coincidence and auspice

two rare coincidences led me to good luck:

1. i entered a car at the carrefour and they agreed to three places. the price would be discussed later, since i imagined very little hassle. they give tickets that list the price as 80% higher than i understood it to be. one of the other two places points this out to me. he abuses the moto boy and asks him to write the real price, but the moto boy is obstinate. after another conference i tell him to politely tell the moto boy that we will discuss at our destination. first i was in the back, then i moved up a place each time someone got out but before their replacement got on. i got to my favorite seat aside from shotgun, which includes a window. a sparrow flew into the car and hit my head. it landed in a bag i was carrying. the driver demanded for me to pick it up and give it to him, since it was good luck. other passengers insisted on me throwing the bird back out the window. i gave the bird to the driver who then gave to the moto boy to hold until we got there. at the destination there was a long discussion with the driver and motoboy in the rain and mud about what the price should be, including all of the theatrics. the driver even pretended to walk away and drive off without taking any money to show that no money is better than thieve's money before a settlement was made. the good luck is that the next car was on a home at night run so didn't care if it filled, and the price was agreed upon without any discussion. maybe the good luck was concentrated on me, since i found the bird first.

2. the next is more straight forward. we were taking a stroll outside of my village and were called into the police station. they were concerned about out origins, destinations, and purposes. i found that one of the officers was from lebialem. then when i passed an oral exam: 'you hear nnwe? - slowly' 'you, of years how many have you? - two tens and six, years of two tens and six.' 'surrender the number of you - it is this. five two...' we exchanged phone numbers and they told us to refuse to identify ourselves to any uniformed person we meet later that day, with his orders, as a sign of good faith. they instructed us that if it was strolling we liked, he would recommend us to follow such and such a path until we see a large pile of firewood. we did. on the way a soldier greeted us and told us where the port was, but wanted to know what is our interest in going to the port. it was agreed that seeing the firewood would be suitable, but if we truly wanted to see the port it would require 3km of walking each way. when he asked if we were carrying identification, we explained that we had met with the superiors earlier that morning, so there is no need to worry. at the fireweood we figured that we should get back before rain, so we turned back.

soooo cool

i have spent the previous week frequenting buea night clubs.

when life reduces to a series of snug voyages along unknown roads at arbitrary times, you can claim to be a connoisseur, as you appreciate a foggy night on a paved road with the front seat to yourself. the night was becoming foggy and few people were passing through the puddles of motor oil and mud at the mobil station. i offer six hundred francs to the driver for imagining that the two remaining vacant seats are inhabited by ghosts that have paid teh full fare. pleasant squabble from the back seat. the town has residents or benefactors in high places: the road is paved and there are handsome buildings, even a church with marble façade. later i am sipping cognac on the verandah with two young women who tell stories of chimpanzees, parasites and enchntment in the littoral. earlier in the day an american émigrée returning for a visit took the brave decision to confront me about my comment that her baby was adorable and had a very big head. she said that being outside of texas didn't give me licence to call things as they are. most americans do not know whether or not they are racists, fat heads or sexists, so they have invented something called political correctness to prevent themselves from ever finding out. truly i was shaken but i thanked the woman for her honesty in confronting me and promised never again to refer to a child's adorably big head.

at this point i thought it a good idea to insert a quote from some japanese poem or story, or a conjecture about why the word connoisseur is spelled with oi, when it came into use in English, but the book sat in my hands without my looking at it. the dictionary stayed on the shelf. my mind drifted to how it would feel to accidentally cut my leg with a machete while trimming grass. nothing serious, but i'd be more careful next time. now what should stop me from picking up the dictionary. my contrarian attitude forces me to violate the principle of not taking sides on whether or not to commit an action, so the dictionary is retrieved. it shows that the word is spelled with ai in french. the only other useful book in my house leads me to believe that at least as late as 1704 the language itself was called François and not Français. none of the successive rides were so memorable, though there was a moment when i felt i had perfected the slant of exasperation in my eyes and the calmly upturned hand that says you're a fucking thief give me teh rest of my change, because your nerves get overworked from expressing yourself more conspicuously.

with trembling hand, Konko strung together these words:
Of mystical isles, of Hosai,
I have known two and ten.
Believe only in the Pure Land.
I shall believe in Lord Amida.
the words were barely legible. again Konko wrote:
Should you seek Kannon,
Believe not in Fudaraku.
Should you seek Fudaraku,
Believe not in the sea.

the meeting point

record of visitors in a given 48 hour period

5:52 am today:
a man comes in and has a seat. he tells me that afeah in fact falls on a friday, and not on a sunday as we had previously discussed. this means that our meeting in atulE' is to be moved eight days beyond its actual date and six days beyond its supposed date.

