Wednesday, February 04, 2009

The Most Awesome Non-Birthday EVER!!!!


So this year for my birthday... my most amazing teammate (pictured above with, yes, a boa on her head-- apparently the zoo lives across from the Rachels...) put together a SWEET birthday-non-birthday celebration for me (it wasn't actually my birthday yet). And here's a little of what went on...

First, my supervisor and one of the other girls took me golfing at what might be the best golf course in all of West Africa, located right here in our very own capital city. I got to wear PANTS in PUBLIC!!!! It was great. And I have missed getting to golf.
I have golfed many times in my life, but never, ever have I had a caddie. So, here in Africa, I experienced my first golfing with a caddie. He even knew the game and was giving me tips and correcting my swing in Bambara. We had a great time just getting away from work for a little bit.

THEN... all the girls showed up at the hotel/golf course and through me a surprize birthday party. Ballons. Cake. Possibly the best pizza I've eaten in Africa. and for my presents? a Dr. Pepper (NOT easy to come by over here). a CD of my favorite African rapper. and the Amazing Book of Spam. (me and Reaiah have totally embraced this marvel of modern cuisine as an acceptable addition to our meal options here and it totally grosses our boss out, so she mocks us frequently over it-- however, what she doesn't know is that the makers of Spam are quite witty and leave all sorts of little quips written on thier product. And now I have a whole book full of their incredible humor!)

Some of my friends getting their first glimpse into the awesomeness that is Spam. And loving it.


But that night they beat it all with this! I must explain. First, me and Reaiah have been talking about wanting one of these shirts since we got to Africa and started seeing them around advertising the local cell company. Second, I should tell you that a few months ago, after listening to our supervisor talk about how much she loved these certain signs in the market that advertised for the places selling fresh fish (I won't explain her attraction to it, just know that it was.), a few of us decided we would try to buy it from the shop that owned it. They tell us everything is for sale in Africa, so we thought we would test it. It took some work, but sure enough, the second guy we talked to let us buy the sign for his fish business. Since that day we have debated amongst ourselves if we could convince someone on the street to sell us something off of their person. A t-shirt from our hometown or alma mater. A pair of shades, whatever. Until finally, that theory was also tested. On the day we celebrated my birthday the girls passed a kid selling phone cards on the street wearing none other than the black 'Orange' shirt we had been coveting for two years now. Once he figured out they wanted the shirt and not the cards he was selling, he pulled it off and handed it over. They washed it before presenting it to me that night, but I didn't care anyways, because I think this might be the coolest thing anyone has ever given to me. And I realize that that probably makes no sense to most of you reading this.

1 Comments:

At 10:22 AM, Blogger Rachel said...

It makes complete sense to me, of course, and I was laughing quite hard as this blog. Wow, I just love the way you storied it! hahaha love ya kacy

 

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