Wednesday, January 23, 2013

nothing like a good castration . . .

I am sitting on Bry's couch right now listening to Koutchala and another guy cut up 2 of the mango trees that used to be in Kadar's front yard.  I helped them push one of the trees over earlier.  How does one cut up a tree in Togo without a chainsaw?  with a machete.

I woke up saturday morning to my neighbors digging latrines.  life never ceases to amaze me

So, I told Kadar last week that i wanted to get my Tadji castrated.  he is friends with the vet.  So, 650 friday morning the vet was on my doorstep, I may or may not have been awake.  Anyway, 3 of us pinned my cat to the courtyard while the vet did his thing.  he wore latex gloves, which initially impressed me.  but the gloves kept getting bunched up, so it took him like 5 tries to tie off each testicle.  Tadji was not impressed.  the razor blade did not seem to be overly sharp either.  tadji is more subdued now, but otherwise indefatigable.

just remembering that story enough to type it up caused me pain

Monday was another first.  I had to make an emergency run into Kara, so Kadar offered to take me on his moto.  we left nampoch at like 730, went to kara, and came back.  i got home around 1830.  later, i calculated that i did about 125 miles on a moto that day.  plus 2000 mg of ibeprofin.  

road work is serious now.  they built detours around all the bridges between here and manga.  when Kadar and I went to Kara, we had to pull off the road for a convoy of dump trucks.  Going through the dust cloud in the wake of one of those trucks is nearly suicidal, as another guy on a moto found out.  Im still not sure how he saw the next truck

Harmattan is ending.  again.  instead of a nice cold wind at night, its calm.  which means i wake up and my room is 90 degrees and outside is 75.  the heat feels closer, like its trying to crawl into my chest or cling to my skin

i have a new solar charger! my 3rd.  after my second one died, i was not really crazy about replacing it.  until i realized that i could use one to charge my nook.  now, i am very happy.  until it breaks
  
in the past 2 weeks, 3 kids in villages around me have gotten a bad headache, then died.  sometimes, i wonder if people here would mind paying higher taxes, or taxes in general, if they had access to a healthcare system that, despite its faults, is obligated to treat someone in an ER, and has the medicine/technology to treat most diseases, if it meant that their children wouldnt drop dead. a higher infant mortality rate is not inversely proportional to the grief a parent feels when a child dies. 

on the plus side,  2 of my neighbors just had babies.  i will have to name them. i hope they make it

 

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

i ate sonic

I am sitting in a rooftop bar in Bassar.  D is trying to relearn math for the GRE next to me.  She is talking to herself and just pounded her pen on the table.  I think this is a bad sign.

This bar, Mandela, is nice because the rooftop section is somewhat secluded, especially at 9 am.  Downstairs, local notables are drinking beer and flirting with the waitresses.  Upstairs though, its private enough that we can use computers/internet without attracting a lot of attention.  This is good because D's house currently doesnt have power (dispute with the landlord) nor good reseau (no internet).  When I am feeling pensive, I can look out over the tree studded hills to the low mountains.  Or I can when its not harmattan.  Right now I feel like Im in mistworld or something. 

 I had to run across the street to a little booth to buy Togocel credit so that I could get online.  Two guys were there.  I said hi to one guy in french and to the other guy in Bassar.  They started talking about how awesome Peace Corps Volunteers are and saying that Togolese would never accept to go to another country, live in a farm, and get eaten by mosquitoes just to help other people.   Most of that last sentence was a direct translation.  I think I blushed a little.

The other day I was sitting on my porch when Jacques came by, fresh from the champ.  He had this beat up messenger back with him and a big smile.  "look what I found!"  Reached in his bag and pulled out a spiky ball about the size of a large grapefruit.  "WTF?!" is a good approximation of my reaction.  I took the ball, gingerly, and realized that the stuff under the spikes was skin.  then I rolled the ball around until i found a beady little nose amidst the spikes.  it was a hedgehog.  Jacques was almost bouncing up and down "they are really sweet! they have a lot of fat!"  direct translation.  He tried to pry it open with his khass but it wasnt having it.  Then Jacques was like, "Im going to take it home and cook it, and you can have some."

