November 4 - Having fun with translations here. As I take french
lessons and I learn more about the common mistakes I make. For example
Loren spends a lot of time at a place he calls the office. It's
actually his friend's maquis where he tends to conduct a lot of
business.
I accidentally called it his "deuxieme bureau" - the second office
since he does have a real one. Unfortunately, that has a rather
different connotation than the one that I meant (i.e. it's his
mistress's house). His friends thought that was quite funny of course.

Then there was the motorcycle Loren bought. It comes with a warning
that the motorcycle is made with "quality parts and
substitution of other parts will cause endless regret...". Clearly a
translation, probably from Chinese. I remember being in Egypt in 1994
and being given a survey as to the quality of the room. How was the
air condition? And other thighs? Having not received other thighs
I left that part blank.

I purchased a dishcloth made in China, of which the packaging
expounded on the wonders of this $2 cloth. It informs me that "sewing
at warp-wise
and crosswise by combining a high-density natural fibre surface with
the best soft interior lay, it features solid and deformation with the
best using
effect." huh? It's best features are listed at the top as being
Grease Removing, Softness and Bibulousness. Bibulousness? It is of
course now
known in the house as the bibulous cloth. So finally, I looked it up.
"being given to, or marked by the consumption of alcohol.as in a
bibulous fellow,
or bibulous evening.". I laughed so hard I nearly fell down. I think
the word they were looking for was absorbent, instead they told me
that I need
to take my cloth to an AA meeting.

I'm sure I will make many more mistakes. My favourite mistakes (mine
and others) I of course don't really want to put on a public site, but
I
do have to wonder "out loud" why the Mossi people would want to make
the words for "name" (yuur) and "penis" (yoor) so similar? You know
where that's going. Hi, my name is... or rather... Yes I actually had
a friend who made that mistake in front a village chief. I don't think
they found it
nearly as hilarious as I did. I'm sure I will make that kind of
mistake and worse in Moré before I'm done here. Apparently I have
moved up a
level in french already - I am now working out of the "6-ième ou
5-ième" textbook meaning I've at least graduated past the primary
level. I think
it's about grade 7 or 8.

Work is moving along very slowly as I had MS Office 2007 crash and
uninstall itself from my computer, and my usual "chauffeur", Dembele
has been stolen by Clark (Loren's dad) for other work on the farm. I
will be travelling to the mine sites the 3rd week of November, mostly
day trips
but will require one overnight... meaning I leave Ben with Loren. Hmm.
I'm sure I will find them all in one piece when I return. However, I
am
going to Ghana at the end of November for a meeting and to see their
mine sites and workshops there. That trip will be at least 4 or 5 days
meaning I need to find temporary care - I don't think either of them
would survive that long! I used to love travelling for work but now I
just find it a
pain, especially if I end up having to drive to Accra (over 1000km
from Ouaga and some of it on not the most comfortable roads - although
I've heard
it's improved much since I was here 12 years ago). I do plan on
getting the majority of my tasks done in the most African way, that is
sit in a maquis
(I'll be drinking Fanta) and send someone else to do it. It's actually
the most efficient use of my time really, generally a good management
practice
known as delegation. Africans are experts at it. Some stuff like
figuring out the tax system requires someone with expertise, but
running errands
and getting quotes on furniture does not. Other stuff like writing a
business plan, developing job description and hiring staff of course
I'll have to
do myself eventually. But for the moment, I'm looking forward to my
sugar high. Hey, I haven't worked in 4 months (I know there are some
who would
argue that it's been years...). Need to ease in slowly.

The weather is already changing, which is a bit weird. November is
gorgeous generally, kinda hot but sunny with a breeze and everything
is green.
The last few days have been cold enough for Ben to ask for long pjs
and sleep with a sheet. Cold means it's probably around 20oC since
it's been
35+ the last month or so. You can feel the air drying out and taste
the dust from the desert, which marks the beginning of "winter". At
least I won't
have to shovel. Sorry, didn't mean to rub it in. However, come April
when you are slogging through slush and rain you can think of me
getting up in
the middle of the night to collect water as there won't be any
available during the day. And as you are wet and cold, I will be in
45+ oC weather.

Off to bed.