Saturday I visited my friend in the next town over for their market. I’m very excited that she (and by extension me) has a new friend! Louise, she is a VSO volunteer from England.

Sunday I prepared patates and peanut sauce with Mariam, my neighbor. Patates are pretty similar to potatoes but for whatever reason the potatoes are no longer available and I had been a little hesitant about preparing them… mostly I wasn’t sure if I wanted to incorporate another starch into my diet. But the French family served them to me incorporated into an omelet and turns out, patates are definitely way more delicious than potatoes. They’re sweet, not sweet potatoe sweet, these are still just as bland, but just with the addition of sugar. So, I’ve got another entrée to add into my rotation of couscous/lentils, spaghetti and tomato sauce, peanut butter on Nigerian “coasters” (biscuits) and eggs. It’s getting pretty deluxe over here. Meanwhile my attempt at making Guava juice was an absolute disaster. Putting fruit into boiling water does not transform it into juice… but I’m not ready to give up on that one yet.

Today I rode a donkey down my street. All these kids were chasing after it and I’m still not sure what happened.

The workers have been coming rather consistently and I’m hopeful that my wall will actually get completed…. When my landlord stopped by, I asked him about the arrangements for the door. The wall covers about 95% of the yard, but then the driveway/entrance is just open. He seemed shocked/appalled that I would want a door in addition to the fence. I tried to explain, what is the point of fixing the wall at all, if for example ,the kids can still run up to my house and mess up my electricity. I didn’t mention how the puppy, which is most definitely coming my way, needs a place to run around/poop not in my house but not get lost.