Not Mr. Roger's Neighborhood

I haven’t written much about my home here in Brazzaville. My neighborhood is rather sleepy, but it’s interesting nonetheless. Our compound actually used to be the North Korean embassy (yes, we have performed the necessary exorcisms to be able to live and work here). Next door is the Cuban embassy. A few lots down is the United Nations. Kofi Annan was actually here last week. I didn’t see him, but we did notice a prodigious number of street sweepers around town. I’m sure Kofi was impressed. At the other end of the street is a cathedral. When we take a taxi home we say “between the cathedral and the UN.”

Across the street from our place is a typical little “Mauritanian store” (many businesses here are identified by the nationality of the people who usually run them). It sells anything from rice to shampoo. I typically go there for cold pop or emergency toilet paper. Went there last week when, as I was in the middle of making tabouli, I discovered the couscous in the cupboard was full of nasty bugs. I got myself a weevil-free box and was back to the kitchen in no time.

Speaking of the kitchen, it’s a dangerous place. I tried to cut my thumb off today. That was 5 hours ago and I’m still bleeding through my bandaid. Not that you needed to know, but I needed to complain.

OK, I guess that’s all I have to say about my neighborhood. A few blocks away is the Meridian Hotel, apparently a nice place to go swimming or take tennis lessons, but I haven’t done either. Also nearby is the university, which we visited last week to present the linguistics department with the latest edition of the Ethnologue (the world’s most extensive catalog of languages, published by my very own organization, I’m so proud). I might even take a linguistics course at the uni. Good way to learn the French vocab I'll need for writing linguistics papers and a great venue for meeting relevant Congolese.