I woke up in the morning,
later than usual. The aftermath of drinking wine last night made me feel
headache from early in this morning. Oh, wait… It could not be only because of alcohol. Pungent insect killer spray use indiscriminately in the war against
cockroaches last night might be the major cause of my headache. A horrid smell
of spray were still assailed my nostrils. I felt unwell, so I barely went
jogging, took a shower slowly, and had a breakfast slowly. My lodge provides
free breakfast; I would be really happy when they cook noodles or spaghetti,
but I would be really sad when I only eat sweet potato and drink juice. Today
was the sad breakfast because I had a few pieces of sweet potato. I have never
realized that I like rice, soup, and side dishes (so called Korean food!); I
did not quite eat rice in the morning when I was in Korea, but strangely, I
just want to eat rice in the U.S. or in Africa, especially in the morning.
Living abroad several years makes me be engrossed in nostalgic thought of
Korean food that I casually grabbed a quick bite for breakfast in the past.
Today was Nane Nane Day
(Farmer’s Day) in Tanzania. Agriculture is the major economy in Tanzania; it
takes 25% of GDP, 85% of export, 80% of workforce, but there are only 12% of
the land is arable and only 1.8% of the land has permanent crops. Nane Nane Day
pays a high tribute to farmers’ virtue, so it is a public holiday! However, I
have many tasks that need to be completed as early as possible, so I went to
the office. I have reviewed Sierra Leone’s baseline data and LQAS (Lot Quality
Assurance Sampling) data, and LiST protocol to prepare for draft report of
AIM-Health mid-term evaluation.
 |
| Lunch on Nane Nane Day: Beef Biryani |
Time slipped away, and the
time pointed at 9pm. Denice and I were both in the office, and preparing for
upcoming work and activities. I asked Denice that if she was familiar with the
word, fait accompli. She quickly searched
the dictionary before I knew it, and said, “Yes,
it is a good meaning.” I wanted to express “almost confirmed, but cannot be
said confirmed yet” differently, so I referred to a dictionary. Even if
dictionary suggests many possible English words, I never know which word is
widely used and natural to express a certain situation. I think writing should
be written in a simple and clear way so that all readers can understand and
sympathize with words. Perhaps, just like I am not able to turn into black,
brown, or white from yellow race, using fancy English words all the time to
explain gracefully what I think may be impossible because Korean was already
instilled into my brain as a default. My English may be full of an assembly of
unfamiliar words and improper arrangement of expression. Probably, I may not
able to speak naturally like native speakers do; what kind of my value can make
up for it? Living abroad does not guarantee my English fluency, so nothing
should be considered as fait accompli.
Be it ever so looked like being almost confirmed, I will not take anything for
granted. I do not even know where I am going after completing this project;
nothing has been decided and I might have only been grabbing my hope to avoid
thinking uncertain future. Again, there is nothing to say it is almost a fait
accompli, so I am back to square one: finishing up my current work, in-depth
interview, to make my hope begin to crystalize into a fact.
Oh, it is too late. Denice
already hurried home to keep her guesthouse curfew 10pm. It is almost already
midnight, so I need to get back my home. But… I am afraid to come back home
because other cockroaches may already have visited my room and waited for me. I
have been thinking of cockroach all day long… It is really funny that once I
ran away Ebola, some vagarious thinking revolves around in my head now. Anyway,
my life-threatening(?) event at present is to see cockroach in my room, and I take
it as serious as Ebola. Just let’s go and fight! Brace myself! Because seeing
cockroach will be almost a fait accompli.
No comments:
Post a Comment