The Little Things

Today was a good day.  No, I did not solve some serious health problem or complete a big project, today was a good day because I found olive oil in one of Vogan’s stores.  No more cooking with regular old vegetable oil for me! Oddly enough it was tucked away in the isle with beauty products.  I don’t understand, but I’ll go with it.  In my excitement I purchased a little more at the store than I was planning on when I went in.  I even treated myself to ice cold Fanta from the store’s fridge.

Adding to the excitement of olive oil is the fact that the three year old girl in my compound has officially stopped calling me “yovo.”  Thanks to her grandmother always talking about me as the “yovo,” she picked up the habit, but no more.  It has taken a lot of work, and thankfully much help from my neighbors, but now she happily shouts “Liss!” every time I appear.  She “helps” me push my bike across the compound and runs ahead to open the gate.  As a bike away she continues to shout “Liss” and laugh hysterically when I turn around and wave.  I hear her calling out long after I disappear from sight.  Now, I am not a big ‘kid person,’ but it is nice to hear someone happily calling after me, not screaming “yovo.”

If olive oil was the ice cream and Liss being the whipped cream, the cherry on top was discovering that one of the banks in town accepts my bank card.  My bank card has no Visa attached to it or other company and I had always thought and been told that it wouldn’t work in any ATM besides those belonging to my bank, well…I was wrong!  Being able to use an ATM locally means that I can now save roughly 3,000CFA and four hours of my time every time I need to go to the bank.  Pretty soon I will have absolutely no excuse to leave Vogan.

It’s true that a big event like professional success could make my days seem much better, but in the end it is the little things that make a day seem so much better.  Just the same, the little things can make an empirically good day seem like a terrible one.  So, thank you olive oil, banks, Fanta, and little children for tipping the scales and making this day a good one.