In other news...

Spencer and I have been having an enjoyable time here in the States, and have been able to do some of the things we've wanted to do already. We've gone to the park, which he couldn't get enough of, we went to the Virginia Marine Science Museum with Wyatt. Which the two of them just ran me ragged at. I swear we walked 5 miles that day. Sad to say that we forgot to bring the camera so there are no pictures. But they had a blast seeing the sharks, and running on the trails.I also got to take Spencer to his first movie!!!! We went to go see Kung Fu Panda. It was really cute. When we got there Spencer was in awe of the whole buying tickets and getting popcorn, a drink and candy. Then we walked into the theater and he just didn't know what to think. He was so excited. Although I think he mostly enjoyed eating the popcorn and candy the entire two hours more than the movie. By the end he was in my lap curled up with a blanket over him. (I had to bring the blanket because theaters are so cold and Spencer has no long pants, it was just his baby blanket.) I think overall he had a good time. He came home and told Grandma and Poppa all about the Kung Fu Panda. He did show them some of the panda's moves too. 

Other than that, we have plans to go see another movie, go to Chuck E Cheese and Bowling. I'll be sure to take pictures of those when we go. :) 

Culture Shock in the U.S.?

Who would have thought you could actually have some culture shock coming back into the U.S. after spending eight months in Congo? I sure didn't, but it is true. It is very weird to be back here. Don't get me wrong, I love being in the U.S., and being able to go to Target pretty much EVERY day. :) But it's just weird being here. I realize now that I had gotten very used to where we lived in Congo and how we did things day in and day out. Here in the United States, it's different. After being with lots of family and friends, I soon realized that people here are VERY busy. Do people in the states realize that they don't HAVE to do something everyday? Or even go out? Do they realize that things don't have to go 100 miles an hour? I'm not saying that it's wrong or anything, just so different from what we have been living in for 8 months. So now I know that I have picked up one things from the Congolese.......being slow. (not mentally, Seth) Just slowing down the pace of everyday life, and I guess actually enjoying things around you. Although I don't think the Congolese slow down to enjoy things around them, it's just that they do everything slowly. 

So, question (I feel like Dwight Shrute), has anyone else had this feeling of culture shock in the states after living overseas? Also, a question more to myself, will I get culture shock when I got back to Congo? 

Well, at least for now, I am enjoying my stay in the states, and seeing all of my family and friends. And going to Target and Wendy's. :) 

Happy 4th of July

Happy Independence Day everyone. Last night I went to the Ambassador's house for the 4th of July reception. It was a beautiful night with just a little bit of a wind. At the beginning of the reception an American doctor sang the national anthem, just as she was singing the line "gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there" a gust of wind came and extended the flag and made it wave just like the picture above. It gave me chills and reminded me what a great nation we belong too. I just wanted to express my gratitude for this country and the military that is protecting her. Becca will agree with me, that living overseas has made us more patriotic. As a nation we are so blessed to have the freedoms that we do. The Bill or Rights states,

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble..."

Isn't it wonderful to be a part of a country that allows its citizens these rights. Although I don't always agree with what is in the press or what people say, I am still thankful that we have those rights and I hope we as Americans never take those rights for granted as there are countless people who wished they had them. Deric, thank you for the sacrifices you make to protect our country. Dad, Doug, Grandpa Rigby, Grandpa Thompson, Uncle Bart and all the other family and friends who have served in the military, thank you for the sacrifices you have made to protect this great nation. God Bless America.

More fun at the Beach

Here are some more pictures of our week in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was so relaxing, and I believe everyone had a blast! Enjoy the pics. 

