Holidays and such in Congo...

This Christmas Eve and Christmas we broke a few traditions! First of all, Christmas Eve, we didn't get to have a candlelight service at Church. That was pretty disappointing to all of us, but my dad couldn't get the committee to let him have a service:-( Apparently not many people wanted to have a service. We had our traditional potato leek soup (yay!) for dinner, and rolls...:-) YUM! Then we all sat around and ate some homemade ice cream and each opened one gift (that's one of our old traditions). Sometimes we try to open the smallest looking gift on Christmas Eve so we can save the bigger ones for C. Day! ;-) This year the power went off before dinner was ready... but only for like 2 minutes, thankfully!!

In the morning we gathered in our pjs in the living room to open our stocking. Mom and Dad came out in their matching Congolese shirts and served us some juice! We watched (and videod) dad opening his stocking because he always has the funniest reactions and is always excited about no matter what is put in his stocking.... and then we all opened ours at the same time. How we usually do it. Breakfast followed, and we enjoyed homemade EGG NOG (thanks to Sarah!), and sweet rolls (another tradition broken-- normally we have baked apples, but this is Congo). Dad was eating a hard boiled egg and was getting quite frustrated trying to crack it open! He's always funny trying to do his eggs. After breakfast, we opened gifts... and this time mom said we wouldn't try to open in order of age. We would just open one at a time, whatever random order we wanted! But we still pretty much took turns. We don't like opening all of them all at once because it's fun to watch people's reactions. Especially when people are opening a gift you gave! All the stuff my family gave me was really neat, and probably my favorite gift i got was from my mom -- She bought some zebra print material and took it to a purse shop where they made it into a messenger bag for me!! And a matching one for Colleen-- they're fun! Very African :-)
I gave my mom some homemade stationery--like thank-you cards-- and she loved them, but while we were passing them around (after we had just said that they were from when me & my sisters made cards at thanksgiving), my dad saw them and goes "Oh, we're these made by some handicaps?" ahahahaha! We had a good long laugh about that....:-) We decided to have our christmas dinner later, like at 7pm because at 2:00 we were invited to a Christmas caroling slash christmas cookie get together at the #2guy's house in the US Embassy. He and his wife were really friendly, and we sang all the Christmas carols we knew around the piano! It was pretty fun -- then we had cheese and crackers, cookies, cakes.... drinks.... then at home we had to get the food altogether and ate finally a while later. Surprisingly our African turkey was some of the best turkey ever, and although the sweet potatoes i made were a lot dryer than normal, we had most of the same foods we normally have every Christmas.

Christmas flew by and soon it was New Years. On New Years Eve, Theo went to the youth group party to show some support and represent us, and Christiana went out with a few singles. The rest of us went to Elaeis for dinner. I had a tasty Hawaiian chicken salad... but why am I talking about all these details? Not really the point. Yet. We all had good dinners and then headed to this restaurant called Chateau Margot which is known for their amazing desserts. They were booked for a party, but they said "If you don't mind being all by yourselves, we have a private room inside you can eat in!" .... did we mind? NOT AT ALL! So we Took the chance and were shown to this room with a big table and big, nice leather chairs.... pretty blue walls, a few big paintings,...and AC (always a big plus) .... Our server was SUCH a sweet lady. Very polite, you didn't feel awkward while she was in the room because she didn't stare at us... and she was very formal and you knew she had been trained well. We ordered a few coffees, and they came in teeny cups on their own indiv. trays with a very small cake beside. Then we ordered our desserts-- me and mom got Creme Brulee, Dad got some creme filled pastries with ice cream and chocolate sauce, and sarah & colleen got Mousse au Chocolat. They came beautifully displayed.... presentation was gorgeous! ANd they tasted even better than they looked. if that's possible. haha! DELISH.
We got home around 9:30...then watched some Alias, paused it at midnight, broke open some sparkling cider and toasted! Sarah did a little dance... then we went back to Alias, and then bed!
New Years Day we had this Congolese guy pick us up with a mini van to take us to thie place called Gandayala, a picnic spot on a river that flows into/out of (?) the Congo River. The van we squished in smelled of fish because it had been used to transport some people who must have been carrying fish!! Ew... but anyway, about 1.5hrs later we got to the spot and realized my friend Chaima was behind us with her family! WHat a coincidence -- she was picnic-ing there too! ... We planned on staying the night there because my dad thought he had reserved the cabin for the night. When we looked at the cabin, there were only 2 bedrooms, and including the 2 couches downstairs, only 5 beds (just one was a double bed). We had been promised enough for 7 people and it was supposed to cost $50. The guy there wanted $100, and he didn't even have our reservation!! We were fed up, and decided it probably wasn't worth the money so we'd just picnic and have a boat ride! I hung out with Chaima til she had to eat lunch, and then we ordered food from the restaurant. Plantains, chicken, shish-ka-bobs, fries... expensive, but not bad! Then we went on the motor boat -- only our family. It was so neat!! Took a 30min cruise upstream, they let us get out and swim, then we went back.... it was so relaxing and fun! -- And quite beautiful!! And we could actually took pictures, which was GREAT! After the boat ride, we just hung out on the shore and grass, waiting for our ride to come back which wasn't coming til 6... so we had 3 hours. We took naps, played cards, and just talked and it was fun! Very relaxing as i said about the boat...the whole thing was relaxing. Even though there were some pesty people who wanted to sell us wicker furniture or charge us to take a picture of the baby crocodile they were carrying around.... or to play guitar & sing (even though we kept saying PLEASE GO AWAY!!) and get some money from us. That part was just kinda funny! Oh Congo.
On the way home, we sung songs from Disney movies and other musical the whole way back! it was probably pretty annoying for our driver, but great fun for us! What a good New Years Day!! Not much comes close to beating good family time. I loooove my family!!

moving along

First semester done and gone! Wow, that was extreeeeemely fast. I don't think time has ever passed faster! Except maybe when i lived in france... but that's obvious b/c FR was just too amazing. This semester was awesome. I feel like I have pretty much gotten used to college and as long as I work ahead, I'll do great! The past 2 weeks somehow I got ahead in H/w so when exam time came (and i only had 2 written ones), I was pretty free to hang around and didn't stress AT ALL! My 2 written exams were in French (surprisingly not too hard) and Old Testament (also not bad!) .. then i had like 3 papers due for my other 3 classes. --And those were short, easy papers I wrote ahead, so it really was easy when exam time came! I felt bad for those people who had like 4 exams and couldn't start studying because they had papers to write or things to read etc... i think next semester will be much harder with western civ. (history), NEW testament (and i have one of the hardest teachers apparently), Psychology, and Comm., and then the freshmen required class again called "Christianity, Character, & Culture." ...but hopefully it won't be TOO bad for me! I won't have any classes on Tuesdays and only one at 8am on thursdays!!!! pretty stoked about that-- but those will have to be my work days since MWF are gonna be pretty jam-packed.
What keeps me going is having some AWESOME friends, near and far! I just love Gordon. It snowed a lot before I came here and we went sledding on cafeteria trays! It's just fun .... even though it gets cold, you stay inside or bundle up a lot and drink lots of hot chocolate or lattes.... it's lovely!

So I am in Kin now!! Back in Congo...."Home." it was funny telling people I was "just going to Africa" for winter break. And there's a song by Kenny Chesney called "All I Want for Christmas is a Real Good Tan" ... i think i may just get that while i'm here! Planning on doing LOTS of swimming and tennis;-) My flight here was very interesting .... probably one of the worst flights I've ever taken -- it was so long and draining. Surprisingly, I'm not at all jet-lagged, I think I got enough sleep on the plane.
Alrighty, here goes a long detailed story about my flight, whether you wanted it or not!
On Friday morning, I went to the airport at 3:30 am -- my friend Corrie drove me because she lives 20 mins away from the airport, and I had gone to stay at her house on Wed. after my last exam.

