Well it's been 2 months and we're becoming quite domestic here,
getting into a bit of routine. Ben has school so gets me up early
(6AM) to get ready for the bus at 7AM. I go to the gym, have French
class, do some work. Ben comes home for lunch, plays and sometimes
goes back to school at which point I go out again to do more stuff or
work on the computer. We do dinner at 6:30 or 7, shower and bed by
8pm. It's hard because we have less family time to spend because the
day starts and ends so early and most of his play time is in the
middle so is with his friends. He's having a lot of fun though.

New stuff, we got a kitten today. My neighbour's cat had kittens so we
got one. I thought it was a girl but because it's so young, the
testicles hadn't descended (sorry, direct translation from French, not
sure what you call that in English) when I checked, so it's actually a
boy, a calico, all orange and white with blue eyes, probably no more
than about 6 weeks old. I think he'll either get called Squeak since
that's the sound he makes, or Skit because he's so skittish. We have
to make a litter box, by cutting up and old water container. It's
fairly well fed at this point so hopefully we can keep it healthy.
Ben's rabbit from last year's visit got sick and died.

We were child-free this past weekend as Ben went to the grandparents
with Uncle Derek and family so we made the most of it. Friday night
Loren took me to a night club that had a pool table. I haven't played
pool in years but few Africans know how to play so I ran the table for
most of the night. I won 14 games in a row, it's $1.25 a game, loser
pays. Loren plays well but I beat him too. I finally lost to the owner
who told me he would keep 6 bottles of whiskey for me because I played
so well (well that also means I have to keep coming back, it'll take
me a year to drink that much whiskey!). We went to an outdoor concert
Saturday afternoon and then back to the pool place where they had live
music from a group of local whites, Danes. I had a lot to drink
Saturday night, more than I've had in the last seven years put
together probably. I still got up at 6 for some reason and tried to
go to church. I got the time wrong – 8:30 not 7 AM so I went home to
bed and slept til noon.

A couple weeks ago, we were heading to Koubri to see the grandparents,
when I decided to stop back at the house and realized by looking in my
bedroom cupboard that someone had been in the house and the only
person that could have been was the guard. I had accidentally
forgotten to lock the back door so it was closed but not locked. He
had come into the house and had looked in my cupboard where I used to
keep money. I knew he had been in there because he moved something
obvious out of place. So Loren went and scared the crap out of him.
Loren told the guard (Zaki) that he knew Zaki had been in the house
and that Zaki was lucky because if Loren had found him in the house,
he would have shot him, like a regular burglar (thieves are dealt with
rather harshly here). Loren gave him a bullet from his pistol and said
"this one would have been yours – remember that" (Loren carries his
pistol only when he has to carry large amounts of money on him).
Needless to say, ever since then, we've had very few problems with the
guard not doing his job. He's finally getting to the point where I
maybe don't trust him but at least I know he'll do as he's told. The
guard only works at night from 5pm til 6 AM, the house girl comes at 9
but she is only here from Monday to Saturday. Most Sundays there is no
one at the house in the afternoon. And apparently someone in the
neighbourhood knows that.

I came home this afternoon to grab workout clothes to go to the gym.
There was someone in the yard, a young man who told me that he was a
plumber and had been sent to find out if there were any more problems.
I was a little suspicious because we had a plumber come already. So I
said no but there are still problems with the electricity. He said he
could fix that as well and were there any problems in the bedroom. Now
I'm suspicious so I said no. He said he was just going to get his
moped which was parked out front (I didn't see one when I came in, so
he was parked across the street) and park it in the courtyard. I
opened the front door to see my mop and broom tied together lying on
the floor. I looked at the window and saw that 2 of the slats (they
are steel) were broken, so I went running out of the house only to
find that the guy had taken off. He had seen my computer sitting on
the table and was attempting to pull the table close enough to the
window to steal the computer. He had had clearly a lot of time in
order to break 2 slats like that and put all that together. I came
just at the right moment.

