Inspiring Sabbath

Today was a good Sabbath. You guys have heard me talk about my cousin Eugenia (Junior's and Tina's mom... remember Junior? The one I have a hard time taking pictures of/with? lol), well her husband's name is Nito, and he was the guest preacher at one of the biggest churches in Luanda today. Eugenia and Tina are in Brazil (ugh, I wish I'd gone with them!) for the next couple of weeks so Nito and Junior came to pick me up to go to church where we met up with the rest of the family. Anyhow, so the service was nice (I usually really enjoy service at that church... if only it wasn't so far!!!) and then for the sermon, which was about total surrender to God and not letting the cares of this world overwhelm you, he gave his testimony. I didn't know this story at all, because he rarely talks about it. As a matter of fact, his older brother, who was also there today, didn't even know the full story...

During the wartime, when he was 10 yrs old, him and his little brother got kidnapped by the rebel army and taken away from their family and hometown deep into the jungles where the rebel army camped out. At first, although they were scared and lost, they stuck together so as to feel a little bit better about their situation. But later on, the soldiers decided to separate them and they sent the little one away to some other camp. I didn't fully understand what the purpose was for taking them, but I know that the rebel army would take boys to brainwash and to train them to become part of their forces and they would become little robots fighting for a cause they didn't even understand, just losing their childhood overnight. Maybe that was the case in this instance too. Anyways, to make the long story short... the boys were separated from each other for 4 months, then each of them were led to believe that the other one was dead, and then later through a series of circumstances the little brother was brought back to the camp where the older brother (Nito) was staying, at which time they ran away from the camp and walked aimlessly through the forest with no food and water for several days until they stumbled upon a village where a family took them in and hid them. They then were able to send word to their hometown to tell the parents that the kids were found and alive and well. The dad then walked 250 kilometers (155 miles) in the midst of a warzone to go pick up the boys. When they were finally reunited, all three of them took to walking the way back home, a journey that would require them to walk through the forest at night, and hide out in villages during the day. They knew the rebel army was searching for them and they had control of that whole region so it was extremely dangerous... so fast forward a bit, and they ended up falling back into rebel hands, but in the scuffle the two boys were able to get away, while the dad was captured and tortured for several days. The youngest boy ended up hiding in the thick of the forest a few yards from the rebel army campout, so he witnessed his father being tortured. He said that he was so close to the camp that when they threw out the dirty dishwater, it would land on him. But he couldn't move a muscle, or sneeze, or cough, or anything, because it would mean certain death. The oldest boy was able to run to a nearby village and hide out there while waiting for news about the other two. Anyways so the miracle took place when one of the generals of the rebel army touring through the campsites found the captured father and recognized him as the local pastor of his hometown (he was an SDA Pastor, I forgot to mention)... he ordered that he be immediately released and told his men not to bother him anymore. He reunited with his boys, and they walked the rest of the way home.
Nito told this story in tears and mentioned how the scars of that torture stayed with his father until the day he died, and how it always reminded him how things that happen to God's faithful servants are never coincidence, but always Providence. It was such a touching and beautiful testimony. During the appeal, I played Que Te Dare Maestro, which I think has some of the most inspired words in the hymnal. It was one of those goose bump rising moments for sure...

Anyways so then we got invited to lunch at Nelson's house (the littlest boy in the story), whose wife is a new and entusiastic vegetarian with a passion for cooking so the food was off the chain and completely vegetarian which I loved! At lunch, I met a lady who had been invited to church by Nelson's wife, who is also a survivor of a crazy story. I don't know much detail because she didn't go too much into it, but basically her father was a witch (can a male be a witch? or is he called a wizard? I don't even know...) and she showed us the scars from where her father had slit her wrists and stabbed her thighs as a sacrifice to the devil when she was a little girl...
She survived and she is now seeking the Lord.

Anyways, it was definitely a Sabbath full of extraordinary testimonies and I'm just amazed at how God looks after His people. I'm so inspired to pray more, to trust Him more, and to cast all my cares upon Him, for He is good... oh so good.

Howdy!

Aha! Con que pensaron que ya me habia desaparecido eh??? No contaban con mi astucia! hahahaha

Ok so this is just a quick post to say LOOK AT MY NEW BLOG LAYOUT! Ain't it purrttyyy?!?! lol
I will start putting more time and energy into the blog like I used to, and the makeover is just a little taste of the great things to come! Thanks for sticking around! I'll post more soon :)

5/30 Days of Elisa

Here's a picture of something I hate:


Doing the dishes!!! I absolutely HATE doing the dishes!! It's always a nightmare to me... ugh... it takes everything I've got to muster the courange and energy to face those dishes that seem to materialize every time I blink... they're soooo annoying! I've hated doing it since I had to do my chores as a little girl, and when my sister and I had to divide the chores of the household I'd negotiate with her to take on other tasks of hers in exchange for her doing the dishes instead of me. I just can't stand it! I don't even know what it is about it that I dislike so much, because it's not even an exhausting task or anything... but it's just annoying to me! hahaha
I could whine about it forever but the fact is, I just have to face the fact that I'm going to have to wash dishes for the rest of my life... or at least until I have some offspring old enough to take over the household chores!