So we got to the airport at 4:00 and didn't expect anyone to be there, but ... we were wrong. In the intl. flight line, there were like 30 ppl in front of me and more and more (Mostly Asians, lol) kept coming in. i waited for 45 mins in line, and then went through SECURITY, which was even worse, 30mins waiting time... so then by the time I got to my gate I only had to wait like 5mins before boarding. I flew to Wash. DC, and slept nearly the whole time... At the DC airport, my flight was leaving at 9:30 and I got to the gate at like 8:45 ... I checked in and the people said that Christiana (my sister meeting me) hadn't checked in yet..that was weird because her flight from Nashville was coming in at 11pm on Thursday night ... so she was supposed to be there the night before.... kinda worried me. WHERE COULD SHE BE? So I went and got a little Starbucks -- muffin & cocoa because it would be the last time to do that for a month... haha i'm pathetic. When I got back to the gate, there was my sister, thank goodness!!!! So then I sat down with her, ready for story time. haha
Her flight had been cancelled to DC last night, and the only way to get up to DC was to take a flight to Baltimore (she had to buy a new ticket), and then these people our uncle knew picked her up and drove her in the morning to the airport in DC. It was a messy, long, involved story, so I won't get into all of it, but she was quite flustered!! Her luggage had also broken open on the way from Nashville to Baltimore so she had to go to walmart and buy a new trunk!! it was just crazy. But we met up and got on our flight to Ethiopia. Christiana had a really big rolling "carry-on" so we pushed as hard as we could to squeeze it into the overhead bin... buuuuut we couldn't do it, even with a guy's help. So i told her to just check it below. Right after the flight I was thinking that they would put it on the ramp that goes into the airport right outside the plane so we could get it in Ethiopia and get on our flight to Kinshasa. I didn't think about the fact that we were on Ethiopian airlines and they might check it and you would have to pick it up in baggage claim in Ethiopia!!! ... Anywho, wasn't worried about that at the time. SO we boarded and we didnt have seats together but my seat was in the very front of economy so i was like, "well whoever's sitting with you won't mind switching and going to sit where i'm supposed to sit b/c it's closer to the front!" Or so i thought. I sat down by Christiana and when the guy who had that seat came, i told him the deal and he was like, "well let me go check it out." he came back and said that someone was sitting in my seat, so he made me move. I went back up front and the flight attendant asked me if i minded sitting in the middle exit row (this was a big plane -- 3 rows across) ... i was like "of course not!! yay for leg room!!" and settled in. -- In between a lady in her upper 40's and an Ethiopian, also middle aged. The Ethiopian couldn't keep still and kept getting out of her seat and talking to flight attendants in her language... which was fine but this cute girl that was sitting behind us who was friends with the Ethiopian kept coming up and sitting by me. While i was watching the movie she kept wanting me to change the channel or find it on her tv (we had our own little screens) and kept turning up my volume til it was making my ears bleed. lol ... she was adorable, but loud behind me! and whenever i tried to lie my seat back she would go "HEY -- I'm not going to sleep! Move your chair!" but i got away with it for a little bit at least.... I slept a while, watched movies for a while, slept,... read a tiny bit, just did anything i could to pass time. Longest flight of my life. We stopped over in Rome after 8 hrs to refuel and i was so bummed they wouldn't let us off the plane. We had to sit there for like 2 hrs, saw some Italian trash guys get on the plane to collect trash, and heard them speaking some italian....:-) i had to pretty much stay in my seat the whole time. miserable. We were served 3 or 4 meals and they were just horrible. worst airplane food ever. it was like fake, and made me feel sick so i didn't want to eat anything. My stomach kept hurting on and off, and the food they kept bringing out was disgusting. Finally we got off the ground again and flew for 7 or 8 more hours to Ethiopia. I tried to sleep a lot, and watched another movie, but the only good movie was No Reservations which i loved!
Finally we got to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It looked exactly like the Kenyan airport -- looked pretty new, but very empty and big. The first thing i realized was our flight was an hour late so we had 10 mins before our flight to Kin was supposed board!!! I got out of the plane and waited for C. Then i realized we had to find her bag because it wasn't sitting on the "gangplank" outside the plane! oh noes!! It was going to baggage claim! So as soon as C got outta the plane, we ran down to baggage claim, which was on the OTHER side of customs. What were we going to do? we didn't need to go to customs b/c we weren't staying-plus there was a long line!! We talked to a guy who worked there and were like "we need to get a bag and get on a connecting flight but we shouldn't have to go through customs!" he tried to be helpful and was like "Oh, fine! Just pass through!" Just pass through? Does that mean go through the line and talk to the customs officials or... just "pass through" like in between the counters and just run through and ignore the ppl in line and behind the counter? wouldn't we get stopped?? WELL ... We ran for it because we had a flight to catch!!

... Got to the baggage claim carousel and no bags were out yet (obviously ... u know how long it normally takes... and we were in AFRICA!) .. i was like "umm... C??? what are we gonna do??? We have to find someone and tell them to just send our bag onto Kin>" and she was like "yahhh ... oh noooo i'm sooo sorrrry!!" i was like "no it's not your fault but we better hurry! our plane leaves in 5mins!!!!!!" it actually was going to leave in like 5. We were so scared. i didn't want to spend a night in E!... we found some ppl standing around and they were NO HELP at all. I prayed for an angel. I didn't know what else we could do. Right then someone paged us in french. "Madames Evangeline et Christiana...ajfkjakjdfka jfkjakfj akfj ajfkd jakdjf kajkd fjakl. Merci." they repeated it 3 or 4 times! I found her (she had run off to find an "info desk" or something ... but there was nothing ANYwhere...) and was like "that's us!! we just have to run!!" and she was like "What?? they did?" i don't know how she hadn't heard our names .. i heard them clear as day. but yeah so we ran upstairs and saw a sign that said "Connecting flights" (thank God for english!) and a man was looking at us (there were only 3 ppl in sight... it was really deserted), Pointing to these 2 other guys who were like "this way!!" and they looked like we should be in a hurry. So we rushed over and followed the people's pointing... got to a security line and we started walking through without putting our bags down. Of course they stopped us cuz our bags had to be x-rayed... then this lady showed up and was like "Are you Evangeline and Christiana? Follow me!" and she was walking really fast, we rushed and told her about our bag and gave her the claim ticket which she took and said she would tell someone and figure it out. So we got on the plane... i think we were the last ones on. We sat on rows across from each other, so that was nice. 5mins later the lady that saved our life came back and handed us the bag ticket and said it had been checked on to congo! So, sighs of relief... then the plane door closed and we just sat there. For what seemed like 3 hours.. but i think it was just 1. I'm not sure what we were waiting for! THey never explained. I sat next to 2 Congolese girls who loved talking and bumping me. while i was sleeping the girl poked me and made me get up so she could get to the bathroom, but other than that it was okay. it seemed like a really long flight but i think it was 4hrs. I watched a bit of Home Alone -- In FRENCH b/c they didn't have it in eng. (it was hilarious!)... and some Everybody loves Ray, which was really dumb. tried sleeping .. they served another awful meal. i still felt pretty miserable. i think i ate 4 bites and threw it out.

The flight attendants were the worst. Really bad service. Even on the flight from DC to ethiopia they seemed in a big hurry to serve the food and give you drinks. Even if you were asleep they would nudge you and rip out your tray so they could throw food at you. And you know when you have to put your seat back upright when you're landing? I saw a congolese man with his head covered in a blanket and he had his seatback, so a flight attendant came to him and ripped the blanket off his head, pushed the botton, and jerked his seat forward while she shouted "put your seats up!" ... it was hilarious but also pretty sad. Such a different culture I guess. They were all Africans... very different! :-) well... we finally landed in Kin.

