Weekly Wrap: June 20-26

• I got up bright and early to fly our airplane to Uganda with my coworker Nate. Our aircraft have to have a maintenace inspection every 200 hours of flight time. We do not have the proper tooling and facilities here to do the maintenance so we fly to another one of our bases in Uganda. It was about a 6-7 hour flight up. Barrels of fun.


• Flying in the Congo during the dry season is not much fun because of the dust, smoke, and pollution that is in the air. You can hardly see the ground. I though Uganda would be different, but is we flew in over Lake Victoria, one of the largest lakes in the world, it was quite disappointing. The pollution in the air was just horrible. It is quite a shame because the terrain on the ground is quite beautiful.


• Met some MAF pilots and families living and working in East DR Congo and Uganda. It was nice to meet some fellow MAFers working in other parts of Africa and see some of the work they are doing there.


• I was put to work in the hangar doing some small maintenance items on the plane. I am not a maintenance guy at all so I felt like I was more of a liability. But I think I helped out a little. Took off the tires and greased the bearings and changed out the breaks. Took off some paneling on the wings and landing gear. Put together some new airplane jacks. Repainted the prop.


• Uganda is one of those crazy places with millions of motorcycle taxis everywhere. They are called "Boda Bodas". They are all weaving in and out of traffic or carrying ridiculously large loads. We nearly killed one Boda Boda driver as he was driving too fast down a dirt road and swerved to avoid us but couldn't avoid the tree stump. His two child passengers were alright, but the driver busted up his knee. We took him to a clinic and paid for his medical bills even though we were not at fault. He showed his gratitude by calling the next day to say that he would be calling the police to demand more money from us. Cool.


• The whole week I was singing the song, "Boda boda boda boda boda everywhere!" in my head.


• Spent a day with my UN friend from Lubumbashi who was passing through Entebbe on his way home for leave. It was good to see him one last time. We went bowling in a mall, which seems like an insane idea when you living in Lubumbashi.


• I went white-water rafting on the Nile River on the weekend. I had been hoping I would get the chance to do this while I was in Uganda and I am so glad I did. The river was just amazingly beautiful. Spent 5-6 hours on the water. There was mostly Class 4 rapids. A couple Class 5 rapids that we missed because of the wimpy tourists I had on my boat. 2 Class 6 rapids that we avoided thankfully. Rapids were tons of fun but enjoyed just floating in the river on the slow parts and just taking in the idea that I was on the Nile River in Africa!


• I think I had a serious case of culture shock on the 1.5 hour bus ride to the Nile River. I sat in front of 6 American college girls. "Like OMG, I totally want to take a baby goat home with me!". I had forgotten that this crazy species of humans still exist.

Currently reading: "The African Dream: The diaries of the revolutionary war in the congo" by Che Guevara

Weekly Wrap: June 13-19

My attempt at bring more proactive in updating my blog by offering weekly highlights. A few weeks old due to lack of computer and internet.

• We flew a baby chimp back to Lubumbashi on one of our flights. It had been bought off some hunters and is being taking to a Chimpanzee sanctuary. So now I can say that I helped save a baby chimp in Africa.


• Went to the "Bush Camp" restaurant in town for Tim's birthday. One of the nicer places in town that is full of African decor. Good food too. I think I will go back someday.


• Lunar Eclipse. I think everything seems more amazing when you experience it in the Congo and this was no exception.


• Political campaigning season here. Lots of politicians flying around the province campaigning for people's votes. Often there is a mini-parade with banners and a marching band waiting for some political figure as he steps of a plane. It is all quite ridiculous and humorous at the same time. I am still not quite sure what their jobs are, other than eating lots of food and making lots of money. Crazy place.


• Went to a concert at the French Cultural Center in town. Some girl and her band down from Kinshasa. She was apparently pretty popular and the place was packed. I showed up late and felt really awkward when there was a crowd of people trying to get in and the security guard sees me and my other white friend and personally escorts us in. The perks of being white? Awkward. I did enjoy myself once inside though. Awesome group. I even bought her CD and got a picture with her backstage. Silly.


• We had a good-bye party for my friend who works with the UN and will be moving to Kinshasa after he takes leave. The party was at my house and we had a huge bonfire in the front yard. Lots of laughs and dancing with good friends.


