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?