Errbody Gettin Tipsy

17 Juillet 2010

Went to Baratapas (I may or may not be spelling that right...but if I'm not, I'm gonna need you to come to West Africa and give me a spelling lesson - please, enlighten me)...so yes - I went to Baratapas with: get ready - it's a long list:

Austin, Nick, Nate, Daneil, Dan Pinte, Josh, Sam, Margo, Amanda, Christi, Erika, and another PCV's name I completely forget the name of (no hard feelings)

We ordered food, beer and some of us got a round of shots - I soon realized that I am a complete light-weight in West Africa! After a shot I felt my eyes getting heavy. Talk about sad times. Gosh. But - let's first talk about these shots - er - well - how they are made, or mixed, rather. This French man who owns the bar soaks and flavors his own rum!

Y U M - O !

He had anana, mint, mangue, candy - or baileys flavored - ginger and probably more. So the 1st shot I tried was the anananaaa!! I love that word, and the fruit, and the flavored rum! Didn't taste anything like pineapple - just rum that completely burned as it went down - but still marvelous! After that shot we got our food: Pulled pork avec mangue and crudité! It was great! Probably some of the best food I've had since I got to this country. Amanda and I shared a beer - yes, beer - I know, I don't like beer. But I will say that in this country - I enjoy beer. All wonderful until I decided I needed to go check out the bathroom. I was fine - but for some reason the world was on a weird teeter-totter tilt and made it extremely difficult for me to walk straight. I will say - I covered it up quite well! At least I think I did. But boy was I feeling it. Stumbling a wee bit - but straight. Austin, Nick and Nate all made fun of me - thanks guys.

So here's the good part - got to the bathroom after walking down this long, dark corridor - and everything was wet! The floor. The sink. The toilet. I looked around for some kind of leak - but nothing - just Africa. Ha. Okay - so after contemplating whether or not I should take my chances in the oceanic bathroom - I looked at this picture, rather, mural: Two men. One man is standing while urinating into the toilet - yet, he is doing this with the biggest frown ever. The other man is sitting on the toilet while urinating - with the BIGGEST smile on the planet! The frowning man had a big red X over his body...the other man did not.

What?

Yes - I decided I could hold my urge to go - I'm not an expert at hovering yet.

After a few more sips and snacks I bought Austin, myself and Erika each a shot! Generous, I know. I tried mint this time and O H E M G E E it burned and was so strong! The French man, Allan, said that ginger was the strongest, and Austin said he about threw up after trying it two years ago. = Vagabond...I'm gonna need you to take that one like a champ. I know you can do it!

We left and all went to this jazz bar. It had old pictures of jazz artists everywhere - all B&W - so I was as happy as a bee in a field of daisies. And on top of that - the bar was playing a lot of old jazz in A N G L A I S. Definitely a good choice. Played darts. Watched people dance. Watched the fellows play pool. It was a pretty chill place. Good conversations too. Let's hear it for connecting with a fellow Texan from TX A&M...Gig'em. I'm actually pretty excited there are a few other Texans here to connect with.

Two of my Most Favorite...People

15 Juillet 2010

I received two calls today: one from my Pops and the other from my Love!! It's been a good while since I've spoken to my Dad and so I was overjoyed when I heard his voice. It always makes me so happy and I immediately talk in baby talk - ridiculous. We talked about what I was doing: where I was going next: if my French was improving: if I've made new friends: quoi quoi quoi. He then proceeds to relay a message from Ma saying I need to make a list of "reasonable" items that could be sent to me!

YAY! Care P A C K A G E!

So I'll start making up a list - mostly of good snack foods, spices, treats and so on...stuff that could keep well and be of decent price for them to send it across this tiny lake between us. Yes! $50 for a medium, one size same price box.

• Twizzlers (thanks dad!)
• Nutrigrain
• Cookies = pecan sandies, melanos, yum
• Kaschi snacks
• Oatmeal & brown sugar
• Italian spices
• Chicken bouillon cubes
• Dried fruit - Yes PLEASE
• Cumino - not cumin. For fideo...duh!

I'm really excited about sending Ashley - my LOOVE - my letters and drawings. I'm even more thrilled about the moleskin we're gonna communicate with. Genius! I love it.

love iiitttt.

Bowel Movements are Classy

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Yesterday was quite an experience. I definitely had some major digestive ailment. I don't know what I ate or drank - but my stomach was not having any of it all day. I guess I could say it started with the damn arrechede sauce (peanut sauce) & riz = dinner the last day for demyst. It was terrible and even the PCV said she didn't think it was very good. The only flaw in that argument is that I ate the least of the dish and amd the only one with diarrhea. So I think it must be my body being a wimp and rebelling against my attempt at integration.

