Hmmm...

If fruit flies are crawling all over you, does it mean you’re sweet? Or in a state of decay? Maybe it means you’re sitting next to the leaky mango Isatou’s been saving since the afternoon.

The bugs have returned, and I am not too pleased...

Conversations with Mamadou: Blong!

Mamadou: The big dog, her name is Levi.

Me: Two Levis?
Mamadou: Yes, they are namesakes.
Me: Her name is not Soldier? [Mamadou had told me a few weeks ago the dog's name was Soldier, even though Neene says her name is Kuri]
Mamadou: Hmm?
Me: I think you said her name is Soldier. It is not Soldier? It is not Kuri?
Mamadou: Her name is…Blong!

He bursts out laughing. I burst out laughing. Wuri, who is over-hearing our conversation, laughs a little too. Even in Pulaar, Blong is a ridiculous name for a dog.

Mamadou starts coughing.

Mamadou: I laughed until I coughed!
Me: Her name is Blong?
Mamadou: Her name is…Torres. [to the dog] Torres! Torres!

Torres/Blong/Soldier/Kuri walks over

Mamadou: Fanta. F-A-N-T-O-U.
Me: F-A-N-T-A. Now the dog's name is Fanta?
Mamadou: Nooo. F-A-N-T-O-U.
Me: F-A-N-T-A. Who hears English, me or you?
Mamadou: Me.
Me: Okay, but I hear English too and F-A-N-T-O-U is Fantou; it is not Fanta.
Mamadou: F-A-N-T-O-U.
Me: Who is Fantou? Your wife?
Mamadou: No. [silence]

Mamadou, in a whisper: Salimatou is my wife.
Me, also in a whisper: Salimatou is your wife? Salimatou who?
Mamadou: Salimatou who was here this afternoon.
Me: Yes, I know her.
Mamdou: Don’t tell anyone!
Me: Okay.

Conversations with Rugi: How many mangoes?

Me: How many mangoes did you eat today? Ten?
Rugi: Yes. No, twelve.
Me: Twelve?
Rugi: Thirteen.
Me: Thirteen?
Rugi: No, fourteen.
Me: Fourteen mangoes?!
Rugi: Twenty-five.
Me: Heh!
Rugi: One hundred.
Me: Heh! Today Rugi ate one hundred mangoes.

A few days later:

Me: Rugi, how many mangoes did you eat today?
Rugi: Two.
Me: Only two? Me, I ate fifty.
Rugi opens her eyes wide in mock disbelief.

Who's afraid of a puppy?!

One night, a woman came to buy mangoes from Neene, saw Levi, gave a shout, and jumped away from him. Levi, who’d oringally just ambled over to sniff hello, started barking. This caused the woman to really panic, and she made a running leap onto the bantaba.Not the wisest choice, if she’d known how weak our bantaba is, but nothing collapsed.

Her reaction got me thinking about people’s fears of dogs, even when the dog is a cute little puppy who clearly belongs to the family--and why would any family keep a dog who bit mango customers? So I tried to think of an animal that I would irrationally fear and I realized that if I came across someone who kept a pet shrew I would react exactly as this woman had. If a pet shrew came running to greet me, I would fling myself onto the nearest tall surface and pray the shrew would not remember it is capable of climbing. I would not pause, not even for a second, to think, "Obviously this shrew is someone’s pet and why would someone keep a shrew that bit people?"

Thermometer?

I do not have an outdoor thermometer (just the kind for gauging fevers), so I have been trying to estimate the temperature by reading the storage instructions for various products that have melted. Neosporin should be stored between 68º to 77ºF, but I already figured it’s been hotter than that. My bottle of Germ-X hand sanitizer, which no longer has anything gel-like about its consistency, is flammable and should not be stored above 105ºF. Although my estimation skills are as poor as my sense of direction, I still feel it must be hotter than this, at least some of the days. Thankfully the hand sanitizer has yet to burst into flames.

Also, Ultrathon Insect Repellent should be stored in “a cool and dry place,” and what is hilarious about that is, in those precious few months when The Gambia is both cool and dry, there’s not a single mosquito around.