We got through customs fine, -- didn't have to wait very long -- they didn't even bother asking for our invitation letters ... well on the other side of Customs, I didn't see our protocol man right away, and i was like "well he'll find me... dad told me his name..." so when a guy standing there saw me and asked who was picking me up i said "Mukila Paul" (pretty confidently). And the guy nodded and told this woman to call him! She had his number.... i was like "Oh good yeah this is def the one guy dad wanted to pick us up because everyone knows our protocol man!" well the lady showed me and C a place to sit down away from the chaos and called Paul. She let him talk to me and i was like "i am walt shepard's daughter ... u know him ? ... well i am at the airport..." struggling finding words in french to say to him! and he's like "oui oui, I am coming!" in english. So i was like "YAY ... he knows me he's the guy!" because i was a little nervous i had said the wrong name. My dad had emailed me on wed and told me his name, and i had wrote a note in my phone -- so i looked at my phone. The name was "Papa Maninga." Totally different, but i was thinking ... "hmm ... congolese do have lots of names. it must be the same guy!" so i asked the lady for her phone to call dad. She seemed like a very nice lady and willingly let me use her phone. Dad was like "nooooooooo!!! maninga! i told u in the email!" so i told the lady to quickly call him back and tell him not to come. Right then before i hung up with my dad, Maninga looked at me and smiled. I was like Oh noooooooo.....slash, "so good to see you!!" but i was like "WHAT HAVE I DONE????? poor paul is coming" P.Maninga told me to sit down again and we gave him our baggage claim tickets. we sat for a LONG time just waiting for the carousel to start turning and sending out our luggage. When they started, i went over and stood with M to look for our bags. After a LOOOONG wait, i finally found my 2 bags and one of christiana's ... then finally another one of C's came out, but then we waited and waited and the last bag came out, and it was NOT C's carry on that we had had trouble with in Ethiopia. So we took the bags we had out to the car, and while we walked to M's truck, the lady that let me borrow her phone came up to us and Papa said that she claimed i owed her $5 for a new phone card b/c i used her phone. I go "but i used it for one minute!!" and he goes "tell her thati n french>" so i did, and she widened her eyes in disbelief. Another woman out of no where was like "Une minute??" also in disbelief. I go "OUI!!!" and she imitated me "OUI!!" in an awful voice. Good grief woman!! i didn't give her money... and wasn't about to! but i think Maninga had to give her a few francs to get her to leave us away. She started banging on my window. I wasn't tired until we had landed in Kin. The chaos of the airport was SOOOO bad.... i was sweating so much and getting pushed around a lot. And had made such a dumb mistake. Mukila Paul did show up at the airport, found me, and shook my hand and i had to apologize to him. He talked to Maninga and was wanting an explanation why he wasn't taking me (in the past he had taken dad and my sister to the airport and stuff a while ago) ... maninga explained to him and paul was like "what's walt's number??" so he called my dad! ah i was so embarrassed. he came all the way to the airport for nothing! and then my dad was a little distressed about it..
but urgh . . .. so then we drove home, and it was the longest ride of my life. For half the time Maninga was trying to give us a tour guide in english since C had never been here. .. .but then C fell asleep so then it was me & him and he kept getting phone calls . . . and i didn't feel like talking. there was SO much traffic! i think we got home around 4 after landing at 1. So maybe i exaggerated how long everything took but i really do feel like it was the longest day of my life. So yeah that made it SOOOO GREAT to finally get home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I ran inside and hugged everyone. Surprised i didn't melt down and cry. what a wonderful 2 days!
Moral of this story or lesson to be learned?? Don't fly Ethiopian AA if you can help it!!!
But mannn... is it good to be HOME!!! We haven't heard anything about C's luggage but... I've talked to lots of people who recently flew in here and they all lost their luggage but got it back in 2 days. So maybe we will too -- i think it's just because it's christmas. And being Africa might have a little to do with it as well! hehe...
I swam some laps today & ran a teeny bit... I plan on trying to do that every morning at 9. It feels so odd being back here... but it's a GOOD odd. I don't feel like I ever left because so much is the same! We live in a different house -- my parents have a place on the American School campus now, and though it's much smaller than our old house, it's in a more convenient area -- good community, better electricity (meaning it goes off less) and water, etc... and i think it might be cheaper or the same price. Plus, what could be better than having a big pool w/ 2 diving boards and a volleyball & tennis court plus a running path all around you?

SO -- merry Christmas, one and ALL ... I hope you have a GREAT Christmas and NEW YEARS! Happy Holidays, love you all!! Time to hang out with my family again!:-p

Fou, fou, FOU!

