Saturday, December 25, 2010

Joyeux Noël!

Merry Christmas to all of you, wherever you are in the world. May my friends in Host Country and other PCVs remain safe and in good spirits this holiday season. May all travelers have safe passage and may everyone show kindness and goodwill towards others. Hope all is well chez vous!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Holiday Preparations

Mon amie l’attelle (My friend the brace) and I have been making good progress – two more degrees this week and just a few more to go before I’ll be medically fit to resume service. Comme (since/as) my next doctor’s appointment is in early 2011, I’ll be making a trek to Urban Metropolis over the holidays to visit some friends. During my convalescence, they’ve been hard at work in medical school and I’m excited to see them before leaving again for a few years. At first I was shocked that they didn’t have much time to chat during my brief séjour (stay). But in talking to them, I realized how enthusiastic they were about all most some of the things they were studying and how ready I am to continue with the next step of my career. Furthermore, this prise de conscience (realization) confronted me while buying coffee filters at Target for $0.87. Pourquoi? I thought about getting two packages, but realized that I probably was not going to be around for 200 pots of coffee. Finally, I’ve enjoyed reading blog posts and looking at pictures posted by my stagemates who just finished a training week. I’ll be seeing them sooner rather than later to experience some fruitful aventures of my own, which will make for far more interesting blog fare than ramblings about medical appointments and reflections on my identity and holiday habits.

Monday, December 13, 2010




This attelle has been my constant companion for the last few weeks. We have thrice daily half-hour rendez-vous, which have made the biweekly physical therapy appointments far more bearable. I use a white knob to adjust it to a pain level of 3 on a scale 1-10 and adjust the setting toutes les cinq minutes (every five minutes). I use the brace to work on extension but as an unexpected effet secondaire, my flexion has also improved by several degrees. This régime is a lot easier than the gravity approach which the adhesions in my arm valiantly resisted. Though I’m grateful for the aide, I won’t be sorry to send it back soon!

West African moment chez moi: Last night, I put my glass of wine down for one minute to grab something from the kitchen. I had learned in Host Country the importance of always keeping one’s beverage covered to protect it from flies. Hélas, last night I had to pour out half a glass of Cabernet-Sauvignon due to an intruder. At least it was à portée de main (within easy reach)and not the last bottle in the village!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Mysteries Solved!

Yesterday, I had another appointment chez l’orthopédiste. I have a follow-up appointment in very early January and will start working with Peace Corps Headquarters on the reinstatement process. Fingers crossed!

One theme of the past week has been realizing that
- I learned from a bande-annonce (movie trailer) that the Narnia title “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” is pronounced like the verb “to tread,” as in the famous Gadsen Flag slogan “Don’t Tread On Me!” For some reason, I always thought it was pronounced “treeder.”
- I read an article about couches. In French, the noun couche, can mean many different things depending on the context - layer, bed, covering. Dear readers, I kept waiting for the reference to layers before realizing that the authors meant “sofas”.
- A song that I was listening to included the word tilleul. Heading over to my trust WordReference, I discovered that un tilleul is a lime tree. I honestly can never remember having ever thought or talked about lime trees in my life. Curioser and curioser, the song mentioned falbala, which translates to “furbelow.” According to Dictionary.com, a furbelow is a ruffle, flounce or other ornament on a woman’s skirt and entered the English language via, you guessed it, early modern French.

Que vous aussi trouviez la solution d’un mystère! (May you also solve a mystery !)