Life is Glorious

I was thinking I was going to write about this today and after reading This Jolie Fille's blog, I got inspired. It's funny to think about life. I mean what is it? The dictionary that came with my mac tells me life is

the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death

But that's not at all what people are talking about when they say "Life is glorious". To me, life is what's all around. Life is my experiences, my thoughts, my feelings. Life is adventuring and discovering. We are only on this earth for 80-100 years if you go naturally. I don't want to look back when I am 70 and think, damn what have I done for the past 70 years?
You know I do absolutely nothing when I am not working with the kids or when I am not helping people with HIV/AIDS so I have a lot of time to sit and think. Once when I was visiting a school of kids I was talking with this one girl named Rosemond and I was telling her how it was so hard to get adjusted to living here and how I really had to push myself to the limit. I was expecting her to be like, "oh man, that's rough!" or something like that but instead she smiled and said, "Life is beautiful, isn't it?"
It's things like this that make me love life. Things that catch you off guard and make you think. A 15 year old girl responded like that? That's amazing. This whole trip was worth it just to hear her say that to me. Her mom is dying from AIDS and she thinks life is beautiful. It floors me even today, as I am typing it. I visited a poor village a few days ago where there is not enough money for clothes for the children or even three meals a day. All the kids run around with a thin cloth around their waists and nothing else while the mom's and dad's work hard trying to sell their goods and do their daily chores. But they couldn't be happier. They feel blessed to be born in Africa, to have what they have, to watch their children run free without limits or oppression. When I got home that night I was so overcome by all the things I'd seen that I sat down on my bed and cried for a good hour. These people feel so fortunate, and here I am complaining about how I don't have shampoo. I think to when I will go back to America and live in a spacious apartment with two of my closest friends (but not my only closest friends), where I will undoubtedly have a stocked refrigerator and pantry. Where I will have air conditioning/heating, running water, electricity, a TV/DVD player, an exercise bike in my room, a closet full of clothes, a bathroom a share with only one other person, the greatest friends in the whole world, a wallet full of money, and a million opportunities to succeed in the real world with access to a college education. Why did I slack off in school? Why did I blow my cash on idiotic things I'm never going to use? Why did I sit back and let the world pass me by? Why didn't I get out there and show the world who I am? All around me I see the rich feeling cheated and the poor feeling unworthy. My boss has two houses, enough bling to put 50 cent to shame, a different suit for every day of the month, and a staff full of people waiting to cater to his ever need and he is angry that the Mexican government can't get him a visa fast enough so he can go visit there. Rosemond's dad left when she was 5, her mom is dying from AIDS, and she thinks life is beautiful.

People think Africa is ridden with sickness and poverty, but I see much more than that. I see more life here than I ever saw in America. When you come here you can't help but feel immersed in the spirit of Africa. All around people praise Mama Africa for giving them a home, a family, a life. I thank Mama Africa too, for waking me up and realizing what I have and where I want to go from here.

I am leaving for Danane tomorrow 6am sharp and won't be back until Monday so I won't be able to write until then, but I have some crazy news for you upon my return.

Someone's Having the Best Week Ever

Before I start this amazing blog post, I just want to point out that my secretary is acting hella weird right now. She has been acting kind of funny all week but today she poked her head in my door and said, Meena, don't be afraid of the man in the bathroom. I assumed she meant the cleaning person so I said OK. Then when she left I looked in the bathroom to see who it was and no one was there... I'm a tad creeped out.

But anyway so listen to this: Yesterday night I was trying to hale a taxi but they were all full so I had to stand in the pouring rain and wait. Meanwhile a man came up to me and stumbled through the most awkward English sentence ever saying, "You have you have parap..parap...uh...you have umbreya? you have umbreella??". I assured him, in French, that he need not speak English to me and that no I did not have an umbrella (I was in a bad mood). He then took out his and gave it to me and started asking me where I was from, how do I like Cote, etc. After talking with him for 5 minutes he says, wow, you speak French really well. And then he haled a taxi for me and gave me his umbrella to keep. On the ride back it hit me that he wasn't slowing his speech or dumbing his words down at all for me and I understood and responded. Yesssssss.
So today I was taking a taxi to work, praying to sweet Jesus the driver wouldn't talk to me, when all the sudden he turned around and said, are you going straight or do you need to turn? I stared at him blankly for a good 3 seconds before I realized that I actually understood what he was saying. He told him I had to get off at the next light and he nodded and started driving. Another yesssssss
Finally, I get to work and my boss says to me, you know Meena, when you first came here you didn't know what I was saying when I asked how you were, and now you understand everything I say. That's great improvement, and then he gave me an ear of corn. I am rocking this shit.

Of course this causes me to think a lot. I went back and reread my first blog entry after coming to Cote and I remember thinking that this language was insane and I would never be able to master it. Granted, I hadn't taken French since high school, but I would talk with my mom and be fine, and then I come here and I know nothing. But now I can comprehend and respond. Comprehension is probably the greatest feeling ever, in any subject. When I understand everything on an exam I feel kick ass. And it's the same here. Now I can watch movies with my brothers and sisters and laugh when they laugh bc I actually understand. Although I still can't understand a word the Dragon Ball Z characters say. Way too fast for me. But it's ok because I feel like even if I understood I would not really care haha.

And little Roxanne is still my favorite thing ever. She can get SO annoying sometimes but yesterday she said something to me that blew my mind. She asked me if I was leaving to go see my friends and I said no I was going to stay at home and play with her. So we started playing and then she took my hand and looked at me and said, you are my big sister, and Liza is our mommy. And the look on her face said a million things to me. It said how much it meant to her for me to come here and give her the big sister she never had, someone who would yell at her brothers when they try to hit her, and do girlie things with her all the time. It also told me that I was going to have a serious impact on her when I leave. Even when I leave for work and come back at 6pm, she runs out of the house and jumps on me and tells me she missed me.I hope she remembers me when she is 10, 15, 20 years old. But I try to think back on my childhood and I can't remember anything that happened to me when I was 4. Kindergarten is one big blur to me. I really hope she remembers me even just a little bit, because I am going to remember her for the rest of my life.

Why am I here?

