Our friend Aaron comes to Angola every other month to work for an oil company. He started working in Angola just a few months before we moved here, and he'll be leaving just a few months before we finish our assignment here. The timing couldn't be more perfect because Aaron is Santa. He runs to Costco and buys cheddar cheese, sour cream, and meat, freezes it, and then gets on the "Houston Express" (a short 14 hour non-stop flight as compared to 23-40 hr. ordeal of traveling through Europe and making multiple stops) to Angola, where he delivers it right to our home on the first Sunday that he's back in town. We have him over for dinner and a game or dinner and an episode of Little House. We have a lot in common with him and his family, including his childrens' love of Little House too. :) Before he left town again this month, he had us over to his apartment where he lives when he comes into town. He shares the apartment with a few other employees that he works with that come and go every month as well. It was our first time in his "home" so it was exciting for the kids. He served us Costco pork roast and a potato bar that included cheese, sour cream, and bacon! There's nothing like bacon from the U.S.!
We couldn't believe this long hall! The kids would love this hall to ride their ripsticks or just to run and get their energy out!
Aaron suggested that we do a dinner and a movie. He forgot his cord that we needed to watch the movie from his system, so Briant found a "kid movie" called "Shark Boy and Lava Girl." Now, Briant and I have loved most of the kid movies we've seen during our years as parents (Briant actually chooses to watch the Penguins of Madagascar" series after the kids go to bed because of the clever humor), but Briant showed me the trailer to "Shark Boy..." hours before and I said something to the effect of, "Are you kidding? Just kill me instead of making me watch that movie!" And he said something like, "Oh, it doesn't look that bad. It looks fun and cute. Like the Spy Kids movie." Needless to say, my instinct was correct and Aaron and Briant were the peanut gallery for the whole movie, making sarcastic remarks or faces to show how much they loved the movie. The kids were oblivious to their sarcasm because they were so focused on and wholeheartedly enjoying the movie. And it's not like there was any meaningful dialog that they were missing during the peanut gallery's interjections.
Three kids that loved the movie and two men from the peanut gallery:
The next day at church, Aaron played Santa one last time by handing out American chocolates to the kids in the branch. He will be more missed than we will be when we leave Angola. :)
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