It's a Bird! It's a Plane!!

If one ever wants to feel like a celebrity:

1) move to a 3rd world country where you are the obvious minority

2) travel in multiples, so your novelty is amplified

3) take a horse-drawn carriage through a city

4) shock everyone by knowing the basics of their language

5) be flattered every time someone yells "Toubab!"...think of it as your celebrity nickname...rather than "white stranger", usually followed by "may ma xaliss" (offer me money).

So things are going well. I will be installed in my village on the 21st. My village is a approximately 250 people. My host father and counterpart (aka: host country co-worker) is pretty cool, we had some great laughs over conversation that neither of us understood well. And I have some ideas for what I want to accomplish in my village. Though, until I actually see my village, I suppose I shouldn't put the cart before the horse. (oh! so punny when I have pictures of my charet ride hopefully uploading...)

I must share the epitome of "I am in Africa" moments. So, a couple of weeks ago was Korite (the end of Ramadan) and the community was cooking communaly. I was told I had to help. So I went over and was pulling fly-covered chunks of meat out of a dirty tub and holding them over another tub, while another woman cut them into smaller chunks with a dull knife (both of us pulling on the meat). In the middle of this, there is another plastic tub full of water and potatoes and onions. Perched on the side of this second tub is a chicken, getting a drink. A young boy literally pushes 8 sheep past the "prep area"--within a foot of the prep area. And the woman cutting the meat lifts her top and her child comes over for lunch...as she cuts meat with a dull knife in a thoroughly unsanitary fashion, with a billion small animals and flies around. I have to share this, because I know that in another 4 months, this won't strike me as out of the ordinary.

Well, and I lie. Because I am quite sure that there are probably about 20 "epitome of Africa" moments that I have had....I really should start taking better notes, otherwise, I'll forget them all, and you'll never get to read a boring blog relaying them. And I couldn't deprive the world of that!