Someone’s Been Slacking…

So I guess I didn’t reach one of my goals… post at least one blog entry a week. Not surprisingly, no one seemed to notice. That’s okay though. I’m back again!

A few weekends ago I went to an art market. It was pretty much the same old stuff you would find at any African art market – wood carvings, paintings, jewelry, but this one guy had two really interesting items. The first was a lion’s skull. It was a smaller lion but it had all its teeth still. The other really cool thing he had were palanca horns. The palancas are the national symbol of Angola. In fact, the Angolan national soccer team is named the Palanca Negras because only black palancas are found in Angola. The horns are two solid pieces maybe weighing 7-8 pounds each. I wanted them. The only problem is getting them back into the states. It is illegal to hunt in Angola, especially palancas, because the country is trying to revitalize the wildlife after the war. Going through the airport with palanca horns is a sure fire way to spend a few nights in an Angolan prison.

Hopefully my place has running water when I get home. It has been out for a few days now. The good news is the cable is back on. I watched the last few minutes of the Ravens-Browns game before going to the gym this morning. My roommates are getting me into Brazilian soaps. I have almost no idea what they are saying but I suppose it is good for my Portuguese.

Congrats Ben and Court on getting married! Wish I could have been there!

First Week In The Big Maçã (Apple)

Okay so Luanda is nothing like NYC.  I just thought I would use a little of my Portuguese in the title of this entry.

The city of Luanda is difficult to describe.  It isn’t that big, but it is really crowded.  I have been told it is a city built for 600,000 people, but about 6 million people currently live in it so you can imagine the infrastructure problems.  However, Angola will be hosting the 2010 CAN soccer tournament with teams from all over Africa in January.  Hotels, restaurants, parking garages, ect. are being built 24/7.  CAN kind of like the World Cup of Africa and so it is a major event.  Everywhere in cities across Angola they have boards counting down the days until the opening ceremonies.

My apartment is good.  The cable doesn’t work and our cleaner lady got electrocuted on our microwave but she will live.  We have a little bit of a cochroach problem which we all is just ignore.  That is one of the tricks to living in Angola… changing your prospective or simply ignoring things.  Here are some examples based on actual events;

Question:  ”Was that a rat that just ran down the stairs of our office?”
Answer:  ”No.  You didn’t see anything.  There are no rats in Luanda.”

Question:  ”Is that man not wearing pants?”
Answer:  ”No, he just has on tight, skin-toned shorts.”

Question:  ”Is that a worm in my salad?”
Answer:  ”No, it is an Angolan nut.  But I don’t think I feel like trying it today.  I will just push it off my plate.”

However, don’t be fooled.  Angola seriously has a lot going for it.  I camped out at a beach last weekend with about 30 expats.  The beach had big cliffs on both sides and the beached curved in a “U” form inside them.  Good food and good people.  My gym is awesome, but even though it is only two miles from where I work it sometimes takes an hour and a half to drive because of traffic.

Work has been pretty good.  I am working with the oil industry liaison (Leonel) and the marketing and communications coordinator (Wilson).  Both speak English better than me.  However, all of our meetings as a CAE team are conducted in Portuguese.  I understand, on a good day, 10% of what is being said but you would be surprised at how far a smile, eye contact, and altering answers to questions with “sí” (yes) and “mas ou menos” (more or less) can get you.

Okay, no pics today but I will try to post some in the next entry.

 

Last Days In Benguela

Okay so I am a little sad today.  Tomorrow morning I am leaving Benguela for Luanda to start work.  I have a solid group of friends here and I am sad to leave them.  This, plus the fact that my portuguese is still weak, makes me a little apprehensive about moving to a new city.  However, I am excited at the prospects of using my skills to make a difference, no matter how small that difference may be.

Here are some photos…

This is a picture of me, Annaliese, Paulo, and Eric.  This is the first and only time I ever saw Paulo without a long-sleeved shirt or jacket.  Paulo is also a good free-style rapper.

Here is my Angolan family at the beach.  From left to right; Lillyanna with Alexander, my “uncle” Andre, Ines, and Miguel.  Andre, aka Tio, likes to ask random Angolan women if they want to have sex with me.  Of course he does this in Portuguese so I have no idea what he is saying but I am starting to catch on.  His other favorite trick is to tell people I am gay.  He’s in his mid 40s.

This Blog Doesn’t Do My Life Justice

So I only have a week left in Benguela before I head back to Luanda to start my job.  This should be interesting considering I am far from proficient in Portuguese.  I have learned a lot, but am still timid when talking to other people.  By the time I can form the words of what I want to say, the moment to say them is gone and the person(s) I am with are talking about something else.

Here is my typical day, Monday-Saturday:

7:00 – Wake up and take a shower.  I am lucky because my house has an electric heater on the shower head so the water is usually luke warm.  It seems a little dangerous but so is everything else in Angola.  I then drink some coffee and eat fresh bread and butter.  It is a small but filling breakfast.

