Ripley's Believe it or Not

On Thursday I made a big purchase in my journey toward turning a bland apartment with a leaking roof into a comfortable living space. I went to Orca, the Dakar equivalent of Ikea, where I was greeted by a giant inflatable Orca whale that would have made a lovely stand-in for a garden gnome (which Orca also sold). Instead, I opted for a new pillow and pillowcase. But when I got home, I found that this pillowcase had something truly bizarre about it, something more bizarre than the hormone-driven mating rituals of the Lebanese gym community and that gave me a good 30 seconds of confusion. The pillowcase opened lengthwise. What?!

In other news, also on Thursday, a Senegalese telecom monopoly decided to shut off internet to the whole country. That's right. The Whole Country. Also all international phone calls. Miraculously the shutoff lasted less than 24 hours. But, this is on top of the fact that many West African countries have already suspended phone service to Senegal because of the high prices charged by the new telecom company owned by the president's son. Did I mention that no one is allowed to own more than 50% in any real estate venture that the president's son is involved in? And to think people are complaining about Sasha's expensive trip to Spain.