Coming to America!!

Yes, it's official everyone!! Just like Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall I, too, will be Coming to America!!!!! The plane tickets have been bought, and I will be back in town from March 11-30th!!!!! I am starting to think of the food already, so here is the initial list. Anyone who wishes to accompany me on any of these outings, please state your preferences, and we will make a schedule:

Sushi!!!!!!!!! (Komegashi Too in Jersey City, preferably)
Nino's Pizza in Harrison - Best sicilian pie, and I never even liked sicilian
Eclectic Cafe in Montclair - cakes and coffees... oh, drool....
California Pizza Kitchen - anywhere
Chik-Fil-A
Haagen Daaz - MochaLatta Chill
The Garlic Rose
Indian Food
Thai Food
Mexican Food

and of course... My mom's cooking

OK, I just want to gain 10 lbs basically, and I need YOUR help!!

Now back to my actual life that is still going on here in BF....

After Ghana, I came to Bobo and spent a few days just hanging out here.. pretty much not wanting to go back to village. Nothing spectacular to report from New Yrs. I saw the NYC fireworks on a TV and it made me sad.

School started up again on Jan 5th, and I gave pop quizzes to both my classes the first day. Hahahahahaha! I now know the joy that teachers get in doing this. It's really fun to mess with kids, especially when they are disrespectful. Since then, they have been much better with me this trimester, and I feel more comfortable in class, and I'd say I am generally enjoying it better than I was at the end of December.... when I was HATING it. But kids will be kids, and I will admit that they are pretty adorable. Especially when they are sweating it out on one of my tests.

The holiday of Tabaski was on Jan 10th. I was trying to think of how to equate this to one of our holidays, and Thanksgiving was all I could think of. Except that we don't sacrifice turkeys in our courtyards and then pray all day. So really it's not much like Thanksgiving, except that what Thanksgiving is to turkeys, Tabaski is to the sheep. Oh, the poor sheep. They are slaughtered in just about every Muslim family this day of Tabaski. People buy their sheep and fatten them up weeks in advance just for this holiday. So I ate a lot again, just like Ramadan (the last big Muslim holiday), and went around giving out candy, just like Ramadan. And visited the houses of friends to eat and wish them a happy feast, just like Ramadan. So I guess Tabaski is just like Ramadan, not Thanksgiving.

I think my language skills are coming along OK, but some days I feel like I am playing that game "TABOO" If you don't know this one, it is a game where you are given a word that you need to describe to someone else without using specific words... like say I want to describe a refrigerator, but I can't say "kitchen" or "cold" or "food" etc... It would be like "that big box in that room where the sink and the oven are, that has a light that turns on when you open its door"... that's how I feel when I am talking here. Like I have a limited vocabulary so when I describe something, it is the most roundabout and elementary way to do it. For instance, I was trying to find out the French word for burp, so I had to say "what's that word for that noise that comes out of your mouth when you eat and the gas comes from your stomach and makes that sound from your mouth?" yeah.... that's how I talk. It's even worse in local language because that is truly limited vocabulary. Like, when I go to a lady on the side of the road to buy some tomatoes, it's like "Good morning, tomato lady. I want. How much money? Good. Thank you." yes, Big Fun.

Last week I wanted to give a quiz in one of my classes, and we have a secretary (an old guy who lives in Padema) who types up whatever we need on a typewriter. Unfortunately for me, I asked him on Marché Day (Market Day) to type it up for the following day. My fault for needing it so soon, but also for not remembering that Market Day means that he will be drunk on local millet beer (dolo) until the next day. I thought it was gonna get done, because he had seen me that afternoon and told me that he knew I needed it and it would be ready for my 9 am class. Oh, but he also reeked of beer when he told me. Anywho, I get to school a little before 9 the next day, and shockingly, the quizzes have not been typed up. SO, the school Director offers to hand-write them on carbon- copy paper so we can then hand copy them on the "copy machine." I swear I thought someone put me in a time machine and pulled me back 50 years. I couldn't believe how this copier worked. It literally is on a roller, and you put ink on the roller, and it takes papers one by one and copies them. Well, since the secretary really is the only one who truly knows how to work this contraption, we did not get my quizzes copied, and I rescheduled my quiz. So, this past Monday I was supposed to give the quizzes, and I found out the quiz was typed but not yet copied. So I waited the 20 minutes while he hand-copied the quizzes only to find out the the number 8 on the typewriter didn't print out on the copies. So, by hand, we filled in all the number 8's on my quizzes, and I finally gave the quiz in the last 30 minutes of my 2 hour class. I really like our secretary, and it's not really his fault, but it was just another frustrating reminder of where I am.

I guess that is about all. Not much else... oh, except this list of stuff you can send me, .... since people are asking... :)

St Ives facewash
Bioré face strips (lots of dust in this place)
PEANUT BUTTER (I have a major appreciation for this now)
M&M's (by the way, thank you WENDY!!!)
Peanut Butter M&M's
fruit cups or cans of fruit
Cup O Noodles or Ramen Noodles
Applesauce
Magazines

But if you send me stuff, LITTLE packages are great, especially when accompanied by a letter!! I love letters just as much!!! Please do NOT send drink mixes or school supplies. I have lots of that stuff, and thank you to those who sent it.

OK, that is all for now. Sorry it's been a while.

I'M COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!