Pictures are from the excursion that I went on this Saturday with the choir—I finally went to one of their official practices—they sing sooooo well, but I’m working on improving my voice.J
The girl in the picture is Joëlle, she is my closest Congolese friend here. She is the one that invited me to come to the choir and who works with me. I don’t know what I would have done without her!
So…I’m officially way past half way through my experience here…and I already know that I will truly miss this city. The last few weeks have been wonderful; I’ve been making a lot of new friends and truly getting to know this city and its people. Yes, there have been some rough points—the consistency of my students is waning and
I’m getting used to the chaos and taking the transport on my own—it’s almost normal. People in the neighborhood know my name—I’ve made a bit of a life here. J I have less than 2 months left and I know that they will go by too quickly. It’s crazy how the human person can adapt itself to new surroundings. I had such a limited knowledge of what this place would be like and know…I’m getting to know a lot.
One of the most exciting things that I’ve been able to do so far is visit the University of Kinshasa. I was able to go to a conference they held with the ex-Russian ambassador who is now the head of the Center for Russo-African Relations. Quite interesting to see a communists perspective on Africa and its development (he openly said he was communist J). I’ve also become acquainted with the president (rector) of the university—he’s this big African man who speaks fluent Spanish—he got his masters in Spain--the world is a very small place.