Last weekend (not last but the week before that) was a lot of fun! First off I went to the adult boot camp and was extremely sore for the week after that... but it was fun anyway! Then I went to the Ivory Market (aka "Thieves Market") with the Cabalkas and Stones! Now the Thieves Market is exactly what the name says. It's downtown where you can find all sorts of interesting African art and artifacts...from paintings to rolls of snakeskin on tables (the market is set up under a roof with rows and rows of long wooden tables). And they got jewelry. Lots of jewelry! A lady visiting the Cabalkas, Paige, got real into the whole shopping thing and found some ivory bracelets she couldn't turn down! Sad, i know. But this is a place that has it all, as i've said. You have to bargain like crazy with the people. You walk past the tables, glance at what they have, and if you see something you like, you pick it up or point to it and ask how much it is. Normally they'll give you an outrageous price, like $20 for a simple hemattite or bead necklace,...or a tiny little wooden animal, and so you offer your price. Paige got good at it, and would always offer only 10% of what they asked for, and normally she came away with a pretty good deal. I was not looking for anything and didn't bring any money anyway, but that didn't mean anything to the guys selling. As soon as they see your face they yell to you. And if you're a woman, they call "Mommy! Mommy!" They automatically assume you don't speak french so they try out some of their broken but communicatable English- "Come! I'll give you best price! Good price madam, come! You like this? Yes? You take madam, name a price-- i give you best price..... For you mommy! for you!...." VERY annoying after a little while, with everyone calling "Mommy! Mommy!" or just "Madam!" ...They are so pushy. You have to hold onto your purse tightly (which is why I didn't bring one) because you can't trust anyone there. If your eyes stay a little too long on one table or if you touch something, the sellers assume you want it and are going to buy it, so when you say "No I don't want it" they won't believe you! One time I picked up something and said how pretty it was and the guy immediately asked, "How much? You name a price."
I said "No, I really don't want it thank you..."
"No I give you best price! Come!"
"But I don't want it and I do not have money!"
"$10? Give good price."
"Mais, je N'AI PAS d'argent!!!" (but i HAVE NO money!!")
And they look at me in bewilderment and ask again how much I'll give them. You'd think that by speaking french to them they'd believe it, but No!
So at that point you know it's time to just walk away. They just don't believe that you don't have money. You're white! Stop LYING! You're rolling in dough! ;-)
It's sad that that's what they think. After about 2 hours (which is way too long to stay in a place like that, but it wasn't bad on saturday, i actually had fun watching Todd and Steve bargaining and talking to the sellers...) we went to lunch at one of the best restaurants (this is where the pictures of us were taken...notice we look very well-fed and happy!), and after lunch we drove to the river. On the way, I started taking pictures out the window (this is when i took the pictures of the taxi and the man with the dozens of eggs on top of his head!). Quickly of course, because I didn't want to be seen. It is still illegal to take pictures here, but I couldn't resist. But still some guys saw me and gave me these crazy "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" looks. When we got stuck in traffic i put the camera away because any one of those guys could have come to our window and tried making us give him money because we weren't supposed to be takin pictures. We passed one building near "Taxi Central" as i call it, and there were a bunch of Mamans there waiting for a taxi. They saw me take a picture and soon had very irritated mad looks on their faces, and some people in our own car were getting nervous about me angering people, so at that, i turned the camera off and sulked. No, just kidding! But i did turn it off. But the day wasn't over yet!
We went to Chez TinTin, a little outdoor "restaurant" where we've gone before to sit facing the river, sipping some drinks, and watching the Congolese swim, boat, and whatever else. Last time we came Shannon was proposed to by a crazy (or just desperate) man! Something always a little crazy happens. This time it was my turn.
followed to watch. Mrs. Cabalka asked me if I thought it would be okay to take pictures, and i thought "sure, why not? there's no one around here watching..." and i grabbed her small digital camera. I followed the guys and took a few pictures of their backs walking toward the river. All of a sudden I hear "Vaaaaaange!!!" (my nicknaTodd and Steve decided it was high time they got into the rapids of the Congo river to see how strong they really were and float down the river just a bit. They took off their shirts and started climbing down the rocks, and Ime, yelled in a desperate tone:-)) and I stop and turn around. Right there is a man dressed in a wanna-be soldier-looking uniform. I looked around for his gun, but he didn’t have one so I stayed calm. I quickly put the camera in my front pocket but I knew he had seen me taking pictures already because of the look on his face. He was trying to be intimidating but I wasn’t going to fall for that. He immediately questioned me in French“What do you think you’re doing? Why were you taking pictures?”“I don’t know, I’m sorry, I stopped.”
“Give me your camera!”“No I won’t give you this!”“Why not?”“Because it’s my camera!”“Eh!” he looks at me, shocked, thinking this girl has no clue. She doesn’t have a better excuse than that?? “Well… then give me your documents of permission.” (Some journalists can get papers from the government granting them permission to take pictures)“I don’t have documents!”“Eh?! Bien, Then give me your camera.”“No, I’m not giving it to you.”“Brazzaville is across the river and pictures are forbidden there, and pictures are forbidden here too.”“umm.. okay… Sorry, I didn’t know that.”“Do you think I’m crazy for asking you this?”“No I don’t. I am the one who is crazy. I’m sorry, but I am finished, I won’t do it again. And I am finished with you.”He gives me a HUH?? look as I walk quickly away. So that was basically our conversation, but it sounded a lot better in French. Especially the ‘do you think I’m crazy’ part! “Non, je suis fou! Et je suis finis avec vous, monsieur!!”I love French sometimes…but man, I know it was all God that kept me from having to give up the camera. I just was thinking, “what can he do to me? He could try to take me away, but Steve and Todd are right nearby and they’re not gonna let anything happen…I have nothing to fear. Plus, I’m bigger than him.” (okay I didn’t really think the last part!!)My heart was beating really really fast as I sat down again at the table with our group. I was so relieved that was over, but I was surprised that it wasn’t harder than it was to tell him off.
So, have I learned my lesson about taking pictures? Um…well…no. Not really!People have told me stories about people getting arrested for taking pics though, so that kinda worries me. I’m going to definitely be more careful, but I’m thanking God that nothing happened.

I now leave you with 2 pictures of the sunset over the Congo River!

EASTER in Kinshasa

What an early morning!
We woke up around 4 and got dressed and ran out of the house at 4:50. Dad drove us to Sim's Chapel, the oldest building still remaining in Kinshasa! It's a small little church with a perfect view of the Congo River, so we set up chairs and food and had a sunrise service there. Loads of people came and we started almost on time, around 5:30! We sang accapella acapella accappella? Ah! Well we sang without music, and i was in the choir of course. Dad gave a message and we watched the sun rise over the river! It was so nice, and then we had lots of refreshments for breakfast when it was all done with.
When we got home at 8:30 we had a bible reading, had some easter chocolate bunnies and cinnamon rolls and then i slept for 2 hours! I could've slept for 4 but we had company coming over and I needed to bake a cake! SO that was pretty much my Easter:-)

Just wanted to write quickly and wish everyone a happy easter! When I get pictures from someone who was there that took pics I will post them for sure!
Christ is RISEN! He is risen INDEED.

Spring Break!

What a vacation!
I came into the week a little sad, and disappointed because our friends were planning on going to Kikongo, and we wanted to go too but there didn't seem to be enough room on the plane.
Well, we prayed, and God opened up the way for us to take 2 planes so that my family could go! We left on Wednesday morning and flew in a little tiny MAF plane ("The Caravan") to Kikongo (about a 45 min. trip). Kikongo is a very tiny village north of Kinshasa on the Wamba river where the Lowerys (a missionary family now living on campus at TASOK) lived for quite a few years. They have taken many groups to Kikongo to stay up there with them for fun, so now it was our turn.
You cannot imagine the difference in people's attitudes in cities and villages.
You cannot picture the difference in beauty in Kinshasa and Kikongo.
You cannot taste the difference in the air of the city and village .... Until you leave the city after a long time and go to the beautiful country.
No one could stop telling us how beautiful the Congo was, and so i was very happy to finally get to see for myself for the first time that it really was a gorgeous country. It was so neat flying over all of this undeveloped, untouched land. Wild thinking how much land there was and how it was so sparsely populated. The villages were spread out so far! There weren't roads connecting the city of Kinshasa to outer villages, and that's why we had to fly.
When there isn't connection by roads, you really feel cut off and isolated from the city, and i think that is why Kikongo felt like a different country.
We were met by at least 50 kids jumping around, waving to us with big smiles on their faces...welcoming us to their village. They are always excited when people come to visit, Jill Lowery told us. The kids were wearing very raggedy clothes, and most of them didn't have shoes, but they were as happy as can be.
"MBOTE!!" was the greeting that we used to say hi to them. They speak Kituba, but many of Kituba words are the same as Lingala words which is the language spoken mostly in Kinshasa (the word mbote is hi in lingala and kituba). Mr. Cabalka who was in the group made the kids so happy by taking pictures of them. It was the first time since South Africa that we could freely snap pictures without anyone caring. Actually, the kids and adults wanted their pictures taken! And we were in a place worth taking pictures of. Kikongo is gorgeous!
My family was put up in the Chapman's house (the Chapmans were on furlow, so they weren't there but they normally live in Kikongo all year 'round) and the rest of the group slept the night in tents or the Lowery's house.
So Day 1 (Wednesday) was spent hiking and river floating. We walked down to the Wamba river and were so excited to get into the water without having to worry about catching amoebas or other worms! We swam around as the first half of the group was taken across the river in Congo canoes. These canoes are long hollowed out logs which are steered by a long flat oar. The man taking us across was the village chief, and he was an expert at maneuvering the boat through the strong river current. You have to paddle standing up, and it's much harder than it looks. More on that later! While we waited for our turn to be boated across, we swam in the river and played some frisbee on the sand bar in the middle of the river. Eventually it was our turn so we all got into the boat and crossed. We hiked a little while to these waterfalls that very few white people had ever been to.
In Kikongo, many of the people do not go to the river or waterfalls because they believe there are spirits inside it. Evil spirits, so that is why they will boat on the river and fetch water, catch fish, but only do things that keep them alive. Most of them do not play in the river and swim. There was a picnic hut near the small falls where we had our picnic lunch. The villagers had brought us 3 huge sticks of sugar cane and piles of peanuts and oranges! Oranges and tangerines grow green here, by the way! They were so good, but it was weird that you don't wait for them to turn orange... you just eat them green. We enjoyed everything but felt bad about not being able to finish all that sugar cane! After a while your tongue begins to feel a bit funny and raw. You can only have so much...
We spent a lot of time splashing around the falls and decorating ourselves with clay mud for fun. Then we hiked back and a few of us [brave souls] swam across the whole river! The Lowerys said it had never done before! And when you tell that to some of us people who love adventures, there is no turning back. So we went for it! It was a very strong current but I swam hard and all of us including my dad made it across fine. We trudged up the river a little further and all floated down... had some competitions, and just played until dinner time.
That night we had a nice campfire-- sang songs, roasted marshmallows, and told some stories. Todd told one of his awesome stories for Matt after most of the people had gone to bed.

