July 8, 2007 –
A couple days ago was my first moto experience. Meagan and I had to head down to the Novotel hotel to get online for class registration. We don’t know which bus goes there and a taxi would be too expensive. So that leaves us with the most thrilling mode of transportation ever: motorcycle.
Flag one down, bargain a price (usually 500 francs to get anywhere), put on a helmet that’s too big, climb on the backseat and hold on! It’s a pretty intense ride but I never felt like the driver would lose control and I’d go flying down the hill. As Meagan puts it, I’ve been converted. I’ll try to – well I probably will – take it as often as possible.
Earlier that day, we took a circle around our neighbourhood where we knew some kids would be walking back to school. Sure enough we got some followers. I had heard that kids are intrigued by muzungus (white people) but the kids we had were really shy. They weren’t super excited to have their pictures taken but were actually staring at the camera seemingly wondering what I was doing. Or maybe he was wondering why I looked different from the other muzungus. Anyway they all perked up when I offered them a bouncy rubber ball. And smiling from their response, I bounced it for them to catch. One child, who looked older, quickly snatched it and took off with it.
The two others were left with nothing and one of them stared at me with such disappointment. That felt bad. I wanted to tell them to share but I wasn’t sure if he spoke French. So I turned to Andrea and Camille for another ball but they didn’t help. Hopefully he won’t gather his friends to beat up the muzungu who didn’t give him a ball.
And another strange happening… the girls have noticed that the locals don’t point or snicker and say muzungu to me. Instead they call out “Chinois! Chinois!” I never noticed that. But I did notice they say “Ni hao! Ni hao!” to get my attention. Next time, I’ll fire back with a “Muraho!” of my own.
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