My birthday cake! The kids decorated it. Notice it says, "Bon Anniversaire", which is French for Happy Birthday.
Bill getting his first haircut in the Congo, by me! Yikes!
Jensen, her friend Stephanie, and James on the kayak.
James, the kids' teacher, with his wacky sunburnHello everyone,
Well, it’s been about a month, so I figured it was time to post a new entry. I’ve actually been wanting to post for about a week now, but have been busy. I still can’t quite figure out what keeps me so busy all day, but I do know that I am never bored, I have a long list of things that I need to do that I never seem to get to, and I’m exhausted by the end of the day.
Yesterday I spent my day cleaning out all the cupboards because we have had a problem with weevils. We never had this problem in AZ, but it seems to be pretty typical here. I know that the weevils are not harmful, and that they are born right into the food products, but they are still gross, and none of us want anything to do with them. Except Bill. He doesn’t seem too bothered by them, and even offered to strain the weevils out of the food. I told him thanks but no thanks—I just threw it all out. And let me tell you—it about killed me to throw away a $15 box of Frosted Flakes, and Bisquick that someone brought from the States, but it had to be done. After I cleaned everything out, I took everything out of its original packaging and put everything into containers. Don’t know if this will help or not, but it’s worth a try. The sad thing is, is that all the food I threw out, my housecleaner or guards will fish out of the trash, and take home. I would offer it to them, but I don’t want to say, “Here—this food isn’t good for us, but would you like this tasty food full of bugs?” See what I mean?
We’ve also had a mouse in our house, and I’ve been dealing with that for the last few weeks. At first, I would only find evidence of this mouse, but would never actually see it. Then he started getting brave, and would dart out while we were eating breakfast, or while I was washing the dinner dishes. This freaked me out, and really made me anxious. Whenever I was in the kitchen, I would think I was going to see it. I finally put poison down, and I have not seen the mouse or any evidence of it for at least a couple of weeks. I had to be extra careful that Kami didn’t get to the poison, or to the mouse. I was so afraid she would find the mouse and eat it, and then she would get sick from the poison the mouse ate. Anyway, it seems to be gone now, so I am thankful, but still worry that it (or its friends) could still be around.
And as long as I’m talking about yucky creatures, I’ll mention my extreme phobia about the possibility of running into a cobra or black mamba. Both are very real threats here, and although I have not seen either one, I know many people that have. I’m almost absurdly fearful of seeing one. When I get into bed at night, I’m fearful that one will be in my sheets. When I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I always look around the toilet to make sure one isn’t coiled up around the toilet. I’m not sure where I got this phobia from, as I actually sort of like snakes and think they are pretty fascinating. I like to look at them and touch them at the zoo, or if they are someone’s pet. But the thought of running into an extremely dangerous one in the wild, just puts me over the edge. When we did our visit here in April, snakes never crossed my mind. Then someone mentioned it to me, and that almost made me make the decision not to come back. But I did, and I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. But, what I really want to convey here is that even though I love it here (despite the challenges), there is quite a bit of anxiety that I live with all the time. And I guess most of this is not a big deal, but it just seems like there are so many little things like this that I consciously or subconsciously deal with everyday, that I always feel a bit jumpy and on edge. I’ve actually seen the same with the kids. Dustin went to turn a light on in the bathroom, and the light blew out. The noise scared him so bad that he started crying. He’s really not a wimpy kid. I just think that we all walk around a little anxious, without really realizing that we are anxious, and this just makes us extra sensitive to things that typically would not faze us. I realize that none of these things are all that significant, especially when compared to other things going on in the world (poor economy, people losing jobs, etc). We actually feel very fortunate to be here at this time, as Bill’s company is closing mines left and right, and tons of people in the Phoenix office have lost their jobs. It’s quite possible that had we stayed in Phoenix, he would be one of the people out of a job.
