For a moment, a child

I love children. Children do not laugh at you when you don’t fill your water buckets all the way to the brim. Children do not question your ability to start the charcoal stove. They assume you are like any other adult who will have it going in no time. And of course you will. 

They do not sit and stare at you. They’d rather be asking questions, helping, playing a game or doing something interesting.

The young kids around our neighborhood who frequent our house  are usually between the ages of 2 and 10. This is the perfect age. The wonders of the house and the activities going on within are endless, but the way they look at you is not much different than the way they’d look at anybody. They leave the house twice as dirty as it was when they came in, but their smiles make it worth it.

The children do not stare or make rude comments. They don’t discuss how weak you are or assume you don’t know how to cook, clean, or plant a garden. The adults have endless opinions and sometimes discouraging commentary on how you do things - whether it has to do with watering the garden or putting your hair up.

One day all these little kids will grow up and probably turn out just like their parents. Making ignorant, ridiculous assumptions, sometimes saying hurtful things, mostly unintentional. Staring at anything that doesn’t fit into their world, questioning the validity of something (or somebody) that isn’t part of their “normal.”

But for now, they are just children. They are innocent, and have not yet learned to be like their parents. 

They live life and enjoy the fun of making peanut butter and reading stories and watching Shaun the Sheep, crowded together in the living room with a fan blowing on them.

Cooking experiments

Made some nice food for my wonderful husband

Congo vs Morocco (otherwise entitled "my first international soccer game"

Two Sundays ago we went to Owando, which is about 100 km north of Oyo. We went to visit our friend Andreas, and for a big football (soccer) match; Congo vs Morocco. The Congo Asohoto team playing was from right near Oyo, and Andreas had bought us t-shirts to wear to support the team. 

Before the match, we went and hung out at Andreas’s house since he lives right near the stadium. He had prepared a meal for us as well. While we were waiting to go to the game, a police officer came to the house and wanted to see our passports. Whenever we go out of town we bring our passports just in case. Apparently the police officer thought we were from Morocco and had come to cause trouble or be unruly. We showed him our passports, with my visa, etc. and he went away satisfied. We had a good laugh about it afterwards. People are constantly mistaking me for Chinese or some other nationality and Orcxance thinks it’s ridiculous that the officer couldn’t tell the difference between North African and North American.

The Berkane Morocco team seemed better at first, and I think they were slightly better. They played “lighter” with what my father would call “finesse” while the Congo team played harder and rougher. The Moroccan players fell frequently, and seemed to be often slightly injured, although nothing was bad. I don’t know if it was due to our players being too rough, or maybe that was just their style, but the refs were not Congolese, and the only player I saw get a yellow card was a Moroccan player….so I’m not sure. The Moroccan coach was definitely fiercer than our coach, and let his players have it. Several arguments broke out between players occasionally as well.

Unfortunately our goalie was not up to par, and toward the end was in danger of giving the game away - but it ended up being 1 to 1. Andreas and Orcxance thought we would have won if it hadn’t been for the goalie. We wanted to win of course, but I was a little relieved that we didn’t win, unsure of what the crowd would do if we did. 

Even at the smaller games in Impfondo the crowd can become quite unmanagable, and there with only a few hundred people. But here we were in the big stadium with a crowd close to 7 thousand. I tried to take some photos and video clips to give an idea of what it was like - but they don’t do it justice. Are games like this worldwide some kind of substitute for war? No doubt. 

You’ll believe it when you see it.

sitting in the almost-empty stadium afterwards

Home sweet home

The Fish

Our friend Andreas came to visit and brought us fish from Brazzaville. Orcxance spent quite a bit of time cleaning and preparing the fish for me to cook. When he decided it was time to cook them, I did. While they were sizzling in the pot with all the seasoning I had added, the flies started to come. Dozens and dozens of flies got into our house and buzzed around the pot and the window above it. Flies inside the house and more flies outside clinging to the window screen. When the fish was finally done cooking, Orcxance tried it. “It’s spoiled,” he said. 

I couldn’t help wondering how he hadn’t known earlier - based on the smell…? Or maybe all the flies…? 

Unfortunately his poor wife lacks a sense of smell, so it is up to him to watch out for rotten food and keep both of us from suffering from food poisoning, diarrhea or worse. 

Fried Cinnamon Rolls

Recently I learned how to make these donut rolls and decided to try a cinnamon version. Since we don’t have an oven, this is the closest thing I can get to making my mother’s cinnamon rolls. Let’s just say this is the slightly less healthy version since it’s fried rather than baked.

Ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, water, oil, yeast, baking soda, egg, cinnamon, butter

I cannot give exact measurements because it’s kind of a guess/estimation. 

Directions: 

1. Heat water so that it is almost hot but not quite. Add a spoonful of oil and an egg to the water and mix well. Add a pinch of baking soda and mix. Add a little flour, sugar, yeast and stir. Let sit 5 minutes. Add salt and the rest of the flour.  Mix well and hand knead thoroughly. Cover dough and let sit for at least 1 hour (or more). 

2. While dough is sitting mix some sugar, cinnamon and butter and heat until melted together. This is the filling for the rolls.

3. Once dough has risen nicely, remove from bowl and divide into small portions, a little less than the size of your fist. Roll each ball of dough into a strip (you can do this by squishing it with your hands; you don’t need a rolling pin). The strips should be about 6-7 inches long and half an inch thick. Put some of the filling onto each strip (see photo) and then roll the strip up firmly.

4. Let the rolls sit for another 30 minutes to an hour, but not longer than that. Heat oil in a pot.

5. When the oil is hot and sizzling, put the rolls in, fitting as many as you can at a time (they should not be too crowded in the pot). When one side is golden brown, flip the roll over. When brown all over, remove from pot with a slotted spoon and put on a plate covered with a paper towel (to absorb oil).

You can leave the rolls whole or slice them as shown in the photo. Best eaten while still warm. Enjoy!