Death Toll: 157

So when my friend Bella came over today with his friend I asked them for the news. Then I made them help me tear apart my living room looking for a dead mouse.

News first. So apparently they had not had a lot of opportunity to listen to the radio since yesterday but one thing they DID know was that the military is still firing in Conakry and the death toll is now 157. So on Day Two they killed almost as many people as on Day One. At least they’re consistent? They didn’t know anything about what happened with the demonstration in Mamou or if strife was spreading, but just based on the fact that the death toll is rising and there is still shooting in Conakry, I decided not to go to Paul’s race. Sorry Paul. You live in a big city and I have to go through two big cities and one medium city to get to you and I just…don’t want to push it. Plus for all I know we are on Standfast and nobody will be able to go to Paul’s race.

However I might go to John’s site tomorrow to use the phone and buy some eggs. I would like to talk to our Safety and Security officer so I can send a note to Ian and let him know the situation. It’s easy to go to John’s site tomorrow because it is our market day so there are plenty of taxis and if I get an early taxi MAYBE I could even get back in the same day. Maybe. Maybe not. But it’d be worth it to get my hands on some eggs and some phone service.

Also apparently you can watch French news (like CNN equivalent) at 8pm every night at the video club with the satellite dish. I opted not to go tonight because I’m tired but also because I can never understand the French newscasters (they talk fast and speak real French with real French accents!)

So this morning I was motivated to organize my house, take stock of everything I have, and put everything I’d want sent to me in the States in the suitcase. I was cleaning and organizing and making lists until mid-afternoon. And then I started to smell something rank. I had suspicions it was a dead mouse. At that moment, Bella and his friend came over and so after the respite of news I made them come inside and help me tear apart my living room looking for a dead mouse. We did not find one. They were like, “just spray some air freshener”. And I’m like…that is not going to work. Then they said just to wait and it will stink more and then we’ll be able to really locate where it is. I didn’t really smell it this evening, though, so maybe it was just the gone-bad cheese that I had been using to give them the poison. But on the plus side I did find one of Yogi’s bones under one of the couches and he’s pretty happy about that.

I had keke for dinner again. I am really not on the rice and sauce train right now. Keke’s where it’s at.