This is Zita, our new house cleaner!  Since I started working almost 30 hours a week (plus 1 hour of commuting on foot every day), I'm finding it hard to keep up on the bathrooms that are wall to wall tile and sweep and mop all of the tile in the house that is constantly covered in a layer of dust or dirt (that's how it is here in Angola--it might not help that I have found openings in the windows where the dust is probably flying in).  I'm also having a hard time keeping up on the kitchen and laundry, as well as organizing and reorganizing everything that my "three little pigs" touch (the kitchen, food pantry, fridge, closets, bathrooms, toys, etc.).  So Zita who has been looking for a job to help her hubby and their three boys, is going to come a few days a week to help me keep my head above water.  She is so detailed in what she does and I love that she's doing things that I haven't even asked her to do.  Today she pulled every single book off of the bookshelves to dust the tops of the books and the area behind the books.  I would never take the time to do that!  The kids keep saying how much they love her and how hard she works.  They're enjoying spring break home with me, so they've given me their input on her.  "Mom, she is such a hard worker.  You need to pay her MORE!"  They have no idea what we even pay her, or what is considered to be "good pay" for that matter, but they insist that whatever I'm giving her is not enough.  I'm glad to see that they're appreciating her efforts over the last few days as much as I am because that just might influence their desire to mess things up.  Maybe.  Let's just hope that we don't scare her off with our messes!

I was caught off guard when I walked into our bedroom and saw this beautiful sunset out our window.  If I had waited longer, I'm sure the colors would have been more vibrant, but I had to get back to the other side of the house for dinner.  We don’t see this view out any of the family room windows because they’re facing the wrong direction, and usually around the time the sun is setting, we’re eating dinner and doing the nighttime routine, all on the other side of the house.  It was wonderful to see such a beautiful serene looking sky over the noisy, restless city. 

Another wonderful discovery here in Angola (that they also eat in Brazil) is maracuja, which is some kind of passion fruit.  You cut into it and then scoop the inside out.  It caught Savvy by surprise when she cut into it on her own, expecting it to be like a pear or apple.  I found it sitting on a shelf in the fridge with the top of it "put back on."  A mess waiting to happen.  :)  It's very liquidy, with a lot of seeds.  Luckily you're able to eat the seeds too so it's easy to prepare.  Briant scooped it all out and added it to a fruit smoothie.  We also had a maracuja cream pudding at the ambassador's house last week.  It was divine!  Maracuja is probably my favorite food here.  It adds a nice fruity, crunchy texture to whatever it's in.

Yum!

We’re driving our car today!  After having the car in the basement of our apartment building for 2 ½ months, we’re finally able to drive it.  Everything came together yesterday with getting our license plates and local insurance for $300.  It’s $300 for the whole year!  We’re guessing that there’s not much covered on this policy—maybe a headlight or something.  Luckily we’re able to carry insurance from the United States that gives us international coverage.  Heaven knows, we need insurance driving in Luanda!

The first place we drove to was the church to help clean it this morning.  I had the cleaning assignment as part of the Relief Society, but we decided to go as a family so Bri could help the Elders Quorum clean as well and the kids could help too.  It was a good thing we all went since only Anne, one other R.S. sister, showed up as well as a young woman named Edna.  There were also a few men that helped for a little bit while they were waiting for keys to the third floor rooms that never showed up.  So we all started on the first floor sweeping out each room and mopping them.  The kids also helped wash windows.  Then Briant and I went up to the second floor and swept out each room and the stairs.  The church is not all enclosed, so every room is covered in a layer of dirt.  The wind blows it in especially when the windows are open, and the people track it in from outside as well.  

Sweating and kicking their feet up

I was so impressed with Edna.  She's fifteen and I found out after all of the cleaning that she was just baptized last weekend!  And already she was ready and willing to show up and clean the building.  She's very excited that I'm going to start teaching English at the church soon because she loves English and has been wanting to learn it.  So as we cleaned, she and I taught each other how to say "chair," "mop," "sweep," etc. in our own languages.

The king of sweat today.  He was drenched.  There was no a/c on in the building, plus the humidity makes everyone and everything more wet.

