In a state of perpetual evening

Probably one of the weirder language things I'm having trouble adjusting to are the greetings for the time of day. This may not seem like such a big deal, but people in Côte d'Ivoire are quite gregarious. Everyone greets everyone. While in the US, a nod, or depending on the setting, just eye contact can be acceptable, if you don't verbally respond back, it's considered offensive and people will repeat...
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Barack beyond US borders

Yesterday, I was invited to talk at the English club for a local high school here in Abengourou. No, I wasn't lecturing or anything that fancy. I was merely there to talk and have the kids asks questions in order to practice their English. There is another American girl in town from Michigan who is working on English teaching and goes to the club every week.

It's always interesting to see...
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A toilet without a proper seat is no toilet at all

Word had come down prior to arrival in Côte d'Ivoire that the seat on the toilet in the house that #1 Fan had rented was less than optimal. Replacement was not going to be easy as the only seats you can get in the smallish town of Abengourou are all the same thin, cheap, plastic seats that stick to you when you're hot and don't support you when you're sitting. This was not going to do for my half a year...
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d'Update d'Off

In talking with a number of the UN folks here in Abengourou (who in turn have talked to other folks/officials in the area and beyond) a larger picture of what is happening with d'Off d'10 emerges. As I mentioned earlier, there are some rather large problems with the Azito power station in Abidjan. This actually wasn't news as the station has been under repair for some time now. The repairs took awhile to get going, not...
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Côte d'Off

I was spoiled. Côte d'Ivoire seemed like a tropical vacation initially. Hot yes, but not insanely humid in the current season. A pleasant breeze washes across many places (especially Abidjan) in the evening and it is in general, quite pleasant. I'm here for work, but despite jetlag, I felt like I was on vacation for my first week here. And then Tuesday hit. Without warning, in the middle of the night, the power went...
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And let the online security crackdown begin

It would be funny in a macabre way if it wasn't so damned annoying and holding back commerce in Sub-Saharan Africa. Naturally, I'm talking about electronic banking transactions and how you run in to so many roadblocks along the way. For me, it's more of an annoyance as I have European and American citizenship which my banking credentials are based upon. I can always refer back to these documents when needing to prove...
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