life in the jungle

I have officially survived my first full week in the Malongo. When I joined the team back in June some Malongo-veteran’s tried to explain that working here is like the Matrix, there is no real sense of time and then all of the sudden it’s over. Naturally, I looked at them like they were lunatics I mean 28 days is a LONG time, but I am beginning to understand what they mean. Since we work 7 days a week it’s pretty easy to lose track of the days and then all of a sudden a week is gone. I’m probably jinxing myself by putting it in writing, but hopefully these next 4 weeks keep flying by.

Most every night there is some kind of get together at one of the make-shift patios around camp and it usually includes a cook who throws together a delicious meal in an effort to stay away from the mess hall menu of rice, mystery meat and bread. Let me tell you, there are some serious chef’s out here that know how to cook. I’m trying to figure out who they are so I can keep up a diet of steak and chicken rather than the alternative. Anyway, last Sunday I had the most amazing meal – drunken chicken, which is a staple out here for the professional barbequer’s. Daddy, take note…you need to try this out :)

I know last week’s blog has been keeping yall on pins and needles, but you can rest easy because I PASSED my Malongo driving test! I warned my instructor, and passengers, that I was going to be rusty on the manual transmission so they were fully prepared for a jolting ride. I impressed the guys by not stalling at all, however I did wake everyone up when I had to back into a parking spot and went a littttttttttttle heavy on the gas. But my sweet instructor pulled the parking brake on me before things got too out of hand, so it was fine ;)

I finally saw the sun on Monday and snapped a few pictures before it went and hid away. I may actually scare small children when I get back to the states with my extremely pale skin. Either that or all the tweens will be really into me because they think I’m one of the Cullen’s from Twilight…that’s still cool, right?

Sunshine on Malongo Beach

Hibiscus flowers are all over camp...prettypretty!

I’ve come to learn that most of the wildlife, minus the gross cats, stay hidden during lunch and after work because there are too many people up in their business. The trick to seeing the packs of monkeys is to take a drive mid-morning and you’ll catch them hanging out, sun bathing, picking bugs off each other’s backs – naturally, and just being really stinkin cute. I was out in the field on Thursday morning and I saw a momma monkey with her baby and it was the cutest thing I have ever seen. I was SO mad I didn’t have my camera because that little thing looked like a human baby, just slightly hairier. She was super protective and the baby was just clinging on to her neck. It’s like National Geographic out here…

Monkeys having their mid-morning snacks

I moved into my permanent room this week, and minus the sharing the bathroom thing it’s not so bad. It’s actually bigger than my temporary room, and I did a little re-arranging to make it really big. The only problem is that the phone and cable outlets are now covered by my bed, but I’ve made some friends in the IT department and they are going to fix that right up! I may have also roped a few people into scavenging up a mini-fridge and microwave for me too, so we will see if that happens – cliff hanger for the week :)

Time for me to leave this dungeon office and the beauty of the interwebs and go soak up some sun! 10 days down, 25 to go…xoxo

Sunday morning sunrise view from my office. God is Good!