The Gringo

Shortly after I posted about my lack of friends I was invited on a short sightseeing tour by the director of the office I’m consulting for. Last Saturday I woke up at about the crack of dawn (7 am) and headed out to a small town/village about an hour away from the capital Bamako.

The Malian landscape is absolutely beautiful and I was just amazed by such rich colors in the scenery we passed. We decided to hire a guide and hike up some pretty interesting rock formations which was a first for me. The extent of my outdoor activities consist of the annual camping trip I take with some friends but hiking isn’t part of our activities. Despite my initial reservation, I took to it with gusto and think I may need to find some friends interested in hiking when I get back to D.C.

Unfortunately I solidified my gringo status when the New Yorker in me decided that my purse couldn’t possibly remain in the car even though there wasn’t another person around for miles. So I proceed to hike around for about an hour and half with my coach purse slung over my shoulder and my large water bottle in hand. WHO DOES THAT?!?! Apparently I do and yup I’d do it again or leave my purse at the hotel.

I took pictures but was a little uneasy at taking pictures of random people without asking first. So I have far more scenery shots then I do people shots but hopefully I can fix that next weekend. This last week was a series of exhausting 12 hour plus work days so I decided to relax and chill out this weekend. I adventured out to the National Museum, had some lunch, did some touring around and then settled down by the pool. I didn’t have any friends to hang out with this weekend but I needed some quality alone time so I didn’t mind too much. Hopefully I’ll get someone to take me shopping for souvenirs next weekend.

[I've added most of the pictures I've taken to my FlickR page. Click on the collage on the side to check those and other pictures I've taken on various trips. If it doesn't work just refresh the blogger page]

MYSPACE is the DEBIL!

I didn’t jump on the My Space bandwagon when it first started because I figured it was something that the “kids” did online. I believe by the time I even realized there was a My space or a Face book I was fully hooked and addicted to blogging and I can only have one internet based distraction at a time. I have my space biases and think folks 30 and younger shouldn’t be on it (not sure where I got that age from) but in any case I do feel it’s for the ‘youngins and at the ripe young/older age of 33 that doesn’t mean me.

Yet some folks I know don’t feel the same because in the last month I’ve had 3 different friends who are over 30 bitch and moan to me about something some dude they liked/used to date/are dating did on my space. It’s either some picture they saw of dude and another chick, or some chick’s comments or something someone commented on their page that made them realize that they were really not in town when they said they were etc, etc, etc. At first I was actively listening to their story and injecting some tidbits when needed. However the moment they mentioned my space and the dude in one sentence I became distracted.

I’ve been sent my space pages of random people before by some of these friends so I could “see” what they were talking about. To me it was a bit like stalking and although I will refresh a blog page fifty eleven times (CreoleinDC’s) to see what’s been updated or what new comments have been posted on a controversial topic (Hostess) I don’t see that as stalking. Now going to someone’s my space page fifty eleven times in a day, clicking links to other people’s my space page who happen to leave provocative comments is stalking to me. In fact it seems like one big soap opera mess to me.

Making Friends

So far I’ve seen the inside of my hotel room and the inside of my client’s office. I did manage to take a walk yesterday to the ATM, saw scenery I thought would be cool to take, and ripped my pants in the process of trying to take a picture. I have like 2 casual (chilling pants with me for the month) uhhh! The office driver has offered to take them to the local tailor to get them fixed and for that I’m grateful. I’m also grateful I got a tetanus shot before I came and my skin didn’t get pierced when I climbed over the iron gate.

Whenever I travel for work I’m usually either going to a project office where there are local staff and foreign staff working or I’m traveling with 3 or 4 other consultants for a specific assignment. I’m generally never the only consultant on an assignment where we don’t have a project office which is the situation I’m in now. For me that has meant a lot of nights ordering room service which I’m not used to at all. When I’m traveling I usually have dinner with my teammates at least several times a week and if we’re new to a particular country we make plans to go sightseeing together on the weekend.

