Of love and airports in Abidjan

Today's main errand was taking my new friend to the airport to pick up her boyfriend. From what I had gathered, they had met online - she's Ivorian, he's French and since then he had come to visit her thrice. I woke up at 10:30am to a delicious breakfast of mashed bananas and fish. After that I read a bit then we escorted the Aussie couchsurfer who was living with us to get a taxi. He was off to Yamoussoukro to see the largest basilica in the world - that is located in the middle of nowhere in Ivory Coast..More to follow on that in a few months, when I actually got there. 

African time prevails throughout the continent. Esther (my couchsurfing host and I) left our place at 1pm or so to meet Raissa (who we were taking to the airport to meet her beau.) We were to meet somewhere around 1:30pm - 2 hours later she arrived dressed to the nines. Thankfully we got to kill the time waiting for her, having some food and drinks. We also ran a few random errands including going to Western Union to pick up some cash that Esther's boyfriend in France had sent her. In my time in Abidjan I realized that quite a few women had a benefactor in France who ensured they had rent, new phones, new clothes etc. At Western Union, the girl behind the counter sold us some lipsticks. 

We finally got to the airport and waited a bit more for Raissa's boyfriend. When he finally arrived I noted that they had an age difference, but he seemed like a nice person. They were both clearly smitten and it was cute to watch. They could not keep their hands off each other. We had to take his trolley to give them some time to kiss and whisper sweet somethings to each other at the airport. After this we went to an icecream place where they continued to kiss each other endlessly. Finally the management at the place came and told them that if they did not stop with the PDA, we would get kicked out. The place was Lebanese owned and they felt that their behavior was offensive to their more conservative customers. I must say this was the first time I have almost been kicked out of an icecream joint. I felt badass, in a 15 year old type of way. We soon left the establishment as the two just could not stop eating face:-)

We went to Raissa's for dinner. She had made a feast - I pigged out on everything, except the escargots...I had already realized two nights before that eating snails was not my thing. We had salad, couscous, lamb etc. Esther and I finally went back home and slept by 10pm. 

Settling in - Abidjan, the early days

It's been a while since my first post on getting to Abidjan - (Abidjan debout) . People always ask me - "so why did you move to Abidjan alone for 2 months?" It is a short story actually. I took a 6 month sabbatical from work to recentre myself. My life had been out of balance for a while, and I needed a break to remind myself what made me happy. Of those 6 months, I spent 2 months backpacking in South America, 2 months learning French in Nairobi and 2 months living in Abidjan, learning French, making friends, dancing to coupe decale, writing....It was much needed. I came back with a new lease on life and reminded myself that at any point in life, we should have an internal barometer that lets you know what is building up inside you and that if need be one should be able to withdraw themselves from everyday life to really reflect on all the factors leading one to feel unhappy.  Living an examined life so to say.....

The 2 months in Abidjan were a perfect conclusion to the 6 months sabbatical. On the day after Abidjan debout, I woke up close to 10am.  My lovely couchsurfing host had made breakfast - I had an egg in a baguette. I spent a bit of time looking online for Alliance Francaise in Abidjan only to realize that for some unknown reason Abidjan has none. My host's friend showed up at her place a few hours later and he played the guitar for us. We listened to him for a few hours. These are the little joys of being on sabbatical - days when you follow the flow - no itinerary to stick to, no place to be, nothing due....just living life....and listening to the guitar. We had a yummy meal of fish and rice in the early afternoon.

Later on we went to the market to look for chargers (given I had left all my chargers on my bed in Nairobi). My host - Esther and her friend Raissa got mani-pedis at the open air market. At the market I started noticing some very distinct differences in daily life between Anglophone and Francophone countries (actually might be more of differences between East and West Africa.) The women working at the market were all very well dressed, most had weaves, false eyelashes, acrylic nails etc. I could not think of a single instance in Nairobi when I had gone to the market and bought onions from a woman with lipstick, daring cleavage showing, fitting skirts, nails done, fresh weave etc. I could not help but stare. This attention to detail when grooming was something I came to notice everywhere in my time in Abijdan. Everyone - despite their income group - was always really well dressed by my Kenyan standards. Everyone....I later learnt that getting an acrylic manicure at the market cost around USD 1, a pedicure USD 2 and on average my friends got their nails done weekly and their weaves changed every 2 weeks. 

