We’ve been spending some time with an Icelandic-Angolan family (yes, this exists ;-) that arrived recently. They live in the affluent and modern southern part of the city. Petur and I were very surprised to see all the modern condominiums and residential neighbourhoods with single-family houses that remind me of North-American suburbs, although the houses don’t look like they’re made of plastic! Although, it is a bit weird to see all those fancy houses in a city where the majority of the population lives in self-built sheds in the musseques (shantytowns) with minimal facilities, it is also comforting to know that it is at least a considerable part of the population that can afford a more luxurious lifestyle. Despite having seen all this, we almost had a culture shock when we went into the new shopping mall in this same area, which is very modern and extremely expensive! When this shopping mall had been mentioned to us before we went there, people used to roll their eyes, shrug their shoulders and say that it was only one corridor. Ok, it is only one corridor, but a very fancy one. Of course we didn’t spend any money there except at the supermarket, both because we didn’t feel like it and because we probably wouldn’t be able to afford anything there. However, I have to confess that we did get a hamburger at one of the South-African fast food restaurants and went to see a movie at the cinema. I also have to confess that it felt really good to check out of reality and enjoy the fake world for a bit…