Mommies and Magic
dimanche, mai 13, 2007
One of the (millions of) wonderful things which my Mommy brought me from the greatest country on Earth was a pushlight thing. One of those circular lights with the adhesive on the back that you can stick on walls in closets and such. My Mom was reading one night while I was being entertained by this seemingly magical electronic device, bopping it over and over again and giggling to myself. She looks up from her book.
Mom: … Is that going to become an extension of your sock puppets?
Me: (Looks at Mommy as if she is crazy.) Um… Mom… the light obviously does not talk…
I mean, really…
As most of you know, my Mommy came to visit me for 3 weeks. We had a grand old time! Surprisingly:D Some of you often ask me how I got to be so fly. Well, just look at this lady! Can you believe that she is gonna be -- years old on Wednesday?! Did you actually think I was going to post her age? She is already gonna kill me for posting this picture.
My mother is a woman of many talents. However, these talents do not include photography. Since fair is fair, I combed the pictures she took for one in which she had not cut off my head. In this one, she only cut off my lower half. That’s progress.
My Mommy and I in Kribi. I think it is crazy that I do not look like a chocolate cream puff (I ate about 300 of them) in this picture. Our IST was held in Kribi. We stayed at a very nice hotel, in which we were fed buffet upon buffet of the most glorious French cuisine and seafood. We had also spent a couple days in Yaounde beforehand and feasted appropriately. When in Rome… it was Game On. So, I dunno… Either I have some killer genes, magical powers (semi-true), or a combination of worms and amoebic dysentery. I’m kind of leaning towards the last option.
Anywho, Kribi was delightful! We did not want to leave, despite the long training sessions and the “I Am Dying” incident… And it was wonderful to see all of you crazies again. I cannot believe it had been 4 months since I had seen all y’all! I do not even know what to say about all of it. So I’ll leave it at “a la prochaine!”
When the vacation was over and we had to trudge back up north to the desert, obviously I was a little sad. But who knew what 2 weeks of rain could do?? Before we left for IST, the rainy season had just begun up north. As the train pulled into my province, I was glued to the window. What was all of this… greenery?! This plant life! More magic?! I did not even recognize the place! And the rain! That sweet sweet rain… it has been raining every day since then and I love it. Minus when I have to travel through it… Speaking of, Kelly and I were bushtaxi-ing it back to post last week when our bushtaxi broke down (as usual). So everyone piled out and sat by the side of the road while the car was being worked on. Kel says, “Well, at least the weather is nice.” Of course, at that moment, the clouds roll in. Followed by lightning, then thunder, then a torrential downpour, then… get this… hail. Hail. Huge chunks of hail. In sub-saharan Africa. We thought it was the Apocalypse. Everyone ran for the closest shelters. Wisely, Kelly and I chose one with holes in the roof. End of segue.
My village was so enchanted with my Mom… even before they saw her carrying the bucket of water on her head (“Samira! Why can’t you be an African woman like your Mom?! Why do you carry the water by the handle like a Nassara?!” Um… because that is what handles are for?) Apparently, she even speaks Fufulde better than me. What sort of sorcery was this? Voodoo? I do not know. But it was all good, cuz it was nice to have the fishbowl attention (which makes me want to kill myself with a spoon at times) dispersed between us:]
My counterpart and my supervisor took us on their motos to the waterfalls in a nearby village.
Good times:] When my Mom was leaving, I tried to be all stoic; giving her the “See ya when I see ya” sort of hug. As soon as her taxi pulled away, Kelly and Sara asked me how I was doing. And I started to cry. Hahahaha:D I know, how old am I? To give myself some credit, it wasn’t a girly inundation of tears. It was a dignified “My eyes are watery due to allergies” sort-of-cry. So there:p
Happy Birthday!!
To Mommy!
To My Alyosha (Kwasifer)!
Happy Engagement!!
To Kate! Even though we all saw it coming from a billion miles away:D Did you get a stripper for the party already? I hope it’s not Jay :/ No offense, Jay :D See you guys next month :]
And lastly, but certainly not least(ly?)
Happy Mother’s Day!!