8:00 – Arrive at school.  It takes me about 20-25 minutes to walk to school.  Usually I am sweating when I arrive because it is warm in the morning.

8:00-9:00 – Finish homework and listen to an MP3 Portuguese lesson.

9:00-11:00 – Have two hour lesson with professor Lindo.  Lindo means “lovely” in Portuguese.  He is very suave but when I mess up he says “Oh me Goad, Tom.  Oh me Goad.” (Oh my God, Tom.  Oh my God).

11:00-12:00 – Read an english book or converse in Portuguese with the workers at the school.  Last week, one of the workers was asked by my friend how our conversation went and she responded with a frown and a shake of her head.  Thanks for the confidence booster Rosa.

12:00-1:30ish – Lesson with Paulo.  Paulo is, at first glance, an intimidating man.  He is large and dresses in long sleeves, pants, and sometimes a jacket.  It is usually in the 80s so I don’t know how he isn’t hot.  He even buttons his shirt all the way to the top.  We read articles in the national paper about how great the Angolan government is…

1:30-2:00 – Lunch.  My lunch always consist of rice, water, and beef/fish.  Sometimes we have baked beans.  By beef I mean pieces of the cow dogs don’t eat and by fish I mean fried fish complete with head and tail.  I am making this meal sound worse than it is because 9/10 times it is actually pretty good.  However, that 1/10 time it makes me have diarrhea.

2:00-4:00 – Homework/Study/Nap

4:00-8:00 – A mixture of doing Portuguese lessons on my computer, drinking Cucas with Miguel outside, and playing Monkey-In-The-Middle with my Portuguese sisters.

8:00 – Dinner.  I am lucky.  I have a mom in the USA who is a great cook and a mom in Angola who is a great cook.  Dinner is always fantastic and different.  In the 4 weeks I have been here dinner has been different every time.

9:00-10:00 – TV.  I watch TV and don’t understand a word of it.  Sometimes I try to get into the Internet.

10:00 – Bed.  Goodnight.

3 Weeks In Angola

It is weird to think I have only been in Angola for three weeks. It seems like I have been here a lot longer than that. At first glance, that may seem like a bad thing but I think it is because every day here is an adventure and I have been working hard studying Portuguese.

I always believed in the cliche motto of the more you put into something the more you get out.  I still firmly believe in it, but sometimes you have to ask yourself about everything that you have to give up for an experience like this. A few days ago I had to tell one of my best friends that I would not be returning to the US for his wedding.  He had asked to be a groomsman and I originally told him I could attend, but now realize that it just isn’t going to work out.  In total I am missing 7 weddings while I am in Angola… 7.  These aren’t weddings of third-cousins or girlfriend’s friends either.  They are weddings of some of my best friends from college and high school.  A lot of people have emailed me of how jealous they are that I am doing this.  I just want to make it clear that its not all fun and games.  Yeah everyday is an adventure, but some of those adventures include bouts of diarrhea and internal frustration.

I did want to include a picture of Alexander (pronounced Alex-shaun-der).  He just got one of those walker-cars and cruises around the house in it.

the man - 8 months old

Pros and Cons

I realized today that I haven’t really talked about my first impressions of Angola.  I have been here a little over 2 weeks now and definitely have somethings I like and some things I don’t.  Here are my top 2 for each that apply to the city of Benguela.

Things I Like
1.  The people.  Easily the best part.  Everyone is polite, open, and extremely friendly.  For instance, I met some one named Matthew during one of my forced Portuguese conversation lessons.  Afterward he asked me for my number and gave me a lift home.  Last week he heard I was sick and stopped by to make sure I was okay.  Before all this I only had one conversation in broken Portuguese with him.  Nobody cares that I am white and American and I rarely get asked for money.

2.  The beaches.  Gorgeous beaches all up and down the coast.  Yes, the beach closest to me does have some trash on it but not enough to take away the happiness effect of living only a 15min walk away.  I hear the best beaches a short drive away so I look forward to checking them out.  The picture attached is the beach located nearhere I live.  It has a regulation volleyball net, but alas, I have no volleyball.

beach 3 mins from my school

Things I Don’t Like
1.  The trash.  There is a lot of trash in Benguela.  This is because Angolans tend to throw their trash on the ground instead of putting it in trashcans which are EVERYWHERE.  Going hand-in-hand with the trash, Angolans also pee where ever and whenever they feel the urge.  I have seen people peeing on the beaches, the roads, and the buildings.  And yes, this “custom” applies to woman too.

2.  Lack of crosswalks.  Benguela has no street lights, not one.  There are about 2 million people in Benguela and the neighboring city of Lobito.  I am a twenty-five minute walk from the school I take Portuguese lessons.  I have to cross about 25-30 streets on my way from home to school.  Dodging cars and teenagers doing wheelies on motorcycles and mopeds got old real quick.  I would not be surprised if I get hit by a car in the next few weeks.  Someone already ran me over with their bicycle.