4:45 pm yesterday:
two men stand on my porch and we discuss standard sizes of bathroom tile, the amount of sand, gravel and cement needed, we make some calculations. another yells to the three of us from the road that the mother of the owner of my house is dead.

11:20 am yesterday:
a man comes and gives me my machete, now sharper, worn in and the handle whittled and bound in wire to be more ergonomic. he takes several plantains from the stalk on my front porch and tells me i am expected at two for bitterleaf soup with plantains and cow skin

10:00 am saturday:
four children enter and sit shyly for about twenty minutes. it becomes clear that they are hoping to watch a bootleg vcd of the disney straight to video release George of the Jungle 2, in english with bahasa indonesia subtitles. the movie is enthralling

duylinh called in the evening and asked what i had been up to. i explained that mbei ba fue had given me an avocado, a clando driver bought me a beer, and i had accepted an invitation to visit cocoa splitting day in efong. the bearer of the invitation was very drunk, so my acceptance was conditional on his later reminding me that i had accepted. i decided instead to go to ntchen market on amina, when the cocoa would already be dried and bagged for sale, and the farmers would be so happy that they would likely blow 10-20% of their yearly salary in one day, celebrating that they had finally earned some money.

racing a deadly fungus

explaining the americanism "hog wild" to maimuna:

-par example, on dit qu'on ira "hog wild" ce soir. ça veut dire que ce soir rien ne peut nous limiter. "hog wild" veut dire cochon sauvage. tu peux t'imaginer qu'un cochon sauvage s'en fout tout quand il y a certains opportunités pour lui. le cochon sauvage ne se limite pas quand il s'agit de manger, alors que l'homme ne se limite pas quand il s'agit de cocaine, hookers, whisky et penthouse suites at the hilton.

genesis

1. ɛ̄n z̀ə lɛ̄ gẃəʔ ́ɛ źə bɛ̄ lé ǵɛ ʒíí lɛ̄ bú bɔ̄ ɛ̄śə ʒj̀ə ́ɛ źə ɛ̄ ndɛ̄m ā lē g̀ə

2. t́ɛʔ lɛ̄bú ́ɛ lá tè b́ɔ b́ɔŋ ɛ̄śə b́ɔ ́ɛ lɛ̄ b́ɔ mb́ə mé ́ɛnd́ɛnd́ɛn á tʃɨ̄n á sé ā b́ɔ fínfí b́ɛʔ ́ɛntì trɔ̄ʔ fj́əʔfj́əʔ nd́ɛm ā gín ànt́ɛntʃɔ̄ʔ bèē nts̀ə

3. ́ɛ ndɛ̄m á g̀ə̀ə ŋḱɛʔ ́ɛ b́ə ́ɛ f́ə́ə ŋḱɛʔ ́ɛ léé mb́ə f́ə

4. ́ɛ ndɛ̄m á ʒj́ə ŋḱɛʔ ́ɛ b́ɔ mb̀ɔŋ ā gí ́ɛ ndɛ̄m á śɛ́ɛ ́ɛŋḱɛʔ ānj́ə ́ɛntì trɔ̄ʔ

5. á tɔ̄ŋ ɛ̄ŋḱɛʔ ɛ̄ lé āʒ̀ɔɣ̀ə ́ɛbín tɔ̄ŋ áĺyʔ ā fín ɛ̄ lé ́ɛntì trɔ̄ʔ ɛ̄ ĺɛ b́ə́ə ́ɛbáp ānj́ə ɛ̄l̀ən ntʃū ndʒɨ̄m b́ɔ ɛ̄l̀ən t̀ɛ trɔ̄ʔ ānj́ə ɛ̄nz̀ə ā lɛ̄ʔé

6. ́ɛ ndɛ̄m á g̀ə lē ̀ɛ fɛ̄ɛ̄ ́ɛ b̀ə ā té tsə̄ ɛ̄nts̀ə ́ɛ gí ā sè b́ɔ gì á lɛ̄bù

7. ́ɛ ndɛ̄m á lɛ̄ g̀ə báp ā lé gāp ́ɛ gī lɛ̄bù bɔ̄ gī sé

8. á lɛ̄ tɔ̄ŋ tɛ̄ts̀ə lɛ̄bú ɛ̄ lé ālɛ̄ʔá ndɛ̄, ́ɛn ānj́ə ɛ̄l̀ən ntʃū ndʒɨ̄m b́ɔ ɛ̄l̀ən t̀ɛ trɔ̄ʔ ānj́ə ́ɛ ĺɛ́ɛ bīn z̀ə mb́ə ́ɛ z̀ə mɔ̄ʔ ālɛ̄ʔ́ɛ