This trip is a bit different as I’m alone really and although the client is here they haven’t offered to meet up for dinner and/or offered to take me sightseeing. That’s fine because they live here and have their own lives going on and honestly they hired me to do a job, they don’t need to play Julie cruise director and I hate feeling like I’m imposing or forcing myself on people. So now I’m on a mission to make some friends because at this pace, I’m going to finish up all the casual reading material I brought with me way before my departure date.

So I’m on a mission to make friends, which I’m finding is pretty hard and awkward for me. I’m not one of those people who just randomly strike up a conversation with strangers. I often wonder how people come off a plane with a new best friend. I sit down, dig out my reading materials and put on the headphones.

So now I just have to work on getting out of my comfort zone because this traveling alone stuff is so not what I’m used to.

Languages

In the last month or so I started working on an assignment at work that required me to use my French language skills. A bit rusty, I’ve been trying to practice speaking a bit more with my parents and other francophone friends. I started thinking about language and how we learn it and realized that I never consciously learned French the way I learned Italian or Spanish in H.S. I guess it was similar to when most toddlers start comprehending and speaking I always remember speaking and understanding French. In fact when my mom often reminds me that although, I was born and raised in NYC, French was actually my first language. That’s what my parents spoke and since they were at that time firmly entrenched in a Haitian enclave of friends and neighbors that’s all I heard around me. According to my mom I didn’t start really speaking English until I went to pre-K when I was four. Go figure, I remember learning how to read and write English and French in school but comprehension was always there. Similar to Haitian-Creole which I always remember understanding without any difficulty. I was never formally thought Creole (Kreyol) but similar to French it was spoken around me since infancy and I guess I just absorbed the language in that part of my brain.

I’m heading to Bamako, Mali now via Paris and although I haven’t spoken French on a regular basis since my trip to Brussels last Christmas it’s all flooding back in. Wish me luck as for the first time in my career I’m actually going to be conducting meetings in French. Gasp! I’ve only had to speak to friends and family in French since I graduated from college so we’ll see how forgiving these clients are at my accent and grammatical mistakes.

This is my first trip to sub-Saharan Africa so I’m sure I’ll have plenty of stuff to blog about over the next month.

They Asked for Forks!?!?!

Last night I got together with a few bloggers because BC was in town on his US tour. Since, the Hostess, the BC and I are addicted to Ethiopian food he suggested to the dinner organizer, CreoleinDC that we head there for dinner. The invitation was made to the blogworld and Tsiporah, onefromphilly (no blog), Royce’s Daughter and another blogger decided to RSVP to hang that night. We were going to one of DC’s many many many Ethiopian eateries and I was pretty excited because if I could, I’d eat Ethiopian food EVERY DAY, it’s that good to me.

It doesn’t always dawn on me that there are people out there who don’t care for the food because well it’s like someone saying they don’t like cake. Just weird to me lol! I’m so used to eating it communal style that I never thought that not everyone is ok with the traditional style of eating Ethiopian food which is around a big communal plate where you take pieces of injera to eat your food. Similar to how other Middle Eastern and African cultures eat. Just make sure you use your right hand because traditionally the left is used to uhhhh clean oneself.

There was a lot of confusion and distraction not just because there were 8 people who’d been reading each other’s blogs but never really met but because one of the bloggers was giving everyone MUCH blog fodder. Check out the posts of the different bloggers who were there to see what I’m talking about.

So, Creole asked the waitress for a fork and I think I clutched my imaginary pearls. Creole doesn’t really “do” communal plates and I can respect that because that's how she is. Then half the hands at the table started going up in demand of forks. I just felt my heart dip a little and I may have yelled out “ahhhh NO”. Some tried the injera and just couldn’t get past the taste but without the bread you really can’t eat the food traditionally. I actually think the bread is good but I only take off little chucks so I won’t get too full too fast. Most of the people I know who don’t like Ethiopian food don’t like it because of the bread.