I began to notice it too with my new found friends. Even when leaving the house to go to the dusty market, everyone tried on a few outfits. I thought of how I usually dressed in Nairobi when going to run errands in town - jeans, loose shirt, sneakers or flats....never anything to draw unnecessary attention to you - especially if I am javing into town. I wondered "If people dress this well to go to the market, what do they wear to weddings?"

After the town errands we went to Raissa's place and napped for 2 hours. I was quickly becoming very comfortable with my new friends - to the point of taking random naps at their places:-) Ivorians are really warm though - I was a complete stranger, but I was constantly being absorbed into people's plans. I loved that aspect. 

After our naps, Raissa made some delicious chicken and rice. We left her place, went to our place and I was fast asleep by midnight - smiling to myself - thinking of all the possibilities of what my time in Abidjan would be like. 

Abidjan debout!

I know I owe you so so many stories from South America. I promise I will get back to them. In the meantime, can I just tell you about how I got to Abidjan? It was not a joke.. As per kawa (as usual), I waited till the very last minute to pack - which usually works for me, but this time I actually forgot very many important things. I forgot all my chargers - for my mulika mwizi (light the the thief, phone), my samsung galaxy tab's charger , my kindle charger......every charger I needed. I only realized when I was at the airport around 4am. Of course I panicked, but that didn't help. I called my cab guy, my family, but no one could get me those chargers in time. C'est la vie! Such is life! I got to Addis, and of course my mind was focusing on how I needed to get a charger - immediately. Tried that, but the charger was crazy expensive and I needed to pay in USD (eeeerrr, what? I killed that plan immediately.) So I wait at the assigned gate for my flight to Abidjan. A few minutes after the flight is to have left, I am still waiting. Finally I ask someone and they tell me that the flight was actually changed to a different gate, and everyone has boarded. I run to that gate, and finally manage to get on the plane. I want to hold a moment of silence for all those people who mean mugged me as I got on with my guitar and my extra bags. Thank you, kind people of Ethiopian airlines who managed to find somewhere for my guitar. I thought we were going directly to Abidjan, but we had a bit of a matatu (minivan) stop in Cotonou in Benin. It was barely mentioned in fact. I just woke up to find the airhostess asking me if I needed customs documentation for Cotonou......"Errrrrrr, no. We are going to Abidjan madam." Landing in Abidjan was a bit of a fortune cookie. I had no idea what I would get "Those of fair heart shall be awaited at airport" or "those from the East shall find their own way home - East bound".....who knows. I was so lucky. For my first week in Abidjan, I was couchsurfing (which pretty much meant I went online and asked strangers if I could sleep on their couch) and thereafter I had an apartment. Both my couchsurfing host and the driver of the apartment I was staying in, showed up.....together in fact. I had quickly introduced them to each other online as I was busy forgetting my chargers on my bed, and fate would have it that they managed to link up. Abidjan is huge! It took us almost half an hour to get to my host's place at Deux Plateau. I got to my host's place and realized just how sleepy I was after not sleeping the night before and then having a long flight to Abidjan. My host was also hosting a really nice Aussie guy and her cute small niece. I fell asleep very unceremoniously at 4pm, and woke up around 10pm. My host said we were going out, and being an acute sufferer of FOMO (Fear of missing out), I promptly got up, showered, dressed and we went out clubbing. Before we left, we ate escargot - which I immediately realized I didn't like - as soon as that dead snail slithered down my throat......Yikes.....Never ever!

It was a Monday evening - people were dressed like it was a Saturday evening in Nairobi. I wondered how all these amazingly dressed women in heels, little dresses, full makeup etc were going to work in the morning. One thing that kind of jazzed me/spooked me out a bit was how all the women danced facing the huge mirrors. I am as vain as the average woman. I steal glances of myself, and think "I approve", but having all of us dancing and checking ourselves out on the large mirrors unashamedly was........well......a bit strange........."Don't they think we are a bit vain?"......"Oh well.......Gosh! This angle and that light just doesn't do it for me.....ok. Let me try to lean back a bit and turn round 57.5 degrees "C'est parfait!!" When I saw everyone else adjusting themselves accordingly, I knew it was all going to be ok.

We danced and danced and danced......and my new friends didn't let me see any bill. The whisky kept on flowing. That was the thing I forgot to mention. Every table had a bottle of Chivas Regal on it.......how now??? We finally got home at 4:30am. I woke up at around 9:50am (just trying to pretend I woke up early). That was the point I realized Abidjan was going to be amazing!