This is of Spencer and Austin taking a break from swimming to eat something from the ice cream truck that came by. To me, it looks like they are reviewing, and letting the other one know what their own ice cream tastes like. 
    All three kids who got ice cream. Kaylee looks like a little model here, so cute!
                                                        McKaylee and Spencer
Carter--- the bathing beauty? or wait.... sunning stud! :) And is it just me, or do you also see a little Tom Cruise in there? 
Kaylee swimming!!! She didn't even want to swim by herself at the beginning of the week, and by the end she was everywhere in that pool, and still looking stylish with her shades. 
Guitar Hero was a favorite of the week. Thanks Wyatt for bringing it so we could all play. I think the adults loved this game the most! I believe Heath won as THE actual Guitar Hero. 

Parasailing

So one of things on my "bucket list" was to go parasailing and this week I was able to cross it off my list.  We are spending the week at a beach house in the Outer Banks, North Carolina with Becca's family.  Not to far down the road was a place to go parasailing.  So Seth, Jess, Liza, Doug, Becca and I left all the kids with Grandma (thanks grandma) and went to the parasailing place.   Doug (Becca's dad) and Liza (Becca's sister) went first. Soon after getting up in the air, the captain brought them back in, we thought it was kind of a short ride, but he informed us that the boat wasn't feeling right and he didn't want risk the boat breaking down while someone was in the air.  He thought it was the oil filter. So the captain and the first mate got into another boat and went back to get an oil filter, after replacing the oil filter, Doug and Liza went back in the air, but again came back down after a small ride.  The captain said the boat still didn't feel right, so we rescheduled for the next day.

I was a little dissapointed at first, but the next day was a better day, there was more wind and the sky was clearer.  This time the boat was fine and we all got up in the air. Seth and Jess (Becca's brother and sister-in-law) went first and they went 1200 feet.  On the way back down from the air the captain dips the 

parasailers in the water.  While Seth and Jess were in the water I told the captain to make sure he dragged them.  He dragged them for a little bit.  Then it was Becca and my turn.  We went 900 feet.  Because I had told the captain to drag Seth and Jess, the captain dipped us in right away, even before we went up. Once up it was very peaceful.  And we could see pretty far with the clear skies.  On the way back in we were dipped and dragged again.  Next it was Doug and Liza's turn.  They went 600 feet.

Overall all it was a fun time. And I would defenelty do it again.  Maybe I will do it in Hawaii.  Now I just have to do Hang Gliding and parachuting.

We made it....

We did make it back to the states and we are doing great! I did get to go to Wendy's the night we got in, right after the airport on the way home. Then the next day we woke up at 5:30 in the morning, mostly because it was 11:30 our time in Congo. So we got an early start on the day, and were able to go to Target and 3 Amigos (a mexican restaurant). Which was delicious! Then today we have gone to Target AGAIN!!!! I know, I'm in heaven! I even got Olive Garden at my mom's retirement party at her school. It has been great! The whole family will be together tonight so we are looking forward to that. I will have pictures up here soon, since Tyler got a new digital camera for Father's Day. It's great being home and seeing everything here. Spencer has had some moments of not knowing what is going on. He heard a plane fly overhead and thought it was thunder and said, "Oh, a storm is coming." We then explained to him that it was just a plane and not thunder. We never had planes flying overhead us in Congo. So all in all we are doing great and having a blast with family. I'll update more after we go to more food places. :) Oh and we'll put pictures of our trip to Germany too, which was a blast! We had the best host and hostess ever!!! Thanks Deric and Stephanie! 

Stuck Planes, Hotels without water, and city with actual sidewalks

Okay, so it has been awhile since I, Tyler, wrote a blog. It has been busy the last couple of months as we were getting ready to go on vacation, but I will make up for my absence with a long post, and I mean long. Plus I will throw in a few photos.

