From the balcony

We are spending a lot of time out there! 

It's lovely.. and look who came to visit. 

I think these are the ones with the beautiful, six-note songs that

help me get out of the bed in the morning and know it's going to be a good day!

Thanksgiving

Diana invited us to Thanksgiving dinner, and it was lovely! 

She and Dad were in the same class when they joined USAID,

so we have know each other a long time

(thankfully, I don't think she remembers me too well as a teenager!). 

 I made my apple pie :)  I also made pumpkin soufflé, but my eggs whites flopped..

thankfully, Diana's chef Christian, saved me.

Diana and our friend Alastair, who brought Scottish champagne cocktails. 

What a way to start the evening!

Shrimp

I finally met Jonathan the fish purveyor. 

He supplies to restaurants but will also deliver to your house. 

We haven't had shrimp in three months! 

These guys, fished from the ocean across the river, have arms.

Looooooooooong arms.

Public service

Traffic police.  This truck has been broken down in the middle of a huge intersection

since we got here.  Take a look at the bald tires too.

Invited to a wedding!

I have a sister here, her name is Zhoe!  She invited us to her brother's wedding. 

Very cool, and very fancy!

 

It was at the fanciest hotel, and it was beautiful. 

The only glitch was that we arrived on time: 8pm.  Everyone else arrived.. at 10:30pm. 

And, dinner was served at 11:30pm.  The kids were about done by then.. starving and grouchy.

But, they rallied. Next time, we will know how to do it right!!

Caterpillars - yum?

 

We went to a fancy restaurant with a chef that specializes in locally-sourced foods. 
Here is my pumpkin soup. 
Garnish? Caterpillars. 
Some people got grasshoppers.

 

 

Wanna buy some?

how is work going, you ask?

pencil in eye.. it was a long meeting

FOMO=fear of missing out (what I could be doing in my kitchen)

big sigh

Oktoberfest

 

Truth be told, beer and pig are not my favorite things. 

They are Zeric's though, and so we joined a bunch of friends to eat and drink and dance. 

It wasn't so different from the ones in Jakarta.. except that I didn't have my batik dirndl. 

There were a bunch of people with dirndl--

and better yet--leiderhausen with African fabric. 

Something to aspire to!!

Military invasion

Not the kind you were thinking! 

One of the things in our air freight was Eben's soldiers..

the ones that he got because he loved Amira's so much. 

There have been hours of fun since they arrived, and many formations.

 

Seven eggs a day

Benedict has chickens in Columbia Heights,

so we decided that we could get some in Kin. 

We have our own compound, and our neighbors have them.

So we went ahead with coop construction thanks to

John the carpenter (and the wood from our consumable shipment crates).

It turned out well!

 

ramp to the egg-laying place

 

chicken butt

 

pretty girls! there are eight of them.

 

from the inside

 

Happy girls lay eggs!  It took a few weeks to get comfy, but they are laying seven a day.

Yum!  And, we have something to do with all of our kitchen scraps too.

 

Happy kids get fresh eggs for breakfast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Silliness

Owen after his bath

Fun things at the Holiday bazaar

 

Blu's down dog

Livin' a dream

We took some time on Veteran's day to explore Kin a little.. we went to the Grand Marche, which is one of the biggest open-air markets in Africa.  It was amazing. There was everything.. pots and pans and veggies and clothes and shoes, stationery, and a whole sewing/crafts section with HUGE buttons (we are going back, as Jaffa NEEDS some).   Really, you could find just about anything you could imagine.  Like Target (I said). "Clean up on aisle 11... and 5, 17, 8, 2, and 4." (Zeric said).  Okay, there were bits that were yucky.. but I really did want the kids to see it, and smell it.  We'll be going back!

 

On the way out, we saw this good lookin' guy. 

His shirt made me laugh, as he sat in the back of a beat up car..

I love Africa.

We've got readers!

Where do I find my kids after they tell me how bored they are??

