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AngolaDiaries
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Name: Angela
Country: United States
State: District of Columbia
Birthday: 9/7/1980
Gender: Female
Interests: photography, children, friends, travel, design and decor, colors, self-growth, learning, development, spirituality, yummy smells, nature, reading, chocolate and gummies, and most of all my fiance, Craig :)
Occupation: Photographic Journalist
Industry: Nonprofit
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
7/23/2005
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| 2 Month Recap :)Hey hey! Geepers it's been a while since I've blogged! I am trying to stay away from all this technology business after work hours, which means very few posts and a mind dedicated to things other than my next blog. :) That said, I do like to keep in touch and I'm not sure if anyone even still reads this but here's a wee update.
I was on that 2 week "all over Africa" trip that I already posted about back in May, then I was home for a week where I shot a friend's wedding, hosted a guest from the US for a few days, went on safari, and I came down with strep throat right after those events. It was the only week Craig and I had together that month and I was sick :(
I then jetted off to the US to continue working while doing a ton of wedding finalization and prep in Norfolk. I got to see Alli too and meet her precious little McKenzie! It's a blurry picture but her smile is just tooo sweet! Diane and Marci were with me to the end on wedding planning and it was priceless to have them there. My dress is beautiful!!
From there I went to San Jose, CA for a work conference where I met my colleagues for the first time! It was a fantastic, hectic, busy, exhausting trip! I stopped my last day in DC for a brief overnight where some of my bridesmaids threw me a bridal shower with my DC friends. It was beautiful and so sweet and I was overwhelmingly blessed with generous gifts! :)
Craig and I had been apart for the greater part of 2 months so it was disappointing news when I heard he would be in Sudan when I got back home. I took the opportunity to sleep for a few days as I was still feeling sick from the strep. We loved finally seeing each other again and have been enjoying each other's company a lot the past few weeks. :) In taking some down time, we've also kept up our social calendar with a friend's 30th birthday party, had another friend in from the US for a few days, babysat a 10 day old orphan for a weekend, had a karyoke night that was pure fun and craziness, went to a July 4th party hosted by some dear SA friends, oh and we went to the Confederation Cup Finals game with USA and Brazil! So, we are having fun and enjoying life.
(before the Confed Cup game)
(a pre-ceremony performance)
(the CUTE little guy we babysat for the weekend!!)
Oh, in all of this, my sweet and totally cute neice Priestly June Beiler was born on June 26th! She is so stinkin' cute and I am longing to meet her at the wedding! 2 more months...:)
We are starting to build our home and prep things for when Craig moves in to my unit (it's bigger than his) so we got a dresser and bedside tables. I'm also starting lots of creative projects to figure out how to maximize our tiny space for both of us. I'm getting creative with space saving storage ideas. And this weekend we are going to mosaic the patio table we got that will serve as our dinning room table...only it has to be outside because there isn't room inside. hehe. Craig is going to help me stain that and get the plan going for the design. Fun stuff!
Wedding plans are good and going strong. We just have little bitty things to take care of now like writing our vows and finalizing seating charts for the reception. We also have some fun things we are looking forward to in the months ahead. Here's a brief rundown:
-Craig heads off to Mozambique for a week near the end of July
-I head up to Zimbabwe for a few days that same week
-Craig's sister and brother in law come for a week in August!
-our SA bachlor and bachlorette parties
-and I know there are other things I'm missing too...
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| Some of UgandaThis trip in Uganda has been beautiful. It's the closest to the equator I've ever been! I think we are just 40 miles from it and apparently there is a line on one road marking the equator and they have a toilet on each side of the line. One toilet flushes and the water rotates one way, in the other toilet the water rotates the opposite direction - amazing!
We've visited two different program partners, both of them doing amazing work. One of the days we were taken to a remote island where they built a school and do feeding. This island is about a 20-30 minute boat ride from Kampala. It has no electricity, is tropical as can be and has about 6,000 people that live on it - most in GREAT need. They have to take a boat to the main land to get petrol for the handful of motorcycles that help transport people around the island and as is typical with every African country I've visited, even the poorest of the poor have their cell phones! haha. They are so cheap now though - about $10 and all incoming calls are free so while airtime costs a lot, most of them just receive calls. That said, they have to go to the main land to charge their phones!
This island was the most like "Lost" that I've ever seen - no noises except birds and people, green and lush like you can't believe and just breathtaking. The ride there was gorgeous too! Although that very gorgeousness is the problem. A plant called "water hyacinth" has infiltrated the lake causing excessive growth of other plants on top of it and it has clogged up all of the fisherman's shallow fishing areas and has virtually left the island jobless.
So, here are a few photos! For once I got a few of me too! hehe :)
We took off from Gaba Port on market day so it was busy!
Entering the path into the overgrown area before the island.
so serene and peaceful!
ridin' along...
our welcome when we landed on the island
the boda-boda ride several miles inland to the school
Then we ate bugs called Nsenene prepared by our hosts back on the mainland and I really had to overcome my mental blocks on it! It was tasty but the head was just too crunchy and the antennea's too pokey!
Here the are before being cooked (minus their wings and legs, plucked by the person selling them)
And a few post-cooking...awwww
about to try my first one. Trust me the smile is a concerned one, not an excited one ha!
Feeling the crunch and pokes - ick!
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| Everything I love......is killin' me! (know that country song?)
That's what I felt today at the grocery store. :/ I've cut out sugar and most processed foods from my diet in the last two weeks. I have felt tons better, seen my energy return, and my breakouts have nearly stopped. But doggone it if it isn't HARD to resist the sugar urges!! Every aisle I turned down had something else I loved in it that I couldn't purchase...gummies, chocolate, chips, red meat, muffins...you get the point. And I LONGED for it...it took SO much will power to keep pushing my cart.
I won't be sugarless for the rest of my life, I'm just taking a strong stance against my desires run amuck to show them who is boss and to get my body back to health and from there live a truly balanced life. And what's sad is that I really like healthy food! But it gets old kinda quickly when it's the only option. :( I need to find some tasty recipes so I won't go through the grocery store mournfully singing "everything I love is killin' me" haha!
In other news - my Zimbabwe trip was fantastic last month! Met amazing people, saw gorgeous countryside and I even got to visit the house Craig lived in as a wee lad!
Now I am off on Saturday for 2 weeks to Kruger National Park here in SA, Mozambique, Malawi, Uganda, Sudan and Kenya!! Wowsa! I'm stoked though because I'll be meeting the bosses for the first time and it'll be a really focused trip, starting off with game drives and team building at Kruger.
I have a wedding to shoot the day after I return and we also have Craig's friend (and now my friend too!) from the US who is moving to Mozambique for a few months who will stay with us on her several day layover. We'll be taking her to Pilanesburg which is a game park only an hour or so away.
At any rate, I'll be super duper busy and thus very out of pocket communication-wise but that's your little update for now! Golly, if I have a chance I'll post pictures this week of the Zimbabwe highlights! Otherwise those will come later - when I have time.
love to all who read this! Here's a special shout out to Pop, Kae and Gdad! Love you guys!
Here's a photo Craig got when we watched this little guy from the orphanage overnight. He was such a bundle of cuteness! We watched the clouds, sang songs, ate food, colored, ate more food, watched a kid's video and put him down to sleep. Sweet times...
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