Life is indeed fantastic! When you totally least expect, voila a big surprise knocks on your door. That is exactly what Joel and I are living at the moment, right here in Luanda... oh My God Almighty, please hold my heart beating steady, because I truly have the feeling it will "destrambelhar" at any minute (for those who don't understand Portuguese, a poor translation would be, "beat fast, then slow, then normal and immediately fast again and back to very slow and so on".
Joel was invited by an European Steel Trading company to be based in Panama City, overlooking the Latin America market. Although he was enjoying being back in the production side of steel, he is very happy to go back to trading.
When I first heard that the job offer was to be based in Panama, I was a bit scared on what concerns life in a totally unknown (to us) Country, Panama. However, after some days researching about life, facilities, housing and comfort in Panama, we were VERY well impressed. Such a big positive surprise, not to mention the loveliness of the Panamanian people, living round the corner from one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Canal and the easiness of going from beaches on the Pacific to the Caribbean ones in a matter of 2 hours! Our eyes will surely be in terrestrial heaven! Amen amen!
Last Friday was a major day on this new transition (as if we had already finished transitioning from HK to Angola) to Panama. We had to order a stop on our containers that arrived in Namibia on Friday and were due to be re-loaded on a ship here to Angola. For those of you reading here and whose business is not into Ports, you might not know that the port of Luanda has nothing less than a congestion of in average one freaking month to unload and or to load. That means that if our containers did get on that ship to Luanda, they would have to wait for about four weeks to be unloaded here, clear customs, after paying import tax paid, sit and wait somewhere (oops, not so good) and weeks later, clear customs again and be re-loaded onto a ship, eventually reaching Panama City.
Our moving company in HK was not succeeding in getting this stop done... so we had to speak to darling friends in Dubai, R & S T and ask them a big help. He, R, works for a big shipping company and voila, with a Midas touch from the Boss, life was good again and our containers are now in Walvis Bay, Namibia, awaiting for re-routing. Time zone does not help in these circumstances as well as local culture. Friday is the day off in Muslim Countries and Dubai is such a place (of course, it had to be this way, hey?) but dearest R realized our desperate situation and acted as if it were not his day off! Oh man, not enough words in any language to thank you!
I have already started the paper work for Carlota and the good news is that she will be able to enjoy home quarantine in Panama City, big relief!
Monday, 29 June 2009
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Africa through lenses in Angola
Last Sunday, Joel and I went for a Photo Safari. This meant 6 hours driving all the way from our hotel to almost as far as Cape Ledo and back. Yes, yes, exhausting, specially for Joel, who was doing the driving, but totally worth it! We came back really happy with the shots. Carlota was on the back seat, sometimes scaring people who approached the car and saw her "smiling" with her canine tooth sticking out and sometimes sleeping. We also stopped a couple of times, so that madam could stretch her legs and empty her bladder. Great day indeed!
Would you say he is worried with the world crisis?
Bridge over the River Cuanza. According to History, this was the landmark the Gov. guaranteed the residents of Luanda some sort of safety during the war.
Going from where to where?
A fish stand on the road.
The Atlantic ocean seen from the "Moon Lookout"
Villages
Women take their houses on their heads!! Increadible!!
Some fun is good, after all it was a Sunday!
Are they both (top and bottom girls) just too GORGEOUS for words?
So sweet and so diligent, going somewhere.
Thursday, 11 June 2009
P.S.
P.S. from my last entry: my Darling mother read it and reminded me of the real end to the that story I told you of the gorgeous perfect woman on the beach. Thank you mom, how could I have forgotten the very end to that story!?! Here we go.
So, just situating you again,... we were at Leblon's beach, together with the whole 11 million residents of Rio. If Bin Laden had decided to strike any other place of the city on that day, it would have been a total failure, because we were all there at the beach.
Then, that perfect human being, walks by or may be I should say, levitates by, and causes sensation to everybody who sees her, specially a man next to us, who says "as for me I don’t care for religion, skin color, height or political choices, all I care for are the emotions!"
