Bien Integree

Is it Valentine’s Day today? That just occurred to me. I think it is. Is it February 14 every year? I dunno. Hmm.

So the fact that water is so freaking far away and down a mountain has caused me to start bringing my stuff to the water instead of the water to my stuff. Today I did bring back half a bucket of water to my house, much to the amusement of all the women down at the water source because they would NEVER take just half a bucket but let’s be honest. There’s no way I can bring a full bucket (20 liters) up that path.

So yesterday I washed my dishes, hair and the dog down there and today I washed my dishes, dog and clothes AND almost took a vrai bath…I was wearing a sports bra and shorts but I lathered up and got all wet.

I was toward the end of my laundry when one woman down there took it away and did the rest herself. Because evidently I suck at it. In my village people don’t use washboards, they wash on the concrete/rocks around the water sources, which is fine with me because I think I suck worse with a washboard.

People get a kick out of me bathing the dog each time. I don’t think they would EVER bathe a dog. I don’t think the thought would even cross their minds. Dogs aren’t pets here. They’re protection and they’re strays and that’s it. It is VERY rare to find a well-maintained/treated dog, but there were a couple in Forecariah.

So doing all my stuff down at the water source is bien integree (good integration). That’s what they do, so that’s what I should do anyway. And it’s a hell of a lot easier than bringing all that water to my house.

I REALLY need to find a petite to bring me at least one bucket of water a day, two would be ideal, even with doing most stuff at the water source because to have a real bath I need to do it here and for cleaning and washing hands I need water here as well. That’s just one of a million things I still need to figure out.

Like where the heck my reseau spot is. Kristine and my homologue have both said that there is a reseau spot somewhere. Oh AND people at Ian’s site said the same thing. But today I asked Nene to take me to it and it seemed like she said she would but I think a lot gets lost in translation here because she never ended up taking me and when I asked Madame Bangoura if there was a reseau spot she said there wasn’t. I am so confused.

Also, it must have been a fluke that I saw eggs during site visit because there are no eggs. There are onions, peanut oil, and maggi cubes and that’s about it. I am seriously starting to think I am going to need to make a once a week or every two weeks trip to John’s site to get food and make phone calls. Luckily the Sous Prefet told me that all the taxis stop here (I guess for bathroom and snacks aka oranges and bananas) so I don’t have to wave one down, I just hang out by the orange ladies and when one stops I ask if they have an open seat. Not as easy as having a vrai taxi gare but not as difficult as trying to wave one down on the side of the road.

Also, stuff here is really expensive (the few things they DO have). Like, I paid six mil for a can of condensed milk today. It’s like 2.5 mil in Forecariah. And then when I got home it was SWEETENED condensed milk which made it useless because it was for the dog! Then I paid 15 mil for a jar of mayo! Granted, I don’t know how much mayo costs elsewhere but COME ON. Also, peanut oil is 2.5 mil for about half what you would get for the same price in Boke. The only things that are cheaper are oranges and bananas because they are ubiquitous here. 5 big oranges are 500 francs, in Forecariah it was three small oranges for the same price. I think I paid 2 mil for 4 bananas on market day but I don’t really remember. Oh and today I found bread (there wasn’t any yesterday) and it’s a little bit cheaper but it’s also not as big, so…

Really if I wanted to eat exclusively what I can find in my village, I could have peanut butter and banana sandwiches for breakfast with fresh squeezed orange juice, and onion and tomato paste sandwiches for lunch and dinner. Unless I wanted to start eating sardines. Which I am not rushing to do (I’ve been feeding sardines to Yogi recently and even HE isn’t very interested in them). I would say really the only things you find on market day that you can’t find at the boutiques all the time are dried fish, rice, dried corn and garlic.

Today the Sous Prefet’s family gave me a big bag of oranges to bring home with me so I am STOCKED on oranges for awhile. Looks like it’ll be fresh squeezed orange juice for breakfast this week.

I need to find someone to tutor me in Pular and start studying it more on my own. There are a lot of people in my village who speak at least a little French, but the vast majority speak only Pular and even those who speak French speak Pular better. A handful of people know some English words and phrases, which I get a kick out of sometimes. Luckily Peace Corps has an allowance for tutoring which isn’t a lot by US standards but here I bet it would buy me a couple sessions a week. I have to ask around and see if anyone is interested. Preferably someone who also speaks some French.

There’s still a lot to do around my house but I am still just trying to get into a routine. Petite a petite, as they say.