 

READING :)

Boy Scouts go camping

Though there were a few girls and moms that came along,

Jaffa and I had a girl weekend at home while the boys roughed it at Bombo Lumene. 

By all accounts, it was green and fun and fabulous! 

The highlights included: 

marshmallows over the campfire (Eben brought his special telescoping roasting stick that he got in Idaho), sleeping in the tent, flashlights, and hiking.

 

Sammy and Eben





We girls are going to ask the boys to take us.. soon!

Matzoh (and the history of Jews in Congo)

So, there were some Jews that came to Congo about a century ago..

(the following thanks to Wikipedia)

The territory which is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo was first annexed and colonised by Europeans after 1885 within what was then the Congo Free State. By 1908, the Free State had itself been annexed by Belgium, becoming the Belgian Congo.

The first Jews in the Congo were Eastern European immigrants from Romania and Poland. Within the next few years, more Jewish immigrants arrived from South Africa. In 1911, Sephardi Jews came from the Island of Rhodes in what is now Greece (then part of the Ottoman Empire). The same year a Jewish community center was established named the Communauté du Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi. A synagogue was built in Élisabethville (now Lubumbashi) in 1930. Due to an economic crisis during the 1930s, most of the Eastern European Jews left the Congo. However, after the crisis had passed more Jews immigrated from Eastern Europe and were joined by Southern European Jews.

 

Prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 the Congo was home to numerous Zionist organizations, led by the Association Sioniste du Congo Belge. After the independence of Congo from Belgium in 1960 the majority of Congolese Jews left the country, with most of them settling in Israel or South Africa. At the time of independence, Congo was home to 2,500 Jewish people. 50% of the Jewish population lived in Élisabethville, while 70 Jewish families lived in Congo's capital Léopoldville (now Kinshasa). Jewish children at the time were taught classes in Hebrew and Judaism in public schools.

 

In 2013, the Jewish population was around 320 and was settled mostly in Lubumbashi. Most are Sephardi and speak Ladino, a Spanish-Jewish language. There is a synagogue in Lubumbashi that is served by a rabbi. There is also small Jewish community living in Kinshasa that is known as the Congregation Israélite.

 

And so, while the synagogue is too conservative for us, one of our favorite stores is Hasson et Freres.. and not only for their matzoh section!

 

 (note: CHOCOLATE matzoh too!)

 

the Prime Minister's garden

We live next to the Prime Minister's office. 

He has a garden, a garden so beautiful that there are streams of wedding couples

that come on the weekends to take photos here. 

Blu's not allowed, but we can go hang out there (when we're not on our balcony). 

Best to go late afternoon when it's cooler.

 

Patrice Lumumba

 

and he says..

"We're going to show the world what the black man can do

when he is free to work and we will make Congo the radiance of all of Africa."

(ahem.. let's get on that, yeah?)

 

See in the background the busts of all of Congo's leaders..
starting with the white dudes.

the dudes I need in my house

In case you were wondering, Congo is Africa.  Really Africa.

  We are just starting to learn about the art here. 

These are protection statues.  I need one.  Maybe I'll get one for my birthday.

Doin' Halloween

Okay, so it wasn't chilly and it wasn't dark but--

thanks to creative Americans--

we did Halloween anyway, as

Maleficent and one of Captain America's Winter soldiers.

 

First, we did a trunk-or-treat where the kids got dressed up

 and the parents decorated their cards and the kids went

and got their candy in the Embassy parking lot. 

Some of us were dubious.. but it all worked out and

I think we got 20+ pounds of candy. 

That's what Halloween is all about, right??

Eben and his best bud Joshua

Maleficent getting some goodies from the Ambassador

scary girls!

 

Eben, Joshua and Caleb and Gideon (Joshua's brother) enjoying their stash

After this, the Marines hosted crafts and cookie decorating

and about an hour of community Halloween fun.  It was nice,

and nice to start feeling a part of the community..

we did miss flashlight tag and hosting a party, but we'll get

all that down next year when our stuff is here.