Internet Troubles

Praying mantis that became a meal.

Dustin with the pangolin.

Pangolin

Pangolin

The monkey!

The monkey drinking water.

The monkey taking a cookie.

The other praying mantis at our house. Not sure what happened to him.

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that all is fine here. We have been having extreme internet troubles, and I have had no access to internet for the last few weeks, and before that, very limited access. I am lucky to have access right now. I am at the kids' school, using the internet here. The kids have been having trouble doing their school work because everything is online, and the school has had no internet either. They have now provided a tempory solution for the school, so the kids can get internet, but I'm not sure that we will ever get internet at our house. It's a pain, let me tell you! I'm spending a lot of time at the school! There seems to be a problem with the internet all over the mine site, but it is worse in some places (my house) than in others. I guess they're trying to fix the problem, but who knows when it will get fixed. They think that there is just too much traffic for the provider, and so everything is getting jammed up, and no one can get access. What happens is that when the company lays people off, if those people have the internet codes, then they just give them out to all their friends. So instead of just legitimate people from the company being able to access the internet, apparently the entire city of Fungurume is getting access. I don't know how accurate that is, but it definitely may be a contributing factor to all the problems we are having.

Not much has changed here. The kids are still mostly happy, though there is always some drama going on with all the kids here. It's an unusual situation here. There are 8 kids, ranging in age from 9 to 16. There are 3 boys and 5 girls. These kids not only spend all day together in one classroom, but then they are together everyday after school until about 8:00 PM, and then they spend all weekend together. It just isn't a normal situation to spend 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, with your friends. So, as a result, a lot of fighting goes on. I mostly try to stay out of it, unless another parent comes to me, or if a child comes to me. I just tell the kids that they are not going to get along with everyone all the time, so do the best they can, and just be respectful of other's feelings.

I continue to spend much of my days at the school, and then I usually head to the gym to work out. They've got a great, well-equipped gym here. I'm usually the only one in there, so I have the trainers all to myself; it's great! I typically go to tea with the other ladies once a week, at the Social Club. This is just a building here in camp where they have parties, gatherings, etc. There are no restaurants or anything like that where we can go to get out of camp. We don't have a car during the week anyway, so we really can't go anywhere, even if there were places to go. We take small trips out of camp on the weekends, when Bill is home, but we are still limited as to where we can go for safety reasons.

They had taken our phones away for several days, but they have been returned, and at this point, I do not think they will be taking them away again, so at least that's good. They are making some people pay for their phones (the people with huge bills), but so far they have not said anything to us.

The food situation has gotten tremendously better. They have opened up a small grocery store that is being run by a company from South Africa. We are now able to get some good, fresh produce, as well as decent meat. The market is over at the other part of the mine site, so it is about a 30 minute drive. They have arranged a small bus to take us over there once a week. The people who run the store have been very open to our suggestions as to products they should carry, so we'll see if they come through for us. They have even set up a little table in the store with coffee, pastries, and newspapers, so after we shop, we can sit and chat a little. This store, so far, has been the best thing that has happened here. It's amazing how excited we get at being able to get out of our camp once a week and go shopping at a decent store.

I got some good pictures of the monkey, and I'm hoping to be able to attach the pics here. We've also had some cool looking praying mantis' at our house, so I'll include those too. It was so sad though. One day, there was a praying mantis on our window. He had been hanging out there all day. Then, I saw birds flying over to the window, and the next thing I knew, the praying mantis had become a meal. It was just like a National Geographic show happening right before my eyes!

We also had an awesome experience with an animal here called a pangolin. Pangolins, also called scaly anteaters, are strange looking creatures covered with protective horny, overlapping scales. It is estimated that the Southern African Pangolin has been around for over 40 million years, adapting itself to the changing environment in order to survive. Some think they are related to armadillos, but this is not true. There are 3 types of pangolin in Africa: the giant pangolin, the tree pangolin, and the common pangolin. I'm not sure if we saw the tree pangolin or the common pangolin, but it definitely was not the giant pangolin. The one we saw was a baby, and he was so cute. I'm going to post some pics. They eat termites and ants, and they have no teeth. For protection, pangolins rely on their ability to roll themselves into a ball. They also have armour-plated scales. We got to hold one, and it was so cool! One of the workers had found him, and brought him to one of the expats here who always seems to have an assortment of unusual animals.

We leave in about 3.5 weeks for our South America trip. We will be going to Peru and the Galapagos Islands. On our way there, we will be going to Madrid for a few days, as that is the route the plane takes us. We were going to have a 12 hour layover in Spain, so decided to hang out there for a few days. It's supposed to be an amazing city to visit. So, if you don't hear from me before that time, just know that I'll post again after our trip.

With the internet the way it is here, I never know when I may be able to post again. For those of you who thought I fell off the face of the planet, now you know that I didn't, though it does feel like it sometimes!

Happy Halloween to everyone! We will be having a party next weekend for the kids. Jensen is going to be Max, from the Maximum Ride series of books (basically a teenage girl that is part bird and has wings and can fly). Dustin is going to be Harry Potter. Bill is going to be a dementor, from Harry Potter (if his costume arrives), and I'm going to be a Roman Empress (not sure why--just liked the costume). The kids are actually going to be able to go trick or treating, here in camp. We have had several people bring us candy from the States, so they'll get some familiar candy too!

Gotta run now. Gonna try to send this while the internet is still up. Just wanted you all to know that all is fine here, and we are all safe.

Cheers!

Laurie