• Another good-bye party the following day for the volunteers who have been helping out with my roommate's street kids project (Kimibilio). So we had a bbq at a river just outside town with the Kimbilio kids and the volunteers. Good group of people.


• Observation of the week is that I noticed a lot of the people who work for MSF, who we fly for, are smokers. Just seems ironic and confusing. Seems like strange example to have as you are trying to solve the health issues in Africa.

Electricity

Most people probably don't ever think twice about electricity. It is something you always have right? Not here in the Congo. I've been trying to decide how often the power has been on during my 9 months here. I'm gonna go with 50%. The way it works at my house is that we are supposed to have 2 days with the power on and then one day off. This program is run by the electrical company here. Apparently the transformer in my neighborhood is not big enough to run everyone so it needs a day off so it doesn't explode or something. It is different in each neighborhood.

The electrical company is really good at making sure the power is off on our day off, but not so good about making sure it stays on on our day on. It'll often go off for half a day on when of the days we are supposed to have it or just go off and on constantly throughout the day. Sometimes lines will get cut or there will be some other technical problem and we will be out for several days. The longest I have gone without power at my house has been 5 days. That was fun. I am actually blessed here because my coworkers living in Kinshasa, the capital city, have it worse than me and have been without power for several weeks now and there are not many indications that it will return anytime soon. I do have a generator at my house, which will power the whole house, but it is expensive to use so I try not to use it too often. I will usually run it every third evening on our days off so I'm not depressed in a dark house getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.

It has become a way of life now. The food in the fridge gets stinky every 3rd day. Have to make sure to run the water pump when we have power so we have water in the tanks. Try to make sure we have fuel on hand in the garage in case we really need/want to use the generator. We do have a solar panel that charges a battery, which we can then use to power our internet. But the battery only last for a couple hours before it needs to be charged again. I think this is going to be one of the areas I will suffer culture shock when I return back to the US. Not having to plan my day around power outages. Weird.

Risking it all

Here is some video about transport in the Congo. I haven't been able to watch all of it because the internet here is too slow, but I've been told it is interesting. Check it out if you have the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkq8YtGG6gI&feature=youtu.be

Neighborhood Noise

I spent the last few days home sick paralyzed by body aches and fatigue. A lot of time spent in bed or on the couch not being able to sleep, but only listening to the sounds of the world outside. My neighborhood is much like the Congolese people that inhabit it, Loud. This was not a new discovery for me, but having lots of time laying on my back at home allowed me to take in all these noises.

First of all, the night guard/gardener and his family live right behind my house, which is about 20 feet from my bedroom window. I'm not really sure how many children he has. I'm guessing maybe 5, but it sounds like 20. This is a noisy family. There is a lot of yelling that goes on, which I'm never quite sure if it is an argument or just a typical Congolese conversation. Occasionally the baby is crying. At least one or two times a day one of children is yelling for his father, who is definitely out of earshot range. "PAPA! PAPA! PAPA!" (repeat 20x as loud as you can). The latest development in the family is now they have 2 goats in their yard. My roommate and I were trying to decide why he has goats. We think that maybe one of his sons is getting married and it is a gift for the bride's family. If that is the case then I hope the wedding is soon because I am tired of listening to those goats.

Another exciting noise coming from my neighborhood is the church directly behind my garage. This church isn't nearly as bad as some of the churches around the neighborhood, but it does have it's moments. The first night of my sickness I was awoken by a 2am choir practice. Sure it wasn't terrible music, but it was 2 in the morning. They occasionally do this for some reason. It seems hard to believe that 2am is the only time the choir can get together for practice. This is actually quite normal for a lot of the Congolese churches, which there are a lot of. The churches here don't only have your typical Sunday morning services. They seem to have several services a week at every odd hour of the day. I have been driving home at 3 in the morning and seen church services going on. They also seem to hold the belief that the louder the church is, the better God will hear you. There is also the Muslims a few blocks away that announce their call to prayer every morning at 5am. I occasionally wake up to that as well.

There are kids everywhere here so there is always the sounds of kids playing. They are building a school on the property right next to my house so currently it is the sound of construction but in a few months it'll be the sound of children screaming. A group of kids are often playing soccer on my street so you will often here their screams of laughter and playfulness. If there is ever a club soccer match on TV you will know whether we are winning or losing by listening to the neighborhood noise.

