- Mali Shuts Down. So remember how last post I was really upset about not being able to go to Mali in April? Well, turns out I probably wouldn't be able to go anyway: they're currently having a coup, so the country's a no-no for all PCVs the world over. Sigh. Maybe in August...
- Boss Meets Egoun. My Peace Corps boss Taibatou came to visit me/my director in village to talk about me getting replaced by another volunteer when I leave (gah!). My director, polite and impressed by my (strong, well-dressed, polite but outspoken, kind of awesome female African) boss, takes us to a buvette for a soft drink. As we order who walks in? Egoun.
That's right, Egoun, the probably always drunk, dancing, goofy voodoo fetish. He immediately starts yelling, in his Louis Armstrong voice, for a large beer. No one is sure how he would drink said beer, as his face is covered with what looks like a sequined, embroidered ski cap, but he really wants it. The director laughs and ignores him, Taibatou is silently focusing on her soft drink, and I feel awkward.
I'll fast forward through the next ten minutes of Egoun calling for beers, singing the yovo song (incorrectly, somehow), and demanding money while we all sit there awkwardly. Eventually the director paid him off (just a little tip, really) and he left. Taibatou's response: "Egoun used to be sacred. Now, he's just a joke." Ooh, Egoun, buuuurn.
- Library: We have books! More, I mean! Gabriel and I finally went and bought books in the Porto-Novo marche (picture me sitting quietly with a bag full of money, Gabriel arguing like a champion for good prices, and no less than 8 different men and women crowding frantically around us with their offerings). This process took 3.5 hours and still isn't done. The very next day, I went to the director's office and discovered that he's decided to give the library a whole bunch of books that I guess he had kind of hidden in his office...including many of the ones I'd just bought. Oh well, we'll just have lots of those important ones. I'm really excited- it looks great so far! Now, labeling and librarian. Will keep you updated.
- SO HOT. Ladies and gents, it is hot-and-humid-as-hell season. It is so hot that I start sweating within 4 minutes of a cold shower, wake up in a pool of transpiration, and have at least 3 people a day say to me, "Wow, you're really sweating. I guess it's not this hot where you're from, huh?" I, like everyone in my village, have heat rash, except mine is even on my scalp. No one can sleep, except for me when I take Tylenol PM. (Yes, I know that's probably unhealthy.) I hate my fan for breaking, and I'm praying for the end of April, when the rainy season will come.
- Welcome. Every time I take my backup phone to school with me, I get a "Welcome to Nigeria" message. Hah.
- School Update: The professors are all now showing up to school, but several are JUST showing up. They go to class and sit there, or take a nap, or talk on the phone. It's just a few of them, but until they start again, the government's not announcing the new end of the school year. Most people think it'll be done by the end of June/early July (meaning we wouldn't have to change camp dates), but no guarantees yet.
What is certain is that on that official last day of school, the second I am done teaching, I'm buying myself a large, icy cold beer. Celebration of survival.
- Ears of Corn. In marche success stories, I found a pair of earrings in my local market for 50 francs (10 cents). They're are tiny golden ears of corn! On my ears! So clever!
- Need New Music. Anyone? Anyone?
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