My weekend was nothing short of insane. However my idea of insane has certainly changed. When I read other people's blogs who are abroad they are traveling all over, and being crazy living the AIESEC way. But my TN is a lot different. I have no desire to drink while I am here or party or be crazy. I do travel a lot but it's not to just have fun. It's crazy to me how much I have changed since I've been here. I know that once I go back to America I will be the same person who likes to have fun, but here it's different for me. This whole weekend I stayed at home or at least around the 5 mile radius of my house, but it was the best time. Most of the kids I live with are relatively my age, so we all just sat and talked and ate mangoes (haha) the entire weekend and it was absolutely lovely. My friend Edvish also came over so we all hung out together. If someone would have said to me before I left, "When you go to Cote d'Ivoire you are going to spend your weekends at your house and not go party with AIESECers" I would have been like, excuse me? But now that I am here it's so great! I think I finally know the meaning of relaxation on the weekends now. The weekends are also when I speak the most French. Everyone in my house who is older than 7 has taken many years of English in school but none of them want to speak it with me so we speak only in French. Ahmed and I also bonded over the fact that we both wanted Spain to win the game against Italy last night so we stayed up late to watch it together.

Last night was a different story all together. After the game I went into my room to sleep and as soon as I got into my bed I noticed the biggest bug ever was on the wall above my head staring at me. I freaked out for probably 5 minutes while Sabine and Ami laughed hysterically at me. Then we all tried to get it out of the room but it kept running away every time we would try and swat it. I can't even write this right now because I am laughing so hard thinking about how idiotic we probably all looked running around the room trying to hit the wall with various objects. We finally got it after probably 15 minutes but by then we were so wound up that we couldn't sleep so we ended up telling stories for half the night. I also got up and performed what I saw at church that day, which was people being overcome with God's love and falling on the ground screaming and crying. Sabine informed me this does not happen at her church, so I think I will go there next time.
At about 2 am we finally were tired enough to say goodnight and turn off the light, but the wheels in my head kept turning. I thought about the people at church and how I can't understand that at all. I thought about Ahmed, Sabine, and Ami and I how much I am going to miss them when I leave. I thought about why the world is the way it is, with some countries rolling in the doe, and some countries rolling in dirt. I thought about how the hell I am going to be able to change all the things I want to change being just one person. It's so discouraging to think that your ideas my never be heard because your voice is too small. And even here, I go around and talk to all these kids about HIV/AIDS, but are they listening? My NGO helps people who are dying from HIV/AIDS, but is it really helping that much when they still die in the end and we move on to the next patient? The medicine here isn't advanced enough to keep anyone alive for very long. It is the worst feeling in the world to get to know someone so well and then watch them die right before your eyes and there is nothing you can do about it. Will people ever listen? I can tell these kids over and over, but I was their age once too and I remember everything going in one ear and out the other. How am I going to get through to these kids? How am I going to stop people from dying? How can one America girl do anything that's going to mean something? Why am I here? Just to observe? Or do I actually have a purpose?

Lions For Lambs

I've realized being an American here definitely has it's major advantages. No one thinks you speak French so you can basically choose to ignore or acknowledge anyone you want to. When someone tries to sell me something, I have no idea what French is. But when people are talking about me, all the sudden I bust it out. I love when I am in the taxi and no one else will speak to me because they think I won't understand, and then an AIESECer will call me and I'll speak French with them and everyone in the taxi turns and stares at me in disbelief. It's kind of awesome.

On a sadder note, my boss really took it up a notch on the tool scale today. We went again to Yopougon to play with the children and talk about HIV/AIDS and he wore jeans, a super tight t-shirt, and about ten pounds of bling around his neck. He also wore these James Bond sunglasses and tried to walk all gangster the whole day. What is this man doing? He runs an NGO who’s tagline is “The child is the future” and he acts like a teenager. He is also surrounded by luxuries and materialization. He has three office buildings for the NGO but each has an especially large office inside it for him, including fridges filled with bottled water and food, and a staff full of people ready to wait on him hand and foot. When he goes to Danane he takes his sports car. His SPORTS CAR. To Danane, where he is supposed to be counseling and helping people who are dying from HIV/AIDS!! And some of my coworkers told me while he is in Danane he sits in his air conditioned office and "does paperwork" all day and doesn't come outside in the heat. When we went to Yopougon he was 4 hours late and then stayed for 30 minutes and then made me come with him to the dry cleaners to get his suit.
How can someone running such a powerful NGO be like that? It really reminds me of Lions for Lambs. If you haven't seen that movie you are really missing out. If you have seen it, he is the biggest lamb I've ever seen, running an NGO full of lions. I actually have been seeing this trend many places, lions being led by lambs. When will the lions take the reigns? Why does it always end up that the lamb is in charge? Does it take a lamb to lead because we need all the lions to do the dirty work?

Words That Will Stay With Me For Life

Second post of the day, sorry about it. But I just had like a mental overload and I need to write it down.

I went to a conference today with two other people from my NGO. Two members from each NGO who is in the battle for HIV/AIDS prevention were invited (and of course the American). There were four speakers and I have to admit the first three bored me to tears. Half way through the third speakers presentation one of my coworkers and I started placing bets on how long he was going to continue speaking. It also didn't help that he had a heavy accent and I could only understand half of what he was saying so my comprehension went something like this: "I am here today to sdjlghsgjkh about the akfhadj. I am so glad ejkhjkf to do afhakjsfhkj because I know efsdjfhsdj". Yeahhhh. But when the fourth man got up to speak, the whole room went silent. I didn't know who he was at first but my coworker Kayta informed me he was the Ministre de Lutte Controle. So basically he is the God of HIV/AIDS prevention work. And it showed. He was tall with a solid build and spoke with a thunderous voice. His words flooded the room and I swear touched my soul. He talked about how the world needs to wake up and realize that children are our future and every minute we waste neglecting to educate them is one minute taken off of success for world peace, world health, and world understanding. He then talked about making decisions and how to know what is a right and wrong decision. He said listen to your gut. If something really feels wrong, don't do it. Don't let other people try to convince you to do something you know would be bad. He also said don't stand and watch something you know is wrong. Don't watch something happen and not have a say in it, because you know later you will regret it. Take a stand for yourself and no one can tell you to stand for them.
After the conference I shook his hand and told him his words were still circling in my head and I hoped to do as many amazing things as he has done one day. He then looked me straight in the eyes and said, "My child, you have come here by yourself to the Ivory Coast where you know no one and do not speak this language fluently and you are still smiling. You have already accomplished more than you know".
I thought I was going to faint.

Got it on Lock Down

I think I have finally realized the rules of the road here:
-If you want to change lanes, just do it- most likely the person behind you, although they are tale-gating severely, is already expecting you to do so.
-If the person in front of you takes more than one second to realize the light has changed to green, honk your horn as loud and long as possible, even after they have already accelerated to the speed limit.
-If there are three lanes of cars at the light and you don't want to wait at the back of one of the lines, you can create a fourth lane by squeezing through two other lanes. If you can fit, there you go.
-You need not obey any road signs, street lights, or speed limits as there are no cops who drive along the roads and try to stop people. Only obey the light or signs when there is an army man with a huge machine gun waiting at the light, directing traffic. Ivoirians really know how to make people listen.

