Portuguese, this beautiful language of Luis de Camões.

Ok, so all of you reading this or at least , most of you, know that as a Brazilian that I'm, I am fluent in Portuguese. If you remember your History classes back at school, you will remember, that the Portuguese were FANTASTIC admirals and sailed the seas triumphantly when the planet being flat was still a possibility.

Portuguese colonies were established in Africa earlier and in Asia a couple of decades later than Brazil, which was in April 1500. Portuguese people went to all these colonies around the world to secure their sovereignty. Of course, as expected and as it has indeed happened with all European colonies everywhere, the accent and a couple of expressions turned out to be different from those in the Mother Country. With us, Portuguese and Brazilians, it wasn't any different.

Ok, so all this long story to share with you the funny experience we've been living lately. For some unknown reason or may be for lack of opportunities, I have never had any close friend from any Portuguese speaking country, other than Brazil, of course. Therefore my experience with the other accents is poor, just more on a social level than anything else. I remember one of my brothers had a friend in college who was from Angola. Together with his mother, they ran to Brazil after his father had disappeared during the civil war here. Also, Alice had a school friend from Angola who we car pooled with, when we lived in Johannesburg.

So, here we are now, living in Luanda, a former Portuguese colony, therefore a Portuguese speaking place. As expected, their accent is different from the original, in Portugal, the Portuguese spoken by Camões. Here, I can understand them almost ok, with no problems at all. Of course, we were both colonies, so we understand each other well, right?

However, with the Portuguese people here in Luanda, my ears have to be full on, completely attentive and not paying attention to anything else, but to the speaker. Joel's boss is a true Portuguese man and speaking to him requires a couple of "sorry, what did you say?" In the English speaking world, I guess it'd be like a real Scottish speaking to a true Texan...

One of the blogs I follow, is written by a sweet young lady and her husband, both from Portugal, who have recently moved to Luanda too. Their blog is in Portuguese and as I read it, I "travel" in time, remembering my days at the archives researching old Portuguese documents that were several hundred years old. It's a delight! However, yesterday, I had to write her and ask for some help in understanding a sentence she wrote. It was all cleared up when she wrote back, saying that "sabe a mel", translating literally, "knows the honey" (honey as in the syrup not as in Darling) means "it's great"/ "it's excellent", LOL!

But, the very best, really the very best, was listening for the 1st time ever in my life, a Portuguese person (Joel's boss) imitating a Brazilian from Rio, a Carioca, speaking Portuguese. I really rolled on the floor in a big fat laughter. I have always heard the opposite, us imitating them, not them imitating us. It was great fun!

A long weekend in Luanda

Joel at the entrance to our suite and the one behind him is to our bedroom.

Carlota guarding our door, LOL!

Yesterday, Monday 25th, was Africa Day, therefore a big holiday here in Angola. Not so sure if it's a general African holiday or if it's more of a local celebration, but either way, it meant Joel was home (AKA as our hotel suite) for 3 days. Oba, that is good and changes the routine.

The weather was FABULOUS... oh I didn't know I missed so much this African sky and color! In addition to this fabulous weather, here in Luanda we have a breeze, the wind is constantly blowing, if not for the 12 months, at least for the month of May, so yesterday we had sun, strong sun let em add, with constant breeze and good shades. Of course, I am all happy reporting about this fabulous weather because we are just starting the dry season... which Joel's driver, very cutely calls "The Cold Weather". Honestly, clearly, Junior, the driver, and myself, have a different definition of "cold weather", because how can you ever use the words "cold weather" when you are at sea level, 17 degrees South of the Equator??

On Saturday we went into town to get food for madam Carlota and straight after to Talatona, the area where we are trying to get a house. We finalized the day with a quick visit to one of our new friends. At this friend's recommendation, on the way back home, we stopped at a shop to buy some "pastéis", a delicious Brazilian pastry that I believe we inherited from the outstanding Portuguese cuisine, not so sure here. But whether or not we inherited it from the Portuguese, it's delicious. I prefer the ones stuffed with cheese but the shop only had beef , so beef it was!

