My Handy-dandy Notebook

It was one of my gap year resolutions to never let a good thought get away from me, so at all times I keep a little mini-notebook in my back left pocket. My handy-dandy notebook. My most recent one I made by chopping one of those flimsy moleskins in thirds, and viola – the perfect size for a butt pocket.

It’s maybe my most important travel habit. You never know when you’ll need to copy down a bus schedule, or see a scene that strikes you as important to remember, or meet an interesting person in a market and need to jot down an email.

And because these fleeting scenes and impromptu meetings are in my opinion the heart and bones of good rolling-with-the-punches traveling, my little notebook is the best snapshot of my time. It’s like a journal from concentrate, everything distilled down to bare bones, a few words here and there scribbled on the move.

Some examples of recent notes, from a quick flip through its pages:

- Chinese construction boss
- Saloons – HOPE
- Rooster cut (le coq?)
- National Flying Squirrel Association
- Lemon jooeeeseeee / tree tea?
- Maibobo

Explanations:
1) Chinese construction boss – I used to wonder why people often point to buildings or roads under construction and say, ahh, the Chinese. Well now I know. It’s because the Chinese government sends construction equipment to African nations like Rwanda, where roads and buildings are badly in need of being built, and offers to get to work. From what I’ve heard, the exchange goes something like this:

Hey, you want us to build you a road?
Yeah. How much?
How much you got?

And so on. So all over the country you see Rwandan work crews digging ditches or climbing scaffolding or driving backhoes while a single Chinese man stands nearby wearing one of those wide and conical, straw and comical, awesomely-stereotypical Chinese hats. They stand near the workers, somehow giving orders.

2) Saloon – a mistranslation of “salon” that has stuck. It’s what they call almost all of the haircut places. They mostly have funny names like “Hope Saloon” and “Small price Saloon!”

3) Rooster cut – I went to a saloon just to see what would happen. You should have seen the look on the guys’ faces when a white guy walked it. He obviously didn’t know what to do but was not about to turn away a paying customer. He kept his composure very well, faking it with a straight face. I couldn’t stop laughing the whole time looking in the mirror. Basically he buzzed the sides and then chickened out on the top, kind of picked at it with scissors and then called it a day. It was worth it. I ended up with a do that’s passably European, Vanilla Ice-ish, Fresh Prince-ish, Italian soccer player-ish. I described it as a "rooster cut" and then my host family when I got home said, yeah, actually it’s kinda like a Rwandan style called “Le Coq”. So I’m cutting edge.

4) National Flying Squirrel Association – met a guy from New York on a bus – really cool guy – who keeps a pet flying squirrel in his closet at college. How did he find a flying squirrel? Well, he stumbled upon the NFSA on an internet search when he was fifteen. He says the dues-paying members are mostly very nice old ladies. So, yes, he met an old lady on a message board online, planned a rendezvous at a Cracker Barrel and was given his squirrel. I forgot what its name is – sorry.

5) Lemon joooeeseee and tree tea – A couple weeks ago I had a bad chest cough and my host mom insisted on giving me “African medicine”, which consisted of her saying, I’ll be right back, going out into the yard for a while, coming back inside, banging around in the kitchen, and finally emerging with some kind of bitter brown tea. Then she made me chug a glass of straight lemon juice. And yes, my cough is now gone.

6) Maibobo – apparently means something like “urchin” or “street child” in Swahili. It’s what my host family calls me. Lovingly, of course. There you are maibobo! Where have you been?