Finishing up

I have three more hours till I head to the airport.  Today has been slow and long.  I woke up early to take the luggage to the check in and then I came back to the guest house to chill out.  Said good bye to people..took one last swim...man was that nice.  I think I got all the important stuff either in the luggage or my carry on.  I am leaving most of my stuff here...clothes, personal items, and such.  This way I don't have to truck it back and forth and it leaves room on my next trip to bring needed work items. 

 

I have supper with the people who manage the guest house tonight and then off to the airport.  The airport is an interesting experience as you have to show at least 15 people your passport.  The only ones that really matter are right before you board the airplane.  They are the only ones who actually appear to be from Air France and are really validating your passport.  In addition, you take your stuff through a scanner that doesn't work.  So, right before you board the pilots actually dig through your luggage to make sure you are not bringing anything harmful. 

 

Once you are on the plane, they close the doors with you in the plane and fumigate (sp?) the place.  Lovely huh....

 

I am a late nighter but leaving on a plane at 11 pm is actually pushing it a little for me.  After the day of negotiating the African airline system, I am just exhausted and want to sleep but I have just started another 24 hour day where it is highly unlikely I will actually sleep on the plane. 

 

Ahh...but tomorrow night I get to sleep in air conditioning in my bed.  How lovely is that.

 

My experience has not been as bad as I thought...I found ways to entertain myself and to relax.  I have learned a lot.  But I am ready to be home.

Afrcian Army, technology, and swimming pool

The place that I stay at in Bangui has an Army training compound across the street.  So, every morning I get to hear the African's chanting and marching.  It definitely has a different feel than an American Army march.  It feels much more rythmical.  Something in the voices almost sounds like a song.  It may simply be because I can not understand what they are saying but all the same it is interesting to hear them marching by every morning.

 

Every once in a while it gets very loud over there.  It is slightly nerve wracking as you imagine a heated fight flaring up with men with guns.  It is probably nothing but without the comprehension of what they are saying or even if it is an arguement I am left to my imagination. 

 

I was actually able to get to the highest point in the place I am staying and look into their compound.  I found that they were playing volleyball today.  I really did not expect them to be playing volleyball.

 

I also find that here everyone has cell phones and I have been asked to purchase people MP3 players and bring them back.  It is weird to me that they don't have electricity in their homes but they have mp3 players and cell phones.  Funny how they tend to just skip over the development stages that I thought they would have to go through.

 

Tomorrow I leave for the states.  It is a long day.  I take my luggage to the airport at 7 am and then wait around back at our house until it is time to leave.  The plane leaves at 11 pm.  So, I get to back tonight.  It will be nice to be home but I will miss not having a warm pool to swim in.

 

 

Meditation

Today was fairly uneventful.  I called a friend to wish her happy birthday.  I worked through a number of tasks.  The only thing I actually did with the Africans was to work with the Bangui accountant on reviewing his entries for the salary and then help him work through a daily reconciliation issue.  If I haven’t said it before, the main thing I am trying to accomplish in my visit is to teach the African accountants how to reconcile and to create a consistent way of filing information.  Before my visit, everything was filed so hap hazard like that it was difficult to find or prove things.  Well…honestly, you could find things but it took forever and you weren’t always guaranteed to find it.  I hope this new system actually works.  Only time will tell.

 

Today was actually very cool at a low of about 77 degrees and overcast.  The funny part is that it was very humid and I had a consistent dampness to my skin.  So, if I was outside when a ‘cool’ breeze came through I actually felt rather cold.  I knew in my head there was no way it was actually cold but I felt it.   I wanted to go to the pool but that overcast sky actually brought rain from about 1 to 4:30...the exact time frame for swimming.

 

This evening I had to eat by myself but I forgot to have the guys get me stuff.  I had to ask the Jewells to send a sentinel to get me a loaf of bread (baguette).  Then I couldn’t find the milk powder to cook up my pasta side dish.  So, I just ate peanut butter and bread.  When all else fails, PB and bread always works.  It is sort of odd eating by candlelight all by yourself.  The city normally turns the electricity off each night for about 2 -3 hours.  So, I had a romantic evening with myself.

