Junie's Online Thoughts
Friday, March 28, 2003
So the mechanic, Kwame, decided not to wait for us (we got up a little late) and just showed up at our door. He brought the battery that he'd charged, but it didnt seem to start the car. He said that one of the sections was bad and he could somehow cut it off and fix it. He brought another battery (which started the car) so we knew it was just the battery and not something bigger and more expensive. We told Kwame that we didnt need a temporary battery as we were going to be gone all weekend, and that he could fix the old battery for another 40,000 cedis. Ok...hope it works. He's supposed to come back on Monday with the new and improved battery.
Tonight we are going out for dinner, then to the Salif Keita concert, then theres a small informal gathering on the roof. Tomorrow morning we leave bright and shiny for the beach for Erik's last party weekend. Im excited to get a little sun, watch the water, hang out and relax.
Theres this guy in the complex named Mark (ponytail mark, not dutch mark) who likes bluegrass music, plays the mandolin and is really cool. I brought my mini guitar from Mexico here, thinking I would have all this time to learn how to play. Its been sitting idle in the corner except for hte one time I used it to sing Happy BIrthday to Jeremy at 7 am. But Mark tuned it for me and offered to teach me a few bluegrass songs as soon as I learned C, G and D. I got out my Guitar book #1 and am up to the 4th string. Ive long since lost any callouses I had when I fiddled with the guitar years ago...starting over from the beginning. But it feels good to play and have the opportunity to really learn something neat instead of "This Land Is Your Land" from the guitar book.
Going to register for French next week. Keep forgetting to call Vicki the schoolteacher to go to class...hopefully next week I will go to do the beads, then tell her I wont be around for a while. More on Monday....
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Today we finally tackled the car. We forgot to start the car every day, even if we werent going to drive it, so the battery has been dead for about a week. We asked Margaret and she knew a mechanic down the street. Some guy in the complex fetched him for us, while another guy removed the battery. It was a strange one...hadnt seen one that looked like that before. It had the negative and positive posts, but in front of them were six yellow pegs. When the mechanic arrived, he unscrewed the yellow pegs and looked inside. He put a wire from the negative to the positive...it still had a tiny bit of a charge. But apparently, he has to change the water inside the battery (???!!) and will return it tomorrow for 60,000 cedis. Ok....whatever. Ebenezer, the guy who technically owns the car stopped by yesterday to ask when Jeremy was going to call him and about the car. I felt bad telling him the car had been sitting there for a while due to a dead battery and we were such lazy bastards that we'd done nothing about it, nor had we washed the car. Thank god it had rained the night before and got rid of most of the dirt. But by tomorrow it will be running and I will attempt to drive it around the parking lot. Hopefully we can drive next week...and keep practiciing until we are confident enough to hit the streets.
I confused yesterday with today so I made the key lime pie (that was supposed to be for dinner tonight before we launched into more GRE studying) yesterday afternoon. It should be okay still, although it looks different this time around. i guess with enough whipped cream on top, it will taste okay.
Paid our rent to Margaret this month. She had asked that we pay her instead of Auntie C because she wasnt keeping receipts and their brother was getting all huffy. WOrks for me, as Margaret is very nice and not at all threatening. Well, email is dreadfully slow today.....more later.
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
its hot. lots of errands today. studied vocab words before bed last night and some are finally sticking.
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Ug. Its soooooo hot. I had every intention of waking up early to go running this morning, then to have all of my errands done by 1pm. Well, here it is past 2 pm...and I havent done much. Its really really hard to be motivated when its 90 degrees by 8 am. I just cant make myself sprint and run up stairs and lift weights (bottles full of water) when I want to die, you know?
Ive been a little frustrated lately with this weight stuff. I was telling a friend again...when I came here, I had a total lifestyle change. I ate a lot better, ate much less sweets, I walk at least 2 miles a day, I try to exercise for an hour at least three times a week, I drink plenty of water, I sweat constantly...one would think that I would have dropped a lot of weight that first month, then at least two to three pounds each month after that. But no, there is almost no visible difference in my body now compared to when I left Atlanta, despite how hard I try or how much I exercise. How is that even remotely fair? How can my metabolism be convinced to increase if it doesnt do it now?????? I watch Jeremy drop pounds despite his lack of trying and it makes me furious. Life just isnt fair sometimes.
Tonight is our candlelight vigil against the war. Tomorrow is dinner with Tim and Zakpa then a movie at Alliance. Thursday I am studying again with Stephanie. We did flashcards for 30 words last night. We will review those and then do 30 more. I didnt really want to learn the meanings of martinet or lachrymose or incarnadine or anomalous, but I guess I am now. We havent started math together, but Im going to start that on my own today when I get home. I dread it...Ive long since forgotten equations and geometry and graphs.....it will be hard to wake up that part of my brain. I will probably wait to take the GREs here until late summer...I need to decide where Im sending the results first...I know Georgia STate but where else?? Who knows........
Sunday, March 23, 2003
ITS HOT!!!!!!! Yesterday, at Alliance Francais, it was Lebanese night. We arrived in time to sample some expensive but tasty food (some cookies and lemony hummus) before seeing the musicians and dancers. We were sold on the idea that there would be three different musicians and lots of dancers. Well, as it turned out, there was just one guy with his keyboard full of canned arabic dance beats....he sang for a bit, then a gal came out to dance for two songs. Her hip movements were good, but frankly, she acted like she didnt really want to be there. Kind of tired, kind of uninspired, Ive seen better from the white gals back in Atlanta. Then some other Lebanese guy came out to sing. He kept bonking the microphone against his hand, turning his back on the crowd and making hand gestures at the keyboard guy. It was confusing...and they seemed even more bored and unimpressed being there. They were from Togo, of all places and apparently were very expensive for Alliance to book. Pity...they werent all that good either. Some of the crowd, mostly Lebanese, seemed into it...and there was a lady sitting behind us, let's call her The Enthusiastic Clapper, and she seemed to have a good time although I think she embarrassed her son sitting next to her.
Then we went to Virus for some drnks with Erik, Barbara, Steven and Conrad. The place was dead and we watched Erik and BArbara play pool. Suddenly, an entourage burst through the doors. Gals in what I would describe as "hoochie mama clothes"--good god, dresses that Marsha Brady wouldnt wear, tight tight spandex numbers with no bras or underwear, grinding on each other, wearing wigs...and a video camera taping the whole thing. The music turned LOUD all of a sudden and they stayed for four songs. I asked the waitress what the hell was going on. She replied that they were making a scene in a movie. Ah ha.......they as quickly as they came, they left. More normal folks showed and we all danced for a bit. AFter 12:30, Jeremy and I headed home and called it a nght. As I got ready for bed, I looked at my pedometer. I had walked to the cultural center and back, worked out, danced, and was expecting something high, but I was shocked.....21, 036 steps! Thats over 6 miles! Lordy.....why wont my thighs get any smaller?????????
Today is a lazy day....writing letters, emails, putzing. Congrats to friend Dottie on her engagement....more later.
