Vapor Trail

2012-02-15: DRC

Kinshasa’s most memorable feature unfortunately was the cost.  Here are a few examples, all in USD:

• Hotel = $280
• Airport Exit Fee = $50
• Airport Air Conditioned Waiting Lounge  = $30
• Hotel Breakfast = $28
• Hamburger = $10
• Veggie Pasta Dish = $22
• Gas = $5/gal

Other observations:

• It is a city of contract with $100k cars traveling the same lane with boys pushing wheelbarrows made of car axels and plywood. 
• French is required to function. 
• The breads are all amazingly tasty. 
• All meals, except the $28 breakfast, were delicious. 
• The people are genuinely friendly. 
• Only the wealthy are overweight, despite the prevalence of high-fat-processed foods. 
• The pace is slow but not due to lack of effort and more of a function of environment. 
• Westerners are sparse. 
• Buildings don’t get finished and are often in some stage of construction.
• There are no traffic rules, especially at roundabouts!
• Cars travel in similar fashion to wild herds of Wildebeests.
• Sidewalks are legitimate parking spaces.
• You’re not a man unless you can walk with both hands free and eight-dozen eggs stacked on your head. 
  
  A few interesting pictures from my brief stay:

 

(Groovy Mad Men-esque’ restroom signage)

 

(The hotel elevators were equipped with not one, but two ash trays)

 

(The sidewalk made convenient parking.  The pedestrians didn’t seem to mind.)

(Restrooms and trash at a refugee camp.)

(The government has paved some roads but many still look like this.)

 

(View of Congo River from Grand Hotel)

 

(This is what $280 gets you.)

Airport:

The ride to the airport was a harrowing experience.  The highway is six lanes and turns to dirt-pot-holed pavement half way there.  Ironcially the transition occurs near a 210m tall monument to DRC’s first legally elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba.  Construction began in 1971 and continues to this day.

 

(photo credit: http://kosubaawate.blogspot.com)

There are no rules to the road in Kinshasa.  It is pretty much a free for all.  Small boxy vans jammed packed with people sitting on wooden benches and a few hanging out the doors weave between cars, SUVs, motorcycles, and pedestrians.  Amazingly we didn’t touch a car or person but were literally within inches of both the entire trip.

 

(typical Kinshasa bus)

Our expediter guided us through customs upon arriving at the airport. Since I had a diplomatic passport I could wait in the ‘official lounge’ while the non-dip passport holders had a choice between the free non-air conditioned waiting area and the deluxe lounge for $30.  They chose deluxe and I opted for the official lounge, mainly to get an idea of the difference and to make them feel like mere peasants.  I’ll most likely be back to Kinshasa at some point in the future.  My colleagues got held up at the lounge check-in due to the condition of their currency.  If US Dollars have a slight tear, are faded, or generally worn, they are not accepted anywhere in the DRC.  I heard there is a problem with counterfeiting so vendors are paranoid of accepting less than pristine cash.  The only cash I had left had been torn so I was thankful the Official Lounge was an option.

At security two guards rifled through my carry-on luggage adjacent to the inoperable x-ray machine.  I had three dead batteries from my alarm clock that they confiscated.  I thought this was odd as when he asked me to open the battery cover on the alarm clock he did not ask to remove the good batteries.  My first aid kit was of great interest from some reason, and the small tape scissors and ½” medical tape were also detained.  As the guard removed the tape he mimed with a toothy grin how one would strangle someone with it.  I gladly relinquished all items thankful they had not asked for anything else or pressured me for a bribe.  The presence of the expediter and my complete ignorance of French probably helped as well. 

At boarding time we were conveyed via bus to yet another check point on the tarmac just before the boarding steps.  Locals hired by the airline manned this checkpoint.  The process was faster yet I was puzzled when the guard made me drink the ¼” of water in my Nalgene but didn’t say anything about the unopened bottle of water on the opposite external backpack pocket. 

The first leg on Brussels Air was to Douala, Cameroon, about 1.5 hours from Kinshasa.  We waited on the ground an hour while folks boarded and the crew counted the passengers six or seven times.  By the time we got back in the air and could recline in peace without various French and English announcements it was well past midnight.  I had a pounding tension headache and the guy next to me was randomly sticking his hands in his pants.  Seriously!

I popped an Ambien and got five hours of sleep before arriving in Brussels.  The United leg of the trip from Brussels to DC was the most enjoyable of the return trip.  This may be from the shower I took in Brussels and also most definitely from the better service on United.  In general, Air France service was like a Cadillac, United a nice Chevy with all the options, and Brussels Air a 1985 Town Car with refurbished vinyl seats and carpet on the dashboard.  A little bit goes a long way when traveling for 40 hours! 

