Wednesday August 13, 2008

So, you all aren't going to believe this, but today I sat down with the Prime Minister of Gabon! It sounds kind of crazy, right? Turns out the Prime Minister is also Landry's dad's uncle, so really I went to meet Landry's uncle, but the process was crazy. First of all, no one told me that I was supposed to wear a dress, so I looked nice, but was wearing pants. After sitting outside the building waiting for the PM to return from a meeting he was at with the PM of Libya for almost two hours, we finally get through the gate only to be quickly accosted by security who were not having two people walk into the office of the PM wearing jeans...especially not me as a woman. Fortunately, it pays to be family because we had already been cleared by the security closest to the PM, but I definitely felt uncomfortable with everyone in the building staring at me because I wasn't dressed properly.
The PM himself was really nice. He spoke mostly to Landry's dad in Feng, which I definitely don't understand, but he offered to take us around outside of the city once the Independence Day holiday is over. That's coming up this weekend. Neither Landry or I remembered to bring our cameras, but we did capture a few pics with his cell phone. Now we're trying to find the adapter cord so we can get them uploaded.
On another note, my walk to the cyber cafe this evening was a bit entertaining. Sometimes I feel like a walking show here...but even I'll admit this one was pretty funny. The road that the cyber cafe is on is the only road to get out to the main highway so more often than not traffic is pretty bad. Tonight there was a truck and the back of it looked kind of like those trailers that farmers pull behind their tractors. For anyone who's been on a haunted hayride, you know the kind I'm talking about, with the high iron bars. Anyway, there were a bunch of guys riding in the trailer being all kinds of goofy yelling and screaming and shaking the bars. Well, when they saw me coming down the street, it was all over. They started screaming so loud, yelling at me to come over and get on the truck with them. People were stopping and staring, oh but that's just the beginning! Two of these guys actually got off of the truck and ran up and slid on the ground in front of me one at a time pretending like they had fallen so that I would help them up. All the while they're yelling and being funny. Traffic stopped, people stopped....never a dull moment!!

Random Pics

Here are just some random pictures that I thought you all might enjoy. There's one of Landry playing basketball and it seems that Allen Iverson is following me around Africa, as you can see from the last pic posted. The first picture shows a typical meal you might get at a roadside restaurant in Gabon. It's chicken and plantains with what they call here "sauce tartare." It's a mix of mayonaise, mustard, onions, and some spices...Dad, you'd love this dish! There's also a bottle of Djino that you can see, which is just like Fizzi Pampelmousse, or grapefruit soda. It's really popular here. There's also a pic of Mignon's music video shoot...I'm still trying to upload the video.

Mignon's Music Video

This is the video we took from the sidelines of Mignon's music video shoot. You can see the green screen, camera, and fairly sizable group of people that gathered to watch the event. You see something new every day!!

Sunday August 10, 2008

Today we FINALLY did something unique to Gabon that I think you all will find really amazing. We went to church at L'Eglise St. Michel, which was interesting in itself. For those of you who read my emails from Benin last year, church here is just a whole difference experience. There's so much dancing and singing and clapping, very different from the Catholic services I've attended in the US, which I'll admit hasn't been many, but still. Anyway, what makes this church so special and beautiful is that it's held up by dozens of pillars that were hand carved by a blind Gabonese man. It's just incredible to see the work of this man up close. It's something I don't think most of us that can see could come close to doing. I've attached several pictures for you to see.

I also went to the market today with Landry's sister Geo, but I forgot to take my camera, so no pics on that!

As I write this blog, Landry's brother is at their house filming a music video for one of his songs. I'll post some pictures of that next time. When we get back to the States, we're going to post the video on YouTube for him to help him get some exposure. He's actually pretty good!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

So, it's definitely been a while since I've had the chance to post anything, but fortunately for all of you it's been a slow start to the trip, so there won't be pages and pages of stories here. I thought I'd give you all some basic info about where we're living and who we're living with.


Back to the family, we are currently staying in the Nzeng-Ayong quarter of Libreville, the capital city of Gabon at Landry’s mom’s house. She has an amazing, huge house with a kitchen anyone who loves to cook would kill for! There’s a very spacious living room/dining room area, five bedrooms, three bathrooms (including a private one in the room Landry and I are staying in), a front porch, and a set of six apartments out back that Landry’s mom rents out. Staying in the house currently are Landry’s mom, who everyone refers to as Tanty, his cousin Afi and her two adorable kids Sibelle, 6, and Herwan, 3, Landry’s younger brother Christopher, but we all call him Mignon, and his 1 ½ year old niece, Maelys (Mya-lees). Maelys usually lives with her mom, Landry’s older sister Georgia, and her dad, but since she’d never met us they thought it would be good for her to stay in the house with us for a while to get to know us. Not quite as many people as I was living with in Benin and definitely in larger living quarters, but it’s the same feeling of family. I've attached some pics of the family, but I haven't quite figured out how to give them captions, so any questions just send me an email!


I've included a picture of Landry losing pool to me twice in a row on Wednesday night. For those of you who know how coordinated he is, I've got to gloat publically on the rare occasions when I beat him in something!!


And last but not least, the adventure of the week! Two nights ago we were laying in bed, watching a Dave Chapelle DVD at some ungodly hour of the night because neither Landry or I have quite gotten the timing right yet for sleep, when out of the corner of my eye I swore I saw something move by my foot, but I didn't react until Landry jumped a little too. I think we both saw it at the same time and I don't think either of us have moved quite so fast in a long time. Crawling across our bed was the BIGGEST black bug I've ever seen in my life. I wish I had a picture to upload but I was too busy standing on the toilet seat screaming while Landry was smashing the bug with his flip flop. Needless to say, we laughed at ourselves for quite some time!

Saturday August 2, 2008

Tonight we went to dinner with Mignon and then we went to this casino type place and sat in the lounge listening to the girl that was singing on stage. She sang mostly American songs and I’m so upset I didn’t have my camera to capture the gaudy red and gold paint on the walls and the back up singers and keyboardist as she sang “Smooth Operator.” I have no idea if she actually knew what she was singing or had just learned the songs, but she had a fantastic voice. Then, all of a sudden, she got off the stage and started moving from table to table giving semi-lap dances to whoever seemed half-interested. It was soooo weird! I think maybe she had one too many drinks during the show, but then again, maybe it was just part of the performance. It was definitely funny though and Landry caught a bit of it with the camera on his cell phone. Unfortunately, I can’t upload the photos from his phone because we don’t have the adapter cord, but, wow, that’s all I can say about that.

Photos from the three-day Paris layover, including French breakfast!!

So, I'm still working on learning how to blog, since this is my very first one, so I apologize for the messiness. Please read the below posts for more information regarding these pics. The first is a pic of Landry in front of our hotel in Paris. The second is a tired picture from our first wait for Landry's visa on Tuesday. The third is me returning with sandwiches and juice after having been told our second flight was cancelled on Wednesday. The fourth, of course, is breakfast in Paris!