My Day as a Vet's Assistant

Only in Congo would I be participating in the neutering of my kittens. And taking pictures! T

The boys have been peeing on everything lately, and I decided it was time they should be neutered. This was something I was hoping to put off, as I don't particularly trust the vet's domestic cat operating skills and I feel like these two have been through enough. However, the peeing has been getting ridiculous (on every plastic bag available and suitcases/duffel bags) and in order to prevent a full scale housemate revolt, I bit the bullet and had 'er done today.

I set up an "operating table" out on the deck (blanket, towel, hot water) and patiently waited till the vet got here at 9am. I was surprised to see two vets arrive. I think our regular vet was learning the cat neutering process from the other vet. YIKES!!!!! To make a long story short, I sat with the cats the whole time, petting and cooing and taking pictures. It didn't take too long, but the anesthesia has really knocked them out. Not that they were unconscious during their operations. Nope, they were awake but frozen. Seriously...8 hours later and Dr.J is still feeling the effects. Let's hope all this pain (for them and for me) pays off and I can stop cleaning cat pee out of everything.

If you are at all squeamish...don't scroll down.

Just a James Bond Day

Flying from Kalemie back to Bukavu with MONUC (UN Peacekeeping mission in Congo) means one of three things: flying direct from Kalemie to Bukavu, flying to Goma then to Bukavu, or the completely bizzare Bukavu via Entebbe (Uganda). You don't really know what you're gonna get till you check in at the MONUC airport.

I was really hoping to go to Entebbe. I was sure I was going to Entebbe. Going to Entebbe meant a good Cafe Latte, a Smirnoff Ice, a Coffee Crisp, buying a new book and general craft store browsing. This would have been an excellent way to spend the afternoon waiting for the flight to leave for Bukavu.

But that didn't happen. When I checked in I was told the flight was Kalemie - Goma - Bukavu. I've never been to Goma, so I guess missing out on Entebbe wouldn't be that bad. But wait...it got better.

As we walked to the air plane, I realized that it was an Russian Antonov. Cool! And it came with a Russian crew. I wish I had written down some of the lines delivered by the flight attendant. Suffice to say, her Russian accented English combined with her usage of english phrases was a highlight of my flight. The other highlight? Well in the cabin, there was english below the russian on all signs and an english safety card in the seat pocket. But in the bathroom...nyet. I was really hoping the black button next to the toilet meant, "press to flush." Even the air freshener was russian.

Flying into Goma is a bit surreal. I had been told the airport is in the center of town, but nothing really prepares you for looking out the window and seeing exactly what people are doing in their yards and on the streets. Yes, you get that close. Seriously, the airport is in the middle of town. There are houses maybe 100 meters away from the runway. There was a major plane crash last year where a Congolese airliner ran off the runway and crashed into the market. (A friends sister survived that crash - she was in the plane). I am surprised there aren't more accidents.

Once you get off the plane, you are loaded into a MONUC bus and driven to their airport lounge to wait for your next flight. I had about a 3 hour wait. The wiating room was croweded. After they called for passengers for the flight to Kinshasa, the room thined. Then they called the for the flight to Entebbe; the roomed thinned considerably. Looking around, there were only 7 of us remaining. I started to wish, then hope....

And my dreams came true. As the bus drove the 7 of us out to the tarmac and past the planes I knew I would be able to scratch a new item off my "Things to do Before I Die List." I was flying back to Bukavu on a helicopter. Whooo Hooo! I have always wanted to fly on a helicopter. This was one of the big military ones although I am not sure what kind. Unfortunatley I was squished up next to all the baggage (mostly soldiers duffel bags) and my right leg had to rest on top of a bag while my left leg was squished next to the lady next to be. But still, how cool. It is amazing to me how you just go up and down on take off and landing. It was very noisy, but the ear muffs helped. I was also surprised with how bumby a ride it is. For some reason I assumed it would be really smooth. And...the crew was Russian. Yep, Russian plane and 2 Russian crews made for a terrific James Bond day.

Note 1: Not sure why I was feeling like I was in a James Bond movie. It just did!

Note 2: Sitting in the waiting rooms at the MONUC airports, both in Kalemie and Goma, I was really struck by it being a United Nations airport. There were soldiers from Benin, India & Pakistan, a UN worker from Sierra Leone, a Chinese man and many others from different nations. For all that the UN is slammed for its beauracracy and ineffeciency, there is nothing more beautiful than seeing the world represented in a small airports in Eastern Congo.

Major Accomplishment

OK...this will be a short post...

Last week I went down to our site office in Kalemie to do a small training session. I have created a new Excel Spread sheet that combines both budget lines and figures with the actuals that are posted. You would think this would be easy...but when you have a hundred lines + budget with lines that are charged to the same account code, it makes tracking budget spending a little difficult. However, I think I cracked the code and have come up with the perfect spread sheet.

But that's not the major accomplishment. I gave the entire training in FRENCH! Ok, honestly, maybe it was 98% French and 2% English. Either way...whoo hoo me!

Got Rabbit?

The lengths Quinton will go to look for his pureed rabbit...