Playgroups & PlayMoms!

Now don't get me wrong I love to play, and so does 3 year old Torden. But how far does one go to find an activities in an African Third World Capital City?
Last Friday, someone's Mommy, arranged that we meet at the local Supermarket as they have an indoor play area, and serve take-away City Market Chicken (CFC), just like a Mackie Dee meal. The Surpise Meal aka Happy Meal, has the most delicous crumbed chicken strips, but much to the children's disapointment has no "suprise" inside. Now how do you explain to 6 x 3/4 year old boys that they forgot to put one in. Or did they? Well in this place, nothing surprises me. It' s run by Lebanese, not that I have anything against them, they just don't have a good reputation in Kinshasa. On saying that, I do have a Lebanese friend, who is delightful, and whom I get on very well with.
This Friday, I arranged that all the kids and Mommies come to our house for a swim. We will probably end up having popcorn, as crisps are just too darn expensive, even on an expat salary. Some Mom will end up bringing along some Fizzers she managed to stuff into her suitcase on her last trip to SA. The kids will end up drinking Fanta in glass bottles, as buying cans and 2L plastic bottles are unheard of.

This way, the children get to have fun, we get to see each other regularly and everyone goes home exhausted after another Play Date!

Me and my hobby!

I developed a love for photo's and keepsakes since I can remember. I also loved having my photo taken as a little girl, and always posed when I saw a camera. This obviously led to my desire to have them printed and see the outcome. Today with digital printing, there is no need to wait. The only problem is you have a "gizzilion" pictures on your PC memory. I have a Memory Vault, and store them in a file them for printing. This makes it easier to search for them when required. I downloaded a digital Storybook last night online, and stayed up till way past midnight attaching photo's and music. It was wonderful getting so involved in something that is enjoyable, and with Paul in Matadi for the week, it never made me feel so guilty to spend so much time on it.

Today I followed on with my hobby of Scrapbooking. I had 4 South African ladies over this morning; 3 Scrappers and an Au Pair. This made for an enjoyable chattering amongst us, this made me feel instantly at home. And it was nice for a change to feel this way. I am starting to realise that the lifestyle is great for pursuing hobbies or whatever takes up too much time in a "real world". Not that this life is not real, there is so much time, probably what it was like in the old days, when there was no television, no shopping and no crime. Which reminds me that our house in Cape Town was burgaled yesterday. I do hope our tenants stay on.

Parle vouz French?

Although a lot of people I know want to learn French, I have never been that interested. I do enjoy languages, and speak only English and Afrikaans. (can understand Dutch, and Flemish) I now have realised that I have this need to speak French, it sounds like a beautiful language and if you listen close enough, you will find many of the words look similar to English, but are pronounced entirely different. My only tutor at the moment is our driver, who also has this need to speak English, so we converse every morning with a greeting of Bonjour, cava? Cava bien. And that's about it, the odd words do come in handy, like the names of food products at the supermarket. There is a French/English dictionary in the car, and a language CD, but it doesn't help when you have to converse on a daily basis with Congolese French speaking people. So I have now found out about a French school, and will do my utmost to hold a conversation in French once I leave this place. That will be one of my consolations for living here!!

Sulky Sunday

Not that any other Sunday would be different here in Kinshasa. It's just that today, the weather is gloomy, not cold at all, it's humid and warm, the sky is dull and grey which makes you feel like spending the day indoors.

Yesterday we had two couples for a South African barbaque ( braai). We met up at the walk on the river last week with our dog. It was great to meet up with fellow South Africans and have a general comparison to home, besides it's a way of socialising here as entertainment is somewhat lacking. It also makes you realise that some fellow compatriots have not actually left SA.
We had the view that we have come to experience life for what it is in the DRC. Take for example shopping, we buy our all our fresh produce including meat here. Some S.Africans are buying their meat in SA on their trips back home every 3 months, freezing it overnight, then storing it in cooler boxes and then wrapping it at the airport. Yet these people still eat out at restaurants in Kinshasa, where the same meat is purchased. It doesn't make sense at all.
I really appreciate the availability of food and the choice we have when we go back home, but it also makes your shopping experience very interesting, as well as the fact that all the goods in the shop are labeled with a code from A1-200 or B1-300, and then there is a list which you have to evidently search for to see the price in Congolese Francs. Once all your goods are tallied up at the till point, your cashier tells you in French what the amount in Francs is. You then have to scramble out all these tattered, dirty notes, which you never have enough of to make the total. You then end up paying in US dollars for the bill, and receive another wad of tatty notes in Congolese Francs. This makes your shopping experience quite an affair!

Today I am going to remain indoors and read, skype my folks and will eventually end up watching DSTV that is if the connection is not spoilt by the bad weather.

In the beginning!

For those of you that have not read any of my group emails, this is just a recap! I decided to become a real blogger, at my husband's suggestion, as he quoted "You are already a blogger!" Blogger sounds like a swear word gone wrong ..... so I never thought that this is what it is, writing my thoughts and news on a website for all the world to see. A bit scary at first, what person would read this, surely only my friends and family. What if someone gets hooked on my site, and starts to pry in my personal life. Well they can't, I live in the middle of the jungle, in the middle of Africa. I have now been an expat since September 2007, as my husband is on contract for 2 years in this Le Paradis! Paul ( my husband), Torden ( my 3 year old son) and I now live in Kinshasa the capital city of Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly the Belgian Congo.

We hail from the beautiful city of Cape Town, South Africa.