 

Later I decided to just sit again and try to focus on God…not to ask questions but rather just to be in his presence.  As I closed my eyes, I felt like I was on a merry go round.  My thoughts were flying around and around in my head…slowly spinning to a slower and slower crawl as I tried to just reflect on God.  Never completely stopping.  I tried not to get mad at myself as thoughts about things I needed to get done, people I missed, or the fact that the electricity was now out for almost 5 hours kept coming back to the front of my thoughts.  Yet, I slowly felt that God was just present…even in the midst of my merry go round thoughts.  It isn’t that I necessarily heard him say anything rather it was like peace just slowly inched its way into me. 

Riding African Style

The trip to Bangui started at 6:45 am with the alarm clock going off.  For normal people, this is not unusual.  However, I am not a morning person so this seems like it is an inappropriate time for the eyes to open up.  I crawled out of bed and packed the last few items sitting around and then went to find the truck that was to take me to Bangui.  (In Sango, a truck is called “kutukutu” b/c the first truck that they saw made that sound as it drove by…extremely technical huh).  I found the truck and we loaded my stuff and then we went over to the garage to pick up the remaining people to go to Bangui.  Now, in Africa if you are going somewhere the expats swear that the African’s know it before you do and are asking for a ride.  I had myself, my translator, and my driver so we had two open seats.  Throughout the week Kim Cone (the expat living in Berberati) arranged to have two people fill those empty seats from a local mission group.  As we were loading up, I noticed that a good sized woman was loading all of her stuff and began to get in the back seat.  I was totally surprised and began to ask questions.  Well, it appears that this is the driver’s wife and she must come along too.  I was totally frustrated.  This was not the arrangement and I didn’t want to kick the other two people that Kim told me to bring out.  Since Kim had gone to Douala the day before I couldn’t solicit his help and I didn’t know what the right protocol was given the culture, so I had someone go get Kim’s wife.  In the end, all four of them piled in the back seat.  I know that this is customary for African’s as we drove by many vehicles piled high with people and stuff.  I still felt like a tool b/c I was sitting up front with plenty of space and they were packed in the back.  Yet, I knew that I would not be able to handle being that close to them for that long of a ride. 

 

We drove basically in silence with a conversation brewing every once in a while between the Africans.  We stopped for lunch and I think they all thought I was so weird b/c I would not get out of the car.  I pulled my bread out of the bag and layered on the peanut butter.  I knew the minute I stepped out of the car I would be hit up on every side by people wanting something.  As it was, there was a teenage boy banging on my window asking for food.  I intended to give him some when we were leaving but he was gone when we left.  I didn’t want to give it to him as I sat there because so many people were just watching me and they would instantly want something too.  The staring eyes just seemed overwhelming.  I wanted to observe this world without them gawking at me.  That isn’t really possible in the rural areas of CAR.

 

After lunch we came across this vehicle that had broken an axle.  I actually don’t know what was broken but one wheel was entirely off and it looked like the rod that connected the tires had snapped.  This vehicle had been piled high with people…as usual and some of them were military men.  They flagged us down and since they were military we had to stop.  They asked for a ride (of course my translator didn’t translate this I just gathered it from the conversation).  I had this stinken feeling that we would have to take them and I wanted to say absolutely not but no idea if that was wise.  In the end, the driver told them we didn’t have room.  I could tell they were looking at us like you got to be kidding.  You only have 6 people and there is nothing on your roof.  This would have been a huge liability and caused a lot of problems at control points.  In the end, the guys let us go.  I was so glad. 

 

Throughout the entire trip, they switched back and forth between Sango music and American music as they called it.  I know they were trying to be nice but it was Christian gospel or old time music and honestly I didn’t really like it.  I almost would prefer the Sango.  I tried to tell them just to enjoy their music but they insisted.  It felt very comical.

