Rain Rain Go Away

Our training site has been inundated with rain every day for the past week and a half. While in the other parts of the country, “rainy season” means “rain actually comes a few times a month,” here it comes for at least one hour each day. This meteorological phénomène does keep temperatures cooler, but also disrupts traffic for trainees host country staff (trainers, instructors, students, etc). The word for March in my local language is tuulgo, which means “hot.” April is tuul-nifu, which means “even hotter.” Hopefully I’ll be able to rig up a car battery in my house and enjoy a few hours of fan-cooled repose during hot season.

I’ve also been spending more time with my host family. We recently went to a wedding – sort of. In many West African countries, weddings are public affairs with lots of involvement from the neighborhood. No need to be invited, just bring some soap/fabric/whatever’s on hand and yourself. Having missed the ceremony, we stayed for the late-afternoon dancing portion of the event. It resembled a 4th of July block party in the US – lots of women dancing around, lots of men drinking (here non-alcoholic) beverages, children shoving and teasing each other, dogs running everywhere. The dance moves weren’t complicated. Women lined up and followed the same serpentine motions as their neighbors while showing off glittery fabrics and accessories (such as a baby on the back).

TV is another bonding time. Yesterday I watched 45 minutes of a LONG documentary on African colonialism. It was produced by a French television group and I could immediately spot the accent. Host country nationals roll their r’s and are nowhere near as pressé to speak as quickly as possible. Later, I caught a few minutes of a popular French children’s cartoon. The class was going on a field trip to a Swiss ski resort. Again, I recognized the accent but found it far more difficult to understand. As one of the Volunteers who had studied abroad put it, “I’ve lost my Frenchy-French. When I went to visit my host family, I got it back. Sometimes I’ll hear something on the radio and think ‘Come back Frenchy-French!’” Still, cultural adjustment is going well. Only a few more weeks of stage (training period)!