MY LAND, MY FUTURE

Recovering from a welcome- back- hope- you- enjoyed- your- illnessless- holiday gastroenteritis, we decided to take it easy and not venture out of Libreville. It was Saturday, and a potentially boring one, but this time we were in luck: celebrating its 50th anniversary of independence, Libreville decided to finally offer a cultural event - yesterday we visited the grand exhibition under an even grand-er title Gabon: Ma Terre, Mon Futur (Gabon: My Land, My Future). And, contrary to what you might suspect from the slightly ironic tone of this introduction, we were not disappointed. Quite the contrary, actually - we were rather impressed.

The exhibition is divided into six thematic rooms: Le Jardin des Origines (The Garden of Origins), Le Patrimoine des Cultures (The Heritage of Cultures), Designed by Nature (believe it or not, in English it stands), Regards sur le Passé (Looking at the Past), La République Ciquantenaire (The Fifty-Year-Old Republic) and La Nouvelle Ere (The New Era). Each of these spaces was professionally designed and equipped on a European level.

There is a large room with a flat screen, where you can watch a film on the origins of the Earth. Prehistoric tools are displayed and, more importantly, provided with exhaustive explanations (very rare in Gabon). Several museum exhibits, such as masks and traditional tools, were brought in, together with touchscreens, which show films of traditional dances. Pictures of the colonial era are displayed as a kind of installation - much more interesting than just hanging them on the walls. And the nature room is just lovely: all three Gabonese ecosystems are presented, together with a lot of information and still more touchscreens. A nice gentleman, the boss of the nature space, was very helpful and explained a lot. Only the Independence part, where the government boasts of its dubious achievements, made us want to press a "dislike" button.

All this is packaged in a really superb way: colourful, diverse, touchable... Istead of a guestbook - an ingenious pink plastic tree, on which you stick yellow post-its with your impressions. And right next to the exhibition - a handicraft market. All in all - well done Gabon! We loved the exhibition and are really looking forward to more events of the kind!

Technical info: the exhibition is located on the Gabon Expo grounds, right next to Port Môle, and it's free. The handicraft market is not your regular Village Artesanal, and it's definitely worth taking a look at. Of course, pictures strictly forbidden.

BONNE ARIVEE, MADAME!

The trip takes a bit over thirteen hours. I got on the plane in Warsaw at 6:30 am and I got off in Libreville at 6:30 pm Libreville time, which is 7:30 pm Warsaw time. It only takes thirteen hours for your world to go upside-down-inside-out-and-all-African again.

As you get off the plane the humidity envelops you instantly. You become all sticky, just as every single person around you. And then the noise, and the music, and the taximen fighting for your attention. Your car is higher than in Europe and the other drivers are aggressive. The president looks down on you from almost every street lamp. And you feel excruciatingly white all over again.

And then you get to your flat and are greeted by the security men. The flat has a smell, all together a very pleasant smell, the smell of Africa and adventure, the smell you only feel the very first day. You shower in cold water because it's warm anyway. Your hair and skin and nose and eyes are finally less dry.

The internet is slow. You skype your family and you get cut off in the middle of The flight was all right. There's no TV but that's ok. The socket next to your bed doesn't work for a reason only known to itself.

It gets dark at 6:15 pm. You can hear the ocean at night, when there's less traffic. And you hunt mosquitoes before you go to bed - you really don't want to get bitten (which you do, in the end).

You have papaya for breakfast. And the expensive yoghurt.

And then you realise that, on entering the building, you'd heard your last Bonne arivée, madame! And you contemplate the very last time you arrived in Gabon.

PITYRIASIS VERSICOLOR EXPLAINS A LOT

Even when in Europe, it is not easy to forget where we live. Gabon is always there - in my mind, mostly, it would seem, but I have just discovered that also in my... skin.

A few months ago I discovered little white spots on the back of my neck. I thought they might be a reaction to the strong African sun, maybe mixed with this horrible constant sweating. They didn't look too dangerous, so I just let them be - I had work to do and trips to organise. Moreover, several people told me: Oh yeah, I've had the same thing, so I just forgot about them, waiting for them to go away.

They didn't. Instead, they started multiplying. Ooops. Yesterday I finally managed to visit a dermatologist. She took a very quick glance of my back and gave me a diagnosis: the spots are a manifestation of a mycosis - chromophytosis to be specific, scientifically known as pityriasis versicolor (in Polish: łupież pstry). It's a fungus which lives on your head, so that its spores can land on your neck, back and chest - hence the white spots. Apparently, it's rather nasty and difficult to get rid of. Also, I simply waited too long and let it get really comfortable on my silly head.

Treatment: every other day use a special shampoo. Put some of the shampoo foam onto my back and let it work for five minutes. On shampoo-free days, I should use either a special liquid or an ointment on my back. All these medicines cost ten euros per box.

