Before moving here, I had seen pictures of African women carrying things on their heads.  I knew I could expect to see it here in Angola.  Nevertheless, the first time I saw it, I was still in shock.  These women amaze me!  And most of the time they have babies wrapped onto their backs at the same time.  I asked one of my drivers why it is just the women that do it.  He explained that men used to do it more, but they generally just carry things in their hands and arms.   I think that was his polite way of saying that women are not as strong as men, so it's easier to carry things on their heads. :)  He said that the girls start at about 11 or 12 years old to practice head carrying.  

This guy walks around our neighborhood carrying his supplies to perform manicures.  $40.  The funny thing is, every time I've seen him painting nails, it has been for men.  Apparently the men like to have their nails painted too, a clear color.

We have seen some pretty amazing loads--laundry soap, shoes, clothes, etc.  Anything that can be carried in hand, can also be carried on the head!

Women carrying fabric.  One of the ladies from the embassy invited these venders into her house to sell fabrics to her friends.  6 yards for $25.  Fabric from Europe.  I couldn't let them leave without getting a picture!

Flip Flops

Flip flops and toys

Sometimes it's easier to see the load these women carry than the women themselves!  

Laundry soap

 And the WINNER is:

The largest load that we have seen here yet!  Tupperware and metal cooking pots!  It was taller than she was!

Every month the embassy selects a local Angolan employee to be "Employee of the Month."  They get a framed certificate of the award and $200, which for these hardworking employees, is a lot of money.  ­­Briant got the email announcing that it was time to put nominations in so they could select someone.  Without hesitating, he nominated Paulo, one of our favorite drivers, for our family.  This is what he wrote:

“For the last three weeks, my kids and wife have talked non-stop about Paulo the driver – of everyone we have met in Angola, he is the individual they know and like and respect and look forward to seeing.  Paulo drove my kids to school for several days when they first started going to school, and they reported back how friendly he was and how much they appreciated his patience and driving style on their long ride to LIS.  Paulo subsequently drove my wife as duty driver; she reported back how much she liked him and that he patiently practiced speaking Portuguese with her, something she really appreciated as a new arrival.  On Halloween, my kids set aside candy for Paulo’s kids.  They look forward to those days when he drives them and are disappointed when he doesn’t. 

This past Sunday morning, Paulo gave us a ride to church as duty driver, and set up the return ride for us as his shift would end when we needed to be picked up.  Unfortunately, something went wrong in the communication and we ended up without a driver.  When the van eventually came to get us, we were pleasantly surprised to see it was Paulo that was driving – he was an hour past the end of his shift, but recognized there had been a problem in getting one of the drivers to us and stayed on to make sure our needs were met. 

Paulo, together with the residence guards, has put a friendly and relatable face on Angola for my kids and wife and has been friendly and customer service-oriented in his work as a driver.  I really appreciate that effort and performance for my family – his efforts give me greater confidence that my family is being provided for and facilitates my work at the embassy.”

When we told the kids that we nominated him, they were so excited at the thought that he could possibly get it.  They really wanted him to get it so he could get the money, knowing that the money could be helpful because he has four children of his own.  About a week after submitting the nomination statement, Briant came home from work and told us that Paulo was indeed going to be the recipient.  We all cheered!

Paulo receiving the award from the Ambassador.

 I of course wanted to be there when Paulo received the award so Briant let me know when the Town Hall meeting was going to be.  We didn’t expect that he would know that we were the ones that nominated him, but apparently someone told him because he approached us afterward and thanked us profusely for the nomination.  As he thanked us with teary eyes, he spoke to Briant in Portuguese, speaking at a pace I couldn’t keep up with, except I recognized “Madame” several times (all of the drivers and guards call the embassy women this, pronounced like the French would say, “Muh-dom”).  After he finished, Briant asked me if I understood what he said.  I said, “Not really," so he translated for me. :)  Paulo expressed his appreciation for how I have treated him.  He said that it was because of the kindness and respect I have shown him, that my children have followed my example and have been kind and respectful towards him also.  And because of that, he has had the ability to be more patient with all of the children during the long drives.  He also expressed appreciation for my sincerity and honesty.  This experience reminded me and my family of how important it is to be kind to others.  Genuinely kind.  The type of kindness that has the ability to impact the behavior of others—to motivate them to be kind as well.  After moving here and seeing the poverty all around us, I was naturally focused on wanting to help those in need with their temporal struggles--their lack of money and "things."  That is still important of course, and kindnesses are shown that way as well.  However I was reminded through this experience with Paulo, that kindnesses which uplift and help others emotionally and spiritually are equally, if not more, important.  