Last week, I had 3 kids at my house sleeping over (in addition to my 2), and the first thing that happened was that our generator wouldn’t work. That’s not such a huge deal, except that our stove and microwave don’t work when the generator doesn’t work, and all the lights in the house are very dim (sort of like a brown out). I went to make all these kids dinner, and all I had were 2 pizzas (not enough for 5 hungry kids). So now, all the kids have eaten all the pizza, but they are still hungry. But I can’t make them anything because the stove and microwave don’t work. So I offered them things like cold cereal, fruit, etc. They ended up eating cold (room temperature) ravioli. So, the next thing that happens is all the power goes out completely, so now we have no lights or anything. Normally the generator would kick in, but since ours was broken, no such luck. The kids had a blast though, and the 2 factions (boys vs. girls) even played together during this time. Bill and I were bored though—no internet or TV and no light to read by. About 11:30 PM, they finally got out to our house to fix the fuel pump on our generator, and we had lights again!
About 3 weeks ago, there was a Congolese holiday, remembering the assassination of the previous president of the DRC (Laurent-Desire Kabila). That happened in 2001, and at that time, his son (Joseph Kabila) was named president (he was not actually elected). At age 31, he became the youngest African president. It wasn’t until October 2006 that he became the first democratically elected president of the country since 1960. Anyway, this apparently is a big holiday. My house cleaner and gardener did not show up for work, all the stores (including grocery stores) were closed, and all schools were closed. We were told to just lay low and not really go anywhere on this day, as there might be people shooting guns into the air, etc. So we just stayed home all day. This wouldn’t have been so bad, but it happened to fall on my birthday, and we were planning to go out to eat at a Chinese restaurant, but we had to cancel our plans. Here, because there is really no other form of entertainment, we go out to eat. It’s a wonder I haven’t gained 20 pounds! But, because it is so expensive to eat anywhere (usually at least $100), we don’t go out all that often. On the plus side, we did get to eat a very yummy chocolate cake on my birthday, from a cake mix that we had picked up in Kenya.
And speaking of stores closing, today all the stores were closed downtown, but not for a holiday. Apparently, because of the poor price of copper, most of the mining companies here are closing down and leaving the Congo (not Bill’s company though). One of the mining companies that are leaving sold a bunch of their equipment to the governor here. So, he decided to have a parade and show off all the new equipment and I guess that was reason enough for all the stores to close down! Go figure!
Getting back to the president, I’ll mention that there is a street here called the president’s street. That is not the actual name, but it’s what we all call it. This is the street where the president has his house (when he is here in town). When you are driving on this street, you cannot go even one kilometer over 40 km, you cannot pass anyone, you cannot have your headlights on (unless it is night), and you cannot talk on the phone. If you do any of these things, you will immediately be pulled over by a ton of military guys, your car will be searched (not sure for what), and you typically will need to give them money (bribe them) to get yourself out of the situation. If you don't have your car doors locked, they will actually get into your car to try to intimidate you. Fortunately, my driver knows the rules well, so we have never been stopped. When the president is actually home, they just block off the whole street, so you can’t drive on it at all.
Speaking of driving, Bill has gotten a Congolese driver’s license so that he can drive while up at the mine site. It’s a big, pink laminated card, that can’t fit into a pocket or wallet. Anyone can get one. All you need to do is send in $50 and a picture. You don’t need to take a written test or a driving test, which is probably the reason why there are so many scary drivers here. One of the expat girls here will be turning 16 in July. We always joke that if she went home to AZ and tried to take her driver’s test using the Congolese method of driving, she would definitely fail. I can just hear her saying, “But I flashed my lights when I drove into the oncoming traffic, and I drove up onto the shoulder just like I was supposed to, and I honked my horn when I made that illegal left turn, etc”. Pretty much anything goes when it comes to driving here.
We have gotten a couple of security bulletins recently, from Bill’s company. One was regarding several expat murders that occurred in Lubumbashi, and the other was about several cases of hemorrhagic fever that have been documented. The bulletins were scary to get, but in general, we were told that there is nothing to worry about, so I don’t. If I worry about every little thing, then I would never leave the house. Instead, I just keep myself more aware of my surroundings, take basic precautions like making sure our car doors are always locked, and making sure I don’t eat any rodents or primates (associated with getting hemorrhagic fever).