During the last week of April, I was fortunate to be invited to go with some other embassy officers to eastern DRC. The main purpose of the trip was to visit two AIDS clinics that the United States was funding to help the Congo military test for HIV, treat AIDS, and most importantly help the soldiers learn how to protect themselves from getting HIV. The trip also allowedus to visit different parts of the Congo, which is the size of western Europe. We don't have much opportunity to see Kinshasa as it only has 2770 km of paved roads, as opposed to 4,165,110 km of paved roads in the United States. So the only way to travel is by plane or by boat. Boat takes a month just to get 3/4 of the way across the country, and then you have to take a very bumpy, sometimes impassable road or you go by plane. Unfortunately Congo airlines have a very bad track record for air safety. We were able to do this trip on a US military plane. Much safer track record. We visited 5 places during the trip (see map above to see), Kole (not far from Ilebo), Goma, Mbuji-Mayi, Lubumbashi, and a copper mine near Kolwezi.

Some pictures from the plane on the way to Kole
I believe this is part of the Congo river.

KOLE

First stop was the small, small village of Kole. We were only suppose to be here for a short 10 minutes to pick up a US Military Doctor who was in the Kole area doing Monkey Pox research, but ended up being there for more than an hour. Their wasn't a paved airfield here, but there was a dirt airfield. As we were landing we saw probably a hundred people from surrounding villages running toward the airfield to find out why an airplane had landed and it was a good think they came because we needed their help.

Notice the long line of people coming to see why a whole bunch of white guys were getting off a plane.

oops.

yep we got stuck so with the hundred of villagers we pushed the plane backwards out of the soft sand and onto some harder dirt. It was funny because as it was being pushed back more dirt would build up behind the back wheels and the villagers were pushing the sand away with their hands and putting their sandals in front of the wheels to keep the wheels from getting stuck again. One man even had his hand run over. We eventually got it out, but the pilots then had to decide whether or not it was going to be safe to take off, or we would have to take a few days hike to the nearest airfield to get out. Luckily we were able to take off.

GOMA
Any of you who have been following the news here in the Congo know that there is some problems in eastern Congo. There are several rebel groups there who are trying to survive, and the Congo military is there trying to solve the problem. This causes alot of violence. Not only do the citizens have to worry about these rebel groups they also have to worry about a volcano. We were only in Goma for one night, but look at these pictures of the large lake, the volcano, and the beautiful hotel we stayed at.

The Volcano

The City of Goma is right by a large lake.

The hotel also had a great breakfast in the morning with fresh mango, pineapple, guava, passion fruit, and another fruit that I didn't recognize.

The hotel had very beautiful grounds.

This picture is of the plane crash site

MBUJI-MAYI

Our third stop was Mbuji-Mayi. This town is known for its large deposits of industrial diamonds. The city was rather small (3 million people) and run down. Not very many good roads, the only hotel secure enough for us to stay in didn't have air conditioning, nor running water, and was without electricity for the majority of our stay, but it did have a casino. We were all happy to get out of there. Here are some pictures of some kids in the town.

LUBUMBASHI

This is the nicest and most developed part of the Congo. With large deposits of copper and cobalt in the surrounding area, Lubumbashi has benefited from the numerous foreign businesses who come to Lubumbashi to mine. It was amazing the differences between Mbuji-Mayi and this city that had sidewalks, nice hotels, restaurants, and clean streets. The hotel was very nice with a large Victorian style staircase. We stayed two nights in Lubumbashi. The second night we ate at a restaurant called "Bush Camp". It had some pretty good food. It is buffet style with caterpillars, crocodile, chicken, beef, antelope and some other choices. I tried the caterpillars, crocodile and antelope, and surprisingly I liked all of them.

KOLWEZI.

Our final stop was to a mine site run by an American business. It was interesting to see how much money is being put into the mine site, and all the social programs the company is creating to help its employees and the surrounding villages. For example they built them new homes, are teaching them new skills, building better roads, and bringing cleaner water to the area. Here are some pictures of the site.

Part of the housing project they are building for some of the villagers.

Pieces of raw copper being mined, when the copper is exposed to oxygen it turns into malakite, which is the green you are seeing.

Overall it was a great opportunity to see Congo, and various parts of it. Now only if I can visit some of the cannibalistic tribes that live in the northeast.