Stamps and Snot

So, I talk to the sheep on our roof. Perfectly normal, especially when I am up there washing clothes for long periods of time, and need to talk out my frustration over whether or not to do a good job on my socks, because, well, they are just socks. Well, as it happened, today when I was doing my laundry, my sister came up and saw me talking to the sheep, asked who I was talking to, and when I pointed, well you can imagine how crazy people think I am for wanting to help all the strays, but talking to animals about life, well that is a whole new level for them. She laughed and told everyone of course, and they told me if I need people to talk to, let them knowJ. But when I was hanging up the last of my laundry, after being so nice to him, the sheep sneezed on me. There was so much snot. It was disgusting. Ah, I was quite upset when I had to rewash some stuff because it got everywhere, but I guess there are worse things that could have happened… Me and the mouton have a love/hate relationship most days depending on how long I need to be around him, how much noise he makes, and how dirty he is that day.

The days seem to mesh together, and I lose track of which day it is sometimes. Time here is becoming so limited, and maybe that is what makes me notice some of the small stuff much more. Or maybe it is just that most of the big stuff I am used to at this point. Taking the car rapide home I suddenly became aware of all the little noises that exist when I am riding one, from the people to the vehicles around us, to the apprenti, to even the surrounds going by out the window. It is strange the ways in which things present themselves to me here, especially when I am least expecting it. It seems to be the best way to discover stuff from directions, buildings, people, restaurants, and everything in between. It will be sad to leave and know I won’t have the opportunity to discover something new and wonderful, strange or even bad about this place. Walking has become the main method of getting around, and even though the sand makes it difficult, there are some things that you just can’t avoid. And sand is not something that you can avoid anywhere here. I don’t know that I will need to visit a beach in quite a while after I leave here.

I recruited my three youngest siblings, and my younger cousin to help me put stamps on the postcards today since there were so many, and I only ended up having to do TWO! It was quite wonderful and nerve-racking at the same time trying to make sure nothing was getting wasted or ruined or torn. When I did get to watch them, it was fun to see the differences between how they each approached licking the stamps and then putting it on the postcard. My Brother, Max, was so precise, and so detailed, and made sure to line them up perfect with the corner, while Marieton and Binet worked quickly and “got the job done” so to speak. And then there is my Hibou. Ah what can you say about a 4 year old with stamps? He put the whole thing in his mouth, closed it to make sure it got sticky, and then put it on the envelope upside down. When he looked at his older brother doing it, he quickly pulled it off and put it on there right side up, but it was too far up so some of the stamp was hanging over, so he just tried to fold it over. Ah. Hope everyone is able to tell if they got and Hibou stamp!

I enjoy not having to leave as early in the mornings now for class, and I am able to linger more until other people have left. Hibou has started school and he comes and finds me and grabs me to walk him to school. It is not so much asking as “We are leaving now, this way” gesture, but it makes me happy that he enjoys me walking with him. When I read at home now with my ipod, he will sit next to me with one of the ear pieces in his ear, and try to sing along. It is quite amusing, and more often than not he will be rubbing my arm. This is because he finds the hair on my arm fascinating and can’t quite grasp that rubbing it fiercely won’t make it come off.

Amy and Sidi returned, and it is nice to have their faces back. Sidi is terrified of me again, but this time around, if he is left alone in the same area as me, whether I look at him or not, he will scream and start to cry. Ah. Before I leave, this kid will like me.

The ISP project is coming along, with many bumps along the way. It took a while to sort out a translator as well as an advisor, but not wanting to be pushy I kept patient in hope that the people I had contacted would return calls and/or e-mails. No such luck. But patience is my best friend here and the guy that I ended up with for an advisor is wonderful, is originally from NY, and has worked/lived in Africa for the last 27years. He has been really helpful and as an advisor and informant it makes life much easier with the limited time that I have left. One of the professors here worked as my translator in the fishing village and made my life a lot easier. It wasn’t hard to sit and observe, but when it came to asking in-depth questions, I needed help. He helped me get all the big questions I needed answered done, and I was grateful to have those out of the way so that I am now able to go back and just observe.

Since I spent so much time waiting for people to call back, a lot of time has been spent at SIT doing research and background information, and avoiding the mouse that lived here. With all the people that are here, making meals and making messes, well you can imagine what options a mouse has for dinner in those situations… People have gotten stuff eaten, and this mouse is pretty hardcore, eating through thick plastic to get to chocolate (but then again, I might do that if I wanted it that bad), and chewing up things here and there. I would see it scurry across the room from time to time, and I tried to avoid the fact that I knew it was in the vicinity so I could finish up and not actually have to get acquainted with it. Poor mouse. One evening when I was here, one of the other guy students found it, and was going to try and scare it out of the house so he went to ask the guys that live here and watch over the building for a flashlight. Bad idea. Amadou came in carrying a shovel behind Joel who was carrying a broom, and, well, ah, Joel commentated the whole incident for me blow by blow from the room. It was nasty and I have yet to venture to that part of the house, even though it was a few days ago and I am sure nothing remains of the incident.

Last Sunday evening when I came back from SIT, I was walking down the street to my house, and there were guys on our roof who yelled out at me. It didn’t occur to me right then since I was tired, that it was out roof, and those were not people I knew, because I kept walking towards the front door. When someone who I had never seen before answered the door and started talking to me about my research project and that he wanted to help, I was quite caught off guard. I didn’t say anything right away, but had to look around to make sure it was the right house, and I guess the guy took this as I didn’t understand so he tried to talk to me in English. Not much better. My brother finally came to the door and started talking to them and I slipped into the house. My sister immediately came up to me and gave me clothes to put on and said for the event with Pape’s friends. I had no idea what was going on, and I think that everyone figured I just didn’t understand what they had said. This seems to happen quite a lot here and I am starting to find it more and more amusing when people don’t explain themselves and think that I will know exactly what is going on so much better if they say the same thing, just in English. It ended up being like a prayer circle type thing, and they had put mats out on the roof and had a loud speaker blasting out prayers. There was one are for the women, and it happened to be RIGHT in front of the loud speaker, and well that didn’t go over for me too well for too long. Since most of the people where men, and older, I spent a lot of time downstairs with all my siblings and cousins. It was so much fun being with them and taking pictures, and watching them get excited when I would take a funny one of them. Everyone wanted to try and take a picture with the camera to see how well they could do, and well, some came out better than others. It was funny to watch them move forward and back instead of using the zoon when they wanted to get closer. Max had to explain to everyone which buttons did what after I showed him, and it was like watching a professor in class that has explained a lesson to many times for the students not to have caught on. He would throw his head and arms back and ‘tisk’ at them with his tongue, making me laugh every time. Eventually everyone came down and left, and there were so many people that it became hard to distinguish everyone by anything other than their clothing. Thank goodness for so many colorful patterns!

There is so much left to do it seems like in the little time that I have left that I can’t imagine myself ever getting everything done. One day at a time seems to work the best, but even at that rate time flies by!