Today was kind of a fun, relaxing, explore the area kind of day. Last night we played some games and watched the Lion King. We had been playing Disney trivia and everyone talked about how the Lion King was their favorite, and we happened to have it here in the Congo. We met up at Amanda's house in the morning for pancakes and the original plan was to meet up with Dr. Syriac afterwards to head out on the boat and do some fishing. He was feeling sick though and wasn't able to meet up with us. We headed over to Anna's house to pick up some clothes the girls had made and I talked to him about making some stuff for me out of the fabric that I bought. Some guy also brought a giant lizard by and was trying to get us to buy it for like 50 bucks, which we didn't exactly feel like spending. He was saying we could have it as a pet, or eat it. I have pictures but the thing was pretty big, couple feet long and didn't look too happy to be tied up and stuffed in a bag. I was tempted, because who doesn't want to eat a giant lizard (Brian, maybe considered a dinosaur)? But, not for that much money.
We decided to head back to the Harvey's and see if we could find another boat, which we sadly did not. However, we likely will be able to go out tomorrow on the boat with another worker from the hospital, and maybe will even get to do some fishing. We met up with the other Stephanie (Dr. Harvey's niece) and Sephora and decided to head out on the bikes to ride on some trails in the jungle and find the "private beach." The trails were absolutely amazing. There was one part that is like a bunch of overgrown palm trees forming a small forest, which was totally amazing. We rode a bit further and found the secret beach. There were a few kids running around and playing in the water and some guys out fishing, but otherwise was completely empty. We walked around a bit and decided to swim in the Oubangui River (the one that separates the DRC from Congo). Water felt pretty awesome. It was the least clear water I've ever been in and we all joked about the fun little parasites that swim up your urethra, so we'll see what happens there. Amanda and I decided we would "swim to the DRC".....yaaaaa, we tried. For the most part you could touch the ground in the river, and considering neither of us are great swimmers we felt pretty good about it. Then...yeah, we couldn't find the bottom. It was pretty deep at this point and then we realized that the current was actually pretty strong. We were about half way (or at least it looked about that) across the river and kinda realized it probably wasn't the best idea to keep going, so we tried to turn around. Locked out. The current was much much stronger than we thought and we weren't able to swim back against it. There was a slight moment of panic in me as again, I'm a terrible swimmer. But we treaded water and started swimming on an angle with the current and within a few minutes we were able to get to a point where there was some sand that we could touch again. We figured since we swam to the half-way point in the river that it was probably considered DRC waters, so we took a picture and are just going to claim that we made it to the DRC-ish.....next step English Channel, watch out. Glad that didn't end terribly. Had like a crazy flash of all the terrible possibilities if that current was any stronger. We followed the current down to a sandbar and were able to walk back to the beach. We tried to flag a guy down to buy some fish, but they just kept going.....maybe my Lingala accent is terrible.
We rode back and stopped at the leprosy clinic to see how it's progressing. I guess they're still in the process of building it up, but it looks like they're making good progress. I'm not sure how many patients were there as we didn't exactly go in.....but maybe I'll be able to go back with Sarah next week.
Oh yeah, before we left for the hospital in the morning I went and played soccer with Noah and bunch of local kids for a moment. They have a soccer team and have been playing in a league with a bunch of guys much older than them, but have been doing pretty well. I told Noah I played goalie in high school in club leagues, so they wanted to "test" me. They had one of their guys shoot on me, and I blocked him, so they approved. Later in the day they wanted me to come by and "teach them some goalie stuff." I had Noah shoot on me and I dove outstretched to save it, and all the kids got really excited and started applauding. YES, easy way to connect with kids. Be semi-okay at soccer haha. I'm actually terrible in the grand scheme of things since I've haven't played in 10 years, but against 15 year old kids, I can stop the ball and impress them. I showed them some diving drills and they got really excited. We then played a game where they broke up into two teams, I would kick the ball out, and they would try to gain possession and score on me. They were surprised at how aggressively I came out of the net and attacked the ball and kept saying how they needed to teach their goalie to be more aggressive. Yay for connecting. At that point I was covered in mud and then we headed out on the bikes for the beach. Noah seemed pretty happy that I played with them and said, "it's so nice to have a real goalie to shoot on...." to which I laughed, but it helps being twice their size :)
Nothing really happened at the hospital today. There was the possibility of there being a C-section, but she delivered without needing it, so we were slightly disappointed. Otherwise Dr. Kiong was on call and nothing really happened. I rode back to the house, made dinner for Dr. Kiong and I, and then headed back to hang out with Kara, Amanda, and Stephanie. The PA students are leaving Monday, so this will be their last two days here. Tomorrow we have church, and I'll be playing music with the group again and also they asked me to share for 5 minutes, so I need to figure something out in that regard. I'll let you know later what I think of to share with them. They have to translate, so that'll make it a bit shorter for me. Anyway, a bit of a short post today, but the pictures were great and I'll show them to you later. Really just had a fun day, relaxing and seeing the area. Pretty awesome to explore the "jungle" a bit, though still no monkeys, sad face. We are meeting with Dr. Kiong tomorrow to do some pharmacy inventory at 7am as well, so a bright and early start. Until tomorrow.....enjoy you're night!
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