9. ́ɛ ndɛ̄m á lj́ə lé bɛ̄nts̀ə bí átʃɛ̄nā ālɛ̂ʔ ʒī ́ɛ ɲ́ɔkté bɛ̄ ɲɛ̄t mí ́ɛ mb́ə á lj́ə mɔ̄ʔ fī ́ɛn z̀ə lé āĺyʔ āʒúŋtè ā lɛ̄ bín fūʔú t̀ɛ b́ɛʔ ā lè mb́ə b́ap

10. ā lɛ̄ t́ɔŋ āĺyʔ āʒúŋtè ɛ̄ lé ŋgbɛ̄p lɛ̄ú ́ɛ bí mɔ̄ʔ ́ɛ ŋẃə bɛ̄ntśə ́ɛ bí ɛ̄ lɛ̄ ɲɔ̄kté ɲɛ̄t dʒāp á bín t́ɔŋ lē mìə nts̀ə ́ɛndɛ̄m á ʒj́ə lē á báp ́ɛ mb̀ɔŋ

11. ndɛ̄m á lɛ̄ lj́ə lé lɛ̄bú á fiɛ̄ ɱvɛ̄n z̀ə ́ə b́ɛʔ ndʒâp ́ɛŋgbj́ɛʔ bɛ̄t́a t̀ʉ ́ɛ b́ɔ nz̀ə b́ɛʔ ʒī kɔ̄ŋ ʙéŋgbjɛ̄ʔ á gb́ɔ àntì ʒī ànt́ɛntʃɔ̄ʔ lɛ̄bú fɔ̂ t̀ɛ bɛ̄ʔ́ɛ là báp

12. ́ɛ lɛ̄bú á fiɛ̄ ɱvɛ̄n b́ɔ ndʒâp ŋgbɛ̄tē b́ɛʔ ʒí kɔ̄ŋ ́ɛ ŋgbj́ɛʔ bɛ̄tàà t́ʉ béŋgbj́ɛʔ āntī ʒī ́ɛ gí ́ɛ b́ɛʔ ʒī kɔ̄ŋ l̀ɛ ́ɛndɛ̄m ´ ʒj́ə lē á báp ́ɛ mb̀ɔŋ

13. ɛ̄l̀ən ntʃū ndʒɨ̄m b́ɔ ɛ̄l̀ən t̀ɛ trɔ̄ʔ ānj́ə ́ɛ ĺɛ́ɛ bīn z̀ə mb́ə ɛ̄ĺɛʔ tât

diamonds

i saw a redman video. people kept jumping.

i have this bad habit of immediately assuming that any foreigner i see here is a missionary (if a girl) or a sex tourist (if a boy). it's so pervasive that i've grown accustomed to assuming that everyone believes me to be a sex tourist, and if they want to believe that fine let them believe because really i could care less what they think. i know how to do that thing where you snap your fingers with a handshake.

static dancing

i went to the hotel and saw some people i know sitting at the table. i sat down. one woman had very clear skin and was talking about her junior brother in france, always with enthusiasm. we tapped her pidgin knowledge. one asks how can you say "i did not kill the man." i suggest ah noba kill i, which the woman with the junior brother rejects with an éclat de rire, saying that this would imply that though he has not yet been murdered, it is certainly in the plans. better to say ah no kill i, which i understand to mean that murdering this particular man is not part of your lifestyle.
a group was trying to gain enough members to leave together to an expensive restaurant. a smartly dressed young fulani woman arrived and kissed the cheeks of those of us she knew, in the french style. perhaps she had dressed up imagining that we would all see her outfit, then look at our own outfits, then revel in the coincidence that we had all dressed up as if going to a night club, so why not all go out dancing together. the man who was chiefly concerned with the older sister radiated the air of someone who is unshaven and has 4000 francs in his pocket that has to last him the next 26 hours until his currency of concern becomes the dollar. i decided not to order a beer and asked questions about venture capital funding.
when it started to seem as if we'd actually have to go to a dance club unless we had an alternate plan, i suggested that we buy the cheap arab sandwiches with coleslaw and habanero sauce on carrefour bastos and eat them at a nearby bar.
perhaps everyone except the girls had been secretly harboring the idea. 20 minutes later we were standing in a line next to the arab sandwich man, eating pork brouchettes while we waited. bastos is a rich neighborhood. we walked with the sandwiches in our hands down the side street where beer was reputed to be sold at a reasonable price. people started yelling that disapproval of just one more bad break in a cursed life.
-patience mon ami, c'est le courant electrique là. ça peut tuer.
the delivery truck's motoboy climbed back down. someone handed him a stick and he climbed back up to dislodge the severed bootleg electric line from the top of the truck so that they could move on. everyone sighed and continued their business in the dark. we sipped our beers in the shadows of the veranda, eating the arab sandwiches, watching the woman at the beauty parlor across the street, where there was still light, shuffle around as they closed up shop and changed back into their smart outfits.