Congo: Day 4

*Warning! Long post! For some reason I felt the need to share minor details from this day and I don't have the energy to shorten it*

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Did i mentioned how expensive it is here? Everything from souvenirs to the hotels to the food! We had done some souvenir shopping the day before and it was just shocking! I love buying little things from other countries but I quickly found out that I did not bring enough money for everything that I wanted to get. Bracelets and earrings that would have cost 1-2$ in other countries were about 5$ here.

Shopping was not easy and there were 2 things that I wish I understood before we went.

1) I wish I knew how to convert Congolese Franc (CDF) to US Dollars

aaand...

2) that it doesn't really even matter if you can convert Franc to Dollars because if you don't speak FRENCH you won't be able to buy anything anyway!!

But, of course, if I had actually understood that my day would have been far less exciting. We had stopped at a tourist area that had lots of little stands with vendors selling all different things. Our group had all gotten separated as we lingered at different stands and I had found some little wooden boxes and animals that I wanted. I had asked at a few stands already about prices so I knew to expect to pay no less than 5-10$ on each wooden piece. Now... I'm used to going to a country and being able to barter the prices down in english and be ok (and resorting to hand gestures and counting with fingers if I needed to, hah) but this was not quite so easy. I wanted 2 small wooden animals and a little wooden box so I figured 15$ to start. But the vendor answered me in French and I understood nothing. "I don't speak French" I told her. (By then I had learned how to say that very phrase in French! hah. I suggest to anyone going to learn it too. To me it sounds like "Je ne parl pa fraces" You'll use it a lot :) But she was not happy to hear that. She sighed an exasperated sigh and I'm about 90% sure that I saw her roll her eyes at me! I should have just walked away then. But instead I lingered around as she got out her cell phone to type the numbers that she wanted to tell me which I got a kick out of... After a few minutes with each of us typing the prices we wanted we had settled on 17$. I was thankful that they usually take American Dollars (but ONLY crisp and clean for some reason) in the DRC but they usually give you change in Franc. I gave her a 20$ but I was not even sure how much change in Franc to receive! -hmmm.... See Regret #1- But I had an uneasy feeling about her the whole time and I could tell that she was not happy about the final price... (I take bartering very seriously.) So when she gave me 2000 CDF as change I just knew that she had to be taking advantage of my "foreignness". I acted more confident then I actually was as I argued with with her and told her that I needed more change. How much change? I had no idea, but she didn't know that. I told her that I would not take all 3 items if she was going to overcharge me and I began to put one of the items back and demanded my money back for that item. -Aaand that would be regret #2- But she didn't like that so much either but she finally hesitated toward her purse but pulled out a 500. And now... I don't know why I was so unsure about her but it still didn't seem right. Maybe I was just used to people doing whatever they wanted by now. I thought I had remembered the conversion was a little more rounded off then 1,250 CDF to the Dollar so I told her that it still wasn't right and that I needed another 500 CDF. Again, "no", but then she said something else to me but in English this time. I had to have her repeat it a couple times but finally I made it out. "I don't want to". What?? Was she serious?? just like that... she just didn't want to. This was not going to be easy. My boxing gloves had to come out. So I told her that I wasn't going to buy anything if I didn't get the right change. But... all of a sudden she pretended she didn't speak english anymore! -_- I saw our translator down the row and signaled for him to come over and help me. But before he even saw me waving at him the vendor realized what was happening and pulled out another 500 to finally be rid of me. There we go! 1000 CDF to the dollar. Much better :). I realize that in the end it was a lot of effort just for 1 dollar but I just couldn't let her get away with it! I should frame that dollar... it's the hardest i've ever worked for one lil buckaroo.

I was so exasperated after the encounter that I found my mom and adamantly told her to never leave me alone again! This was impossible by yourself and it was NOT fun walking around to vendors on your own. I couldn't even look at an item without being bombarded by other vendors trying to force me to buy their version of the same item. When I finally found a vendor that gave me enough breathing room to think, I ended up buying a few bracelets, keychains, and earrings made of the green Malachite stone that is abundant in the DRC, and then we got out of there. But on the way out I found my favorite item of all. Back at the entrance one man was selling these really cool cards with Congolese scenes on the front made of brightly colored sand. I was thrilled that they were a smaller alternative to a painting so I bought about 7 of them to decorate my new apartment with. And I must say they are the perfect accent to my mostly brown/dark colored African collection on my wall :)

Then we had our daily meeting with our lawyer and headed out for a long drive out of the capitol. It was a really pretty drive and the pace of life out there was just visibly calmer. People weren't as rushed and there was FAR less trash covering the roads. We had a really nice view with the mountains in the background as we headed out to the orphanage. This orphanage may be one of my favorite ones we visited whole trip. It helped that it was in such a peaceful area. We started by seeing the few kids we had at that orphanage but the poor kids were scared of us! The orphanage directors told us that some of the kids had not seen a white person

before and didn't know what to do!

One of the little girl's heart was just pounding out of her chest! Poor thing... they're sure going to be in for a surprise when they come to America! Hah. But they warmed up to us pretty fast, it probably helped that we brought toys :). They had a lot of fun when we brought out the super balls and they were giggling as they had them bouncing around the room. And they looooved having their picture taken and got pretty silly in front of the camera. But sadly all good things must come to an end and we left to see some more kids in that area that weren't in the orphanage.

One thing about being new to the Congo is that we usually don't know where we're going and just have to assume that our driver is taking us to the right place. (But before we know it my mom will probably get her own drivers license and car like she does in Ethiopia and know her way around better then the Congolese themselves! ;) But for now we are getting used to feeling clueless. So when we pulled off to the side of the road where there was a crowd of people we had NO idea what we were doing there. We quickly found out that this was the meeting place where we were going to meet the kids we came to see. "Oh good" my mom said, "and it smells like a pee". Opening the window's was completely out of the question and it didn't take a genius to figure out the source. We were parked RIGHT next to what was apparently the understood bathroom. Lovely. During the 30 minutes we waited there was a constant stream of men that would just walk over to the edge of the woods and just.... take care of business. Yes, gross. But I tell this story because I wish I could portray the absolute hilarity of the moment. We would try to talk to each other in the car but then another man would just walk up next to our car and take the peeing stance! Try having a conversation with that going on in the background!! haha. Dereje just laughed at us as we tried to cover the window with anything we could! But regrettably nothing was good enough...

I really enjoyed getting out of Kinshasa for the day and seeing the quieter side of Congo. But even better, I got to take lots of pictures b/c there wasn't many police around to make me stop! :) We had had an exhausting day so we went the Memling Hotel again for dinner but ate at their indoor restaurant this time. I have really enjoyed getting to know the Congo and it's culture, and although it's not the easiest place to stay and a very different living situation then our accommodations in Ethiopia, once I got to spend time with the kids they grabbed my heart and made it so hard to leave!

My next post will also be my last day in the Congo. And what happened on that day was the result of what seemed to be unfortunate circumstances on the surface but it actually turned it into my favorite day! It was a great way to end our trip!