Time for your weekly update of Gabon Bible School….What a time we have had…. Whew…We have gotten a good dose of cultural clash!!!! Its been fun, interesting, amusing, challenging, irritating, frustrating and more frustrating …oh and muddy, muddy, muddy!!! This past Monday was Brandons birthday.... What did he do on his birthday? Read the captions in the photos!!! Happy Birthday Buddy!! Love Dad!!!..... We seem to be well received in general terms, but just driving down the road we get stared at all the time. Brandon says he feels like we are in a zoo because they act like they have never seen animals like us!! The people seem to really like us, when they get to know us. Take for instance the elderly Muslim fellow that we buy cement from, he likes me a lot. He has a small roadside type stand that he lives at and sells bags of cement. He is so stereotypical, it is just too funny….I drive up in my Sweet Ride with my hat and he smiles real big and motions for me to come on into his little enclave… he probably thinks the same about me and says to himself, look at that crazy American with that goofy hat!!!! That is so stereotypical for those Americans!!! HA!!!! (I would love to take a picture of him and where he lives but I do not want to be disrespectful, so it probably won’t happen.) The other day, we bought 40 bags of cement (~$500) and HE GIVES ME 1,000cfa ($2) and motions for me to go next door to buy a coke. He then sits me in a plastic chair next to his prayer mat. He makes a phone call to a delivery guy and in less than 2 minutes the delivery guy shows up and they load up the little Toyota pickup for delivery to the jobsite. He then comes to the jobsite where we are working to see the project!!! I love that guy. His name is Keita. There are others too…I try to go to the same people every time…but if they burn me then I will go somewhere else!!! Take for instance the guy that built my metal tool box, it took him a week longer and he wanted $80 more to finish it. I was kind of miffed about that but figured Hey, this is Africa, man! and then late this past week, I went to put my lock on it and the lock would not fit. Dang it!!!! The kicker is that I specifically gave him the lock to make sure the lock would fit and work!!! … and it doesn’t!!!! Ughhhhh...I will go buy another lock before I deal with him again!!! But we drive by a couple of times a day and when we see him we wave to him like we are best friends and he gives us a big smile and waves back. He is probably says to himself, look at that crazy American with that goofy hat!!!! I bet he comes back so I can fix his lock and charge him again!!! HA!!!! But think again Jack!!! I aint coming back to you again!!!.....Driving is crazy here. There are taxis all over the place. We think that 60% of the vehicles on the road are taxis. They are worse than pesky flies at a 4th of July picnic. They are so annoying!!!! They are always stopping, picking up and letting off people everywhere, even on the side of a highway with a mountain on one side and cliff on the other side. If someone is standing by the side of the road, every taxi that passes will honk their horn to see if they need a ride. If the person motions for them to stop, the taxi will swerve over to pick up that person even stopping in the driving lane. They are crazy!!! I have to careful turning left because they will pull up next to me on both sides and try to beat me into the single lane that I am turning into!!! So today, some taxi was honking and as I drove past them, so I started honking my horn like them. Brandon was smirking and we both were looking straight ahead like nothing was going on!!!! :) ….Last night it rain a lot, have I said it rains here??? Hmmmm, did not think so…so anyway…attached is a picture of what happens when it rains a lot, with water covering the road, and the road curving. Woopsie!!!! Poor little taxi!! :(. ….Project wise: we have completed the dirt work for (3) building pads while fighting the rain and mud (4 weeks and $15K later); laid out the foundation for the Classroom Bldg; excavated for the Library Bldg retaining wall; started making block; blocked up the major gaping holes in the perimeter security wall; and have finalized the Site Plan and the floor plans for the (4) major buildings. Overall, in my opinion, progress for the project is slow but we are progressing and everyone seems to be very pleased…..I am not pleased with the progress but I have to remember I am rarely pleased with the progress on my jobs, this will be completed in Gods timing…. and Hey, this is Africa, man!
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 19:39:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015