Back in the USA...

it has been a very loooong time since my last blog that i posted on here...3 years to be exact.  there have been many adventures, changes and experiences since then...i will take the time to look back here and there to get up to speed of present day!  the internet was a complete luxury over in the DRC, which made it even more challenging to blog with pictures etc.  (think dial-up speed plus internet was charged by buying gigs to use). 

let me start with looking back at a year at a glance...and of course, hopefully this will jog my memory to share my journey being away in the far off lands in the DRC!

Survival of Street Kids, a Wrong Turn & Our Great Personal Flood of 2009

here's a quick look back at the end of  my first project in the DRC:

...it is November of  2009 in the city of Kinshasa of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

one late night after having to let our driver go early to take care of his sick kid and having dinner, we headed back home in our not so conspicuous vehicle (an orange H2 hummer--picture shown), only to turn the corner with a flat tire.

thank goodness, that we were being followed/escorted home by our local friends/co-workers! 

BUT what a coincidence when we pulled over, there were guys standing on the side of the street telling us that they would be able to take the tire off and take it over to the shack just off the street to fix the tire.  no other choice as there is no such thing as road side assistance like AAA and no option to leave the car to get it the next day as it would not be there the next day!

But of course, to our luck, it starts to rain as we were on the side of the road.  Being pulled over to the side of the road in the hummer with 2 other cars waiting with us, only attracts the attention of the street kids aka shea-gays (spelled according to pronunciation).  We have now become the main attraction on the boulevard!

Let me give you a little bit of background of my introduction and experience with street kids.  Shea-gays are street kids--they are everywhere in the city.  They will come up to your car when you are stuck in traffic asking for money; they will come up to you when you are coming out of buildings, shops, walking on the street (which we were not allowed to do).  You have to beware as they are known to pickpocket, steal, snatch & run and sometimes, will get really ballsy & attack.  All of our local staff knows to warn us of areas heavily populated of the shea-gays and to always act as protection of shoe-ing them away!  They are slick and sneaky so you must hold on tight to anything and everything!  With that said, let me go on with the rest of the night's account. 


A few hours later, the tire is fixed and back on the H2.  We are getting ready to pile into the car to head home when the small group of shea-gays starts to circle our car with more shea-gays coming in different directions to surround our other cars.  Mind you, we all pile in the cars in time to take off BUT we are surrounded with the shea-gays pulling at the doors and pounding at the windows.  At one point, one of the shea-gays managed to pull on the handle of the trunk that had all of our laptops.  Thankfully, on of our locals, jumped out to close and secure the trunk and break off the swarm of shea-gays we had.  We were able to get home free of shea-gays with ourselves and possessions in tact but not without feeling the cars shaken by the shea-gays and shea-gays running after us for a block!  Here's a picture of me pre-rain and pre-sheagay swarm on the side of the street, which is only lit by the surrounding buildings as there are no street lights on the main boulevard until 2 years later.


Our Great Personal Flood of '09:
For me, the weather in Kinshasa is hot and humid or rainy, hot & humid with of course the varying degrees of heat, humidity and how heavy the rain is.  Now, when it rains there, it does not get cooler; it can actually get hotter or more humid.  yuck for those of us who do not fend well in the heat AND humidity and used to nice dry heat weather, with the occasional breaks of cooler temperatures (all you so cal peeps know what I'm talking about).  Let's talk about the rain...when it rains, it pours in Kinshasa.  The craziest rains I've ever experienced have been in Kinshasa.  Let me give you the great flood of '09.

Another late night at the office, starving with limited places to eat at.  Unfortunately, there are NO 24 hour places or nothing fast food there.  We head to one of our regular dining spots just as it starts to rain.  Never did we imagine that the rain would come pouring down in all directions nor did we imagine it to not let up.  Well, it is pouring like crazy, does not even look like it is going to let up, we are headed home praying that we will have electricity.  We had no idea what was in store for us when we got home!

In the DRC, most houses have security guards who watch over the house 24-7 (aka sentinels).  They open and close the entrance gate to the house when you come and go at the honk of the horn.  On this night, when we honked the horn, not only were we waiting a lot longer for the gate to open, but we see our sentinel's hands with all his might prying open the entrance gates.  

The gates open to gushing water!

Our house was flooded--knee deep of water--sewer trash water.  (can't even think what was in the water floating, swimming...whatever)  

Before getting out of the car, we roll up our pants, take off our shoes and decide that the game plan is to grab what we need to get through a few nights in a hotel and any of our valuables.  Thank goodness, all our computers and electronics were with us from the office in our laptop bags.  

We open the front door to our house, completely flooded, with suitcase floating around the house.  We put what we can on top of tables couches, on the bed etc.  You can just imagine see all our stuff just floating around in this sewer water or worse, lost and completely drenched in it.  

We are barely in for 5 minutes when our driver is yelling "current, current, current!!"  The water has now rose to above our knees by time we grab what we needed and back out to the car.  Our local friends were nearby (also the owner of the house) so they were there to witness our great flood.  

 Unfortunately, none of us have pictures to document that night BUT we have aftermath pictures.  

We did not return back for 3 days as we had to wait for the house to be cleaned by a crew of 12 and things to be aired out and dried.  

Here is the craziest thing of all, the next day was a sunny and scorching hot day with not a cloud or drop of rain in sight!  take a look at the pictures.

Sunday…the day of rest

…nah, of course not.

