Prep for a Blind Date

If you read our last post, you know that we recently packed up all our belongings and said goodbye to Argentina. So, now what? Well, back in the first week of November, Jonah was offered the position of Deputy Principal of the secondary (middle and high) division at Luanda International School in Angola. And so, for the third time in seven years, we are preparing to live in a country that we have never visited.

So how do we get ready for such a blind date, one that comes with a two-year commitment?

First, we looked at a map. Even though we have a wooden puzzle of Africa that we got in Cape Town four years ago - each country a chunky piece of the continent - we did not know where Angola was  nor that a) it is not landlocked and b) it's actually quite easy to find, right above Namibia, a country we have thought about visiting.

Next, onto Google Earth which provided views of the school, the city of Luanda, and Angola's Atlantic coast, which we later found out offers nice beaches and good surf.

After getting our bearings, we researched what life would be like for us in Angola by checking out Angola's digital footprint; scouring the internet in search for blogs, news articles (Jonah recently stumbled upon this one), and Facebook groups that provide a "street view" of the expat experience in Luanda. In addition, the school put us in contact with current members of the community and we peppered them with questions about everything from malaria prevention to the quality of local pizza.

We watched and can recommend two videos, linked below. The first is short and sweet and chock full of interesting tidbits (and part of a series if for those keen to learn about other countries) and the second video is a recent documentary about the attempt by two men - one a former teacher at LIS - to kayak the Kwanza River from its source to the Atlantic Ocean.

Then the fun stuff; planning travel around our host country. The reality is that after three decades of civil war, the tourism infrastructure is in its infancy, but we found one recently published guide book and identified a few intriguing sites to see:

While not specific to Angola, this books provides an overview of the history of the region - valuable context for understanding current events:

As a family, we are very excited and hopeful about this blind date.

We had our first love.

We had our rebound.

What's next?



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To all of our family, friends, and super-fans: A quick note to say that I aspire to draft more frequent blog posts from Angola, while continuing to share snapshots via Instagram (@holysacredcow). You may also "like" our (new!) Holy Sacred Cow page on Facebook. I'm not exactly sure what will happen on this page, except that new posts will appear there first.

As always, your comments, questions, feedback, and interest in following our adventures are most welcome and appreciated. Thank you for your continued support!