2012-02-11: Doctor Congo of Kinshasa

It was sunny to partly cloudy arriving at Dulles.  Thirty minutes later a blizzard struck causing white out conditions.  An hour later the skies converted back to partly cloudy.  I was frankly a little anxious on my first TDY trip.  I have yet to have a successful international trip solo.  Kelly is my guide, rock, navigator, reminder, and general life preserver when traveling.  For some reason I tend to loose sight of the big picture on trips and often focus on a few minor things within my grasp of control.  So, focusing on where my passport, phone, wallet, and ticket are at all times pretty much consumes 95% of my available brain capacity.  Details like vaccinations cards are sometimes omitted and can turn into real disasters.

I was discussing the various forms of Malaria vaccinations with my colleague and it suddenly occurred to me that I’d forgotten my yellow vaccination card.  The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been enforcing strict yellow fever entry requirements, and I’ve heard they give you shots at the terminal when carrying no proof of vaccination.  Since HIV was discovered in the DRC, the thought of customs officials sticking me with a needle of who knows what was quite unsettling.

I had ten minutes until boarding and my mind raced for possible solutions to the sticky situation.  Thankfully, I had scanned the card and emailed it to my personal account.  I asked the receptionist in the waiting lounge for access to a printer, and she could only accept faxes.  Thus I was left with a seven-hour flight to ponder my predicament. 

Arriving in Paris for a five-hour layover, I was quite hopeful a business center would be available for printing.  Shockingly there was none.  Even the Air France Business Lounge had no printer.  I tried the ticket gate and they had no printer either.  The agent did at least offer to print the document and bring it to me at the gate after I emailed it to the front office from my Blackberry.  She wasn’t very proficient in English so I wasn’t 100% confident the urgency of the need was properly communicated as she mentioned more than once that I didn’t need the card to enter the Congo. 

I headed back through security and settled in the lounge when over the PA, “Madieu Waaa,” was summoned.  I quickly headed to the counter were I was informed I would have to get the shot in the DRC.  I was on the brink of loosing it when thankfully my colleague, who also was a native French speaker, arrived on the scene to fully explain the situation.  He had already asked when we first arrived for access to a printer so I was quite surprised when she advised she would allow me to use the office printer within the lounge.  After studying the French keyboard a few minutes I was able to access my personal account and print the documents.  I thanked the staff and settled back in to my seat relieved my appointment with Doctor Congo was avoided. 

p.s. After boarding the plane the ticket agent brought me my printed documents.

2011-12-11: Blood

In an effort to save sea turtles in Tuvalu I’ve started biking to work.  Yes, I’m that naïve to bolster my self-importance to the level of controller of all things on this planet despite the fact that there is no reliable and unflappable proof of such a fact.  Regardless, the point is I’ve begun a route of a 20-mile round trip commute to work two days a week.  I’ve read it is good to have emergency medical information on you in an easy to find spot in case left incapacitated from an unfortunate incident.  Thus began my search for my blood type and the purpose of this entry.

I’m an O+.  I remembered learning the donor types in baby preparation classes at the hospital and decided to do a quick refresher on which types I could give and receive to.  Here are the results courtesy of the American Red Cross.



O is the universal giver and AB is the universal receiver.  The next figure slapped me in the face and I digested the statistics.

The average of all O’s is 48% and all ABs is 4%.  The balance is 46%.  In summary, an overwhelming majority of all people are universal givers and not takers. God decided that a majority of His creation would be hard wired to give rather than receive.  The hard wiring of our hearts was not so fortunate with the fall of man and now sin separates us God and his original design.  Despite this our core DNA still shows evidence of His creation.  All of this is a good reminder to me to be a giver this season rather than a taker.  More importantly, my focus of this season has been redirected to the birth of my Creator who ultimately gave all so I wouldn’t have to.

2011-12-11: Facebook

Despite its amazing connectivity ability I’m leery of giving an organization mounds of data to make money on.  Here’s an excerpt from a recent USA Today Article on the topic:

To meet rising expectations, Facebook must increase its annual revenue, now estimated at about $4 billion, by double-digit percentage points for years to come, Gluck says. The company is striving to keep its options open to do this. In doing so, it is bumping into pressure from critics who are concerned that leaving online privacy standards entirely in the hands of corporations might not be the best idea.

I still believe FB is useful and a wonderful example of American innovation, but I prefer not to give all my personal web viewing history to an overtly liberal organization hoping they will only use it for benign purposes.

Before the Federal Government decides to waste money on protecting me from myself I decided to take matters into my own hands with the following recommendations to preventing my data from being sold to the highest bidder. 

Now if they would just let me do this with Social Security!

