Wrapping Up- My last days with new friends.

I could not have asked for a better last week here.

I have been truly blessed. In the last three days alone, my ability to comprehend and speak French quickly and correctly has skyrocketed. I'm a ways from fluency, but I can communicate comfortably. Today I accidentally answered an English question in French, as a reflex. I give all the glory to God for that- I think He has seen fit to allow me to grow especially close to the guys that I work with these last few days, and I've had a fantastic time with it.

For example, today we were working on patching up the road into the hospital. Brutal work, but very satisfying, since you can see clear progress, and since it's the sort of work you feel personal need for (driving up the hill to the hospital was literally painful).

With my impending departure looming over our last few days of work, Olivier and Jaures decided that I needed to find a wife, toute de suite, here in Gabon.

So while we were breaking our backs lugging sand, cement, and gravel here and there and everywhere, they were stopping any potentially elegible female walking along the road, and asking her if she would like to marry me, and what a good worker and father I would be- saying that she could leave with me to go to the states, and wouldn't that just be great.

All of this through fits of laughter- I literally had to sit down. It was hilarious watching them shamelessly hawk me off to these completely baffled women, some of whom had little kids with them.

Then they sit down with me to explain to me what a good life married life is, and too be honest I couldn't understand most of it, because they were laughing too hard to speak clearly. Nonetheless, the sight of two grown men so overcome with giggling was hilarious, and I understood enough of their subject matter to get a good laugh and a red face.

Then I took all the guys out to eat at lunch, which was a hilarious disaster.

For a long time, it was tough for me to talk and interact with Gabonese (or Malian- we have a lot of Malian shop owners around here) when I'm trying to buy a product or service, because they do not feel the need to make the sale like an American does. Furthermore, if there's a problem with the sale, they feel no pressure to fix it in order to make the sale. What sells, sells.

This puts the unassertive American consumer in an awkward position.

I learned how to deal with this one time when I was getting cokes for Olivier and Mr. Paul. I had just come to get cokes for the other guys and myself, so I knew for a fact that there were 3 or 4 cold cokes in the fridge.

When I arrived the second time, the kid who works there was stocking the fridge. I asked him for a cold coke, and he said that there were none.

Normally, I wouldn't fight that, but I was buying the cokes for someone else, first of all, and second of all, I knew the dude was lying right to my face.

So I argued with him, and he, knowing he had been caught, gave me the cold ones.

You must, as the consumer, push to get what you want.

Anyways, I told you that story to tell you this one.

I'm in a similar situation with this "taking the guys out to lunch" thing. I'm paying good money for food for someone else, so I feel that I have the right to demand decent service for my friends.

I warned the guy in charge of the restaurant ahead of time that a lot of people would be coming at lunch, so that he would have time to get plenty of food.

Then, when we showed up, he didn't have two thirds of the things his menu claims he has. (fish, chicken, and meat, he only had fish, which no one ever orders).

Furthermore the restaurant owner knows this stuff- he knows this group individually by name, we've been there several times.

So everyone of our group was rolling on the floor laughing, as we had this incredibly one-sided argument about whether or not it was acceptable for him to be unprepared.

In the end though, it worked out. The guy went and bought porcupine in town, and we all had that.

Porcupine is like a cross between squid and beef. Think beef, with the texture of crumbly rubber. Not super tasty, but a fascinating experience.

While we were at the restaurant, Jaures discovered that I would be leaving Lebamba not next Wednesday (my flight date), but this Friday. When he heard that, he grabbed my hand in a handshake, and dejectedly tilted his head down. It communicated a lot, in a manly no words kinda way.

This blog post is already too long- I will continue it another time.