Day 2: My parents, Theo, Suzanne Francis, the Gorenflos, Hannah Lowery and Mr. Lowery all went back to Kinshasa at about 7:30am so that a few of us who wanted to could stay longer. Sarah and I were the special ones who got to stay til Saturday! I felt extremely privileged...
Around 10 we went to the river and just played around all day. We all got REALLY red even though we had put on sunscreen. My legs got eaten up by bugs too! But it was a fun day. We couldn't get enough of that river. Todd, Mr. Cabalka, and Joe learned how to handle one of those canoes. Mr. C. was getting pretty good, too! Me and Ms. Ewbanks tried a bit, but it was much harder than i thought and i kept getting carried away by the current! It just kept turning to boat around... so I gave up. Maybe if I could practice every day for a week or 2 I'd get it, but it was tough! We played some card games until dinner, then We had another campfire and another story from Todd, this time for me! :-)

Day 3: We went through the Kikongo village which is around the Lowery's house. It was so sad seeing how little each family has....and yet they act happier than we do! All of the kids in the village came out and followed us. Mr. Cabalka started marching with the kids, and they all LOVED it! We were all taking hundreds of pictures -- the small huts that each family lived in were amazing. We walked through the Mitedi village also, and found 2 boys drumming. They had buried 2 milk jugs under the sand and one of them was banging on a bottomless rusted out cooking pot! They really could drum though -- we enjoyed watching the kids sing and dance, and some of us tried dancing too. We were entertaining to them, to say the least! They laughed a lot at Joe C., Mr. C, and Todd who were trying to dance like they were. I thought they were doing a good job, though! That was probably the coolest part of seeing the village. We toured the hospital which was a bit depressing because of the shape it was in. We walked past all the sick rooms which didn't have any screens on the windows or mosquito nets on the beds. I thought it was interesting that the rooms for women were always bigger than the ones for guys. The conditions were so unsanitary it almost made me feel sick. It made me sicker to find out that the Lowerys really couldn't do anything about it though. The man running the hospital is corrupt and any money (screens or even nets) anyone gave to the hospital would go to his pocket or be stolen by other people working there. Even though the Lowerys tell everyone he needs to leave, they can't get him out because of his blood (he's the nephew of someone big), so it is a really sad situation. The hospital doesn't have enough money for new meds or even gloves. They reuse the cheap latex gloves they have by washing them!
Walking through the village was a big eye opener to how almost 95% of people in the Congo actually live. I'd never been through a village before so it was very good for me, but it just made me sad. I loved the kids who were all fighting over my hands to hold, and wanted pictures taken, and wanted us to stay with them forever, and dance and sing.... that was great, but I realized how hard it would be for any of us to live the way they do. They really have nothing, but that is life and they can still be so joyous. We have So much but we take it all for granted. I know God showed me this because He wants me to change my heart.
After the village we came back and relaxed with some lunch and talking...on our way down to the river we noticed how dark the clouds were getting so we started running down the path and jumped in the water. But then the lightning started getting worse and so we had to get out. We shivered on the bank for a while, got back in one more time and then went to the house because it wasn't clearing up. More games of cards and a good chicken noodle soup for supper. We played the funnest game of Spoons ever after that!

Day 4--Saturday: We got up early so we could leave in the plane by 8, but it didn't come so we spent an hour or 2 down at the river for the last time. The plane came at 11 so we packed up and sadly left. The kids all came down to send us off and you wouldn't believe how much they waved to us! I loved how they ran after the plane as we were taking off:-) What beautiful sweet people! Around 12 we landed and said goodbye to the group at TASOK.
That was one amazing trip! I am so thankful I got to go and do all that we did! It was really a blasssst.

another update on the "sitch" over here

Hey, i figured i should probably try to update since my last note might been a little shocking. Well, the situation has definitely calmed down and the airport opened back up! That is always a good sign... There is fighting still in upper parts of Congo but not here anymore. We are advised not to go out at night but we had church Sunday and went out to a restaurant...all of that is downtown. We passed tons of buildings that had missing windows because they were in the middle of the crossfire and so therefore were shot at. My friend in French class had to stay at TASOK on thursday night and left friday evening. As I said, there were 75 kids that spent the night thursday but anyway when he got home he discovered his car had been stolen and 2 of his workers were killed. Apparently some soldiers broke into his compound (he lives RIGHT where it was all happening, across the street from the cemetery downtown) and stole his car and his 2 dogs but didn't touch the house. His family had left the keys to the car in the car because if they hadn't the soldier's would've tried to find a way to break into the house and find the keys. It was a good thing none of his family were home that day because loads of bullets came through their windows ... he said his house is pretty much destroyed and really needs some work before they can move back in -- they're staying with cousins. The dogs that were stolen were returned! Figure that one out! lol. Ah, le Congo. C'est la vie. I heard some other crazy stories today...my friend Jisung got home and found that his gate had a lot of blood on it... at this hotel Memling, a bullet came through the window and a French delegate was hit and died on the way to the hospital from loss of blood! Downtown many of the little shops were pillaged...some of them have nothing left inside. The soldiers would put chains on the metal fences that are over the doors/front windows, attach the chains to a truck and pull so that the metal broke loose and they could easily break in. So SAD!The major grocery stores were not pillaged though, so we were able to do some grocery shopping and it all looked about the same. We were safe the entire time... it was completely calm by saturday so we got out of the house and went to TASOK, had lunch, and i made some cookies while we hung out with friends! God is SO GOOD! I don't know anyone personally who was hurt, so i am very thankful!
Well that's it for now! Thank you for ALL your thoughts and prayers! Continue praying that peace will continue and we can go on with our normal lives...and school.Love & Miss you all!!

