Dark and Darker

Dear Friends and Loved Ones,

For breakfast this morning we had French toast or as the French would say pain perdu. We take reading labels very seriously here because "truth in labeling" isn't quite like in the states. Countries that provided the ingredients for that meal included Morocco (cooking oil), Egypt (strawberry jam-not sure how close it came to a real strawberry), South Africa (honey), DR Congo (bread, yoghurt, and eggs), and Ireland through Switzerland (powdered milk made in Ireland by a Swiss company). We purchased paper towels the first week we were here. They proved to be good in the sense that they didn't disintegrate on contact with anything. Try as we may without checking all the sales slips we cannot remember where we purchased them. As with so many things, here today, gone tomorrow. The stores get shipments from suppliers and they don't know what will be in them so the possibility exists that they may never have that item again.

The same is true for fresh fruits and vegetables. Many stores that cater to the expat crowd have European fruits and vegetables, but the prices are alarming. We wanted to make a dish with lemon juice so we bought a lemon for 90 cents, not bad (gulp). We try to buy locally grown fruits and vegetables because they are cheaper and fresher. We have fresh tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, courgette (a zucchini-like veggie), green peppers, onions and just yesterday fresh locally grown cabbage. For comparison, the South African store, Shoprite, had cabbage imported that cost 6 to 10 dollars for a medium-sized head. The cabbage we purchased yesterday was really fresh and only cost $3 for a medium-size head. The DRC currency is called Francs Congolais so I think sometimes the real cost in dollars is less - $3 for a head of cabbage - outrageous.

We made one of our favorite salads “Niçoise” with fresh green beans, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, boiled potatoes, olives, green onion, red wine vinaigrette and tuna. Fresh tuna, sushi quality, is not available and even it were it may not be safe so we used a can of tuna which is of pretty good quality. When fresh foods are available it is good to take advantage without delay. We also found sweet potatoes here. The sweet potato has quite a history and it is thought that it originated here. The ones we bought were quite gnarly but we had mashed sweet potatoes with our dinner and they were the best, super sweet.

Don't mean to spend so much time talking about food and the method of acquiring it but it does take up a lot of our time.

Janine, my sister-in-law wrote that there was snow on the mountains and cool weather in the valley. I look out the window of our home office (actually a second bedroom) and watch the day turn into night in a matter of minutes, I mean in minutes. The same thing happens every day - 5:20 p.m. Sun goes out of sight and by 5:50 it’s dusk and 6:10 pm it is dark. As Miracle Max said in Princess Bride, "There is a big difference being mostly dead and being all dead." Well here in Kinshasa, Congo, when it is mostly dark it is all dark, no moon nor stars can be seen. It is dark. Light returns about 5:30 AM. Today it was as if a huge forest fire was burning close by so no sun was detected until midday.

Our construction site this week is the huge building across the street from our apartment. Ralph, my brother, could tell us the cost of the two massive cranes on top of this building said to be in "bankruptcy" and no work has occurred during the years that missionaries have been in this building - about six years. One Saturday we saw some men gathered on the ground floor but they are the only humans we have seen. Cement, cinder block and rebar are the major construction materials used here as you can see. Much of the construction sites are on hold. It is said that they build until the money runs out and then they wait until they get more money, sometimes years.

This is what it will look like when (if) finished.