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.