1. Grocery shopping is an interesting experience. My social sponsor, Jason, took me to the grocery and I can see why it is a training required outing. At our first store, 6 cars were trying to park and leave all at the same time in a parking lot no bigger than 10 x 10 it seems. Groceries are EXPENSIVE! You can find some things that are reasonable like bread which is about 1600 Congolese Francs or just under $2.00. If you want Frosted Flakes - now that is a different story - thy approximately $18.00. Nothing in the stores have a price, instead you look at a number sticker or label and then have to find where in the aisle they have posted a paper with a listing of all the prices by number. It is annoying when you are trying to price shop.
2. Coke zero is everywhere! Yes, much as I thought I would break my soda drinking habit - it just ain't gonna happen! For the price of the 20oz bottle in the States, I can have 1 can of Coke Zero.
3. I attended a welcome party on the 22nd at which I wore a dress. I was eaten alive by mosquitoes. I will never forget to Off myself again and I am glad I am taking my malaria medication.
4. Traffic is a treat. Today for example the police decided to "assist traffic" during rush hour near a construction zone on the may boulevard. The main road goes to a one way in the evening so sure why not drive into oncoming traffic to get to the turn off for my compound. Two drivers have done this recently while taking me home. But today was even better. The normally two lane road with one lane for each direction became a 4 lane road. We ended up drivings on the side of the road next to the trees. It is sporadic and interesting and will be a great experience to start driving. My colleague Monica and I have signed up to get an embassy car to drive ourselves around. We are looking forward to the freedom and have already agreed that we will go to the annex Embassy compound to workout after work so we don't have to deal with the construction traffic issues.
5. Everyone has been very kind and hospitable. Everyone seems to offer to help me with something. I am getting into a routine, will be more stable once we have a self-drive vehicle, and Monica, another colleague Austin, and I are interviewing domestic helpers this weekend that we are going to share. I already flooded the parking lot when I tried to do 1 load of laundry because the hose was not properly pointing into a sink on my back porch.
6. My apartment is comfortable and spacious. My bedroom is as big as my apartment in DC so you can imagine how happy I am to have more than one room, a couch, etc. I live in one of several housing compounds of the Embassy. There are approximately 12 housing units in my compound. There are two houses and two apartment buildings. 1 building has 3 stories with 6 units. I am in the other one that is 2 stories and only 4 units. We are completely walled and barbed wired in and have 24/7 security. There are security guards in the back of my apartment regularly as they have a small office/rest space there. I walked to Monica's building the other night and while he did not walk me there, I could hear him trailing behind me to ensure I was ok.
7. I had my first lizard/gecco thing in the house yesterday. It was just a baby so I had to get him to run down the curtains. Samuel was less than happy to see him go.
8. The weather is decent right now, 80s ish, some humidity, sun rises and set at 6 and 6 everyday. This is still the dry season so we are starting to feel the temperatures rise as we inch closer to the rainy season.
Those are my main first impressions. I cannot really take photos. There are certain places I cannot take pictures in order to preserve our security, and other places I cannot take pictures because it is against Congolese law, and yet other customs where the people think you are stealing their soles by taking photos. So, until I know the lay of the land better I am just going to keep my camera in the safe!
What an exciting time!
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