End of October already—time certainly does go quickly. I’ve been here nearly a month now. Just another three days, and I’m off to Bamako, and a week from today, Kevin gets here. It’s a lot to look forward to.
M. le Maire had to go to the village for some official purpose (taxes maybe?) yesterday morning, so the last couple days have not seen as many new words enter the dictionary. I worked with Ramata some, but now I have been spoiled by how rich her father’s French is. Especially now that the sections remaining contain a lot of more abstract terms (How do you say “hold something laterally by pressing between the legs or beneath the arm”?), nuanced French is a must. Tomorrow, her lodger is going to come do some work, and I think his French is really pretty good. M. le Maire speaks better French than I do, so I really lucked out there.
Another black ant worked its way into my mosquito net this morning and bit me on the shoulder. It comes in uninvited then has the audacity to bite me when I roll over in my sleep. Black ants really are assholes.
We’re getting ready for work on the AC room. I’m having a couple more coat rack-type wall hangers made today, then painting should happen on Monday. My new home will be all set to go for when I’m back from Bamako, insha’allah. I asked if they’d found any more scorpions and was relieved when they said that scorpions always come in pairs, so now that they’ve killed the two, there shouldn’t be anymore. They say scorpions don’t both twins for that reason. Either they don’t sting twins or even if they do, it doesn’t hurt. Or if they do and then a twin spits on it, it stops hurting. Something along those lines. Unfortunately for me, I don’t have a twin, so I’d better watch out still.
Kirill went to the doctor today since he had been feeling ill off and on for the last week or so. Turns out he has malaria, poor guy. I guess you really can’t let your guard down here, even if you’re on meds. I went to the pharmacy and got him some anti-malarial medication, so he should be back up and running shortly.
I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but every evening at sundown, there is an army of toads that appears from the top of the courtyard and hops out the door at the bottom. I never see them come back. Presumably they do in the morning, but maybe not. Maybe there's an infinite source of toads behind our house. Also, the millet harvest is well underway now, so donkey carts heading out empty in the morning and laden with big bundles of millet spikes in the evening are a common sight. I rather like the sight of the millet bundles. A little girl gave me a millet spike today. Not sure what to do with it other than crunch the grains for fun, but it was a nice gesture.
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2 comments:
I think your French is pretty good if you can handle the "lateral holding" concept in that language. I don't know what I would even say about that in English!
In Costa Rica there were little toads that would come hopping out in the rain. They were everywhere and I have no idea where they came from since I never saw any of them when it was dry. It sounds like your work is really progressing and I'm so jealous of your obvious fluency in french. If only I could get there with Spanish! Oh well one day. Btw, glad you don't have malaria.
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