Top Ten Reasons to Live in the Congo

(don’t worry, next week I will present the top ten reasons why NOT to live here)

1. Tin-Tin paraphernalia (apparently there is a book where he went to the Congo. You can’t shake a stick in Kinshasa without hitting some cutesy wooden carving for sale)
2. The fantasy of buying a monkey and training it to mix cocktails in one step closer to achievement
3. You tell future stories that begin with, “When I was in the Congo…”
4. Impress your former classmates at high school reunion
5. You can tell current stories that begin with “Whenever I get the #@$! out of the Congo…”
6. Help people recovering from war
7. Overuse allusions to Heart of Darkness (Oh, the horror!)
8. Really cheap beer
9. Give parents/grandparents more material for proving how much more interesting their daughters are than other peoples’
10. Drive a landcruiser through muddy roads like in jeep commercials