Also, for any of you planning to come to Cote d'Ivoire in the future, this is my survival guide thus far, it will help you a lot:
- If any creepy men try to talk to you while you are waiting for the Baca, pretend you don't speak French and just look at them confused. They will be angry their smooth words are working on you and walk away. Nice!
- Not knowing French also works well with street vendors and hagglers.
- If when you first arrive and have no idea what anyone is saying you simply smile and nod all the time, people will later associate that action with non-comprehension. So then later when you actually do know what they are saying and you smile and nod, they will try furiously to make the sentence in English until you inform them that you did in fact understand the first time.
- Practice eating a lot before you get here. When you are invited to someone's house and don't eat EVERYTHING they give you, they will be very offended.
- Wear whatever clothes people give you, no matter how much you look like you are wearing a tent. They love to see you in their gifts.
- Compliment everyone. It will transform you from "non-French speaking American" to "fluent French Goddess".
- If you tell someone to meet you at 15h, show up at 16h. I guarantee you will still be early.

It's actually really funny. Ivoirian culture is fast yet super slow. They eat fast, talk fast, and drive fast. But they walk, and work super slowly. For example my boss tells me to call some other NGOs and ask about some things, and write my report for the week. I finish that in about one hour, and then I have to sit and do nothing for 7 hours until I can go home. (Everyone who gchats me during the day, God bless you). Also, my Ivoirian mom wants to build a new house. We went to go see how it was coming along yesterday and it looked like it was about half finished being framed. I asked her when she started building it: 2006. Aie!!

I also finally have a daily routine. For the weekdays that is...the weekends are filled with whatever crazy stuff the AIESECers feel like doing.
Wake up at 6
To work by 9
Take a taxi to the station at 18h. Where I wait my Ivoirian my mom to take me home. While I wait I get to experience the joys of every person walking by saying "Hey white girl". I also get the joys of watching at least 2 fights night break out. I don't know what it is about the Total gas station but it just works people up into a rage.
When I get home I eat dinner- which is always something delicious, except when it's spaghetti. I don't know why but people here think all Americans love spaghetti and always ask me about it. I will never eat spaghetti again.
After that me and my brothers and Roxanne watch Dragon Ball Z and sing the words to the theme song-which is in English, so I laugh every time I hear them sing it because they have no idea what they are saying. Then all during the show my brothers will jump up and yell "KAMEHAMEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" And throw various objects at each other. One of them is usually naked too so there is a very obvious target for the other boys.
Then after that it's girlie time where Roxanne makes different hair styles in my hair, all involving pencils and glitter. Then I practice English with Sabine and laugh hysterically when she tries to pronounce "their". (I wouldn't normally laugh, but you should have seen the way she made fun of my accent when I first got here).
After all that it is usually 22h and I am beat. But Roxanne still wants to play so she usually does my hair again. But by this time her mom tells her she has to go to bed, and so she screams and cries for 15 minutes before getting shut in her room.

I'm going to Danane next Thursday. I will be there for a whole week and I am sort of nervous. In my NGO we always talk about HIV/AIDS to kids, but I've never actually seen people physically dying from it. I really hope I can be of some help when we go and not just the American observer in the background.

Dream big? Hm...

This whole time I've been gushing about my TN. All the people who are so nice, the good food, my servant girls...but anyone who knows me knows I always take the good parts and focus on them. Now I want to tell you all what I really see every day:


It has become quite apparent to me the importance to keep your head. When you are surrounded by AIESECers all the time, doing AIESEC work, you tend to get caught up in the love and Big Dreaming. But it is so important to keep focus and not get completely swept away in it. Yes AIESEC is amazing and has given me so many opportunities/amazing friends that I will talk to for the rest of my life, but I have to remember that I am living in the real world also. Yesterday I was at an AIESEC event and I left my purse alone while I walked around. A little later another AIESECer ran up to me and told me not to leave without it. I was really confused as to why he would think it was so dangerous, but now I am realizing why. Everywhere I look when I walk down the streets of Cocody I see poverty, illness, depression. This is the world we live in. This is what we fight to get rid of. When you are in AIESEC-US all you do is feel the love. Feel the AIESEC loveliness of hanging out, talking politics, smoking hookah. Because we are Americans and we have everything we want. We don't know how lucky we are to be able to walk down the street and not be scared to be robbed or beaten up. In Madison when I walk down the street I never see skinny naked children crying to their mom because they are hungry. I never see people covering themselves in mud and lying down to try and cool off because they don't have any thing else. Madison is paradise. Madison is like heaven. No ten-foot tall piles of garbage, no maggot infested toilets everywhere you look so you have to hold it in for as long as you possibly can, no little boys and girls selling tissues on the side of the road who when you look into their eyes you know that if you bought a box of tissues from them it would make them the happiest child on the face of this earth because it meant dinner for them and their family. This is where I live right now. You would not believe how many people I talk to who have applied for a US Visa and have been denied. Or how many people would kill just to get on the waiting list.
I've also realized there is no such thing as a poor college student. If you are able to even CONSIDER going to college, you are richer than you will ever know.

Sabine and I have become super close. She writes me notes in English or French, depending on how much time she has to spend on it, and leaves it for me for when I get home from work. She just basically tells me she loves me and she wants me to stay here forever haha. But we were talking today and she told me for the first time about her past. She grew up in a village in West Cote d’Ivoire, and she was like those babies I see every day: Her mom couldn’t provide her with food, clothes, or anything else. So when she was 12 her mom sent her here, to Elizabeth’s house, to be a domestic and basically do everything in exchange for an education, food, water, clothes, etc. But she doesn’t have time to study because she has to do all the chores around the house so her grades suffer and she can’t get into a university. She said it is the same for half the girls in her grade. I always wondered before why she wants to know all about my life in America: my car, my going to eat at restaurants a lot, coffee shops, university, friends, social time, etc. She absolutely loves hearing about it and I never knew why before, but now I understand. She is sort of living vicariously through me. When I tell her my life she imagines it’s hers, and then she tells me she’s going to come to America with me and live the life. But every time she says it I can tell we both know she could never actually come to America. She doesn't even have enough money to pay for a passport.

What is my point? When you go to a third world country and actually see for yourself how much in this world needs fixing, you find a new perspective. I don't want to dream big. I want to do big things. Because dreaming big but doing nothing is what has got us all here. So I am going to continue to live this amazing experience, and when I go home, I am going to stop dreaming and start doing.

