A Month To Go! (and Tomato Soup)

A lesson I have apparently not learned yet: Do not write time dependent blogs when you don't have reliable internet. I wrote this blog last Friday morning only to find that afternoon that the internet wasn't working. SO, please excuse the tardiness, here's last Friday's blog:

Today’s the 23rd of September, which means I have exactly one month until I move out of my host family and out of Korhogo.
Next week is my last week of working at the dispensary, I'll head in for a day or two before I leave but those days will mostly be to say goodbye.
The week following I’ll be heading down to Abidjan to welcome my parents and then bring them up to Korhogo. They’ll have 9 nights in Cote d’Ivoire.
After they leave I’ll have one week of ‘normalcy’ (all of the Korhogo team and no visitors in town) to say goodbye. The 23rd we’ll go to one last church service and then head to Bouake for a few days of debriefing and packing with the whole team.
The 26th we’ll leave for Paris for a few more days of debriefing (and sight-seeing) and the 31st we’ll leave Paris for the states.
It isn’t even October yet, but I feel like if I just blink, I’ll suddenly be on the plane flying over the Atlantic.

I remembered tomato soup last night. Don’t know the last time I thought about snuggling up in a sweater and jeans, sitting down to a nice creamy bowl of tomato soup with crackers, or maybe even grilled cheese, feeling toasty warm despite the frigid temperatures outside. It made my mouth water, but it was more than just a craving for food…it was the memory of an old comfort. After a second I refocused on the present: my host-mom talking a little too loudly in Tyembara on the phone, my sisters huddling around the cooking fire, laughing and jabbering away as Madeline drops plaintain dough in oil to make little fried ‘gateaux.’ I have absolutely no idea what anyone is talking about, maybe I can pick out a word or two if I tried to really listen. My dinner is something I absolutely detest, I can eat about two spoonfuls of it, usually my family would want to spoil me and give me something else, but somehow I’ve been able to keep my feelings about this dish somewhat a secret.
It’s an evening in the courtyard. Nothing exceptional.
I’m memorizing things so that one day while I’m sitting down to nice bowl of tomato soup, I can get lost for a moment in memories: the heat, the noises, the dancing, my family, the food, the rain.






Some pictures of the things I've been memorizing lately:

My sisters are amazing. Here they're pounding corn, taking turns in nearly perfect rhythm

Naomi and I at a wedding. LOVE this girl.

Suzanne and Micale.

Groupe Musicale! (The praise team for the French Service). This is where I've found some of my closest Ivorian friends. First two pictures: saturday practice. 2nd pic: Martine and I having a moment. Bottom picture: the whole group on Sunday.

Annie mashing plaintains to make little fried plaintain cakes.

Pool day! Martine and I and below it's me, Martine, Heidi, and Jason


I live here. It's gorgeous.