12 random things.

• Yesterday while sitting in the plane my battery died and so I had some time to finish Ben Okri's "The Famished Road"; a book about the spirit-child Azaro who lives in Nigeria. A strange book in which the real and the spirit world spillover into each other. The almost 600 pages were finished in no time, though.
  
• I got this link to some nice pictures from a friend of mine already some time ago. Thanks Simon!
  
• The day before yesterday, when I was still in L'shi, I went to an Indian restaurant. I was never a big fan of Indian food, until last summer. After eating foufou, pondu, peanuts, beans, banana's and the occasional goat for weeks, Indian food with all its flavors was amazing. Why doesn't Congo have a rich cuisine? And is this only since recently?
• Wile eating I watched the Africa Cup with some locals: Nigeria vs Zambia (the latter lost). Was really nice! Let's hope all will go well this time when Algeria meets Egypt in the semi-final.
• To emphasize how important the medium of text message is please read this.
• Let's talk bottle deposit money. A crate of beer cost 20$ when you give them your used crate with empty bottles; other wise you pay $40! A bottle of coke is 500 Congolese Francs (around 50 $cents). But if you do not drink it at the spot (ie take the bottle with you) you either pay 1,000CFR or you have to bring it with you next time. I have a long term relation now with one of the sales ladies at the corner of the IRC compound, so we go for option 2. Yesterday when I came back after half a week in L'shi; the lady ran to me and said "you still have one of my bottles". Very true, I had kept it for her.
  
• I kept my Lubumbashi house key. Sorry Mark! I'll send it along with the next person who heads from Bukavu to L'shi.
• Jason Stearns keeps on writing great posts on Congo Siasa.
• Ok, so people argue that Sud Kivu is so bad off because of mineral resources. But what about Haut Katanga, which is know to be the richest province of Congo because of its resources. As always, it is not resources per se that is important, but who gets it: rebel groups and government soldiers, or big international companies that at least put part of the money they earn back in the country.
• If it wasn't that serious and tragic this would be the biggest joke ever. Btw, that cheque is so going to bounce.
  
• Today I am working from home. Why? 1. There is internet connection. 2. I have been hugging the toilet this morning. Last summer (when I was here for two months) I hadn’t been sick. This time (I am here for 1 month) I have already been sick 2 days!? I am quite sure that it are the Japanese Plums. A week ago I hugged the toilet shortly after eating them and thinking "fun, never had that before". Today I hugged the toilet shortly after thinking "he, there are those funny things again". Is two observations enough to draw that conclusion? Dear supervisor, please don't read this.
  
• So this is really random. Our Voix des Kivus' Field Coordinator is also the Director General of a school in Bukavu. In his office he had the school’s projection equipment: