- I have a gnarly cold. But thanks to free Peace Corps medicine, lots of water, and the “chicken” lentil soup, I’m almost better!
- Met my new closemates! This past week the two girls who are going to replace Sam and Lou next to me. Kalyn is going to be in Tchaada in Lou’s place (but as an English professor), and Maeghan’s going to be in Sam’s place in Gbozoume. We got to hang out a couple of times, first working on my world map project (update next), then having a potluck dinner at Lou’s. Which was awesome: Sam’s salad, Lou’s amaaaazing curry, and brownies from me, plus Maeghan & Kalyn’s 2 boxes of wine... we’re going to get along. Yay new closemates!
- World Map Project: Finally on the way! Spent last week chalking the wall space off on the rickety-est ladder I’ve ever seen, then painting the rectangle ocean-ish blue. Lou, Sam, Kalyn and Maeghan visited to help out one morning, and we not only got the whole grid drawn (like a week of work for me alone), but also got the sections chalked. Now to draw some countries. Sidenote: Micronesia has waaaaaay too many tiny islands. Waaaaay.
- Oro’s Coming... So remember that thing I talked about called oro? It’s a voodoo thing, and when it comes out (three days a year, usually in August), only men initiated in the secret society can go outside. This year it’s September, dates TBD. It’s really, really bad news for anyone else who goes out, especially women, so on those days you just close your doors and windows and have a dance party in your underwear all day. Not that bad.
Thing is, I just found out that the three villages closest to me also do oro, and that I can’t go through them if oro’s out there. And none of the villages do oro at the same time. This is over a 15-day period, and oro can’t come out during marché day or Sundays... So according to my calculations, during oro season, travel’s going to be kind of difficult.
Luckily, I’ll be out of town for almost all of September... except for five days right in the middle. I’ve had about 5 different people track me down to tell me they’re going to let me know ASAP when the dates are announced, so positive note: my village is taking care of me. Negative note: visiting Daagbé between training the new stage and going on vacation is maybe impossible. Sigh.
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