Hope all of you have had a great week. Another group of Mennonites is to arrive today. There are 11 of them. After the French leave Friday, a group of 14 arrives – I think Baptist -since the alphabet name of their group has a B in it. We stay completely full until August 12th. Have a sort of easy week and then starting the 19th we are full again until the end of September. Then when Cindy and Clay are due back in October there are almost no guests scheduled until near the middle to the end except these two crazy Texas folks named Murray on their way home to the States after being Substitutes at MPH! ;)) (Well, at least the lady is crazy.The guy is a saint!) But don’t worry, Cindy, I will beat the church bushes and try to find a house full to welcome you home! NOT!! Also, Cindy, I hear that you love the plastic and colorful funeral wreath deals folks use here. So I am trying to get two to put on the gates of MPH to welcome you home!! ;((
“Someone’s in the kitchen with Inge!” She has had all the
cooks getting all out of the freezers, defrosting, and going through and
counting and labeling all meat and vegetables.
All is not there and she is discovering that. So now there will be a
master list of all supplies and foods. Every Tuesday she will stay here at MPH
and verify that after the week’s guests and meals there are the expected
supplies still left. Sad, but it has to be done or a great deal “walks” out of
the back door. It also needs to be done with the supply closet too. Up in the
Kasai there was a saying when we were here long ago-translated it is “To ask is
not to steal.” So if they ask- no matter the answer- and go on and take it,
they don’t consider that stealing. It’s Congo. Cultures are so different! But
even the different geographical areas of the US do things so differently! So I
guess I also need to say-“It’s the USA!”
Had the cooks clean the kitchen again yesterday. I went in
and asked them to turn off the ceiling fan. They looked at me and knew where I
was headed!! It was black as pitch with grease and dust bunnies. (I know
rabbits multiply but this was obscene!!) I told them to clean it! “But, Mama,
when the fan is running it doesn’t look dirty!” Oh, dear! There is the truth.
It is Congo! ;)) So they are beginning to see that I walk around and see dirt.
So slowly but surely they are beginning to see it too!! And try to clean it before I tell them. Yea!!
One of the “substitute” cooks- we have hired while the French have been here -is
really sharp!! He is a great cook- great flavors and a delightful sense
of humor! Thank goodness the cooking and
food parts of the kitchen are Inge’s area!
Vegetable gardener came in with green beans, lettuce, cucumbers
and tomatoes this morning. The tomatoes are so small here. Weird but they don’t
do well here. Definitely no big ones like we get in the States at the Farmer’s
Markets!! Garden lettuce is so good! Just need blackberries and then we could
have cobblers!! (Send seeds, Bernard! Never mind- there is no mail service in
the country!!) No mangoes yet or I’d make a mango cobbler. I will have to admit
I am beginning to miss cooking! Hard to
believe we have been here two months as of today! Wow – time flies when you are
having fun!!
Another day dawns and again I could not sleep. So I got up
and began to do the rest of the towels and sheets still waiting to be washed. It
took us 2 ½ days to get it all done- just sheets and towels! I knew more client
laundry would come and I at least want the sheets and towels done and in the
cupboard. When I went back in at 5ish to put the first load in the dryer and
start another load, I scared the cook to death! He was in the dark hall way
changing clothes for the day! All I saw were the shocked and panicked whites of
his eyes! “Mama, I am here!” :) Then as the workers began to arrive we had to
tell them they would not have the National Holiday- Parent’s Day- off tomorrow!
But then we sweetened it with they get double pay!! Tshimbu could not believe I
had done all the laundry and all he had to do was fold it and put it up. “But, Mama,
that is not your job!” “But, Tshimbu, we are a team! When it is a crazy time we
have to work our best and get it all done and ready to go again!” He just
smiled –“Thank you, Mama!”
