I’m too tired to think of a good title

This morning, after doing my daily exercise routine (sit-ups, a few push-ups and running for 15-20 minutes, soon to be 20-30 if I can get used to running in the heat), I set out for town to mail a couple things to the US and ran into a couple of friends who I hadn’t seen in a while. I then went to a book signing that was supposed to include an author whose dictionary I had reviewed in The French Review a couple years ago, but for some reason, he wasn’t there. After receiving a message from conversation partner number 2 that she would have to cancel, I hung out at the hotel working on my dictionary project until about 1:30, when I went to visit the last bedroom. It was perfectly fine and the couple (French husband, Cameroonian wife) renting it out was very nice, even giving me some homemade soursop juice and letting me take pictures for my dictionary of the fish they had caught. And at 400€, it was by no means overpriced. But it was a bit far from downtown, and although there was a bus kind of nearby, it was not going to be easy to get back home at night and on Sundays when there isn’t quite as much service. Also, the price and the steep steep hills would make riding a bike unfeasible. So I called the third lady from yesterday and confirmed that I’d take the mezzanine. I then sent a message to all but the couple from today confirming that I wouldn’t take their offers; I’ll send the couple a message tomorrow.
I picked up my galette créole, a typical dessert for Carnaval, and I brought it to a friend’s house, where we were having a couscous royale— essentially a giant stew of vegetables, lamb, chicken, merguez sausage, and raisins, served over semolina. I helped a bit with the preparation, which was fun to do after going so long without cooking, and just chit-chatted the rest of the time. We wrapped up with the galette.

(coconut filling on the left, guava on the right)

Tomorrow is Carnaval and I’m SUPER excited about it. I doubt I’ll have more than one video up tomorrow night, but over the course of the next week, I’ll be able to put some up, I think. The camcorders each take about 1 hour of recording before the batteries run out. So there will be way more footage than any of you will care to view.