Lorsque dans Rome

Lorsque dans Rome

When in Rome… Well our African education is beginning.  While still somewhat jet lagged we are starting to get with the program. 

First - dress code for Sally.

She has not had to cover her head.  But she does have to have her shoulders covered (i.e. a t-shirt works) and a skirt that covers about half way between knees and ankles.  This is good, as it keeps the hot from being hotter! 

Unlike what we think many experience while living in Africa, looks like we will be doing the cleaning, cooking and our laundry ourselves. Sally was rather looking forward to living a spoiled life. 

Our friend Darwin would love to be here.  There are many, many birds.  We have seen a whole “group” of green parrots like those we saw in Chile.  We need a bird book to help us with some others.  But the ones we are seeing are very colorful.  And we did bring our binoculars.  We were told this is a great birding place right at the center because we are along the river.  Apparently some birders are coming to the Center in October so hopefully we can learn some things.

We can see the river from this property (not from our apartment) but we haven’t been close to it yet.  You can see big clumps of “grass” flowing fairly rapidly downstream.  This is because it has been the rainy season and the river is really full.   We’ve been told this will be a good time to see hippopotamuses.  Hoping we will.

We have been surrounded so far by people from the States i.e. we are barely hearing French much less speaking it.  When we left the center to go shopping today it was much different trying to use French to actually purchase something.

There is no way you would exercise during the day in this heat and intense sun.  We were up walking at 6am – while it is “cool” and before the sun is up.  Right now the only place we really know to walk is around the Center which is 10 times around to go 1 mile.  Hopefully we will discover other options.

Food hasn’t been a problem.  The “American” ladies filled our refrigerator for the first few days and we have our first dinner in someone’s home tonight.  There is a conference going on at the Center so we joined them for a lunch, which are like a dinner meal to us – rice or couscous and meat and vegetables – cooked veggies.  Actually the heat right now makes us not so hungry.  We are drinking a ton of water and it is almost entirely secreted by sweat.  We always feel like we just finished exercising and we look that way too – wet!

We eat lunch with about 30 people since there is a class on Translation 101 going on.  At 12:30 everyone and we mean everyone takes a “rest” until about 3:00.   Then people go back to work until 6:00 or so.  So our schedule is quite different from home.  This week we are under strict orders to not worry about working.

We went for groceries this morning in one of the nicer grocery stores.  It was nice (air-conditioned) and fairly well stocked, but expensive. We then went out for ice cream, a real treat. 

The Americans at the center live pretty frugal lives.  They do not buy some of the things we might like because they are too expensive.  Not wanting to look entirely over indulged, we passed by some things we might have liked.

We went to the store in an un-air-conditioned truck that belongs to the Center.  They hope to take us a few times and then have us driving.  You’ve got to be kidding!!  I, Sally, have no desire to drive.  It’s not like there are really rules to follow and the narrow roads are cluttered with cars, taxis, goats, and motorcycles .  

Driving from the Center to town we pass the Chinese, French, Nigerian and American Embassies.  The main road is paved but the minute you turn off of it you are on red dirt bumpy roads.  This is the capital but it is like a country village.  Goats are wandering all over.  We can’t imagine how they know whose goat is whose.  There are small stands everywhere selling tobacco or bottles of gasoline or vegetables.  It feels chaotic, very hot and dusty.