Congo River and "El Patio"

11th May 2008 Where to start… well today we were out pretty much all day. We went to go see the Congo river, which I took lots of photos of, discreetly of course, as actually if someone sees you doing it they’ll shout at you and take your camera away. The street running right next to and facing the river is where all the embassies are, and around the corner (area which name I forgot) is where most of the white community lives. It was a little odd, and relieving almost to see some other white faces (including a nice hunk of a runner jogging down the road, although he must not have too much in brains because I don’t know why anyone would want to be out running right smack in the heat of the day….but his bod sort of makes up for that I suppose…talk about dedication). Well if there are a few more like that around here somewhere, (hopefully wherever I’m going to) then it should make life quite a bit more exciting heh…

 Anyways, we had lunch out there, and then we went to their Bible class at the ‘El Patio’ (a restaurant/hotel that lets them use one of their rooms every Sunday). The class was supposed to start at 2:00, but only Alain was there (their friend who had kept up the classes when they were gone)....and true to African time ( at least 2 hours after everyone else’s) everyone else only showed up at 4:00. We had just been about to get ready to leave when they came, but we started a class anyway….I didn’t understand most of it, anything in French too technical or specialized always goes way over my head, but it got pretty lively towards the end when they were all discussing the second chance, salvation after death topic, and I tried to get my mom to translate a little so I caught a bit of it. Oh, one of the guys there, Goge I think his name is, is a black version of Omar Shariff….well not identical obviously, but it just struck me that he looked like him….he could be a double I think if Omar Shariff ever had to act in a movie where he became black...(...can’t think of a story line on that one…) but he definitely had the nose, the high cheekbones, even the deepish voice and the very politeness. Anyways, we tried to leave the place at 5, of course everything took a little longer (one more guy only showed up around 5…one of my mom’s old friend, so he probably wanted to see her, but it does seem a bit ridiculous being that late….rather not come at all, but like Alain told us time doesn’t really seem to bother them), well anyways we got home around 6:00. Black girls are so pretty here, with very delicate features too. My mom seems to think some of the black men are quite good looking too…... Someone very cheerily when they said goodbye to me, (ah Natalie, congo hey, welcome to congo, it’s a wonderful country, you like it here, yes, ) asked me what’s something you like here about congo? I’m afraid I was a little speechless….I never know what to say, of all the funny things I think about when I think about any place, I never really know how to answer that question. It’s not like I don’t like it here, there are things I am happy about and am finding to enjoy, even though it has its frustrating times and I know I don’t want to stay here forever…..nothing honestly came to me at that second. (the weather eh) and we sort of changed the subject when I said it wasn’t as hot as I expected, and my dad started telling him how it was much more humid in madras). I know I like the people, like I said before, I like my freedom, the time I have, it’s something new and different to where I was before, but then at other times, the people are just as slow and full of problems as you’d find anywhere, some things take so much more time here and there are many things back in south Africa that were so much easier than here. But again, this is getting to how I find the situation affects me personally, not Congo itself, and none of these things are what you can explain abstractly to a stranger like that. My standard response in South Africa to people of why I was coming here was that I wanted to learn French…..and I’d only be trying it out for a few months. True enough yes, but that was before I knew what it was really going to be like….or at least before I had experienced it. I suppose what I like most about the country itself, is the feeling that you get with places like this, that its raw, that it’s so different, that there’s so much potential, there’s so much to learn and see about it, the things on my list pretty much I suppose. You almost feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere….. . I know I like that you get the feeling that you are really a part of or at least actually first hand seeing, if I’m not so much a part, people that are really doing something, who can really say that they are missionaries. They are helping people, and they have sacrificed to be in and love the place that they are in. They are giving people the spiritual side of life and teaching and training them to pass on our beliefs to others, and they have convinced and taught a lot of people. I’m always going to take Jesus with me, I can’t deny what I’ve been taught or the way I’ve been raised even if I find high fault with it now, there are certain things that I am always going to see in life and never going to be able to get away from.