the flopposite

okay, i couldn’t leave the country without telling you about our goodbye party last night. unlike the thank-you party for the neighbors that was a total flop, this one had all the magic and warm fuzzy feeling of a well-hosted soirée in a well-situated venue. all these french words...guess i’ve been here a while. friends, neighbors, countrymen, labo peeps, docs and nurses from medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and pmi, as well as administrators showed up for the event. the house looked more like a home than it ever has with the sitting areas and spare decor we were able to muster together. castel, regab, coca, and d’jino flowed freely...a lot more freely than the fanta that’s still collecting ice in the fridge. it became the joke of the night, rachel trying to get folks to drink fanta. it really is just sugary orange water, but i digress. awkward pauses at the beginning became animated conversations and people from so many different groups actually mixed and mingled. there were swiss, germans, americans, gabonese, cameroonese?, and french of course. i gave up trying to remember how many greeting kisses for each; i think it’s two for gabon, three for france, and four for swiss, alternating cheeks. at least five different languages ebbed and flowed. the thing was a raging success...a lot better than my goodbye breakfast-turned-lunch with the ant-invaded pastries at pédiatrie. that was stressful. this was a blessing. the goodbyes were genuine and heartfelt...and just what i needed to properly take my leave. thanks to everyone who helped me to survive, learn, and grow here. you have my most sincere gratitude.

(in the picture is pediatrician isabelle on the far left and internist sylvia on the far right)