May 20, 2009
Today was basically the worst day of my life. It started off great. I went into town with Jason and Frederick, our other boss. We were running errands, and talking to people, and it was much nicer than staying home doing nothing. Just as we were about to go home, I got heat exhaustion (or something) and nearly fainted. Upon arriving home, we discovered the power was out. Our house was cool when we first got there, but it got hotter and hotter throughout the day. It would have been miserable if I wasn’t trying to recover from heat exhaustion, but having that added to it made it awful. In the evening, they got a generator going so at least there was a fan. When the power finally came back, it decided only to make enough power to run the fans really slowly and a few of the lights.
About 10PM when we were going to bed, the power came back on with enough strength to run the AC. I have never been so grateful for an AC. I will make sure not to take it for granted ever again. And no need to worry about me—this morning I barely drank anything, and from now on I will make sure I always have water with me.
May 21, 2009
Today has been a fantastic day. We woke up early (7-ish) and went out for breakfast on our way to some villages where we were going to meet our sales agents and remind them about our training meeting. It was really fun to go to all the villages and see all the people in their homes. The poor people live in mud huts with thatched roofs, and the rich people live in concrete houses with tin roofs. If you have read any literature or seen any photographs of how houses are arranged in sub-saharan Africa, it’s probably the same as what we saw (I remember in particular a model village at the Seattle zoo). Each wife has her own hut if they are polygamist, and if they are not then each son and his wife has his own hut. I was surprised to find that the circle of mud huts had concrete floors in the middle area.
Some interesting things that I learned today:
Never wave with your left hand, because your left hand is your bathroom hand.
A Muslim man may never shake hands with a woman, and a non-Muslim man may never shake hands with a Muslim woman.
How to say good morning, good afternoon, and thank you in Dagbani, the local language, but I have since forgotten.
It is possible to ride a motorcycle with a dead cow on your lap, or with two dead goats on your lap. This one I wish I had a photo of, but the guys moved too quickly.
This evening we had a CRAZY storm. There was very strong wind, thunder and lightning, and pouring rain. I was shocked at how much rain fell. Of course, the power was knocked out. Fortunately, it’s cooler because of the rain.
2 comments:
Great idea to post all this on your blog. Sounds like you're learning some good things and having great experiences. Drinking enough water definitely makes a big difference. I guess if we ever had to really use our food storage in the US, if wouldn't be long before we didn't wave with our left hands either :)
Appreciate the adventure, even the heat exhaustion, it will give you perspective!
Sorry about your heat exhaustion experience - hope you feel better today.
Funny about the left hand - I guess that makes sense in a really gross way (yuck). Hope you are hanging in there. It definitely sounds like an experience that will make you STRETCH - Have you read Elizabeth Gilbert's EAT PRAY LOVE? You might enjoy it there. You probably haven't been able to read much being in school forever huh? I could send you a book - but it may not get there until next month.
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