Finding good, healthy food to eat continues to be a problem, especially fruits and vegetables. What you find in the stores is so disgusting looking that you can hardly look at it, let alone think about buying it. Many of us here have gardens in our backyards, and we have been enjoying the fresh food out of our gardens. We all share and trade. I provide onions, peppers (yuck—I give all of those away), and peas. From others, I get corn, tomatoes, avocados, and bananas. We will be planting more, but because it is the rainy season, it is not the right time to plant a lot of stuff.
Bill had his first haircut here in the Congo, by me! There is really no place to go to get your haircut, so most of the guys just wear the buzzcut look. I will likely not have my hair cut until we get back to AZ in July. Dustin had his trimmed up in England, though it is still very long. Bill had his cut in England too, but since we won't be going anywhere for awhile, it was time for me to get out the clippers! I think I was more scared than Bill, but overall, it turned out okay. At least Bill had a good attitude about it. He said, "If you mess it up, I don't really care", so that took the pressure off.
Well, it’s been about a month, so I figured it was time to post a new entry. I’ve actually been wanting to post for about a week now, but have been busy. I still can’t quite figure out what keeps me so busy all day, but I do know that I am never bored, I have a long list of things that I need to do that I never seem to get to, and I’m exhausted by the end of the day.
Yesterday I spent my day cleaning out all the cupboards because we have had a problem with weevils. We never had this problem in AZ, but it seems to be pretty typical here. I know that the weevils are not harmful, and that they are born right into the food products, but they are still gross, and none of us want anything to do with them. Except Bill. He doesn’t seem too bothered by them, and even offered to strain the weevils out of the food. I told him thanks but no thanks—I just threw it all out. And let me tell you—it about killed me to throw away a $15 box of Frosted Flakes, and Bisquick that someone brought from the States, but it had to be done. After I cleaned everything out, I took everything out of its original packaging and put everything into containers. Don’t know if this will help or not, but it’s worth a try. The sad thing is, is that all the food I threw out, my housecleaner or guards will fish out of the trash, and take home. I would offer it to them, but I don’t want to say, “Here—this food isn’t good for us, but would you like this tasty food full of bugs?” See what I mean?
We’ve also had a mouse in our house, and I’ve been dealing with that for the last few weeks. At first, I would only find evidence of this mouse, but would never actually see it. Then he started getting brave, and would dart out while we were eating breakfast, or while I was washing the dinner dishes. This freaked me out, and really made me anxious. Whenever I was in the kitchen, I would think I was going to see it. I finally put poison down, and I have not seen the mouse or any evidence of it for at least a couple of weeks. I had to be extra careful that Kami didn’t get to the poison, or to the mouse. I was so afraid she would find the mouse and eat it, and then she would get sick from the poison the mouse ate. Anyway, it seems to be gone now, so I am thankful, but still worry that it (or its friends) could still be around.
And as long as I’m talking about yucky creatures, I’ll mention my extreme phobia about the possibility of running into a cobra or black mamba. Both are very real threats here, and although I have not seen either one, I know many people that have. I’m almost absurdly fearful of seeing one. When I get into bed at night, I’m fearful that one will be in my sheets. When I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I always look around the toilet to make sure one isn’t coiled up around the toilet. I’m not sure where I got this phobia from, as I actually sort of like snakes and think they are pretty fascinating. I like to look at them and touch them at the zoo, or if they are someone’s pet. But the thought of running into an extremely dangerous one in the wild, just puts me over the edge. When we did our visit here in April, snakes never crossed my mind. Then someone mentioned it to me, and that almost made me make the decision not to come back. But I did, and I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. But, what I really want to convey here is that even though I love it here (despite the challenges), there is quite a bit of anxiety that I live with all the time. And I guess most of this is not a big deal, but it just seems like there are so many little things like this that I consciously or subconsciously deal with everyday, that I always feel a bit jumpy and on edge. I’ve actually seen the same with the kids. Dustin went to turn a light on in the bathroom, and the light blew out. The noise scared him so bad that he started crying. He’s really not a wimpy kid. I just think that we all walk around a little anxious, without really realizing that we are anxious, and this just makes us extra sensitive to things that typically would not faze us. I realize that none of these things are all that significant, especially when compared to other things going on in the world (poor economy, people losing jobs, etc). We actually feel very fortunate to be here at this time, as Bill’s company is closing mines left and right, and tons of people in the Phoenix office have lost their jobs. It’s quite possible that had we stayed in Phoenix, he would be one of the people out of a job.
