The Great Escape

November 13, 2005

I found a catfish today that was smarter then my last boss. This fish actually managed to find his way out of a wet bag and jump back into the lake from whence he came.

What a weekend. Yesterday Zachary and I ventured off to the big city. We wandered through the market in Sadiola, chatting with the locals and trying to identify the various items for sale. Eventually we found ourselves at Collie’s Bar. His little girl, Aina recognized Zachary right away. She dragged him off to play. Zman was resistant at first, but soon informed me that we would be staying for awhile. So I sat and drank a few beers, chatted with Collie and watched the kids play.

We got home in time to go grocery shopping. The market (Super Marche) is open from 9-1 and 4-7 every day. We are challenged to arrive there before 1:00. Yesterday was no exception. We gave ourselves just enough time to race around the place, gather up our items and pay for them before the staff started helping us towards the door.

We got lunch from the club. Saturday is burger day. Yesterday was chicken burgers with pineapple and cheese and special sauce…very lakker! I picked them up while Carrie unpacked groceries. After lunch we all passed out. It felt great. I made some potato salad while Carrie made banana bread with fresh bananas from our neighbor’s trees. We tried to play volleyball, but the weekly game was cancelled.

Mohammed watched Zachary while Carrie, Reg, Ernie, and I piled into In Sha Allah and drove down to the Baobab camp. This is a small camp not far from here. It is a camp full of Aussies. They work every weekend but one; the second one of the month. There was supposed to be a big blowout party, but it was a little under attended. We had fun nonetheless. We played pool, met some new folks, and bumped into others we had not seen since we arrived here. It was just like a real date in a real city!

This morning we packed our stuff, piled into Wimpie’s rig and drove to the blue dam. There we met up with several others. We sat around and did nothing all day. There was fishing poles propped on rocks, homemade jerky, fresh banana bread, and plenty of beer. George cooked up a poikie (poy – key). It’s NOT STEW even though it looks and tastes a lot like stew. Reg grilled a couple of chickens and we all ate way too much. We wandered and explored and jumped in the water when we could no longer stand the heat. It was a beautiful day for a braai and we all enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

I even tried my hand at fishing. I’m okay at watching my pole and drinking beer, but I can’t seem to tie a hook or cast to save my life. I caught a bream while several others caught small catfish. We had set up a plastic bag in the water with a rock on it to hold the fish. The last catfish we nabbed, however, managed to work his way out of the bag onto the beach. Once he had cleared the plastic, the little devil stood up and ran back to the lake. I think I heard him chuckling as he jumped into the water. George, probably the oldest among us, made a noble leap after the escapee, but all he got was a skinned knee. Carrie and I were no help as we were cheering on the ingenious little bottom feeder.

We are completely exhausted. Tomorrow we go back to work. It is the week we have to give the ITBS tests. Yes, standardized testing even in the middle of nowhere. Don’t get me started on that topic…