i live with an belgian professor

i now have company in my little university of lubumbashi house! there is a rather eccentric oldermiddle-aged professor of botany who arrived today from bruxelles, belgium. he studies plants that have adapted to copper and cobalt-rich soils and apparently there are many species that have yet to be discovered (by him, i assume!). here he is pressing and drying plant specimens.

otherwise had a tiring full day of interviews, but on the plus side the wi-fi works at the house now. ive been spending some evenings across the street where some congolese families live in the same little courtyard as 8 chinese construction workers (2 come from the same hometown as my mother), where i eat dinner sometimes, chat in broken chinese and french, help translate between the workers and their neighbors (they are all very good at making fun of each other trying to speak each others languages), and watch kungfu movies. its a nice way to pass time when i get tired of typing up interviews.