Friday List!

Sarah's List:

I love in-flight magazines! Remember this? Here's an article about how in-flight magazines trick their captive audiences into visiting war-torn countries. It's so true. We flew a lot this summer within the US and one of these magazines totally had me convinced that I must, MUST! visit Arkansas. I feel so deceived.

Compliments of Egypt Air.

Thinking about umbrellas and really, really wishing the rainy season would just start already. This dust is killer. How did we live in Egypt for two years?

  by  linh.ngan 

My favorite corner of the world, in watercolor. Find your favorite corner in watercolor too...

Can you guess where this is?

From Time Magazine this week: "Documenting the Democratic Republic of Congo with an iPhone". Or as I'd like to call it "Taking photos of Coltan miners so they can make your phone so you can take pictures of Coltan miners. Repeat."

  by  Jon Gosier 

I'm sorry, a recipe for ice cubes? Totally ridiculous. But check out the ratings and reviews.

Update: I know, I know you've seen the ice cube recipe a million times already. But with Jill as my witness, I had the recipe on the draft of this list 48 hours before it went viral. And Jill had already found such a beautiful ice cube picture...

A taste of the reviews: "This recipe is horrible! Maybe I should have left them in longer than two minutes (the recipe doesn't say how long to leave them in the freezer so I just kind of guessed) but mine came out all watery. I won't be making these again."

Got a few bored minutes? Check this out.


Jill's List:

Trying to find potting soil in Kinshasa.  Shoprite?  Brought back some herbs to try this.  Mupwa doesn't think it will work...

 
It can't be that hard to start an NGO...  Does Congo even need another NGO?  Are NGOs a good thing?

Neil the maintenance guy (among other titles) tells me that I might be able to get my hands on some extra shipping pallets left over from the summer work on campus.  New porch furniture!

 My kind of sewing.  And Mama Vida & Mama NouNou.  They never use patterns.  Here's my favorite top/tunic/dress. 

Because we love to write about hair.  For all of you who did not chop off all of your hair this summer:

At the Jack Bell gallery in London.  Kinshasa's own, Bandoma.

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Friday List!

JILL'S LIST:
  
I'm such a sucker for magazines.  I had high hopes for iPad glossies, but alas, Internet woes have prevented much of that fun.  However, during a burst of good bandwidth the other day, I was able to download two exquisite new magazines.  Both are travel-with-families oriented.  Both feature overly-expensive luggage and scented candles.  I can't get enough.  (via Design Mom)

And, as I have the luxury to write about magazines and prepare for vacation, things really heat up in the East . 
Jason Stearns writes:

 While the M23 rebellion is taking up most of the Congo news in Congolese and foreign press, a series of largely unconnected massacres has been taking a far larger human toll in the area of Bunyakiri and Ufamando. According to United Nations reports, over 200 civilians - and possibly many more - have been killed in tit-for-tat massacres between the Rwandan FDLR rebels and the Raia Mutomboki militias since the beginning of the year.

Photographer, Phil Moore, shows:

I'm considering options for replacing some of our circa-1970's U.S. Embassy issue furniture with stuff made out of shipping pallets. Seriously!  (When in need of furniture, we also love the items at Artisanat et Développement, of course!) I just had a big talk with our school maintenance manager, convincing him of the intense brilliance behind my plan (and enlisting his help).  He promised to scope out a place on Avenue de la Justice for pallet hookups.  He was semi-convinced when I showed him these pictures:

Interesting Congo-centric project.  Interviews with real people.  (As opposed to fake ones.)

SARAH'S LIST:

Part of the reason I like writing for this blog is how reckless I allow myself to be with punctuation. And I get to start almost every sentence with "and." I also put commas wherever the heck, I, want,. But here's a good piece on proper placement.

Today's Christmas for the Kimbanguistes. Remember the fascination with their orchestra after the 60 Minutes episode? They'll spend today parading all over town playing instruments and singing. It sounds like one non-stop marching band is passing outside all day.

Okay, so we've already seen this all over Facebook. But it makes a lot of sense to me. The #1 thing I notice as soon as the plane lands in the States is this fascination with phones. Adam and I left before the dawn of the smart phone and then never caught up. I use a Nokia that's so old, I couldn't even find a picture of it. So here's to being hands free!

A fun chart to figure out How Common Is Your Birthday. I'm assuming this is based on American births. I can't quite imagine other countries avoiding giving birth on July 4, Halloween and Christmas as much as we do.

  by  Aih. 

Babies Around the World. With a nice photo of a Congo Mama.

We've been blessed with fertility. Here's an article about that awful Two Week Wait for those who are not. With #2, there was no two week wait because we almost missed the entire first trimester...but that's another post about the idiocy of not knowing you're pregnant.

  by  euthman 

How to Take Photos of Newborns. And not look like Anne Geddes, bless her heart. There are actually some great ideas here. I just happen to live next door to everyone's favorite photographer, so I don't need to worry about these tips. But for the rest of you...

  by  Nina Matthews Photography 

And a final link for one of our favorite fans. You know who you are. Pretty much the only reason I would ever make myself read an article entitled: Pro-Wrestling, Senegal Style.

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