Sunday brought Joel his first, and I deeply pray it's the very only one, traffic accident in Angola. Really small with NO physical consequence for either sides, but a pain. He was alone in his car and it was his own fault - he hit what the locals call a "taxi", (9-seater vans with NO maintenance nor a single tyre in decent shape, loaded with up to 14 passengers with a driver and an assistant that take people back and forth in the city, at a crazy speed). Joel stayed inside his car with a bunch of locals coming out of the "taxi" to see and discuss the damage. Joel's mind was immediately inundated with thoughts like: call the police or settle right here? Who to call for help? Do I need any outside help or not really? Do I have enough money to pay the taxi's damage on me right now? Good news is that the other driver was also keen to settle it right there, Joel had enough cash on him - most likely overpaid for the damage but was very happy to do so and leave the scene as quickly as possible. Poor man, not a nightmare but not cool either... we guess it's one of those things that happens as soon as you arrive into a new place, like strange noises you hear and then the noises never come back again. Have you had a situation like that?

Late afternoon by the pool

Anyway, the rest of Sunday and Monday took place here at the hotel, but with Joel here and Carlota already used as this being her new home sweet home, we were able to have lunch and dinner together at the restaurant of the hotel, rather than room service. Also, Joel very sweetly, made sure I broke my routine, by dog sitting while I went to the gym (not so cool, LOL) and went to the shady area of the pool for some reading. I surely don't understand anything about the right place to build a hotel... this hotel here is in an ugly part of town, has over 140 horizontal type rooms, is constantly full or almost full, guests always have that business look, one can hear various languages as English, different accents of Portuguese, French, German, Russian... lucky owner who didn't ask my opinion if this would be the correct location for his hotel, LOL!

Ok, so Luanda does not offer us a life as we knew it, but there is good and evident hope for some peaceful and very friendly life! Amen to that!

Happy Birthday to my Darling Joel!

Fancy the heat?

Happy Birthday Joel!

Joel's birthday was last Sunday. The first birthday in Luanda, one never forgets, LOL! It was a glorious day. That typical beautiful African sky was out for him... yes yes yes... this beautiful sky does come with considerable heat, but nothing that a good air conditioner doesn't help.

As you know, we are living days of some social restrictions, due to the fact that Carlota has to go everywhere with us... because we never know what kind of traffic is ahead waiting for us therefore never know for how long we will be away from the hotel. So in order to avoid more stress than we already have, we had to celebrate it more humbly, e.g., with Carlota on board.

We got the car and drove downtown and rode really slowly along the street by the beaches of Luanda Island. After that, we drove to Talatona, the area where we want to live. It was actually quite a good idea. We went for some field trips and ended up, may be, perhaps, who knows, finding ourselves a house. It isn't finished yet, but it should be ready by Aug 1st. Oh... we are so hoping it works out, let's see.

Anyway, as we were in Talatona, Joel, my dear birthday boy, remembered that inside Belas Shopping Mall, there is a "Bob's", a Brazilian fast food chain that takes him back to his teen days... so there we went. However, as we had madam with us, Joel went in, got us our lunch and went back to enjoy it in the car.

This year's celebration was quite different from last year's, when we celebrated it in great style, in Madrid, but quite frankly, not a big drama because although we are talking about a birthday lunch's menu based on Bob's sandwiches eaten inside a car, it had a story to it, it had a context to it... it had its own dramatic reasons, not to mention, a good story to tell future generations, around a fireplace, right?

Atlas and Carlota, 1st atempt

Joel and Carlota going for their walk

Attempts for canine bonding

Atlas at home
Angela and Jorge, Atlas' parents, very kindly invited us to go to their place on Saturday, late afternoon. They not only invited us humans, as well as Carlota to meet Atlas. Joel and Alice got into planning on how to obtain the best result out of this meeting and it was a general consensus, that I should not be present, so that "adorable" Carlota would not "protect" me and therefore spoil the whole canine friendship.

Angela and I decided the meeting would start on the waterfront near their place, in other words, neutral territory and then, together we would walk to their place. Joel and I got there a bit earlier and when we saw them coming, I hid myself behind a something, may be an old coconut shack, don't know. Joel took Carlota for a walk and eventually Angela, Jorge and Atlas joined them.

Atlas, a gorgeous big healthy and very bubbly 1.5 year old boxer, wanted to go and play with Carlota immediately and by playing he meant a lot of "canine hugs". Carlota, being Carlota, decided to ignore him and succeeded almost entirely, except for 2 or 3 attempts in jumping back at him, one of them reaching for his ear.

