Kinshasa First Impressions

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo became my new home on July 30th after long flights from Washington D.C. to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Kinshasa. I finally arrived at the bright yellow airport with a mix of feelings/wonders. Am I really back on the continent that I so sadly had to leave a few years ago? How will the new teachers be? What will the campus be like? Will the city be safe?

I am now almost a week in and I must say that this was an excellent choice. The people at TASOK are awesome. My administrators have made the transition so easy, and life here is good. I feel a lot more comfortable in this city than I did in Guate. I have been really busy lately, so I haven't been able to be quite specific; however, here are some of the highlights of the welcome week in no particular order:

1. Losing a bag at the airport then finding it shortly after (anxiety)
2. Mama Colonel's Chicken (a treat for new teachers)
3. The visit to the bonobo sanctuary (human being's closest relatives)
4. Meeting all the new teachers and learning about my new home of TASOK and Kinshasa.
5. Session 1 on the Tembo and a late night with Channing, Matt, Marc, and Erin.
6. Seeing Kinshasa at night in all of its darkness and crowdedness.
7. A Congolese dinner at Steve's house composed of goat meat, chicken, rice, beans, greens, termites, and tree worms and yes I tried all of the above.
8. Endless shopping for household goods, groceries, and liquor bottles
9. Seeing my very large classroom.
10. Irene already having to get rid of my maid.
11. Buying patio furniture at the local furniture place
12. Desperately needing to study French based on all my interactions with locals
13. Moving into my house
14. M and Ms on sale for $14.60
15. Discovering a store for cheap meats

I am looking forward to my years in Kinshasa, and I will have much more to write. The restaurants are plenty (Lebanese, Chinese, Pizza, Korean wooo hooo, and much more), some of the grocery items are very expensive but some are not, so you have to know where to go and what to buy. Overall, most of the stuff is cheaper than what it is in South Korea!

I just wanted to keep everyone posted on my life thus far. Until next time!

Great start!

So, my classroom is about 90 percent ready, I went through all of the new program orientations, and I believe I'm ready to go for the new school year at Maya. What a great school with amazing, kind, and positive people. I like being in a school where positivity permeates throughout the halls. It's a feel good situation. Anyway, tomorrow is our welcome back party at our director's house. Apparently about 60 people are signed up to go.

I survived orientation, love the academic program, and am ready for my 10 students. yep I said it 10!!!! Russia, Argentina, Korea (of course), Guatemala, Mexico, the US, and England are where my students are from. I'm really excited!

Take it easy, I'm going to relax until tomorrow. I have to go to the bank tomorrow, do laundry, and just get ready...by the way I got a 100 percent on my final grad school capstone! Life is good!!!

A day of adventure

I checked out of the hotel today at 10 am and was picked up by Jennifer to go to my new house. We arrived and I unloaded my bags and immediately went up the road to school to get my Isuzu Trooper. I was finally going to drive in Guatemala. Of course, I forgot that it had a car alarm, so I set it off like 5 times throughout the day, but I'm learning. I had an orange crispy bowl at Applebee's and then went to Hiper Paiz (Guatemalan Walmart). I bought tons of household items for the kitchen/house. I then unloaded them and went back in for round 2 of food shopping. I bought tons of stuff, so I was happy with my purchases.

I finally moved in and unloaded everything included my clothes, etc. I put up my paintings and my rugs and other Mayan goods from Antigua, and fixed myself dinner. I'm home at last and enjoying my couch!

Orientation is in the morning! Gotta go to bed!

My living room:

Antigua, Sweet Antigua

The trip to Antigua began on Friday at 645 a.m. They picked us up at the Santander Plaza Hotel and we loaded up and went...All of the new teachers for my school. I was very excited to begin the journey. I had heard so much about Antigua and read about it, but I never got to see it with my own eyes. A colonial city right in Guatemala...wow. We arrived at Villa Colonial, and this is the view that I saw as part of my hotel. I was taking the picture from the end where my room was at. I was amazed at the architecture, the colors, the flowers, the plants, and the view through the city. We traveled down cobblestone roads. We arrived at the center of town and waited for our tour by Elizabeth Bell to begin. We were bombarded with lovely Mayan women trying to sell us their goods. I met Ruth as she told me "Dustin, you have money, help me with your money, you take my picture, but you no good man cause you no give money...Business is business..I no lie." I didn't want to buy anything right at the beginning as I was sure that they would try to charge a higher price because I was a "tourist." Sure enough, I was right.

