Dear _____,

Crowing rooster alarm…  Even though I was already awake, you scared me half to death the first morning I used you!  I thought about going back to the Good morning chime, but I think now I’ve gotten used to you.  Ish.

Trash-burners…  I smelled smoke as I was getting ready one morning and thought, “Hm, that’s odd.  I don’t have the stove or oven on.  I don’t even have a candle burning.”  When I walked out of my room and actually saw the smoke wafting through the apartment, I was kind of worried.  Turns out you had a pile of trash burning RIGHT next to the apartment.  At least I didn’t have a fire to put out…

Street-side vendor…  I gotta say, it’s slightly disturbing to see live chickens right next to a platter of raw chicken.

Person on the roof…  Setting off fireworks from the top of our building at 5:46 on a Sunday morning: NOT cool.  At all.

Horse getting bathed by the side of the road…  Could you look any less thrilled with the experience?!

Road blockades…  “Oh good,” I thought when I saw you.  “That’s two less streets I have to cross with traffic.”  So I stepped off the curb, and a moto went whizzing past.  (Figures; they break all the rules anyway.)  I went to cross the second street, and a second one zooms by.  Did I say road blockades?  Maybe you were supposed to be an obstacle course or something.

Baguettes with extremely salty parts…  Ick.  Someone in the bakery must have been sleeping on the job.  But, to be fair, that’s the first time I’ve add had anything like that happen.

Apple cider candle…  You smell like the holidays and Fall and home.  Lovely.

Drums…  You’re pretty near essential to the worship service at church.  Last Sunday no one was available to play you when we started, and the entire congregation limped through the first few songs until someone finally rescued us.

Pandora…  What?!  You don’t work here?  (“We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints, we can no longer offer access to Pandora for listeners outside the US, Australia, and New Zealand.”)  Obviously this was the first time I even tried since I’ve been here.

Gorée vendor who proclaimed “It’s cheaper than free!” as we walked past…  Ha!  The laugh you gave Susie and I, perhaps.  Your merchandise?  Probably not so much.

Semolina flour…  I had no idea you were available here until this week.  I foresee homemade pizza in my future…

Lady sporting a “Remember, as far as everyone knows, we are a normal family” apron…  Well now.  Is that so?

Power outage…  Honestly, you came at such a bad time.  I had just finally gotten up the nerve to start putting stuff in my freezer again (after December’s spoiled-meat-and-cheese episode that required hot water and soap and bleach and I don’t even remember how many applications of vinegar and baking soda paste).  And I’d done grocery shopping the day before.  And I was having company.  Argh!!

Generator running at the bakery just down the street from my apartment…  You were a rather unwelcome to sound to hear when I was walking home from class that one day, because it meant that the power had still not come back on in our neighborhood.

Mouse…  I was so incredibly sleepy the afternoon in class when you made your second appearance.  I wasn’t quick enough to seize a suitable object with which to exterminate you, but I was definitely more alert after that!

Stiff, white figures standing in store windows (otherwise known as mannequins)…  Even when I know you’re there, you still startle me.  You border on “creepy”.

Homemade rolls fresh from the oven…  You surely must have one of the most intoxicating aromas.  I impulsively decided right then that I needed to start making my own bread and rolls again.  …At least sometimes.

Wall of many colors (or rather, wall with many colors of bougainvillea plants growing over it)… I’d admired you every day for many months, always thinking, “That would be such a beautiful picture!”  But I hadn’t figured out quite how to manage getting a good shot without looking like a tourist.  (I have a somewhat unreasonable fear of looking like a tourist.)  I was so disappointed to find your lovely vines trimmed to almost nothing this week.  I should have just taken the picture, tourist fears and all.

Fuzz on the floor…  Okay, I’ve obviously lived with cockroaches waaaay too long.  When I walked past the dining room and saw you, I immediately grabbed my shoe (which of course was nearby – one must always be prepared), only to find that the shoe was entirely unnecessary.  In my defense, you were dark, and I only had a quick glance.