Ok, it wasn't exactly what we had hoped for, but there is still hope that it will work, let's see... we will up date you!

Leaving HK

Hello readers.
Since I last posted, SO MUCH has happened that I will have 3 separated entries, otherwise it will be a very long entry and you will certainly get lost.

The packers left our old flat on Thursday, May 7th and after handing back the keys to the landlord, Joel, Carlota, myself, 8 pieces of luggage + Carlota’s huge box, headed to our very dear Appel’s flat, to spend the last 3 days of what we knew as our HK days. The 4 Appels were coming back from 10 days in NY on that very same Thursday. As if that was not enough, they also had to send their 2 cats to dear Gail, so that Carlota could come in, can you believe it? Wow, gorgeous friends they are! All this hustle is due to the fact that we were not able to find a hotel/serviced flat that could take a dog and charge by the day rather than monthly.

On Thursday night, we went for the last time to our Small Group and after many hugs, tears and prayers, we went to bed totally completely exhausted but very happy because one more step had been accomplished.

Friday went by quickly, with Joel and I doing last minute errands and Alpha, our helper, taking good care of Carlota, who was happy to be in a new environment, but not so sure with it all. One of the errands I had to run, was to meet the photographer to get the pictures from our farewell party. They came out PERFECT and we are so glad we invested in a professional photographer, because she managed to include everybody who went and the best is that all friends are looking great in the pics!

Than on Saturday, I had decided to have a “ME Myself and I” day. So, in preparation for that, I had early bookings with my manicure and a massage at the Four Seasons SPA (one of the wonderful gifts I got for my 50’s). It was actually great, because their massage rooms face HK’s beautiful harbour, so it was THE perfect way to close a life of 9 years of Asian massages. Loved it! After the massage, went to the hair dresser and had my hair done. Again, another good bye, because the head massage the hair dressers do on you in HK are amazingly delicious! After I was done, went for a stroll in the streets of Central, walking here and there, taking the escalator for one last time, in no hurry, just flavoring Central, this area that had been part of my every day life for the last 9 years. Had lunch at a pub in Wyndham St and went back to the Appels at around 5 PM. During the day, I received warm “bon voyage” SMSs from dear friends from my scrapbooking group. Thank you girls!

Saturday night came and that was an amazing night. The Appels, very graciously, had invited 3 other families, very close to us all for some drinks after dinner for a last hug, kiss and prayers. They all came with their marvelous children and we had plenty of time to laugh, chat, cry, hug and best of all, to pray. They sent us off after each of them prayed for the different aspects of our life here in Luanda. Awesome awesome awesome. Thank you! We love you all!

2 Days in my life, May 10th and 11th, 2009

Sunday, May 10th
What can I say about the emotions and adrenaline of these 2 days? Don’t know… don’t know…

Sunday morning, the alarm clock went off early, as James, the driver (of course, what other name could a Chinese driver have?) was coming to pick us up at 9:30. But then, as soon as Joel and I got up, Carlota heard us and came out of her box and then… her eyes… what had happened to her eyes??? One was more or less normal, but the other was definitely weird, kind of half opened half closed. The part that was opened, was not ok. Instead of showing her entire eye, it showed half white half black with some bits that usually are not visible… very strange! Carlota was looking at us with a “help me” kind of look! She was still happy and bouncing after one of the Appels kids, but for sure not herself. I then gave her breakfast. She ate it and 5 minutes later, vomits it all! Oh Lord, did we really need that?

After many calls to the vet (our vet was out, of course, so we were talking to a different vet), we decided to change the plans:
- I would go to the vet with Carlota by taxi
- Joel would go to the airport with James and the many pieces of our luggage
- Angela, the lady from Aeropet who was doing Carlota’s exportation, was to meet us at the vet and then take us to the airport in her car.

Funny, how life is… I spent 9 years avoiding at all costs taking Carlota on a taxi ride just because it would be a pain having to hold her not going for the driver the whole ride. Then, what does life reserve for my very last hour in HK? A taxi ride with Carlota!

