Independence Day

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  Pointe Noire, Congo
Friday, August 15, 2008

Today was Congolese Independence Day, 48 years free of French rule. Our boss, Tony took us to a party he was throwing at a local restaurant for his employees. The food, once again, was delicious. We were even given our own Schlumberger tee shirts (what my sister-in-law, Shari would call vendor-wear :D) Tony attempted to take us to the various health clubs available to us, but on account of the holiday, they were closed. There was a big parade in Brazzaville and I saw president Denis Sassou Nguesso and his wife on TV. He's a military leader with socialist leanings that got his training in the paratroopers, and was director of security for a while before becoming president.
Apparently there was also a big parade here in town, but we missed it. In fact, we didn't even know that today was a holiday until the school secretary, Davina, told us yesterday. So we gave her and the nanny the day off. Tony also offered us use of a Schlumberger cabin on the beach about 25 minutes away from PN, for the day. Maybe tomorrow or Sunday we'll take him up on it.
One thing that has me puzzled is how I can eat all this lovely food, high carb, high fat, and I've still lost 10 pounds since getting here. I got myself some new work clothes for this adventure, which fit when I bought them, and they were all baggy. However, since you have to tumble dry and iron everything, lots of things shrank and now they fit!! Why do you have to dry and iron everything you ask? Chiggers. Apparently sand fleas get into your clothing and lay their eggs in the seams, you need to iron everything, even underpants, socks and sheets, so that you don't get a nasty infestation. I have to admit I don't understand how they could live through an hour in the dryer and then be killed by a few seconds under the iron. But, since the nanny does the majority of the laundry, I'll go with what I'm told. Besides, I read someone else's travel blog entitled "I Went To Africa And All I Got Was A Fucking Worm In MY Leg". Say no more.
We were also delivered a water filter. At first, we were a little confused. It came with no directions, in fact very little labeling of any kind. It took us a few passes on Google to even figure out that it was a ceramic gravity water filter. (Insert bong joke here) The only place that I found which explains anything about it was a Christian survivalist web-site. Apparently these are big with that crowd. It looks like a big coffee urn. We boil the water, put it into the top, and it filters down through four ceramic "candles" into the lower basin which has a spout for pouring. The good news is that it was free, we don't have to buy bottled water anymore and the water tastes good.
In the meantime we're struggling with French, although the verbs seem easier than Spanish. Mind you, we haven't gotten to any irregulars yet, that we know of, and our use of articles is typically American and therefore horrible. We're also Skype-ready, we have a US phone number and the calls cost us pennies. The Internet connection is iffy, however. I tried having a conversation with my friend and it timed out twice. Merde! But if we keep it short, it seems to work okay.
For all those who have asked: We have been sent a package containing the baking powder and other things, thank you, Peter! And for those still wondering, some books would be nice. Don't spend money, anything you've read on your summer vacations will do fine. As far as the things we packed, our 15 packages of Good Season Italian Dressing was pure brilliance. And the bottle of Talisker's that I bought at the duty-free shop is already half-empty, or half full, depending.

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