B I T T E R S W E E T

Since we are leaving the Democractic Republic of Congo soon, I thought I would list things I've learned here, or seen here, things I might miss, and things I can't wait to have again.

• Thankful that we could meet the people here and learn a little about their culture.



• Never will forget the airport or the men who stand there with AK-47s.


• Had some tramatic stress dreams here, which I will be glad to be rid of.


• Had a wall and barb-wire around our house, with guards, OH and one who had a key to our house and stole my only jewelry (yes my engagement ring I will never be able to show to our children, very sad.)


• Everything is expensive here!!! $40 for a quart of cream!


• you can sell ANYTHING--on the side of the road (monkeys, dogs, coat racks, suitcases, maps, newspapers, tissues, lamps, food, pictures, clothes hangers, random things).
  
• Will be grateful to drink from the tap instead of distilled water.


• No more malaria pills!!! (finally we will sleep well)


• Motto in Africa -> If you don't ask for it then you won't get it (i.e. the maid has asked for things around the house knowing there is a 50/50 chance of getting it. no harm in asking).


• Another motto in Africa ->If you have more (wealth, things, food, money) you should feel obligated to give it to others who don't have as much. (Example: if someone gets hit by a car here--which happens A LOT--if you help that person, you could be the one paying for medical stuff and kids' future schooling!)


• Can't wait to have more fruits and vegetables and not have to bleach them this summer(Although I will miss our banana tree we have and the fresh pineapple for sale on the side of the street).
  
• I most likely will be able to drive at the next place we go, nothing like no road rules to scare a person from driving.
  
  
• I will never forget the anxiety I had here, there was always a threat of something bad happening. I wish the world was a safer place, we are all human, right?


• On the flip side of the previous one, this place has made me a more laid-back type of person. I'm not quite so controlling (only about no crumbs on the floor-then the ants come!) and I have started to react differently to things.


• I learned that being the minority and not speaking the language you become a little invisible, but I didn't mind. :) I could observe more that way. But you also had to be aware when it made you the target, thankfully we haven't had anything bad happen!


• I have gotten used to seeing soldiers with AK-47s walking down the street by us and not think twice about it...and the military tank too.


• Nature is beautiful especially when it's NOT man made.
  





• Nature has lots of sounds, and some of them can be quite loud, but beautiful too! Never before have I seen so many different kinds of unique birds!


• I will be happy not to take a dirty bath anymore, there is no clear water here.


• Being basic & simple is GREAT!


• Slowing down things in life won't make things worse just better. You enjoy things more.


• Children are precious and sometimes wise beyond their years, yet so innocent still. We could learn a thing or two from them. The children here are beautiful and have smiles that light up the room.
  
  


• I will miss how quiet church is here.


• Bugs in Africa are HUGE! Will not miss them, or seeing them in the middle of the night hanging above us on our mosquito netting around the bed. (true story, this happened the other night with a cockroach up there!).
  
• And in that case, I don't like sleeping with mosquito netting around our bed, especially since the husband gets tangled in it every night (he tosses too much). :)
  

• I am glad we have lived here to help bring our little family closer together. We have had to depend on each other numerous times and it's made us love each other more and more.

Even though you might hear us gripe of the daily struggles of living here, we have liked it. We are thankful that we were able to enjoy another part of our world that is so different from what we grew up in. Spencer will have such different childhood memories than Tyler and I ever did. I can't begin to tell what a blessing it has been to be here, really it has. We will miss the people we met here, and especially our church ward who have helped us to become accustom to life here in Congo.
Our next adventure: Harare, Zimbabwe!!! Here we come! :)

CONTEST AND BLOG TOPICS

Okay so I think it is time we have a contest on this blog. The prize will be a souvenir from the Congo. Now to be eligible for this contest you have to become a follower of this blog. To do that, just look over here: ------------------->


Okay so here are the rules. In order to be eligible you have to become a follower of this blog. Currently we have 10 individuals who qualify. I will select 5 people at random, the prestigious law firm of Spencer and Associates will verify that the names were in fact drawn at random. Those five winner will each receive a souvenir, to be chosen by us at a future date. The prize will be from the Congo and you will receive it by the end of the summer. Out of those 5 winners, one will be randomly selected to win the grand prize which will be a super souvenir. As of now there is a 1 in 5 chance of winning, with a 1 in 10 chance of being the grand prize winner. If some one is unable to become a follower for a variety of reasons, please leave a comment explaining why you can't be a follower, the law firm and Spencer and Associates will look over the responses and make a ruling if the reason provided is convincing enough to allow your name in the drawing without becoming a follower. You will have 2 weeks from today to become a follower. On 27 June we will announce the winners.



