Back in the Saddle

So I think many Peace Corps Volunteers could describe the apprehension one has when returning to one’s site. We all know that once we get there, we will be content. Kids will come running down the path to carry our stuff, babbling in a language we don’t particularly understand, huge smiles on their faces (how did they even know I got back??). We will slip right back into it, we will remember what we love about living alone in a small African village. It’s the pulling yourself away from your ExPat life that’s the hard part and that is exemplified by the simple packing your stuff and getting your ass to the taxi gare. Once you are comfortably (question mark?) seated in your taxi on your way home, you sigh a big breath of relief and resign yourself to the ride, where you have nothing but time to think. In fact, my taxi ride is even too short for my thought process now. In Guinea the shortest taxi ride I might feasibly take would be about 2 hours. But for the most part, I was looking at a 4-6 hour ride (if Allah decided to bless the taxi) or if I was truly lucky, a 12-14 hour stint. Which gives you a LOT of time to think. And I really enjoyed it. Guinea is such a beautiful place. To just sit in that taxi, thinking, looking out at some of the most beautiful sights I’ve had the pleasure of routinely experiencing in my life – that’s a blessing, my friends.

My taxi ride here is an hour to an hour and a half. Not exactly the same thing. I barely get that puppy grinding before I find I’m already home. It’s a relief and a disappointment, but mostly a disappointment.

And it’s a paved road. What’s with that?

Anyway. When I got back, Hawa was bursting to tell me that the three-legged puppy had regained use of his injured fourth leg. Both he and the grown family dog were there to greet me right when I got back and Gimpy just waltzed right into my house as soon as the door was open, like he owns the place. I thought maybe the little guy would have forgotten me, but no, his butt was wagging a million miles a minute when he saw me and the first thing he did after sniffing around for the leftovers bowl was plop down on his blanket and take a nap. I keep telling him, “you are not my dog! This is not your house!” Apparently he doesn’t speak English.

I haven’t gotten my cat back yet, though. That’s kind of weird. I hope Magellan hasn’t kicked the bucket like the last one.

So shortly after I got back, Drissa came by, and then the teenage boy who lives across from me who never speaks and whose name I don’t know came to the door holding my black chicken, Chester. He said that Chester is sick. But I didn’t know what he wanted me to do about it. I saw what he meant when he put Chester down and he sort of drunkenly wandered around, making weak cockadoodledoos constantly. That is not chickenlike behavior. So I told Drissa to tell the family to eat him for dinner. So we did. They originally brought his hacked up carcass to me in a bowl but I was like just put him in the sauce, dude. RIP Chester. I hope we all don’t get Mad Chicken Disease now. That would suck.

My first momma Seli brought me a big bag of peanuts in a 25 kg World Food Programme rice sack. I was like WTF. I think she said some woman sent them over as a gift to me but I will have Drissa and/or Khalifa confirm this story for me the next time they are around. I know I won’t eat the peanuts. I’d rather have them made into sauce. So tomorrow I’m going to give the peanuts to the family and tell them to make me a friggin na tiga dege (peanut butter sauce) with tomatoes. Since it’s tomato season.

So while I was living Life #2 in BKO this last week, Raven pointed out some Moringa trees that were seeding and so I hopped out of the car and proceeded to do seed collection along with a much taller counterpart (I would have collected like a third as many pods without his help). Then we made Ousmane help us sensibilize the locals who were watching me like I was a crazy person about Moringa, it’s uses and benefits. Our (non-Peace Corps) friends looked at us like we were crazy while we were sensibilizing. But that’s my f-ing job and I am sooooo putting that on my quarterly report. DIFFERENCE MADE.

My plan is to create a tree nursery with these seeds and then go around to all the compounds and plant 2-3 in each one and explain why they should protect it and let it grow and then USE it. Gotta find a good spot for a pepiniere. If I get them open-root planted before I leave for the Segou Music Festival they should be a decent size when I get back. And I could start outplanting them in March. Go me.

So Drissa is going to put together a meeting to decide what kind of latrine we want to build at the school and I will get that proposal written while I am in Segou. My pump proposal was accepted by the PC authorities and forwarded to the funding authorities, so here’s crossing my fingers for funding.

Gimpy wants to spend the night in here. But he is farting like nobody’s business so I might have to kick him out. He’s so much bigger than he was a week ago!! Nowhere near as beautiful as Yogi, though. Just saying.