School

He always complains and often cries when I bring him to school, but it seems to me Jourdain enjoys it plenty once I've left... Here he is with buddies Vincent (left) and Johan (right).

Lobster Lady

One day, about a year and a half after we had moved to Port-Gentil, a woman from Togo came to the door carrying 20 kilos of live lobsters in a pan on her head. It was a very big pan. She introduced herself as Odile, and wouldn't I like to buy 10 kilos of lobsters? I ought to add here that the sun was high in the sky and relentless (at least 35C / 90F), and she had a 2-year-old child strapped to her back. Since I do like lobster and happen to have a soft spot for women walking down the street with 20 kilos of stuff on their head carrying a baby in the hot sun I called everyone I knew in town and we bought her whole load. Needless to say I quickly became Odile's new favorite customer and found myself buying lobster a bit more regularly than I might normally in another situation.

Here's our guard Herve and the kids "playing" with one of our new friends.
I should also admit that while I enjoy eating lobster (MMMMm...lobster and mango salad at the beach!), I really don't enjoy the boiling-alive-in-a-pot aspect to the whole ordeal. Odile quickly assured me she wasn't as worried about it as I was, and before I knew it she was in my kitchen taking care of business.
Note lobster in pot to the left and Odile cleaning up to the right. I doubt the guy at the fish counter at the supermarket back home would be as kind...
So, anyone planning to come to Gabon for vacation is welcome to join us in a delicious lobster salad, with the compliments of Odile.

Cabana View

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago with the aim of tempting certain friends and family members (You know who you are!) to come vacation here with us in Port-Gentil. This was the view on a Sunday looking out from our beach cabana. The ships in the background are oil tankers heading off to Houston filled with unrefined Gabonese oil, and if you can live with that as a bit of an eye sore it's worth coming and hanging out at the beach with us some weekend!

We're Back!

Ok, so we haven't actually been anywhere, but I've been locked in my office completely engrossed in a long and painful legal translation that was due today. As of 4:35 this afternoon though I am a free woman and back on track with the blog!


The latest is that somewhere between my last post and today Noah learned how to crawl! Here he is revving up his motor below. He's only just kicking it into first gear this week, but I assume by the time I post next he'll be chasing the cats around the house at a nice pace.

More to come tomorrow!

They're back!

The USS Fort McHenry and its crew are back in Port-Gentil this week for a second round of training for the Gabonese Navy. Today I start interpreting for the Maritime Law class. Hmmmmm....Better bring my best dictionary!