A truly Congolese Experience

My goodness gracious!! Today was a Congolese experience! :-)I love Congolese.... but i haven't sweated so much in my life. Ok let me explain.Today after church, we (the choir) drove to the British Embassy to sing for them at their Royal Ambassador's Christmas Staff Party! We were all in black and white church-type clothes, and the ambassador shows up in a tshirt. It was funny! You just don't expect that of a british ambassador! So I got to meet him, and he was nice... asked me about my family and how I liked it here. What do people expect when they ask me that? One of the ladies in the choir was asking me which I liked better. Congo or America. Hmmm...wellllll.....les deux! (both!) I don't wanna make it sound like i hate it here, and my french isn't good enough to explain that I like parts of Congo and I've made good friends here, and my families also here so i have to like it....so i will be sad but a bit excited when I graduate and head out. But it's just funny when they ask me that question. I think they know that it's not the most fun place to live and life is hard every now and then! But I also like it here at the same time. I've made awesome friends and there are just some amazing people here with really kind hearts. Then there are days when I feel like screaming at Congolese. The driving, the pushiness of them, the selfishness, the "GIVE ME MONEY" thing, the madam! madam!!!, the squishing 40 people into one van, the coming late to everything thing, the electricity/water deal, the kissing noise guys make to get my attention.....okay this will never end if i don't stop now!! C'est la Vie! I am not complaining, i have actually learned how to be happy in a place like this. And you really enjoy the little things when you come to a place like this. But back to my day today.We sang, and I had a really short solo in Lingala that i've done like 50 times for church (maybe 3 times actually but it seems like 50!) and my voice cracked or something weird and i just couldn't make the real high note. Every time I've sung it, i've messed it up in some little way!! Gosh, it's not that hard but i always have some kinda problem and it really frustrates me! I think it's nervousness, and i've told the choir guy i don't wanna do the solo, but he and everyone else always say i should. It was the second song we did so i was just so glad it was over. We sang mostly christmas carols and then we ate lunch. There were so many Congolese at this party, which surprised me. But then again, i knew that there weren't that many British people because i would have seen them by now! They had so much food. Congolese food -- the pondue, foo foo, beans & rice, fish (with the heads still intact), fried plantains (the bessst!!), chicken-- beef, kebabs, salad, green beans, bread, 3 kinds of rice... everything! And mince meat pies for dessert:-) So it was fun, just extremely hot! When we were getting ready to go, Mrs. Francis (the choir director and missionary here) drove the 12passenger van. Most of the choir members had somehow missed their rides they came with so 18 were trying to find a ride with her but she only had 11 seats. So 14 came! I was squished in the back. I felt so congolese...What shocked me was that, though we were all sweating (for some reason i was sweating the most!!) and it didn't smell bad! hahaha ... i had sweat just dripping down my face and body, it was bad. I spoke some french with Mignonne (a choir member) and told her about going to "l'universite" next year. I really need to get over my shyness and speak french more often!! What's my problem? I know more than i give myself credit for i think, i just am afraid of messing up or something? I don't know what it is, but i just close up. We took the choir members to church and then to this main street where they all could get off and catch a "taxi." Now taxis here aren't at all what taxis are in the states. Here, they are big vans, little vans, and cars. Basically, anything that runs, is a taxi! Usually the drivers will take out all the seats in a van so that he can make his own little wooden benches which will fit much more people. When the taxi is full, that doesn't matter at all, because all you need to do is get on the back and hold on. Yeah i've seen like 4 people hanging onto the back door of a van. It's insane!! And the vans are jam-packed, with about 8 people just sitting in the front by the driver, on top of the driver, squished against the windshield!! I mean can you imagine living like that? And when it rains, not many taxis run, so you're just stuck! One of the teachers at TASOK lives near us, and last year she rode these taxis! Brave woman. You have to guard your purse like your life and know good french or lingala. I could never do that! And she did it every day! But I am thankful for this experience here. It's changed my life in many ways i know, and i would not be the person that i am had i not come here. I know i am fortunate to get to live overseas in a totally different culture, meet people from all over the world, and see things you just never would get to see staying in the States. Singing for the British ambassador at his house in a very international choir.... i think that's cool! I'm gonna go do some homework now. I'm so tired! I just needed to get that out of my system.