I got to the clinic, (that opened 1.30 hour earlier than they usually do on Sundays) and the doctor was already there as well as Angela. He examined Carlota, who of course by then had her eyes partially better, and calmly, explained me that Carlota had an allergy and conjunctivitis. He then went on to say he was giving her an antihistamine injection and some eye drops. When he said the word “antihistamine” I panicked because Carlota was not being sedated for both flights on purpose and antihistamine does make us very sleepy. I then was doing my very best (but probably failed) to question the vet, if Carlota should really take that injection, due to her travelling status in a few hours. He very kindly and VERY patiently, explained me that sedating a dog and giving an antihistamine injection were two different things and that the injection was what Carlota was needing in that moment. So injection it was!

Angela, Carlota and I got the airport to meet Joel who had already started doing our check in. Carlota already in her box, barking her lungs off to make sure everybody knew she was cruelly locked in there. Check in took much longer than we anticipated and after paying excess luggage and sending Carlota off, Joel and I were totally, completely and absolutely exhausted, emotionally drained and ready to board and fall into our seats.


In the midst of all the confusion and barking during check in, I spotted Lufthansa’s crew that was flying us to FRAnkfurt and out of the blue had a thought and went for it.

While Joel was checking us in, I was at the other end of the aisle, checking Carlota in, when I looked up and saw the crew, grouped together waiting for something. I Left Carlota and Angela behind for a second, and walked towards them and stopped by a male crew member, who had some stripes on his sleeve and said:

Odila: good morning, I presume you are the crew heading to Frankfurt in an hour, right?
Male crew: good morning. Yes, sure, we are.
Odila: ok, so I would like to ask you something.
Male crew with a smile: go ahead.
Odila: besides my husband and I, you will also be taking a very precious cargo, our dog. Can you hear her barking?
Male crew smiling: yes, I can
Odila: so there you are, she is very precious and so I would like to tell you that we have chosen to fly Lufthansa because we heard the animal center in FRA was amazing and that we knew the Germans do it best but for all that, I have to ask you to please not shake the plane at all during the flight.

By this time, I had the entire crew listening to the conversation, which was my aim. One of them had to be the captain I thought and I wanted to be sure he knew she was on board too, just to avoid, may be who knows, him forgetting to turn on the right conditions for the animal down below, LOL!

Anyway, after my absurd request, we got into a quick and funny conversation about plane shaking and a female crew member joined in to say that I was not to worry, because everything was going to be ok and that she had been flying for over 20 years and had never heard of anything going wrong for animals flying on their wings. Good good, that is what I needed to hear. By now we were all old childhood friends, therefore, life was beautiful.

A few minutes later, Joel and I were greeted by them in the plane as old friends and that was a relaxing sensation. During the flight, that same female crew member came to tell us that the captain had sent us a message: “Carlota was the only animal on board, therefore we could choose a good temperature for her.” That was the best! Just before landing in FRA, we received a telex from their ground staff with the location where we were to meet Carlota. She was VERY happy to see us again and of course, barked all the way until we got outside and took her out. We had 1 hour for a walk, pee, clean her box, give her water and re-check her in and so it was!

When Joel and I were getting settled in our seats for the second leg, the stewardess came to let us know our dog was already on board. Amen!

Monday, May 11th, 2009

Joel collecting Carlota on the luggage belt in Luanda.

NOTHING TO DECLARE for Carlota!

Waiting for Teixeira to arrive and pick us up at the airport.

Carlota, luggage and Joel at our almost home sweet home.

Indeed dear readers, these 2 days were a test for our hearts, cold blood, fast thinking and immediate actions. Wow, I was VERY glad when the sun came up on Tuesday! I was glad to see these 2 days gone, gone gone forever!

Anyway, the trip from FRA to Luanda was fine, uneventful and we landed here ½ hour earlier than planned. Joel and I went through immigration quick and easy and I was happy to see already some changes at the airport. Way many more trolleys than in January. We were able to get hold of 3 of them, yyeeaaappyy!

The suitcases started coming out from the carrousel and, voila… with a “priority tag” madam Carlota shows up on the belt, how sweet! Joel got her out and again, she was ever so happy to see us and off she went showing her barking skills. Joel than called the person who was to meet us and clear Carlota’s customs only to find out that he was not there yet. So, in his absence, another person was used. We walked towards customs and as we approached the officer, he asked for Carlota’s papers, went through them and said:
- ok, all good, welcome to Angola. She can go through “Nothing to declare”, but
the luggage has to go through x-ray and opened.