Zaki now feels this is his fault – oddly, because he had entered the
house and so he has somehow brought bad luck to his job. He said he "a
peur", was afraid. I thought he was worried about the thief coming
back so I said I doubted that he would come. Zaki said he wasn't
afraid of the thief killing him, if that was what was meant to be. He
couldn't explain it to me, to make me understand so he's waiting to
talk to Loren about it, but feels he has to quit. It's weird.

Loren was worried that I was frightened so he sort of tried to brush
it off saying, c'est l'Afrique. I figure it's worse in Canada.
Personally, if I catch the thief, he's gonna wish Loren had shot him
instead. I'm going to break every bone I can lay a hand on - you can
do that here and not worry about things like law suits. That will
leave him alive to warn off other thieves.

Anyway, I thought Ben was going to feel scared, as he did after he
found out that Zaki had been in the house. Zaki told me (in front of
Ben) that he wasn't intending to steal anything, that he was looking
for food or some small money to buy something to eat (he's only paid
about $50 a month but then, he doesn't do a lot, he's basically paid
to sit and watch). Ben told me that he believes Zaki and he felt very
bad for him. Zaki is kinda like a big brother to Ben, helps him to fix
his bike, and talks to him all the time. Ben said he felt Zaki was
sorry and was telling the truth. Then Ben said that he knew what he
wanted to be when he grows up - he wants to give money to people who
can't afford to eat. Ben said he'd have 2 pockets, one for his own
money, and the other for sharing. What a little sweetie!

So anyway, I'm not too worried about the thief, unless Zaki actually
quits because then I have to start all over again finding someone,
getting them to show up, not go out, not to sleep at night etc. I'm
sure Loren will convince him otherwise but it's a pain.

Oct 26 - Loren on the other hand was worried enough about it to sleep
on the porch (on a mattress with a sheet although knowing him, he
would just as likely have slept on the concrete), as he was concerned
the car and motorcycle would get stolen. I think he was probably more
worried that Zaki would leave in the middle of the night. He found us
a temporary new guard, one of his "boys" that work for him. He calls
them that because they come to Loren whenever they have problems, like
they have a sick parent or child; Loren gives them money and they work
off the debt. This is fine until the construction season gets under
way when the "boy" will be busy during the day on a work site
somewhere meaning he won't be at the house during the day, and will
probably want to be sleeping at night, rather than guarding the house.
We'll see how it goes.

Oct 27 – Work starts next week. I have been working kinda at my own
pace so far. I've been running around my neighbourhood on the back of
the motorcycle (I have Dembele drive – it's hard to look around and
drive), looking at houses that are for rent. It's quite annoying and
tiresome. In Ouaga, most business and purchases can be achieved from a
seat at a bar, so I decided to try that. I managed to get 2 other guys
running around looking for me, and found a couple prospects that way.
Still end up running around since they try showing me everything
they've got, whether or not it fits the description of what I'm
looking for.
I've also been having this wild goose chase trying to get a hold of a
client. I had his phone number and email to which he doesn't respond,
and when I went to the address on the waybill which was all the way
downtown, I learned that they moved and that his new office was
actually around the corner from my house. Sigh.

I'm excited to start work and worried at the same time. I received my
contract and list of roles and responsibilities – feels like a lot!
Although I think once we get rolling it will get easier. I'm sure we
all feel like a fraud at the beginning, that someone is going to catch
us making it all up as we go. In this case, I did tell them in advance
that I was ill equipped and they don't seem to care so that should
make me feel better, but of course it doesn't!

Happy Hallowe'en to all. We won't be celebrating that.

Hysterical side note from this evening. Ben asked me if the Easter
bunny was real, and I told him that it wasn't real. So he asked who
brought all the eggs? I said guess, so his first guess was Santa (I
had to laugh). When he finally guessed that it was me, his face lit up
and he knew that I had bought the Transformers video - instead of
being disappointed, he was happy because he knew he would always get
something he wanted - because I always know. That kid!