Last night's sleep was restless. I usually fall asleep in minutes, but instead it took hours. I hate those nights. I float uncomfortably on a bed of nails ... scratching at mosquito bites, twisting and turning. My back is sunburnt from the back-breaking double dig that I am halfway done with for my garden. Just moving my arms upward sends uncomfortable warmth to my back. This was made worse by the what-the-hell-time-is-this mosquito fly-bys, where I blindly and sleep-drunkenly pull my mosquito net over my bed to protect me. The mosquito net is my shield. It leadeth me too green pastures with sheep as far as the eye can see and one solitary fence. I shall not wake up.
I woke up, yawned like a bear, tasted the garlic bread in my mouth from last night, smacked my gums and shuffled caveman-like to the bathroom. I wash my face and blow my nose. I am awake now. I set tea on the stove (Earl Grey thanks to the Britons) and heat up the left-over Potato Soup from the previous night. It tastes heavenly as I sit on my living-room mattress and learn about luff in jibs and windward tack. Batten down the hatches! I still don't know what that means, as I've just learned that battens are hardened wood, fiberglass, or metal rods that you place into the sail. What do hatches have to do with it? Maybe one of the smart handsome/beautiful well-dressed readers of this blog can help me with my predicament.
I pull my solid-steel (it's heavy) bike down the stairs of my house and water the Sweet Corn, Eggplant, Bell Peppers, Mint, Basil, Coriander, and Thyme plants that I've just planted in left-over Quaker Oats and powdered milk tins.
I push my bike up the hill to the main road and greet the music/video shop girl near my house. Then I am off, knowing that most eyes I pass are staring at me. I am of course an oddity for being a farenji riding a bike, but I am a Guinness World Record oddity for also wearing my helmet. I pump my legs ferociously to build up speed and listen to the speed-affected greetings as the sound of them comes in and out of hearing like a passing siren. As I walk my bike over the construction that has closed the main road to traffic for the past 2 months, I hear the cluttering of lose metal behind me, associated with a bike rolling over many rocks. I gear up for a race. I slide down the other part of the hill. I am the Jamaican Bobsled team. I am Speed Racer. I do a double back-flip off the slope of the passing bridge. Time slows down for the flash of photos as I pose. I am brought back to reality as the rickety bike has now passed me. I pretend to not have noticed the race. I was just peddling like normal. I pass him again on the flat approach and he says, “You are fast”. I revel in the glory of those words while I slow down on my approach to the Posta Bet (Post Office). I hit the air brakes and he flies right by. But my new objective is obtaining the three glorious pieces of mail for me in the PO Box.
I go to my primary office with Intrahealth Internatioanl. They are regionally based and are generally in the field. I use the Internet to check my email and order a Macchiato. The waitress got it right this morning. Yale suqwar tineesh tineesh wetet (without sugar, very little milk). As I check my email, I see another farenji walk past. I say a quick hello. It is always very odd to see farenji passing through Dessie. It doesn't happen often enough to be common place and this then leads to thoughts of “why are you here?”. I think it is generally a reciprocal question. I see out of the corner of my eye that he is waiting for his friend in the Internet shop. I offer him a seat, he's from Sweden. We talk shortly and he leaves. Then I see another farenji in a nurses uniform. Is this a coup? Am I being ousted?
I bike the remainder of the way to Ken's office at the AIDs Resource Center. For the remainder of the day, I will come up with a list of 3-4 organizations to have meetings with on Thursday and I will learn language. Language is my directive. Language is my only hope. Bel Ahun Mehed Alleben. Dehena Walu. (Well now, I have to go. Have a good day.)
Comments