Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Last night we attended what was probably the best St. Patrick's Day party I have ever been too! It's hosted by an Irish couple that had been in Luanda for 20+ years (throughout the war and everything- not sure of all the reasons on this, but I guess they love it here). Anyway, they live on a compound of a house- actually, I guess there are two houses on the compound one which houses grandparents and one which houses the hostess and her family. The place is huge, with very big gardens, a pool, etc. It's nice. And it was all decked out for St. Paddy's Day- green lights everywhere, etc.

This party is actually a charity benefit, I believe proceeds go to one or more orphanages. So, it was fun, and it was for a good cause. The highlight of the night for many were the fish 'n chips that were served sometime past midnight, wrapped in newspaper and everything. I can attest that the chips were nice. :) The party drew in at least 200 people- which was amazing, because we knew SO FEW of them. Joel and I both noted that in Latvia we often had some connection to nearly all the English speaking expats in Riga- or we felt we did anyway- but here, my goodness, there were just hoards of people that we had never seen before, all in one place. A little weird, but nice. :)

Here's Joel looking extra cute if I don't say so myself. :) He felt silly in the hat, but I thought it actually suited him, like, if he wanted to wear it in black and be an artist type or something (obviously, not going to happen).

Mon and Don at the party. The hats and leis were handed out at the door.

Us. The glo-necklaces and bracelets were also handed out at the door. I was wearing some green glitter around my eyes, and had on very green nailpolish as well!

One of the funnest (uh, most fun?) parts of the night was the dancing. They had a DJ and a LOUD sound system, and a big ole dance floor. So, we boogied down for quite a part of the night. The best part for me, was that the hostess had obviously had a large say in the music played because it wasn't your typical Angolan club music- it was a lot of popular music from the 80's, 90's and so on. So, for the first time in Angola (er, the first time in a long time actually), I found music that I could really enjoy dancing to, and went for it!

Here's a horrible picture of everyone in it, but basically, you can see just how steamy it was outside, combined with how much we had all danced- everyone is WET, red-faced and nasty looking slicked back sweaty hair. Ah, good times! :)

That last picture was taken sometime around 2. We left soon after that. It really was great fun. And the best part is, because Joel and I spent a lot of time dancing that night (instead of drinking) we both feel pretty good today! :)

On another note, actual St. Patrick's Day (on the 17th, of course) is my mom's 60th birthday. I know she had a party last night too, and I hope they had as much fun as we did! :) Happy birthday Mom!

St. Paddy's Day is also my good friend Kat's birthday- so there's a shout out to you Kat! Happy birthday! :)