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.

Christmas in Congo Pics

Here are some photos of my Christmas festivities in Congo this year. Merry Christmas!

Congo's health care system

Here's a recent article about the disastrous state of health care here in Congo-Brazzaville. This is why you're praying I don't get sick :o) Pray for my friends. I know people who have recently been in the hospitals mentioned in this article. I've been in the hospitals and can assure you, it's as bad as this article says.

Money may not grow on trees...but mangoes do!

Waiting for choir practice to start tonight, I was sitting at the church looking out into the courtyard when a huge wind blew up. Mangoes started falling out of the massive tree in the middle of the yard and several people scurried around to pick them up, pleased with their find. It was cute.

I got home after choir rehearsal and heard a rustling above my head as I walked up our driveway. A mango came crashing through the branches of the tree and fell a few feet from me. "Oh, a mango!" I picked it up, took it home, cut it up, and ate it. It was yummy.

My new treat is buying a mango already cut up at the bus stop. They put it in a bag with some salt and I eat it piece by piece on the way home. I enjoy throwing the peel out the window and I think the other passengers enjoy watching the white lady savoring her tasty mango-to-go.

We always talk about Adam and Eve eating the "apple" but I think if it was so tempting it must have been a mango :o)

My Cat Monkey Biz

Here are some photos of the kutest kat in kongo

We had a blast singing at the French Cultural Center again Saturday night. With each concert, our friends seem to open up more and more (or maybe we're the ones getting more and more comfortable). Theresa and I have a little expression..."Once you go black, you never go back." :o)

Today we saw my good friend Louz and he said "Theresa, you really danced good at the concert!" And he kept going on about it while I just stood there, so I said "Hey! I'm jealous!" He looked at me and was like "What? You're already Congolese. She's still white." So then I was happy :o)

Thanksgiving

Here are my Thanksgiving pics...finally (thank you, Poopernet)

Birthday Bash in Brazza

Birthdays in Brazzaville are a great thing, at least judging by the last 2 years. I decided to carry on a couple of traditions from last year, so first thing Saturday morning I went down to the Mandarine for espresso and pastries with Theresa, Dana, and Heather. Then we headed to Total market to shop for shoes and clothes (we normally buy groceries there and don’t ever take time to look around and see what else there is). This year I found a nice skirt and a really cute dress in the “friperie” (Congolese equivalent of Goodwill).


Before noon Theresa and I needed to head back home to get ready for our concert. We spent all afternoon waiting for the concert to start—it was even later than normal since it poured down rain for half an hour. But it was great fun hanging around with our choir friends, especially since we were in a silly mood for my birthday. The concert was an AIDS awareness event promoting the fact that to get tested for HIV/AIDS is free and everyone should get it done. December 1st is International AIDS Awareness Day, or something like that.

Several different groups performed. Our presentation was pretty disappointing. I didn’t feel prepared at all and unfortunately I had 2 solos! The first one I totally botched and sang in the wrong pitch. The next two soloists’ microphones weren’t working and then I did my second solo which went OK. I spent the rest of the performance wishing I weren’t on stage and wondering how I was ever going to show my face in public again after all my friends had just witnessed my idiocy. Fortunately some people didn’t even notice and those who did were gracious. The choir still really wanted me to sing with them at a church service the next morning, so I guess life goes on.

After the concert it was time to party at Dana and Heather’s place. My friends are so cool and they planned a big get together for me. Lydia brought her amazing sauerkraut which she had started making on Thursday. Barb brought her tasty salsa and Theresa made an adorable cake (in the morning she’d even given me a miniature one with a candle!). D and H provided drinks, bread, mashed potatoes, etc, not to mention letting us completely trash their house! My friends Geritte and Espérance were there, along with Marvin, a friend of Espé’s. My friend Patricia from Kenya came and one of our Congolese colleagues Kevin was there too. It was an interesting blend of friends, but it came together really nice! Oh, Monkey Business was there too.

I shared from Isaiah 35, my chapter for the year and we ate some snacks. Then it was time for the real food and then some German techno music! Getting this group of random people to dance together was a trick, but then Espé suggested we choreograph a dance and it was awesome! Wish I could show you the video! Of course the neighbors wondered what was going on up there :o) We ate the cake and I got lots of gifts, which was so nice of my friends, but I’m still waiting for my packages from home to get here.

The party was a great success, so I felt better after my singing fiasco, and overall it was a really full day with lots of good memories.

Monkey B comes for a visit

Yesterday I went to visit Monkey Business and informed the store keeper that I'd like to take him home on Saturday since it's my birthday. As I was playing with him, the guy was like "Why don't you just take him now?" Sucker for cute animals that I am, I did take him home with me, but only for an hourlong visit during which he got stuck behind the oven, got acquainted with the dog, and fell asleep on my lap.

Yes, I know I have the most ridiculously cute kitten ever. I was surprised and happy that, scared though he was, he drank some milk out of a saucer. Classic.

Lovely new profile pic

First Concert with Karisma

Hey! My roomie and I sang in our first Karisma Gospel choir concert--2 concerts in fact! On Sunday we sang at an outdoor venue, dressed like beautiful Congolese women. Then tonight we sang at the French Cultural Center. We placed second in the gospel section of a jazz competition. I'll see about posting video sometime, although I doubt our connection will allow me to upload such a thing. We'll see. Anywho, it was tons of fun. We love getting to be friends with the other singers and performing with such a popular group is a thrill.