English is slipping away

Roxanne points to things now and instead of asking me what it is in French, she asks me what it is in English. She wants to know everything about English. Except when she asks me what something is, sometimes I literally can't think of the word for it in English. And then she will say "En anglais tanti! Anglais!" but I can't think of it. Then later I'll all the sudden remember it. I am also reaching the point where I don't have to talk around what I want to say because I can't think of direct words. I can say mostly anything I want to without a problem. Though I also have a routine now, and so I use the same verbs/words a lot. But I had a meeting today and I understood what was going on, so I am going to take that as a good sign.

I am starting to get ravenous all the time. I used to be able to eat one meal a day and be fine here, but now I am hungry all the time. I guess I am going to come back really fat.

I went to Church on Sunday. I absolutely hated it. Not kidding. It lasted 5 hours, and although I did get to dance, the preacher kept talking about saving others from the devil and how we should go around and spread the word of Jesus. They even have special field trips for it. This Friday they are going to the Army base to spread the word of the Lord. They asked me if I would come and I said I had to go to Mosque, haha. They also made me stand up and say a few words during the service and told me before I leave I have to preach a verse from the Bible to everyone. Hell no. No way. They also have a part of the service where the preacher tells people to come up to the front uf they have accepted the Lord in their heart and have put him first before anything else, and of course like 30 people go up and start praying. Then the preacher dude walks around to each of them, puts his hand on their forehead and starts saying random verses of the Bible. Each time he does this, the person who he is touching starts trembling and screaming and crying because they are so overwhelmed by God's love I guess. Some of them literally go crazy though. One of the men started screaming so loud the church bouncers had to take him out of the church. No, I'm not kidding, there are church bouncers. They wear all yellow and if people are too overcome by the Lord they bouncers have to calm them down or escort them out of the building. I have never witnessed such a scene in all my life nor do I want to ever again, but my host family is insanely religious and they all go to church every Sunday, so I might be roped into being a Christian this summer. But if anyone tries to make me go up and say some verses, I am going to kill them.

I thought my Chocolate phone I use in the US got stolen because it was nowhere to be found. Later I found out Junior had taken it from my bag with no intention of giving it back. I only found out because I caught him with it and asked him where he got it from. I was so mad. Sabine then explained to me that kids here learn at an early age that Africans will pay a lot of money for American devices, so Junior’s friends probably told him to steal it and sell it. I always get caught off guard by things like this, because everyone here is so nice and I forget there is a lot of crime. Sabine told me Cote d’Ivoire has loads of dishonest people and I need to be careful. She also said they will probably target me because I am white. So far I have been pretty good about it though, I just need to remember not to trust people unless I know them really well….and they are not children.

I haven't shaved my armpits for 2.5 weeks now. It's somewhat of a trophy to me aha. Everything is so natural here I feel weird shaving even my legs. It doesn't feel right.


I can also take the Baca and have no problems now. It's actually kind of fun to jump in and jump out now that I know what I am doing.

Thank God I get wireless at work so I can blog daily

These past two days have changed my life more than the past 19 years combined. I went to Yopougon yesterday to talk to kids who have been affected in some way by HIV/AIDS. Before I left I had an image in my head of what the scene would look like. I pictured children in beaten up clothes and dirty faces all staring at me with these incredibly sad faces. A little dramatic I know, but when you see commercials on tv about AIDS, that's what they always show! So when I actually arrived there I was surprised to say the least. The neighborhood was definitely in the ghetto, but all the children were nicely dressed, talking, and smiling with each other. No one had dirty clothes or dirty faces and a lot of them knew English. It's then that I truly realized I wanted to not only talk to people about HIV/AIDS prevention, but I wanted to show the world what Africa really is. Not a day goes by I don't hear children clapping, dancing, and singing on my street on their way to school. Not a day goes by I walk down the street and every person I see greets me with a smile. Not a day has gone by where I have needed help in some way and someone has not helped me. Before I left to come here, everyone told me to watch out because everyone is going to try to steal from you. Or don't drink their city water or eat their food because it's bad for you. It's a city, people. They have plumbing. I have not died yet from their water or their food. And the mangos here are to die for. They are probably the most heavenly things I have ever tasted.
So basically I was there for 5 minutes and I realized I was like everyone else in America who told me all these misconceptions. Some AIESECers showed up a little later too and together we played with the kids in this huge sandbox. I learned so many cool games...although I lost to this one 4 year old every time. But I told him he had been playing this for at least 1 year, and I had been playing for 20 minutes so that's why he beat me, haha. But the kids were all so awesome to me. They all wanted to show me how to play and what to do. And the older kids were just as cool. Some girls were attitude divas, but they underestimated the fact that I am attitude queen. By the end they were asking me for my number, haha. It's just so amazing here. Everyone is so full of life. You can talk to anyone here for 2 minutes and you can tell how happy they are to be alive and living in Cote d'Ivoire.
Today I did something I would have been scared to death to do 2 weeks ago. I took the wora wora by myself to work. Wora wora looks like a taxi but it functions like a bus: a fixed price, and 5 people must always be in it. When someone leaves you can pick someone else up from the side of the road. But it's scary because the drivers are all from villages where they speak their own dialect, so I can never understand a word they are saying, which is why I never wanted to take it. But today I sucked it up and took it to work. I basically just told them the town I needed to go to and then yelled stop!!! when I saw my work. Success! It's such a great feeling to know that I can be independent in this city. I can get around if I need to all by myself. Spectacular.

Basically the only thing holding me back from conquering this place completely is the language. I need to learn Ivoirian slang. Fast. So I asked some AIESECers to help me, and they are going to start teaching me this saturday.
My French is somewhat at a stand still right now. All the AIESECers want to speak English. So they talk to me in English and I respond in French. But that's not good for my comprehension skills. I usually yell at them if they talk to me in English, but they really want to practice too so I can't blame them. I don't mind speaking English to them really. And my coworkers only speak French, so maybe I can speak French during the day and English at night. That's not too bad.

Ondekwaaaa????

Just some new observations:
Weather:
The weather here is insane! It will be beautiful and sunny and then in literally 2 seconds you will hear something that sounds like sand falling and you look out the window and it his pouring rain. It's absolutely insane. I just carry my umbrella around all the time because I never know when I am going to need it.

Interns: American girl vs Ivoirian boy
There are two interns here. I am obviously one of them, and the other is a guy about the same age as me who is Ivoirian. He is relatively new also so I feel this is a fair comparison.