Then.... a few minutes later, a person is seriously drowning out in the sea and life guards in helicopters are called. Again, we have a scene. The helicopter goes out to the sea and when it reaches the person, a basket and a life-guard are taken down by a cable, the drowning person is put into the basket and the life-guard "plugs" him/herself onto the cable and up they come in the air and brought to the sand of the already populated beach, where more life guards and paramedics were ready for action. So, whether or not the person in the basket is your best friend, your worse enemy or just unknown to you, you do stop whatever you are doing to watch it unravel before your eyes.
As the operation is getting to its end, the entire beach is now clapping the life guards and it became a big party and the talk of the moment.
Then, at this very point, what does my neighbour man say?
So, just situating you again,... we were at Leblon's beach, together with the whole 11 million residents of Rio. If Bin Laden had decided to strike any other place of the city on that day, it would have been a total failure, because we were all there at the beach.
Then, that perfect human being, walks by or may be I should say, levitates by, and causes sensation to everybody who sees her, specially a man next to us, who says "as for me I don’t care for religion, skin color, height or political choices, all I care for are the emotions!"
Then.... a few minutes later, a person is seriously drowning out in the sea and life guards in helicopters are called. Again, we have a scene. The helicopter goes out to the sea and when it reaches the person, a basket and a life-guard are taken down by a cable, the drowning person is put into the basket and the life-guard "plugs" him/herself onto the cable and up they come in the air and brought to the sand of the already populated beach, where more life guards and paramedics were ready for action. So, whether or not the person in the basket is your best friend, your worse enemy or just unknown to you, you do stop whatever you are doing to watch it unravel before your eyes.
As the operation is getting to its end, the entire beach is now clapping the life guards and it became a big party and the talk of the moment.
Then, at this very point, what does my neighbour man say?
"Didn't I tell you? It's the emotions that count"!
So, from an anonymous man at the beach in Rio to you,
LIVE YOUR EMOTIONS THOROUGHLY!!!!
Monday, 8 June 2009
Following what is around me, that's cool!
For the past 12 years I've been living abroad - the longest stretch ever in my life away from every day life in Brazil. Other foreign posts were at the most 3 years long. Another way to say this would be: "For the past 12 years I've been part of a minority", which is ok, which is fine, but… after a while, it does get you tired. Here in Angola, I am still a minority, and like in Hong Kong, an obvious one, even before I opened my mouth and words came out in English with an accent. The accent bit also happens here in Angola but I’m experiencing a feeling I didn’t know I was missing.
I can now mingle with the crowd, I can now understand everything that is going on around me… wow, that is awesome!!
In South Africa I was never an enthusiast to learn the Afrikaans, as the language is kind of a dying one, spoken in multi lingual South Africa and Namibia. Then in HK I had 9 years of a constant dilemma. If I learned the very totally hard Cantonese, the language spoken in that part of China, I could only practice it in HK, Shenzhen and Guangzhou (and in most Chinese restaurants around the world, for that matter) and nowhere else. The obvious solution to this would be learning Mandarin, which is what MANY westerns are doing now. They move to Beijing and immerse themselves in learning the language, which is a bit easier than Cantonese, but still a freaking difficult language. Learning Mandarin would be ok when going into China, Singapore, Taiwan, parts of Malaysia, but not in HK as of yet, so there you have… a dilemma I lived for the past 9 years and because of it, I ended up never learning Cantonese or Mandarin.
In terms of getting around and making myself understood in HK, I had no problems at all, as HK, until “recently” a former British colony, is almost completely bilingual, English and Cantonese. However, in fact I did loose a lot, really a lot, not following stories that were happening around me on the streets, busses, trams, wet markets and so on. In South Africa it was the same, the geographical areas where Afrikaans is spoken, I never understood what was being said.
Having said all that, I must add that the fact that Joel, the girls and myself, had this very helpful “shield” called “speaking a language few people spoke in those places”, was good and helpful, I must confess. Here in Angola, Joel and I are having to practice extra care in what we say, because here people DO understand us, LOL!
