Normal Now?

 In this post, I want to share some things I haven't mentioned before.  Here are two pictures from those days in Bobo Dioulasso when we didn't have internet.  Above is a picture with my mother-in-law Mouonton and sister-in-law Aicha. 
French for mother-in-law is "belle-mere."  Belle, of course, means beautiful and I think that's a wonderful name to call a mother-in-law.  In fact, all in-laws are identified using "belle," so Aicha and Deborah (pictured to the left)  are my "belle-soeurs." 




Other things I want to share in this blog include some recipes and some general facts of life that are surprisingly different from what used to be normal to me.   

I'm starting to realize how much has become normal to me that I never knew while in America; maybe these are some things you've never known either. 

I'll just start with the everyday contrast I can encounter when I go out.  For example, a dentist's office (right) and the front door of someone's home (below right).  

The dentist office doesn't look too much different than a dentist office in America.  I guess it might "feel" different.  Adama had to go get two wisdom teeth pulled.  So they gave him some painkiller, but he knew everything that was happening in his mouth.  And, ummm.... he drove himself home.  I remember when my sister had her wisdom teeth taken out.  She was drugged to sleep the whole day.  Well, at least there's such a thing as painkiller to be found at one of many pharmacies. (Pharmacy business is booming here, too.)

So yes, I was contrasting the dentist with someone's front door; these people are chilling out on New Year's afternoon.  Besides the clothes, see if you can find a hint (the coke can) that it's New Year's day and time for visiting friends. 


Below is another photo from the many visits we made on New Year's day.  This was at the family home of our friend's girlfriend.  (By the way, they just had their engagement ceremony last Saturday.  I'll do a blog about engagement ceremonies later; since you don't have to sit in the heat for three or so hours to experience it, you certainly won't want to miss out on this very different kind of tradition!)

Since this blog is mentioning all sorts of random things, let's take a peek at some completely everyday things that you probably wouldn't guess...

DATES:  You write them in day first format: dd/mm/yy

PHONES:  I've never heard of a land-line here.  You use at least one cell phone, but probably two - or maybe three - because then you don't have to buy units as often.  Units can be bought at any of the little stores around the neighborhood.  Either the storekeeper can send units to your phone number, or you can buy a little slip of paper that bears a scratch-to-find security code.  Usually 100 CFA buys one minute of talking time.  But if you have more than one phone, you can make a free call to another person who uses Airtel by calling from your phone that has an Airtel SIM card.  And you can get bonus units from Telecel.  And - guess what? - you can get a promotional or fundraising text from Telmob every single day. 

DECIMAL POINT:  It's not a point.  It's a comma.  For example, my 1/2 liter water bottle is labeled 0,5 liter. 

LOCKS:  Turn the key twice to lock the door.  Which means you have to turn the key twice to unlock the door, as well. 

Okay, let's talk about some food. 

 I know I've mentioned tô before, but I've never showed a picture of the finished product (left.)  Okay, this is Adamannette version, because we prefer it soft.  Traditional cooks would probably turn up their noses, because they like to cook it hard, until they can scoop up dippers-full of the hot porridge and leave it to cool into stiff balls of tô. 
Our version cools until we can break off chunks.  It forms a skin on top that protects it for another meal.   Below is a photo of the soup and slimy sauce we eat it with. 

Yes, it's literally called slimy sauce (the brown one on the right.)  It's made with things you wouldn't find in the U.S. like dried fish, okra powder and sumbala. Pound those with salt and maggi, boil them with some green onions, and you've got your slimy sauce. I can hear my sister saying eeewww.  But once you develop the taste, it can be good, and it is the most traditional West African food you'll find - tô with slimy sauce.  

I didn't realize - until I asked if everyone eats tô with two sauces? - that we're eating rich to have soup along with the slimy sauce.  The soup (left) we make with onions, peppers, spices, tomato paste, and - the rich person's food - tilapia.  One fish is about $2.00, which can be a house wife's allowance for the whole day's grocery bill.

  Black-eyes beans are the beans around here.  They usually spend the last 20 minutes in the pot cooking with rice to soak up the rest of the water. Cooking with potasse is supposed to take care of the gaseous properties.  
Benga (that's beans in Moore) is eaten with an oil sauce - in fact, the average person might only afford a drizzle of peanut oil and some salt sprinkled on top.  We often make the sauce with oil, tomatoes, onions, peppers, parsley, sardines, garlic, and maggi (spice). 

Left is pictured some deep-fried treats made with millet flour.

Other common uses for millet include porridge (cooked with ginger) and couscous. 

Left is a picture of Aicha (my sister-in-law) making millet couscous to eat with yogurt.  That combination is called degae, and it can really fill you up. 

And I've already mentioned yogurt, but here's a picture.  We make it with milk powder, hot water, and some starter yogurt.  The yogurt that can be bought is very runny, but we can make it thicker if we have a successful batch such as this one. (right)

That's all for now.


Here we are, taking a walk in the park that's in the middle of Ouagadougou.  It's a cooler place than most because of all the trees and a reservoir close by.  Approaching the park, I can feel the cool air hit me; coupled with the wind from the motorcycle ride, it can almost feel cold!