We were recipients of this type of kindness last week.  After being sick on Thanksgiving and for four days or so after, I was feeling blah.  After I recovered, Savannah started showing signs of a possible ear infection (she's had at least 15 in her lifetime), so because our embassy medical staff was out of the country, I spent three hours at the local “clinic” to see if we could get her some help.  After receiving a sub-par examination, we returned home without any antibiotics, knowing that her symptoms would continue and we would have to wait for the embassy nurse to return.  I came home discouraged.  Needless to say, when Briant arrived with an unexpected package from Meghan, a friend from his A-100 class, my spirits were lifted.  Her sweet card read, “Briant and Micky—A little something to help through your challenging transition—I hear chocolate and peanut butter makes everything better!  Wishing you smooth sailing for the rest of your tour.”  The box was full of different kinds of holiday wrapped chocolates and a jar of peanut butter.  Briant and I were touched by Meghan’s generosity and thoughtfulness.  It was exactly what we needed--to know that someone on the other side of the world is thinking about us and cheering us on!  This kindness is not forgotten, especially during our times of need.  We have also felt the support and love of our families here and are so grateful to know that they are praying for us.  I will try and show my gratitude for Paulo, Meghan, and all those who bless my life by passing kindnesses on to those around me this holiday season.  

"I believe in the principle that I can make a difference in this world.  It may be ever so small, but it will count for the greater good.  The goodness of the world in which we live is the accumulated goodness of many small and seemingly inconsequential acts."

--Gordon B. Hinckley, a beloved LDS prophet

Thanksgiving was definitely different this year...for many reasons.  First, the kids went to school.  They go to an international school, not an American school, so it wasn't a school holiday.  We deliberated about whether or not we should just keep them home which at first was a no-brainer.  "How can you be American and go to school on Thanksgiving?" Briant asked.   But then we got thinking about how the other kids from the embassy were going to school too and how we were going to be baking and cooking all day anyway and how the kids would go crazy without much to do, so we sent them.  And we ended up being very glad we did.  I woke up feeling sick to my stomach.  Nauseous, dizzy, and full of pain.  It looked like I had eaten something bad again like I did a few weeks ago (this time, the sickness lasted 4-5 days).  So I baked our favorite pumpkin cookies with cinnamon chips and chocolate chips as well as our favorite cream cheese pecan appetizer, with little breaks to lay down every few minutes.  Amazingly, despite being distracted by my issues, the food turned out and I didn't even burn the cookies in this old oven!  

These 7 oz. tubs of cream cheese cost $9.00 each!

I packed the ingredients for the cookies in our suitcases on our flight here in October, as well as the pecans for the appetizer, knowing that these foods would bring "home" to my kids and hubby on Thanksgiving.  I got the cookie recipe from my wonderful friend Sharon about 4-5 years ago, and they have been part of our food tradition ever since, along with the Taste of Home appetizer!

So after cooking, I took a shower and got ready to go to our friends' home for Thanksgiving dinner they were generously hosting for us and two other families.  About 5 minutes before being picked up, I was still feeling miserable and knew that it wouldn't be any fun for me if I ended up throwing up at their house, and I certainly didn't want them to worry or fret over my happiness during the meal and gathering.  So I sent Briant alone where he was going to meet up with the kids after they got out of school.  This was hard for me to do because I don't like missing out on things, especially holidays and a chance to socialize and see friends here.  But I stayed and slept almost the entire time they were gone, and they all had a ball.  Briant said that initially upon hearing that I wasn't going to be there, the girls were emotional.  But he said that after they "worked through it," they were ok.  :)  Heather, the hostess, was given a few turkeys earlier in the year and needed to use them, so they were lucky enough to still have turkey.  Briant said that it was the best turkey, gravy, and stuffing.  They also had wonderful bread, mashed potatoes, veggies, pumpkin pie, etc.  Briant brought me home a plate of food that Heather sent with him but sadly I wasn't able to fully appreciate it because I was sensitive to the tastes and smells of everything--for a few days.  Needless to say, on Thanksgiving I was reminded that I have a lot to be grateful for, including the daily health that I enjoy!