BLOG TOPICS
Since we live overseas and want to share this experience with you, please request what topics you would like to see. For example do you want to have a detailed blog on what they eat in the Congo? (you can substitute Congo with Zimbabwe) What is the vegetation and fauna in the Congo? What type of animals are in the Congo? What traditions do they have in the Congo? What is it like to go to school as a Congolese,? How is church in the Congo? and any other questions that come to your mind, let us know and we will try to answer your questions and provide pictures if possible.

Guess what Spencer did today!

This is what Spencer wanted to do today...

Yep, and he sat there and washed every last one of those rocks. 'Cause you know..."rocks need baths too, they get dirty from the mud." (as Spencer informed me)

Fun in the Sprinklers!!

Yesterday Spencer wanted to play outside in the mud, then the gardener got the sprinkler out for him. He had a blast! Makes you want to be a kid again. :)

This was the stream he was making down the driveway, he has made a rock collection here so he can use them to make dams in the stream.

After playing in the water and mud, he took his bath and now he's all fresh and clean and even includes 5 mosquito bites her got while playing.

When I see this smile, it makes my day!

Young Men's Activity

Since Tyler is involved with the young men in our ward/church, he challenged them to bring their scriptures to church for 10 weeks. If they did it, then they could come over to our place and play video games and have good food. They did it! So last Saturday night we had the young men from our ward come over for some fun. We all had a blast. Even a member of our bishopric got in on some Wii boxing!!! :) It was great.

The young men and leaders with two men from the bishopric, and Spencer. :)

Spencer eating and watching them play. He loved having all these boys over.

First counselor's son, who was watching his dad box. Cute kid!

The first counselor and a boy boxing.

We had two TVs, one with the Wii so 2-4 players could play and then the Xbox so 2 more could play. These boys are concentrating on basketball.

More boxing.

Trying to figure it all out.

Basketball playing.

One boy got some of Spencer's games out (Candy Land and Memory) and Spencer tried to explain to them how to play.

Tyler teaching. :)

Louvre and more crepes.

On Monday we went and looked at the Louvre and Tyler and Spencer had more crepes. :) The Louvre was very beautiful and interesting, and quiet! It felt like we were in a sacred place, even Spencer kept a quiet voice most of the time. To keep Spencer entertained while visiting this vast museum, we printed out some of the paintings and sculptures that are in the Louvre and told him he was on a treasure hunt! He loved it! We had 11 things for him to look for while we were walking around and he found 6 of them! I'm really glad we thought of that, so then he wouldn't be moaning about his legs and feet hurting (the day before was walking miles at Versailles). But it was great fun, and we got to see the Mona Lisa, which is beautiful. And yes, I actually looked up into the archways to see if there was any kind of bars that came down to get the robbers like in Da Vinci Code...I didn't see any, but that's okay. At least now I have a better visual of the place when I read the book. :) Enjoy the pictures.

The pyramid under the museum, we saw this first since we came through the metro way.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace, the first staircase we went up.

Mona Lisa

We saw this a couple of times, of painters painting the paintings on the walls. (how many times can you say some form of paint in one sentence?!?)
One of Spencer's treasure hunt finds!! Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix

The Consecration of Emperor Napoleon I and the Coronation of Empress Josephine in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 December 1804 by Jacques-Louis David. We saw this same painting at Versailles in the coronation room...which one has the real one?? The one in the Louvre, I read in my Versailles book that Jacques-Louis David did another one for Versailles between 1808 and 1822. Fun fact for today! :)

Aphrodite (Venus de Milo) another one of Spencer's treasure hunt finds.

Spencer and Tyler outside the Louvre.

The pyramid and part of the Louvre (it really was massive!).

The Arc de Triomphe.

Tyler and Spencer went on Monday afternoon/evening to go get their last crepes and some pastries for us that night. We had a great bread/pastry shop right beside our hotel that we could walk to, and a crepe tent thing that was right next to the hotel. Tyler was in heaven for sure!! I took a few pictures of them getting their crepes from the hotel room. Yes this is the same road the police were marching down the evening before!

Can you pick out Tyler and Spencer?? They don't seem to understand that you wear black or dark colors in Paris! :)

BEST MOTHER'S DAY EVER!!

My Mother's Day this year was spent walking around beautiful Versailles, seeing the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. Then coming home to relax and having the riot police right outside our window of the hotel!!!! I love seeing action like that, not being apart of it, but just being the spectator, and we had a fabulous view of everything going on!! We had protesters across the street from our hotel the whole weekend. It was about the things going on in Sri Lanka, and the Tigers (what the group of people were called) were out there. Well they had just been on the grass by the huge roundabout, but they decided that afternoon/evening to start chanting in the streets and sitting down in the middle of this busy intersection. The drivers were not pleased, and so the police came to push them back. It wasn't anything too big, but a guy did almost get arrested. So here are the pictures to commemorate this event! :)