Learning more about Angola every day!

It's been CRAZ-AY around here this past week! We've been busy getting everything together for our visas (think: passport photos, documents, meetings with our lawyer, vaccinations, doctor's appointments, etc.) and at the same time, getting opportunities to Skype with MAF staff in Angola! We had the opportunity to Skype with Tim Huebner, an MAF staff that has worked on and off in Angola for short term stints, and then Brent Mudde, the programme manager there. And we've learned a lot (and I'm sure it's just the tip of the iceberg!) about Angola, so we want to share some of the things we've learned!

Portuguese: As we've share before, the official working language in Angola is Portuguese. But we didn't realize how prevalent it would be--apparently there's very little English spoken at all in Angola! Even church will be in Portuguese!

Climate/Geography: There is a dry and a rainy season. There are many beautiful places to hike in Lubango (the city we'll be in) as it is surrounded by mountains/plateaus and looks BEAUTIFUL! The climate sounds relatively mild (by African standards), hot during the rainy season and cooler during the dry season.

Beautiful views near Lubango!

MAF Work: Marcel is going to be the main aircraft maintenance engineer when we get there! Woah! That's a big deal! Thankfully, he'll have an amazing national staff member helping him who has been there for over 25 years. The MAF Angola program flies a lot with Christian doctors, and they would like to expand the program to do more work around the country! I didn't realize this, but Angola is almost twice the size of Texas--so the airplane plays an important role in reaching isolated, poor, and needy people!

The caravan, at work in Angola! (Cool clouds!)

Lifestyle: It looks like we'll be living downtown, in an apartment, at least to start our time in MAF. Our apartment would be in the same fourplex as the MAF office, another MAF couple, and a doctor. It sounds like a lot of things are a bit more expensive in Angola--for example, a new car would be upwards of $40,000 and used cars are expensive and very hard to come by! Other things may be cheaper, like malaria medication! :) Such is the paradox of impoverished African countries--some things are dirt cheap, and others are so much more expensive!

Lubango, where we'll live!

Well, there's a brief update of some things we learned this week! Hope to keep you in the loop as we learn more ... and hopefully, one day you'll want to come and visit us! Tchau! (Portuguese for "Bye!")