As Seen on TV!

By the way... Tonight is the night! Survivor Gabon is on CBS in the states and I have heard that this is the first show of the season this evening. The humorous thing is that we'll not be able to see it for another year on the TV's in Libreville. HA! You'll want to tune in. Not that I promote it, but I can't help but think that they'll be spending more time describing and showing scenes of the country than they will in other episodes. The filming of Survivor ended the beginning of August, so we showed up as they were breaking camp. The people of Gabon were very interested and are somewhat hopeful that this will lead to additional tourism- the industry they'd like to see grow.

In other "good news"...

I FINALLY GOT MY THINGS THAT WE SHIPPED FROM FRANCE!!! You may have heard that there has been quite a saga surrounding my 3 foot lockers that I had sent from France. I had sent them in the middle of June from the town of Chambery, France and now, over 3 months later, they have arrived in our home! The end of the journey came yesterday morning. We were waiting for a phone call saying that the last piece of paperwork had arrived and I could come and pick up my stuff. Instead of that phone call, we got a call from our contact at the port, "Ange", who said that he was standing with the customs officer, "the Douane", there in the warehouse with our containers, and the officer would like to do a piece by piece inspection of our things. Arnie, our business agent who was handling the call, said that this is often a tactic of the Douane to get one last payment for the items. Arnie asked me if I was comfortable in giving the "OK" for Ange to persuade the Douane that this inspection was uneccessary by offering to buy him a coke. So... what would you say at the end of a 3 month long journey, piles of paperwork, phone calls, trips to the port, etc. ? Well... I said "YES!" So, the terms were settled and the Douane released the things to Ange who was kind enough, for a small price, to put them into the back of his friends BMW and deliver them to me! He only asked about $5 or $6 for this, but, with a big smile and a "merci beaucoup", I gladly gave hime $10 (5000 Central African Francs).

So... it was a happy day at our home. Everything in the containers made the journey without incident- books, crock pot, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, clothing, pictures (my mom & dad are again on the bookshelf looking down upon us!), the Wii game system (with Dance Dance Revolution!), folders, and much, much, more. The boys have introduced some of our Gabonese neighbors to the Wii- Stefan and his little brother Claude.

Next on the agenda is to get our Gabonese driver's license (I'm using an Int'l license you can get at any AAA in the US), an airport pass to have access to secure areas around the airport, and a couple more repairs and upgrades around the house.