07/26/10

7/26/10
Today is Sunday, free day and my first full day back in village. I was so tired this morning that I slept in until 7:30am haha! Even the donkeys must’ve got the message that “Jade is tired” because I didn’t hear a single bray. Once I got showered and dressed, I got breakfast of bread and eggs. Gosh, I hope this continues! I need my protein amongst all this starch. After breakfast, I met up with my group and we headed to the market. It was great to see so many people hustling and bustling and of course there were many greetings to make to alllll the strangers that I know. I couldn’t let this slow me down too much because I was on a mission to bargain using my new language skills. I also had to be street smart and keep my eye out for pick-pocketers in the crowded market. I quickly resolved to disperse my money on my body and I kept it moving. I came across my first vendor selling material for clothing; I approached her and asked how much. She replied “keme segi” 4,000CFA, that’s outrageous! I tried walking away to see if she would lower her price. She didn’t budge, so I said “keme naani” 2,000 CFA. This wasn’t working out for me, so I walked to the next vendor selling material. I asked her how much for one meter of cloth, she replied “keme bi duru” 750CFA. That’s what’s up! In American dollars, that’s only like $2, so I proceeded to buy 3 meters. I was very happy with my purchase and I blessed her. Other things that I saw at the market were pieces of jewelry, purses, t-shirts, shoes, dried fish, fruits, veggies, meat, brains, spices all that good stuff. After seeing that meat at the market, I decided that now would be a good time to stay away from meat prepared in village.