Ivoirian Boy:
- Desk is in a cramped room with no air conditioning
- Works haggling other businesses for donations
- Brings his own lunch or has to go buy it himself

American Girl:
- Desk is in the office of the Executive Director and air conditioned
- Works with children and gets to travel
- Is served lunch and pretty much anything else I want
How does that work out?

My boss:
My boss is Michael Scott from the office. It’s not even a bunch of similarities. He IS Michael Scott. Here are some reasons why:
- He will constantly call people into his office to do ridiculous things, like go get him some water from a specific street vendor. Not just water from anywhere.
- He demands corn on the cob daily
- He listens to 30 second clips of songs, and then sings along to them like 8 octaves higher than the singer is singing. (Keep in mind that I am in the room during all of this)
- He is 5’4’’ but where he lacks in height he makes up for in the amount of times he tells me about how he founded this NGO
- If he sees I am reading something and doesn’t want to verbally interrupt me, he will type me messages on yahoo messenger which consist of “How are you”, and “what are you doing?”
- He has a giant wooden penis on his desk. Which granted his NGO in part teaches people how to wear condoms, but I feel like there is a more appropriate place for it then on his desk staring at me.
- Every morning he tells me I look very nice and then proceeds to make his secretary cater to my every whim…so basically I am purse girl.
- We are going to be making two trips to Danane, where we will spend 4 days talking to all the orphans and helping people who are HIV positive. I am told there are three houses we have to stay at while in Danane. One for the women, one for the men, and one for my boss…
- He probably works for about 10% of the day, and then spends the rest of the time thinking of things to say to me even though I am clearly working. And if he can't think of anything to say he will pace in front of my desk, or stare at me from his until I say something to him.
- When he has a problem, he makes it everyone else's problem too. For example: He wants to go to Mexico for a conference, but he is having trouble with his visa, so he has every person in this place running in and out of his office with updates on how to solve the problem.
Let me just say I like Michael Scott better when he is on tv


I am a child: Yesterday when I came home from work, me and Roxane immediately began playing games. We spent 2 hours playing "Nous allons ou?" where we sat on the couch, got under my umbrella, pretended to be in a boat, decided where we wanted to go and then paddled fiercely until Roxane decided we had arrived. I think I traveled around the world twice that night. After that we played "Le monstre t'a vu?" where we ran away from the "monster" and tried to think of ways to make it go away.

Roxi has also adopted all of my facial expressions. Her mom is always like, why are you making your face like that?
I honestly don't know what I am going to do when I come back home and there is no 4 year old to play games with.

I'm going to Yopougon today. Although the woman I am going to be working with does not like me. I think she has been at this job for too long or something. She never smiles and when she does it's because she is talking to the Executive Director and she has to. But when she talks to me, she talks really fast and if I don't understand she just looks at me with this "omg listen please" and then skips that sentence and moves on. Soooo great love you too. But I'm just going to go with the flow and see what happens.

Abooooo

I think I am finally becoming Ivoirian:
I have mastered the art of waking up at the right time without the help of an alarm clock (they don't use alarm clocks here but everyone somehow magically wakes up on time).
I can understand most speech, although trying to talk is another issue.
I can take the Gbaca by myself without wetting my pants in fear.
I can tolerate bathing- there is only one temperature of the bathing water here and that is freezing cold...not a fun wake up call.
I have also mastered the art of not sweating all over the place every second from the heat. I think my body is adjusting to the intense humidity. I actually enjoy being outside and I don't mind bugs that much all over me.
I am loving my job. I get to go to Yopugon tomorrow- which is a really poor city with a high population of HIV/AIDS infected people. I am going to be playing with the kids and thinking up strategies for them to convey how they are feeling about AIDS. All of the children there either have AIDS or have loved ones with it.
My Ivoirian mom gave me 4 new dresses and some jewelry to wear to work. So I wore one of them today and everyone at the NGO was like, omg you are truly Ivoirian!!!!


Realizations:
-I am never going to buy my kids a playstation: My brothers here have a playstation and every day all their friends come over and fight over it. But yesterday Bekanti left for this sort of bording school and he took his playstation with him. It was probably the best gift I could have received. The house was nice and peaceful and the girls and I watched a movie without 15 little boys running all over. Paradise.

- Everyone wants to learn English: Everyone I work with wants me to teach them, as well as everyone in AIESEC. Even Roxanne wants to learn. And ps- she's probably the smartest little girl ever. I counted 1-10 to her in English twice and after that she could recite all of them except eight. I don't know why but she can't remember eight. I thought it was just short term memory or luck that she could recite them so quickly, so I asked her the next day to count for me in English and she did it no problem. Amazing.

-Ivoirians think white people can't understand them: There are two security guards at the front of my NGO. I pass them everyday and everyday they comment about me. I know they don't think I can understand them because sometimes they will say "Do you understand us?" and I will look at them confused. It's like being a mind reader...but not really. It's funny to hear what they say though. It's usually something about my butt. I think the last week I will all the sudden bust out rapid french and see what they say :)

I'm getting paid for this?

First day at work:
A car comes to my house every day to take me to work
I sit at my desk in an air conditioned room.
I read BBC.com for 2 hours because my boss says it's good to know about the world
I talk about politics with the Executive Director of the NGO
I teach the Executive Director English and he teaches me French
I am served rice and fish and Sprite for lunch (Lunch is 2 hours long)
I am told my job will be reading up on the AIDS virus, and talking to other people here about how to aid orphans of AIDS. There is a facility that takes in orphans of AIDS and provides therapy and support and I am going to be working with the kids.
A car drives me home.


So basically I would pay them to do this job if they asked me to. But don't tell them I said that. :)

First day of Work today dun dun dun

Attention!!! Yesterday I talked to Franc’s sister only in French, and she was talking rapid fast and I could understand her most of the time. Successssss

I don’t think men age here. Well I think they age, but you just can’t tell. I found out today Franc is 24! I thought he was 20. And one of my really good friends Diaby (Mory) is 28!!!! I thought he was 20 also! They all look so young for how old they really are. No one in AIESEC is younger than 21 here. The youngest they can start at the University is 20 so everyone is older. And most AIESECers are grad students here.

They also have standard roll calls here. They have a list of like 5 that they do and everyone knows them backwards and forwards. They asked me to show them a roll call from Madison and I was like uhhhhh ok think think think…Ice cream and cake?

