de Bouaké à New York: 6 weeks away from the Netherlands, part II

Well, I must say that this delay bothered me a lot. First of all The staff wasn't nice at all and treated us like sheeps, didn't give us the right info, never told us that the plane from Casablanca to Abidjan was not going to wait for us, made a fuss about getting only part of our luggage (i just needed Kabouter's stroller and nothing else). But what botherered me even more was the fact that we had planned a whole day for rehearsal in Abidjan, since we were also playing with local musicians....At the end of the day, it was nice to get some rest at the hotel especially after our stay in Montpellier. Kabouter made friends with few kids ;-)

So, eventually, we took our plane to Abidjan, I met a long time friend, Fabrice with whom, I once went to a concert we will always remember: Michael Jackson at Toulouse Stadium. I was 16 then and we had a blast. It was quite bizarre to run into him opposite from Toulouse (from a mediterranean point of view) on the 25th of June. And we were both going to perform in Abidjan. Life is so unpredictable. Well, we got to Abidjan, I was thrilled to show my friends my beautiful country and eat Excellent ivorian food with them.
here, Fire tongue and Julien at "le réservoir" one of Abidjan finest maquis(restaurant)

I'll post pictures of the perfomances in another message. But I would just like to say that it was simply Wonderful to be performing for the first time in the city where I was born. My sister Nicole, my dad, my cousin Salimata, my dear friend François-Romain, childhood friends that I hadn't seen for years, friends of my siblings.....I am so grateful....Thanks be to The Almighty one.
Here, François-Romain and Kabouter at my sister Nicole's. I am sorry, but the computer I am using now is not mine and refuses to modify the pictures from my hard drive. You going to have to bend your neck ;-(

Kabouter and her cousin Charlie.

After the shows, after taking my friends every place i could in Abidjan, after having enjoyed its full flavor, I left for Bouaké, my real home town. My father, Amina and I took the bus instead of the car. It was my father 72 nd birthday...Life is wonderful...I love my dad and couldn't bring him any better present than a day with his grand daughter. He had bought all kinds of bananas, cookies and just found it hilarious to see Amina gulping them.

It was hot, the trip was nice though and Kabouter was so curious about everything, I loved it.
We got to bouaké, somebody picked us up from the station, I was thrilled... My daughter is not two yet, and We've already been here twice. I still love Bouaké. It's not easy to post pictures of the war devasted city even though one can sense the renaissance.Sorry for not sharing, I'd like to find old pictures first and postthem together so you can see.
Kabouter immediately felt home

And her Grand-mother became her best friend in no time.

And her cousin Antoine was delighted to take care of her.

We had a great time with cousins, aunts, people on the streets.

Kabouter became friends with this cool little boy. This very spot they are playing at used to be our playground when I was visiting with my cousins. In the back ground, my dad and my uncle Moussa are clacking.

BTW, did I tell you that my mom had had this strange feeling and wasn't comfortable with us taking the car to Bouaké? hence why the bus...She had insisted so much that eventhough I found it completely irrational, I followed her will but regretted it when, right upon entering the Highway with the bus on our way back, we had a flat...Try and picture it. And to make things even more exciting: My phone was down so I couldn't reach my nephew who was meeting me at the station in Abidjan. It was getting late, I hadn't carried Kabouter's stroller....