4/30 Days of Elisa

A picture of someone I miss? Boy, that is one TOUGH question, seeing as how I live far away from virtually everyone that I know and love. I miss everybody! I even miss random people like Mr. Chong, the KHS janitor! lol. Oh boy. But I'll just highlight a few of the major ones :)

My crew! This pic shows some of the friends I love and miss... there's a lot of people missing in this pic, but I miss all my friends very very much!

The O's! These ladies are my sisters from another mister and Sammy is the little brother I never had! Miss them terribly all the time! :(

The lovely Bryces. My adoptive family :) They've been heavensent to the G-Unit. LOVE them and miss them so much...

There you have it. Some of the people that fill my memories and bring a smile to my face everytime I think of them.

3/30 Days of Elisa

A picture of me and a family member:

The siblings and I. We share an incomparable, unbreakable bond!

The G-Unit. Love these three more than I can say!

2/30 Days of Elisa

A picture of something I want to do before I die:

Skydiving!!!

I've been wanting to do this for aaages but for some reason I never get around to doing it while I'm on vacation. I'm gotta get it together, find some skydiving buddies, and just go! I know Mikes is down... anyone else wanna join in on the fun?? C'mon guys! let's organize a skydiving outing! :D

1/30 Days of Elisa

Ok! Alright! I've fallen prey to the trend! I'm doing it too, peer pressure has gotten the better of me: 30 Days of Elisa coming atcha!
Hopefully I can keep it up for a full 30 days, because we all know how great and consistent I am at posting... :S


So, RO, send me the list too (I want your version without the boring themes :D)!

10 Random Facts about Me:

1. I have too many hobbies. So many that I can't keep up with them!

2. I have huge nostrils. Seriously. I can fit two fingers into each one of them. And yes, I do think that makes me cool.

3. I like to entertain myself by doing duets with myself. Hum the melody and whistle the harmony simultaneously (or vice versa). It's oodles of fun.

4. My grandma is teaching me kimbundu, my dad's native language. Twasakidila. Kiambote.

5. I'm a giant in Angola. I can never find shoes that fit me so I often buy them a size too small...

6. I give all my coworkers nicknames (Agnelo = Agnelation, Avidio = A Video Clip, etc...) It makes me laugh. They don't get it.

7. Nelito and I share a love for old-school Country Music. We've been known to veg out on the couch for hours downloading youtube videos of Alan Jackson, Don Williams, and the likes.

8. Technology has it out for me. I'm always giving my computer or its accessories to the IT guy begging him to fix the inexplicable problem that it started giving me all of a sudden. He thinks I'm clumsy, neglectful, or careless. I plead not guilty!!!

9. I'm a serious sugar addict. Sometimes I get really bad headaches that won't go away until I eat something sweet and junky. A fruit wont do. It has to be junky. I'm not exaggerating either, it must be psychological but it really happens...

10. Being up in the air is one of my favorite feelings in the world. I don't only love traveling for the destination and for the new cultural experiences. I also relish the actual journey.

Viva Mexico!

Last Saturday night was sooo much fun: I went to a Mexican Independence Day celebration. I haven't been to one of those in quite a few years and boy oh boy have I missed it. They had typical ranchera music, DELICIOUS food brought all the way from Mexico by one of the expats that had just gotten into town, and a grand time was had by all. I have a Mexican coworker who's become my good friend, and as all expats seem to do here in Angola, she knew other Mexicans from other oil companies that are also here on their international assignment. Well, when they decided to organize an official 'grito' celebration, she immediately thought to invite me because I am, after all, an honorary Mexican hahaha. It was so good to hang out, make new friends, sing the songs of my childhood and pig out on awesome quesadillas and authentic salsa (bien picante! YUMMM!). It was one of the best Saturday nights ever :D

The whole crew... give or take a couple...

NOM NOM


The Blackxican Charra

Los Mocositos

Here are some pictures of the kids in my life. I love them to pieces, they make me laugh so much :D

Sukayna at her bday party, clapping along to the bday song

and then blowing out her candles with all her might :)

Junior and I. Yes, it's true folks. He actually posed for a picture

without lunging for the camera.

This was a rare phenomenon. So very rare.

Junior jacking my style. Flip flop twins!