Overall there is a just a general buzz of neighborhood noise here in Congo. It is very interesting to hear all the sounds and try to distinguish all of them. Everything is so lively here and out in the open for everyone to listen to. The other fascinating thing to me is that I can sit on my porch and look out at my big yard and hear all of these noises yet I cannot see where they come from because I am surrounded by tall walls.

Year of the Beard

One year of growing a beard. 2011. Quite possibly one of the top 5 best decisions of my life. I mean, seriously, what's better than combing food crumbs out of your beard after a good meal. I've been at this for 107 days. I thought maybe after a couple months I'd grow fond of it, but in actuality, I have to resist the urge to grab every sharp object I see so I don't hack it all off in one fell swoop. I'd like to say that large beards are common and my struggle is internal. But no. The external forces are powerful, especially those from the Congolese. Apparently these vocal inhabitants of Congo have a great appreciation of history of Christianity, including the western image of Jesus Christ. My swahili knowledge is not extensive, but there are a few words I can understand as I walk down the street: Mzungu (white person) and Jesu (Jesus). If I hear those words mixed in a sentence followed by some laughing, giggling, and pointing I am pretty sure I'm the center of the conversation. Fortunately I'm the most talked about person in every 50ft radius I'm in.

One year of my life and for what? I guess because I can. A way to make small group of people (not including the entire country of Congo) smile and laugh. A way to practice self-control. A story to tell when it's all over. I still have 258 more days to think of some other benefits. Cheers to the year I will not attract the ladies with the overgrowth of hair on my face.

Vacation

Ok. So. Last month I did the vacation thing here in the Africa. I'm not really sure what people think of when they think about "vacation in Africa". Probably safaris, pyramids, or swimming with great white sharks. Whatever, not the point of this blog post. For me, I'm usually on the budget program when it comes to vacation. I don't like to spend money, I like to go somewhere where I can swim a lot, and throw in something adventurous.

So after considering my options I decided on Zanzibar! If you don't know where that is, it is a little island just off the coast of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in the Indian Ocean. It is a touristy place with a lot of history because it used to be the hub of the East Africa slave trade. It is where all the african slaves would get sent to board ships to India and other countries back in the day. It also has beautiful pristine white sandy beaches and warm ocean water to swim in. It is also relatively cheap place to vacation. So I've got all my criteria. Ocean to swim in, cheap vacation spot, and for adventure I decided I was going to ride my motorcycle there! Just a nice 2600 mile roundtrip through Africa wilderness. I was a little nervous about the trip but I was all geared up and ready to go until a week before when I had some bike problems riding in some back roads of Congo. So it was a no-go for the motorcycle, but I had the backup plan of taking the bus, which turned out to be an adventure in itself.

The day came for departure. Bus is supposed to leave at noon. We get there at 11. Oh yeah, I'm doing this trip with my friend Pierre, who is from Belgian and is teaching here in Lubumbashi. So yeah, we get there at 11 and sign in and sit and wait. Noon comes around and they announce we are not leaving today because the border is closed. We will leave tomorrow they say. Apparently there was some new facility at the border that just opened and the Zambian and DRC president were there that day to have a commissioning for the facility so they had the close the whole border down. Just a perfect example of African silliness. So we show up the next morning ready to go and of course we wait around until the bus finally departs 2 hours late. The president was having a political rally downtown that day so we drove through crowds of people as we were leaving the city. It was a crazy site with the streets packed with people, marching bands, and people carrying banners and what not. I could already tell this trip was going to be crazy.

So I'll spoil the ending and say that Zanzibar was an amazing place and I had a great time there. The only downfall of the vacation was the bus ride. I took the bus because it was 1/6th the cost of flying. They said it would be a 2 day trip on the bus. I can handle that. What they forgot to mention that the bus a dumpster on wheels that somehow what at amazing ridiculous speeds and hardly ever stopped for pee breaks or food. No A/C, no toilet, no clean comfy seat, no food, no English. I guess that is why it was cheap. Anyways, we left Lubumbashi at 10:30am. It took us a couple hours to cross the border into Zambia. Drove through the night through Zambia. Got to the Tanzanian border at dawn. Spent a couple hours at that border. Drove through Tanzania all day and arrived around midnight or 1am. Total time: 37 hours on the bus. The ride had a lot of low points, but there were a few highs like driving through this beautiful mountain road in Tanzania with beautiful terrain. Only to have it spoiled by the lady sitting next to me lean across me to throw her trash out the widow like everyone else on the bus. I couldn't understand these people being surrounded by such beauty and just throwing trash at it. Oh Africa.

