On to Paris

Because of my shortened stay, I felt as if much was left undone in leaving Ouagadougou.  On the other hand, given the circumstances, I was convinced that I had used my time wisely, and had accomplished what I could reasonably do in the 5 weeks that I spent there.  Every year I think things will turn out one way, but I often find that there are bends in the road, so only time will tell on this.

There is still a wistfulness in leaving.  I will miss my daily climb of the library stairs--never a problem for someone that lives in a townhouse.

side stairs to the SIL library

 And I will certainly miss the cock that crows every morning at 5:30 a.m.

Here is the cock as the two hens are hidden in the bushes

I will miss the shy geckos and tiny birds that are always too quick for me to photograph...

tiny bird with blue tail feathers hidden in the foliage

And, of course, the hints of beauty in this very poor, poor landscape. . .

Sometimes in the crumbling ruins of a poor village hut, surrounded by the modern trash of plastic soda bottles and discarded water bags, will be the brilliant flash of fuchsia-colored bougainvillea, or a tiny bit of unexpected color pushing its way through a crack in the mud brick

Yes, it is amazing to see the scrappy plants that insist on growing in such a relentless, leaden heat. . . 

 

 And then, there are the fabulous, colorful fabrics of Africa. . .

 

And, always, the curious children. . .

Yet, suddenly a few hours later, I found myself in Paris--not only a cultural shock, but a good 70 degrees Fahrenheit colder!  It had been nearly 103 degrees F in Ouagadougou, and here it was 33 degrees at 6 a.m. at the CDG airport.

My flight there had been uneventful except that the on-flight entertainment didn't work, so there were no movies and no music.  I was supposed to be sleeping, anyway, but as sleep is difficult at best on an airplane these days, I was disappointed, to say the least.  And the flight was full, stopping in Lomé, Togo, for a change of flight crew on the way to Paris.  I spent the next day with the SFR customer service (my Internet and television not working) and then my bank's customer service, as Le Crédit Lyonnais had incorrectly entered the cell phone number associated with my French VISA card.  As a result, payments were not getting approved.

Friday I visited the huge Salon du Livre 2016 at the Pte. de Versailles Exhibition Center and bought a few African children's books to take back with me next year.  I managed to get in at the "senior citizen" rate--not as good as the "professional" rate (free), but worth it all the same.  I got to hear some author talks, and other discussions (including one about the changes in the French language version of the 23rd edition of the Dewey Decimal Classification System,  which was recently released.)   It will be the last edition of the DDC to be published in a print format!

The Brazzaville Pointe-Noire Pavilion

A panel discussion by African authors about the act of writing, with a class of young people in attendance--they had some good questions for the speakers

The good news is that I have since received an email that the library data is now on the web server, and there is discussion about getting the site approved, so that is encouraging.  There is still the problem with the diacritical marks not displaying properly, but I trust that it will be fixed soon.  Maybe even in my absence something will happen, and an actual, visible website will emerge, showing the library's holdings . . !  Stay tuned . . .  I'm not holding my breath, though.