Ok, not a big deal, we had only 8 pieces of luggage to be x rayed and opened… Joel went to the x-ray area and I went through the “green” with madam, who by then had made sure EVERY single soul in that airport knew she had arrived. Half way through the opening suitcase ordeal, the person who was to clear Carlota arrived,… thanks but too late sir! When Joel was done, we walked out together, only to find out that the driver was not there waiting for us. Oh how wonderful, after more than 24 hours on the go, with a non stop barking dog, 5:30 AM and no driver… so exciting that I don’t even know how to describe it!

After quite a few phone calls, Joel managed to speak to Teixeira, the driver, who says he was told we arrived at 7:30 AM and that he was still ½ hour away from the airport. Due to the wait, I decided to get Carlota out of her box and took her for some pee, walk and relief!

Teixeira, arrived with a Toyota Prado and… after loading the car, we managed to find some inches left for the 3 of us to sit on. Carlota went in between Joel’s leg. Poor Teixeira was terrified of Carlota!

We were taken to the serviced house we were to stay in the south part of Luanda. As we didn’t have the keys yet, Joel called the manager once we got to their gate, to find out he was also expecting us at 7:30. But not to worry, he told us the number of our house and told us he lived close by and was coming soon to deliver us the keys. We then found our new home, unloaded the car and dismissed Teixeira. The plan was to have the car back around 3 PM to take Joel to a supermarket. Carlota happily investigated all the grass around our house and quickly made her self at home. That was a good feeling, as a happy dog, makes happy owners.

Half an hour later, the manager arrives and with a very sweet and polite face asks if the dog was staying with us and after our positive reply he, very politely, tell us that it wouldn’t be possible, as they didn’t take animals in their houses. Ouch, that was like an iceberg melting on top of us. It just couldn’t be for real!!

Joel called Teixeira back, but by then he was gone for an hour which meant taking about 1:30 hour to meet us again, due to traffic.

There we were, sitting on the ground, homeless, surrounded by our luggage, exhausted, desperately needing a shower, clean summer clothes and with the morning equatorial sun hitting on us! The Historian in me, just could not stop thinking that the 3 of us looked just like true immigrants, carrying their most valuable and loved belongings which included the family dog, LOL!

Alice called us right at this moment and as always, she was a tsunami of sunshine and help. Together, we combed the possibilities and had a strategy in place. I called 2 friends we have in Luanda (Joel’s boss was in Madrid) and by “friend” I mean:
- a lady who is the daughter of the lady who is the god mother to my sister in law’s best friend in Rio. We've exchanged some emails and Joel had dinner with her while in Luanda in March and
- a lady who also owns a boxer here in Luanda, who I exchanged some emails with just before leaving HK.
They were both Spectacular, with capital “S”, and immediately said that we could stay with them. But honestly, tell me, how embarrassing is that? How can you parachute with all that luggage, a dog with her house into someone’s home, when you hardly know these people?? Anyway, the idea of our call wasn’t to ask for a place to stay, but to ask for some tips, where we could go that would accept Carlota.

Making a VERY long and VERY frustrating day short, at 3:45 PM, we were accepted at the hotel near Joel’s plant. The situation here is not ideal at all, but it became ideal, as it’s the only one we have. The hotel is fine with a rich menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but it’s not only located in a very ugly part of town, as it’s 2 hours away from where we are looking for houses and also, we kind of have to hide Carlota. It’s a horizontal type of hotel and they gave us a very suitable suite with 2 rooms. Loads of grass right in front of our room, so Carlota’s business are easily done.

Life, life, life…, life is certainly MUCH better and flows smoother with these angels, also called FRIENDS, we find in life. A big fat THANK YOU to you both, Hong Kongers and Luandenses. What a difference you made to these horrendous two days we had! Alice, many thanks goes to you too, for managing through so many phone calls all the way from Bristol, to bring ideas and solutions to our chaos. Love you all!

Carlota already has a boy friend!

Can you believe this? We have not even landed in Luanda and Carlota already has "Atlas" waiting for her... how about that?

