Who knows what tomorrow will bring, maybe sunshine or maybe rain

I finally started running again. I take the route from my house to the secondary school which is three kilometers away. I run there and back. I love that run, I mean I really love it. My ear-selected playlist complements the scenery in a way I would have never imagined. Ever since I arrived to the Adamawa region, there hasn’t been a single cloud in the sky. The rainy season is coming, so are the clouds… and they are magnificent. Some of them look as if a cloud volcano erupted in the sky and the clouds silently compete to block the sun’s rays. It leaves a red-yellow-orange-ish silhouette. It’s beautiful. The landscape on both sides of the road are hilly savannas, rolling plateaus with a diverse combination of trees. Only the mango and avocado trees are round, the rest resemble the inside of a lung. The papaya trees are my favorite, they look like Indian feathered spears stabbing the ground. The villager’s shout my name as I run, I juggle my salutations with the concentration of my thoughts. I contemplate my work, regrets, accomplishments, sometimes I laugh or smile during my run simply because I remember something funny. All while I look out for snakes and passing by motorcycles. It’s quite a run, my favorite to this part of my life.

I find myself saying this phrase a lot lately, “My favorite to this part of my life.” I am truly lucky enough to tell you that I am the happiest I’ve ever been to this part of my life. It is amazing not having a television, I look back now and realize how many hours of my life I wasted just watching whatever bullshit was on TV. My days now are filled with diverse simplicity. I make all my own meals. Claire taught me how to make yogurt the other day, I make yogurt now. I bought my own meat yesterday for my tomato sauce, delicious. I even had my own cutting board made. I cut garlic, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, everything on it. I get to decorate my fridge with whatever I crave. I recall a very good friend of mine telling me that the contents of one’s fridge describes one’s character. I have veggies, beer, fresh beef, homemade yogurt, coke, folerae juice (that the kids make keep in my freezer to sell to the travelers) and condiments like jam, mayo and Vache Qui Rit Cheese. I do my own shopping to customize my very own house. The house that I myself am paying for with what I worked to get. Every inch of my house I get to design for myself, I’m sure most of you already know what this feels like, this is a new discovery for me. My neighbors and most of the villagers are very kind. They give me free… everything. Today I got another free papaya, parsley and goat meat. I let the children play with the blocks I bought them as I either, grade papers, play guitar, play on my computer, look for funding for my projects, study fufulde or read. My guitar skills are improving, as are my cooking and writing skills. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

I have three very different and very awesome (couldn’t find a better word to describe them)friends living in a town twenty minutes away. Whenever I feel overwhelmed I go party with them. We exchange wit, vent, laugh, cook, play Catan and drink. Emma is my Vice Prez, as in she knows everything that’s going on in my head and work. Emma and I have assigned ourselves monthly writing assignments, at the end of this month we are exchanging short stories. Without Claire I’d be lost, seriously, the best way I can describe her is that she’s my muse for all my projects. Her consistent balance of hard work and play is inspiring. She is also deserves her own cooking show. Andrew, well, without him and his sense of humor I’d be bored. He helps me to not stay sober all the time and without him I would have no guy to shoot the shit with. I look forward to winning some money from our poker games.  I trust them with things way more important than my secrets, they are the holders of my spare keys and the rails to my progress! I’m blessed to have them so close.

I remember asking my co-workers in Meijer, “How’s it going?” They always, and I mean ALWAYS responded, “Its going.” It’s never just going here. Work is going great. I work at my own pace. I decide my own projects and carefully select the people I get to work with. Today I chose the children that live in my concession to help me on my project. I had to take measurements of a landscape for a potential building I might help get built for the village (more on this later). So yeah, today it was the kids.

I cherried tonight with a group tutoring session with the kids of my concession. They were assigned a homework assignment for the English class and I helped them through it. The topic was, what are the advantages of being bilingual. I had to explain to them that they were all bilingual because they didn’t think Fufulde counted! I hope I taught them more than just that tonight though.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Carlos Jesus Fernandez-Torres

February 4, 2011