Sunday, June 21, 2009

J'aime les arachides

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!! It is father's day, right? I thought perhaps I missed it back in January when my sister Katie told me it was Father's Day and I believed her.

This is Sarah here. Alas, all the ewb kids have left for the States but me. And my team, of course, which consists of Nura the Peace Corps Volunteer and Guy, although neither of them are around at the moment. I stayed behind to oversee the well drilling here, and install the pumps in the off-chance that FORAX finishes drilling in the next two weeks. As I have surprisingly little to do and no anlgophones to bother, I suspect there will be many blog posts from me in Bamendjou. I am staying at Nura's house which has running water, electricity most of the time, and internet when I can figure out how to get it to work (apparently Africa is too techy for me).

For subsaharan Africa, it is surprisingly cold and rainy. Since we are still at an impasse with well drilling, the first thing on my agenda is to buy warm clothes. That is, once I can figure how to say "where can I find a winter parka?" in French. No one left me with a French-English dictionary, and after many failed conversations in which I may have convinced the people of Bamendjou that I am the village idiot, I have developed a prodigious phobia of Francophones. At any rate, I haven't made any progress on developing the community relationship. Hopefully, Nura will come back soon and explain to Bamendjou that I'm not stupid or mute and that if I look lost, one should just give me peanuts and try not to say anything to me involving any French verbs or nouns. Apparently, the only words I know, which incidentally are "peanuts" (les arachides) and "well" (forage), will not get me terribly far in life, especially when all I want is long pants, a winter coat and maybe some gloves. Although a cheeseburger might be nice too.

Once the rain stops, I am going to walk to the Bakang drill site to see if driller's have fixed the rig and I will let you know if they have (the status, as of my walk yesterday, was unchanged). In the meantime, I am going to make some instant coffee, watch the rain and try not to hold my breath.

much love from the 'roon,

Sarah

5 comments:

sam said...

woooo for Sarey!!!!! I'm not sure if you know but since you left the states there has been only 1 day with partial sunshine!!!!!! I'm fairly certain that the U.S. East coast is at the moment one of the most depressing places on the planet... enjoy the colors (i.e. the red dirt) of bamendjou while you can! Miss you!!!!

-Sam

Jim said...

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Love Dad ;))


Where can I find a winter parka?
où puis-je trouver un parka d'hiver

long pants
des pantalons longs

gloves
gants

Sare- Better think "outside the well" and figure out how to become a princess of Bakang. Like Dr Steve, you may be outfitted with a long warm robe(pockets filled with peanuts), hat and possibly gloves. Can you take a well drilling classage there from the drillers, that way you can continue running the rig in their off times? Make sure to ask what are the signs that you have hit water.

Ramsey Hazbun said...

Enjoy the time and relax a bit. It's a well deserved break. Also, we need you well rested for when the drillers DO finish.

I have a hope that any bad luck or delays have followed me home, and away from you. Today I received mine and Dr. Steve's box that had gotten lost on the way home. Then on my way back to MD, my car broke down on I-95, and I had to get it towed. And tomorrow I'm supposed to go on a road trip. While I don't think push-starting the car would work, I'm sure Guy could get it fixed.

Anyway, I wish you good luck, and keep the blog entries coming.

- Ramsey

P.S. I couldn't figure out Nura's Internet either...

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