this country needs our prayers

Yesterday our French class was interrupted by an announcement on the loud speaker that there was trouble downtown. But it didn't stop there. Every student in the class almost started getting text messages and calls... and answering them in class. We got new reports every 5 minutes. Shooting had started. There was heavy artillery. Soldiers were lined up right outside of Wasim's house downtown so he couldn't get home. Soldiers set up a whole road block on a main road. We heard a few booms at school, even though the fighting was far off. The first big disturbance since the elections. And it's the same people as last time. Bemba, the one who was running for president last time, has troops here that have started a huge uprising. It was the most interesting french class we've had yet! I stayed calm the whole time because i knew my house wasn't anywhere near all the trouble, but most of the kids at tasok live in the downtown area where all the craziness is happening!We went to African Studies and watched loads of kids start leaving school early. Afric. Stud. was our last class and of course we knew we weren't gonna have a lesson that day. Kids were starting to freak out. Mrs. Law, our teacher decided to let the 6 or 7 remaining in our class to play monopoly! ...To get our minds off of things. Chaima was picked up by her dad in his UN car, Mehreen and Nadia left,... Liz stayed put as her parents told her. She lives above where the trouble was but she lives pretty close to downton and her rents didn't want her on the streets. So at 2:30 when school got out we sat around the pick-up area and not many kids were getting to go home. I left at 3 with Mr. Gorenflo because i had to practice music for sunday with him, but Liz was left there and Wasim and a BUNCH of others who couldn't get home. We invited liz to come home with us but her parents wanted her to stay and wait. This morning I got ready for school and then as we were eating breakfast we got a call saying school was cancelled! Then we heard there were 70 students that had to stay the night at TASOK last night!!! They split them all up somehow with the teachers and other families who live on campus so everyone had food and someplace (or some floor) to sleep at. That shocked me. I thought by night time it would be calm enough for people to go home. Apparently not. Last night the airplanes were flying but this morning the airport was shut down. People are pretty much stuck here I guess. But I'm praying that will change. I'm praying that the situation will calm down today and we can get on with our normal lives.... if you can call living in kinshasa a normal life. But anyway! :-)We have neighbors who are really worried right now. But their dad is in the States, so I can understand.... I'm not worried though. I am praying, but I know God will take care of us and this was part of His plan. He allows things like this to happen so that we will lean on Him and trust Him. I know that He knows exactly what He's doing.... so why should I be afraid?Bemba's troops are apparently now trying to flee across the river to Brazzaville, and we hear that Kabila's army is after them. The UN has what, 30,000 troops stationed here, but they can't open fire unless Kabila asks them to. We have friends who are stranded at their offices downtown and can't get out to go anywhere until stuff calms down. So I'm really asking for everyone's prayers. Thankfully we do not live downtown, and thankfully God is going to protect us no matter what, but please pray for the protection of all of God's people here. Pray that the students at TASOK who are separated from their parents right now won't worry, and can get reunited with their families very soon.This morning we heard gunshots right outside our walls so we stopped and prayed. I haven't seen anything at all, but apparently you can see a lot of far-off smoke if you look over the wall. Tanks were heard driving past near here. I just want this to end soon... I am praying we can go back to school Monday and I can still graduate from here in June!Today we're just trying to relax and take advantage of the karaoke and tv ... watching lots of Monk episodes:-) And thanking God that we have POWER and WATER right now!!! It went off a lot last night and this morning ... so I hope now that it's back on it will stay on!Pray for peace.

random thoughts smooshed into a blog

I am so excited about graduating. I have waited a long time and now the time is coming. I've been working on my senior page for the yearbook, trying to find pictures and trying to decide what to write on it. What do I want everyone to look at in their yearbook and remember me by? It's hard to know what to put. I want to put pictures of friends in the States but there isn't enough room. So I decided to put family and people that i am either always around or REALLY close to. But I have a book written instead of a short paragraph. I am always one to write a LoAd. I can't just write a short "Thank you to everyone who has always been there...." i have to go into detail, mention people's names. ... and then i realize i am caring too much about other people's feelings. If i don't mention him or her will they feel left out? Should I put a picture of her on? We're not best friends, but i think i should anyway ... But i shouldn't care. It's my page and i should put the people that have meant the most to me on my page, yeah? SO this is harder than i thought it would be. I have to be finished by friday. And i thought i was finished just now but I am starting to reconsider some of the pics/text i have on my page. I want my page to mean something to Me. Not just to people who buy yearbooks. I wish i could get someone's help! Wow, it's just a page in the yearbook, gosh!
I'm on swim team again! It started last week after boot camp ended and I am the only highschool girl. There's one 9th grade boy on the team but the rest are middle schoolers... so it's interesting. But I joined to stay in shape and learn how to swim better and swimming is fun for me. So it doesn't really matter who is on the team. We've got a great coach and that's all ya really need.

This past year I keep hitting myself for quitting ballet. When i decided to quit it was because i had to make a choice: guitar lessons or dance. And i chose guitar since i was always discouraged in ballet that nearly everyone was better than me and i had stopped improving for a while. I just felt like i was going no where and everyone else was way beyond me. Then i kept getting the smallest roles in the ballets which just added to my discouragement.... so i was like "well guitar you can do your whole life, and i love music so why don't i do that?" But i wish i could've stayed with ballet and done guitar as well. Of course that wasn't an option, but i'm debating on whether i would wanna go to beginner ballet classes in college. Just for fun. Ballet is so much fun and... so beautiful! I still dance around my room all the time. I can't dance but i can sometimes do a bit of ballet-ish stuff.

Dad just got back from Lodja (interior of Congo, "up-country"). He was speaking at a conference of like 450 people. He spoke the entire time in Tshiluba, his "mother tongue" that he grew up speaking when he lived in the Kasai! He got a lot of attention, i know.... and this group of 3 or 4 people who had traveled 3 days ON FOOT loved him and were so happy he spoke in a lang. they could understand. At this conference there were 2 meals for 400 (or however many) people every day from thursday-saturday! That is one heck of a lot of greens and beans and Chickens!! My dad said as a gift they gave him a live rooster and 3 hens He held them like the congolese do, by their feet upside down, and dad said the rooster kept trying to peck him, so when he did that, dad would knock him on the head! I hate roosters. They also gave him lots of fresh fruit as another gift. Those people's hearts are so big. They have nothing but they give all they can! My dad said he had an amazing time, and I think he felt at home again out there in the country (the Kasai part of the Congo is really 'out there!').

I went to a lock-in last weekend and it wasn't as bad as everyone thought it would be. but i guess if you come with a negative attitude you're not going to have fun...or if you just don't come at all then of course you can't have fun!! well, i came with a POSITIVE attitude and i had a great time just hanging with Liz & Chaima (since there were only like 4 ppl there my age!) ... we just don't have time everyday to sit and talk about anything and everything at school so this was really fun! And we swam, and i made spaghetti and brought that to share with them... and chaima brought us toblerone chocolate and apples :-) We watched 2 movies and i fell asleep during the 2nd one (Taladega Nights. Who wouldn't fall asleep with all that NASCAR and dumb humor?!) ... kinda just crashed right there in the auditorium... but that was fun. Then i went to sleep around 3 while everyone else (the guys mostly) played soccer out on the basketball court! I had no energy and was getting a cold so i am glad i decided to sleep! We had awesome croissants in the morning for breakfast and then went on our way home...Anyway here are some pics from that night.
I really wanna get out of Kinshasa even more now. We're praying we can do SOMETHING cool for Spring break --- which is April 2!! Excited about that!!Okay the bell's about to ring so i'm gonna stop this one right here.

back to the basics

it's been a month so i feel like i need to post, but i don't have much to say, really... The play ended and it all went very well, exams are over (thank goodnessss!), we went on a river picnic tonight with good friends (which was awesome!!), i still swim twice or as many times as i can a week, i now am doing "boot camp" twice a week, and i have no homework for this weekend! So what do i choose to do with my time? Write something absolutely pointless. Here you are:

I love it when...
*the power's on
*Todd is hyper
*I can sleep in past 11
*i get done swimming at 7am (the feeling is great ... i'm just all ready for the day! bring it on.)
*Chaima gets a good grade in English
*Chaima says something that makes no sense in english, but makes perfect sense to us...
*there's ice cream
*my room is cold enough for me to be able to snuggle under a few blankets and not be sweating!!
*i have time to relax and watch a movie
*i can take pictures without watching my back for policemen
*people follow traffic laws
*people know how to stay in line
*people make me laugh
*i get long emails from certain people
*i have the time to write a really long email or "book" as chaima calls my emails!
*my shoulder isn't killing me (thats rare)
*i swim
*i can get/give hugs. The kind that last long.
*lyrics pop into my head and i can write a song
*it's bedtime
*Mr. Cabalka says good morning to me at school
*i sing in choir
*my rhythm doesn't suck
*i can watch the sunset
*i have chocolate
*i can take a long hot shower
*i get to catch up with old friends online
*someone says sweet dreams...and i actually do have nice dreams
*people seem to care
*i make a good grade
*i can encourage someone or at least make them smile
*boot camp is over for the day (haha kidding todd... well, only sorta!)
*i get sore from working hard
*we play games as a family and with friends
*my plans with friends actually work out
*i can lie in the sun
*i'm listening to music
*there's a bathtub in which i can take a nice long bubble bath with candles!
*someone unexpectant text messages me
*people screw up my name and call me evangelism
*i have the time to take a nap....even just for 30mins
*French/Africans or other internationals (and of course my friends!) kiss on each cheek (bisous!!)
*we get mail (doesn't happen often enough!)
*i bake something that tastes good
*i drink southern sweet tea...and it's really sweet
*i have a chance to just talk to my parents
*there aren't any clouds in the sky
*we have lots of fresh fruit like mangoes, pineapple, and mangostein!
*mom makes us hot tea and we have cookies
*someone brings oreos, reeses...or sour candy from the states
*someone brings us anything from the states
*there's something worth watching on tv and i actually have time to sit down and watch it
*there's a full moon out
*we go out to eat in an air-conditioned restaurant
*my feet don't get dirty lol
*i have enough boredom-time to write a pointless blog!

