Today I....

Today I am happy...

because I started my day with my most successful Lesson Francaise to date, I have been at it for 2 months now, and have yet to construct a French sentence until now.

C'est bon! Hats off to Monsier Jean-Pierre, our tutor, whose patience and persistance is paying off.

Today I am at peace...

with the universe and what is unfolding for me. I started my first meditation at home with 2 interested parties, there will be more next week, as the interest spreads.

My subject chosen revolved around the following poem. It is unknown who wrote it.

DESIDERATA

Go placidly amid the noise and haste.

And remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others,even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may becomevain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesserpersons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;

it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs;for the world is full of trickery.

But let not this blind you to what virtue there is;many persons strive for high ideals and everywherelife is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.Neither be cynical about love;

for on the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass,

Take kindly to counsel of the years, gracefully surrenderingthe things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune,

But do not distress yourself with imaginings, many fears areborn of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees or stars;

you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe isunfolding as it should.

Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be,

And whatever your labours and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life,

keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams.

It is still a beautiful world.Be cheerful, strive to be happy.

Today I ate...

bran muffins for breakfast. This is the last of my ready-mix Snowflake mixture that I bought on my previous shopping trip in South Africa.

Today I drank...

Lipton's Lemon Ice Tea. I found it on special, would usually pay around double that. ( $4) The fact is even if tried, I would not be able to find it again in the shop. Will have to make my own.

Today I played...

card games with my son. We had fun while I massaged him with almond oil, after his afternoon swim. He hasn't allowed me to massage him since he was about 2 years old. I am hoping it will help with the scars from his chicken-pox.

Today I wish..

that all the little lonely children of the world receive a distant hug. x

May you all have a blessed week ahead!

Mort

Most of you can make out what the French word " Mort" means. Derived from mortuary, hence the word in English "Death". I had to actually look the word up this morning in my French/English Dictionary. Our driver has been off work for 2 days, we had a replacement driver, so everything appeared to be normal around here. Although, we really don't like the change, the reason being, Lepauld, our chaffeur ( as he likes to be called), is the best out of all the Maersk drivers, and there are about 10 of them. We were first to be assigned to him ( not vice versa), as we are the priveleged folk. I can't explain, but we clicked, not right away, but gradually. The first day, Paul, said he needed a new driver as he doesn't like the fact that he can't speak a word of English. Only to discover, most of them, can't speak English. Lepauld just has fewer English words in his vocabulary. This has actually become an advantage, as I practise my French with him, and he corrects me most of the time.
Lepauld manages to get out of any traffic situation, using back roads, side roads and using the Prado to the limit. He was also an ex military driver, and has retired thereof. At age 50, he is rather fit, and extremely cautious, acts like our bodyguard! He is almost part of the family, and as a driver, gets to know quite a lot about us, as he spends most of his time with us in the car, doing our day to day things.
I was very sad to hear that his little 3 year old daughter had passed away on Tuesday, and only heard about it this morning upon his return to work. She was in hospital with an illness that we are yet to find out about. This is not an abnormal situation for parents of children under 5 years of age to be in. I just can't understand, and probably never will, how little children just slip away in a poverty stricken country, where basic medical care is not a human right! And boy, it should be!

International Women's Club

Yesterday was my first meeting of the International Women's club. As these associations operate all over the world, I felt in sync with other women that are in the same situation, as well as with women across the world that are visitors in the country in which they currently preside. I am a foreigner, and it feels strange, as it should. I know that there are many foreigners living in Kinshasa, but it still feels as though you are the small percentage that are fortunate enough to drive in a chaffeur driven car, as though you have loads of money! When your car drives slow enough for little children, and other passengers to peer at you through you car window. When these little boys, ( no girls),ask for money, you often hand over some "flip-flops" ( what we call the local Congo francs)

Back to the Women's Club. We pay a fee to join the club, and have events througout the year to raise money for charity. Next week, the club, is handing over benches, that was made through the money that was raised last year, to an Art School for children. So a good cause and very necessary for a country that has little or no support from the government. There are also social gatherings, French reading classes and outings throughout each month. I found it most interesting to meet up with people, like the Japanese Ambassador's wife, a lecturer in English from Massachusets, a Dutch expat, a Peruvian expat, an old Belgian women looking for a Bridge partner etc. We had an exhibition of tie-dye products from a local women, coffee and croissants at the Memling Hotel. One thing that surprised me, is that the Chairwoman, expected us to dig into our pockets that she thought was very deep filled with lots of dollars several times, like pay S20 for shop bought necklaces that was made in China for charity, $10 or more for the charity box, $100 per person tickets to a dance to support a school, buying the tie-dye products on sale( yes very nice products), but it could end up being a very expensive morning. Sorry, I would love to support everyone, but have to still feed my family in this very expensive city!

Normality!

Back to normal as most folks would say. What is it actually? Routines, schedule, getting on with your life. After Kim's departure, and being out of routine, I am going to be doing a few new things, one of them is, reading or studying a new book that is on Oprah's book club, A New Earth - by Eckhart Tolle. His previous book, The Power of Now, was excellent, so looking forward to this one. My new motto in life, is not going to be looking into the future, or dabbling on about my past(a few fond memories are nice to keep). I will try, and I know it's going to be difficult, to live in the present moment. So I have set aside a newish schedule, typed up a list of things that I will doing with my free time. Yes I do have lots of time, but still don't get all the things I always plan to do, done in a week.

A few words about my past 2 weeks. Kim, I loved having you here, discovering all the new places we found in Kinshasa, and just enjoying the time with you. Our time together, and especially time spent with Torden, was more valued. It just shows, that being in a different place, at a different time, seems to being out more special moments. May you return to us anytime, wherever we may be....

This afternoon, we are going to another birthday party for a little 2 year old boy from South Africa. He has already had cerebral malaria, was also evacuated to SA in February, but is doing well.
I'm off to collect Torden from school and en route can't wait to listen to my ipod with new downloaded music.

Some pics from Kim's itinerary!