I saw a pet/guard baboon, ... I'm dead serious

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Once again this post has been delayed due to internet connectivity issues. But hopefully you enjoy all the same. :)

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So turns out that I left out quite a few important details in my last post so here is a quick summary of the things that I know that you just really wanted to know. :)

I forgot to let everyone know about my local celebrity status, I'm quite famous in my office now since I was sent to a meeting during my third week here in Gabon and was on the national television news that night. Who would have thought right?  One guy said that he had lived in Gabon most of his life and hadn't made it on the national news yet so he couldn't understand how I was that lucky after only three weeks in-country. :) I also forgot to point out that when I visited the African market in the middle of the street that believe it or not the roadway was actually open to vehicles. Yes that's right, so basically every ten minutes or so the merchandise sellers would have to clear out to let a slow moving vehicle through. As you can imagine that was not the most enjoyable experience for pedestrians and customers. The locals were unperturbed of course, I guess they are used to the arrangement.

This one isn't exactly an update per se since it's new information for me, but it relates to a previous post so I will go ahead and add it in here. The picture below should look familiar since a random person walking through a neighborhood carrying a sewing machine really shouldn't be a common occurrence yet every Saturday without fail while I am out doing engineers without borders I see this guy walking by with a sewing machine on his shoulder. Silly me, but my first my thought was that the neighborhood had a sophisticated sewing machine rental service complete with a delivery service comprised of this one guy (or maybe series of guys). Let's be honest I thought it was a one guy delivery service. :) Turns out that I have an overactive imagination and this guy below is known as the little tailor (le petit tailleur). He and all the other guys with sewing machines on their shoulders are of Ghanaian descent and are very talented tailors and displace to customers homes whenever they are called to repair clothing, fix hems and the like. I've never seen them in my neighborhood but I have a pair of pants with a failing hem and I'm taking them with me to Engineers Without Borders this coming weekend. One of the locals has promised to get me an "appointment" for Saturday morning sometime. :)

Little Neighborhood Tailor (Le petit tailleur)

As promised I am including countless photos as there are so many things to see here and I get the feeling that if I don't post pictures no one would believe me when I share stories or describe experiences. So the picture below was taken at the Loupe Nature Reserve. I can't take credit for it since unfortunately I have not made the trek out there yet although it is high on my list of things that I want to do here. My coworker Celine shared this picture with me and wanted me to be sure to give photo credit to her husband. No, he is not a brilliant local photography but yes he does take beautiful pictures although in all honesty it can't be that difficult with such a beautiful and inspiring landscape. :)

Loupe Nature Reserve -- Courtesy of NDONG ONDO Parfait

So for the last few days I have been doing field reconnaissance for a new project that I'm starting soon. This has been a great opportunity to get to know Libreville. Every morning my boss' driver takes me and the two local engineers out to look at existing infrastructure so we can document condition, size and other properties.  I was out at the National Assembly building today and unfortunately because of excessive rain the last two days there is a huge "swimming pool" in the street adjacent to the building.  There was also a make shift internet café with locals trying to use the government's wifi.


"Internet Café"

DSW - Gabon Style

Sidewalk Art

I attended the Gabonese Annual Agricultural Fair recently. As of right now, my theory is that the Gabonese don't like natural local foods so unfortunately despite living in the tropics right at the Equator in fact, I can't seem to find a lot of the things that I had in St Lucia. Pretty sad.  I was really excited by this agricultural fair and was hoping that there would be tons of foods to sample but alas I was very disappointed.  I've included random photos that I took. Since I wanted to honestly be able to check the box on the US immigration form that says that I have not had access to any agricultural farms, I did not touch any of the animals. My only interaction was capturing them in the photos included below. :)



Poster Showing Projects by a non-profit



Rabbits at the Agricultural Fair

Goats at the Agricultural Fair

Chicks

First and only breadfruit sighting in Gabon

Totally random, but the sunsets here are just so amazingly beautiful that I had to include this one. Got it through the bus window on my phone on my way home last week.


Beautiful Sunset

Happy Halloween - just a few weeks late

There are/were Texans in Gabon - saw this in my apartment complex

So it is Thursday night November 13th and I'm finalizing this blog to post it and the power goes out. Ironically my internet connection is on fire tonight, I think I might just be able to post after all. I do however have to find the one candle that made the trip from Annapolis (thanks for my awesome handmade colorful lavender candle, ... you know who you are :) ) so I don't burn my dinner which is still cooking on the stove. :)

As promised here is the baboon from a recent sighting in a neighborhood in Libreville.  I also saw a goat walk by a restaurant when I was having lunch one day - see photo below. :)


Real Live "pet/guard" Baboon

Goat having a stroll through the city during lunch time

Daily Happenings ...

As I'm writing this 10 days into my Gabon adventure let's just say that the theme of being in Africa and things very rarely being as expected continues. Mind you having grown up on the beautiful island of St Lucia in the Caribbean (where naive me), I assumed that I'd have a leg up on those who went into culture shock here on the continent. I was wrong of course.  Would you believe that in general, in the parts of Libreville that I've seen, people walk in the streets and cars park on the sidewalk because there is a shortage of parking and an overabundance of vehicles? Also on a recent trip to the store I realized that tuna fish costs about $8 a can but a baguette costs about 25 cents.  I'm coming back with a suitcase full of tuna the next time I'm in the US.

