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