Epilogue: you can get this kind of mycosis everywhere, as long as you're susceptible to this kind of stuff. However, equatorial humidity helps the fungus a great deal... Oh dear, I really do get it all, don't I?

UP! OR BATTERIES CHARGED

During our holidays we finally managed to visit the Polish mountains, my very favourite place in the whole world. The Tatra mountains are situated right in the south of Poland and we generously share them with Slovakia. They are rather high: up to 2500 metres above sea level, and - have I already mentioned it? - they are absolutely stunning.

Hiking in the mountains lets me clear my head. The strenous physical exercie makes me focus. Suddenly the choices are binary: I can go on or I can't, I'm too tired or I'm not, I'm too scared or I can continue. This helps you get perspective and see your problems from a different angle. Black or white. It's not so hard to choose anymore - after all, we do not make much difference anyway. You breathe in the clear mountain air, you let the views envelop you and you know that at that instant nothing else exists.

This was the break I needed. After all my time in Gabon and Spain, I needed to visit a place where I felt utterly and completely comfortable. Where everything is blissfully predictable: either I will get to the top or I won't. Not too much room for surprises. Things in my head fall into place and I feel a strange kind of harmony. Maybe that's how you feel after meditating?

I've been charging my positive energy batteries before returning to Gabon next Monday. I've been meeting friends, spending time with family (both mine and Jandro's), eating lots of good stuff and speaking plenty of Polish. Our last months in Africa will be full of this positive energy. Before a new adventure starts.

Pictures from the Tatras here.

NO MAN'S LAND

I really didn't mean to be silent for such a long time! It turns out, however, that holidays can keep you very busy. We left Gabon on 8th July and spent two weeks in Poland and two weeks in Galicia. Europe surprised us. Suddenly, we could melt into the crowd, unnoticed. So many products to choose from. Such low prices. Everything was comfortable again, the context so well known. But being away from our two countries for a long time also made us see how different they are from each other: we spent two weeks in a typically Polish home, followed directly by two more weeks in a very Galician environment. And we jotted down several differences we'd used to pay little attention to before. Turns out you don't need to travel as far as Africa to talk about cultural shocks!

Early Bird or Night Owl?
In Gabon we sort of follow the Polish timetable - a great adjustment on Jandro's part for which I will be eternally greatful. We get up at 6 am (for work, of course) and go to sleep between 10 and 11 pm (sometimes - in my case - as early as 9:30 pm!). That is more or less what we did when staying with my parents. In Galicia, however, in the summer the sun sets after 10 pm. It is customary to dine after this hour and meet people even later; a friend might ask you to join him for a drink at 11 or midnight. It is virtually impossible to go to sleep before 1 am and most people go to bed much later. As I'm no night owl, we would compromise and try to get home around 1. Result: we would always get home earlier than Jandro's parents.

The art of eating

In Libreville we start our day with a big breakfast, we have hot lunch at 1 pm and a light dinner around 7 or 8 pm. As my parents don't have lunch at home on workdays, we could follow this framework without a problem, spending as much time at the table as we wanted. Anyway, in Poland having meals together is not such a big deal during the working week: every family member has a different timetable and we simply eat when we get home. On the other hand, we tend to gather for a family Sunday lunch, which includes a soup, a main course and a dessert (during the week there is only one course and the dessert is nearly always skipped). On such occasions we spend some time together at the table, chatting and enjoying one another's company. In Galicia, however, every meal is a celebration. It always consists of two courses, bread, wine, coffee, dessert(s) and spirits. You spend the average of two hours (up to three) at the table, which is a special family time. It is crucial to be home in time for lunch, this being the central point of the day. The food is delicious but you always eat too much. And the hours spent sitting at the table, talking, do not help you burn all these calories. Result: two kilogramms more in two weeks.

My cousin's mother-in-law's daughter is pregnant again
In other words: family. Family is important in Poland. You visit them a few times a year and spend holidays with them. They stick up for you and help you. You like your family. In Galicia family bonds go beyond what you can imagine. Family members visit one another sometimes more than once a day (!) and you often hear gossip as the one in the heading. They meet up socially or go out together several times a week. Jandro has more first cousins than my entire family put together and during our stay in Galicia we must visit them all at least once. And, Jandro's town being as small as it is, you meet everybody anyway by simply going to the fish market. Result: Jandro's aunt made us a delicious empanada de xoubas to take to Poland.

Of course, we had already made note of all this before. Nevertheless, being away made us realise how much we both adjusted: we are neither typically Galician nor typically Polish anymore. We created a sort of a new space - no man's land - in which we share our respective cultures, taking from them the things we both accept and like. And as much as I like being at home, it will also be fun to get back to that special space of ours.

Pictures from here and here.

Photos from Poland and Galicia here.