Of course, along these years, we were caught in big surprises, like the time when the girls had a Cultural Evening at their school, Island School in HK. Joel and I were sitting chatting away just before it started, thank goodness thoroughly behaving in our comments, when this 100% Chinese looking lady, sitting in front of us, turns around and in the most perfect Portuguese asks smiling: “Are you Brazilians too?”
So, back to Luanda…, yesterday at lunch time, I had so much fun, “participating” in the conversation of two Brazilians, sitting next to my table. One of them had this really soft round accent, a typical intellectual accent from Rio. As they were not gossiping, I could follow it. They were talking about their passion for reading books, of how they “dive” into the pages of the books, of how they prefer the books to their versions on screens, of how you become close friends of the character and then… how they like to “save” the last pages of great books, so that they take longer to finish reading it and stay closer to their friends for longer. That is exactly how I feel when a book is good, I read 1 or 2 pages at a time, just to make sure “my friends” stay around for longer, LOL!
I remember another time when I had a good time listening to what was going on next to me. It was a Sunday, a very hot summer Sunday in Rio and we had gone to the beach. We were not the only ones who had chosen to go to the beach that Sunday, I think the 11 million residents of Rio were at the beach in Leblon that Sunday. Next to us, were 2 men and 1 lady and suddenly, out of the blue, this absolutely gorgeous woman, those that resembles a guitar way more than a guitar resembles a guitar, gorgeous soft skin, spectacular skin color of a mixed race lady and as we were in a beach, she was wearing a bikini only. She knew she was gorgeous, actually way more than gorgeous, she was perfect! So, this woman walks pasts us and one of the man next to us, stops talking and just looks at the goddess, his jaws dropped, he didn’t blink… I guess, he probably thought he was in some sort of terrestrial paradise… at this drooling point, the woman accompanying him says:
- “hey Pedro, respect me, I am here, right next to you”.
To which he replies, still drooling in the most soft voice ever,
- “as for me I don’t care for religion, skin color, height or political choices, all I care for are the emotions!"
So here you go, don’t do like I did. Do your best to learn the local language of where your living home is, making your experience in that place so much richer. I believe that learning and living the little details of a society, understanding street life makes life much more thrilling!
I can now mingle with the crowd, I can now understand everything that is going on around me… wow, that is awesome!!
In South Africa I was never an enthusiast to learn the Afrikaans, as the language is kind of a dying one, spoken in multi lingual South Africa and Namibia. Then in HK I had 9 years of a constant dilemma. If I learned the very totally hard Cantonese, the language spoken in that part of China, I could only practice it in HK, Shenzhen and Guangzhou (and in most Chinese restaurants around the world, for that matter) and nowhere else. The obvious solution to this would be learning Mandarin, which is what MANY westerns are doing now. They move to Beijing and immerse themselves in learning the language, which is a bit easier than Cantonese, but still a freaking difficult language. Learning Mandarin would be ok when going into China, Singapore, Taiwan, parts of Malaysia, but not in HK as of yet, so there you have… a dilemma I lived for the past 9 years and because of it, I ended up never learning Cantonese or Mandarin.
In terms of getting around and making myself understood in HK, I had no problems at all, as HK, until “recently” a former British colony, is almost completely bilingual, English and Cantonese. However, in fact I did loose a lot, really a lot, not following stories that were happening around me on the streets, busses, trams, wet markets and so on. In South Africa it was the same, the geographical areas where Afrikaans is spoken, I never understood what was being said.
Having said all that, I must add that the fact that Joel, the girls and myself, had this very helpful “shield” called “speaking a language few people spoke in those places”, was good and helpful, I must confess. Here in Angola, Joel and I are having to practice extra care in what we say, because here people DO understand us, LOL!
Of course, along these years, we were caught in big surprises, like the time when the girls had a Cultural Evening at their school, Island School in HK. Joel and I were sitting chatting away just before it started, thank goodness thoroughly behaving in our comments, when this 100% Chinese looking lady, sitting in front of us, turns around and in the most perfect Portuguese asks smiling: “Are you Brazilians too?”
