arrival

When I got off the plane I was first shocked by the heat and the
garbage and the smell of gasoline. There are plastic bags buried in
all the sand, the streets and everyone’s courtyards. And the animals
(which Hannah assures me have owners) dig through the piles of trash
on the street. You see pigs and chickens and an assortment of other
animals roaming the roads. And the amount of people on those roads! So
many people here, walking, biking, riding motos, and driving. Nobody
stops before turning or to let you in, you just have to go for it and
be assertive. No such thing as stop signs, though there are a few
lights at the some of the traffic circles. The city is surprisingly
flat, a lot of people, but no skyscrapers. Nothing over 3 stories, and
most only at one story.
My parent’s home is a haven from the noise and the busyness. They have
both solar and grid power (though the solar is fairly new) and water
that comes from the city pipes (which can often get shut off) and a
large tank of water on their roof for when there is no city water.
They have worked hard planting a garden and flowers in their courtyard
under the shade of a beautiful tree. The guards water the flowers and
vegetables (they always have a guard at the house) along with cleaning
the duck pond (there are 3 ducks). We also have a brown dog called
Sheba, and are always worried she’s going to get pregnant because
she’s not fixed (that’s not something they do in Chad).
Disease is a real fear here. We all sleep in mosquito nets, but
regardless I’m covered in bites. We bleach, or get my parent’s house
help Jean, to bleach all the veggies and fruit we get at the market.
All the water we drink or cook with is filtered. And still Joshua got
a parasite within the first few days.
Since we’ve been here we went to the market, the two groceries
stories, an Expat children’s Christmas concert, a Chadian Christmas
concert, and hosted a party for all my parents employees. Their three
guards and their house help, and family. That was lots of fun! I’m
learning to dance like the Chadians. It’s difficult.
I fart all the time here! It is quite crazy! We have competitions to
see who can make the tenderest sound! I am seriously contemplating
entering our family into an orchestra! I think that Paris has a music
competition coming up. (that last paragraph came from my sister. She’s
a little bizzar, but I think you’d like her!).
And then, the game park! We took a vacation and flew 2 hours to the
east of Chad where the animals roam and the lion king was filmed.
Well, not quite because there are no zibras, but almost everything
else. It was so peaceful and beautiful. We saw monkeys by the billions
(baboons too) and giraffs, and water buffalo, and this reptile thing
that climbed trees, and crocodiles in the pond, and elephants, and
even lions. Oh, and the gazelles and a million types of antelope. It
was so serine. When you got out of the room in the morning, there were
monkeys playing twenty feet away in the trees. It was an amazing time
to simply hang out as a family and enjoy the world. We got to watch
our dinner get killed one night, a chicken from the village, and then
we eat the entire thing. I got the liver, Hannah eat something we
think was the stomach and the intestines (it squirted something that
looked like poop at my brother) and mom got the brain. Delicious and
exotic. But it was great chicken.
And now we’re back in the city. Today I’m going to the place where I
will be working for the next few months teaching English. I want to
make a good impression. Dressed up in my Chadian fabric and matching
head covering hoping that they wont think my French is too horrible. I
have a hard time understanding some people here, and an even harder
time talking. But I’m much better than either of my parents. My sister
is a genious though. She can bargain too. She got me earrings down
from 7000 CFA to 2000 CFA (about 4 dollars). Things aren’t as cheep
here as you would imagine for Africa. But that’s okay. Clothing would
be expensive, but I can make due borrowing for now and hannah made me
a skirt and panier (cloth wrap thing) with matching headcoverings for
Christmas. She has gotten really creative with a sowing machine.
love you lots dear, enjoy your holidays!