I feel like Ethiopian food is a DC staple just like the Smithsonian museums. A must do when you’re in DC especially if you’re anywhere near the U Street/Adam’s Morgan area. Either way the evening was a great success that ended waaaaaaaaaaay past my bedtime.

I’d rather be reading Harry Potter

I haven't finished the book yet. I quickly read a chapter this morning at 6:30 AM when I woke up although I'd stayed up until 1:30 AM to read for an hour before going to bed. I’m usually very excited when a new Harry Potter book comes out but this time I wasn’t so thrilled with the timing. I have a new project that requires a lot of my attention at work, my regular project still requires my attention, I’m in the middle of putting together a section of a group project, and finals are less then 2 weeks away. So my downtime to actually read and finish a 700+ page book is slim. I really thought about taking Monday off so I could finish the book but then thought about all the work I had waiting for me in the office and realized I couldn’t in good conscious do that. So I steal away some time and read a chapter here and there hoping that this weekend I will have a few hours of free time to finish the book.

I’m really in this predicament because I am the number 1 procrastinator, I procrastinate at every aspect of my life (except for time, I’m pretty punctual). I’m not sure why that is because I feel such a sense of satisfaction when I actually get things done immediately. Why am I not continually striving for that constant sense of satisfaction by getting things done? I sometimes have this constant feeling of dread because of all the things that are on the constant “to do list” that I just put off because of the time it would take to get it done. I’ve been browsing the Internet looking for some self help tips and hopefully I can get it under control. I even procrastinated with this post and have been thinking of updating the blog for about a week now.

Letter to UPS

A package was sent to my home address on 7/9/07 and arrived for delivery at my home on 7/10/07. That evening when I received my InfoNotice I contacted UPS immediately and ask that the address be changed to my work address since I was not going to be home during the day to receive the package. I receivd 2 subsequent infonotices and each time contacted the 1800 number located on the notice and asked them to send it to the new address. Every customer service representative I spoke to apologized for the mix up and stated that the package would reach me at the new address the next day. I called every single day since and was told the package would be on its way.

I finally recieved a call from the Landover, MD UPS location after asking three times for someone to notify me as to why I still haven't received my package at the correct address and they finally left a VM this morning on 7/17/07. Unfortunately I wasn't able to understand a word the UPS representative said because it appeared that they decided to stuff cotton in their mouth before dialing my number.

I would have never thought I'd experience this type of service from a company that seems to pride itself on customer service. It has been 7 days and I have not received my package yet one that would have shipped from Landover, MD to McLean, VA which is less than an hours drive away. It has taken 6 phone calls and I still haven't received my pacakge and yet when I asked for someone to contact me they gave the assignment to someone who could not articulate their name or phone number. This is absolutely deplorable. I hope you improve your customer service becuase the next time I'm sending a package for work or for personal use I'm not using UPS.


Side Note: I don't even know who sent me the package, I didn't order anything and I can only think it's someone sending me a birthday gift. IT better be good! lol!

Something About That Song

A year or two ago, I heard this song on skyrock, a French hip hop station. Maybe it was because I was going through a tough time emotionally but this song just spoke to me. It just reminds me to keep my head high, not to compromise on my wants and desires and to keep working on the fabulousness.

Drunken Paranoia

A few weeks ago I went out for a happy hour with some co-worker friends. I was home by 9PM changed into my PJ's and settle on the couch with another glass of wine and a tofutti tutti in front of my computer and the TV. I settled down and to watch Top Chef at 10 and right before they announced who was going to be kicked off this week I fell asleep. I woke up at 12:30 with all the lights on. I got off the couch, made sure the alarm was set, closed the TV cabinet and went to bed.

At 3 AM I was startled by what I thought was "ray ray" making lots of noise outside my window only to realize that my television downstairs was on. I crept outside of my room in the dark to see if the cabinet was open and if I could hear anyone downstairs. I could have swore that it was open and someone was down there. I locked my bedroom door and started to call 911 but then decided to see if maybe just maybe the channel playing was also a channel that my Tivo would typically record. Once I verified that with the TV in my bedroom I turned on the hall light and crept downstairs. My TV cabinet was closed but the TV was blaring. I could have SWORN I'd turned it off before going upstairs. I turned it off made sure the alarm was engaged and all the doors were locked before returning upstairs to bed.

