Cricket Season or "Attack of the Crickets"

creepy. as soon as I just titled this entry, I heard a single chirping cricket in the next room. Yeah, so last night was attack of the cricket. We get various seasons here. Mysteriously there will be a flood of grasshoppers that come into our house one month, are in droves outside... and then 2 days later they all go away. Then another month we get flying insects, yesterday was the cricket. I guess we get a minature version of what they got in Egpyt with all those plagues.

I think the latest cricket caper is because we had a rain about a week ago, so I guess crickets are happy about that. Brook was a roll last night with his shoe and although I do not endorse stomping on crickets (they can't help it what they are and what they do), he seemed to feel better at contributing to the reduction of noise pollution in our house.

Now the Tambacounda cricket is much different than your ordinary cricket. These little buggers are loud! And I mean one Tambacounda cricket could easily hold its own to any other cricket in the world. CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP says the Tambacounda cricket. They come in under doors, they hop up the stairs and into our room. One cricket had a particularly cool sound.. it was cricket sound, but it was in stereo. It almost had an echo to it.. .or it sounded like he was in surround sound. We didn't find him.

Yeah so we go to bed and Brook is determined to get every last lingering cricket out of our bedroom... I look up from my book as he says, ... .did you hear that?! where is that one coming from? "I don't know" I say disinterested. He says yeah, you'll be waking me up when that cricket wakes you up with its chirping. I listen to the faint chirping from somewhere in the room. Nah I say. that's not a 'real' Tambacounda cricket. A real Tambacounda cricket would be very silent right now and wait until all the lights were out. Then and only then would the Tambacounda cricket start to chirp really loudly. This faint cricket sound was not impressive.

Brook is pulling all the furniture away from the walls in our room, walking on the bed and taking a stick and tapping the tapestries on our walls to find the stray crickets. I finish another chapter of my book. I can't find them he says exasperated. I become philosphical. Just think I say, soon we won't have a flood of crickets coming into our house in droves... Yeah, well I don't want them here now either he says. He decides to go outside on the balcony and see if that is where the crickets are. He comes back. You won't believe how many crickets there are out there. Oh yeah? I say. He takes our insect repellent and starts spraying and comes back. I tell him that "off" won't kill the bugs. But he says Yeah but they don't like it. I tell him where the bug spray is. He goes down and comes back and outside does a wild cricket spraying campaign. I feel bad for the crickets. But at the same time, it is quiet now. Brook comes back, mission accomplished. We had a hearty and fitful, cricket-free sleep.

How much do you weigh?

Okay I had another banner day in Sandaga Market (read Bandit's Market). Had a duo team try and rob me. They were unsuccessful. I was leaping around like a gazelle and then a group of pretty much yelled at them and they squirted away. It was actually Sandaga market which inspired this blog in the first place. The last wonderful post about Sandaga was about how a crazy man was following me and yelling at me. It was sort of scary. anyway 'almost' being robbed doesn't make a good story. But,

the one reason Sandaga market is interesting is because it's one of the oldest markets in Dakar and you can see really odd stuff. Like there was a scale on the sidewalk with a 10F sign on it. and someone's job was to sit by the scale and if anyone wanted to weigh themselves, they pay the owner 10 Francs (like a penny?) and then I guess you get weighed. If it weren't Sandaga market and I weren't walking as quickly as possible to avoid bandits I might have given it a whirl.

That would be a cool study though. See how much income someone makes from their business and how many clients they have and whether they are regular and if you can charge extra to keep charts for them. Business possibilities are endless! It's too bad this hasn't taken off in other parts of the world

Blow-Up

no, not the movie (which is a good movie), my computer. Yes, that is why I haven't posted because I haven't had a stinkin' computer. Yes so I get back to Tamba... happy me... Get back to Tamba and three days later we get our last big rainstorm during the day (which is a sign that it's one of the last rains of the season). So we get the daily rainstorm and it's great beause I love rain.. yadda yadda and then all of a sudden a huge CLAP! thundercrack. In our house. A lightening bolt came into the house, surged our power, blew out my surge protector and my computer.
yay. So I confirmed that my AC/DC cord was completely burnt out too as well as my modem.
So the trick of course was seeing how to get an adapter to Tamba. That is the real question, isn't it? Is it as easy as it sounds you ask? Oh yes. It's a piece of cake!!!

so I call Toshiba. They can send me the cable but it's $100 and $50 to send fed-ex. Then to Fed-ex to Dakar where my friend will pick it up and have my public transport driver stop by and pick it up and take it to Tamba the next time he comes, will be $172. Otherwise the Toshiba person suggests that I go to the nearest Toshiba authorized dealer. Do you want to see if I have one in your town, he asks me?