Then we headed out for Groceries. I had almost $1,000 and
came home with 200 francs- twenty cents. Inge took almost $2,000 and we came
home with enough food to fill the pantry. We two worked for three hours getting
all on the shelves in alphabetical French order and inventoried! So we are set until
next Wednesday week. While we working one of the cooks had two items that he
brought back in and replaced on the shelves. The vinegar was placed with the Tupperware
plastic bins and the oil with the sugar. Were sort of near where things use to be kept before the pantry
was alphabetized. I think reading really is an issue for this same cook or he
flat out can’t see!
Inge took us to two stores today that we had never been to
before. One was an Indian store where we got all sort of neat smelling spices.
I see Curry something in our future at MPH. Weird but also found the containers for syrup
or dressings that we had looked for everywhere at this Indian spice store. Then
we went to another place to look at items sold in bulk. As we get out of the
car, Inge says,”Lenore, keep a tight hold of your purse in this store!” It is
in the inner, inner city and folks and trash are everywhere. As we go in the
police start blowing their whistles and stop one of those people squisher
taxis. They order them all out and after getting bribes, they allow them to
continue on their squished way. It’s Congo! Ken goes in with us too- to keep us
safe. There is a guy with a huge sound system on the street outside the store
ranting and raving about something. The store has music so loud you can’t hear
yourself think- maybe to drown him out. All offered items are behind thick
Plexi glass. So we three are there looking at the available stuff. I am
thinking- “It is a blessed good thing Inge did not tell the chauffeur to bring
us here alone. I’d have never gotten out of the car.” But then up walks a nice
young Indian man – “May I help you?” So now I am a go! We place our orders- in
English-for cases of things that Inge wants. As we wait for the receipt, they
offer me- “Mama” a seat- must be the gray hair- while we wait and they also offered
us cokes. Our car was full and running over. As we drive up to our usual grocery stores we see the police and security guards smiling and motioning us into a prime parking spot.They recognize our car. “We knew you would be coming, Mama! It is Wednesday!!” They help me out of the car and open the doors for us. Then inside the girls that usually check us out see us too and tell us they will be ready to help check us out. I’ve asked them their names and have been teaching them English and they think it is a hoot! They seem genuinely glad to see us. We now leave with an English- “See you next Wednesday, Mama!”
We next went to the ice cream parlor (with the quote about
Chocolate on the wall) for lunch and French ice cream. We all really enjoyed the
quiet, the clean and the ice cream! (The restrooms- one door, a male and
a female stall and a community sink. Takes some getting used to going in and
out and sharing with a guy! Especially a guy I don’t even know!!) Then off to
get the meat at the butcher’s. Allene- the boss lady- now insists that they
tell her when I arrive because she always wants to see me and give me a “Big
Texas hug” and I give her the French traditional three kisses on the cheeks.(
You should not have thought that!) She is anxiously awaiting my order for the
Chicken Fried steaks! I am trying to figure out how to get her a taste of it
when I fix it- so it will still be good. But I’m afraid the store is too far
away from MPH.
Yesterday Ken was reading the Army Times and the story was
on the Army’s warning of the dangers of the anti-malarial medicine mefloquine. Well,
that is what we are taking once a week while we are out here and for two weeks
after we get home. So I asked Clint about it. He writes back and tells me it
can cause some psychiatric issues- but, hey, I was that way before I started
the medicine. So how will I know! ;) 
A nice young lady arrived last night from St. Louis. Ken
visited with her this AM and found out that she grew up in the Houston area.
She went to Clear Lake High School. She was in the same class as Cameron McCool-
son of astronaut Willy McCool in the Challenger crash. And she had you, Madlyn
as her 10th grade World History teacher! Her name is Beth Schwaab
She now teaches Public Health at St. Louis University. (Her older brother is
Matt and he went to the Air Force Academy.) Showed her your Facebook picture
and she remembered you! Small world after all! She is here checking out the
possibility of placing students here for a semester. Talk about culture shock- leave
St. Louis and go to be up in the bush area where Marcia is!! That’ll separate the
goats from the sheep in a hurry!!! But that is what they want to see-can you deal working in
a third world country?
Well, this is very wordy. So I will sign off for the night.
Hope I can sleep this time. I don’t have any sheets and towels to do! Have a
great day!
Love Ya! Me
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