My dear friend Vanessa, who lives here in HK has 4 friends in Luanda (honestly, how can someone have friends in Luanda and not 1 but 4, I don't know, but Vanessa has and we are very happy she does) and very kindly, she gave me these friends' emails. I then wrote them to say hi. They replied and one of them said that she also has a dog, a male boxer from Portugal, called Atlas, 1.5 year old. Of course I could not hold my excitement and gave her a call. After a short chat, I found out that Atlas goes to the same vet as Carlota will and that he is a gorgeous bouncy chap. Oba, looking forward for this encounter, LOL!

They are here!!

Before

and after

Wow, they are here, the packers have arrived and it's now for real, we are indeed moving and leaving HK! Our private tsunami has started! John To, this sweet and smiley Chinese man, the supervisor for our move, has named all rooms according to the way we call them, so that boxes can go to their new spots on the other side. Carlota, of course, wants to be part of everything going on in the flat and therefore wants to thoroughly participate of every box being packed... never mind, it has always been like that... the 1st day is a bit chaotic for her!!

An interesting common thing that all the countries Joel and I have moved to have: in a way, they are all "new" countries. We moved to South Africa in 1997 and dearest Nelson Mandela had been voted president just 3 years earlier, after 46 years of intense Apartheid. Then we moved to Hong Kong in the year 2000 and again, HK had been handed over to China only 3 years before we arrived and was experiencing, after a long colonial time under the Brits, the adventure from being a non colonial country to being part of blooming communist China. And now, we are moving to post war Angola, once again, a "new" country in the sense that after 27 years of war, all they want is to leave it behind and re-build their beautiful country! Must say that it's kind of exciting, not to say completely exciting to be part of a joint effort of re-building a country!

Wish us luck and may God bless us!

Coincidence or Godincidence?

So, in our long "to do" list, today was a packing day, where we would pack for the 4 months it will take us (or so we think) to see our boxes again. However, because the night was not well slept I ended up sleeping up until 10 AM. Then, when I woke up, I went to help Joel, to re-do our insurance list, because the lady from the moving company had pointed out some blanks we had left. These two things, delayed considerably my packing start.

Must say that counting with precision the number of knives, baking trays and underwear I have is not my dream, but apparently insurance companies are imposing new policies and off we were detailing our insurance list.

Due to all the above, I was only able to go into my room for packing much later, way later than planned, but never mind, at least the day today, was in line with this move, where nothing, absolutely nothing, I mean NOTHING has been smooth. We are having glitches in every aspect of the move. I mean, EVERY ASPECT of this move. Everybody is being very kind and polite with it all but nobody has ever been part a move to Angola, including us. No dogs have ever gone from Asia to Angola, at least not in recent recorded history, Alice & David could not come for the farewell party, the vet has never sent an animal to Angola, Joel's company has never sent a family to Angola, a melanoma was found in me and I had to go for 2 minor operations and so on... we are being guinea pigs and my friends, I tell you, you soon learn to add a considerable number of extra hours to have anything decided/ finalized!!

Concerning our travel itinerary from HK to Luanda, we are already in our plan C, i.e. our third itinerary. The first and quickest would be via Johannesburg, but going through South Africa meant Carlota would stay 28 hours in her box, leaving it just for a quick pee and poo. Then, itinerary # 2 was via London. Everything was ready for us to fly via Heathrow, including Alice spending the 12 hours of connection there with us, when we learned British Airways does not take boxers in their flights. So now, we are flying via Frankfurt and praying that the 1st leg, HK/ Frankfurt, does not delay, because we will have only 2.5 hours in Frankfurt to go through customs, meet Carlota, take her for a pee and poo and deliver her back for the second leg, Frankfurt/ Luanda. I'll tell you later how the connection went.

Anyway, going back to my packing... so there I was, in my room, looking at my closet with that "I want my mother" type of look... seriously not knowing what to pack and what to leave for the packers. To break my despair, I decided to turn on CNN to update myself a bit. I haven't been able to hear news and therefore am a bit un-knowledgeable on recent facts. About 10 minutes after I turned on the TV, CNN had a commercial break and voila... a beautiful advertisement on Angola never seen before nor after (CNN is still on, I want to see the add again)! I just couldn't believe and of course my eyes were filled with tears. What a positive support it was coming to me at the very right minute... coincidence or Godincidence?