Nun Fun and Playing French Colonialist

Last Friday afternoon after work when the generator was still off, I went for a walk around N'Zerekore... and I ran into Sylvan, a French peace corps volunteer working with fisheries, and Pierre, a French logistician from Doctors with Borders. And they invited me to go with them to:

1. Have lunch with 5 "Christian sisters" which I believe were nuns, but they said, "No, they are 'Christian sisters'" (anyone know the difference?) in a tiny village outside of N'Zerekore.
   
2. Stay the night in Seredou, a village near here, with a group of other French people...

... Sounded like a fun escape from N'Zerekore for a day or so and good French practice, so I agreed.

The nuns/Christian sisters were from Burkina Faso and France and the main course of the lunch was roasted green papaya casserole with fish in it. Interesting.... not as bad as it sounds...















And the house in Seredou ended up being a house from the French Colonial period on a mountainside with running water (from collected rainwater on the roof). Birds of Paradise flowers were growing around and gorgeous trees and plants... Birds chirping in the forest...peaceful and relaxing and quiet and -- for a Texan who still loves to see GREEN and not dead grass -- beautiful like something out of a movie.

And, since the group was all French people, we ate more cheese than I've had in a long time... Fondu, Crepes (see photo of goofy Pierre making Buckwheat flour crepes from the Brittany region of France), and Pate and toast... and even a bit of Champagne... sausages roasted on a fire in the huge fireplace... it was quite the spur-of-the-moment French weekend in the mountain forest. :)