(West African Sunset - not where we live, but in Morocco)
Time changes, missed flights, reconnection, unexpected detours and delays = very tired students, but Cheryl already told you about that, so I will blog a little about what I have experienced. We arrived in the City where we live and there was no one to pick us up and since we did not have our luggage we were a little discouraged. When we take our first steps out of the airport we are assaulted by the muggy night air and then by cab drivers and men trying to sell us stuff. One of the Taxi drivers took a hold of Cheryl's bag while I was looking around trying to find our ride and he did not let go for uncomfortable amount of time. After I told all of the men "No" on the SIM cards, phone cards, and cigarettes that they were trying to sell me, I managed to find a security guard and tried to communicate that I needed a phone He grabbed a porter and asked him for his phone and we managed to contact our M's to get a ride, but then they escorted us back outside and turned off the lights so that we were sitting in the dark surrounded by people we do not know. We were so tired so I put all of our bags down while we waited, including the bag that I kept tightly clutched to my side all the way; the bag with the laptop, the digital camera, and the camcorder. Then we hear the Cousin call to prayer pierce the night and it made us feel even more alone in a strange land. Anyway, our ride showed up and we eagerly climbed in and headed for the M-center. We are getting cleaned up when I decide that I want to charge the computer so that we could call our parents to let them know we arrived, when I realized that I did not have the laptop. I searched the room and there was no electronics bag... I thought that I had surely left it in the truck so we get dressed again and go look. Nope, it was not it the truck. I had left it on the ground outside the airport. We got in the truck and our M drove very quickly back to the airport. When we pulled into the parking lot I saw right away that the bag was not there, but then something caught my eye, it was the electronics bag sitting on the front steps of the airport. I could not believe it! We went up to the man sitting beside it and explained that I was the owner and he said that I was a very lucky man that he, an honest man, found it. He asked me what was in it just to verify that it was mine and then had me check the contents to show me that it was all still there, and it was. So we gave him a couple thousand Francs and went on our way. I learned that we have an awesome father, he really provided a miracle for us despite my stupidity. PTL
We went out to the "island" where we are going to be living and it really is an island right now because of all the rain, and it was so amazing, I cannot wait to learn the language so that I can share with these people. The kept yelling "Anna Sarie"(or something like that) which means "white people" we thought that was funny. The little girls followed us around everywhere we went and I noticed that there were no boys around at least at first. Then I realized that all of the boys were walking past us carrying big bowls on their heads full of what looked like young rice plants. I later found out that I had assumed correctly when I saw them transplanting the rice into the patties where they would mature. As I watched, our M. told me that I would be helping the men plant rice and millet as well as doing other chores while Cheryl tries to learn how to pound millet in a rhythm with the women of the village. The little island is so interesting to me. There are parts of the capitol city on both sides of the river, but there is this little island of pure Fulani culture.
(Us in the Canoe crossing the river)
That is all I have for now, keep posted and yarp a lot for language learning. We are going to have to pick up key phrases in French and learn Fulfulde at the same time.
In Dads name
Nick