Jacques came back in about an hour with something that looked just like how I imagined a grilled hedgehog should look. He got Adji to pound some pepper and salt, then he pulled the hedgehog apart and gave me some.  I think it was a leg/shoulder and some ribs.  Maybe.  He was right.  It was fatty.  Really gamey fat.  I nibbled on the meat a little and thought that it tasted like tender squirrel.  Then I gave the rest to my cat.  He was happy.  Lizard is much better.

There are days when life here frustrates the ______ out of me.  Like yesterday.  I called a zed to come take me to the station in Kouka so that I could catch the morning car to Kara.  I got to the station at 830, bought my ticket, claimed a seat, then went into Kouka for an egg sammie with Bry.  About 930, the car rolled into Kouka.  Got gas . . . . went to the police station to pick up a cop with some version of an AK-47 that looked older than I am (pour votre securite) . . . . then stopped to pick me up . . . .then went down the road about a k and stopped to pick someone else up which resulted in having to repack the top of the car . . . . .then we left.  Because of the cop, who had to ride shotgun (with an assault rifle), I was stuck on the seat between him and driver.  No padding.  And we went slow.  Really slow.  Passed through this one village after Kabou and started a goat along the road.  A little goat.  He spazzed out and took off running.  Alongside the car.  Passed us.  With enough room to spare that he cut across the road in front of us.  The driver didnt even have to brake.

With the ever expanding new road, the trip to Kara is a little under 2 hours now in a direct car.  It took about 3.  I might still be a little bitter about it.

But then Kader took me brought me from Kara to Kabou that afternoon, and I caught car to Bassar really quick.  D had a candlelight dinner-- stir fry and eggrolls-- waiting on me when I got to Bina.  So the day ended well.

here is an article about harmattan with pictures of the dust cloud over the Atlantic.  here is another

I love my cat. I really do.  My pride in his accomplishments is only slightly diminished when he brings said accomplishments into my bedroom at 00h00 to play with them, noisily, before eating them under my bed.  Nothing like being lulled to sleep by the crunching of mouse bones.   


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

happy belated new year

so, welcome to 2013. belatedly

having fortified myself with an egg sammie and cafe noir from Mohammed's Egg Sammie Emporium, I will endeavor to chronicle the events surrounding the most recent bonne annee

actually i have no idea what the egg sammie place is called, and i've been eating there for over 2 years.  it took me 8 months to learn that the owner's name is Mohammed

the new year was a lot of fun.  D came out on Monday to help me fete.  i bought a duck on sunday, rather spontaneously, because one can never have too much food on bonne annee.  Nor booze.  I sprang for a bottle of apple flavored vodka in Kara, and a bottle of Pastis here, as well as for some of those danish butter cookies like the ones that my parents get every year from their investment guy.  taste of the holidays

So, D came out monday afternoon.  We went out with Bry, Kevin, Amanda, Kadar, Usman, Janet, and some other people.  the crowd changed throughout the day.  D brought a 1/3 of a bottle of absinthe that I'd picked up in some airport.  Kader produced a bottle of Absolut Vodka from someplace.  that was a hit.  the absinthe was not.  even Pastis, another anise flavored drink, is popular here.

new years dawned with the sound of firecrackers.  I'm not sure where they came from, but they are wildly popular and come in a variety of types. 2 bang, 4 bang, 5 bang, 6 bang, 8 bang, 10 bang.  totally serious.
they are fun.  when the fuses work.  when they dont, you just throw them on a fire.

I found bottle rockets too.  made my month.