Swine Flu? Malaria? Nah, just food poisoning.

literally did a backflip off of a roof to get this bird. i had to give it props.

roof-top deck that i study from

I suppose it was just a matter of time but I wasn’t expecting it to happen this early in my Angolan tenure. I got food poisoning two nights ago. I have never had food poisoning before and I hope I never get it again. I think it was the fish I had for lunch but none of my friends got sick and they ate the same thing. I spent the night running to the outside bathroom, alternating between throwing up from my mouth and throwing up from my ass. I used the outside bathroom because the indoor bathroom wasn’t working. Of course I didn’t realize this until after my first diarrhea/puking episode. I have listened to a fair amount of Portuguese language tools but none of them tell you how to say “I shit my pants” or “I think my stomach is trying to kill me”. My house mom, Lillyanna doesn’t speak any English and Miguel, the father, has been bed ridden with some type of lung infection (he is a lot better now) so I couldn’t really tell him. Lillyanna caught on pretty quick though and took good care of me. I am really fortunate to be living in this house because it is very loving. Minhas bonitas keep asking me if I am okay.

Right now I am just exhausted. I am going to sleep until Monday in the hopes that I don’t have anything other than food poisioning. Its unlikely I have malaria but it is still possible I have typhoid or some other weird parasite. On a lighter note I am attaching some pictures. Below is where I study while I am not in class. It is a rooftop deck. A few days ago I was on it watching a cat when all of a sudden it jumped 7ft in the air and snagged a bird.

Benguela

So I have been in Angola for about a week.  Currently I am living with a family in the city of Benguela learning Portuguese.  Learning Portuguese is harder than just about anything I have learned before.  I have only had two days of classes but realize just how much work I am going to have to put into learning it.

Everyone in Benguela is really nice.  Unlike Tanzania, no one asks me to buy their crap or give them money.  They all assume I speak Portuguese and so don’t really try to mess with me.  I am one of only4 Americans in the city – two of the other three being my co-workers who are also studying Portuguese.  Every day I go to the beach for a little which is just like the beaches on the east coast except there are long cliffs in the distance.  It is really beautiful.

My house family is probably the best part of Benguela.  I live with a couple in their late 30s.  They have two daughters whom I call “minhas bonitas” (my beauties) and a newborn son.  For some reason the son, Alexander, seems to like me because he always laughs and smiles when I look at him.  He waved for the first time to me.  Every night I sit on the patio with the father Miguel and drink a few Cucas which are the local beer.

As they say in Angola… Tudo Bem. (All is well.)

Angola and Me

Hi Everyone,

Let me do what all new bloggers do and state that I am not a blogger.  I rarely look at blogs let alone write blogs but, as my current circumstances show, I am always up for new experiences.  In less than 3 days I will be leaving for Angola, Africa for a 1 year assignment.  I am not using this blog to show off how sweet I am and how uncool you are.  Nor am I writing this blog because I think you will live your life vicariously through me, and you will therefore be at the edge of your computer screen each and every week to tune into my “exotic” life.  I am writing this blog for one purpose –  to stay or get back in-touch with friends and family.  However, if you are a random person and just simply want to read my blog to learn what life is like in Angola, more power to you.

Okay, now that I have the purpose of the blog clearly laid out I can move into the body of the blog… Angola.  I am willing to guess that 98% of the 4 people reading this blog have no idea where or what Angola is.  Well my friends neither did I.  When I first heard I might be assigned to this position I said to myself “Great!  Central America!  I always wanted to go there!”  (Did I mention I have already been to Africa and stayed for a month in another country not far away?).  Angola is in fact a country in Africa located on the southern west coast.  Within the past decade, the country finished almost 30 years of civil war and now is the #1 exporter of oil in all of Africa.  I mention oil because my role will largely be to help local Angolan businesses obtain contracts with the foreign and domestic oil companies drilling in the country.  If I can accomplish this, some of the money that foreign oil companies make for drilling and exporting oil from Angola will stay in Angola.  Confused?  Me too.

So I guess the next logical question is why would I want to move to a “country in transition” (we don’t use 3rd World anymore), get paid almost no money, to help people I have never met that should be pissed off at me for growing up in a country that helped prolong a 30 year civil war?  Is it because I am a good person who is going to single handedly save the word?  No.  Is it because this is a great experience that will look good on my resume and land me a 150k job when I am done?  No.  Is it because I am sick of living in my sister’s old bedroom staring at purple-flowered wallpaper?  No.  Okay, maybe it is a little of all those things, but the biggest reason I am moving to Angola is for myself.  I do it to come out a better, or rather a more self-aware person.  I have thought about this job, experience, life-style or whatever you want to call it for almost a year and I can say without a doubt, this (insert) has by far and away the most potential to do that.

See you on the other side of the pond.