Is this why they have mirrors in elevators?

I'm not even sure what to say about this. Caboolture High French lessons did not equip me for Senegalese hotels with a penchant for dermatological correctness.

French lessons are a priority this year - most of my work is in Francophone countries and I'm tired of not being able to ask questions. And even when I know the right words, my pronunciation lets me down.

Recently I was asked for my order by a waiter in a restaurant in Dakar. I ordered soup and told him I wasn't particularly hungry ("je n'ai pas beaucoup de faim"). What came out was "I'm not much of a woman" (faim, femme - tomayto, tomato).

After a startled moment, he asked if I'd like wine. I'm still not sure if this was to drown my sorrows or rekindle my appetite.

Recycling at its beautiful best

Happy 2013 and happy almost-year-of-the-snake! It's been a while since my last post (thanks to David, Mike and Paul for pointing this out - you guys are so bossy), so I'll kick off the new year with something very close to my heart.

At the end of last year I visited a wonderful bead 'production plant' - hard to describe because it was a lovely outdoor affair along a dusty dirt road, with a riot of bottles, kilns and paints combining to make the most amazing beads.

Most Ghana beads are actually made from old bottles, windows and broken beads that have been ground up and re-fired in home-made pottery moulds with a cassava tree 'wick' for a hole.

Once the beads are cool, they're rolled by hand to perfect the shape and then polished in these shallow stone dishes with sand and water.

Needless to say, I'm doing what I can for the Ghanaian bead economy.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane??

By popular demand, it's NPP-Man!

He went missing from my street for a few weeks (I thought the worst but apparently he was spruiking elsewhere) but he's back. And better than ever with big Elton John glasses!

Some context: There is an election on 7 December - for all 230 parliamentary seats as well as for the president.

By all accounts, there are two parties in the running. The National Democratic Congress is currently in power and the New Patriotic Party (of which NPP-Man is a colourful supporter) is the main opposition.

Embracing my inner twitch

When my shipment arrived, one of the first things I uncovered was a field guide to the birds of West Africa - a farewell gift from friends who clearly want me to use my spare time for good rather than evil.

So now I have my Second Piece of Furniture - a foldaway orange chair for the balcony - I have started a morning ritual of getting acquainted with the feathered community.

I will admit that I have a lot to learn about ornithology. And I'm sure the experts don't make up names for the birds they can't identify. But my goodness it's fun to sit with a cup of tea and watch what's flapping around the apartment.

My first positive sighting was a Senegal Coucal - there are group of them that warble to each other on the neighbour's roof.

This morning I saw a couple of Village Weavers (Richmond colours, but sweet nevertheless), a heap of Warblers Of Some Description (I think they were Garden Warblers and not just because they were in the garden), a Speedy Turquoise Jetbird (way too quick for me) and some Flitty Greenbacks (in my defence, they camouflaged themselves very well in this palm)(Can you see them? Exactly).

Paul, George - how am I doing so far?

'Free delivery'

Interestingly, 'free delivery' doesn't actually mean 'free' or in fact 'delivery'.

This is my First Piece of Furniture - a mattress bought from deep within the bowels of a shipping container painted canary yellow off a side road in the middle of just about nowhere.

Very excited to get it home (to stop the echoes), I asked about delivery. In response, my vendor friend hailed the next station wagon taxi and lashed it to the roof with two bits of bailing twine.

I sat in the passenger seat holding on to my side of the mattress and praying for clear traffic and no rain.

And I had to pay for the taxi.

Drumroll please....

I've moved into my apartment!!

Things I love about it:

1. The view from the kitchen window is of banana trees and the neighbour's backyard which is full of chilli plants, dogs and kids. Actually, the view from all the windows is pretty good (sorry about the photobombing detergent bottle).

2. All my stuff is here. Not much else yet - I like to call it uncluttered.

3. I rent it from someone whose first name is Wonderful.

4. It has a pool.

5. It's quiet and leafy, with birds in the morning and bats in the evening. Out of the busy area, but walking distance to most of what you need. Including the market garden across the road.

Spots, chops and dashes

I was told by a taxi driver yesterday that Australians don't really speak British English. At this stage he thought I was American. Then he told me Americans speak English better than the Brits. I suppose this was a compliment? I changed the subject.

On the subject of language, a couple of important local terms. Spots are places to go for a drink. They're usually outdoors with maybe a few plastic chairs and tables, and the drink is usually beer.

A chop bar is where you might go for local food - this ranges from an indoor sit-down affair to a wooden bench at the side of the road.

Dash is like a tip. Taxi drivers usually want dash. The ladies I buy my fruit from often dash me an extra banana.

This is Crossroads (more intersecting dirt roads than Ry Cooder) - my local spot, just down from the hotel. The service is glacially paced, but the beer's cold, they have live music every week and it's always packed with locals.