So diarrhea all day that leaked into the next day (today). Yum. Spent accumulative of about 40 minutes in the bathroom this morning - Terrible. I felt nauseaus all day yesterday as well - just some icing on the cake I guess. The Best. Today I truly thought I as going to yak everywhere - but was only able to dry heave a couple of times and proceed to piss from my butthole. Real Classy.

Aside from being all sorts of weak and sick - I had a pretty good day! A lot of language in the past two days and even more tech lessons - but this is the life of a trainee.

GOOD NEWS:

We're swearing in a Peace Corps Volunteers on my B I R T H D A Y! I'm really excited and I totally predicted it when we were evacuated from Ouahigouya. Also - we get to live with host families in a little less than a week, maybe a little more than a week? I'm just really excited to get out of this dorm-like atmosphere - I want to be back in the rural setting - I want to HAVE to use French and Moore - I want to be integrated within a small village - I want to see the people of this new city! I mostly want to be in a setting that will be like/or similar to my next two years!! YES PLEASE.

I'll Chase the Sky

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

"I'm gonna chase the sky forever...

with the man, the stallion and the wind.

And we're gonna ride... With the Devil close behind"

GOOOOAAAALLLLL!!!

11 Juillet 2010

The final match for the World Cup was tonight!

Spain VS Netherlands

01 00

A pretty intense game - me, the PCV host, Katie, Ashley, Kerry and Yulan (the PCV's neighbor) were all huddled on the floor on this make-shift mattress couch watching the game from the smallest TV ever. It was great - and it was a great game - everyone was hustling and being drama queens, kicking each other, being really hot :), and kicking football's ass. It was nice to share that experience in the homeland.

We were all rooting for the opposite team - Katie & the PCV were for the Netherlands, Ashley was for Spain and Yulan didn't care - and I was rooting for the winning team and was just entertained by commenting on the good looks and giving "creepy compliments"

"I like his facial hair"

"I really enjoy his eyeball sockets"

"His eyes are orgasmic"

Quoi Quoi Quoi

Aside from all of that - we drank Dolo today (a home-brewed alcoholic beverage here) and this old woman with the scariest teeth and or mouth situation EVER (she had orange cola nut stuff wrapped up in her dents) was talking to the PCV and I don't think they could fully understand each other - so the PCV just said (while smiling the biggest smile ever)

YOU'RE CRAAAZY

And the woman looked at the PCV, blinked her eyes twice, grinned and said:

OUUUUIIIIII!!!

While nodding her head.

It

was

hilarious.

Okay - time for bed. More writing tomorrow? Free day!?!

Oh - and Bob Marley, Cher and Keesha made it to the final playlist of the World Cup 2010 AFRICAAAA.

Robot! Give me freedom. Give me Fire! --- Advertisements for the World Cup = Weird.

I Have a Vagina

08 Juillet 2010

There's not much to say other than we're getting ready for Demyst for the weekend. We'll be living with a host PCV and doing everything that volunteer does on a regular basis. It's mostly about seeing what your site could be like and getting a brief understanding of the simple life and possessions and chores of an average PCV. I'm excited about being at site - for the 1000th time - seeing how the villagers react the PCV will be a good experience. Seeing what kinds of relationships the volunteer has developed and what he/she does on a regular basis.

What's happened in the past day or so...

• My passport says I'm a man. Yes - it says I have a penis when, in fact, I definitely have a vagina. That was exciting? I'll be getting a new passport soon-ish? Hopefully? Embassy...here I come.

• I finally took a solid poop. No - I have not had diarrhea, but I have not had a nice, relieving poop. Today - I was successful in this task. What? You think this is strange to blog about - let me tell you - I know more about the other volunteer/trainees bowel movements than I do about where they grew up.

• I've gotten increasingly irratated by peoples dumb questions - not good. But I'll be trying to lighten up .... maybe.

Nouriture est tres bon!

06 Juillet 2010

Apparently eating food is a good idea. I woke up exhausted and cranky. I think I've had a fever all day and have been really weak. Everyone has eaten and have either yacked or had diarrhea due to the food - but feel find aside from that...

So... Conclusion: I need to eat. I had a chicken club and a coca for lunch. Maybe I'll go out with everyone tonight for dinner instead of laying in bed wondering what I'm doing here. :\

Demyst is coming up - we are going in our small groups again - and I'm sick of being stuck with the same 3 girls for every activity. I can't wait to be with our host family because then I'll be with an advanced speaker. Yay! I mean - it's nothing against the three girls - I just want to expand my circle of friends and who I hang out with. Other people feel that way too - so I don't feel like a total snob. I think.

Hic-ups...

can you please go away.

thanks.