Once in bed I realized I didn't check to see if someone was hiding in the other rooms upstairs so I locked my bedroom door again and listened carefully. All I heard was the cat scratching at the carpet outside of my door.

I feel asleep and woke up when I heard a boom at my door and thought my suspicions were true someone WAS in my house. Turned out it was the cat trying to do a Kamikaze through the door because it was 6 AM and he wanted food.

Lessons Learned:

1) Always double check to make sure the TV is off in the living room
2) Don't go to bed tipsy

Olivier Needs a J.O.B

My neighbour and I decided to run some errands together on Saturday and stopped by Petsmart so I can pick up some supplies for Pierre and Olivier.

Neighbor: Da hell, you just spent $93?
Me: Yup but it's a months worth of food and supplies
Neighbor: Yeah but dang they better get a job or something. Can you put them in commercials?
Me: Bwahahha! (thinking: That's not a bad idea)

So if there are any animal commercial producers reading this. Olivier and Pierre need a JOB stat! Here's a video of Olivier I took two Christmases ago, please consider this his audition tape.

Intrigued

You ever want something that you know you really didn’t want? It looked shiny, intriguing even. Just not for you, yet you couldn’t help yourself. You just wanted to touch this shiny, not good for you toy. Knowing that the shiny new toy would eventually fade away to reality, you still want a peek.

Maybe its angst and maybe I should just put that toy back on the shelf.

PSA: Left Lane is a Passing Lane

I haven’t taken a drivers test in 15 years so maybe just maybe they’ve added new rules. Hell I break road rules every so often (snicker) because sometimes that “No U Turn” sign isn’t helping. However, driving below the speed limit in the left lane and driving slower then the speed of traffic in the left lane is UNACCEPTABLE EVERRRRRRRR. Last time I checked the left lane was the passing lane, not the just sit there lane. In fact if there’s more then one lane on a highway so do us all a favor and just chill in the right lane UNLESS you’re ready to pass someone. For the life of me I don’t understand why people are so rude to think they can SIT in the left lane while people are passing to the right.

Maybe it’s because I’m in my car in highway traffic for more than an hour a day and feel the frustration of those inconsiderate people who hog the left lane when they’re not passing anyone and god forbid are driving below the speed limit.

To the idiot dude in the Jeep Cherokee who hogged the left lane going slower then the speed of traffic, whom I passed on his right this morning at 7:20 AM on GW Parkway I’d like to say VA TE FAIRE!

Clearly I need to find a job downtown. This commute from DC to Tyson’s Corner is driving me bananas.

Keepin' it Real

I was catching up on my school reading when my home phone rang at about 9:30 PM. I figured it was one of my parents since everyone else calls me on my cell phone and answered.

Quick background, I have a very very basic home phone service. No caller ID, voice mail or even answering machine and I don’t even have long distance capabilities on it. My cell phone has all those services included in the plan so I only used my home phone to dial into my company’s network. When I finally got DSL I kept the home in operation to make those just in case calls and so I wouldn’t “burn up” my cell phone minutes when I worked from home.

To make a long story longer, the person asked for me and then proceeded to tell me that my number was listed as an alternative telephone number for my little brother. That was news to me because I don’t think my little brother even knows my home number. I can count on one hand the number of times I talk to him in a year and that’s just because we’re not particularly close and we generally catch up when we see each other on holidays and over IM. The person on the phone identified himself very quickly and then asked me for a way to reach my brother. I was a taken aback because 1) I had no idea what this was about and 2) I was weirded out that they called me looking for a way to reach my brother. Since I don’t give out anyone’s number all willy nilly I asked the caller to tell me his name again and where he was calling from.