another New Years in the Congo

My Christmas was AWESOME....and then I had a really quiet New Years. Not bad, just really different! We just wanted to do a family thing, so we had a few close friends so there were about 9 of us to make up our New Years BASH. No fireworks either... which is always the highlight of my new years, but it was ok! I'm thankful for the quietness of it though. Gave me a chance to just be thankful and look back at the year. We had a prayer time even, and prayed especially for this country that the new leaders won't bend to corruption. That was a really good part of the night...realizing if this country didn't change for the better, my family might be pulled out and not get to come back! Which is a weird thought since this is where they feel they're supposed to be. We pray that the election and the new president that it brought will actually bring good changes to this country. We know we can't change this country, or do anything to change anyone, but we pray that with God's help something will change and people will know that God's hand is on this nation.
We heard out in the streets people counting down to the New Year. And then a bit of cheering, and some firecrackers! We couldn't see the ball drop, we just had to imagine in our minds that in 6 hours people would be watching the ball go down, and the confetti would fall everywhere... people would cheer, kiss, hug, it was 2007!!! Time to make resolutions and do something to make this year better than the last .. or as good as the last (whichever way you see it)! I myself don't have too many big resolutions, because i've never gotten into that.
I just thought of a few small things that really i do need to do.
But mainly, it was thankfulness I felt last night. It's a new year, and God's brought my whole family through another one. I can let go of all of the regrets and mistakes i made this last year...just forget, and move on. And I've learned a lot from 2006. Learned things that will definitely help me in the future, and which have helped me to mature in my faith a whole bunch. I'm on my way to college this year and think that this year will definitely be an awesome one! Not only awesome, but life-changing.
And if you wondering...my new years ended a bit sadly, because... my sister left tonight, and I couldn't stop crying! She couldn't either. I had an awesome time with her but it was wayyy too short. Amazing seeing her again, and i'm sure i will see her in the summer which isn't TOO far away, ...but it does seem far away, and since she's all the way in the states in college, it's really tough seeing her go. And it also hit me that I'll be doing that next year. Coming to visit my parents and then having to leave. That's gonna be seriously tough!!!! I just love my family....

SO, anyway, from this Congo where it may be hard to celebrate and hard for me to feel like it's actually the holiday season, I sit here and say HAPPY NEW YEAR to you ALL!!.

i'm dreaming of a ... white christmas?

Christmas Day

Christmas in the Congo is, again, very different. My second Christmas, and I'm still not used to the way things are. I should have written earlier, but just didn't get a chance. In the States, you start hearing Christmas music in stores and in your car and home about the day after thanksgiving....and every year the decorations on and in people's houses seem to come out earlier and earlier. The familiar red, green, gold, maybe silver, decorating everything, the weather starting to get colder and colder...people seem to start getting happier (or more stressed...either way). You begin the hectic crazy shopping, buying in bulk because you just never know who else the gifts might be used for. You never know when the relatives will call and you have to be ready to get a room ready for them if they tell you they're coming... You start finding you have a lot less money saved for Christmas than you thought you had.... You hear the bells at WalMart & Target telling you to give to the Salvation Army or another charity...and people drop in their extra measley change...The parties start....the fires, the egg nog, picking out the tallest tree in the lot --hoping it will fit in your house under your ceiling without having to cut TOO much top off.....driving out at night to go look at lights on people's houses, there's no doubt about it. It's Christmas time, and Christmas is coming fast!
That is how it always is for my family in the States. But here in the Congo, things are quite different. The spirit isn't really the same. You don't see very many decorations. Some of the decorations you do see are the tacky kind that were rejected in other countries so it comes here (you know, the pink and blue wreaths... the NoN-christmas colors, but they're all sparkly so it's still decorative or festive?) It is blazing hot because it's summertime. You don't ever want cocoa or a fire (but you don't have a fireplace anyway), you don't wish for a white christmas because it's just not possible. There are no malls to have a crazy all-day shopping marathon at. There is no Salvation Army. You have to break down and buy a fake tree no matter how tacky you think it is. You have to break down and buy some tacky decorations, sprinkle some tinsel, as well....You don't worry because the relatives just aren't going to call, but you may have some friends that hint they need a place to eat Christmas dinner at....no matter how many decorations or fake trees you put in the house it still doesn't feel like Christmas. You will never have as many Christmas presents under the tree as you might in the States, but you will for sure have some very unique gifts you can only find in the Congo!!

And the list could go on. But there is at least one thing the same. You celebrate Jesus's birth, and remember He is the reason you have all the traditions and celebrate on the 25th. We had an amazing service on Christmas Eve, and even though we didn't have a candle light service at night, we had an awesome day. I've never sang Joy to the World so loud, i don't think, as i did in choir yesterday! Being in the choir has been so good for me. I can't get enough of singing with that diverse group....even if we spend most of our time sweating, and waiting for the altos and tenors to figure out their parts! that's part of the fun I don't really know what it is exactly that I love about that international choir, but yah...
And spending time with my sister has been too much fun! And the Stones moving here, following us all the way from Congo! And the other families who came at the end of the summer too! How could it get any better? I'm SO THANKFUL this year for everything God's done in my life and lives around me.... I can't say I prefer a Congo Christmas to a normal one, but there is something (quite a few things actually) that I do like about it...and it's a totally different experience that I've loved this year!
Thank you to everyone here in Congo who has helped me enjoy this year, the encouragement, the laughs, getting together and sharing memories or stories....I love you all! I'm almost done with the 2 years here and soon I'll be off to college, but every day keeps getting better, and I never thought I'd ever be able to say that! So thanks. That's about it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to you ALL!

out of water

From left: Shannon & Theo, Todd, my dad, and (bottom) Mr. Steve!

