come away with me: odds and ends

There are lots of weird things about Malongo – food, scenery, wildlife, hair styles (thanks humidity), just to name a few – but I think the oddest thing is the constant arrival and departure of folks on camp aka “crew change.” I am so used to coming going work and seeing the same faces day in and day out, but that’s not the case here and I’ve decided that I have a love/hate relationship with the constant crew change. As most of you know, when I meet someone I need to know everything – where they are from, wife’s name, how many kids they have (plus names, ages, hobbies), past work positions/locations, our 6 degrees of separation, favorite color – you catch my drift. By the time I even get people’s names down, they are gone (without saying bye, because that’s impossible) and their back to back is here. So I’m back to square one. And what’s REALLY not fair is that everyone knows my name, because there are about 15 total women here and curly red hair isn’t very forgettable. On the plus side, things are always changing and the world is becoming smaller and smaller – six degrees is more like 3 over here.

Not much has gone on around here this past week. LOTS of eating delicious food made by Chef Lefort (my construction rep). Thank goodness he headed back to Louisiana on Saturday - now its back to the mess hall with hopes to loose the 2-5 lbs that I packed on in my first week and a half here! The weather has been oddly wonderful for this time of year. I keep hearing about the monsoons that are coming, but all we have had is a little rain in the mornings and at night with clear afternoons. I'm currently knocking on wood because this weather has been wonderful for our construction schedule.

Here are some photos from last week - snakes, clear skies, and the circle of life...

A couple times a week I walk down and back up the main hill during lunch time, this is from one of my walks. You can barely see one of the flares offshore in the picture