aujourd'hui/ today

Yes, it’s true, I’ve got a bit of catching up to do… For now I leave you with a short day in the life –
0530 cell phone alarm goes off (this only after the first week where I tried using the alarm clock provided in my room only to find that it lost anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes a day…)
0530:30 hit the snooze button (yes I’d laid my clothes out and packed my stuff up last night so that I’d be able to jump out of bed and head to the pool at the Golf Club to get in some laps – my favorite way to see the Ivorian sunrise, but alas, it will have to wait until tomorrow)
0740 jumped out of bed after finally winning the argument with my compulsive liar sleeping self, hopped in the shower and ran out the door; well I did get dressed and had yogurt with a pile of left over fruit from my Sangria party.
0758 see guy with deformed legs that walks on his hands stop and greet a friend on the street corner, which reminds my of my bosses dog Toto who also walks on his front paws while his hind legs are useless
0807 get a call from motopool wondering if I’m okay and really wondering when I’ll be there with the patty wagon (Toyota Land Cruiser stick shift with snorkel that has fold down seats in the back to seat about 10 – quite a sight.
0809 turned in my motorpool vehicle (Lord willing I should have a car of my own by the end of the week :)
0815 logged on to my computer and started sifting through emails (gripping, I know)
1000 weekly office meeting – recover from last weeks inspection
Ffwd>> (since I’m getting bored)
Pause=
1205 chat with the dispatcher to convince him to lend me another car during lunch, race off to the tailor, get stuck in better than normal traffic, successfully locate the tailor by the giant purple Moov ad painted on the side of a poorly constructed building – warning: using ads as landmarks is extremely risky and may lead to being completely lost
1220 walk down debris and cement rubble covered road (in heels) to tailor, since I got there earlier than last time the mosque had not yet called for prayer so he took the measurement we’d missed the last time and I was off in less than 15 minutes – a record
Ffwd>>
1605 head down to the Atrium for the Inauguration televised event, a great turn out, Ivoirians were more vocal than Americans as we celebrated a peaceful transition of government.
1750 check out of the office, run down stairs to pick up my motorpool vehicle for the night, Motorpool guys help take all the stuff I had received in the mail and then I skipped over to the already started volleyball game
2015 head home after being razzed for “leaving early”
2035 wait for the guards to open my gate
2040 sit on the couch still covered in sand (mom won’t be here for another two weeks so I can still do that) and slurp up as much water as possible after having lost approximately 4 gallons of sweat while playing VB
2100 ponder how getting a hammock stand is going to go and which friends I will need to enlist for translation
2130 whip up some hummus, slice the loaf of bread I got today, and now I’m off to shower up once again. Bon soir tout le monde.