written Saturday, 5 January 2008
Yesterday I biked from Tamba to Missira, about 35 km, with another volunteer. It was so nice to be outside and getting exercise again after sitting around in Tamba for so long, and also to have company for the bike ride. Along the way I noticed a tree with beautiful orange flowers on it, and I stopped to take a picture. My friend found one of the flowers on the road, and we took it with us to give to the woman he buys sandwiches from, just as a small gesture of friendship.
So when we got to Missira we bought our bean sandwiches, and my friend gave the sandwich lady the flower. He explained that in America men give women flowers as presents when they like them. (She is older and married with kids, so she didn't take this the wrong way). My friend wasn't expecting anything more than a thank you from her, but instead the present caused a big commotion. The sandwich lady started calling everyone in the vicinity over to show them the flower and tell them that the toubab gave it to her. Then there were lots of discussions about what tree it came from and what the point was of giving a present that couldn't be consumed and that would just go bad quickly. It was a lot of fun to see how excited everyone got.
Soon after that I ran into the woman I always buy vegetables from at my weekly market. She lives in Missira, but I've only seen her there before when I was on my way to Tamba. When she realized I wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere for a while she grabbed me and took me to her house to be her special guest. She introduced me to all her family and neighbors, and then stuffed me full of really good food, which I wasn't really hungry for, but I appreciated the thought. She wanted me to stay and spend the night, but I told her I had to get home to my village. I did promise to spend the night some other time, though.
Finally in the evening I made it home to my village, where I was so happy to see my friends and my own little hut again.
So, a perfect day: good weather, exercise, flowers, happy friendly people, good food, and my own bed to sleep in at the end of the day.
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