It finally started raining a couple of weeks ago... So far so good, we still get some dry moments in between the rains, we still get to see the sun every once in a while. Maryam says the most difficult period is July, there it rains two weeks non-stop. It all seems fine to me (moreover this time we won't be here), I think after last year in Cameroon I can put up with any kind of rainy season and be happy with it.
As every year, we had been longing for the rainy season to come... You can feel it in the air, the waiting... The air gets heavy and dry and hot... The animals start getting impatient and trees and shrubs start looking sad. And once it kicks in, life takes up the pace again.
Funny how thing change so much during the rainy season. There are places you wouldn't recognise. Entire valleys become lakes. I have this hedge surrounding our garden, which was a kind of sad green not so special hedge. Now the rainy season has started, new white and pink leave have grown and it's become a very pretty sight indeed!
Then there's this big tree in my garden (I've posted some pics of it here before) it had these very pale pink blossoms, which now have become candy-cane pink.
Showing posts with label funny Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label funny Africa. Show all posts
24 June 2009
22 June 2009
I love my garden!!!!!!
We've been eating only home-grown salad for two weeks now, and are also becoming self-sufficient in herbs. We'd eat salad every day, since it is so delicious!
One of our little basil plants (this is two weeks ago, by now, the leaves are 5cm long!)
Last week, we suddenly heard a muffled scraping sound. We went out to see what it was and found that one of our big 'palmiers du voyageur' had fallen. It's still there... grr waiting until the cleaning team comes for it! Luckily it didn't fall on any of my new acquisitions! (Which are thriving by the way, only one plant died)
I suspect my gardener is secretly building his house in front of mine. When I asked him about it, he said it was to have a climbing plant to grow over it. If he had only build it sound enough to become a pergola...
One of our little basil plants (this is two weeks ago, by now, the leaves are 5cm long!)
Last week, we suddenly heard a muffled scraping sound. We went out to see what it was and found that one of our big 'palmiers du voyageur' had fallen. It's still there... grr waiting until the cleaning team comes for it! Luckily it didn't fall on any of my new acquisitions! (Which are thriving by the way, only one plant died)
I suspect my gardener is secretly building his house in front of mine. When I asked him about it, he said it was to have a climbing plant to grow over it. If he had only build it sound enough to become a pergola...
10 June 2009
The sweetest thing
When we had lunch at La Langouste on Saturday, the waitress came over to hold Aini for a while (people are very fond of babies here, even more so then in Cameroon, that's at least one wonderful thing about Africa). She called over her co-worker and asked him: "Si je te fais un joli gros bebe comme ca, tu vas me marier??" The waiter started laughing out loud...
09 June 2009
The termite story
When we arrived here, this house was half eaten by termites. Ever since, we are trying to get them out. A painstaking battle that may not be finished by the time we leave here, but we won't give up!
The room that is most under attack is the one soon to be Aini's (however... soon?), so you can imagine I want that problem solved. Even more so, because both parties (by that, I mean Aini on the one hand and my husband and me on the other) are getting ready for her to move to her own bedroom (who would have thought that would ever happen??? And so soon!).
So we called in the carpenters. They came over to test the wood to see exactly how much needed to be removed.
Quick sketch of the situation: The airco unit is fitted into a wooden box, which is so rotten and eaten by the termites, they left it, making their way up to the ceiling.
So the carpenter guy chucks off a ceiling board, looks around and says: "Il ne sont pas dans le bois madame".
I answer that it's quite strange, seeing that they have left the airco unit and you see the traces move right up to the ceiling... and furthermore, there's dust falling off the ceiling boards, which suggests they are in the ceiling.
Now, it's his colleague who answers: "Non madame, ils ne sont pas dans le bois! Ils sont sortie la, parce que ils ont tout mange, et puis ils sont sorties dehors."
I was stunned! "ils sont sorties dehors? Comment-ca?"
"Par le mur, madame!"
At that point I gave up. Luckily Mariam came to the rescue and pointed out yet again that dust was coming out of the ceiling, so they shoold at least replace those boards. Stubborn, the carpenter took a piece of wood and started knocking against the ceiling: "Tu vois, c'est solide."
Mariam took matters (being the piece of wood) into her own hands and showed where the dust came out. She knocked the board once and went straight through!!!