All done!  After a few hours of hard work and a lot of sweating, we went home and relaxed for a bit by studying Portuguese Disney songs that the kids like.  It’s easier to learn another language with songs that you like and that you’re familiar with in your own language, so we sang songs from Frozen, Mulan, Brother Bear, Lion King, etc.  Thomas is very motivated right now to learn Portuguese, and the girls are picking it up as well, so we’re taking more time as a family to study it.  Each of the kids has a little notebook to write their new words in.  After we cooled off for a bit, we decided to go to the embassy pool to really cool off.  

FREE is the word that would describe how we felt today with our car!  It was so great that we could hop in our car and drive to the church, the embassy, and the store afterward on our own without having to call for a driver and wait until they were available to drive us.  Luckily we've driven these routes enough with the embassy drivers that we didn't get lost.  That's really amazing now that I think about it--Luanda is not an easy place to get around, especially because there are very few street signs and there are NO street numbers for addresses.  We just looked for what seemed familiar with landmarks.  We just bought a Garmin GPS that we can upload African maps to, but I'm wondering how helpful it can be if we can't input addresses.  :)  Anyway, we’re going to enjoy this new level of independence! 

The eve of March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day, the kids set out their shoes and a note for Seamus, the leprechaun (pronounced "Shay-muss").  Seamus came and visited last year on St. Patrick’s Day, but we tried to set a trap so we could catch him.  Thomas and Bri made a great trap that should have worked, but it didn’t.  Apparently he wasn't amused.  Instead he took our coin collection and made a mess of the house with cereal poured out everywhere.  He did leave some yummy rock candy though and a few random green things.  This year, he brought the coin collection back.  We were relieved that Seamus found us in Africa!  Bri wrote him a note in Irish using Google translate, saying, “Can I have my money back?”  Luckily he agreed to and left the money, with a return note that said, “No more tricks on leprechauns”with his name signed.      

He was good enough to leave some chocolate too and a fun green confetti sprinkled around the shoes.  We also noticed that he ate a few of our Oreos and drank milk from Bri’s special green glass.  It also looked like he made himself cozy on our couch with a green blanket reading “The Green Fairy Book.”  It seems that we may have a leprechaun friend now! 

This week, Thomas participated in a musical for school entitled, "The Peace Child."  

What a wonderful play!  The kids absolutely had a ball practicing for the big night and performing it for their families.  It was a script with an amazing message.  Being at an international school, I wasn't surprised that they chose to perform "The Peace Child."  It's about two rival tribes that live across a river from each other and who won't ever associate because they can't see past their differences.  Then a movie production company discovers the tribes and wants to build a bridge over the river to be able to make a movie about both tribes.  Because of this bridge, the tribes start talking about war.  It's only when one of the tribal chief's offers his first-born to the chief of the other tribe, that peace is restored for everyone.  For me, I couldn't help of course relating it to my own Christian beliefs and think of the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ and his life that was offered up for us, the world, to have peace in this life and in the eternities with our Father in Heaven.  Being in Angola, I've come closer to seeing the impact of war than I ever have, with the Angolan civil war being in the somewhat recent past.  I teach English to men that were literally dragged out of their elementary schools to fight in the civil war and never had the opportunity to even say good-bye to their families.  Family, education and their childhoods were left behind.  I also hear of current struggles in nearby countries like the Congo, where good people are still trying to find peace and safety for themselves and their children.  It's heart wrenching.  So with all of this in my heart, I appreciated the message of "The Peace Child" and I appreciated that my children have heard this message and have taken it to heart as well.  It was also very fitting that after the play was finished, the school student council announced that they were collecting donations of food, water and clothing for the people in Lobito, a province here in Angola about 7-8 hours away from us.  They were hit very hard last week by heavy rains and subsequent mudslides that destroyed hundreds of homes and took almost 70 lives, half of which were children.  We experienced the rain here in Luanda as well, but it wasn't near the quantity that they received in Lobito.  So the morning after the play, the kids ran around the house trying to find clothes, shoes, and food that they could give.  They did it on their own too.  It's a joy to witness the hearts of your own children expanding as they learn to think of others.  :) 

The music is actually very fun for energetic kids to sing.  The songs have catchy tunes that I'm still singing in my head.  Thomas did a great job!  There were a lot of lyrics to learn, but he did it and had fun learning them.  I'm very proud of him!