Well turns out that the internet here is extremely spotty and unreliable and although I began this post about 2 weeks ago I haven't been able to update it or post it because I haven't had the internet at home. That's been the hardest adjustment so far. Anyway I'm trying to take advantage of the fact that the internet is up and running so I will get on with this update.  Since getting here almost a month ago I've done very little apart from work. That's probably not surprising since I did come here because of my job but I've also been doing Engineers Without Borders with a local chapter of the organization on the weekends and that has been very rewarding. Here is a hodge podge of random photos from the last few weeks.

Yup that's me working and not just managing the work :)

Taking a break afterwards with a coworker and one of the locals

The bulk of the locals who showed up to help were kids

Taking a break with the locals at the end of the work day

Yup still digging out the ditch

This little girl was helping while carrying her little brother around

Random guy walked by with a sewing machine

Kids trying to help to dig out this stump. Yup that's a machete on top of the stump.

The men working on the stump

Yup still working on the stump

The ladies taking a break from digging the ditch

This guy fell into the ditch while he was showing off. Hopefully he didn't catch anything

So besides Engineers without Borders I have been exploring a little. I've obviously gotten over my fear of getting arrested taking photos so here are a few more from last weekend. It was a weekend of paradoxes as evidenced by the pictures. I had drinks with some new friends in the swanky part of Libreville near one of the President's residences and witnessed the most beautiful sunset. I've included photos of course. :)

Sunset in Libreville

Sunset in Libreville

The following day I went with some other friends to check out a local market and that in itself was an experience. It was exactly what I pictured in my mind when I thought of an African market, bartering and the constant fear of being pick pocketed in the back of my mind included.  I did not feel comfortable taking pictures here but I found an amazingly accurate one online and I've included it below for your viewing pleasure. :)

African Market near Petit Paris

By the way for the runners out there planning on coming out to run the Gabon marathon, it is widely publicized over here and quite a few of my coworkers are planning on doing it. I might do the 5K or 10K for this year's race since it's the inaugural one.  In terms of exploring outside Libreville, that hasn't happened yet but it will happen sometime soon. There are about ten national parks in Gabon so I should make it out to one or two of them sometime soon. Don't worry I will take pictures and provide animal sighting information when that happens.

Newly Arrived in Gabon: Reflections on Pre-Departure Adventures and Happenings...

Despite multiple pre-departure distractions and a few moments of clarity where I asked myself "why would I leave the comforts of Annapolis to move halfway around the world" I've made it to Gabon. Woohoo! First time on the African continent and I thoroughly intend to enjoy it.

Fifteen days pre-departure, it should come as no surprise to anyone, that my to-do list was still extremely long.  Have you ever tried to consolidate years of living on three floors in a town house to a couple of boxes and two suitcases? Trying to get down to the 2 suitcases was a hopeless feat that I was convinced was impossible. I was right, I showed up at the airport with three suitcases and a backpack that weighed 40 lbs. Luckily the checkin lady took pity on me and let me carry it on despite being 15 lbs over the weight limit. Sitting here at 1 am in my apartment in Libreville, Gabon three days into this adventure, I can't even remember what was in that backpack.  It just goes to show that I probably didn't even need half the crap that was in it. :)


One of the most recent memorable moments I spent in Annapolis was the weekend that Chad and Gordon decided that my last few weeks in the US should count and I should live up to Gordon's 2014 mantra "2014 is going to be a great year."  So despite needing to get packed and organized (you saw what I said earlier about a three floor 3 bedroom townhouse), we went on my first overnight and we made memories.  This was a weekend of lots of firsts for me. My first overnight, my first time at Meredith Creek, my first time sleeping on a boat and believe it or not my first time "swimming" in the Bay.  The weekend was incredible, Lezly and Sophia and Eric tagged along. Luckily for the trip planners Gordon and Chad who didn't think of all the little details, Lezly brought food to sustain us over the weekend. ;)

Meredith Creek Overnight Crew

Since that weekend, I've had many other interludes, seen lots of friends and had an opportunity to hang out in some cases one last time before the big move across the ocean. I took this opportunity to visit Union Jack's, Jalapeños, Saigon Palace, Vin 909, Potato Valley Cafe and other Annapolis businesses just one and sometimes four more times before I shipped out. I'm really glad that I did because I haven't quite gotten used to the food here yet. :)

My going away party hosted by Gordon and QWP a mere 7 days ago must be mentioned because it was epic. Everyone couldn't make it, but the people that came made it such a beautiful last afternoon out on Harness Creek. A veritable afternoon of good food, good company, loads of fun, great country music in the background (my last opportunity for that) and great conversations. What was most interesting about the party was the fact that all these different facets of my life collided at the crossroads of Harness Creek. Very few of these people knew each other before the party but they all knew me and were there to show their support for my crazy decision to go out and see the world and take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. What is pretty clear to me now is that many new friendships began that day and will continue even while I'm gone. Maybe my purpose all along was really to bring these people together.

Marie et Moi

Impromptu Sunset Sailboat Cruise

Beautiful Annapolis Sunset

Quiet Waters Paddle & Peddle

The one sore spot for we, was the loss of Ruffles aka "Ruff" last week. Terry came up from Texas to pick him up and drove back to Houston early on Thursday so they both missed all of the Saturday Harness Creek festivities.  Packing and being in the house just wasn't the same without my dear little guard dog and companion.  I miss my baby boy but from all accounts he is doing well in Houston and loving the fact that he has a huge backyard to run around and go crazy in. 

Ruff the Texas Dog with Bandana

Tune in next time for details about my exciting trip to the center of the world. :)  Should have pictures and the like next time around. Although from all accounts I can get arrested for taking pictures of certain buildings downtown. I'd hate to be featured on Arrested Abroad so I will have to do some recon before I go on a photo taking excursion.