Holding Hands
When Cheryl and I are walking along I frequently look over and see her hand dangling at her side and I instinctively start to reach for it, just as I would in the states, when I remember that I cannot do that here, where physical contact between a husband an wife is never seen in public. A couple of days ago, however, I did have an encounter of the hand holding kind. Cheryl and I were making our usual rounds making conversation with different families in the village when I was greeted by a familiar voice, but not like I was used to hearing it. This time it was in Fulfulde and it is usually a voice I hear in English. It was Bob (name changed for privacy purposes) talking slowly for my benefit. I replied in Fulfulde and we went through the list of greetings that people go through here. Bob then asked (in English because I wouldn't have a clue what he was saying if it had been in Fulfulde) if I had seen his rice field. I said no, and so we went to go look at it. As we walked he explained how they farmed the rice and then much to my surprise he took my hand into his own and held it. Thankfully the father was with me and I did not show what I thought on the outside. As soon as I realized why he was holding my hand all of my culturally biased thoughts vanished and I realized that I now have a friend in Bob.
Sliced Bread
You know, my whole life I have heard the cliche´ the best thing since sliced bread, that had little meaning to me, but that was then and this is now. Shortly after our arrival here one of the M’s (not our host M’s, but another one) took us grocery shopping since we are still learning how to get around and how to say our numbers. She saw sliced white bread and bought three loaves or something like that and was just thrilled, but we had no clue why. Well, Cheryl and I decided that we were going to go shopping so that we could leave most of our food on the island, but get some stuff so that we can make lunches on the M-compound so we can grab a bite during language study. Well, we decided sandwiches would be a good idea. We got some ham at the market (and winced when we realized that it was $18 worth) and we also got some eggs and nutella (I was trying to find peanut butter) to eat on our sandwiches. To make a long story short there was no sliced bread there, only long skinny baguettes, so we go to the bread store where there will be all kinds of bread, right??? We were surprised to find nothing but baguettes, rolls, pita, and pastries at the bread store, so we bought the two baguettes that we thought were shaped the most like loaves and take them back to the M-compound. The next day we decide that we are going to have egg sandwiches so Cheryl fries some eggs and we slice the baguettes and make “sandwiches”. After nearly pulling out our front teeth in an attempt to eat these “sandwiches” we learn the meaning of “the best thing since sliced bread”.
Rits a Rhost
That’s what Scooby-Doo would have thought if he had seen me tangled up in the mosquito net as I tried to get it hung up for the night. I have fun doing this every night, though usually Cheryl helps me and the bed is usually outside, so that helps also!
We are having a sweaty, dirty, wonderful time. It is amazing how the father provides for us. We were getting eaten by mosquitoes every night despite mosquito nets and loads of bug spray and we're afraid of getting malaria even though we are on anti-malarial medicine. But one night Cheryl prayed that the father would close the mouths of the mosquitoes like he did the mouths of the lions for Daniel and since then (the last three nights) we have been bite free! This last picture is of the water in the river that we cross daily. I put this picture in here to tell Dr. Frost that we can only go "so far" when it comes to being like the people we are living with. They not only wash their clothes in this water, but they also BATHE in it! I will take a bucket bath in a grass-mat enclosure over that any day! I will just blame steering clear of the water rituals on account of my healthy fear of hippopotami (there are hippos here, and they like the river).
Nick
