JE SUIS FACHEE

IM PISSED

I never write blogs and I just had a real long one goin about my homestay this week, then the power went out for just a minute so it disappeared :(

Anyway, I'll try again:

I lived with Dad Ousmane, Mom Binta, Mesbah 5, Kaliyah 2, Monido 11, Rukiyah 14. They're a Ba'Hai family, an interesting religion I'd never heard about until meeting them.

First day was awkward, as expected.. Went through the market with Binta to get cooking materials for the week (although she doesn't cook, the niece Monido and the housekeeper Rukiyah do all domestic things). Before that day I had never gotten so close to the meat section of the market, for good reason. I got a lil splatter of bone or cow or I don't know what on my face.. The way you buy meat is absurd, you order it off of big slabs on wooden counters, and then the guy hacks away at it with a machete (sp?). Anyway, the market is always a big ordeal with people trying to sell you things at every angle. I felt bad for Binta because as a whitie I attract a lot of salespeople and automatically jack up the price of things she is actually trying to buy.. But we made it through.

That night was the Ba'Hai New Year so we went to another family's house for dinner. I thought I was eating a BAT so I was sweating profusively.. to be curtious I ate everything (and that wasn't the last time I had to force somethin down) Turns out it was just the head and breast of a small bird, but fried up I was seriously worried. Later that night there was a cockroach in my bedroom, but I took a deep breath, turned off the light, and tossed around in bed for hours because it was so flippin hot. After my awkward first day and hot, sleepless night I really wasn't sure I was gonna love my homestay.

BUTTT of course things picked up, and I came to love my family. Mesbah and Kaliyah have devilish and angelic sides, like any kids I guess. Kaliyah can pull off the bratty-ness better cause she's as cute as a button and just 2. Mesbah, not so much.. never malicious towards me or anything, but just as obnoxious as a boy his age in the states - very bright and cute boy though, who likes to draw and could be entertained for hours in front of some construction paper.

Yesterday I had no class and spent the whole day with the family at a close friend's house.. played with the neighbor baby, ate a lot of food, and even took a nap while I was there. I have come to master the early afternoon sieste, and when they first told me I should lay down, I was like "nahh, cava" but then I got smart and passssed out. It is so hot in the middle of the day the only thing to do is sleep.. it's just odd that I took a nap at a complete stranger's house. The couple there was super nice though - they even gave me a pagne as a gift :) Also spent some time at an Iranian woman's house, a nice big place with a SWIMMING POOL and AIR CONDITIONING! Her name was Fara, and she's this smart Ba'Hai lady who runs a private school here.. talked to me a lot about the religion, but I surprisingly wasn't bored.. it's a really logical approach to faith that emphasizes being in accord with science - just something new and interesting.

Surely there are countless other things I could record about homestay, like how Kaliyah pooped in the bude, the amount of times there was no water, how often and hot it was when the power went out at night, the loud call to prayer from the mosque next door, how me and Binta bonded over American and Cote D'Ivorian music, the amount of rice and fish I ate..

We're having a little homestay reception in about an hour.. everyones' families are coming to eat dinner with us at the CFCA. Binta is actually Burkinabe, and as a gift she gave me something truly African to wear tonight.. the material is the equivalent of a burlap sack and I'll be dying of sweat for sure, but it's a pretty dark blue and I'll sport it with pride. My last lunch with the family filled me up to the brim and I'm not hungry at all - and I probably can't zip up the top part of the dress - but I kind of look forward to showing my pretty family off to the other students :) Hopefully Mesbah and Kaliyah behave..