Here Chris, Lauri, and I enjoyed the sites and just loved interacting with the locals. This picture isn't Ruth, but just a picture of some of the people. We began our tour with all of our teachers and others...Shannon, Dexter, Chris, Lauri, Zoe (sp?), David, the kids, my new director and his wife, and a few others. We went through cathedrals, government buildings, saw volcanoes in distance, and learned about jade, Guatemalan government, schools, housing, industry, etc. It was an extremely interesting tour of which I got so many amazing pictures. Here are a few of my favorites:

We had lunch and returned back to the hotel for rest then a meeting about the do's and don'ts in Guatemala. After that we left for dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Frida's...Wow! The food was amazing and the margaritas were even better. I returned back to my room to relax and get ready for an early morning shopping extravaganza.

On Saturday, we all woke up and hit the markets of Antigua. I found myself bargaining for Mayan blankets, rugs, paintings, and other stuff along with my boss and his wife. It was fun and I came out with some really cool stuff. In a future blog I will show it all as I am going to put it in my house.

We returned to Guate City after an amazing Guatemalan lunch which consisted of cheese fondue and I ordered a dish known as Sabun iq which combined pork, beef, and chicken in a tomato sauce. I was also a fan of the miniature tamales known as tomalitos.

I'm back in the hotel in Guate City and ready to move into my house in the morning. I'm going to get a 9:30 am start. I'll post more when I have more to say. I will never forget the ride home where one of my coworkers, who is from England, first grade sons said "You speak English so well, aren't you from Mexico." hahahah Oh Kids!

Take it easy.

Dustin

Down the Carretera a El Salvador

Driving down the Carretera a El Salvador back to my hotel. This is what I get to see everyday on the way to and from school. I will take a picture of the volcanoes in the distance soon when it is clear enough to see them. What a beautiful place Guatemala is! I went to school again and am slowly preparing my classroom. Tomorrow I sign my house lease wooo hooo.. Off to bed early I'm tired.

Classroom Prep, Enchiladas, and Tecate

Here is a look at the street to my hotel at night. It was raining, as it usually does in Guatemala during the months of June, July, August, and September, but the rain brought a very peaceful feeling to me.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon preparing my classroom, moving furniture, hearing more about the curriculum, etc. I am going back today after a trip to the Guatemalan version of "Wal-mart. I am going to buy some stuff for my house which I'm getting excited about. I move next Monday. Last night was cool. I found myself eating enchiladas and nachos with guacamole and enjoying some beers (Tecate). I sat and spoke to another guy in Spanish for about 5 hours. I am really pumped that Spanish is coming back to me. I am hoping that I continue to get better with practice.

Well it's off to the store I go...Hasta luego!!!

Guatemala City, Night One, Day One

I finally arrived in Guatemala City at approximately 9 pm on Sunday night. I had plane problems in Indianapolis and had to switch numerous times causing me to miss my Houston to Guate City flight and reschedule it. This gave me a layover o about 7 and a half hours. Regardless, I arrived at night and was taken by Jennifer, my school's business manager to the hotel, Santander Plaza. Hotel is nice and the people are so friendly. I received a welcome basket of goodies and a cell phone and was ready for bed. Tomorrow I would be able to go to my school and house.

I woke up and was picked up by Jennifer at noon to get a quick driving tour of the city. I was impressed by the cleanliness. I have been in the more affluent areas. Jennifer came with another new teacher, Chris who I have been chatting with for awhile now about school and Guatemala. She is very nice as well. We went to our school up the Carretera to El Salvador, 12.5 kilometers. Along the way I got to see the amazing view, but it was rainy so it was kind of hard (my school is about 1500 meters I think about the city itself. Anyway, along the road surprisingly was many American chain food restaurants and stores. I plan on going shopping for house stuff later this week and will be hitting up numerous places.

We got to school and I met a lot of the administrators and took a tour. An amazing campus with very friendly people. My classroom is nice too. I started my car and am thinking that I will be taking it away from the school later this week when I get a better understanding of where I'm at.

I was then taken to my house which I absolutely love. I will be posting more pics of it once I move in from the hotel. Until then, I'll keep you in suspense...a very quiet residential neighborhood. I'm going to get along great with it :) Here is a photo:










As for now I'm chillin in the hotel room after a late lunch of none other than TACO BELL! We were in a hurry so we went to it as it is close to my school.
I also am very happy to have had about a 20 minute conversation in Spanish with one of the drivers (Manor, I think I don't know how to spell his name). He told me that I will be speaking more very soon. I can already feel like a lot of it is coming back from university and high school days...HOW EXCITING!

I am thinking of relaxing a bit before having dinner in Zone 10.

I'll keep you posted. I think this has been a very wise move for me. Everything so far just feels right!!

Until next time,

Dustin