Meandering Musings of a Texan and a Carolina Girl in Congo- Month Two

It is hard to believe we have been here in Congo for a month. Wow, how time flies when you are having "fun." We are having so much fun meeting new friends, reconnecting with old friends as they pass through MPH, murdering French, polishing our Tshiluba (Ken's has come back word perfect. The Congolese are amazed!!)

 It has been a steep learning curve for me here at the start because it is like nothing I have ever done before. I want everything to be perfect- Type A that I am- and have finally learned to face the fact that, that can NOT be.  Work ethics,cultures and the land itself are all so different. "It is Congo!" is finally what I have had to realize. That and reaching into a Historical Southern Movie,"Gone With The Wind" and borrowing two movie ending lines: "Frankly, My Dear, I don't give a Damn!"( though I really do!)  and "Well, tomorrow is another day!" And a Death Grip on my Patient Panties!

Last Friday we went to eat Chinese with some of our Ex Pat friends. The restaurant was The Pearl. The food was excellent. One dish was "Sauteed Mutton with Fungus and Flower" - decided to pass on that one from name alone! In America we don't admit on the menu that an item has fungus! (Calm down! I know it means mushrooms! It's that name thing again if Americans are going to be reading it!) We had Spring Rolls and I had Sweet and Sour Pork and Ken had a Pork and bean dish that was great. Nancy ordered Snow peas with her meal and they were wonderful. No service here is fast. But no matter how slow it is shorter than the drive to any restaurant we have been to so far! This traffic is unreal. I think all 10 million people in this city are either on foot, in a car or a Squish People Taxi and on the roads - good or bad roads- and they have NO concept of lane use other than don't use it. Just get there. Luckily there is no Road Rage with all of the VERY aggressive driving. Guess the cops on the corners- just standing (not doing anything  about the traffic) with machine guns keeps that down! The Squish People Taxis amaze me. They are always breaking down and the people hanging on for a ride- because there is no room inside(and they pay .50 too)  or the ones sitting by the doors get out to push.No one else gets out!! The hangers are not supposed to do that cause so many have been killed falling off or getting squished between multiple cars in the lane! Hope you can get a mental picture all of this!

Michael Sthreshley,son of folks who live here while their home is being built on site, brought us a "Matonge" It was a little ripe but ohhhh so good. We called it Bread Fruit or Monkey Brains Fruit when we were kids at Lubondai. VERY tart like I remember and my taste bud's memories loved it. He is going to U.of Hawaii in Hilo and LOVES it there. So he is FBI. (From the Big Island! Learned that last year when we were in Hawaii.) He is into tropical agriculture so Hilo is perfect! He even knows Saddle Road! ;)

FYI- The average per capita income in Congo is $320 a year and 59.2% of the population live on less than $1 a day. So when I give them a 50 cent tip-I now know it is like handing them $10.00. I am messing with the economy big time. No wonder they are so glad to see us  each  week as we grocery shop - and I thought it was our friendly hello each trip. ;) Our cooks here make $10.00 a month plus taxi money and family insurance and work a rotation where some days are 12 hour shifts. Can you see the ACLU in the states with this pay! And they are perfectly content with the pay. It is great pay here!!  Just not in the US of A!! People ask daily for jobs here.

Friday Ken was listening to 104.3 streaming from Lubbock and the Morning Drive to Work Show- at noon for us! They were going on and on about the bucking roads y'all are dealing with from the heat in Lubbock.Was fun to hear West Texas accents! I wrote and told them who and where we were and that we were so excited we could now get the TTU football games. They wrote right back to say howdy but were disappointed to tell us that we can't get the games because they can't carry them. That we'd have to buy something from Texas Tech. So never mind. Someone please keep us up on the scores of the Big XII.

Celebrated Congo Independence Day(53 years ago!) with a BBQ on the MPH patio last night. Chicken, slaw and baked beans. Then on the Fourth the US Embassy is having a Black Tie, Invitation only, party. Guess ours got lost in the none existent mail service out here. ;) They also have something we are going to try. Thursday Night with the Marines. We go up to the Embassy area with our passports and get free burgers and hot dogs etc. and can play games, watch sporting events or just visit with the young men. So that is on the agenda of things we want to do.

Funerals have changed to some extent and not in others. Last night - we found out this morning- there was a Madilu / funeral/wake/party. It went on all night and finally ended this AM at five. It was in the village right next to our back fence. Lots of  none ending drums and very loud singing. The ones up in Lubondai were also loud wailing. I think I have a picture of one to include. The funerals we have seen here all had caskets. BRIGHT colored caskets!!Did not see anyone following the casket with a bow and arrow shooting the evil spirits left behind to dump into the grave!

Walt Shepard gave us an experience for this week. When  he and Val and kids left ? years ago they thought they would be back. When that didn't happen MPH had a garage sale for them of their stuff here in Kinshasa. They made a whopping $206 and 2000 francs ($2.00). MPH had written Walt but he had not answered. So when I had to sign off on the money in the safe there was an envelope with his name on it. They asked that since I know him could I get him to tell them what to do with the money. They had written and gotten no response. So I wrote and told him to either tell me what to do with the money or I was going shopping. He wrote back to go shopping. Then several days later he added another couple of requests. Please look from some book here in the library- maybe- but he didn't remember the name. Yea, Right, Walt! Then on Sunday between the French Service and the English service could I please find Dr. Martin Ndombe from the African Leprosy Mission. He'd be the tall Black man. Yea, Right, Walt!!! In Congo looking for a tall Black man!  He wanted us to give $50.00 for the mission and ask Dr. Ndombe to get him another python skin wallet. So we got the money out of the safe and headed to church. The French service was letting out. And there he was - A tall black man in the middle of Congo. So I sent Ken over. It was he. He was amazed we picked him out. Asked how I knew who he was. So I told him! He died laughing! When Ken handed him the money he wept. He pulled out his government ID to prove who he was but it was obvious he was the man long before some ID! Isn't the Good Lord amazing!

Yesterday we lost all water pressure. Ken and Larry went out to look. Ken thought he knew what it was but... So the electrician, Christian, was called. When he got it all done Ken(and it was what Ken had thought) went out to check. Christian tried to explain it all in French. Both became frustrated with all of the technical talk. "Do you speak Tshiluba?" Ken asked and all was GREAT! So now we know what to do. Call Christian and talk in Tshiluba! ;)

Well, I am at the end of my Meandering Musings for this entry. Now it's fight the picture time! Have a great week. Happy Fourth of July to you all I will miss the fireworks and parades - enjoy them for me.

Love Ya, ME