This Sunday marks the first night I really cooked in Congo. So, of course, I had to pay homage to my parents’ homeland and fulfill the request and cravings of others here with me with Pad Thai. Surprisingly enough…the necessary ingredients are able to be found here in Congo…not that it didn’t take going to 3 different markets to find it all. In actuality, 4 markets but the last one closed on us. In any case, we were successful in finding enough to make an authentic pad thai my mom would be quite proud of. The good ole days of being in the kitchen at my parents’ restaurant came rushing back to me…as I could not remember the last time I even cooked pad thai. It has been a very long time since I’ve cooked this dish. But of course, my mom’s recipe is ingrained into my memory. I will never be as great of a cook as my mom but I do know that tonight would have made her beam with pride as it was enjoyed by all who had a taste.





What is it about cooking that is so soothing and therapeutic? How one can just spend countless hours away in the kitchen…it’s magical actually. Ok, so maybe for someone like me who isn’t in the kitchen ALL the time, really enjoys the time I do spend in the kitchen…well, for me, cooking for others to come together to share a meal together is enough reason for me to have a go in the kitchen. What better reason to bring good people together if not for good food?? So this of course leads me to the upcoming holiday feasts we all look forward to. I always love this time of year….from Halloween to the end of the year/beginning of the new year–even though this has been the busiest time of the year for me work-wise for the last 5 years—I love this time of year. I started a tradition many years ago—having a holiday dinner party at my parents’ house. It was only a 5 year run BUT it may have to come out of hiatus upon my return back home to the states this year especially since I will be in congo for thanksgiving. The first ever thanksgiving I have not been with my family for. I am super bummed that I will not be home so for all of you who are home with your family, please enjoy extra for me and give even greater thanks to be together. Have an extra round at the table and an extra slice of pumpkin, pecan and/or apple pie for me!

$10 spent…a bit of sadness

Note to self:

Today, $10 was spent…quite possibly the worst $10 spent here but more so the saddest $10 spent thus far by yours truly in congo. I needed to handle some work business which needed the support of steady and speedy internet SO with that being said, I headed to the lobby atrium café to get connected to the wireless internet to handle it. Being a nice patron, I will purchase a beverage to consume while using the net. Re-tard me, ordered a coca-light (aka diet coke). Bonehead move….as that is one of the MOST expensive drinks on the menu…more so than those comprising alcohol. Hello?? What was I thinking?? A lesson to be learned, noted and NOT to be repeated, thank you very much.

End note to self: please NO repeat offense in future.

A bit of surprise…this Friday the 13th

Eating Congolese cuisine at the #1 restaurant in Kinshasa—INZIA. This was not the first time I have eaten there since I’ve been here but the other times; I was only at level 1—just chicken-very flavorful and delicious; just boring to report home about. Now, there are 7 levels to Congolese cuisine…7 being the most exotic and adventurous. I’ve made it to level 3 on this Friday the 13th….on my plate, it included goat, antelope and fried caterpillars. It was the fried little things that bumped me to level 3. I plan on progressing to the higher levels and will definitely document as I do so.



Here’s another picture for kicks for you all…a picture of me surprised to have the champagne cork knick my shoulder from across the home…a bit of a surprise…enjoy!

home sweet congo home…

my apologies for not blogging about this first and foremost upon my arrival to Kinshasa. Before I even start, I must give an enormous amount of appreciation and gratitude to Nathalie and her family for allowing us to stay in this beautiful house. Living in this house has definitely been a major impact and influence on getting situated and settled here. The energy from the moment I walked into the house was of comfort, warmth and security—definitely a sense one seeks and yearns for when being a guest of a completely foreign country. Another BIG and SPECIAL thanks goes to my 2nd mom for ensuring that the house was set up properly with the right amenities, utilities and staff. Altogether, a very smooth transition in getting situated and settled into what has become…home sweet congo home.

On another side note, by default being the only lady in the house, I got the master bedroom…my own private space and very important, bathroom. It has become my place of sanctity and tranquility…very much like my own room back at home in good ole California. With that being said….take a look.








Another little disclaimer, the room I have here in Congo is about twice the size of my room back home…haha. Could you just imagine if I had my congo room back in the states, just how packed it would be??? Just a thought, actually a scary thought….for those of you who know me and have seen my room at home in the states….my room is MY CLOSET filled with shoes, bag, clothes, more shoes, more bags….just a closet that has made baby closets…haha. One great thing about my room here in congo, it will not be anything like my room back home in the states-for I am living a far less materialistic and much more simplistic and minimalist life (a very deserving amen to that).

For those of you who have ever been to Thailand and have seen and/or stayed at a house out there, these pictures will take you back a bit and remind you a little bit of being in Thailand. Here are some more pictures around the house.

Zi-thro-maaaaaxxxx

…to the rescue!!! I must say that the great beauty of access to certain pharmaceuticals in Asia/Africa is awesome…ALMOST all is over the counter in these continents. I am sure that we are all very familiar with one of the wonderful miracle antibiotics…zithromax. It is 3 days and you are done. Most antibiotics are 5 plus days…which we all complain of being a pain in the a**, but hey, you got to let the meds do its thang and work its magic the way it is supposed to.

So, being here less than 2 weeks, I fell ill. Apparently, there has been a cold/flu kind of thing going around town…of course, right now, all in your heads, you are all thinking the worst, yikes, she got malaria!!! It wasn’t, thank goodness!! BUT then again, please let me remind you folks that I am taking my malaria pills on the daily to ensure and prevent from getting it!

Anyways, it sucks to be sick in general. It sucks a whole lot more on a different level when you get sick far far far away from home and family. Now, it has already happened to me here…but thanks to zithromax, I was only down for one day. And for that one day, I was pretty much knocked out. Keeping this one short and sweet and talking about being ill and sick is not good for anyone and I rather pass on re-living the experience by re-counting about it. Just wanted to give my props to zithromax for coming to my rescue in the extra punch power of 500 mg baby!!