Bikes and Rent

Things have been going well generally here in Bassila. Today started out pretty good, my bike had a flat tire but I found that out last night. In the morning I walked it over to a guy to fix it, said hello to my landlord on the way, and I was not called Yovo ONCE every kid that said hello to me called me either madame or melissa, victory! The guys who I bring my bike to dont speak french but they seem to understand bikes and tires better than I do, I know how to fix a flat tire but its a pain in the butt for me to do it so I figured they could just do it. They take the inner tub out of the tire and find the hole, and proceed to patch it how I would expect. Scoring the surface, putting the glue on, and affixing the patch. Then they put it in this clamp and throw gasoline on it and light it on fire. I did not expect this, this is not how peace corps explained to us how to patch a tire. But theyre smart and patch tires a lot more frequently than I do, so I sat and watched. When things like this happen there is about a 50/50 chance it works out better for me. Today it worked out that way, I figured that worst that could happen was that they melt the inner tube of my tire and then the absolute worst would be I would have to buy/ get a new one from Peace Corps, but no that didnt happen and crisis was avoided. Best of all only took like 20 minutes and it was only 150CFA, not expensive at all, completely worth my time.

Then I go home and get a call from my postmate, the mayors office wants to talk to me about my rent she says that she tried to explain the rent system to them but they wouldnt listen. So in the afternoon I make my way over there and every single child yovo's me, same kids who were so good earlier and called me melissa. I pull into the mayors office. The accountant sits me down, 'There is a problem with your rent' he says 'We dont have a record of paying for january and feburary' back awhile ago my landlord came to me and said he hadnt been paid for rent for two months and so I thought it had been fixed when I went to my boss and told him that my landlord and him could work it out in one week and if they didnt I was going to call peace corps and then peace corps could work it out and that they might be much happier if they just did it. A week later my landlord comes to me thanking me saying he got the money and that all is well. But now apparently they messed up paying my rent. Peace Corps Volunteers do not pay rent, that is the contribution of the community, NEVER do Peace Corps Volunteers ever get in the middle of the rent situation. So the accountant asks me, 'Melissa, did you pay rent for those months' I respond 'Nobody gave me money to pay rent.' it would be stupid for me to just pay for it outright, and I assumed they meant that someone gave me money to pay as rent is not included in our living allowence. The guy looks at me funny and calls in the woman next door and says 'Explain' she tells me the exact same story that he did and says 'Melissa, did you pay your rent?' as if Im some child same tone would be used when a babysitter 'Johnny did you eat all the cookies?' Its like they knew that I did it anyway they just needed me to say so. I said again "No, nobody gave me money to pay for rent' She then rolls her eyes and looks at the guy and says one of the more obnoxious lines I hear sometimes 'She doesnt understand what Im saying, she thinks someone gave her money to pay her rent' I respond 'What is it that you think I dont understand?' she tells me again the problem which I understood THE FIRST TIME way back when the guy started. I then explain that 'I did not pay for rent' and then they were just fine with this responce, although if I had said 'why yes I did actually pay for my rent because I seem to have loads of cash just taking up space in my apartment' I think they would have been happier. So then she says 'Your post mate always comes in to say hi why dont you ever come by you dont know us all by name' (Now my postmates host organization is the mayors office so it doesn't surprise me at all that she spends more time there than I do) This woman doesnt stop comparing me to my postmate 'she does this and she does that.... Melissa why dont you do those things?' and then she says 'Come back and say hello more' like I would want to after that hellish expirence. They keep talking about my rent situation Im sticking around incase there are anymore stupid questions and they also told me that I should be there more often. Then the accountant looks at me and says 'You can leave now'. Grr....