It’s clear to me that I am never going to be able to sleep in this house. Roxanne wakes me up at 7 every morning because she is bored and wants to play. I really didn’t want to wake up at 7 on a Saturday so I told her to go, but she kept coming back every 15 minutes. I didn’t understand really until I finally got up and went out to the living room and saw like 15 boys all playing video games and being super loud. This must be how it always is here. Ahmed, Bekanti and Junior all have their friends over, and little Roxanne has to try and hold her own. She usually does this by screaming at the top of her lungs when no one wants to play with her. But now here I am, the cool American girl, who likes to draw with her and take direction from her for photo shoots. I’m like the big sister she never had. There is only one down side to being her idol. She will never leave me alone. She comes in my room all the time and looks at all my stuff and wants to do whatever I am doing. She found a women’s product one time and stuck it to her head and asked her mom what it was for and her mom got a little mad at me. But she honestly follows me all around.

So I was watching CNN while a bunch of Elizabeth’s friends were over today. They walked past me on their way to go eat, saw the headline “The Clinton Exit” and all rushed to sit down on the couch and watch. Only none of them speak English so they would listen to someone talk and then be like, “Meena, what’d they say???”. Then I told them that Clinton is leaving the race and is going to endorse Barack Obama. Then all of them started clapping at once. It was insane to see all them so excited over Barack’s certain Democratic nomination. I wonder how much they actually know about his position, and how much is just that he is black and his campaign slogan has the word “change” in it. I have to admit, I am glad Barack is getting the nomination. It took me a while to come around but I have arrived.

I just realized that my posts on nomadlife are the most scattered things ever. But there is so much that happens here that I have to write this way.


In my life, there are certain people that I feel so close to that when anything bad happens I am devastated. Ok I know what you are thinking, duh Meena anyone would. But I mean like really small things too. Like once my sister couldn’t go to her friend’s party because our parents said no and I was like so upset. It’s dumb if you think about it but I still get so upset! But anyway I’ve been here one week and I can already count 7 people that I feel that close to here. Today Junior wanted to go play with his friends and decided to go play with them even though his mom said no and she was sooo angry. When he came home she beat him so hard. I was mortified. I told Franc about it and he didn’t seem phased at all. He said that’s what happens here. Every kid gets beat by their mom, it’s just the way it is. But I was so upset. Junior is so little and adorable. Ok I need to give you a low down on all the people in my life right now:

Elizabeth: The mom of the house. She’s really talkative and really nice but she knows when to be stern. She also bought me three shirts yesterday without me knowing and then gave them to me today. They are so beautiful.

Ahmed: He’s the oldest boy in the house though he is not actually the son of Elizabeth. He is her nephew. His parents moved away and he wanted to stay so he moved in with Elizabeth. He keeps all the kids in line and all of them do exactly as he says. He’s also super nice and my favorite kid in the house. He’s 18.

Bekanti: Troublemaker who looks like Ray Jay. He thinks he is totally bad ass and walks around with G-Unit shirts. He always has the same two friends come over and watch him play video games. He tries to act cool for me but I pretend like I don’t notice. He also learned the phrase “very sexy girls” and says it all the time. I’m not exactly sure if he knows what it means but I laugh every time he says it because his accent makes it sound hilarious. He’s 16.

Junior: Oh Junior. He’s so shy …except when playing video games. Then he is a beast. He is the youngest son and definitely feels the heat for it. Though he has about 10 friends who come over every day to watch him play video games. I don’t know how much you have to talk about when you are 7. But they are talking all the time. I really wish I knew what they were saying. Actually when I first got here I was annoyed because his friends are SO LOUD but now it’s just funny to me because they are like little sheep. I walk in the room and they all stare at me wide eyed, and then when Junior does something they all flock after him and do the same thing. He also always calls me Auntie Meena. He’s 7.

Roxanne: My little baby. She follows me around like a puppy but she also brings the child out in me. Yesterday we played house and then drew animals in my notebook and gave them all names. I forgot how fun it is to forget you have responsibilities and fears and just wonder off into fantasy land. Also one day I saw another huge cockroach on the wall of room and freaked out. So then Roxanne told me it was going to crawl to my bed and bite my legs so we came up with a plan to not let it bite me, which consisted of singing a song to it, and then burying me in blankets. This seemed like a good idea at the time but then when I actually had to sleep it was way too hot. She also loves taking pictures…of everything. Her favorite though is taking up close pictures of her face. I will post them all on facebook so you can see her works of art. She’s 4.

Sabine: One of the household helpers. She is also teaching me Ivoirian slang so I can understand what’s going on. Her brother speaks English I guess and wants to talk to me, but he calls me at the most random inopportune times so I can never talk. He probably thinks I am blowing him off but I am just really busy! I’ll try to call him later. She’s really nice though and she writes me nice notes. She’s 14.

Ami: Oh Ami. She is crazy. She is the other household helper. But she is always tired and always ends up sitting with me on the couch and doing nothing. Then Elizabeth comes and yells at her. But Ami is so funny. She’s so silly. I think when I first got here they thought I was going to be this bossy American girl and they would have to wait on me all the time. But I was always like Hey!!!! So now she always goofs around with me even though we don’t speak the same language at all. She speaks an Iviorian dialect, so there isn’t even a hope of being able to really talk to her, but Sabine usually translates for me. She’s 17.

Franc: Mr. Lovalova. He is truly the big man on campus. Everywhere we go everyone knows him and wants to talk to him. A 5 minute walk always takes at least 15. He likes to talk about deep things though, which is my cup of tea, so we talk for hours and hours together about random stuff. It’s actually really cool I wish he lived in America. He said he doesn’t want to come here though because the visa process is too long and he loves Mama Africa too much. I can’t blame him, so do I. He is really touchy feely though. Well actually everyone here is really touchy feely. When I come back I am going to be on everyone. It’s really funny, every time he introduces me to someone he says “this is my guy”. So pretty much everyone on campus is his guy. He’s 24.

Diaby: Oh Mory. His name is Diaby Mory and everyone calls him Mory so maybe I will too. I thought he was trying to play it cool when I first met him, but that’s how he actually is. He’s just really cool and low key. He is also a really good dancer and is dancing all the time. But he’s not smooth with the ladies though. I always tease him, and when he’s with a girl I’m always like oooo is that your girlfriend??? But he’s cool, we’re tight. He’s 28.

Mackenzie: Oh Mackenzie. All of AIESEC Madison would be in love with this boy if he came. He is probably the most social person I have ever met and also the most energetic. I’m 90% sure he’s gay so I don’t feel weird sitting on him all the time and joking around with him. We also sing to whatever song is playing the LC hang out. He’s 23.

Reindal: He’s so weird. I’m actually not fond of him but just his pure bizarreness makes me want to tell everyone. He is always talking to me in his dialect, which he knows I don’t understand and then laughs at me. So now I’ve been retaliating by talking in fast English to him. It wouldn’t be nearly as effective except that some boys understand me and then laugh. He is also always trying to convince me that everyone is gay. Whenever two guys walk by together he’s like, Meena look, homosexuals. He’s 25.