So, back to Luanda…, yesterday at lunch time, I had so much fun, “participating” in the conversation of two Brazilians, sitting next to my table. One of them had this really soft round accent, a typical intellectual accent from Rio. As they were not gossiping, I could follow it. They were talking about their passion for reading books, of how they “dive” into the pages of the books, of how they prefer the books to their versions on screens, of how you become close friends of the character and then… how they like to “save” the last pages of great books, so that they take longer to finish reading it and stay closer to their friends for longer. That is exactly how I feel when a book is good, I read 1 or 2 pages at a time, just to make sure “my friends” stay around for longer, LOL!
I remember another time when I had a good time listening to what was going on next to me. It was a Sunday, a very hot summer Sunday in Rio and we had gone to the beach. We were not the only ones who had chosen to go to the beach that Sunday, I think the 11 million residents of Rio were at the beach in Leblon that Sunday. Next to us, were 2 men and 1 lady and suddenly, out of the blue, this absolutely gorgeous woman, those that resembles a guitar way more than a guitar resembles a guitar, gorgeous soft skin, spectacular skin color of a mixed race lady and as we were in a beach, she was wearing a bikini only. She knew she was gorgeous, actually way more than gorgeous, she was perfect! So, this woman walks pasts us and one of the man next to us, stops talking and just looks at the goddess, his jaws dropped, he didn’t blink… I guess, he probably thought he was in some sort of terrestrial paradise… at this drooling point, the woman accompanying him says:
- “hey Pedro, respect me, I am here, right next to you”.
To which he replies, still drooling in the most soft voice ever,
- “as for me I don’t care for religion, skin color, height or political choices, all I care for are the emotions!"
So here you go, don’t do like I did. Do your best to learn the local language of where your living home is, making your experience in that place so much richer. I believe that learning and living the little details of a society, understanding street life makes life much more thrilling!
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
A weekend meeting new people and going to new places, oba!!
This weekend was again, a long one here in Angola, which for us meant Joel not working and a break in our routine. Oba!!On Sunday, we were invited for lunch by Bere, one of our new friends. She is one of the dear people who offered us her place on that confused very first day we arrived. It was a beautiful sunny day and she suggested us to take swimming stuff to spend sometime in the pool and so it was. So, off we went and had a great day. We also met 5 other friends she also invited and the chat was fun and full of good info for our new life here in Luanda.
As we are in Africa and as she in a complex of houses only, one could see some animals that chill out in the complex as true embellishments… such a novelty for me, I must add, and I loved the idea of using local resources for decoration rather than imported resources… how cool is that?
Again, a language story… in Brazilian Portuguese. this chicken is called “Galinha de Angola” or Angolan chicken, but here, in Angola, it’s called “Galinha do Mato” or bush chicken!That reminded me of the time we visited gorgeous and fabulous Vietnam. There I learned that the war we refer to as “The Vietnam War” in Vietnam it’s called “The American War”! I love when in life, I bump into these situations of a very different point of view about the same thing.
Anyway, coming back to our wonderful weekend in Luanda. Early Monday morning saw us heading to beautiful Cape Ledo, situated about 2 hours South of Luanda. We were invited to go by 3 dear people, Bernardo a friend from Hong Kong who is visiting his sister and brother in law who live here in Luanda. The weather was again gorgeous, the chat was also good and it was specially awesome to hear fresh news from HK.
Carlota, a surfer dog??
It was Carlota’s first time ever at a beach. She has already been to a swimming pool, a dam and streams, but never to beaches. She loved it, reeeeaaally loved it and barked when one of us disappeared in the waves… may be worried she was missing one on her pack? So cute, I must confess. She was totally exhausted on Tuesday, oba, it gave me a break in keeping her not bored, LOL!!
And last but not least at all... guess what is Joana's hobby? Scrapbooking, of course! I could not believe when she told us how she loves to print and make albums ... wow, her words were to my soul like Beethoven is to my ears!! 
Remember I mentioned this area is really windy?Friday, 29 May 2009
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!
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!
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
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!
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