I think these pics show that the kids didn't have fun at all.  :)

For posterity so the tradition can continue on:  :)

Pumpkin Cookies

1 large can pumpkin

1 box spice cake mix

1 box yellow cake mix

1 bag mini milk chocolate chips

1 bag cinnamon chips (or 12 oz if you buy in bulk) Can't find cinnamon chips? Use Heath toffee chips.                           Mix all ingredients in large bowl. Bake at 385 for 12-14 minutes.

French Quarter Cheese Spread

Photo by Taste of Home

·         1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

·         1 tablespoon grated onion

·         1 garlic clove, minced

·         1/4 cup butter, cubed

·         1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

·         1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

·         1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard

·         1 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted

Assorted crackers

Directions

1.      In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, onion and garlic. Transfer to a serving plate; shape into a 6-in. disk. Set aside.

2.      In a small saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and mustard. Cook and stir over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat; stir in pecans.

3.  Cool slightly. Spoon over cheese mixture. Serve with crackers. 

Yield: 8 servings.

Bri was on the radio!  During his first week here, Briant met with different sections in the embassy and discussed different ways that he could contribute during his tour here.  The Public Affairs office liked his Portuguese and asked him to to represent the embassy by being interviewed on a business news program of a well-known radio station here in Luanda (population 6.5 million!).  At the interview, Briant introduced himself and then discussed the ambassador's recent trip through the provinces, the embassy's efforts to support an AIDS awareness day, a program reinforcing the importance of municipal elections, the embassy's recent efforts to support English language learning in Angola, the U.S. Fulbright program and other scholarship programs, and the requirement for obtaining student and business travel visas to the U.S.  The station recorded the interview:

https://soundcloud.com/user557158811/briant-platt-vice-consul-emb

Bri said it was surreal to hear his name announced over the radio in the car as an upcoming interview when he was being driven to the radio station.  It was definitely cool to stand in my kitchen and hear my hubby talking on the radio!  That night, after the kids got home from school, we played the file for them to hear it.  Afterwards Savvy shouted, "We're famous!"    Not quite, but very proud of my hubby.

We got our UAB shipment a few days before we moved into our temporary housing.  There were 6 big boxes that I didn't open because we had appealed our housing and figured we would be moving again and didn't want to have to pack everything up again.  We did end up moving to this temporary housing, and about a week after being here, 1200 pounds of our HHE showed up.  Unfortunately it wasn't our consumables.  I was really hoping it was our consumables because I could really use some cheaper peanut butter and some actual spaghetti sauce (they only have jars of basically liquidized tomatoes here).  Yes, we could make our own spaghetti sauce, but the food options, produce, etc. to make it aren't the same quality or flavor even, as the U.S., nor does the running to a store for a few ingredients have the same convenience or ease.  So what actually arrived in this unexpected shipment was stuff that we packed out of our apartment in Virginia, including 4 bookshelves that we bought last minute from Ikea (400 lbs) for our books.  It appeared that we were not going to be given enough bookshelves at post to accommodate the number of books that Briant said he could not live without.  :)  Ikea had the quantity we needed and we knew we wouldn't feel bad about leaving them if we had to because of the cheap price.  

We packed all of the opened and unopened boxes into this front "mudroom" space where we keep our shoes.  Luckily this "extra" space exists!