I had a good week, but Saturday was definitely the highlight!
I went to choir practice.... and afterwards, the Stones, Mr. C, and Mr. Ligon came over to our house. When we got there, there was no power, and it had been off all day, so i was a little disappointed. Ok, i was really bummed actually! My dad goes, "Why don't i just pray that it'll come on so we can have some fun and cook some dinner?" and so we all close our eyes except Mr. C. who is sitting by me, poking my shoulder going, "Is he serious? Is he actually seriously praying? What's he doing?" !! and my dad is actually praying a nice prayer....but it was SO funny!!! then the rest of the night he was like "I'm so sorry Waltie, i feel bad about that, i really didn't know you were seriously praying though......will you forgive me waltie? i feel bad..." Mr. Steve's famous words are 'I FEEL BAD!' :-) And he gives you this little innocent i feel bad face and puts his hand over his heart! hahah it's a scream!! So then a little later the power does come on and we all clap and Todd goes 'Hey walt, since it worked, i have quite a list of other things that i need to pray for, so can you--?" he was kidding, of course, and Mr. C. was like "It's a miracle!!" :-) And then he was "feeling bad" again because he was all surprised that the prayer had worked! So our casserole finally heated up while we're watching scenes from Tyler Perry ---this really funny actually christian comedy show called I Can Do Bad All By Myself. So anyway we are about to eat and my dad tells mr. c. to bless the food which he should know by now, is a mistake, because every time he does it the prayer is long and makes us all crack up! He was like "Dear God, thank you for Walt. .....Thank you especially for Daniel [mr. ligon] because we don't get to spend very much time with him, but i do not thank you for todd and shannon because i see them ALL the TIME!!! ....And i pray for sarah. Lord, she's got problems [his other famous line-- 'you've got' or 'she's got problems!!' -- he always jokes about sarah having the major problems]. Thanks for theo but thank you especially for Eva. She's just perfect. .. .. ...." -----And our dinner went downhill from there! Kidding. *well, kinda...* First Mr. C. put the christmas napkin rings on his ears which looked REALLY funny, and then sarah & theo copied, then shannon put the wooden napkin rings on her ears, and dad and todd put their red napkins as do-rags on their heads...I went and got 2 tiny ornament balls and hung them on my ears, put tinsel in my hair, and a big silver bow around my neck. Sarah put a wreath over her neck, and mr. ligon got the ornaments and a big silver garland thingy to put around his neck. I took a few pictures!! it was too much fun! Somehow we got talking on the subject of food fights and mr ligon said his mom one day started one at their house when he was a kid by throwing a glass of water in his face from across the table!! My mom.... about 5 mins later was going around filling everyone's glasses up, and when she got to Steve's glass, she goes "Would you like some more?" and before he had the chance to say yes, she poured the ENTIRE PITCHER right on his back!!!!! My dad's jaw dropped to the floor, my jaw dropped and sarah and theo's too. It was shocking!!!! I was like "there's no way my mom just did that" everyone else was just laughing! And mr. c. the whole time was going "Do you actually think this is funnY? Why are you laughing? This isn't funny!!" Not in a million years had he expected my mom to do something like that!! WELL, ME NEITHER!!!! Since moving here (or since meeting the cabalkas, i dunno which!) my parents have gone crazy!!! but it was so funny. My mom went over to my dad and stood behind him and suddenly mr. c. threw his cup of water on both of them!! They threw some more back, todd tossed some on sarah, and then we were out of water! Todd put an ice cube down sarah's back too. :-) awesome night!!! We then watched some Jeeves & Wooster and had dessert. Mr. Ligon told me "Sorry Eva, we're letting our hair down tonight." I was like does he not know i'm used to this? Just not the water thing and my mom... but i am totally cool with the Cabalkas and Stones gettin crazy!! They're too much fun.

Well, Hope you enjoyed the story..............i'm on my way to bed!

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.

18 shegaes

November 9 was my birthday, and it was a good one...

I'm already 18! Life's going by too fast, but i think i like being 18. Feel almost like an adult, but that's kinda scary. Why is it that you can go to jail, enlist in the army, vote, and get a license, but you can't DRINK? I just don't understand that. You can lose your life (by enlisting) but still you can't drink. Hm. LoL ...
I haven't blogged in forever. What should i talk about?
Well Thursday i had 3 tests in a row -- physics, pre-calc, then african studies which is my history class this year. I think i did poor on all of them! But that's just way too much information to try to memorize for one day. WAY too many tests. I'm a bad enough test taker as it is! But that was the only bad thing. My friend Alisha's birthday was thursday also, so that was pretyt cool! Thursday night the Cabalkas and the Stones went with us to Ma Colonel's--a chicken restaurant with out-of-this-world chicken, fries, and fried plantains!! It was so good, but the best part was that Mr. C. said everyone should say one thing nice that they like about the way i am. That was so sweet of him, and it was awesome hearing what people said. I was like do people really think of me like that? wow, i can't be all that amazing. And then along with that, we were serenaded by these 4 congolese musicians. Really cool music and had nice voices!! The lady dancing was REALLY gettin into it, it was so funny!! She really knew how to "move it" or shake it I am just so thankful for the Cabalkas and Stones and the fun thally good times in er for us --- we've had some really good times in the last few months! they will be going to Cape Town with us too, so that'll be awesome! There are like 4 other families also going.
Friday night i went out with Alisha, Mehreen, and Liz to La Piscine (the pool) restaurant. The food wasn't the greatest this time, but we still had a good time! They gave me 2 really neat necklaces... i love those indian chicks! Then i spent the night at Elizabeth's and of course we had a good time!
So it was a REALLY great birthday and the Cabalka's card said "Looks like birthday fun on the horizon" meaning we might be doin more in Cape Town to celebrate! partying it up 18 baby...
Tomorrow i'm headed to the beach!! Pray that the airport doesn't close because there was violence starting already today and it could get worse. There were sheggaes (pronounced "shaygays"-homeless ppl) on the streets downtown shooting, throwing gas on cars and lighting them, etc.. scary stuff!! I was at Elizabeth's house today since i spent the night and she wasn't allowed to go out and she didn't have a driver so i messaged my dad to come get me... he was like "Well right now it's not safe to drive so we'll have to play it be ear. Looks like you might have to miss out on the cape town trip. you okay with that?" lol ummm NOO dad ... but he did get me, at like 12pm and we didn't see anything going on-- it seemed quiet outside of Liz's compound but the embassy was sending an advisory saying "STAY AT HOME -- shooting downtown continues" .. so we went home and laid low. But nothing is happening around my house. We're so far from downtown, i think it's okay but there is a chance they may close the airport tomorrow. I just pray that they won't. I wanna get outta here!
lol
Crazy shegaes!

Friday the 13th

Jisung and Me
Today at school, we had our first Spirit day. Student Council thought it would be fun to have a costume day since it's ALMOST halloween and today just happened to be... Friday the 13th, so yeah, it worked out ? I have absolutely no costumes and wasn't in any kind of a very creative mood, so i drew some freckles on my face, got my friend to do my hair in braid pigtails, had to borrow a cowboy hat from another friend (why don't i own one? i still am asking myself that!), dressed in this peasant/western style top and jeans and went to school. Without the hat ppl didn't know who i was, so that was a bit pathetic. I really needed boots:-( What's my problem, i lived in the South for how long and i don't have any of this stuff? :-) Theo was a bit more "creative" or "brave" shall we say? He wanted to be a pirate so he took dad's white dress shirt, rolled the sleeves quite a few times, tucked the shirt halfway in, put rubber bands around the bottoms of his pants so they would be kinda "pouffy" and wore long white socks. 2 minutes before we were supposed to run out the door for school, he goes "Evangeline, can you please give me a moustache?" And so i did. It was a "tad askew" but it worked for half the day. By the end of the day he only had this blackish smudge under his nose! It was so funny. You can see the pic i guess. He got a bandana for his head at school and if you notice his chest, he has 2 belts crossed... i asked him if pirates wore that type thing because i thought it was like the Patriots or something who had an X over their chests, but he said "Of course pirates do! ---i mean, well, i think so!" :-) theo's great. We were judged, and thankfully, we "deserving seniors" WON! We had some goths (including the Korean Jisung, who looked more like a woman than a goth guy unfortunately!), a king, 2 ghetto body guards, an Arab gypsy, 2 witches, Cruella DeVille, the Cowgirl, a little kid, a werewolf (well, just the mask), and 2 that just refused to dress up. So yeah today was a pretty fun day, besides me feelin like crap. I think the girls of our school really liked it cuz they could wear their reallllllly short mini skirts and get away with looking kinda skanky:-p! Kidding. Well, kinda. So yeah that was our costume day. Didn't learn a single thing today, even our teachers didn't feel like working today, it was great! Gotta run, i'm dead tired.

One of my best friends Liz, as an Arab Gypsy (i wish i had gotten the whole dress--so dang pretty)
Mr. Todd in authentic Japanese warrior (?) robe;-)
Theo, the little Pirate