Hello from the Democratic Republic of the Congo! We have a week off from school, so I decided to visit my friends Lindsey and Blake in Lubumbashi, DRC. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed home-cooked meals, going to bed whenever I want and waking up whenever I want, as well.
Just a few observations/broad generalizations about the Congolese:
- Congolese people are, in general, more attractive than Rwandan people.
I’ve noticed myself stopping and staring at numerous people since I’ve arrived here. There’s just something about the faces I’m seeing that is like nothing I’ve seen in Rwanda.
- Congolese people are, in general, more talented than Rwandan people.
The music coming from the church around the corner on Sunday morning stunned me. The melody, the harmony, the rhythm… These Congolese have skills.
- Congolese people are, in general, more stylish than Rwandan people.
The style also reflects on the talent a bit. The African fabrics here are beautiful, and the Congolese take full advantage of the endless possibilities of ways to create fashion masterpieces with them. I’ve wanted to steal so many dresses right off of their owners, but that wouldn’t cut it with the modesty standards ‘round these parts.
[Side note: I feel right at home in my matchy-matchy obsession here in the DRC. If you have a yellow hat, yellow shirt, yellow belt, yellow bag, and yellow shoes, why not wear them all at the same time?]
Some observations/broad generalizations about the Congo:
- DRC is far dirtier than Rwanda.
There is trash EVERYWHERE in DRC. They also burn their trash, so it smells wretched much of the time.
- DRC is far more corrupt than Rwanda.
While currently the police are forced to offer grace to passing vehicles for two months, typically cars are stopped many times a day to show their documents. We’ve only been waved down once since I got here, but Blake and Lindsey are not looking forward to December when the grace period expires…
- DRC is far hotter than Rwanda.
It started raining in Rwanda not long ago which drops the temperature significantly and makes me wish I had a jacket much of the time. The rain hasn’t come to DRC yet, and it’s well above 90 degrees Fahrenheit everyday and barely gets below 70 degrees at night. It’s also SUPER dry, and thus I have major crusty boogers in my nose constantly.
Well, those are all of the observations I care to share at present. Perhaps I’ll share some more with you before I leave… but no promises!
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favour:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Rwanda? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Rwanda in order to complete my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and a original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com, where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely