3 of them worked on me for an hour...

...it's been a while since I have had my nails done.  It was my feet that needed most attention.  I all but blunted the emery board and at one point, they had to go in with some larger clippers.  Industrial scale.  And a bit of big toe nail flicked off, flew through the air and stuck in her t-shirt.  I am sure they have seen worse and my toes look great.  I can rock my sandals now.  

After the salon, myself and 2 others went to a local restaurant and ordered the national Dish of BF.  Riz Gras.  Fat Rice.  A one pot dish of rice, tomatoes and diced vegetables.  Topped with either mutton, fish or more vegetables.  It comes served to the table on one big communal platter and enough spoons for the group.  Tuck in and enjoy.  I way over ate and spent the afternoon in a food coma on the sofa.  

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Saturday has started to form a bit of a morning routine.  Luke now plays Ultimate Frisby with the American Embassy staff who use our green field.  The staff are a mixture of marines and ambassadors,  thrown together and making the most of things.  We have been genuinely greeted with sympathy for the loss of our queen.   They have had it tough with covid and security situations.  They cannot travel as far into the city as we can and are glad of the extra space we offer.  No families allowed at present, although school recruitment has been amazing recently with other nationalities returning.  

On the back of meeting the American crowd, we decided to watch them play softball today (Sunday).  It was a 9/11 event and the American Embassy/Japanese Embassy and Burkina Faso National Team all put on a great tournament.  The Faso team are ranked 4th in Africa and were amazing to watch.  Winning of course and departing, cheering, on a fleet of mopeds and bicycles.  Luke and myself were the only teachers until our deputy and head came along.  Unlike other schools we have worked at, staff are maybe a little more insular here, although lovely.  Glad we have each other and we will always be joiner inners!  It was all part of starting to re open the school campus for more regular events.  

Oooooh and they had a whole table full of French pastries at the softball tournament.  We devised a buffet tactic.  There were 3 different pastries and some fruit kebabs.  Every 15 minutes we took it in turns to go up.  First turn, pastry, second turn, fruit kebab...until we had carefully navigated 6 pastries and 6 fruit kebabs over 1.5 hours.  Good tactic and hope no one was keeping score.  Nicely executed military precision tactic that foiled a whole group of marines.

Probably no one else cared.

I had always thought we just had 2 giant tortoises roaming our school campus.  They are mascots and the students are genuinely fond of them.  I thought they must move much faster than I had believed but have now found out that there are actually 4 of them.  An over amorous male and 3 younger females.  I thought the female was quick at running away from his advances but the 3 of them just spread themselves far apart and take their chances.  So, that's how she/they did it.  Clever huh.

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Fabric shopping at the market next week.  Can't wait!