BF Journal: 8/24 - 8/26

The past few days have been relatively quiet.  I have been mostly studying French, eliciting some Jula in the hopes that more of it will stick, picking away at grad school stuff, and working on my NSF Graduate Research Grant proposal statement and background statement (finished rough drafts of both statements today).  This grant is very competitive so wish me luck!  Both languages are getting better.  I am picking up the French much quicker than Jula, since I knew it years ago.  Jula has been a bit slower, but I think it is because I am still relearning French.  I have been quick with languages in the past but two at once is a bit taxing.

I have learned that our water service is a sort-of unreliable.  Sometimes the pressure is great, other times it is like drinking a martini through a garden hose.  Showering is like a rolling the dice.  I have also come to the conclusion that the closets in my room seriously stink.  When I leave and come back after a while, I can smell it.  I have certainly lived in worse conditions, but the thought of such smell for 11 straight months is a bit much.  I think whoever had my room last might have had some serious body odor issues.  Or the combination of prior occupants is sort-of staying in the closets.  That’s even grosser.  When I give out my address, I expect to be sent febreeze.

The night of the 23^rd, Jeff gave Oumar some money for a night out.  It was Saturday night but nobody was at the bar, which also had a dance floor and a decent DJ.  When we left @ 12:30 a.m. there was still basically nobody there.  Either everyone gets to bars really late or we went to the wrong place.  I still had a good time half understanding my new friend and him understanding even less.  Somehow I paid for all the beers.  Let’s see if that happens when I am in charge of the money... it probably will.  More importantly: me in charge of the money?  Apparently so.  Since I will be here for the long haul (until next July, at a minimum, pending grad school acceptance and such) the people who work for Jeff are going to have to get used to me paying them.  That apparently also means tracking expenses and gathering receipts.  As the newbie, I am very glad this falls on me, I really didn’t feel like I am enough of a hassle already.

Yesterday (8/25) I went out scouting plants with Zaki.  I saw a few interesting things: another market place, where the road to Mali is, some ornate old looking buildings (from the 4x4, so no pics), and what he referred to as an ancient pool along the way.  The heat was sweltering so we did not feel like staying out in the sun long.  There were children playing but I don’t know how.  I felt like just breathing made me sweat.  Not breathing didn’t help either.  It was still not worse than the 135 degree heat in Kuwait (on my way back from Iraq) though.  I honestly don’t know how people lived there.  I am told this is not the dry season though, so I may have more complaining to do later.  I snapped a couple pics of that pool for you.  There is definitely some decent scenery here.

I got temporarily sick again yesterday and by lunch time I lost my appetite.  I tried napping a couple times before dinner and felt better by then.  Then I ate the golden food of the gods.  I mean, I ate some delicious roasted corn.  I have seen people do it in the U.S., but I never tried it.  I will start doing that myself when I return to The States.  If you have never roasted corn, you are wrong.   

I need to find a source for some cheap peanuts.  Apparently they are rather common so this shouldn’t be too hard.  I noticed that the routine here leaves me six or seven hours between meals.  I am getting pretty sick of that real fast.  I definitely need to eat more often.  I am not starving or anything don't get the wrong idea.  But I am the only person in this house who works out and ingredients for meals are purchased in advance.  They run a tight ship.  Throw in a couple cliff bars with the febreeze.

Last night I slept really well for the first time since my arrival.  It is amazing what a good night’s sleep can do for your mood.  I actually woke up early for here (@ 5:30).  Acetometophine (spelling?) PM rocks!  I suspect that is partly to blame for my good productivity today.