Celebrations Abound!
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2008
1
28
63
Trip End
Jun 30, 2010
Pointe Noire,
Congo
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
night David threw mw an incredible birthday party our on our terrace. We had about 20 people, kids and adults
who brought wine and food and most especially good cheer. David made pizza and calzones with
home-made dough, and made one of his now world-famous pineapple upside-down
cakes! Our new friends came en
masse and we celebrated until midnight, very late for us! We remain the only Americans in our new
little group, with Aussies, Germans, Congolese, French, Nigerian, and Central
Africans being represented. The
kids had a great time, sharing their toys nicely and all the kids played Leggo
and trains and dinos and play food and blocks with very little involvement from
the adults. Even the kids who were
terrified of Lyle at the beginning, soon adapted to his relaxed nature and were
following him around by the end of the night.
I
was genuinely astounded by the number of people who wanted to share my birthday
with me! We've only been here seven weeks, and I had envisioned my birthday as
a quiet dinner at a restaurant with David, so this was really amazing. I don't know if it's because there is
almost nothing to do in this sleepy town, or because we're fin to hang out
with. I'm hoping it's the
latter. And we must be doing
something right, because we were invited to the beach the next day with Claus
and Angela and Javier and Julie and their kids. We went to what would be described as a hole in the wall if
it had had any walls, but the food was wonderful! The restaurant is situated overlooking a beach with a red clay river running into it. The sea was warm and rough and the river was very warm and perfect for the kids to run and climb the banks and rub clay all over themselves. Claus and Angela and Javier and Julie are absolute salt of the earth and open and easy to talk to. We stayed for a long afternoon and were thoroughly pooped by the time we got home. Claus and Angela were treated to a big bought of birth control as our kids were punchy and loud the entire ride back. They were back on their feet after having been destroyed, along with all of the houses in the area, to make room for a resort that someone intends to build in a few years! Just three weeks prior to our visit, the buildings were leveled and the ground torched, but people rebuilt right away and are getting on with it. Sounds crazy, no? Well it is. No sense in asking "who did it". It was definitely a C'est la Afrique moment. Not that you get nonchalant, but you do get kinda less shocked. And more impressed with people, just moving on, because, what the hell else are you going to do?
The
following weekend was another party of ex-pats hosted by a couple on their way
out of Pointe-Noire to Lybia, although timing is still up in the air. Delicious home-made Ethiopian food and
lots of wine (natch) followed by some wee-hour of the morning skinny dipping by
the token Americans, and some nearly-skinny-dipping by our friendly
neighborhood Scotts. Had a rather disquieting conversation about the many, and I do mean many types of infestations one's body is open to in these parts. I wouldn't go into detail, I might give my poor mother-in-law a stroke. Also had a hilarious conversation about the many parallels in the vast number of off-colour jokes about the French, Poles, Blonds, Irishmen, Greeks, Scotts and good old Limeys.
On
the other hand, our internet has barely worked a total of about an hour in the
past ten days, so contact to the outside world has been desperately
wanting. The only times I feel
like I'm not sure if I can live here is when I'm cut off from the people that I
love back home. Thanks, all for
the continued love and support! On
the mail front: Only use the Congo
address if you are mailing DHL, if you are using any other type of delivery,
the France address is best. We
loooooove packages!