Everyone had been brewing tchakpa in Nampoch for the previous 2 days, so there was a lot to drink.  and to eat.  About 1500h, Ntido came up to me and was like "so, how you are going to help us fete?"  never mind the fact I'd provided a chicken, and a duck, and candy, and that my bottle of vodka was mostly gone.  "how do you want me to help you fete?" - "well, we're hungry, what should we make?" - "um, rice?" - "dont have any.  do something about this (implied)" - *sigh* "how much rice?" - "3 bowls should be good"  (that's enough for like 40 people).  she stuck with this estimate until i caved.  D laughed.  then once the rice amount was agreed upon-- "there isnt any oil either"  *double sigh*.  i wound up just giving her 10 mille and sending her to the store.  when Ntido, and friend, and babies, got back with their basin of spils, i counted the change.  they hadn't bothered to, and the boutique made 550 cfa.  bonne annee!  but on the bright side i was eating rice and duck for the next 3 days

after that, D and I went next door for tchakpa and a ball.  we danced the night away in the dust with kids, and Petit.  who was really happy by this point.

after that, i was feeling bored, so we lit off all the fireworks that i'd got in kara. 8 bangs are much more exciting when you lit 3 of them at once.  aside from this one kid who got so excited that he would always run in the same direction that i threw lit firecrackers, this was fun.  until i got to the sparkler part.  explosions attract kids.  especially explosions with lights.  so, when i wanted to give sparklers to Jidda, David, and Adah, i had like 40 kids in my compound.  and 8 sparklers.  I gave them out to my fam first.  then i gave the rest out to random girls.  one kid got pissed and was like "hey, why are you only giving them to the girls?"  probably cause they spent all day making food for you.  brat.    

Jan 2 dawned.  a bit more slowly than the previous day.  but the fete was on!  Bry came out.  after fufu breakfast, we walked over to Kpolobal, to chez Nicco, with Ntifoni.  Nicco is the president of the anti-forced marriage committee in Nampoch.  He didnt go to school, so his french isnt that good, but he's a great guy.  i named his youngest daughter Monic, after my sister.  So we got to his house and had tchapka.  then brandy.  then fufu with sauce.  then he brought out a whole pintade for us.  since D is a vegetarian, i had to pick up her slack.  Nicco always makes a ton of food when he invites us over.

After that we managed to walk back to Nampoch for our next social engagement at Kodjo's.  Tchakpa.  Good sodabe, rice with chicken.  Although Kodjo had gotten wagash for D.  by this time it was about 1500, and we called zeds.  then went back to my house.  Wine. rice with duck sauce (Ntido made it).  Richard came with friends, so he ate with us.  Then we went to Kouka.  And back out with Ganiou, Monoriou, Usman, and some other people.  Kadar was feeling anti-social so he stayed home.

Jan 3 eventually dawned.  And I have never seen Nampoch so dead.  tumbleweeds would have been blowing across the countryside, if they hadnt have gotten hung up on all the people passed out under the neem tree.  i think the village was out of tchakpa too.

one of the best new years ive had.  except for friday my congestion erupted into a sinus infection.  from the dusty ball i think. it got so bad that on saturday I sent a zed into kouka to get me antibiotics.  i love togo sometimes

we have our 17th pump scheduled for Thursday

if you want to get a hint of what life is like for the average rural togolese, ie poverty, watch the show Shameless, on Showtime.  yeah, there's stuff that not similar, but, when i watched it, i did not get that sense of alienation that i get when i watch a lot of current shows.

my cat survived bonne annee!  although he spent 2 days hiding in some dark corner of my house cause of the firecrackers

little doggie, however, did not.  her owner, not Petit, apparently wanted party money, so he sold her for fete food.  her two pups, smart puppy and stupid puppy, are both alive and well. i refused to eat her

i have the weirdest cravings here.  like last night i wanted something sweet, so i laid in bed and chain chewed gum that my mom sends me

this was after i ate bread and a carefully hoarded packet of nacho cheese for lunch.  the nacho cheese didnt go over so well with my stomach

i dont know if its because of the new year, or my impending birthday, or that today is my mom's birthday (happy birthday mom!), but recently i've become aware of how much time ive spent here.  Like David is talking now.  And his mom is pregnant again.  D noticed on New Years.  After my host mom had taken a couple shots of Pastis . . . .but yeah.  the kids are getting bigger.  my house is getting cracks in it.  my mattress is getting thin.  my clothes that i brought in 2010 are making the transition to rags.  my gas tank finally ran out. etc.  life goes on