It's easy to feel a bit stuck in our industrial small-town corner of central Africa. Direct flights out are very few, and very expensive. In our case, MT has not so far been able to take any holiday time to coincide with the school holidays. Our last relaxing family holiday feels like a long time… Continue reading Your Brazzaville Escape Plan
Tag: congo
Blue Sky Gazing
Ah, life in the tropics. Gets a bit hot, but at least we get the sun! Sunshine, beaches, palm trees and blue, blue skies. That's how you picture it, right? A friend posted a beautiful holiday photo the other day, and it took a moment to dawn on me what was so appealing about it.… Continue reading Blue Sky Gazing
Congo Sketch: The School Run at Walking Pace
It's another typically untypical morning in Congo, where no day ever goes quite as planned. Today, our driver isn't with us, as he had to take his child into hospital overnight with suspected malaria. So MT has taken the car to work with him, and I've hitched a lift with our neighbour to drop the… Continue reading Congo Sketch: The School Run at Walking Pace
How Congo is More French than France (and one way it’s a bit like the Big Apple)
Before arriving in Congo we had high expectations. We were not coming to Africa for the first time - our year in Uganda had dispelled many of the apprehensions most people would have about life in the sub-Saharan continent. There was much to enjoy and appreciate there; we’d had a good lifestyle (although that is easier… Continue reading How Congo is More French than France (and one way it’s a bit like the Big Apple)
Congo Sketch – Balls to the Wall
Another Sunday, another trip up the coast for some beach time. After a couple of years of African living I don't always stare out of the window on every road trip, like I did at the beginning. But I still do it often. There are moments where the thought presents itself - I'm living in… Continue reading Congo Sketch – Balls to the Wall
Getting Out Of Town
I was recently emailing a friend who's on her way to live here. I described Pointe-Noire as a 'grey, flat shabby town'. I stopped to ask myself if I was being ungenerous. Well, no. Sometimes it seems like half the sites in town are either in the process of being built (a very positive thing)… Continue reading Getting Out Of Town
Congo Sketch – Departure Lounge
Barely an African-looking face amongst them, cheeks bump in constant cheery bisous. Every couple of minutes another healthily glowing French family emerges at the top of the stairs, smiling in anticipation, and so begins the procession of politesse as they saluer each family they know. They fan out in formation to greet colleagues and fellow school-gate… Continue reading Congo Sketch – Departure Lounge
My Northern Soul
This morning's rainy-season school run was under overcast skies, and the big drops started falling just in time for clambering out of the car. But I was having a happy moment. The heavy daylight gloom made it easy to see into lit shops, offices and apartments. The usual bright skies mean that interiors become dark… Continue reading My Northern Soul
Congo Sketch – Waiting Room
The clinic's always busy on a Monday morning, the maladies of the weekend being called to order as the doors open. Patients sit, patiently, on long wooden benches set in schoolroom rows. Like the GP waiting room I remember from my childhood, where eyes were all raised expectantly to the number display. (I remember that waiting… Continue reading Congo Sketch – Waiting Room
A Fresh Rentrée
Yesterday was la rentrée for my boys at their French school after the two-week October holiday. This is rentrée with a small 'r' though, rather than La Rentrée - the grand back-to-school and back-to-everything moment that happens in France around the 1st of September. After two full months of summer holidays, September in France is… Continue reading A Fresh Rentrée
