The Marginal

There was no school Monday or Tuesday for the kids.  So I took the kids to the embassy to go swimming and luckily met up with another family of friends that the kids ride to school with.  We spent 3.5 hours there.  Brian the dad of the two kids, hopped in the pool and directed all of the races and shark games, with him as the shark of course.  The kids had a ball and were worn out at the end of the day. 

Tuesday was Veteran’s Day so Briant had work off (Side note:  He gets all of the Federal holidays now, that as an attorney he never took because it would get in the way of meeting his billable hours—we are loving it!).  So we decided to go down to the “Marginal.”  It is the area along the beach here in Luanda that has been given a face lift.  It is THE nicest area in the city.  It is new, clean, and fairly safe.  It was such a nice break from our neighborhood and area.        photo credit: skyscrapercity.com

Walking around, I felt as if I could have been at home in California walking on the beach front there.  It was so peaceful and there was a nice, cool breeze to help tame the heat.  We haven't seen this much grass since we left Virginia either!

We found a “playground” that of course could not be left untouched.  This is the 2nd playground that I have seen so far in Luanda, and the other one was just like this one.  There was a little toddler slide and some climbing poles. 

  The kids started climbing on their own with Briant and the kids giving boosts for each other to reach the top.  

After about 5 minutes, some local boys that were obviously from the “favela,” a word used in Brazil to describe the slums or shantytown, appeared and started climbing on the poles.  They were so fun to watch.  I told Briant that after watching them climb and swing around on poles that I might consider that we evolved from apes.  J  They stared at us a lot but didn’t talk with us.  We asked them a few questions but they were shy.  It was fun to see our kids climbing with them.  The Angolan boys definitely inspired my kids to try harder to climb to the top and showed them that there was a bell that you could ring once you got there.  Even Savannah, who typically poops out with difficult physical exercise, tried it again and again. 

 Cute little Rhea WOULD NOT give up!

After Thomas was done climbing, he came over to me and showed me his muscles and said, "Look mom, I grew more muscle."  :)

As we were leaving, Briant thanked the Angolan kids for playing with our kids and then gave them 1000 kwanzas, equivalent to $10, and told them to go get a treat.  They quickly said, “Obrigado” (thank you) and ran off cheering and planning how they were going to spend the money.  This interaction with the locals was a highlight of our time on the marginal.

We found a restaurant just off the main street next to the Marginal where we had lunch.  

I wish I had taken pics.  We ordered 2 small pizzas that ended up being basically a cheese bread along with and a steak and rib meal for Briant and I (a very small amount of meat) that totaled $100.  We laughed as we considered how living in Angola is going to change our perspective on money and how much things cost.  Already I can tell a difference in how I look at the prices of food on Amazon and Walmart when I do my food orders.  When we were in Virginia, before we came, I remember not buying certain things because I didn’t like the price.  And since then, I have looked at these same items and thought what a good deal I was getting!

We felt very safe when we first got to the Marginal at 10:30am with only a few people walking or exercising there and sufficient visible security.  But when we left the restaurant, it was very crowded.  

 We found a nice looking lady sitting down that took our picture really quick and then Briant said that it was making him nervous to have the camera out.  So we put it away and caught our motor pool ride home.