Tina being carried African-style by her favorite Auntie ;)

Wedded Bliss

Hugo and Erlinda got married! I remember when these two had barely started dating back when we were in college, the good ol' UTA days. They've come a long way and I was very happy to attend their beautiful evening wedding. I wish them lots of happiness and lots of babies! :D

Ebony Tresses

My hair has gotten long enough for me to start trying different hairstyles. This is a good thing, because if I can't do a lot of things with my hair, I'll get bored with it, and when I get bored with my hair, I do something drastic to change it. I was already getting ideas of cutting it and starting over with a pixie cut or a short afro or even close-cut/semi-bald. I'm not kidding in the slightest.

The other day I found a way to do a faux french braid with my locks. These are the pics of the first try. After the second try, it came out neater and I actually wore it to work that way and got lots of compliments :)

Babysitting

I've taken on the new-role of after-hours babysitter. Except in this case, I'm babysitting a grown baby. Enter Nelito, my 28-yr-old cousin who has come into my life to wreak havoc and turn my lovely little bachelorette pad upside down. I'm having to share a small space with a boy. How did I end up in this lovely arrangement, you ask? Well, Nelito lives in Beguela, but recently has relocated to Luanda on a year-long contract. Well, during this time he has been staying at a construction site where he works and where the food and lodging isn't exactly the most luxurious. He's been eating lots of dry goods loaded with conservatives and canned foods. Well, turns out, he got some sort of irritation in his digestive tract which will lead to gastritis, so the doctor told him he needs to start eating healthy meals at regular hours. So he showed up at my doorstep with his little maletita all ready to be taken care of by the healthiest person he knows, lol. So he basically moved in. He used to just come spend the weekends here in town and spend the weeks off at the campsite, but now he's here probably 6 nights out of the week. And when he has to spend the day away, I pack him a healthy lunch. So that's the story of how I became a mom overnight to an overgrown baby. I'm just glad he's not the messiest guy I know (not to mention any names *coughVivaldocough*), but he's lazy enough to not want to help around the house. And the place automatically becomes much messier much faster with two people living there, so I've had to teach him a thing or two about becoming more domesticated (he was raised to believe men don't do housework of any kind. Africans I tell ya... SMHRH). It's been a battle, but I think I finally got him housebroken! hahaha



He's fun to have around though, and he's such a handyman if any maintenance-related issues arise, I really can't complain.

Mujer de Hierro

So, I got this itch. I big itch. An itch that calls for scratching. I want to participate in an IronMan competition. Well, actually, any triathlon. Ironman seems quite far-fetched at the moment. But I really really want to do a triathlon. I've always thought I wanted to do it someday (ever since I saw it on TV ages ago), and then sometime in my 20's I decided I wanted to do it before I turn 30, and now that 30 is pretty much around the corner (I'm 27.5 yrs old, lol) I think it's time to get serious about it. I have a friend who has a boyfriend who just ran the IronMan in South Africa this past April. I was so excited to hear about someone that ACTUALLY participated and I plan on talking to him and getting as many tips from him as possible to see if a complete beginner like me can reach such a lofty athletic goal. My problem is that I lack discipline, I'll have to exercise military discipline in order to get all my workouts in while still balancing my regular life. Maybe I'll get in way over my head but I'd like to try it out. We'll see what happens. I might want to start by buying some real athletic gear though, and that can get quite expensive. And a bike. Where the heck am I going to get a bike from? Oh, so many things to think about. But you better believe this itch is getting stronger by the day and it's not going away until I scratch it!

For those of you who don't know what a triathlon entails, here are the deets:

2.4 Mile Swim

112 Mile Bike Ride

26.2 Mile Run (full marathon)

Phew! Sounds like fun, eh?

Hi! Remember Me?

Ummm should I even apologize for the 3-month hiatus I took? Would you guys even believe me? Would you even take me seriously? I really I'm sorry that I've been away from this blog for so long... but time has FLOWN!!!! I've been so busy with a gazillion other things I always seem to be getting involved in and there's barely any time half the things I want to do, including blogging. Well, I've been blogging, but on a second blog I recently started... but that's another story for another day.
For now, I'll just say this: I've been having fun as always. I've been traveling as usual, spending time with friends and family, trying to be a superstar at work (got a raise last week, wohoo!), getting my students to perform their first formal recital, and all of those activities that keep me entertained.

This weekend I spent visiting Belkis and her kids while her husband is away on business. It was cool to catch up and eat all of Belkis' delicious vegan cooking and laugh at Sukayna's antics. She cracks me up! Such a cutie. Pictures to come in the next post. Which I PROMISE will NOT be 3 months from now! hahaha
Toodles my dears! Thanks for sticking around! :D

Touring the Boats

On Being an Engineer

They say that most of the working class works a job that they don't enjoy, simply because they feel they must. Apparently, part of being a grown up and living in the 'real world' is having to cope with working whatever job you can finagle in order to make ends meet, and one is most likely to dislike their job.