2011-12-11: Blogging

The December issue of the Foreign Service Journal has a good article on blogging in the Foreign Service.  I’ve recently experienced some of the conflicting messages discussed in the piece and it resonates strongly to my beliefs in an open Republic balanced with a clear and uniform message. There is no simple solution and investment in lively discussion is a worthwhile endeavor.  Sounds like a topic for another blog!  In the end my libertarian streak won’t let me pull the plug despite several temptations to do so.  Thankfully there are others who feel the same way.

2011-11-14: Markets, Church, and Africa

Searching for a church home in DC led us to the Eastern Market area this weekend.  We visited National Theatre Church's campus located in an old single screen theater. The music was great and vibe definitely young and urban. There wasn't childcare or a place to sit with a stroller so we had to squeeze into a row with half the bob sticking out into an aisle. Malosi decided to give a loud call-back during the tithe prayer so we decided it best to find a more toddler friendly location. Times like this make me really appreciate all the folks that volunteer in nurseries each Sunday, especially the amazing volunteers at Fellowship Church Fort Worth. 

We've also visited DC metro but despite it's name it isn't really that accessible from public transportation, at least with a stroller. Buses are pretty much out of question with strollers and any walk over a mile with Malosi is too dependent on weather. 

After church we walked through Eastern Market. It was a combo of fruit, vegetables, handcrafts, fish, boutique restaurants and various other items. The prices were higher than the Alexandria market and space was much more congested. 

We had visited Alexandria's market on Saturday picking up West Virginia Sweet Crisp Apples, quite possibly the best apples I've ever eaten!  We also grabbed other local produce, bacon, homemade yogurt, and bread. This market is much more open and the selection of fruits and vegetables, meats, etc is greater than the Eastern Market. Plus we can walk to it!

On other fronts work is going well. Building State Department structures overseas is a complicated game and it will take me a few years to figure out. There are many players involved due to the technical requirements, and frankly how the US Government does business.  No surprise there!

My projects so far are in Africa and I've enjoyed learning more about the dynamic history of this region of the world.  The challenges involved in just living in some parts of Africa, much less building complicated world-class facilities, are immense and complicated.  One of the cool things I’ve learned about African projects is the capacity building for the local work force that takes place on an embassy project.  The State Department requires contractor’s to provide hot lunches, showers, clean changing facilities, and tradecraft skill programs that give locals basic technical skills from bending rebar to wiring light fixtures.  As a former Peace Corps volunteer this definitely resonates with me and is one of the reasons I choose this career.  My taxpayer dollars, yes I still pay taxes on my taxpayer income, are being used to give sustainable aid direct to the people rather than through a sticky fingered regime. Whether or not I get posted to Africa is still to be seen. Despite being a being a large cumbersome animal, I've heard and seen first hand that things change quickly around here and to never carve expectations in stone. 

With the newness being chiseled away daily I still feel extremely blessed to be able to use my gifts in a way that promotes the greatest Republic that has ever existed.

2011-10-11: Flag Day

Today was the day we all found out where we would be posted on our first assignment. It was somewhat anticlimactic for the Construction Engineers as we know where we are going, Virginia, but most exciting for the other folks who had options ranging from the Congo to London.  Not going through the bidding process really takes away from the training experience as negotiating and strategizing with your counterparts is part of the bonding process.

Some of the folks in training get assigned domestically, like me, but to different areas.  Thus, the first flag shown in the ceremony was the Texas flag.  I found this quite fitting as it was the best looking of the bunch.  The next best looking flag was the Virginia State flag which has a bloke bearing a single breast in a tunic standing on the chest of a tyrant with his crown fallen off to the side.  The phrase “Sic semper tyrannis” is written on the flag meaning:  thus always to tyrants.  Cool.  One of the flags had an AK-47 on it.  That must be a fun country!  Welcome to the Foreign Service.

2011-10-09: Museum

Yesterday I committed to conquering a few museums on my list but not on Kelly's. First up was the National Building Museum. The massive columns and shear magnitude of the center core was worth the trip. The exhibits however were not.

I then tackled a quarter of the first floor of the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery.  For lunch I brown bagged it in the enclosed courtyard. A parabolic skylight system covers the classically stone clad surroundings making for a unique and memorable feeling of space. This is becoming a trend. I tend to like the buildings more than the exhibits.  By this time the t.u. Oklahoma game had started so I found Capitol City Brewery a few blocks away. The brews here are very tasty. I highly recommend a stop here. Unfortunately, an obnoxious t.u. fan and Oklahoma’s lopsided walloping caused my interest to fade quickly. 

I headed back to the Smithsonian to complete the first floor. Afterwards I made my way back home enjoying the beautiful fall weather. 

