Odds and Ends of my thoughts from the first two weeks

I’m really looking forward to this weekend, and not just because it’s our 6^th wedding anniversary! I’ve been wanting so badly to have some time to settle in – to take down decorative axes, bow & arrow, etc. J Last weekend we were on our retreat, so Saturday will be my first day to myself.

Tuesday, I came home a little bit early to do some chores, and I was really So happy for mysterious househelp (a friend of our landlord’s who wants to clean for us) who washed my unmentionables! I wasn’t expecting it and it was such a blessing because that was one of the main things I needed to do.

Dogs – Zambia is where I learned to not like dogs anymore because there are too many, they are skinny and have too many babies, plus they’re not actually good security. There are three dogs on our compound and one just gave birth to her second litter in a year.

Security in the city is much more comfortable than I expected as neither of our colleagues have experienced any theft, not even petty pick-pocketing, and they aren’t aware of any attempted break-ins in our area since they’re been here!

Transactions are so confusing because there are Congolese francs (though I’ve only seen 100, 200, 500, and 1000) but there are also USD, so many transactions involve both. It feels like everything is 500 Congolese Francs, from a motorcycle taxi ride to a stack of tomatoes to an ice cream cone.

Yesterday, I met the sister of an EMU classmate who is from Bukavu! We sat and chatted over a soda (Fanta citron) for an hour or so, and I was so happy to feel like I had found a friend. Thank you, Jacques! She was so kind and willing to help and genuinely interested in our lives here.