their school uniforms.

Cute mama and daughter that also look like they planned to match!

Rhea's new little friend Mikaela that just moved here from Peru.  She doesn't speak English, but they still somehow play and have fun together!  Her dad works at the embassy with U.S. Aid.

A few other friends from Rhea's class that wanted to join in our picture.  We're grateful that Rhea has had an easy time of making friends here!

We learned that on the first Saturday of every month there is a craft fair on the Ilha.  So we decided to check it out.  The Ilha, island in Portuguese, is an extension of the Marginal (the beautifully renovated beach front area we visited 3 or 4 weeks ago) that jets out into the ocean.   

The fair was hard to miss with the bright colored coverings grouped together just a few feet from the sand of the beach.  

It was so fun to see all of the handmade items:  crocheted jewelry, headbands, hats, baskets, paintings, pillows, Christmas tree ornaments and decorations, etc.

Santa Claus

These ladies selling fabric were all lined up together on the perimeter of the fair.  I'm guessing they wanted to take advantage of the shoppers without having to pay for a booth.  I love the bright, unique fabrics they sell and wear!

I'm celebrating the openness of the beach and not feeling claustrophobic!  Being in the city with 7 million people living on top of each other 24-7 can make one feel smothered.  The beach was practically empty so we got to spread out for a minute.  We weren't planning on going to the beach so we didn't have any beach gear--we're still learning about the area and things to do here.  There are some beaches that are recommended and some that are not.  The best ones are apparently a few hours away.  We'll tackle those when our car arrives but for now we'll explore the local ones. 

Trash literally created a long barrier the whole length of the beach.  There
were all sorts of things in the trash including this doll hand.

The kids came alive when we left the craft fair and hit the beach!  Smiles, squeals, running, exploring...  

On Fridays, the embassy closes early because they have longer days the rest of the week.  So Briant and I have used the childless Friday afternoons to take walks and explore Luanda at a pace we wouldn't be able to do with the kids.  It's the one day when I have really been able to stretch my legs and explore because Briant is with me.  This particular day we wanted to find our new apartment building to which we will be moving.  These pics show some of what we saw along the way (for security purposes, I will not show pictures of the outside of our new apartment building):

An beautiful little green space that is kept up for the most part.  A rare treat.

Across the street from the green space are the "flower ladies."  They sell fake flowers because right across the street, on the other side of the green space, is a large cemetery.  It's a cemetery for people that have money.  Bri's phone crashed after we took pics of those, so we'll have to take pics again.

A close up of what you can't really see in the usual pictures taken at a distance.  Broken items and trash on the sidewalks.

I don't think I've seen one sidewalk yet that is not torn up in some way.   :)  They're usually made from paving bricks.

Posters advertising an upcoming event.  They never just put up one poster.  :)

We're standing on the sidewalk looking at a roof of some building that is below us.  Sadly these kinds of piles of trash are all too common. 

Barbed wire on the tops of fences around most buildings.  This is a beautiful Catholic school.  For some reason, it seems like most of the Catholic schools and churches here are light pink in color.

Nice to see a dumpster!  Note:  Parked cars on the sidewalk.

Catholic school

We love these trees with the orange flowers.  I think they're called "Royal Poinciana."  We see them all over.

This is an area close to our new apartment building.  The picture doesn't begin to show the chaos that is going on in this intersection nor can you hear the honking.  :)  I laugh, but also fear for my life every time I have to cross the street.  There appear to be streetlights, but they're not working so it's every man for himself, and every pedestrian for himself.  I've only seen a few streetlights that actually work here in Luanda.  The men on motorcycles are the scariest.  They come out of nowhere and will do whatever they want which is usually illegal.

We left the chaos, heat, and humidity and stepped into an Italian restaurant to get a cold drink.  Bri got his favorite pop called Guarana that he first started drinking in Brazil on his mission, and I got bottled water.

This was me smiling after cooling off with my drink of water.  This picture doesn't show the beads of sweat that were all over my face, neck, and head.  Needless to say, after we left the restaurant, my hair went up in a ponytail--my usual hairstyle here for staying cooler and dryer.

"Avenida Snack Bar" it says.  Notice the parking situation.  This is a typical street.  People are parked in the regular parking stalls, and then there are cars parked perpendicularly behind them.

Lady selling mylar balloons!  I wished I had a special occasion so I could buy one.  I'm sure they'll be hard to find again.

The only museum that we know of here in Luanda.  The Angolan national symbol is the sable antelope, or in Portuguese, Palanca Negra.  They are critically endangered.  Sadly, with years of civil war and land mines that still exist, animal life in Angola has suffered.

Back to our neighborhood where the embassy is located.

Sign affixed to the embassy wall--"Against HIV and Aids, zero is our goal."  The embassy sponsored an AIDS walk the weekend I was sick.