Looking back on the day revealed how I reflect much more on my faith and others when in the urban environment. Going through the day forces interactions with others without the veil of windshields and steel car doors. The five senses are engaged in the context of others forcing you to engage them in small but important ways. This doesn't happen in the commuter environment. It is easy to bubble myself and sanitize my environment. I like being forced to engage in the environment often against my will. It is easy to represent a false self in a managed and controlled environment.

2011-09-25: Life in the Capitol City

I’m on Eastern time now, and Eastern TV.  Being without TV since 2004 I was truly stoked to get checked in to my apartment with two flat screen TV’s to watch the Oklahoma State vs A&M game.  Needless to say I was very disappointed to learn that due to my new locale, this game was not showing.  Instead it was Ohio St vs somebody else.  Booo!  I tried to log in to ESPN3 but the internet provider here is not an approved provider so no luck.  So, I decided to get finished with unpacking and headed to the grocery store.

It was a short walk to the Safeway, haven’t see those in Texas in years, and it was very safe.  Just in case I packed my bodyguard 380 (remember VA is a reciprocal state, DC is not, 2^nd boo!).  The Safeway was perhaps the cleanest store I’ve seen in years.  Even the parking lot was impeccably clean.  It seemed odd. 

Another oddity was overhearing two gents discussing Iraq whilst grabbing a bag of Cheerios.  That doesn’t happen in Texas.  I was also shocked how few 300lb behemoths there were.  Every time I go to Wal-Mart or Target in Texas I see at least two or three folks who can only maneuver via scooter because of their whale like condition.  Not the case here.  Maybe it is the lack of good Mexican food?  By the way, what is Hispanic food?  There was a sign over the aisle with salsa that said ‘Hispanic’ food.  Are Mexicans from Hispano? 

My last task of the day was figuring out how to get a full cart of groceries back to my apartment without a car.  I called Yellow Taxi and 20 minutes later the cab showed up.  The driver was very friendly and from Sudan.  I asked him if he was from South or North Sudan and he said the middle.  We talked a little foreign politics and he complained how corruption was ruining his country.  After we arrived, he helped me take my groceries to the elevator, except the wine.  He looked at the wine, boxed of course -- cheap for me and eco-friendly for my wife, and asked me what it was.  I told him and he said he couldn’t grab it and asked me if I wanted to know why.  I said it was because he was Muslim and he said yes.  I felt bad because I didn’t confess I was a Baptist and as well couldn’t touch alcohol either, at least when no one is looking.  Who knew Baptists and Muslims had so much in common!?

The day ended with unpacking groceries and eating microwave pizza.  Ah, how quickly the college diet returns without the better half.  I’m due a few extra hours of sleep in the AM and will try and make the 50^th Peace Corps ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery tomorrow.

2011-09-24: Leaving

It was really hard to say goodbye today to Malosi and Kelly. 

Check in at the airport involved a new process for me as I checked two handguns. I thought I had the bases covered but failed to empty the magazines into the original ammo box. The attendant was very patient and liked my .45. She had a concealed carry permit as well. After the gun case and ammo case were inspected we went to the TSA oversized bag check in area where the guy was a complete tool. Most of my limited experience with these chaps is fairly good but not this turkey. He kept asking me the same questions and then asked if I was a LEO. I had to ask him to repeat the question three times and finally he decoded his acronym and said Law Enforcement Officer. I explained I was a normal citizen and joked that I thought he was asking for my sign. He didn’t think that was funny.

Other than that and a guy cutting in line at the security check-point it was a pretty uneventful first leg of the trip to DC. 

I'm now in the air typing out this entry on an iPhone. As a long term BlackBerry user I have to admit the typing on the screen isn't really that bad (at least in landscape mode).  It is frustrating at times when my fat thumbs can't get between words or at corners of the screen. The story is they 'learn' your typing habits so I'll keep pounding away about nothing in an attempt to better school my loaner iPhone. 

Coming up next is orientation at main state and then three weeks of training at FSI. Our class is the 123rd specialist class. It appears there are three or four construction engineers in the group and hopefully there will be a good showing at tomorrow's happy hour to make informal introductions. 

Construction engineers have the shortest training of all the specialist which may be a blessing and a curse. The good thing is I get to start doing the actual work I was hired for earlier but the bad news is I have to find housing ASAP as we are on our own (in terms of no per diem and furnished apt) by the end of October. 

Since we've rented our house I'm not too stressed but renting with reasonable commutes from the Hill will probably push the limits of my new gov't salary. Plus we have to take possession of all our goods being transferred to storage 90 days after training. We only have about 6000 lbs of HHE (compared to the 18k) allowance, which will make squeezing all that, two adults, and a seven month old into 500 sf much easier.