As a result, they're redoing all off the woodwork in Aini's room.
Poor carpenters, they must be suffering ever since there are three white women on the plantation again. I think they haven't worked this hard in years!
The room that is most under attack is the one soon to be Aini's (however... soon?), so you can imagine I want that problem solved. Even more so, because both parties (by that, I mean Aini on the one hand and my husband and me on the other) are getting ready for her to move to her own bedroom (who would have thought that would ever happen??? And so soon!).
So we called in the carpenters. They came over to test the wood to see exactly how much needed to be removed.
Quick sketch of the situation: The airco unit is fitted into a wooden box, which is so rotten and eaten by the termites, they left it, making their way up to the ceiling.
So the carpenter guy chucks off a ceiling board, looks around and says: "Il ne sont pas dans le bois madame".
I answer that it's quite strange, seeing that they have left the airco unit and you see the traces move right up to the ceiling... and furthermore, there's dust falling off the ceiling boards, which suggests they are in the ceiling.
Now, it's his colleague who answers: "Non madame, ils ne sont pas dans le bois! Ils sont sortie la, parce que ils ont tout mange, et puis ils sont sorties dehors."
I was stunned! "ils sont sorties dehors? Comment-ca?"
"Par le mur, madame!"
At that point I gave up. Luckily Mariam came to the rescue and pointed out yet again that dust was coming out of the ceiling, so they shoold at least replace those boards. Stubborn, the carpenter took a piece of wood and started knocking against the ceiling: "Tu vois, c'est solide."
Mariam took matters (being the piece of wood) into her own hands and showed where the dust came out. She knocked the board once and went straight through!!!
As a result, they're redoing all off the woodwork in Aini's room.
Poor carpenters, they must be suffering ever since there are three white women on the plantation again. I think they haven't worked this hard in years!
26 May 2009
Burning down the house
About a week ago, I took control of our gardening projects and started terrorizing our gardener. It all started because I wanted to put some plants in my house. I went to a spot where they sell plants. I went back there with Francoise, who is a big plant-lover, and ended up buying a lot of stuff to plant in the garden, as well as some interior plants. Then off course, the plants needed planting!
So I took my gardener by the hand (he had been working for us for over two months, and I think he needed some structuring, because he was always running around in all directions, not doing a great deal!) and took him for a stroll in the garden, all the while pointing at where he had to plant my acquisitions.
I ended up pointing out all the work he had been neglecting: trimming hedges and bougainvillea’s, cleaning up fallen branches and logs of wood… The poor guy didn’t know what hit him.
During that walk, I also pointed out a heap of litter laying behind our house and told him that couldn’t stay that way, because it doesn’t look good and so he had to get rid of it… burn it or something.
Last week, he took action and burnt it where it lay… three meters from the house! As it was quite a big pile of rubble, we were very afraid the house might catch fire. So the gardener had to stand next to the fire and hose down the edges, since it was to big of a plot to put out. Still, in the morning I noticed it was still simmering.
And even though David had a serious talk with him about the danger of lighting a fire so close to the house, a few days later, he had lit it again, because everything hadn’t burnt.
This proves again that you have to be very careful about what you say and always think two steps ahead.
So I took my gardener by the hand (he had been working for us for over two months, and I think he needed some structuring, because he was always running around in all directions, not doing a great deal!) and took him for a stroll in the garden, all the while pointing at where he had to plant my acquisitions.
I ended up pointing out all the work he had been neglecting: trimming hedges and bougainvillea’s, cleaning up fallen branches and logs of wood… The poor guy didn’t know what hit him.
During that walk, I also pointed out a heap of litter laying behind our house and told him that couldn’t stay that way, because it doesn’t look good and so he had to get rid of it… burn it or something.
Last week, he took action and burnt it where it lay… three meters from the house! As it was quite a big pile of rubble, we were very afraid the house might catch fire. So the gardener had to stand next to the fire and hose down the edges, since it was to big of a plot to put out. Still, in the morning I noticed it was still simmering.
And even though David had a serious talk with him about the danger of lighting a fire so close to the house, a few days later, he had lit it again, because everything hadn’t burnt.
This proves again that you have to be very careful about what you say and always think two steps ahead.
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