So we arrive in Dar Es Salaam late and take a taxi to our hostel, which is cheap. I am amazed by Dar Es Salaam already at this point because it is huge with tall buildings and feels like a big city in America. We go find a burger stand that is open late and get some food after a grueling bus trip. Even that late at night I was already getting the Islamic vibe, which was interesting because I had been in a city that was dominantly Islamic, which is the case with Dar Es Salaam. Next morning we wake up for a second time (1st time for the blaring Call to Prayer outside hostel) and find our way to the docks to take a ferry to our final destination. Zanzibar! The ferry ride is a 2 hour trip to the island. It felt so good to be on a boat out in the ocean. The water was just an amazing blue.

Then we finally arrive on Zanzibar. It is basically Africa's version of Hawaii. It was pretty sweet. The main town on the island is called Stonetown. It is a sweet city because it has these narrow alleyways through 3 or 4-story buildings that look ancient. The only way to get through most of the town is by foot or moped so you feel like you are in Italy or somewhere like that. Stonetown also included cheap hotels, great restaurants, nice beach, great juice,and the local fishermen do nightly seafood bbq at dusk by the beach. Delicious. Zanzibar is also known for it's spices. So I did a spice tour like a good little tourist. But it was definitely worth my time walking through all the spice farms and seeing some of the historical points of the slave trade.

After a couple days in Stonetown we headed to the North of the island. The entire island is basically pristine beaches, but we heard the beaches in the north had better swimming. Found a nice cheap hotel/resort on the beach. Amazing beach with turquoise blue water and white sandy beaches. Basically just lounged on the beach for a few days and had good food and drinks at the restaurant 20 feet from the water. We decided to do a snorkeling trip one day, which was maybe the best decision of the trip. Took a boat trip on this sweet old wooden dhow out to some reefs offshore. Some some dolphins along the way and the snorkeling was amazing. I think I saw every fish from "Finding Nemo" except the shark. Came back and had a nice hour long body massage on the beach. Paradise.

Spent a week on the island before deciding to head home. Pierre had to get back for classes so he elected to fly home, so I decided to brave the bus home on my own. Met up with some friends of friends in Dar Es Salaam that let me stay with them for one night and figured out the bus schedule for me. That was super helpful to not have to stress about that and get a good rest before a long long trip.

So got on the bus and left Dar Es Salaam at 6am. The beginning of the trip was awesome because we drove through a couple national parks in Tanzania and I got to see my first wildlife. I saw giraffes, elephants, zebra, gazelle, and baboons. We were flying by on a bus though so we didn't get to stop and have a proper look. We were hoping to get to the Zambian border before dark because the border is closed at night but we didn't make it so we had to sleep at the border. I decided to sleep on the bus rather than trying to find a hotel, which would probably have been the same quality as the bus. Probably got bitten by 100 mosquitoes, but thankfully no malaria. They told me we'd leave at 9 the next morning. Like an idiot, I believed them. 9am turned into 12pm. 12pm turned into 2pm. 2pm turned into "stop asking". The bus didn't have very many passengers going the rest of the way so the whole next day they were cramming the bus full of goods to take back to DRC. They spent all day doing this. Literally shoving things into any little space they could. By the time they told the passengers to get on board there was no room for our luggage. We had to hold our bags on our laps and there was absolutely no leg room because the bus crew was all spread out in the aisles. Typical African bus filled to the max. So we let off into Zambia at 5pm after spending over 20 hours at the border.

We drove through the night through Zambia and I wasn't able to move a muscle the entire time. Finally we came to the DRC border, which I though would never come. Spent a few hours there because the bus didn't have all it's proper paperwork. Despite being sleep deprived I was in good spirits though because I was able to get food and the end of the trip was in sight. An hour and a half after leaving the border I arrived home in Lubumbashi. 55 hours after leaving Dar Es Salaam. 55 hours on that wonderful bus! Honestly though, I was happy I took the bus as horrible as it was. It is just a great memory and story to tell. It was the adventure I was looking for in my vacation. Great great vacation.