Regularly Scheduled Programming...

...will return shortly.

But for now, we are October breaking here in Kinshasa.  This means various things for the teachers and students at our school, but for me, it's been a little of the following:

Devouring my first lobster with a side of Club Premium Lager for a very low price.  Yeah, really!  I figured that "at a dive in Ghana" was as good as any setting for such an important "first."
Afterward, I interviewed everyone at the table about their "my first lobster" story.
I won't lie, there were some tears.

Midnight swimming in this gorgeous pool.  I mostly worked at this hotel (more on that later), but some friends and I did take a midnight swim one evening.  We had to sign a waiver!  They sent a hotel representative marching out with official papers when they saw us attempting a dip.

Crashing a Ghanian wedding.  Sort of.

Frolicking with great friends and colleagues on the (sort of dirty) shores of Accra.

Resisting bedtime routines in order to hold sleeping (not really) babies (anymore) on my lap for many minutes upon returning home.

Taking this joker to "work" with us while Johan and I traded edits on grad school Statements of Purpose.

Documenting important specimens for our resident (mini) entomologist.

Watching the least scary parts of The Hobbit (and introducing Elias to the "this wasn't in the book" game) during Congo thunderstorms while wrapped in overly-touristy Maasai warrior airport souvenirs.

I was also able to deliver Mama Vida's second piece of beautiful batik to her - straight from the arms of her "sister" Esther in Osu, Accra.  She is every bit the businesswoman and I persuaded her with the promise of a large, eager-to-buy, crowd to stay open late for us:

This is what Mama Vida made with last year's fabric selection:

Can't wait to see this year's creation.