So Lomé-antic

Date: 23 December 2007

(Yes, I openly acknowledge the cheesiness of some of these blog post titles)

If anyone is looking for some new material to pick up chicks/guys with, I think the men of Togo can most certainly offer you some surefire ways to win the heart of the object of your affection.

Please, allow me elaborate:

• As I'm nonchalantly sitting on the back of a moto in the middle of the city, waiting for the lights to change, a casanova walking through the traffic passes by, brushes his hand on my arm and whispers softly at me, "That's my baby... I love you so much" - .... uh... thank you?
  


• Walking down the road, I pass by another modern-day Romeo, who hits me with a, "2PAC! Hey girl, I love you." I liked this approach, using something familiar to "my culture", like 2Pac, which I can relate to (?) to grab my attention and then profess his love for me. Obviously I was transfixed by his existence after that opening line.
  


• Walking home at sunset, I pass by some youths hanging out on a bench under a palm tree; the leader of the pack dazzles me with, "HEY. Come here and greet me." Only a real man could be so demanding and command my respect in an instant. (.....)
  


• After having greeted a fellow walking in my neighbourhood, who I've never spoken to, he replies with, "Oh... ca va? You are married?" This guy wastes no time. Clearly no commitment-phobia here at all.
  


• In the internet cafe, an older man sitting at the computer next to me asks to borrow a pen, I lend it. Note that internet cafes are pretty much the hub of pick-up activity, so usually I'm on alert, but this guy was old, so I figured, harmless, nothing will come of this. A few minutes later he pushes a piece of paper at me, while smiling eagerly, with the soul-stirring words, "Your mail?" scribbled on it. YES I WANT YOU TO BE MY MALE. VERY BADLY. Oh, my mail. My mail?
  


• "Give me your address." ......................... "Otherwise how can I meet you?" - Um, I'm sorry, who are you?
  


• "White girl, come sit with me." Wow.
  


• As I enter a room for a meeting with the Director, the gentleman at the desk grunts, "Ohh... nice gaahhlll (girl)". After some small talk, he pops the question (well, not THE question, but a question) - "In your country, you have polygamy?" ........... Sir. Sir. Please, sir. We don't even know each other. Aren't we rushing this a little?
  
  I think it's only appropriate to post some pictures of the beach at sunset, seeing as I'm sure you've all been hypnotised into a love-trance. Just a little ambience (just an excuse to show these pictures - this beach is AMAZING):
  

Side Note: I was sitting on the veranda typing this on my laptop, and then the dog comes and chills next to me. Okay, so if you don't know, I'm not the biggest dog-lover, kind of terrified by them, so having to live with one is a big challenge for me. Especially since before leaving NZ, my travel doctor said "Well, we haven't got time to do the rabies shots, but the best advice I can give you while you're there is STAY AWAY FROM ALL DOGS. ALL DOGS. OTHERWISE YOU'LL GET RABIES. YOU'LL GET IT FOR SURE." This was accompanied by a menacing horror-movie tune in the background. For some reason, Bubi (the dog - yes, I chose it to spell it this way deliberately) has decided that we're best friends and follows me wherever I go. If I'm sitting somewhere, she'll come and sit right next to me. She has a limp and is constantly itching her fleas, and, well, okay, I find it nasty. Don't give me your fleas, thanks. So I got up just now, moved over a few metres so avoid flea-infestation in my hair/skin (I have no evidence to back up the conviction that such infestation will ensue, but EW.........wait, is it possible?) and then she just looked at me. She looked really shot down. I felt a little bad about it. So she just stared at me for a while, I sheepishly stared back, but with a "surely-you-can-understand-where-I'm-coming-from" look. Then a minute later she gets up, moves closer to me (not as close as she was before) and then sits down, but this time, she sat with her back towards me. A dog is giving me the cold shoulder. She's giving me attitude and is expecting me to try and reconcile our differences. No, you have fleas. And you might have rabies............. I don't want either of those things, thank you very much. WOW I wrote about this for a long time huh.

Another side note: so, one thing I'm not going to miss - last night I couldn't sleep because the neighbours were having a very loud voodoo ceremony until the early hours of the morning. Yeah.