Fourth of July and More

The embassy celebration

We learned on Wednesday that the American ambassador had invited all expats to celebrate the 4th at the ambassador's residence. He isn't into community building and wasn't interested but with some "encouragement" from staff, he relented. They provided some meat for barbecue; not steak-like meat, but good. They had ground meat for hamburgers, a bit coarse - but beef, not a mystery meat. Great pulled pork, tender not soupy or over-cooked, just great. All attendees were invited to bring something as a side dish or dessert. There were some great sides, one was a great potato salad and a tomato and mozzarella cheese. Some of the other missionaries said you dare eat things like that? I did and no problems. One senior sister didn't fare so well but she was the only one I know of who had a problem. There was an apple pie, a pumpkin pie and the best cinnamon rolls I have tasted. Fun late afternoon. By 6:00 pm it was mosquito-bewitching hour so we left.

Elder Smith saw a tall man arrive and he said, "Is that Dikembe Mutombo? Everyone in our group said "Who" or "No way". Mark was determined to "test" the possibility, so he walked over and wagged his index finger and the man burst into a laugh and smile, yes it was Dikembe Mutombo. He was born in Kinshasa out in a village near the airport. He has funded a first-class hospital in that little village and visits often. His wife and two sons were with him and he was asked to make a few remarks.

Dikembe tells Mark he was Defensive Player of the Year in the NBA four times.

Also attending was the wife of Joe Biden who was in Kinshasa to accompany the Ambassador-at-large for Women's and gender Issues around the world. They have "projects" they want to promote - issues such as gender equality and alternate lifestyles.

       

They had an activity for the children. The Marine detachment assigned to the embassy challenged the children to a tug-of-war. The Marines were tough competition but the children prevailed.

We are still "out-of-the-loop" about where the PEF Self Reliance Center office will be. Yesterday the comment made by Frere Didier is that we will stay here in the S&I building. We were looking forward to be within walking distance to Kayser and Nice Cream. To compensate for this, Mark has documented the pastries available at Kayser as a reminder of what could have been.

Mark loved the pastry called "Religieuse" (chubby nun) when he was in Paris as a young man.

The inside is essentially a super-rich truffle fudge. $4 for an outrageous treat for two.

We had a meeting in the Employment Center, now we pray that they don't make us move there. It's a mosquito haven, shabby shabby, and the occupants do not "see" things (like dirt, disorder, and noise) the same way I do.

Traffic has been a little lighter in volume but is unchanged in execution, cars nose to nose, side to side and all honking at someone else but nothing happens. You just wait as the "deck" gets shuffled but as with a deck of cards, the shuffling is not always one card at a time.