Kinshasa--May 2008

Our house, yard and pool

5th of May, 2008
Well….. It wasn’t as much excitement filled as yesterday (although maybe that’s a good thing, we didn’t pack up and leave again yet, and no one else smashed into our wall…oh yes and so I heard the poor kid driver of that car is coming out of the coma now, we prayed for him today). I slept a solid 12 hours (as I only got 4 hours of sleep the night before it was all much needed rest)…before getting up and having a very odd tasting coffee....I don’t know but for some reason it tasted like medicine…had this weird bitter aftertaste….anyways. Mylene (that is her name I’ve got it down now) showed me to put a pillow on my chair (as it doesn’t quite fit in the desk, so I’m always either hunched forward or leaning way too far back so I can’t see what I’m doing) and yup it’s back to school again. I don’t mind, sooner it is till I’m done (at least this stretch of things) and if all goes well (seeing as there’s little distractions right now) I should be done by the end of next month. Then the question if I get to go back or not for the next couple of months. I must admit that it’s not easy here….things move oh so slowly and you have to wait for everything…if I didn’t have my own things to keep me busy I don’t think I’d manage. But phases like that pass and then there’s always something else and life still goes on….although in the space of an hour having the power go off, no water coming out of the taps, and finding all my laundry that I hung out the day before nicely coated in red ants makes me want to seethe in frustration….it passes…and in time things start working again and you find that it’s not so bad after all and how much worse things could be. I swam for the first time today; I only managed five laps (full ones though) but hopefully tomorrow I shall do better. I don’t think I’ll be running much here, it’s too hot really, and even at the times when it’s not I can’t really go out of the property. But I have exercise videos heh….my new goal, that I’m actually going to try to achieve this time, is to get a six pack heh. What else…oh yes not so much French today….I shall have to really want it and push to comprehend and learn because after all the newness wears off it’s just as easy to block it out like anything else, and I still have to focus on it if I want to understand and remember anything. Mylene is very sweet, very happy that I want to learn, and she always speaks to me in French when she can (although her English is not very good either). I get so frustrated here though, I will need to be doing something more I know, seeing other people, just to keep my interest and my sanity. Just this morning I already wanted to leave….but I suppose I’ll get used to things in time, and it won’t be so hard anymore. I’m lucky that I have my parents here though and I’m not completely alone yet….I just don’t know what’s going to happen next year…or even the rest of this one for that matter. But we couldn’t be here without the Lord, I know that much. As crazy as all these people are, we do have something and we wouldn’t be able to be here without it. Even though I don’t really feel I’m part of that, all my reasons are so selfish when I compare with what motivates them, even if it seems a little futile, they know that what they are doing is the greatest thing they could be and they at least mean what they say and do. At least I can respect that. I don’t think I’ll be writing this everyday, things will get too ordinary soon, and without people and conversation all the time, there often isn’t that much I can put down to say.

My room and my 3 favorite past time: easel, piano, laptop

So so long for now and let’s see how long I can survive. At every meal time today people were talking about amoebas and now mosquitoes and malaria and hepatitis and every other kind of insect and disease that we could get, and it sort of worries one. But it’s so funny how they all sit there so calmly and talk about how close people they saw came to getting deathly ill, and how the water filter we have isn’t very effective, and etcetera….but they’re saying all of this with such calmness and peace, really not too overly reacting about it. I suppose they’ve lived with these sort of things and worse for most of their lives… but it’s a little disturbing all the same. Which reminds me I need to clean my room tomorrow….especially the windows. Math, History, good exercise and playing a little piano is all I managed for today. Hopefully I shall be able to fit a little more than that in the future….but while you want to use your time well, there are some things there’s no rushing here (like they love their long mealtimes, sitting around the table…) but it’s not bad. Life was meant to be enjoyed I suppose….and you can’t begrudge other people that.