Nanny #2, etc
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2008
1
13
63
Trip End
Jun 30, 2010
Pointe Noire,
Congo
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Although our first nanny was great in the market, she was not so great at the whole kid-watching thing. I think that she was just a young girl who happened to speak a little English. So we are on to Ardelle, who speaks no English, a mother of seven who 's most recent job was working for another ex=pat family for sixteen years. Our flat is sparkling clean, and I need to learn French anyway.
We were also shown our new car today. Since we've yet to get Congolese driver's licenses, looking is all were gonna do. We need to take a driver's Ed class. That is actually OK with me. The roads here are small, bumpy, sandy, and crowded. Horns here are a definite form of communication. In Boston, gratuitous honking could get your teeth knocked out. Here, a friendly toot is expected and for all I know mandatory when backing up, turning a corner, exiting your driveway, entering a parking space, leaving a parking space, or if you'd like a pedestrian to get out of the way. Aside from the Congolese driver training, Schlumberger also requires us to take some additional "defensive driving" course. Sounds like fun, actually. I'm hoping I get to learn how to skid and do doughnuts. Additionally. Schlumberger puts these meters in everyone's cars which keep track of how fast you go, when you drive, how far you drive and where you drive. Apparently, car accidents are one of their biggest problems. I can imagine the lawsuits resulting from said accidents are no walk in the park either.
We are a bit puzzled as to why we arrived here so early. August 1st probably could've been August 15th. C'est la vie. Next year we'll know better, although I am experiencing pangs of homesickness hearing about the family vacations that we missed. But we're off on a little day trip tomorrow, thanks to Schlumberger, to a little beach town south of Pointe-Noire. Our contact person here, Tony has taken a bit of pity on us, and arranged for his driver to take us.
Thanks goodness for the Olympics - many of the DVDs that we brought from home don't work here. I have a clear memory of David holding up our very small and light DVD player and asking, "Should we bring this?" I told him no, they'll have one. Well, we probably wouldn't have been able to plug it in anyway. All the power converters that we brought are completely useless, and we've yet to find any here that work, so no hair dryer or hair clippers, or Cuisinart. Like I said, C'est la vie.
Our greatest find is Vogue Ice Cream. The local Park-N-Shop gets this homemade ice cream that is soooooooo yummy! The shop keeper told me today that it's made by a French ex-pat who owned a successful restaurant for about 10 years, got sick of it and now makes sorbet and 'scream. It is the little things in life that really make it all worth it, and as far as my family is concerned, Ice Cream is a small thing that is no small thing. So thank you, Mr. Ex-Pat Softie.