No. I say. I can guarantee that you dont even have one in my country. The agent is not convinced. Oh let me check. You are where??? I said, Senegal, West Africa. "Africa, Africa... yes, well we have an agent in Kenya..." I'm like, Okay there are like 20 countries between here and Kenya. I said, do you have any other countries that are closer...? "South Africa dot dot dot" (obviously doo-dad is not near a map). I said anything in WEST Africa. Finally at the end of his list he mentions Ghana (only 4-5 countres away) and Morocco (only 2 countries away)

Okay that was helpful. I go back to option 1 about getting the cord from the states. But I also don't want to bankrupt myself doing so. I decide to double-prong my approach and actually contact Morocco (figure 2 countries away is better than 5) to see if by some miracle they can mail me a cord soon. So I call and they say that somebody is traveling to Senegal next week. I ask when... they can't say. Next week they insist. Doesn't sound sure to me. I say, Okay do you ahve the right cord. They say, well write me an email. so i write an email. I get an answer back the next day saying what the guy said on the phone... Someone is travelign to Senegal next week and can bring one then. So I write back again asking a price, when they are coming and if it is compatible with my computer. Pesky American.

I don't hear anythign. i am about to break down and break my bank and do the Toshiba to mother to my Dakar friend to Omar Sy (the driver) to Tamba route. I figure at least I know all the players. But I call Morocco a day later just to confim. Oh, says Moroccan dude. I will mail the cord tomorrow. Hmm. that is interesting. Okay. so I bag sure but expensive US route and decide to follow Moroccan route. So lo and behold I find out that the cord was delivered to Dakr and should be there. I call my friend in Dakar to see if he can go pick it up. Then I call Omar to see when he is coming to Tamba. I coordinate with him to go meet up with my friend, get the cord from Morocco but delivered to dakar to bring to me. I get this to happen. Saturday, the cord arrives!

Good news is that it fits. Bad news is that it wasn't the entire cord. Only the top adapter part an not the part that plugs into the wall. I'm not sure why. But that is the way it is. But good news is that I managed to use Brook's old laptop plug to fit into the top part of the cord. We have lift-off. But I have realized that my USB ports are totally burnt out.

This was after, entretemps, I had to go to Sonatel with my burnt out modem to get a new one. You know.. i will spare you the modem part of the story. Long story short is that I managed to get a modem and get it installed and everythign is fine. Although i can't hook up to dsl through this computer... only through network which I am accessing in Dakar. See. It's complicated.

But all in all I think it explains why I haven't been online. But see what a juicy and informative story you get for having waited for it? yeah... alright don't comment on that

Photos from today's 1st Annual Ramadan All You Can Eat Spaghetti and Beer Party

I cooked over 5 big packages of spaghetti and made 4 batches of various sauces. Plus we had banana splits for dessert. I can always count on Peace Corps to chow down

Kunaba mails a Letter-Part Three

Well whoever voted that Kunaba would actually mail the letter, won. I got home to Tamba and called (because I was curious) the guy in Kayes who was supposed to have received the letter mailed from Kunaba. Lo and behold, the guy said he had received the letter (my double whammy approach of talking to the head of the household must have worked!) and sent it on to Tamba.

Of course I still don't have the letter. I'm trying to track down its location somewhere in Tamba. Supposedly it was given to my Malian friend (who is out of the country again) and I've made three phone calls to various people trying to track it down. I'm sure my Malian friend is not carrying around a letter that does not belong to her around... so I know it's somewhere. I've got one person who is house-watching her house looking around to see if he can lay his hands on it. No luck in the past 2 days, but it is still young. There is a slight chance they won't find the letter but it's gotta be around. I stand corrected. I really thought there were too many variables to fall into place to actually get the letter---although in some way I am counting my chickens before they hatch because I still don't have the letter in hand. Still, this post is for those of you out there who believe miracles are indeed possible.

No good, Poe-tay-TOE??

