Day 5 - The Beginning of the First Weekend

I was very relieve that it was Saturday today because I finally got a chance to catch up on sleep I had missed out on over the last nearly five days. And sleep in I did! I was supposed to go running with a group of people from work at 8:00 but I did not even wake up until about 10! This should shock anyone who is familiar with my sleep patterns. I simply do not sleep past 7:30 or 8 at the very latest. So I got dressed quickly and went downstairs since I was told that breakfast was included in my stay here so I figured I should take whatever opportunity I can to get free food since everything is so expensive here (more on that later). I went to the front desk and asked, or at least tried to ask, where breakfast was located (I spoke to her in my "struggle French"). I got a funny smile, a short laugh and then she pointed me to someone else. Apparently they understood what I meant since I knew petit dejeuner which means breakfast. Everything else I said may have been just gibberish. I sat down at a table and I knew they were asking me whether I wanted coffee or tea or hot chocolate and I am sitting there thinking, it is too damn hot in this place to be drinking something hot! I told her I wanted water instead. She said something else in French which I was completely lost and had no choice but to say "je ne comprend pas" or I don't understand. She went and got someone who spoke slightly more English than her, but not much. Finally, someone who works at the Spanish Embassy came into the restaurant and translated everything for me. The two ladies laughed and he told me they were confused because it appeared I only wanted water for breakfast. I politely laughed along with them at myself and told him I was asking if they had a menu. They did not, so they brought me a croissant and some fresh pineapple and papaya. Here is the pic:

The food wasn't too bad! I particularly am not a fan of any of the fruit they put on the tray, but I bit the bullet and ate the pineapple and found out I actually do like pineapple but only if it is fresh, not that canned crap. Papaya, though, tasted like a rotting corpse. I envision someone took a picture of my facial reaction when I took a bite and looked frantically for somewhere to spit it out.

I then went back upstairs and spoke with a coworker who asked if I was interested in going to the grocery store. I really needed to go so I could get some bottled water (no more boiling for this guy!). We left around 12:00 to head to the store and I was particularly scared for how it may look and what the food would be like, but I was shocked that it basically resembled and American grocery store!

It was very clean and not nearly as packed as Walmart in Hagerstown, that is for sure! I picked up a few items: some oranges and bananas (I wanted things with thick enough peels that I wouldn't get diseased eating them), some yogurt, sliced bread (yes they have it here!), bottled water and some sandwich bags. As you can see, stuff is very expensive!

 A quick breakdown of the currency conversion is warranted. So, $1 generally translates to just under 500 XOF (or West African francs). So these 5 items (they say 9 because I got two oranges and 3 bananas) cost me roughly $13. I am currently working on surviving on less than $10 a day which is not an easy task. But I suppose now I can make lunches to take to work and save money from buying at the cafeteria, so that is good! But now that you all know how the currency works, check out the price of this and try and tell me it is not expensive to live here:

Yes, that is $40 for some damn dried mushrooms! $40!!!! Had to take a picture because I was shocked.

After the store we went back to my coworkers house and they invited me to stay for lunch and they made some chicken fajitas and salad which was very good. I feel like I am eating things and forcing myself to like them, because I am eating things that when I would eat them at home I had already convinced myself I don't like them (like bell peppers and tomatoes for example). I am finding I like a lot of things if I just eat them with an open mind. I just hope I don't become so open minded that I eat a cat because apparently they like to eat cars here.

I have now been in my room for roughly five hours. I got to speak to Tai and see Jock and Jaida and then I took a nap and now I am waiting for another couple hours to go by before I can Skype with my family in Oregon! I had to make them realize that they are eight hours behind me now so scheduling is a very difficult thing to do compared to the three hour difference when I am in Maryland. Regardless, I look forward to speaking to them a little later. Hope you all are enjoying so far and I aim to keep providing you all with a more in depth look at the way life is here!