Composed Wednesday, 1 September (not quite a week ago): Tuesday was my first full day at my permanent site. My electricity went off sometime in the night of August 31st. I know this because I was awakened by the sound of a medium-size creature in my room. Sounded as if it was on the night stand by my bed. I use the words night stand loosely. It’s merely my two large FedX boxes, now soft from humidity, stuffed with old clothing to maintain the box shape, stacked atop each other, and covered with one of my saree scarves. How girly, huh? And on this night stand are girly items. Candles (including the flameless variety), photo of Jill (naturally), the stone box of aroma balm from French Lick (of course it’s there, Sally), and a few other items.

My point is, what was the creature doing at the girly bedside other than frightening me? Was it the aroma therapy balm? We must acknowledge: few can resist a balm. I reached for the light switch; and you know what happened next. No lights. So I banged on the boxes and asked the creature to quiet-down, put-in my ear plugs, and tried to fall asleep. What was the creature? Sounded too large for a mouse. Rat, perhaps? Lizard? I’m thinking not a reptile inasmuch as I thought I heard gnawing. Yeah, that’s right, gnawing. Not what you want to hear your first night alone in West Africa.

OK. So yesterday was that inevitable day. The day when the official PC vehicle dumps you and your luggage at site and drives away. And you’re alone. All alone. Have I failed to convey the fact that I was alone? I had twelve (12, count ‘em) luggage items and boxes . . . not including little items such as my medical kit and gift boxes from my fabulous state-side friends, plus my Barbie-purple-floral mountain bike . . . though I wonder whether Barbie rides mountain bikes. Well, I suppose 21st century Barbie bikes up mountains. In any event, most everything arrived; a few items somehow didn’t make the trip from Koudougou to Ouagadougou to Po. Don’t you love saying all those words? Here, I’ll help: KooDoGoo, WahGaDoGoo, and Po . . . as in Poe. To use my southern drawl, Po Kathy lost her mobile telephone. And did I mention that I was alone? No one’s phone to borrow to call the bureau to report that my phone just rode away in the PC car. Over 24 hours later, still no phone, no electricity, and I spent most of the day without water. But remember the PC’s promise: sometimes under conditions of hardship. It was the phone that I missed most.

So what did I do on my first day? After several trips to my obscenely filthy latrine, in the rain, I biked down the hill to my office. Spent about an hour at the office where my counterpart (homologue, in French) was kind enough to call my phone to see who answered. And indeed someone did answer; so it’s well known by PC officials that my mobile is missing. Somehow, sometime, those ubiquitous PC elves will return the phone; until then, I’m not a happy camper. And I’m an unhappy camper in the dark. Alone . . . did I mention that? So with my quickly-dwindling laptop battery, I’ve made a list of successes and failure of the day. This probably best sums-up my mood. First, the successes. Today I successfully:

• Unpacked and organized my charming home and kitchen.
• Hung a dry-erase board.
• Visited the market for luncheon items (veggies) and received two marriage proposals. Guess that sacrifice of a large animal won’t be necessary, after all. So much for Tuareg seers.
• Made lunch at 3 p.m. – my first meal since Monday lunch. Today is Wednesday.
• Maneuvered the maggot-ridden toilet in the rain, countless times. I think that’s enough said on that topic.
• Made an ashtray *
• Cried and was happily reminded that I very much have feet of clay.
• Found a gabazillion new blue ballpoint pens. Quite an achievement, actually.
• Found my way to my office and back home again. I also use the word office loosely. I sat in the courtyard of my bureau. It is, however, a lovely courtyard with papaya trees.
• Made a collage from magazine photos for my kitchen wall. Lots of black. Seriously, lots and lots of black. I told myself that I needed lots of black for contrast; but I think we all know that’s a big fat lie.
• Figured out what today’s date is – 1st September. This is truly a success as I’ve been that disoriented for the two weeks leading up to swear-in.

Now, the failures. I completely failed to:

• Hang a mirror on the wall. And after the dry-erase board installed so easily.
• Locate my mobile telephone.
• Understand any more French speakers. Why can I speak it but cannot understand it?!
• Be useful in any manner whatsoever.
• Get over my PCV and PCVF withdrawal. Tops on my to-do list and I failed miserably - exclamation mark, exclamation mark.
• *Quit smoking; and I vowed to go to a pay phone, if necessary, to have more cigs sent from the states (but I did not!) Bad day, wouldn’t you say?
• Be culturally sensitive to Ramadan . . . asked Yakama (or maybe it’s Yakaba) to take tea with me this weekend. Ooops. Yak is a new friend that I’ve made in less than a day. He visits often and we chat on my covered veranda (covered veranda . . . conditions of hardship, right?).
• Get a grip on the directions here in the small town of Po. I still get lost.
• Plant my garden seeds at the proper depth. The soil here is difficult, despite my ultra-light spade and cute pink gardening gloves.
• ID and eliminate the mysterious bedroom creature.