Well, if that's the case, then I consider myself blessed. Because, seriously guys, I LOVE what I do. I wont even try to explain what it is I do, because I've attempted to do so in many occasions and apparently the message doesn't carry over very clearly (Sabrina and Dina, do you guys STILL not understand what I do? lol). But it's enough to say that this job is challenging, eye-opening, rewarding, adventurous, and never ever boring. I love it. At a time when it's a huge blessing to even have a job at all, I feel spoiled by the fact that I've been blessed with not only a job, but one that I thoroughly enjoy. I can ALMOST say that I have zero complaints when it comes to this job of mine (ALMOST, because let's face it... my paycheck could use a little numerical upgrade...) but I seriously count myself as very very fortunate and cannot stop praising God from whom all blessings flow :)

Pictures of yesterday's Helicopter Underwater Evacuation
and Water Survival Training Session

More pics of my life as an engineer to come :)

My Favorite Kiddos

Here are some pics of a leisurely Sunday afternoon I spent sitting on Eugenia's front yard playing with the kiddos. Please excuse the pictures of Junior, he NEVER stops moving so all I can get are some blurry action shots, most of which are of him lunging for the camera because he always wants to be the one taking the pictures. SMH.

Baby Tina is the cutey patootie in diapers. Remember her? She's the one that was born that day when I got my puppy... isn't she so big? Time flies, I tell ya.

Today is Junior's bday, he turns 4. I met him when he was 1. It' INSANE how fast he got so big.

I love these two :)

Soyo

Confined

So I happen to be in Soyo for a quick project. I've been working here this whole week. Today was the last day of the project, and I was set to give out the final reports and put together the final action plans and what not. Well, turns out, I had another thing coming. A pink thing, specifically. Pink eye.

I woke up with a swollen shut, painful, red, extremely mucous eye.

This is NOT fun.

I went to my first morning meeting, followed by the clinic, and now I've been ordered by the Doctor to stay locked up in my room for the next 2 days. Ugh. Turns out, it's going around here at the base, yet noone bothered to warn me til after I got it. Thanks a lot people!

Well it's actually not too bad to have a forced vacation. Other than the annoying eye, it's kinda nice to chill out and work from bed :)

Funnnn in the Sunnnnnn!

My First Masterpiece

Ok not even close to a masterpiece but here is the fruit of my labor! I got to perform my first song last Sunday. I'm enjoying this songwriting thing :)

I needs to buy me a guitar so I can be more legit, lol.

Elisa and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good Week

This week was quite taxing.

At the expense of sounding like a whiny-butt, all of the following events took place in a measly 7-day period:

-The kitchen sink is clogged. Uber annoying.

-A tube running through the wall of my room busted, flooding my bedroom more than once.

-There was some problem with the electricity at my place, causing some voltage oscillation that caused it to go too high and blow out all my light bulbs. At the same time.

-Said electrical problems caused me to disconnect my fridge because I was afraid that it would burn out. All my food is now rotten. It was packed full too, since I had just done my grocery shopping for the month.

-Threats of an anti-government protest with potential turn for outright violence and vandalism loomed near the city center... a few blocks from where I live. This caused me to stay sequestered away at the Tadeus until things calmed down.

-I had a big event going on at work that kept me up late a couple of nights this week preparing reports. Last night (while still at the Tadeus'), Chinha's baby was crawling around nearby where I was working. He somehow got tangled up in my modem cable, causing my computer to freeze up, which in turn caused me to shut everything down, which in turn caused me to lose a couple of hours worth of work.

-This afternoon, at the end of the event, I had a conference call scheduled with some of the global head honchos. Well, the network refused to cooperate and I was never able to log in to the conference call. Had to reschedule. Very frustrating.

-Traffic was a major pain in the hiney today. More so than usual.

-I finally made it to the Tadeus' (STILL staying there, lol, ya me emocione...). I exhaustedly sauntered up the driveway and started chatting with the guard. Well the guard dog, a huge German Shepherd, decided he wanted to rip some flesh off of me or something because he charged at me and was able to snip away a nice little itty-bitty chunk off my back (I had to act fast to arch my back away from him so he couldn't get as much flesh as he was trying to...). AND he ripped my awesome green tshirt. Not cool.

Pics taken after I got back from the clinic where they disinfected me and gave me an anti-rabies shot...

But alas... the week is now over. Sunset is here (yay for Sabbath!!!) and I get to hang out with the kiddos at the Tadeus' home which never fail to bring some sunshine into my day! :D

Almost Complete

I've made a bit of progress... Here are some pictures of the transformed living room:

Before

After