Back to Work

It has been a good week for Matt. Two weeks ago he went to the Hash and met some teachers from The American School Of Kinshasa (TASOK). One of them mentioned a maintenance management position that may be available at the school. Email addresses and phone numbers were exchanged and a few days later he was walking to a job interview. While getting ready he paid attention to what he was wearing, shaved, wore the right socks and all that stuff you do when you are a little nervous.  It turns out "TASOK doesn't need a maintenance manager. The position has already been filled. However, Matt, you are over-qualified for that position anyway. How would you like to be the consulting engineer on our renovation project?"

TASOK's prototype classroom building

Another angle

He ended up getting hired to manage the engineering and construction of a prototype classroom building. This prototype is going to be used as a template for the renovation of the rest of the 2 dozen or so buildings on campus.  It is not a huge project (~200 square meters) but it is going to incorporate natural ventilation, photovoltaics, rain water collection and storage, local materials and other good things.  He couldn't have found a better project to match his skill set and now he gets to put his brand new Professional Engineer's license to use (he found out he passed his test at the end of December). He also has the opportunity to survey the campus to find other opportunities that will help TASOK move toward their goal of a "GREEN" campus. If you would like to check out some more information about TASOK click here.

This week Matt also celebrated his 33rd birthday. On February 7th his endlessly wonderful partner woke him up with breakfast in bed then took him to lunch at a really good Indian restaurant downtown.  She surprised him by taking the afternoon off to hang out and go car shopping with him (hey were going to go see the "Snakes of the Congo" exhibit but couldn't find it). After looking at a lot of lemons they may have found something worth a bid.  Around 5 the two stopped in for a drink at "Maison du Vin" (House of Wine). Yep, did some wine tasting. In Kinshasa. The wine was terrible. Quelle surprise. The weather was cooling off, though, and for the first time in our 4 months in the DRC, we got complimentary (anything) appetizers. Finally, it was time to go to the reservation Toni Lyn said she made at an Italian place called Limoncello, where we had been trying to eat for months, including a failed attempt on New Year's Eve when they ended up being closed. Well, this time they were closed too. Ugh. Matt, who was pretty buzzed up at this point said "Let's just go home and order a pizza". He is a simple guy sometimes. Toni Lyn responded, We're not going home but since you suggested pizza, how about Extreme Pizzeria just down the street that we've been meaning to try? O.K.

When we got there two of our friends just happened to be walking into the restaurant at the same time. Matt invited them to join us for dinner.  We all sat down at a table for 4. A waiter came up to the table and asked if we would like to move to our reserved table. Matt said (confused) "No, we are fine here". Then Toni Lyn and Matt's neighbor showed up and it finally clicked (again, Matt is a simple guy sometimes). Toni Lyn had a sly smile on her face. Gradually, about a dozen people filtered into the restaurant and we had to move to the reserved table for Matt's Surprise Birthday Dinner!

B-day boy and party planner

They sang Happy Birthday in French.

After a great dinner (no pizza, Extreme Pizza doesn't serve pizza!?) complete with a homemade (fresh) lemon cake with our new friends, the night owls decided to go for a night capper.  TL and Matt got a ride with some friends so their driver (Aime) could go home. Before Aime left, he pulled out a piece of high quality drawing paper that had been folded in half.  Matt glanced at it and saw a likeness of himself (A's hat and sunglasses) and Toni Lyn sketched on the front page. Then he unfolded it and saw a fully illustrated hand-sketched comic book of himself and Toni Lyn in the Congo.  A week ago, Matt and Toni Lyn went to the Bonobo sanctuary and invited Aime to come along.  He accepted the offer, had a blast and must have taken it to heart because he hired an artist to make a comic book about about the trip. Gifts don't come much better than that. I guess it's the little things.

Front and back cover of the comic.

The story. How cool is that?

Playtime

Bonobo Beach - see Bonobos on the right bank

In other news, Toni Lyn finally went to her first Hash. We ran an 8K through the shanty town neighborhoods about a mile from our house. We stopped at the first chapel in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), crossed streams of fluid resembling water but with additives on bridges made of car hoods, corrugated steel, loose wooden planks and various other battered heavy objects whose retirement still provides a service.

Built in 1891. I think that's a new roof. The back opens to the river.

Toni Lyn in the center talking with our friend Andy.