Missionary Pick Up Line

Usually guys here don't need pick up lines. They just say "You're beautiful, give me your phone number." Yeah, no thanks.

But today this guy must have really been trying because he actually used a line on Theresa. Right up there with the best of them...

"Do you believe in God?" "Yes." "Oh, well I don't. Want to talk to me about Him?"

Ha! The funny part was he probably didn't realize he was being funny.

Monkies need baths

Monkey Business is not a normal cat. She's a business Monkey. She likes to hang out while I take a shower. She usually jumps in several times, sometimes getting fairly wet.
Tonight I decided she smelled bad so I just put some shampoo on her and let her take a shower with me. She didn't even mind it!
She was fine with the shower, but afterwards it was hard to get a photo because she was too busy scurrying around like a wet rat.

My love life

So the other day Theresa and I designated different roles our friends play in Monkey Business's life. I'm her mom and Theresa is her auntie. Heather is her best friend because she comes over to play and Barb is her grandma because she gets to go to her house to visit sometimes. We decided that our friend Chris from choir would be her boyfriend. The other day at practice he even asked me about her! I felt really happy to see him last night and was like "Theresa! There's Monkey's boyfriend!" Yes, I am living vicariously through my cat's imaginary love life. That's how awesome I am.

Karismatic

I have been marveling at how much I find myself integrated into Karisma Gospel choir. Friday night’s rehearsal was a ton of fun. The last two rehearsals they’ve spent a big chunk of time helping me learn a solo part to one of the songs. The song starts off with one of the other girls singing in a Congolese language. Then I come in with the English rendition. During these lengthy solos, the choir just follows along with some choreography. Then there’s a last section where we all repeat this one line over and over and there are a couple of really awesome solo parts that are so fast I’m not sure how the soloists manage to spit out the words. It’s a very fun song and I’m super happy to be able to do the English solo, especially since it seems to fit my voice and I can do it with a reasonable amount of confidence.

The other song we practiced on Friday is a real “Gospel” style song. There’s a lead part that everyone repeats after: “Hallelujah! (Hallelujah!) Hallelujah, amen! (Hallelujah, amen!), etc.". For some reason, since Gospel music comes from America and I’m American, they kept looking to me to come up with some kind of dance move for the song. This is hilarious to me given that they used to think I didn’t even know how to dance, and at first I was like “What?! Yeah right!” But when they asked a second time I was prepped with the move I wanted to do, so I showed it to them and they all started doing it! I’m a choreographer! The president of the choir was singing the lead part, but then he would call out other people’s names to do it. After three or four others, he called on me to do it one last time! It’s a really fun song and I was into it, but I think I got an adrenaline rush ‘cause I was shaking afterwards!

Anyways, all that to say, not only am I having a blast, but it seems like I’ve really been accepted as a full-fledged member. They’re not just humoring the white girl!

Little Monkey is Growing

Isn't my baby cute? Everyone tells me she's very beautiful, especially for being a random Congolese cat from a quickie mart!

I love this girl

"I'm the only one who is allowed to mix languages."

"Why?"

"Because I'm living in a language cocktail!"

--Theresa, my German housemate who is currently only speaking English, French, and Laari.

New Year's Pics

Here are my New Year's pics on Facebook. Check out my new hobby of taking "Congolese photos".

My Apartment is Awesome

Check out these before and after pics! I have my new furniture and the cushions all covered and just last week we finally got our wall hanging up. It's pretty much awesome.