You Don't See That Everyday...

Here in the Congo, there are many days where one is a witness to something that just makes you scratch your head and ask yourself, "Did I really just see that?" I have compiled a small collection of photographs for your viewing pleasure so that you may catch a glimpse of the "not so normal" which is actually normal for here.

Photo #1

You are witnessing 7 pieces of machinery attempting to asphalt less than 50 yards of road. Obviously only one piece of equipment is being used but there are many non-workers standing in the way who are telling the workers how to do their jobs. In fact, we were just amazed that they were repairing the road. (It took us nearly 2 hours to through the traffic jam caused by this).

Photo #2

You are viewing a guy on a motorcycle who is wearing a thick, down ski jacket. What is wrong with that? It is 80 degrees outside and we are traveling about 15 mph.

Photo #3

A really neat bumper sticker that says "I am Born to WIN." Pretty ironic for a wrecked vehicle. This was in the junk yard/side of the road/empty parking space beside a few restaurants.

Photo #4

There is a man (on the left with a brown shirt) jumping off the back of this vehicle which he was riding. There is a kid (in the middle with a black shirt) jumping on the vehicle for fun (barefooted). And there is a man with roller blades holding on. This is the first guy I have ever seen here with roller blades and he only rides down this strip of road. This was also the only time I saw him "hitch a ride." But he is wearing a helmet, so score 1 for the roller skater!

Photo #5

You are looking at a stack of ice blocks. The building on the right is a "quincaillerie" (hardware store) and the building on the left is a "sec et nettoyer" (dry & wash/dry-cleaners). I am not sure why there is a stack of ice blocks outside of those buildings especially sitting on top of plywood which is covering a drainage ditch.

We have learned to not ask why (we do find ourselves saying "whhhaaaaaaaaaaat???" quite frequently) and just sit back and muse over our surroundings.