To all you ladies out there doing your best to make sure that the rest of us keep it together:]
Ben Taylor wrote a song for his mom, Carly Simon. It is cute, so I’ll post a bit of it. I know what you guys are thinking: “Sandra? Do you even know who Carly Simon is?? How did you know that she had a son??” Well, when one listens to NPR, one discovers many things about white people and their music:p It’s called being cultured :p Or something like that.
Mom: … Is that going to become an extension of your sock puppets?
Me: (Looks at Mommy as if she is crazy.) Um… Mom… the light obviously does not talk…
I mean, really…
As most of you know, my Mommy came to visit me for 3 weeks. We had a grand old time! Surprisingly:D Some of you often ask me how I got to be so fly. Well, just look at this lady! Can you believe that she is gonna be -- years old on Wednesday?! Did you actually think I was going to post her age? She is already gonna kill me for posting this picture.
Anywho, Kribi was delightful! We did not want to leave, despite the long training sessions and the “I Am Dying” incident… And it was wonderful to see all of you crazies again. I cannot believe it had been 4 months since I had seen all y’all! I do not even know what to say about all of it. So I’ll leave it at “a la prochaine!”
When the vacation was over and we had to trudge back up north to the desert, obviously I was a little sad. But who knew what 2 weeks of rain could do?? Before we left for IST, the rainy season had just begun up north. As the train pulled into my province, I was glued to the window. What was all of this… greenery?! This plant life! More magic?! I did not even recognize the place! And the rain! That sweet sweet rain… it has been raining every day since then and I love it. Minus when I have to travel through it… Speaking of, Kelly and I were bushtaxi-ing it back to post last week when our bushtaxi broke down (as usual). So everyone piled out and sat by the side of the road while the car was being worked on. Kel says, “Well, at least the weather is nice.” Of course, at that moment, the clouds roll in. Followed by lightning, then thunder, then a torrential downpour, then… get this… hail. Hail. Huge chunks of hail. In sub-saharan Africa. We thought it was the Apocalypse. Everyone ran for the closest shelters. Wisely, Kelly and I chose one with holes in the roof. End of segue.
My village was so enchanted with my Mom… even before they saw her carrying the bucket of water on her head (“Samira! Why can’t you be an African woman like your Mom?! Why do you carry the water by the handle like a Nassara?!” Um… because that is what handles are for?) Apparently, she even speaks Fufulde better than me. What sort of sorcery was this? Voodoo? I do not know. But it was all good, cuz it was nice to have the fishbowl attention (which makes me want to kill myself with a spoon at times) dispersed between us:]
My counterpart and my supervisor took us on their motos to the waterfalls in a nearby village.
Good times:] When my Mom was leaving, I tried to be all stoic; giving her the “See ya when I see ya” sort of hug. As soon as her taxi pulled away, Kelly and Sara asked me how I was doing. And I started to cry. Hahahaha:D I know, how old am I? To give myself some credit, it wasn’t a girly inundation of tears. It was a dignified “My eyes are watery due to allergies” sort-of-cry. So there:pHappy Birthday!!
To Mommy!
To My Alyosha (Kwasifer)!
Happy Engagement!!
To Kate! Even though we all saw it coming from a billion miles away:D Did you get a stripper for the party already? I hope it’s not Jay :/ No offense, Jay :D See you guys next month :]
And lastly, but certainly not least(ly?)
Happy Mother’s Day!!
To all you ladies out there doing your best to make sure that the rest of us keep it together:]
Ben Taylor wrote a song for his mom, Carly Simon. It is cute, so I’ll post a bit of it. I know what you guys are thinking: “Sandra? Do you even know who Carly Simon is?? How did you know that she had a son??” Well, when one listens to NPR, one discovers many things about white people and their music:p It’s called being cultured :p Or something like that.
There is nothing that I can do, but belong to you
Heaven and Earth and I find myself
Singing this song for you
As luck would have it, it just so happens, that there's
Nothing I'd rather do…
Heaven and Earth and I find myself
Singing this song for you
As luck would have it, it just so happens, that there's
Nothing I'd rather do…
Mom: I am not even gone yet and I miss you already...
Me: I have that affect on people.
Me: I have that affect on people.
posted by Me at 10:17 AM
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