 

I think the driver must have been flying as it did seem like he was going fast and we made it back 2 hours earlier than when we went to Berberati.  Of course, they only stopped for about 15 minutes for lunch rather than the 45 minute stop on the way to Berberati….but 2 hours earlier is good time. 

 

The entire trip felt surreal and comical.  I have experienced my first trip without another expat with me and with African’s piled in (at least by my definition).  I felt like I was getting tricked into things b/c they kept asking for stuff and I hate to say no but really wanted to.  I had no idea what was going on most of the time…a lost puppy.  I just felt like laughing. 

 

All and all…I made it.  Safe and sound.  My stomach did not loose it.  I wasn’t that tired…a little sore but that will go away. 

 

Rollercoaster Part 2

So, I have wrapped up everything in Berberati. It ended up being fairly successful. At least as far as I can tell. We were able to set up a new way of reconciling items and a new way of filing and tracking items. Hopefully the guys understood what I said and will be able to complete it successfully. We will see.

I thought I would be dreadfully lonely here. About half way through the week here, I had a bit of a session of just feeling tired and lonely. The day off was great for me to just relax and take time to just sit in the presense of God...a meditation of sorts. I don't always understand it but a certain level of peace and patience has surrounded me. I think I will take the rest of my time in CAR and be sure to have moments to just sit. I learn alot about myself in the moments of stillness. I feel like I am able to release things. Of course, I know there is a long way to go but when I am able to be still I feel more balanced...like I am operating in God's hand. I recognize that God doesn't fight for our attention. He just sits there and waits it is quite beautiful. I hope to be able to full grasp how God views me. I think part of my struggles with loneliness is because I struggle to truly love myself and I think that part of that is because I don't see or believe the depth of God's love. Yet, I do...all in the same moment. I want to truly operate from that place of love. I feel like I am making absolutely no sense whatsoever. Oh, well...this is my blog and my place to ramble.

Tomorrow morning I wake up at 7 and get another 10 hour crazy rollercoaster ride on the roads to Bangui. Than 4 more days and a flight home. I hope that my stomach remains firm and strong. In October when I first came to Africa, it was actually the trip back that was the worst...that was when my stomach just lost it. I think it was because I started on the rollercoaster ride whereas when you come from Bangui to Berberati you start with paved roads and then transition to the rollercoaster. I have pills so...let us pray these natural and unnatural (I have both) pills work wonders. I am also driving with 4 Africans...little side note on Africans...they don't always smell the best. So, I hope the confined space isn't too overwhelming stench. Always an adventure when traveling in a 3rd World Country....I think God must be laughing.

African Labor Day

I woke up this morning at 9 am. Oh the sweet bed. I loved it. Of course, I felt sticky as it was a humid night. Allthough I had taken a shower the night before I refused to be sticky the entire day that I intended to get so refreshment. So, I started the day with a nice shower.

Since the guys were not working, the generator had not been turned on yet. So, I packed up my bags and walked over to the Murtoff's house. They have a nice large porch where I was able to sit in fairly comfortable chairs and read a book. It was very relaxing but the humidity of the day was definitely present. The guys had gone hunting so it was just myself, Marty Murtoff, and Jan Cone. We had this great lunch. Than I went back to the front porch to work on a few things. Of course, my computer only has so much battery so I had to go over to the garage and ask the guy to turn on the generator. That was interesting as he did not understand my very broken and horrible sango and I didn't understand his perfect sango. We worked it out and I went back to the sticky porch. I worked for a few more hours and then I began to read some more.

Around 4 this beautiful rain came to break the humidity and it miraculously cooled down. The sunset was fantastic. The colors of the sunset right after a rain are amazing. I wish I could have taken a picture but my camera never does the sunsets here justice.

At the end of the day, I do find myself slightly refreshed but I feel like I need another day. I did realize that I have been very frustrated lately b/c I want the guys to understand this stuff without much instruction on my part so that is not as necessary for me to come back. Yet, they don't get it that fast. I need to be more patient. I need to release my control freakish grip. They will learn it but I must be patient and consistant. Let's see how tomorrow goes when I am once again stuck in a small office (that smells) and the communication stinks.