Settling in here in Tana, though I’m not yet in my permanent
home. That’ll be next week, or at least that’s the plan. Not much goes
according to plan. Right now, I’m got roommates, for example. This never
happens, but the residence of one of my colleagues had a sudden need for a fix-it
that will take months, so they needed to move here. We’re tight on housing and,
as it turned out, the temporary place I am in is set to become her permanent
residence, so why wouldn’t I just have them move in now? I mean, the place has
six bedrooms.
This has been the second week and everything’s been fine.
She and her husband keep thanking me for letting them stay here – the other
house is being renovated as we speak – but, seriously, it’s not like it’s a
sacrifice. The place is HUGE and there’s not only three of us but we could probably
fit in another two or three without blinking, too.
Still, I am excited for my own apartment, if just that it’ll
finally be somewhere that I will (or at least should) stay for the next 35
months. Plus, I visited a colleague in the apartment buildings who has the
exact same floorplan and I am already mentally trying to figure out which
carpet will go where.
It’s been so long since I’ve seen my carpets, though, that I
can’t even remember how many I have. Anyway, those are not coming next week,
but I think my smaller, from-Tallahassee shipment will. If that happens, at
least I will get a change of clothes. While I really like the clothes that I
have with me, they are all I’ve had with me since I’ve left Baghdad. When I
pulled out the black pants and paisley purple shirt last week, I remember thinking,
“I only have to wear this one time after today and then I can give it a rest.” I
have so few clothing items that I’ve worn all my work clothes once a week since
Baghdad. I am the opposite of fast fashion.
Since my 30 days of free shuttle service are up, I’m trying
to walk home as much as possible. It’s a long walk, like five miles, and takes
just over an hour. It’s also roughly the same as the shuttle takes just because
of all the traffic.
There’s one guy who walks to and from every day, so I asked
him to show me the way. There are a couple routes, but it’s basically, “You see
that big thing in the distance? You walk in that direction.” The route is
peppered with people and some stretch is on a road but for the most part it’s a
little path between a canal and some gorgeous rice paddies.
All the people are super nice and will say “bonjour” or get
a wave. The little kids seem more enthralled with seeing a white person, even
though they see the other guy every single day. The first day, when I was
figuring out the route, he said hi to a whole lot of people and many seemed to
recognize that it was perfectly normal for him to walk through. A couple
20somethings gave him fist bumps. I later learned he has the reputation of
being “the mayor” of the walk.
There are also street dogs everywhere. This is going to make
my heart hurt on a daily basis; the dogs are so skinny. They seem friendly and
no one throws rocks at them or anything. (Mentally, I compare this walk to my
time in Peace Corps, and rock-throwing was common.) I’ve seen two who were
pretty maimed, like not able to use all four paws. I want to gather them all up
and spay and neuter them, give them vaccines and take care of them, but that’s
hard to justify because the dogs are alongside people who are among the poorest
in Africa. I don’t know how I’m going to make it out of here without a dog.
I’m already scouting for dogs. The walk home has all kinds
of dogs. They all have the same look. They’re about Kocur’s size, but not as sleek.
Skinnier, for sure. I’m already mentally naming one, so that’s a sign. And I
learned there’s a doggie day care as well as a trainer, plus my new apartment
building has a dog park. The zeitgeist wants me to have one, but my rugs might
think differently. Well, if rugs could think.
Mostly, I’m wondering when puppy season is. My second day
walking home, I was by myself. On the way, I saw two puppies, of which probably
looked a lot like Kocur did as a puppy. The
other one was a skinny spotted one who was, of course, adorable. They were
maybe 4-5 months old. But I passed, mostly because I still haven’t moved in my apartment
yet but also because, well, I wasn’t sure if the puppies belonged to anyone. Getting
nailed for dog theft on your second day walking home isn’t the best look when
you plan to do it daily for three years.
I made it home puppyless, but missed one turn and made the journey a lot longer than it should have been (like a mile, but when you’re walking and the final stretch is uphill, that’s a long time!) but I got cheered when a guy gave me a fist-bump of my own during the journey!
