Laundry, Simon Left?

June 25^th

Yesterday I finally broke down and bought new basins for washing laundry, tired of using my cramped buckets. They cost more than I really wanted to pay, but it was gratifying to be able to wash more laundry at one go and I'm glad I got them. I was reading under my hangar, waiting for my laundry to dry, when a rainstorm crept up on me. Normally rain is proceeded with thunder, huge gusts of wind, dark ominous clouds, but this was just a slight darkening of the sky and the realization that the tapping sound I was hearing was rain hitting the wooden table next to me that wasn't under the protective cover of the hangar like I was. I got my laundry inside just in time, put the last damp items to hang over chairs, and that was that. The calm drizzle intensified into a thunderstorm so violent and directly overhead that I almost tore a hole in my GRE book when I was circling an answer just as a clap of thunder shook my house. It continued on for another hour or so. I was worried for my garden, which looked to be in peril of drowning, but for the most part the little mounded hills I dug stayed above the waterline. The drizzle following the violent storm continued until I went to bed at 9 – I had been trapped in the house for 5 hours, I was bored, so I went to sleep. Oh rainy season. At least it was good for the fields!

With such a sunny start to my day this morning after sleeping almost 10 hours I felt all bouncy and productive, so I swept the house and started GRE problems. I tried calling Simon to tell him about Aicha's visit on Thursday, but his phone still said it was turned off, adding weight to my suspicion that he doesn't have it anymore or doesn't use it, since it haven't successfully connected in about 6 months. I decided to go visit Rosalie in the afternoon to get directions to his house, and in the meantime I went to the CSPS to get water, say hello, and keep studying with some company. There must not have been many CPNs, because they were finished when I arrived! What a nice change from the usual crowded Monday. I went home when people started leaving at 12:30, still plugging away at GRE math problems, which didn't go perfectly but not nearly as bad as I'd expected. I ate lunch and kept at it, then went back a little before the end of repose to get my computer and another bidon of water. I ended up talking to Belem and Nacoulma for a while, then headed home to put down my stuff and go visit Rosalie.

I first called Francois, the mayor, to tell him about the meeting. He told me that Simon left! He's in Ouaga looking for work, he turned in the keys to the library a month ago! I'm so disappointed and sad, I feel like it's my fault he's there instead of here, if he'd actually been getting paid he might not have had to leave. I don't know if his family went with him, I guess I'd be surprised if they did. I wonder what happened – did his fields last year do so badly that they didn't have anything to plant this year, forcing them to find some other source of income in order to eat? So far this year is shaping up to be a good rainy season, I really hope someone is planting his fields. I've only met his wife once over a year ago, I don't know if I'd actually recognize her if I went to go talk to her (if I could find the house) and I don't remember if she spoke French, but I seem to remember that he had a daughter who had made it to 6eme before leaving school, so she might. I really want to talk to him, but I have no idea how to contact him. I should have asked Francois if he had a different phone number, I'll do it when I see him tomorrow.

So instead of going to see Rosalie, who everyone assured me would be in her fields until dinner, I sat with Belem in the shade next to her house and read my Maternal-Neonatal book. She was so excited about it, and kept lamenting that it's wasn't in French. I told her to keep an eye out for the maternity/midwife book I found in the CSPS last year, that I had enjoyed reading it and it was all in French. She asked about me teaching her yoga, so maybe tomorrow I'll take my mat over there and we can start doing some exercises to help her back pain.