Realization

So I made it up to Boke today, having accomplished not much else, but on the walk up to the Volunteer house with Jarrad, he said "you know...there's a lot of stuff we take for granted now that would have been way too much to handle 6 months ago". Here's a summary of the day and the reasons for this comment:

Tiffany, Jarrad and I left Conakry this morning, I got a bean sandwhich from the girl on the corner, and didn't even bother spitting out the pin bones that were in with the fish, nor did I consider the potential health risk of eating street food (I do it almost daily). We walked a while until we got a taxi to take us to Madina, the big market where we usually catch a Boke-bound taxi. Our driver told us Bambento was closer and better for Boke cars, and not only did I know where he was referring to, I realized he was right and thanked him for letting us know.

At the taxi gare in Bambento, we were delayed while we waited for our car to fill up, so Jarrad and I split a plate of atteke (grated and fermented manioc couscous-type dish) with fish and aloco (fried plantains) when we realized a lady next to us was selling some. After a while a little girl came over to stare at us and we all smiled and waved at her. I asked her her name in Susu and she didn't seem to get it, Jarrad asked her in Pulaar and she didn't respond with her name but she started greeting us in a mixture of Pulaar and French. After a while she came and sat with between us and we chatted with her (mostly "bonjour" and "ca va bien?" as her vocab wasn't huge...she was probably 2). We played with her by taking turns poking her when she covered her eyes and then pointing at each other in a "he/she did it" sorta way. At one point she took her sweater off and put it around her waist then handed me the ends so I could tie it for her, at another point she was hanging off Jarrad's neck...she was very cute.

We got out car out of Conakry and at the final Conakry checkpoint the soldiers who check IDs didn't approve of our Peace Corps IDs, and made us get out of the car and asked to see our passports. This, again, we simply handled by telling him who we were, what we were doing, explaining that we didn't need passports to leave Conakry and that the ID he had in his hand was good enough. When he didn't believe this we called the Safety and Security guy from Peace Corps and he straightened the soldier out and we were on our way.

The trip was uneventful, my leg fell asleep and I was really sweaty by the time I got to Boke, but it was fine. In the market I had Jarrad stand guard as I took more money out of my bag (I had forgotten my wallet in a pair of pants that I had packed). We went into the market on our way back to the volunteer house, we got bissap and while I was paying I noticed 4 or 5 ladies walking with big ceramic pots on their heads*. I flagged one down and bought one from her speaking exclusively Susu to ask the price and so on, I'd been trying to get one of these for months! We then walked the 2k up the hill to the volutneer house, I was carrying my backpack, my duffel bag, and a big ceramic pot.

Near the top of the hill one of the ladies who lives near the Peace Corps compound in Boke complimented my pot in Susu and we had an exchange that went something like this:

-Your pot, it's pretty. (I poti, a tofan.)
-Thank you (I nu wali)
(greeting - this is mostly "how are you, how is your family, etc")
-Where is your home? (I xoni na minden?) (I'm used to being asked "Where are you from?" (I kelife minden) so this question threw me for a second, but then I realized what she had asked and said....)
-My home is in Bintimodia. I'm Bintimodian. (N xoni na Bintimodia. Bintimodia ka na n na)
-Oh, is Bintimodia where you work? (Awa, Bintimodia I walima na?)
-Yes, I'm a teacher there, I work with Peace Corps (Iyo, xaranderaba na n na, n walima na Corps de la paix)
-Oh, ok (awa)
-I'm your neighbor (I doxobore na n na) (I recently learned the work for neighbor and was excited to try it out)
-Yes you are, well, goodbye (Iyo, awa, O'oo)
-Ok, see you tomorrow. (awa, O'oo, won tina)
-ok, see you in the morning (awa, won gesege)

After this Jarrad turned to me and said "wow, that was a long conversation!" and I agreed. He complimented me on my Susu, since he had no idea I spoke so much of it (everyone in Mamou speaks Pulaar, so my Susu was useless there). We then had the conversation about things that would have overwhelmed us 6 months ago. We walked to the woman who is friends with Jarrad and Astrid - the one Astid was visiting when she found my kitten. I met her, and she told us to come back later in the evening and she would give us gingam with piment (sugary ginger drink with chili pepper...I'm excited as I love it). I'm going to head over there with Jarrad now, and continue on into town for dinner.

O'oo.

*In villages, people use big unglazed ceramic pots as a refrigerator system. You fill the pot with water and stick a cover on it. Since it's porous it allows evaporation and the evaporation cools the whole thing down like 10-20 degrees so you actually get cold water. It works especially well in the dry season, which we're in now. I'm going to use it to keep my eggs, and maybe some butter cold, also I can drink the cold water when I'm feeling overheated (hot season is coming up...)