M is for maggi, a bouillon type cube that is used in
literally all foods. It is full of
MSG and therefore delicious.
N is for Néré, a local tree with bean-like
fruits that we eat twice. First,
the yellow powder surrounding the seeds in the pod that acts as an appetite
suppressant. Then the seeds
themselves are prepared to make sumbara
powder, basically a local maggi.
O is for Oser Reposer (dare to relax) because you have more
free time than you know what to do with as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Many use this time productively: to
reread Harry Potter, learn the harmonica, unsuccessfully brew various wines,
build a brick oven, or, in my case, learn to snap (but only with my left hand).
P is for the Peugeot 405, perhaps the most durable
automobile ever built. We use the
several decades old station wagons from Europe as nine-person bush taxis. Or
ten. Or eleven.
Q is for Quinn, my first cat (RIP), who like to sneak into
neighbors’ huts and jump on their faces while they slept.
R is for rice and sauce, the staple, and often only, food in
Guinea. Sauce choices are usually
one of the following three: 1) soup sauce, which is like a less hearty beef or
fish stew; 2) peanut sauce, which is like a watery peanut butter and 3) leaf
sauce, which is reminiscent of creamed spinach. I will have eaten at least 400 bowls of this by the time I
leave Guinea.
S is for Sarata, the best club in Kankan. Where the beers are cold and the dance
floor is hotter than my tin roof in April.
T is for toubabu, or ‘white person’ in Malinke. This, along with its variations of
toubabumuso (white woman) and toubabumusonin (small white woman), is the ever
playing soundtrack to my life.
U is for my own little USA, e.g. all the other volunteers
who keep me sane after yet another passenger in a taxi throws up into my hair.
(Yes, I realize this one is kind of a stretch, but ‘U’ is a difficult letter.)
V is for my velo (‘bike’
in French) that takes me everywhere.
Kankan-centre is about 6 km across, not counting the extra belt of
‘suburbs’ that surrounds it, and I spend the majority of my day biking from
place to place.
W is for waiting, which I spend around 30% of my time
doing. I used to get mad, now I
just get a lot of reading done.
X is for XXL, the green apple flavored energy drink that
basically takes the place of beer in this Muslim country. When everyone goes out, it’s this that
fuels the hours of sweaty dancing.
Y is for yogurt, which is cultured in buckets in peoples’
houses and sold out of plastic bags or plastic cups. It is delicious though and if you’re lucky, cold and with
tiny millet balls or tapioca mixed in.
Z is for the Zagat’s Guide to Ice Cream in Kankan, a dream
project of my site mates and I to rate all the soft serve machines in Kankan.
No comments:
Post a Comment