We decided to finally unpack some of our things from both the UAB and HHE shipments since we haven't heard that we're moving any time soon.  Along with a few boxes of office and school supplies, we were excited to see our "piano," keyboard again.  We bought it 14 years ago when we were first married, and all of the kids started learning the piano on it.  Then a few years ago, we inherited Great Grandma Ida's piano, but we figured it was too precious to risk bringing abroad.  I think we made the right decision.  After opening the keyboard, we discovered 4 of the keys were stuck and wouldn't press down.  Now this is the funny part.  Briant's first response to something broken (and its been this way since we were married almost 15 years ago next month), as in the case of the piano, is, "Oh well.  Its been a good piano.  We definitely got our money's worth out of it huh?"  Then he walks away planning in his mind that we'll just buy another one.  My typical reaction, on the other hand in a situation like this is to ask, "Is there a way to fix it?  How can I fix this?  There's GOT to be a way to fix this."  Especially because we just shipped it all the way here to Africa!  So I asked Bri his opinion on our chances of fixing it, and not to my surprise, his loving, "lazy, lawyerly" response is, "I don't know.  I'm not going to try.  You can though if you want to."  So, figuring that I probably couldn't do any more damage than what was already done, I sat on the floor and unscrewed no less than 40 screws from the bottom side of the piano with our mini screwdriver set that Thomas luckily keeps with him (our tools haven't arrived yet, so fortunately for us, Thomas is more adventurous about taking things apart and figuring out how things work than his father.  :) ).  After tinkering around for a bit, I figured out how the mechanisms work for playing each key, and simply put things back where they had gotten disconnected.  The keys had somehow gotten unhooked from their holding place.  I yelled, "I fixed it!!  I fixed the piano!!!"  Briant came running in with the camera and got a picture of me so I could remember my proud moment.  He then went back to the kitchen where he was preparing my dinner.  I laughed at how comfortable we are in the frequent "switching of roles" in our marriage.  I'll fix anything, any time, if I get dinner prepared for me and I know Briant would rather eat his pinkies off than fix something.  It's a win-win.

Saturday we attended the Luanda International School (LIS) "International Day."  Sponsored by the kids’ school, it was an event that correlated with the school’s theme of the month of “Being Internationally Minded.”  The kids have talked a lot in their classrooms about what it means to be “internationally minded” and supported it with different activities throughout the week and this festival on Saturday.  Ideas like understanding and accepting differences in beliefs, showing empathy to others that are different from you, appreciating their customs and ways of life, etc.  Savannah said that her class carried heavy buckets of water around for a class period to experience what a lot of people in Africa do on a daily basis to provide water for their families. 

I love the design of the passport and t-shirts.  It is the shape of Angola in the center of the circle.

They didn’t have to go very far to have different countries of the world represented at the festival.  In fact, at LIS, we have students from 24 different countries.

Angola, Egypt, Brazil

Canada, China, Indonesia

India, Israel, Colombia

Italy, Ecuador, Japan

Mexico, South Africa, Nigeria

Spain, Norway, England

Pakistan, USA, Portugal

Venezuela, Russia, Vietnam

 We started off with a parade first with all of these countries showing off their colors, clothing, and patriotism for their country.  It reminded me a little of the Olympics!  Our kids loved yelling, “U-S-A!!  U-S-A!!” over and over.  It felt good to be able to be loud and proud of our country in a safe environment.  We try and “blend in” here in Angola, so it felt good to let our hair down and be vocal about our love for our own country!

Each country set up a booth with food, drinks, decorations, items to take, etc. that are specifically from that country.  It was amazing to see and taste all that we did in just a few hours.  The colors, smells, flavors, and music were so intense and passionately and energetically shared by everyone.  A few countries in particular, Venezuela and Mexico, stood out as they turned their music volume up and danced in and around each of their booths.

The kids received a “passport” that they could take around to each country table to get stamped as they sampled the food, looked at the art, listened to the music, etc.  They received stickers, pins, etc. from the different countries.

China

Portugal

Brazil

Russia

Woman from Norway getting a picture at the Indonesia table

Rhea receiving a dot or "bindhi" from India.

England had awesome lemonade--just what we needed with the heat of the day!

Columbia--great salsa!

Angola--they served ice cream but ran out right as we got there.  :(

South Africa--interesting meat.  We tried Gemsbok, a type of antelope.  :)

Israel--they served falafels.  Took me back to my days of studying abroad in Jerusalem.  Too bad I'm gluten free now though!  I did taste the hummus before handing it to Briant.

It was a very fun, hot, humid, and sweaty morning.  It was hotter than we have yet experienced here, made worse with the humidity.  Despite the sweat, we had a wonderful cultural experience.  We had fun seeing our friends and visiting with them as well as the kids' teachers.  We might just base our next post request off of the food we sampled there. Vietnam?  Russia?  Italy?  :)