February 4, 2001
On Friday, we had a big party for our partner businesses, with catered food, drumming and xylophone playing, and a traditional dance group. The dancers were really fabulous. After they had been dancing for a half hour or so, in a circle around the percussionists, they pulled us "obruni" ("white people") geeks into the circle. That was a lot of fun. If I had allowed myself to feel self-conscious, I would have felt foolish, but I just felt it was important to go with the flow and try new things in Africa. Rose was impressed. She gave me a big pat on the back. "Madame Jean, very good!" she said.(Photo: In our courtyard at the party. Two xylophones are in the middle)
We swam in the ocean on Saturday. The Atlantic Ocean! From the other side! It's been a long time since I've been swimming in the ocean. I am usually too paranoid about fish and scary things underwater to venture in any higher than my ankles. But today, I went all the way in and spent quite a bit of time out there jumping some big waves. Maybe it's because I've never heard of any shark attacks off the coast of West Africa... and I don't want to hear of any. It was great to be in the salt water again, and this, too, brought back childhood memories. The beach is called Krokobite, and we took a long bus ride out there. When we arrived, there were these "cabanas" made of palm fronds woven together, which was quite pleasant. Seafood was the order of the day; locals brought little shrimp, langoustines and fish to be boiled or grilled right in front of our shelter. Life would be so much easier for me if I ate seafood and fish...Back to the beginning