Birthday Edition!!

April 15, 2012


Today was a pretty average day; spent the morning cleaning and doing laundry and then went to help prepare the rice with Kadiatou.  Kadiatou's older sister (Fatim) from Boke has been visiting from Boke, which has been cool because Kadiatou has gotten some time to relax and just hang out, rather than do all the chores and cooking for her brothers and sisters.

This afternoon I was in the cooking hut with Fatim and Sarata, Kadiatou's younder sister (about 8 years old) when all of a sudden Fatim took Sarata out of the hut and started saying that there was something in the hut. I immediately assumed there was a spider (prior to this Fatim kept looking at the roof above me) and ran out of the hut covering my head. Once outside, Fatim said there was a chameleon and then Kadiatou proceeded to tell me that chameleons are extremely dangerous. Now, I know chameleons are not dangerous, so I wasn't concerned but the others were afraid and M'Baye, Kadiatou's younger brother (14 years old) grabbed a spear (yes, a spear, seriously) and started trying to stab the chameleon and get it out of the hut. Finally they knocked it down and M'Baye pierced it, and left it on the ground with the spear still stuck inside.

After all this excitement, we all (the women) returned to the cooking hut to continue making the rice. Now that I saw how honestly afraid everyone was I asked Kadiatou why chameleons are dangerous (well, why she thinks they are, anyway). She then explained to me that they change colors and so you can't see them and that's why they are so bad. I laughed a little and said they aren't dangerous, even though there was no proof I could give to verify this.




April 16, 2012--Birthday!!


In order to spoil myself a bit in honor of my b-day, I went to Kamsar with Steph and Marissa where I was able to skype with a bunch of family and friends. Once in Kamsar I made a quick trip to the market to buy all the ingredients my host family said I would need for my village celebration for "mon anniversaire". Finding all the things was interesting and challenging since some of the words were in Susu and written in a not-so-easy to read way. Not to mention that the market is huge and not really organized in a logical way. After about an hour of frantically searching and asking a bunch of random people where I could find things I had everything on the list, and a massive plastic bag to show for it.

Unfortunately the internet wasn't working for the first hour or so, and I missed a few people who had to go to work. After an awesome lunch (cheeseburger and fries!) we went to the grocery store where I splurged on hummus and ruffle potato chips (the only inexpensive thing to eat hummus with), blue cheese, and a wine cooler type frozen drink.

After we were finished in Kamsar, the three of us found a taxi and made our way back to Boke. Marissa and I spent the night in the PC house where we watched movies (Harry Potter--of course, and Monte Carlo--please don't judge, it was a cute movie) and made dinner. I attempted a buffalo-style eggplant sandwich, which, although was not exactly what I had in mind, was very delicious, and would definitely be worth a second try. Phil (a PC response volunteer) came to the house after his class and he and Marissa made spaghetti and tomato sauce. Together we shared the chips and hummus and also some skittles I brought from a care package. Unfortunately the city power did not come on that night, so the refrigerator wasn't working and my frozen drink stayed liquid and luke warm. I decided to save that for the following trip to Boke.



April 17, 2012


This morning I left Boke with Cisse and the Boke Driver, Conte to head back to village. On the way to Kamsar (Cisse had some business for PC to take care of there) we stopped to look at a potential placement for a new education volunteer. It would be a great site, judging by the brief look I got, it is nearer to me than any other volunteer right now.

I finally made it back to Bintimodia around noon and immediately started cooking lunch/dinner with my family. After the normal rice and sauce we started making the "cake" aka balls of fried dough. My mom was preparing the dough and cut up onions in it. Immediately I was like "umm, onions in cake?!" but my sister assured me it was normal and would be good. Well, she was right, they were delicious (how could anything with sugar fried in oil not be good?) and we ended up with a huge bowl full of "gateau".

After the cake we started making "bonbons glacees". These are normally like popsicles in that they are fruity, sugary, frozen treats; however, since I do not have electricity, they were not frozen, or even cold, but still sugary and delicious. These snacks come in a bunch of flavors, most commonly ginger (djin-djan), hibiscus (beesap), moki (a fruity fruit, can't describe it any other way), and mango/banana. I like all of them, but chose to make beesap for my b-day celebration, mostly because I found the dried hibiscus flowers in the market and couldn't find anything to make the others. After mixing the hibiscus flowers with boiling water and straining, we added a ton of sugar and a little vanilla sugar. After the mixture cooled, we added more water and then spooned the syrup into small plastic baggies. The bonbons are eaten by biting a corner of the bag and chewing/sucking the juice out that way (it sounds way more strange than it is).

Once everything was prepared, and of course after eating a ton of rice (they gave me twice as much as normal since it was a "special day") my sister, Namina, and I went around the village distributing the bonbons and dough balls. Everyone wished me a "bonne anniversaire" and were surprised when I said I was 24 years old. I don't know if they expected me to be older or younger, but nonetheless, everyone was surprised.

All-in-all, my first African birthday was amazing. It was awesome talking with my American family and friends, but spending the time with my host family was truly priceless. They are all so kind and thoughtful, and took a lot of time to make sure my day was perfect. This was by far one of the best birthdays I have had and one I will always cherish.