Trees of TASOK

Hello to all! I promise I am working on getting material for more interesting posts but for now, the trees will have to do. I feel like I focus on flowers, but recently some of the trees have been capturing my attention.

First, this tree, which is exactly what I imagine giraffes eat, is the most gorgeous to walk under, because of the way the light slants through so magically. Hard to show in pictures, but hope you can get the idea.

Next, these trees. This is the view out the most heavily traffic-ed first grade door, and since I am usually talking to people shorter than me, I don't regularly look up. But when you do... these trees are just insanely cool and gorgeous with these insane white blossoms (which I forgot to photograph when they were out) and crazy-tallness. (crazy tall-ness?)

Another impressive tree of TASOK: Bottom and top.

Last, I cannot get enough of this tree on my way home every day. The way the wind undulates the leaves and the way the shades of green are just so perfectly, sickeningly, amazingly 'African' in everything that any stereotypical representation would portray... we really do live in a wonderland. A very warm wonderland! I am thankful and will have to remember this for next winter! Unless I can find some other warm place to escape to. There really isn't a picture here that does it justice (I should have gotten further away) but I did try.

TASOK does Brigadoon (actual mist, not smoke from fires!) on this unrest day off: the city is on strike so I will take pictures and be lazy all day!

Rest day buddy:

Reading for TASOK Teacher Book Groups is next on the agenda. Love to all.

My Pet Photography Obsession

So I have been taking my camera out on my Thursday outings to try to get pictures for blog posts. I have only been a tiny bit successful, but it does mean that I have plenty of opportunity to photograph my friend and weightlifting coach's hilarious dog and wonderful gym/converted garage. Sweetie was rescued off the street and is very good at singing (with Kristen's help), not flinching when we drop very heavy weights, sitting/laying exactly where she is in the way, and generally taking advantage of the fact that she has been adopted into the best family ever. Here she pensively stares toward one set of pullup bars. (She's also pretty good at modeling!)

Foam roller in the background, interrupted my stretching because she is too cute. 

Here she is ignoring me and giving a scale for the picture of the whole gym. The fan is very effective at cooling us down generally and we usually clear out where the yoga mats are to have a large clear surface for lifting unless we need the racks to the right, then we get them out. I have made a lot of good memories here, including stretching my inner thighs, lifting the yoke in the back right corner, playing with slam balls, recording Crossfit Open videos and generally laughing about things while lifting. I am very glad to know these lovely people and have lived near them for a while! They are headed out this summer as am I. 

Then I came home to this:

On a sit in for food... or just very very very entitled, but we already knew that I guess. Until next week! Much love! 

Birthday Loot

Hello! I am sorry to have been such a slacker but I have had some busy weekends and lots of jobs to do. Promise I will try to get better!

Wanted to share what I got for my birthday. I had a pool party on Sunday January 24th, had lots of fun with some great friends who brought samosas, hummus, wine, beer, juice, snacks and muffins to go with the chocolate cupcakes I made. Had a nice dip in the pool and was home by 5:30 to have skype and rest!

From left to right - LOTS of cards, including myself as a hand-drawn milkmaid! Plus a cool "Congo" photo album, two kinds of lotion, my running watch that I got for Christmas and finally learned how to use on the very day of my birthday! A new notepad and stamper set, a yoga shirt "Turnin' Heads, Twistin' Necks", the taco kit I got myself for $17!! Foreground: Pink pagne bag, more cards and super cool pagne banner that I have hanging in my house now. I also got Reeses and Macarons, which were LONG gone by the time this picture was taken.

THANK YOU to everyone who sent e-cards, facebook wishes as well as gifts, hugs and real cards. I really appreciate it! Sorry to anyone I've forgotten - not sure where my head is at these days!

Yogurt!

So was having a discussion with a family friend while I was home about all the yogurt in Congo. Everyone loves yogurt, there seems to be a lot of selection and it is very commonly eaten (especially by me!) There are no nutrition labels (I probably don't want to know, although eating the real stuff might be better than how they make 'low fat' - I don't know??!) so I have no idea how any of it compares to American stuff, but I really like it and eat it all the time.

Normally I have plain for breakfast in my smoothie and flavored for dessert after dinner, and normally my go-to flavor is "Dolait" Strawberry. However all the stores I have visited in the last two weeks have been out, so I am having the "Oui Oui" kind instead. It doesn't taste even close to as good, but I laugh every time I eat yogurt that is named "Oui Oui".