 Building the bridge over the river between the two tribes:

 The mother singing her song of sorrow as she comes to terms with giving her baby to the other tribe:
"My life, my love, my only son, the time has come for our goodbye.  I've cried, I've prayed to find a way, but now I make this sacrifice.  Peace child, listen.  Love is given.  Here is the promise of life to come.  Peace child listen, bring us freedom.  You are the promise, my chosen one."

 The chief giving his baby to the other chief:

 Peace restored and all is well.

 After the play, I got to catch Thomas with one of his best friends name Madonch.  He's from India.  He's a good friend to Thomas.

Bri didn't get to come because he's the guy in charge right now with his boss away for training.  After work he was going to go home and start working on our taxes, but ended up staying at work until well after we got home (midnight), to help with an American citizen services issue.  I think he was just trying to get out of doing our taxes.  :)

When I woke up and saw the nice overcast sky on Saturday, I knew it was our chance to enjoy a walk without too much heat and humidity.  So we excitedly fled the apartment on foot.  The kids wanted to take their Ripsticks and skates to use at the Marginal (the only nicely paved sidewalks in this city where you won't kill yourself riding something), but we feel that it's too risky to use them outdoors here.  We draw attention to ourselves as it is with our Caucasian skin and walking around as a family.  I don't think I've ever seen a whole family walking together in the almost 5 months that we've been here.  Everyone is usually walking alone or with a friend or with a baby wrapped onto a woman's back.  In fact, I rarely even see couples walking together or holding hands.  Maybe that's why when Briant and I were walking together after work one day holding hands, some guy commented, in somewhat of a mocking way, about "the happy couple holding hands."

This is a nice Bank of Angola on the other side of the street from the Marginal.

New construction everywhere...literally everywhere.

A new Museu da Moeda (museum of coins) that is being built mostly underground.  Conveniently located across from the Marginal.

The kids took advantage of anything that looked fun to play on.  :)

The little grassy hill that Savvy said reminded her of the Christensen family that lived across the street from us in Utah.  Their front yard had a small downward slope and on Sundays they would go out as a family and hangout together there.  It's fun to see what sparks our memories of home.

After laying down for 30 seconds, the kids were up and at it doing cartwheels, handstands, headstands, etc.  They're all into gymnastics right now, and they finally had a somewhat soft surface to practice on.  It's better than the tile at our apartment!  Really this is the only grassy surface around, except for the area directly across the street from our apartment where the homeless sleep all day and we're pretty sure it's full of bodily fluids.  I'm not so sure that the dead spots on this grass aren't caused by public urination either now that I think about it.  :)  The beautiful Marginal was built without any public toilets.  So sadly the public urination happens there as well.

The kids needed help holding their handstands.

After this picture was taken, about 4 minutes after we started playing on the grass, a security guard came and told us that we couldn't be on the grass.  After feeling free and safe in the openness of the Marginal and free to move around as we are not able to in the apartment, I don't exaggerate when I say that in the moment that the guard kicked us off, I felt smothered.  I literally felt my chest tighten up again.  I felt "cooped up" in my body--constrained by the walls and tile of the apartment, the high rises all around me directly outside my windows, the incessant barrage of noises from the streets below, and the streets and sidewalks consistently full of hustling and bustling cars and people.  It's enough to make you crazy if you have nowhere to escape to.  On a day to day basis, we're fine with it and we love many aspects of the city life.  It's just that on days where you want some more freedom and then you get a taste of that freedom, only to have it yanked from you, well it's frustrating.  Needless to say, when we go back to the states, we might embarrass ourselves by acting like a bunch of feral animals when we go outside, especially if we're at a public park!  I'm told that we'll feel better once we have access to our own car here.  We're still waiting for the license plates in order to drive it even though the car has been in Angola since the first week of January.  We were told that we would have the plates a few weeks ago.  And for the past few weeks, we've heard that it should be any day.  :)

At least we found a few more things to play on:  A broken zipline that Thomas is hanging on.

Bri trying to make the teeter totter ride a little more exciting for the girls.  Rhea found it a lot more exciting when she flew off of it.  :)