This is my new project. Buying school uniforms. We got assigned sponsors from Angola that we were able to talk with on Saturday. They are another couple there at the embassy that have two children, similar in age to Rhea and Savvy. Heather is actually in a leadership role as the DCM, Deputy Chief of Mission. She and her husband have been wonderful to answer our questions about life there, including our questions about the schools. We decided to enroll our children at the english international school there that has students representing 53 other countries. A wonderful multicultural experience for the kids while they are actually still learning in their native tongue. We found out that the kids need to wear uniforms there, so I've been trying to track clothes down before they're hard to find or not on sale. So far my luck has been good. I'm also trying to stock up on flip- flops and sandals, swim suits, goggles, and other things we'll need for this summer-like climate year round. The kids have swimming class there at the school too. So I need to buy everything new because we have worn all of these out with how much we've gone swimming this summer (and continue to do) here at the apartment. A few of the motivations for buying things here is to save money and to make sure we get what we need (Luanda is the most expensive city in the world). We heard back from a fellow FSO that just moved to Angola a few weeks ago. She reiterated how expensive things are there. She went grocery shopping and tried to pick up a few other things as well. A very basic towel was $25 and an ironing board was $75. So we'll make sure we buy our $3-5 towels here and take our ironing board...among other things.
I'm actually very excited for the school uniforms! My kids can express themselves and their creativity with their wardrobe at other times and in other ways. I will welcome anything that takes away the emotional decision making process of what to wear (for my girls) in the morning!
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