There are tsetse flies in Congo that infect cows, so I have never seen a cow in Kinshasa. All the milk used to make the yogurt is trucked in and/or UHT milk, I am not sure. Would love to find out before I leave. Maybe a yogurt factory tour is in my future!

Anyway, first is "Oui Oui" mango flavor with my go-to type of plain yogurt.

Next we have another entertaining plain - the one with the cow with horns! Plus "Oui Oui" Strawberry and Vanilla. Interestingly here the "Plain Sucre" (Sugared Plain) is better to me then the Vanilla, though it seems like it should kind of be the same thing?!?!

This is what everyone uses their ironing board for, right? 

This is someone protesting his tiny box of food by knocking it over. Caught in the act!

Next week perhaps some photos of birthday loot. I had a great birthday! Love to all!

Happy New Year!

Hello to all - So great to see so many of you while I was home. I really appreciated reconnecting with everyone and I look forward to being home again this summer. I didn't think I had any pictures to share (I have two requested posts in the works, need to remember to take photos for them! Please request a post if you would like photos of something in particular, other than my cat... yes, I have a problem. Is there a 12 step program for people who take too many photos of their cat?) but then I realized that I wasn't so hard up.

First, I took my camera home for winter break and didn't use it to take any photos in America. Whoops. However I did very much enjoy taking pictures of the desert from the plane. SO cool.

Then this morning I went on a photo walk to get a picture of this: The cat door is growing a plant!

And ended up with several more flower and Davy pictures. I promise the next post will be something different!

Loved these deep purple leaves.

In his element! Have a great week everyone!

Flowers, Typical

I know I always wax poetic about flowers on campus, and this year I have seen most of them before, but it is just gorgeous to live here. Spectacular.

First my gorgeous white flowers from my friend Pippa. Not as awesome as Frangipanni, but close, and in convenient flower form instead of large tree.

Then they multiplied! Love this early morning shot. 

Something sort of like Birds of Paradise outside my living room window:

My favorite dark green and purple stumpy plant with it's cute white flowers hidden down by it's leaves. You can see the dirt from where the rain splashes it up onto the leaves. 

Pretty white flowers in my yard:

And what I believe to be baby and adult Flamboyant tree flowers:

My favorite for last, a shot of a fallen yellow blossom on some broken road concrete. These blooms, like the white ones from Pippa above, are also a close second on my favorite flower list after my Frangipani obsession. 

 I hope to see (or at least send mail) to all of you when I am home, but for now, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Warm New Year Greeting from Ellen and Davy in Congo.

Cats of Campus

So this post may not be as epic as I like, but you will get the idea. Other than Davy, many cat characters inhabit the campus. So many, in fact, that we are a little worried it's going to negatively affect the birds! So I thought I would give a little overview. Friends and I enjoy interpreting the various cat personalities to imagine a veritable cat soap opera going on around us... frankly I don't think it's that much of a stretch. I am sure there are cat politics aplenty!

Davy mid-yawn

This is Muwah, who my neighbors 'inherited' as part of their house (with their permission) The housekeeper fed her for the summer and then they met her when they arrived with me in August of 2014. She is very demanding.... very very demanding... whether it is to be let in, let out, fed, petted, or anything, she makes sure she gets her way. Attitude to spare. Love to see her regally sitting on her porch, though this picture was taken in my yard. She is very vocal and will usually reply when you say her name.

Her mom Luna moved to campus with my last spring roommate - very very shy and retiring, she doesn't make many appearances except to be fed and never bonded with me well at all. However, the new inhabitant of my roommate and I's house agreed to 'inherit' her as part of her house and they have bonded very well. Luna also likes to relax on her porch (in or out).

Tinkerbell also moved to campus with my roommate last spring and spent a lot of time bonding with me, more than my own cat at that time! She is very affectionate and loves everyone and everything - pretty much the most pleasant cat of the bunch (I will admit that Davy looks cute but is not the most nice to everyone, he is rather territorial haha) She now lives with my former roommate's future son-in-law who took her job and also took this picture!

As you can kind of see from these pictures (and I am also biased) Congo cats (Congo-born cats) are different than Davy... Their legs tend to be shorter and they are smaller than Davy (not that Davy is large). There are many other cats on campus, two at the far end, one that the new superintendent 'inherited' from the previous one, two VERY talkative cats who are Tinkerbell's neighbors and another large male cat who is Luna's neighbor, and that is only upper campus. On lower campus we have an indoor cat, I believe the only one around.

We also have a wild civet cat that occasionally makes an appearance, just to round out the bunch. Never dull, in the human or cat world, here!