Meet my friends

Having Congolese friends has been one of my biggest goals, but it's also one of my biggest challenges. First it's hard to find the ones with whom you have a lot in common. Then you have to find ways of building up the relationship and you have to learn to communicate in their language and in each other's ways of expressing friendship. Some things are universal, but other things are not, or are at least expressed differently.

I have to choose to not be offended when people ask me for things or when they show up late, because I know that they are not being rude, they're just acting in ways that are normal for them. Sometimes I wonder how many ways I'm seeming rude to them too and don't realize it because I'm just doing what's normal for me as an American. For example, I don't often think to ask about their families or about their health, which are basic ways of being polite and expressing friendship here. When I think of how much grace and patience it takes for us to navigate a cross-cultural relationship, I'm amazed that I have so many friends here! Thanks God! Please help us!

This is Geritte and Esperance. They are 2 of my favorite friends. We laugh a lot together and have good discussions about God and our spiritual lives. We all enjoy music and singing and learning new languages.

Meet the new love of my life

I'm back in Congo but sadly I don't have a cat anymore. My cat from last year, Frecky, was only on loan and her family is back in the country to take care of her now.

Yesterday I went to the Mauritanian mini mart across the street and saw that they had a pretty decent looking orange cat. Cats around here tend to look pretty mangy, so when you see a nice one it's of note. I told the young clerk that he should tell me if ever his cat has kittens. "She has kittens!" he exclaimed. "Where? At home?" "No, here." "Really?! Where?!" "Behind the notebooks." Sure enough, on a shelf behind the notebooks the kittens were snuggled away.

I went to see them again today and informed the clerk that when they are 6 weeks old I will take a boy cat. I think they're about one week at this point. I'll be lucky if they hold on to them until 6 weeks; I'm sure by 4 they'll be wanting to get rid of them, but that's not really old enough in my opinion.

Anyways, this is Monkey Business, hopefully my future cat. Depends on if he's really a boy or if he turns out to be a girl--kinda hard to tell when they're so small and furry :o) We hope he will be friendly and affectionate. He's already got the cute factor going for him.
This is my new roommate Theresa from Germany with our cat, Monkey Business.

The Internet is not my friend

I take back anything good I ever said about our connection here. I've been trying to send my newsletter all week and it won't leave my outbox! I'll load a webpage and by the time I click on something else I've already lost the connection. OK, just venting and letting ya'll know why you never hear from me. Well, that's partly why...the other part is I haven't figured out where emailing fits into my schedule yet. Sorry! I'll talk to you someday...

Uncle Bob 1937-2007

My uncle Bob died Sunday after a courageous battle with cancer. My mom was able to be with him and her sister Jo for the past week. I’ve been praying for them here in Congo, so he was covered with transcontinental prayers :o) I will remember Bob for his kindness to children and his devotion to his wife. We had a good visit with them this summer while he was still feeling well and even got to celebrate his 70th birthday with him. We will always remember that as a special time. Let’s pray for my aunt Jo during this time of immense loss, that she will be comforted in her grief and be able to make a new start. I love you, Jo and Bob!!

some summer pics

Hey! I'm pretty pleased with how well the Internet has been working on our center since I came back. I'm sitting in my apartment using the wireless connection. It's not fast or really that consistent, but hey, look at all the photos I'm uploading!

This is an album of photos from August when I went to Sacramento and Dallas and celebrated Everly's 1st birthday. Enjoy

A few new pics of Congo

From left to right: Heather my new teammate, John James BBC journalist, Me, Mike who is doing a construction project on our center, Dana my other new teammate, Theresa my new flat mate.

This is where I go running in the morning, down by the Congo River, looking across to Kinshasa. Some miracle has occurred and I actually get up early in the morning to exercise :o) People yell to me "C'est bon le sport!" "It's good to do sports!"

We saw these crazy long horned cows on our way out to swim at Papa Gabriel's on Saturday (a favorite place to spend the day outside of Brazza). They were herded by some muslim men. I think it was the first time I've seen a cow in Congo (besides the one laying on the butcher's table at the market, of course)

As usual, the scenery on the drive to and from Papa Gabriel's (along the north road out of Brazza) was beautiful. It's a nice contrast to the concrete jungle that I live in.

Greetings from Brazzaville

Hey everybody! Just a little note to let you know...I'm here! Haven't been doing much emailing the past couple weeks, so it may seem like I've fallen off the planet. Nope, but I am in Congo!

It's been really good to be back. I'm so thankful for the joy that God has given me in being here. Thanks to all who prayed for my bags--they arrived on time with me and I didn't even have to go through customs!

I had moved out of my apartment and put all my stuff in storage. I'm back in the same room now, trying to get settled in again. My stuff got pretty musty/moldy, so that's been a challenge airing everything out and doing a lot of laundry. I can't fully move in because I ordered new furniture for the living room and it's not here yet. When I get all set up I'll be sure and post a few pics for you.

One development is that I'm sharing my apartment with a new person. Theresa is 19 and from Germany. She's here to tutor one of the missionary kids. She is full of life and is a lot of fun to be around. She's planning on joining a gospel choir with me and is ready for a lot of new experiences.

I also have 2 new teammates, Dana and Heather, who just arrived about a month ago. They're getting oriented and are enjoying themselves. We went to the market today, and 3 young white women together seems to make quite the impression ("Hey, look at the white people!!!"), so being a team here should be interesting.

Alright, I better post this before I lose my Internet connection. Have a good day!

more Facebook photos

A few pics from the last month

More pictures of Congo on Facebook

Ouesso trip with Mom

First 2 months in Ouesso