I have a feeling that no one is reading this blog anymore. I also have a feeling that I might sound a bit too negative in my blogs, it’s so easy to be critical and ignore all the good things. For example, most people we meet are very nice and welcoming and helpful.

We’ve been to two parties lately. One was a traditional Angolan wedding where Petur’s childhood friend proposed to his girlfriend and gave her family all kinds of gifts, such as cases of beer and soda drinks, a suit for her father and kimonos for her mother. Her family had already prepared a list for Petur’s friend and made sure that everything was delivered. For example, one of the bride’s-to-be aunts made a big fuss because the socks that were supposed to come with the suit couldn’t be found right away. When we arrived at the house of the bride’s family, where the backyard had been beautifully decorated for the party, it started to rain heavily and the negotiations had to be moved inside. It rained so hard that we couldn’t even hear what was going on, only watch. Fortunately it stopped raining after about 1-2 hours and the backyard was cleaned for the party. As in all other Angolan parties there was abundance of foods and drinks and a fancy sound system with a DJ for the dancing.

The next party was almost as fancy even though it was just a one-year birthday party of our friend’s son. Here, children’s birthday parties are just as much for the grown-ups as the kids; they start late and go on into the night. However, the kids seemed to be having just as much fun as the adults. One of them fell asleep in my lap and slept soundly despite all the noise. We arrived at three in the afternoon while everything was still being prepared and were only going to stay a couple of hours, but found out that the party wouldn’t start until around seven in a restaurant close by. We left after ten when the dancing was in full swing. Angolans sure do know how to party.

This weekend I think we’ll try to spend some time at the beach. People have started to comment on our skin colour on the street (although I figure they’re only talking to Petur ;-). Most of the ex-pats here are Portuguese or Brazilian and most of them are more like brownies than whities. Here people talk about skin colour without any reservations, political correctness what? One guy called out to us on the street: “You need to spend some time on the beach! You’re way too white!” On another occasion, the sight of Petur sparked a conversation on skin colour. One woman referred to a conversation she had had with friends where people had been debating whether a black person and a mulatto could have a white kid. Then someone pointed at Petur and said: “He’s not mulatto, he’s pure white!” and so the conversation went on for a while.