Now here is where things got a little bit dicey. The dude on the phone immediately got snippy and then tried to use some scare tactics such as “I know your bro is still in XXXXXXX (to use The OE’s term) and that it was in his best interest to contact them. That’s when the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I got a little bit pissy and said I’m not giving him any information until he tells me what this is about. That’s when dude said I’m not going to waste any more of your time and said goodbye, so I hung up.

Remember that scene on the Chappelle show in the “When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong” segment and the girl receives a wrong number? Well that’s how I felt so I called my brother who assured me he didn’t have any clue as to why the person called me and that he was current on all his bills. Then I “Starred 69” the number and then gave it to my brother. I could have called what appeared to be a bill collector back to give him a tongue lashing but I saw what happened when folks “kept it real” and really it’s none of my business.



I’m just trying to figure out how in the world they received my number since I’m pretty sure my brother 1) doesn’t have it and 2) why would he give out my number as an alternative when he could easily have given them my dad’s number or a fake one.

I saw a 20/20 episode one day about the scare and illegal tactics bill collectors use to try to intimidate folks who owe money and if there are any out there reading this:

“I hate when mofos ‘be’ playing on my phone”

What would you do?

If someone you liked, like really really really liked tried to set you up with one of his friends. You and dude have hooked up on more then one occasion. You profess your undying “like” to him and that you want more. He gently tells you that he needs to work on himself and isn’t ready for more. Yet you find out that a few weeks later he flies across the country to hang out with some chica. You then tell him you can no longer hook up. However you continue to hang out on occasion, IM, email, phone and of course hook up. Two weeks after the last hook up you organize a Happy hour to where you each bring friends. Walking back to your respective cars, he repeatedly asks if you think Tom is cool. The next day you realize he gave your email address to Tom, who asks you to hang out.

What would you do?

Excuses

You ever talk to someone who has an excuse for everything! Who is always justifying their actions because they know they shouldn't be doing x, y or z. I seem to be surrounded by indecisive people and people who have excuses for things that they KNOW are unacceptable. I’m not throwing rocks because I live in a glass house. I KNOW I shouldn't have bought and ate that bag of cheetos when I stopped for gas last week. So what if I’d just ran for 20 minutes on the treadmill. I used that tidbit and a crazed work day as my excuse therefore I had no one but myself to blame when I couldn't fit into a pair of shorts from last year.
There are reactions for every action even if you don’t think your actions warranted that reaction. Am I making any sense? I’m not saying you have to watch every single thing you do or anticipate every reaction. BUT you do have to think about how your actions are going to affect the people around you.

Green With Envy

I don’t typically “envy” people but right about now I’m pretty envious of folks without any vision or tearing problems. Some of you may remember the clogged tear tuck, if not click here. I ended up having the surgery to create a by pass and unfortunately I’m now in a wait and see game. I’m still tearing and have had two subsequent doctor visits after the surgery and so far they’re still telling me to hold on it should get better. Since I’m using medicated drops the doctor made a stress test that included putting in yellow drops in my eyes. Unfortunately I still had my contacts in. On the way back to the office I looked in my rearview mirror to “check my hair” and saw this looking back at me.




I’m laughing now because I look like someone possessed by some alien life form. Either that or a new X Men character. I wonder what my powers would be.

Girl Scouts

A friend and I were walking back from the neighborhood "likka sto" (the kind with bullet proof glass) and ran across this squirrel on the side walk. He immediately ran up the tree and started munching on his prize. After a closer look we realized he'd snagged a girls scout thin mint cookie. He had one eye on us and the other was focused on grinding his little rabid teeth into the cookie.

Didn't realize that squirrels liked cookies let alone thin mints. You learn something new everyday.

Stepmothers

Mine is pretty nice and we get along which should be a given since she’s been my step-mom for almost twenty-five years. We’re definitely not Mother - Daughter close, not even Aunt – Niece close but more like 2nd Cousin close. As a kid I remember her not being able to comb my hair and I’d come home looking like a crazy person. I remember her throughout my child hood as someone who made sure that my dad who was no Ward Cleaver, made an effort to have me visit every other weekend when they lived in NYC and at least once a year when they moved to NC.