it's not even that funny. Mother and I were walking out of the main grocery store the other day in Dakar and some guy was following us with a bag of potatoes trying to sell them to us. Mother was like, 'What's he doing?" and I said that he was trying to sell us some potatoes. So hearing that we were speaking English he continuing following us saying, "Po-tay-TOE", which for some reason just cracked me up. I think it was how he pronounced it... because outside of the strong emphasis on the "TO" part, he said each syllable distinctly as almost separate words. So, still walking I asked him, "Po-tay-TOE?" in the same way, and he gets enthusiastic now that he's gotten my attention. "Po-tay TOE!" he says again holding up his bag so I can look deeply into the bag of potatoes. I'm really amused now. "Po-tay-TOE!" I repeat to him, confirming that I see now that he has these potatoes. But he's waiting for me to buy some now... I say in english, "Sorry, no". Oh no! He's crushed, but he hasn't given up. "No good Po-tay TOE??" I can't help myself now, I'm laughing outloud.... but I managed to say, "No, no Good Po-tay-TOE!" Then of course I was repeating, "No good potatoe??" to mother and then burst out laughing. I told her that I was sorry because I knew it wasn't that funny but for some reason it just really cracked me up. She said, Obviously. she wanted to know what he meant by saying "No good potato?" and I said, Well it's not really clear which is another reason why it's funny." He could have meant, "Are the potatoes off?-- no good potato?" or just generally, "Potatoes are not good for me today--no good potato?" Anyway aren't you pleased to hear about the Po-tay-TOE--No good potato??"

The shoe drops: The second part to the Malian post office post

I guess I was procrastinating because I already know the end of the story. So I told you about Kunaba and how she was in Bamako and called me telling me that she has some 'items' for me that she needs to get to me, including a couple of letters from my friends. She wants to know how to get them to me (dot dot dot... open question) So I tell her that I'm supposed to go to Dakar on assignment (true) and won't be able to go and pick anything up personally in Bamako. I also don't mention anything about her visit here and she actually doesn't ask to come either. I tell her that I will do research on my end on how to get the things to Tamba. (not an easy feat).

So the next several days I try and track down my contact who is a Malian but living in Tamba, but she is traveling in France. I talk to one of her employees at the hotel/restaurant she owns and try and get a hold of her that way. At first he was holding information very close to his chest, but then I finally just told him the whole Kunaba story (not THE whole Kunaba story, but just the part that she is trying to get some stuff over to me) and I tell the guy that I thought that my friend could give an address and name in Bamako where Kunaba could drop off the stuff and then someone could send it over to Tamba. Well since my contact is traveling for a month in France, that option is a no go. But by the time I tell this guy over the phone the whole story, he comes up with someone he knows who lives in a regional town between Bamako and Tamba (in Mali). So he gives me his contact information. I call this guy, give him the whole story and we are thinking that Kunaba can try and put the goods on a public transport vehicle out to Kayes where this guy can pick them up. Then he says that he or someone he knows comes to Tamba all the time. Okay... although it makes me nervous because there are a lot of steps and the more difficult the solution, the more unsure for a successful execution...

So finally after the 4-5 days it takes me to get this far (includes more than one phone call of course which I will spare you the step by step details) I call Kunaba back at the place she's staying in Bamako. Evidently she has moved over to the compound where all our village stays when they come to Bamako. They don't have a phone there. So a kid is sent to go over to where Kunaba is staying to bring her back to receive my phone call. So I call and Kunaba answers and I tell her that I think I have a solution for the gifts. Then she tells me that the food she had for me has spoiled (she seemed slightly sulky about this but I could be wrong)... and although I am unsure how peanuts can spoil so quickly, I chalk that up to a blessing since I didn't want the peanuts in the first place. I tell her to take down the phone number of the guy I talked to in Kayes to coordinate with him how to send the stuff to me via public transport. She says she understands and I give the phone number but it's unclear if she really understands.

One week later I call the guy in Kayes to see if Kunaba called. She hadn't (of course). So I call back to the house in Bamako so that a kid can go over to where Kunaba is staying and call her to the phone. But before I hang up, I luckily talk to the head of the household, a nice and educated guy who speaks French, not just Bambara. I give him the PO Box where Kunaba only has to go to the post office and mail the letter to this guy in Kayes, in Mali and he will get the letter to me. This solution is seemingly simple. All she has to do is to put the letter in another envelope and have someone address it and put a stamp on it for her. So I explain to the head of the household so he knows and can hopefully explain it to Kunaba. I tell him that someone need only accompany Kunaba to the post so she can mail the letter. He says okay. I then talk to Kunaba and talk to her about it... I don't know if she understood or not... But at the end of the conversation (by default since she just put down the phone, but did not hang up) she started talking to someone else in the household about what i was saying and I thought she was talking to me, but she wasn't and someone else hung up the phone.

So. There we go. Supposedly there is the information about mailing the letter.. but I do not have a good feelign about actually getting my letters. I told Brook I gave it about a 15% chance that the letter would arrive. He said he gave 30%, which was still 3 in 10 and not looking so positive. So there you go. The question to you was what do you think. Do you think I will get the letters? It has lost its suspense since it's already been a month since she was supposed to have mailed the letter and I still haven't received jack. When i do get back to Tamba, I will call the guy in Kayes just to see if he got anything. I think I know the answer to that. I suppose I should just forget about getting any letters. Ah well. You can't say I didn't give it the college try.