There is way more than this but I’m getting tired of typing so I’ll have to tell you later. I also can’t pronounce half of there names right now.

Side note: The herd is back and this time Junior is letting them play, but one at a time. It’s like a fighting game and the rule is that Junior always gets to be playing while the others switch off. He should really charge money for kids to be his friend he would be rich.

I think this is the food chain:

Roxanne –is never in the wrong (when usually she is)
Me –the American visitor and everyone must be nice to me
Bekanti- Always telling on people, no idea how he is so high on the list
Ahmed- The man of the house and should know better
Junior- Roxanne hits him and he gets in trouble for it…typical little sister move
Sabine and Ami –household help, always getting bossed around
All of the herds –if they are being annoying Elizabeth will shoo them like flies


I start my job Monday and I am pretty nervous. It’s not so much the job I’m nervous about but just how to get in. You have to go past security guards first, then you have to go in this room and tell this woman why you are there are stuff. I’m just nervous because I’m still shaky on this French. But hopefully they will understand what I am trying to say. Hopefully.

I finally shaved my legs today. It felt so nice to have shaved legs. It is so weird because legs with hair on them are beautiful here but I don’t think I could ever get into that. However I do plan on letting my arm hair grow out, just to see how long it can get. Women don’t shave their armpits here either, so it is a socially accepted experiment.
When Sabine saw my shaved legs today she was like, omg what happened???? Your beautiful hair!!!!!”….

The past like 5 days...

Well, It has been one week so far that I’ve been here. When I first got here I didn’t even recognize the language as French, but now I am beginning to pick out a lot of words when people talk fast and I can kind of understand fluent speakers. It’s funny because when someone tells me they want to practice English with me, naturally I talk slowly. But if you tell an Ivorian that you need to practice French with them, they will talk so fast to you, even though you just said you couldn’t understand when people talk fast.

Ok so I just reread the paragraph above….my English is going down the toilet already.

But I just met with my boss today for the NGO I’m going to be working for. He is really nice but doesn’t speak a word of English, and like most Ivorian, doesn’t know how to speak slowly. But it’s OK because he said it would be good for him to practice English while I practice French. But this Thursday he wants me to go to a village north of Cote d’Ivoire and work on an AIDS project there. I don’t know if I want to go because I barely know my living situation here, I don’t want to take a weekend and travel to Timbuktu and try to figure things out again so soon. But we have drivers and hotels paid for so maybe it will be fine. I’ll have to talk to some people about it and see what they think.

I have my love of food back now. Although I still don’t really eat a lot because everything here is like fried or sugary, so I try not to eat a lot. But everything so far is really good. I am getting a little edgy though because Franc keeps buying me things, and taking me places to eat, and I have spent zero dollars so far. I’m honestly treated like a princess here and I really don’t feel like I should deserve that. But every time I tell him not to he just disregards it and says he’ll tell me when time is up for getting free things. So I guess now I will wait.

I also went to the salon today to get my hair shampooed. I went with Ahmed, the oldest boy in the house, who I love a lot, and made him wait for me for two hours while I got my hair shampooed and styled and then got a manicure. It’s so weird! I don’t even do that in America! But Elizabeth told me she wanted me to go to the salon so I went, thinking I would just get my hair washed, and then the rest is history. But seriously Ahmed is so sweet. He helps me all the time. Sometimes I’ll just be like, where is my bag? And he’ll run around the house trying to find it. Or when I have to take the Gbaca (the really scary bus) he always walks to the stop with me and makes sure I get on safely. I definitely have a kindergarten crush on him. Too bad he is like 16.

Umm yeah so I guess here girls start having kids at 12, so that’s why everyone asks me if I have children. Also, I am the youngest person in AIESEC-Cocody-Abidjan. Now that everyone knows I am 19, they call me “ma petite” because they are all like 24 or so. So grrrrreat. No it’s ok.

Ok so today was the first day that I didn’t have to ask every person I talked to talk slower. It was really awesome because I kind of understood some of what people were saying. But it’s really funny because most of the time when people go abroad, they can understand what other people are saying, but they can’t speak very well themselves. I am the exact opposite. Maybe this means that I have a chance at learning this dialect.

So far, I’ve gotten four marriage proposals. I’m serious, I don’t know what it is but I have a lot of guy friends here. It’s funny, I feel like I’ve known them my whole life, and I can’t even understand what they are saying half the time. This is truly the spirit of AIESEC.

Things I miss about America:
- No bugs in my house
- I can walk anywhere I want, or I can drive, so I don’t have to take cramped and scary buses
- Being able to understand when people talk to me
- Knowing where I am going all the time and what is going on
- The weather

Things I like better here
- The food
- Having maids (Jk…..kinda)
- The clothes
- The lifestyle

The lifestyle here is simple and slow. Even rich people don’t buy a lot of stuff here. They have nice things and appreciate them and don’t feel the need to have so much stuff that you don’t have what to do with it. They buy what they need. I need to learn that.

I’m actually adapting to this Country pretty well. I don’t really miss home that much at all. I mean I miss my friends and family, but I’m not home sick. Before I came here, I didn’t know if I was really ready to do this, but now I know I am.

Something else that’s pretty funny is that there are two people here who want to talk to me in English to improve their skeelz: Franc and Bosco. Actually, they were also the first two to propose marriage to me also hahaha. Anyway, Franc speaks really well so we hang out all the time. But lately I have found it easier to talk to him in French. It just came faster to me. So I am glad of that.

Ok the funniest thing happened today. I have chess on my computer and the kids are a little obsessed with it. So today I was playing and the youngest girl Roxanne came and said she wanted to play too. Except apparently what that meant was that she wanted me to play and her to watch and dictate my every move. Only she does not understand at all how to play, and thought that every piece could move every which way, including squiggly lines on the board. So she kept telling me to move all these pieces all over the place. When she finally realized those pieces couldn’t do that, she began telling me to move the black pieces….which were my opponent. Needless to say we are a very bad chess team.

Here’s another funny story. Apparently AIESEC Africa has this thing called “Poisson d’AIESEC”. It basically means, if there is someone in AIESEC you like, and you hook up with a lot, they are your poisson. One day one of the boys asked me to be is poisson. Of course I said no, but then after that every boy would talk about poisson poisson thinking I didn’t understand….but I totally did and right in the middle of their conversation I say, “I already have a poisson so don’t even try it.” They all turned and looked at me like I was a psychic…No not a psychic, just a comprehender.

