November 2024

One of my goals this past summer was to make friends with a crow. I didn’t have any specific reason for this other than I’ve heard that they are intelligent and it would be cool to do. Who doesn’t need a random personal challenge to round out the summer? Unfortunately, I didn’t achieve my goal,…

Most of the time, when I get into my Yango, there is complete silence. Silence is not a sound I am familiar with. It might be normal for people taking cabs to be completely silent, but I wouldn’t know because I’m not a usual cab taker. The silence in the Yango may also be because…

As expected, my first friends in Côte d’Ivoire have been an eclectic mix of people. The group at this point mainly consists of a couple of Americans who are in similar positions to mine and a group of Ivorians who are very confused/intrigued by me. I also have a group of future friends in the…

This blog post needs nearly no words. Here is a game I found at the store. The game involves a blowup doll and is called: Play with Fred! It is definitely not built for the American market. I almost wanted to buy it.

The Women’s English Club! When you are an English teacher living in a country where virtually nobody speaks English, but everyone wants to learn, the odds of personal success are excellent. Also, when you are a native English speaker, you may find yourself suddenly in charge of nearly everything that even remotely relates to the…

In any case, he is the president of the English Club at his church and invited me to come and speak to the group. Since I’m generally free on Sunday mornings, I agreed to attend the English Club, hoping to avoid recruitment to the church. Before arrival, I had read that Côte d’Ivoire was about…

It feels wrong to write about my travels without at least mentioning the orange elephant in the room. He is the last person I want to waste my time thinking about, but I know many people do not have the privilege of disregarding him like I can. It is easier for me: I am not…

When I was in college, my 21st birthday evening ended when I was dropped on the curb by two burly bouncers at a bar named Kilroy’s after pounding a shot called a Mind Eraser. That Mind Eraser went down really smoothly but quickly bounced out of my stomach like a basketball. I’ll let you imagine…