Yet throughout the years there’s always been that layer of uncertainty on how close we should be to each other. How close do you get to someone who isn’t your mother, yet has that role for your siblings and is your dad’s wife? Now that I’m an adult we see each other several times a year and she comes up to visit with me and some of her family in DC without my dad at least two or three times a year. I went on vacation with her and my sister a few years ago and she’s the one I communicate with when I’m planning a visit. That layer of uncertainty has thinned out a bit but is still there.

At my age there’s a greater chance that I may be a step mother. How close should I get if I’m not raising my husband’s child, how close should I get if they live with us? As a stepdaughter who has gone through the awkwardness what kind of stepmother would I be?

One of my good friends is going through some drama with her family now and a lot of it centers on her feelings towards her step mother who raised her and her dad who isn’t exactly Ward Cleaver. Her real mother is sort of in the picture but is emotionally unbalanced and they have a turbulent relationship. She’s relied on her stepmother to give her that maternal love and unfortunately according to my friend she doesn’t feel it. Family dynamics can be dicey to begin with and then you bring in the step parent element and it can get even messier.

The Fight between Good and Evil

For the last 9 months I’ve been fighting a battle with an evil force. Although I’ve learned over the last 32 ½ years that the world isn’t black and white, I believe in good and evil forces. I believe I have my two feet firmly planted on the good side so it’s hard for me to understand how to fight the good fight when Evil comes knocking. Last Friday, while literally under the knife (I had out patient surgery to repair the clogged tear duct I have (more information on that in another post), the Evil forces had worked up to derail what was potentially a life saving force on the project I manage.

The crisis took 6 days, 3 conference calls and countless emails to fix and while Good has prevailed, Evil orchestrated such a blow that I’m scrambling now to put up shields and get my weapons in order because Evil will be back and I want to be ready!

In other words, I wish a muhhhfucka would!

Morocco

It’s been a crazy last 7 days, returning home from vacation, catching up on 400 unread emails, dealing with a kitchen renovation and hosting my cousin has meant that I haven’t had time to write about my trip.

Morocco was AMAZING, just magnificent. When I landed in Marrakesh and stepped down from the plane onto the tarmac I was like hot damm I’m in Africa! I know, it’s not sub-Saharan Africa but it’s still my first trip to the continent. Once I was outside and saw the bustle of people on foot, in cars, on bikes, the women half of them covered (scarf on head) I realized wow I’m in a Muslim country. [I’d gone to Indonesia for work years ago and although that is the country with the largest Muslim population most of the women I saw there didn’t cover their heads]. I was taken to the guest house we were staying in and decided to take a nap since my friends were running late driving down from Casablanca to meet me. When they arrived it was as if someone said “On your mark, get set, GO!”.

5 cities (Marrakesh, Essouira, Casablanca, Rabat, and Fez) in 8 days. Talk about whirlwind. My first night in the country I didn’t go to sleep until 7 the next morning. My friends arrived we hung out, went to eat, went to two clubs, went to a casino, grabbed more food and then finally back to the guest house to sleep. It was a bit crazy.

What I also loved about my trip was that I wasn’t just on a bus with a bunch of tourists being schlepped from place to place. I was there visiting my old officemate and friend who’d decided to move back to Morocco to be closer to her family and friends so we got to hang out with them, sightsee and get an up close and personal tour of life in Morocco.

I did things I’d only dreamed about doing, like riding a Camel on the beach, petting a Monkey, watching snake charmers in a square, eating and discovering great food. The whole country just oozed ancient history and rituals. I went to a Hamman which is a tradition in N. Africa which involves, a steam room, someone scrubbing all the dead skin cells and dirt off your body and a massage. I never felt cleaner and wish I could do it here so cheaply. I walked through the Souks, bargaining with the shop keepers for souvenirs, I took lots of pictures and thoroughly enjoyed my time there.