Adjusting to the new place....

1/12/11

This morning, I woke up to a rooster crowing and a dog barking/whining. The poor dog sounded as if it needed to be put out of its misery. I don’t know how it could continue to bark and whine as long as it did without being exhausted. Thank goodness I was able to fall back asleep eventually.

I got up about 9:30 and ate 2 oranges for breakfast. Georgette had the TV on and a commercial for Desperate Housewives came on. It was interesting seeing the characters speaking in French to one another. I later heard the Scooby Doo theme song and saw that the movie was on; watching Scooby Doo in French was quite entertaining.

I was looking at the baby’s walker and toys and noticed their simplicity. His walker has no sounds, lights or whatnot and is half the size of an American walker. The design of it makes no sense whatsoever. There are 3 wheels in the front and one wheel in the back middle. There are two rubber legs in the back that really prevent him from moving around more so-very odd. His toys are nothing but various baby toys with rattles in them. He has no toys that are colorful, interactive, light up, musical, etc. I think the funniest thing is that his baby mobile hangs from the mosquito net over his bed.

Akobe and I took a walk last night to familiarize me with the area. On the way up the street, Akobe was on the phone arranging for my French lessons while I was walking outside of her on the street. It seemed as if people were aiming to hit me, and I was kinda puzzled as to why I was a target. I then looked down and happened to notice that there is a speed bump with a gap to the side of it. People were only going around the flat gap part, so as to avoid the bump altogether. We visited her friend, Deanna, at her salon where I also met her son and husband. Her son, Enzo, was adorable and I guessed him to be about 6 (he was 6; I’m getting good at guessing ages now that I tutor). He was quite shy at first with me, but he warmed up pretty quickly. His mother encouraged me to speak English to him since he was learning it in school. He brought out his “Just Do It” backpack and showed me his English book. I flipped through the pages and nearly fell over when I saw that the letter “g” was used in the book for pronouncing the word “gun!” Ack! Really?!

After we left the salon, we walked to the store below Akobe’s apartment complex. There was a group of men who were gathered outside watching football (for those of you who may not know, soccer is referred to as football here) on a small TV outside on the patio. Akobe and I sat down and watched some of the game and talked a bit, while I had my first African beer called “33” Export. It was pretty good, but not cold enough.  When we returned to the apartment Jeromie and Georgette were watching the movie Moonstruck on TV. After seeing what is on in the mornings that Georgette watches, I can see why there is so much American TV/movies on here.