Abidjan--Hot as Africa

(Picture with the RDR. Bottom row from left: Amy, Secretary General of the RDR, me, Country Director for WANEP CI Marguerite Kone. Second row from left: Bamba Sindou, Guy Whose Name I Forgot, National Secretary for NGOs, Murtala Touray. Back row: Technical Advisor)

Update from the past few days:
We are famous in Ivory Coast:
With the Opposition Party on their official website: http://www.rdrci.org/lire.asp?idx=5627
General Ivorian news: http://www.africatime.com/CI/nouvelle.asp?no_nouvelle=515535&no_categorie=


Main post:
Once upon a time, I used to compare temperatures to those of Africa without a real point of reference. After yesterday, I now know the heat of Africa. On day two of interviews, our team went out to meet with the main opposition party (incredibly interesting interview) and a group of inter-religious leaders. It sounds like the start of a bad joke, "A priest, an imam, a pastor and two Americans were sitting in a room..." However, the room we were in was in direct sunlight, was about 10X10, had about 12 people in that space, and there was only a small fan to cool it off. To exacerbate the situation, it was 1:30 in the afternoon and the hottest part of the day. To double exacerbate the situation, we were wearing suits. I thought I was going to pass out it was so hot. It was at a minimum 90 degrees in there and I was wearing long pants and a lined jacket. Here's a pleasant image for you, when we got to the car, I had almost sweat through my jacket. By the time we got back to the hotel to change, the lining of my pants were sticking to my legs. That sounds super appetizing, doesn't it? It really makes me wish that I had ponied up the money to buy a new skirt suit. And, with all of the fancy people we are meeting with, my suit is going to need to be dry cleaned like nobody's business.

However, for the most part, I have adjusted to the climate quite well. There are wonderful breezes throughout most of the day and Amy and I are able to do a lot of work on the rooftop terrace. Most of the hotel is built in an open air concept with a courtyard in the center. At night, the restaurant is open so the breezes can come through. What's even more telling to my adjustment is that I set my air conditioner to 20 degrees (68 degrees) at night before I go to bed and I wake up freezing. I burrow into my blankets when my alarm goes off. It's kind of sad that 68 is INCREDIBLY cold now. At least when I get back to the States it will be April, so a little warmer.