All in all, Dakar is a very welcoming place. I guess the culture shock wears off, and you start to settle in to the way of things here. There is no such thing as quality by American standards, but you kind of get used to that too. In fact, you start to feel somewhat guilty for having such high standards for things that really aren't that important.
You want a light on the wall? Hit it with a hammer to make a hole, hang up the light and patch around it with plaster. Who cares if it looks exactly like that was how it was installed? The light works doesn't it?
In the words of the great Mexican handman from Yuma "Es fine!"
I started a garden. Cool stuff. The rats are eating it at night. Bastards.
I planted a sunflower. For some of you who may not know I have this wierd relationship with my sunflowers. It was doing great. Managed to get FERTILIZER through the mail. Unbelievable. You can get fertilizer but not boullion cubes. It was doing great until today I guess. Someone apparently came by and killed it. They had to go out of the way to do it which makes it even more irritating. Bastards.
Ayden speaks three languages already. I'm sure after we move away he will lose his skills but right now it's really impressive. Half the time we just look at him like our translator when he's speaking French. I'm about to start telling people to ust talk to the baby instead of me.
He's pretty bad. Ask him. He'll tell you..... He gets into trouble all day long.... He thinks it's funny.
Tyler fell off the rock wall on the playground and skinned half of his nose off on the flagstone edging. Great kid-friendly design by the way.
It costs $16,000 per school year to enroll your kids there and they act like they are on the poverty line when it comes to playground equipment.
All of this is hear-say. I have no first hand knowledge of any of it. I work 20 hours a day 6 days a week.
My trusty steed (the Cannondale F1000) from back in the day is still a beast when it comes to getting me from A to B around here. I've picked up mad bike-messenger-dodge-the-taxi-and-not-get-killed skills since I have been here, and it's definately waaaaaaay faster to ride to work than to fight the traffic in a car. San Diego has nothing on this place. Cleaning up a head-on collision between two horse carts carrying fruit can block all traffic all day. They don't push it off to the side like we do. They have to handle each item and determine if it is still good to sell before they move it. Hilarious. Unless you're behind them in your car.
I drive sometimes too. When the suits are in play for the day I will drive, but I make sure I beat the rush...
We have a MAD Kite. (as in the bird)... He has swooped down and clawed both of us already. Not funny.. The things are huge, the talons are sharp, and you don't want to know where those talons have been. I'm starting to think one of those damn birds tried to pluck my sunflower for nesting material.. Bastards.
The dog is fat. Just what she needed.... A house with a couch in EVERY room. She' on like a permanant island hopping campaign. If you move from one room to another so does she. From one couch to the next. And she sleeps on all of them. She has a sleeping disorder and it's affecting her ever-expanding waistline. Bitch.
Whoooah! Paint!...... Latex is a no-go! Full on lead-based paint still in use here. You have no idea what paint REALLY smells like until you use some of this shit. Nasty. I guess the WHO doesn't really care about pressuring anyone to increase the health standards in third world countries. As long as none of the hite people get sick. Bastards.
The Toyota is an icon here. People I don't even know wave when I drive by and call me by name. I'm not kidding. It's not really that good when you consider the medium threat rating here, but if I want a parking space they will part the Red Sea for me. And then when I park and tip the guy there to watch it for me while I am away, they throw a party around it and put nostril marks all over the side windows. Bastards.
Anyway, gotta run for now, but it has been good getting re-aquainted with the blog.
I don't spell check this stuff, so don't mind typos of grammatical errors too much please. I ramble these things from my very small brain to my
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