Last week, I had 3 kids at my house sleeping over (in addition to my 2), and the first thing that happened was that our generator wouldn’t work. That’s not such a huge deal, except that our stove and microwave don’t work when the generator doesn’t work, and all the lights in the house are very dim (sort of like a brown out). I went to make all these kids dinner, and all I had were 2 pizzas (not enough for 5 hungry kids). So now, all the kids have eaten all the pizza, but they are still hungry. But I can’t make them anything because the stove and microwave don’t work. So I offered them things like cold cereal, fruit, etc. They ended up eating cold (room temperature) ravioli. So, the next thing that happens is all the power goes out completely, so now we have no lights or anything. Normally the generator would kick in, but since ours was broken, no such luck. The kids had a blast though, and the 2 factions (boys vs. girls) even played together during this time. Bill and I were bored though—no internet or TV and no light to read by. About 11:30 PM, they finally got out to our house to fix the fuel pump on our generator, and we had lights again!
About 3 weeks ago, there was a Congolese holiday, remembering the assassination of the previous president of the DRC (Laurent-Desire Kabila). That happened in 2001, and at that time, his son (Joseph Kabila) was named president (he was not actually elected). At age 31, he became the youngest African president. It wasn’t until October 2006 that he became the first democratically elected president of the country since 1960. Anyway, this apparently is a big holiday. My house cleaner and gardener did not show up for work, all the stores (including grocery stores) were closed, and all schools were closed. We were told to just lay low and not really go anywhere on this day, as there might be people shooting guns into the air, etc. So we just stayed home all day. This wouldn’t have been so bad, but it happened to fall on my birthday, and we were planning to go out to eat at a Chinese restaurant, but we had to cancel our plans. Here, because there is really no other form of entertainment, we go out to eat. It’s a wonder I haven’t gained 20 pounds! But, because it is so expensive to eat anywhere (usually at least $100), we don’t go out all that often. On the plus side, we did get to eat a very yummy chocolate cake on my birthday, from a cake mix that we had picked up in Kenya.
And speaking of stores closing, today all the stores were closed downtown, but not for a holiday. Apparently, because of the poor price of copper, most of the mining companies here are closing down and leaving the Congo (not Bill’s company though). One of the mining companies that are leaving sold a bunch of their equipment to the governor here. So, he decided to have a parade and show off all the new equipment and I guess that was reason enough for all the stores to close down! Go figure!
Getting back to the president, I’ll mention that there is a street here called the president’s street. That is not the actual name, but it’s what we all call it. This is the street where the president has his house (when he is here in town). When you are driving on this street, you cannot go even one kilometer over 40 km, you cannot pass anyone, you cannot have your headlights on (unless it is night), and you cannot talk on the phone. If you do any of these things, you will immediately be pulled over by a ton of military guys, your car will be searched (not sure for what), and you typically will need to give them money (bribe them) to get yourself out of the situation. If you don't have your car doors locked, they will actually get into your car to try to intimidate you. Fortunately, my driver knows the rules well, so we have never been stopped. When the president is actually home, they just block off the whole street, so you can’t drive on it at all.
