I'm out of canned meat and it's 2 weeks before I go back to the city

But I'll tough it out, because when I do go, it will be to get my
brother at the airport! And from there, we'll...well, I don't rightly
know. Not entirely. It would be handy to know when our mask festival
will be. But then, getting advanced notice of events is a luxury my
colleagues & neighbors have been training me to do without for 2
years.

SCHOUETTE
My good old friend John of God hooked me up with an outfit to go with
the sandals he gave me a couple months ago. It is so money. Literally:
the design is based on the picture that appears on the West African
CFA. As if my skin color alone wasn't enough to convince everyone here
I'm rich. I kid because I love - it's my favorite outfit, and not in a
hey-look-at-the-goofy-stuff-I-can-wear way.

BIKES ON A BUS
Not as scary as snakes on a plane, maybe, but when parts of the bike
are thrown willy-nilly on top of the looming pile of crap behind your
seat, by the time you get off the bus you have a serious crick in your
neck from turning after every bump to see if the Tire Rim of Damocles
is coming your way.

MORE MOORE STUDIES
Our Mooré manual includes cultural tips in each chapter. I feel
compelled to quote my most recent knowledge acquisition: "...cooking
utensils are not used for other purposes like taking showers or to
physically attack someone." Unfortunately, I haven't yet found out
which utensils ARE culturally appropriate for beating someone
senseless. Inquiring minds want to know!

FRENCH LESSON OF THE WEEK
distraire = distract
extraire = extract
soustraire = subtract
therefore
traire = ... to milk a cow, naturally.

KEEP TRYING
Some students were showing off their knowledge of world history. They
were doing pretty well until we started talking about 1929. They went
on about the measures taken by President ... I wasn't sure what they
were saying, but it wasn't Roosevelt. I had them write it. It turns
out President Krach Wallstreet was really on the ball. Bien entendu, I
could easily make a similar mistake in Mooré, so my amusement is
tinged with empathy.