The same happens at home. The kids think that since I have a heavy accent when I speak means I can’t understand. So this conversation went down last night:
Bekanti: Do you think Meena wants wine?
Ahmed: I don’t know ask her
Bekanti: No she won’t understand
Sabine: Ok I’ll go look it up in her dictionary

Ok so I am sitting there pretending I don’t understand and secretly laughing. Then after like 2 minutes of trying to figure out how to ask me Bekanti says:
Meena….wine?

I was actually pretty excited because I could actually understand what was going on.
Mind you, that doesn’t happen all the time. Most of the time I know they are talking about me and I have no idea what they are saying. It was just this one time I was in the know.

So I am basically a goddess here. When I walk in the AIESEC headquarters everyone’s like ehhhhh Meena! Actually they say Ozwa! Because I guess that is my Ivoirian name now. It’s actually really bizarre that I am worshipped here because I have never looked worse in my life. They don’t have shampoo for hair like mine so I wash it with body wash. So it always looks super greasy and feels disgusting. I am always super sweaty, and they don’t shave their arm pits or legs here…so yeahhhhh I look really hot. But no one else seems to care so why should I. It’s really funny: I connect the most with Franc, Mory, Mackenzie, Rosemond, and Donatien. But only one of those people speaks English and all the other guys (and Rosemond) speak only French….fast French. I’ve never really had to make friends using more than words before. But now that I have it’s such a cool feeling. I speak limited Ivoirian French and make up for the rest with gestures and facial expressions. Ps- The LCP here is the exact same as Andrew King. Both have the same build, and both don’t really talk a lot but then all the sudden bust out something hilarious or so some crazy dance or something

Liberian Slang (They speak English there is it applies for America too)

Pohf- If you are surprised
Ask me- if you don't know what happened someone else says that
Pwaaa- A word you use if you want to tease them or if something happened that's really awesome
Brabee- What you call your friend
Porkay- Lots of money
Colo or Sereez- What they call the English Accent
Che che bole- Gossiper
Che che- gossip
Afaya- What'd you say?
Rock- shake your butt
Ma chu- My food
Colloma- a lie
Collabuleme- liar

I am planning on going to Liberia to visit my friends for a week this summer so then I will have more.

If I wasn't a celebrity, would you still want to be with me?

Omg so much has happened since I last wrote, forgive me if I repeat.

Also- whoever knows what song the title of this is from, you are the chosen ones.

Ok firstly, French here is freakin crazy! I know I said that already, but they have so many words that are different from what I learned them as. Also the sentence structure is a little different. It's too much for me to explain but when I get back and you want to speak french with me, be prepared.

Ok so where to begin...my family: Roxanne wakes me up everyday to play with my hair. She also wants to play house all the time, where I am the baby and she is my mom and she makes me "food" which is basically she takes a cup and fills it with dirt and fake vegetables and gives it to me. Then I pretend eat it and then she goes and gets more. She also says my skin is too white and I need to see a doctor so she "calls" the doctor, by pushing 0000000000 and then pretends he is there talking to her. Then she hangs up and tells me Im fine. This happens over and over for like 2 hours sometimes hahaha. But she is honestly probably the most geniune little girl I've ever met. She now understands I don't speak Ivorian French very welll so she will tell me to come follow her, and then she runs around the house, points to things, and says, "qu'est-ce que c'est?" and then I have to say what it is in French. It has been really helpful! I think my host family thinks I have an eating disorder. I only eat one meal a day when I am here most of the time but it's because I have completely lost my apetite. I think because there are so many other things I have to think about that I don't feel like worrying about eating too. But I can never finish what they give me and then Sabeen will be like, Meena!!!! Eattttttt.

I am a celebrity here. Last night Franc took me to his friend's house and since I am from the US all of them gathered around me and asked me questions and wanted to walk next to me haha. I am also offered coca-cola from everyone here. Whenever I go to someone's house the give me coke for free and makes everyone else pay. Also when I go to the smaller more rural parts of the city, all the kids stop their playing and stare at me when I walk by. And when I go to the University to the AIESEC headquarters eveyone stares when I walk by also. But then I finally get to the building and everyone's like heyyyyyyy.

Religion is very important here. We pray before every meal. And everyone asks me what religion I am. I say I don't have one and everyone freaks out. So one of Franc's friends said I have to go to a Mosque and then a christian church with him and then choose. We'll see.

I actually don't know if my host family brothers actually like me, or if they just like all my sweet gadgets. Every day they come to my room and ask for my ipod and computer to play with. I think it's funny to watch them try to use them so I say Ok. I am teaching them how to play Chess, which here I guess is called echecker. But it's ok I'll let them use me. Except I use them too, like yesterday I saw a cockroach no kidding, like the size of my hand, truely. I flipped out and ran and told the oldest brother to get rid of it for me. Roxanne loves the notebook I brought with me. It's a travel journal from my mom with a Fleur de Lys on it. She always takes and tells me to tell her what to draw. I usually say some sort of animal, and she then proceeds to draw a square body, and stick arms and legs and neck. Needless to say the bird and dog are siamese twins.

My hair does not appreciate this climate. It's a frizzball all the time, and it's so bad that Elizabeth looked at me and said, ummm I think we need to go to the salon tomorrow.

Franc has been such a big help to me. He takes me everywhere, and even though I tell him not to over and over he buys me all this stuff. Like he bought me a bus ride that cost like $5 just for one day. He also bought me a traditional African woman's dress (which is HELLA sweet) and another shirt besides that. He also buys me food all the time and water. I was feeling so horrible that he was spending so much, but he said in Abidjan I give him company, he gives me presents. He also is so protective. If some guys are oogling me he always like pulls me away from them. Also turns out there are people who plot to kidnap an American and get their passport. Franc told me to watch out all the time. It's hard to keep your guard up when everyone is so nice, but I need to remember to be on the defense.
oh also- Franc has been telling people that I am his wife. So whenever I meet someone they call me Mrs. Date and ask me if I have children. So apparently my body looks like it has been through pregnancy...awesome.

oh Ok I need to tell you about the bus. So it's called Baca. It's INSANE. You hail one from the side of the road, and if you are lucky and it doesn't hit you, then you ask how many places there are and then jump on. Then at some point in time I don't know how that works exactly but the worker on the bus says something to you in the most rapidFrench I've ever heard in my life, which apparently means "give me the money for the ride" And then you give them the money and tell them where you need to go. It's so confusing. Luckily my host mom has a car so I don't have to take the Baca very often.

Ok I think that is all I have to write for now. I meet my boss today so wish me luck!