Speaking of driving, Bill has gotten a Congolese driver’s license so that he can drive while up at the mine site. It’s a big, pink laminated card, that can’t fit into a pocket or wallet. Anyone can get one. All you need to do is send in $50 and a picture. You don’t need to take a written test or a driving test, which is probably the reason why there are so many scary drivers here. One of the expat girls here will be turning 16 in July. We always joke that if she went home to AZ and tried to take her driver’s test using the Congolese method of driving, she would definitely fail. I can just hear her saying, “But I flashed my lights when I drove into the oncoming traffic, and I drove up onto the shoulder just like I was supposed to, and I honked my horn when I made that illegal left turn, etc”. Pretty much anything goes when it comes to driving here.
We have gotten a couple of security bulletins recently, from Bill’s company. One was regarding several expat murders that occurred in Lubumbashi, and the other was about several cases of hemorrhagic fever that have been documented. The bulletins were scary to get, but in general, we were told that there is nothing to worry about, so I don’t. If I worry about every little thing, then I would never leave the house. Instead, I just keep myself more aware of my surroundings, take basic precautions like making sure our car doors are always locked, and making sure I don’t eat any rodents or primates (associated with getting hemorrhagic fever).
Finding good, healthy food to eat continues to be a problem, especially fruits and vegetables. What you find in the stores is so disgusting looking that you can hardly look at it, let alone think about buying it. Many of us here have gardens in our backyards, and we have been enjoying the fresh food out of our gardens. We all share and trade. I provide onions, peppers (yuck—I give all of those away), and peas. From others, I get corn, tomatoes, avocados, and bananas. We will be planting more, but because it is the rainy season, it is not the right time to plant a lot of stuff.
Bill had his first haircut here in the Congo, by me! There is really no place to go to get your haircut, so most of the guys just wear the buzzcut look. I will likely not have my hair cut until we get back to AZ in July. Dustin had his trimmed up in England, though it is still very long. Bill had his cut in England too, but since we won't be going anywhere for awhile, it was time for me to get out the clippers! I think I was more scared than Bill, but overall, it turned out okay. At least Bill had a good attitude about it. He said, "If you mess it up, I don't really care", so that took the pressure off.
A couple of weeks ago, we all took a “school” field trip. The kids’ teacher arranged it, but almost all the parents went too. Like I said before, there is so little to do here, that any chance to get to somewhere new is always welcome. We went to a lake called Lake Kasombo, which is about 45 minutes out of town. We all had to drive together in a convoy, with a security car leading the way. Supposedly this lake was safe to swim in, so all the kids, some of the parents, and the teacher all swam and jumped off cliffs into the water. I couldn’t get pictures of the kids jumping off the cliffs because it was on the other side of the lake, and I was not one of the brave ones who actually went swimming, so I was too far away. The teacher brought along an inflatable kayak and took the kids for rides around the lake. It was a very nice, relaxing time. The kids all had fun, and the adults all relaxed up on the shore. Everybody got a lot of sun (except me, who had on SPF 40), and most everyone came home with sunburns. The kids’ teacher always wears a baseball hat. Well, on this day, he turned it around and was wearing it backwards. He got more sun than he realized, and boy did he have a funny looking sunburn on his face. On the way home, we stopped at a couple of roadside markets and picked up some fresh vegetables and fresh made yogurt. All in all, it was a fun field trip!
I think that’s about it for now. We don’t have any trips planned at this time, but we may go to Mozambique for Spring break, which is at the end of March. Jensen however said, “I don’t want to go anywhere for Spring break. I like it here.” This is coming from the kid who thought we were ruining her life when we moved here!
Hope everyone is well!
Laurie
I think that’s about it for now. We don’t have any trips planned at this time, but we may go to Mozambique for Spring break, which is at the end of March. Jensen however said, “I don’t want to go anywhere for Spring break. I like it here.” This is coming from the kid who thought we were ruining her life when we moved here!
Hope everyone is well!
Laurie
2 comments:
Put flour, and bisquick in the freezer. Put cereal in the refrig. It takes up a lot of room, but it keep the bugs away. We had the same problem in VZ. SOmetime the airtight containers didn't even work. It was a good thing we had an extra freezer because even bread went in there.
Hope this helps,
Ann
I just can't get enough of the adventures of the Grief family.
Thank you for the posts.
Tamara Larsen
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