ninth day

wow. so today was about as boring as can be and i felt crappy with a sinus headache and ALL DAY there was some really loud annoying construction work going on downstairs of the office. i spent a lot of time typing and playing online and was looking forward to going home and resting. but then at like 4:30pm i decided i shouldn't be a weenie and so i texted george to see if he wanted to go to the fish place for dinner. and "yes" was the answer, so at 6pm i met him out front and we caught a cab. and get this; the driver didn't want to take us to the place (other side of town) and so as soon as we got outside the gates of the hilton he made us get out! yeah! so then we went through a few more cabs til we found one that was a reasonable price and we were on our way. until george tells the guy "you can't go this way, it's closed." and he goes anyway. then the road is closed and he says "ok, we're here." "where?" we're totally at a road block by an intersection in rush hour. and the guy totally refuses to take us any farther! completely weird! so we get out and weave through the nuts-o traffic (they turn 2 lanes into 4; who needs pavement?) and there are no empty cabs because it's 6:30pm and so we have to walk another 1/2 mile to the restaurant! the cabbies here are retarded! luckily we negotiated the mud, potholes and trash without incident and even though i almost lost a limb to the random motorbike zooming by WAY too close, we made it safely back accross the highway when the fish place was in sight. so we get to this little market place that's just outside the mogadishu barracks and snake through the tents to get to the fish place. and it smells amazing!!! a really thick grilled meat smell. i'm like pavlov's dog at this point! so i order a legend and a fish n chips and george gets a coke and a fish with NO PEPPER! he hates all the pepper on stuff here. and we're just sitting in these mismatched plastic lawn chairs at these tables that are all just kind of pushed up together to make a sort of long table row and taking in the scenery which consists of phil colins on tv, lots of lounging locals and a huge open grill being tended to by over a dozen people with nothing but whole fish laying atop the coals and wood chips. it's an awesome sight; especially when they fan the coals and then these huge clouds of smoke rise up around everyone and obscure our dinner-to-be. next come the bowls of water, one for each of us so we can dip our fingers in and wash off. and then the fish!! the huge whole fish complete with fat steak fries, shredded cabbage, and a whole pile of hot peppers and grilled onions. and the best part? NO SILVERWARE!

we get to eat the whole meal with our fingers!! that made the food taste better already. but it certainly didn't need any help; it was delicious! soft, tender, moist and HOT! i just grabbed a fin and pulled. there was a little meat on the end so i ate it. and then i dug for more from the hole i just made. and i continued my way down the length of the spine careful not to chomp on any bones and sure to scoop up plenty of spicey peppers with my meat. and when one side was clean george helped me rip the backbone right out and then i had a whole 'nother side to dig into. and dig i did! i ate the hell outa that fish! i have never, physically, eaten anything quite like that and it was fantastic! scooping up cabbage and peppers and bits of fleshy fish and eating it all right from my fingers; delectable! it was totally enjoyable, really. i never thought whole fish could taste so good! i even ate most of the skin (it's loaded with a peppery rub; didn't wanna miss out on that flavor-fest)! and when it was all over (i really picked it pretty clean) we rubbed our hands with cut limes and rinsed them in the bowls. and the cost? for beer, coke, and two fish n chip dinners? us$7. yup. the taxis there and back cost as much! in fact, the coffee we had back at the hilton cost MORE! so once the tab was settled i went to take some pictures which george told me is "snap". i should ask people if i can snap them. as in snap a picture. and it was totally successful! i "snapped" a lady tending the grill,

another tending the coals, and one girl who was just friendly and curious. they were funny! they wanted to get lots of pictures taken and then look at them all! and the funny part is they rarely would smile when i went to "snap" them. so they look pretty somber even though they were laughing with me and being really friendly. so that was my fish place experience. and then we had to try to get a cab home. but it's dark and there's no one around (unlike the hilton where there are always 3 or 4 taxis hovering just outside the door). but there's a bus stop nearby and we figure standing there will get us a little closer to a taxi and maybe if we stand close enough to the road people will notice our glowing white faces and stop to give us an over-priced ride back. which is exactally what happened. but this guy didn't kick us out before our destination and the car was much nicer and newer than most of the other cabs. so once back we headed to the hilton's piano bar for some real american-brewed coffee (which was actually brewed by a nigerian, but at least wasn't nescafe!) and while george is away from the table a girl walks by and asks if she can join me. "sure". so he comes back and wonders who she is and i have no idea so once the coffee comes we start to investigate. turns out she's a student from lagos who's visiting her childhood friend from germany (who's staying at the hotel) and has had too much wine and needed a break from dancing. we get to talking and find out she has a 1yr old baby named peace who's living with her sister and brother-in-law. while she was pregnant and getting ready for her wedding her husband-to-be was killed in a car crash. pretty tragic. and now she thinks she'll only be able to get married if it's to a non-nigerian because, here, a child with no father is like the worst thing. it's not like just having a step dad, apparently it's worse than being strangers. in any case, it's very hard to make things work in that situation. but the girl is really warm and talkative and will be around for then next week or 2 and we've exchanged numbers and emails after she invited me to her friend's wedding back in her home village. it's in october though so i told her i probably wouldn't make it. but seriously! she was so nice! everyone here is. and after an hour talking with us and drinking coffee she felt much better and went back to dancing. and i felt it was appropriate to say goodnight and come back up yo my room to relax and reflect on my evening. and to think earlier in the day i didn't want to do anything! tomorrow, if it doesn't rain, we may try to go to the market for a bit at lunchtime which would be really fun. and if i'm not too tired i may call mary or kahlil to see what they're doing. and then on wednesday evening we are going out to celebrate doshima's 30th birthday (which we just found out was yesterday) before we head off to lagos on thursday morning. i'm having a lot of fun even though it's a lot of work too. but now it's time to try to get some more sleep...