Washing Clothes in CI | Old School Style!

This is how I wash my clothes. Yes to clothes lines! Feels good to be environmentally friendly! :)

My Home in Côte d'Ivoire

I live in a studio apartment not far from the teachers’ college where my office is located. I have a neighbor to the left and right of me. They all are very nice. However, the neighbors to the right of me serve as my unofficial wake-up call service as they often start blasting Ivoirian beats as early as 6:30 am! And if it’s not the music that wakes me up, it’s the two boys (ages 2 and 4) romping around with their neighborhood friends that gets me out of my stupor.

I pay $60 USD a month to live here. Isn’t that out of this world? And no, that’s not the price after some government subsidy – it’s just that housing is cheap in my city (which is the 3rd largest in the country). If I were living, for example, in Abidjan, the capital however, my studio apartment would cost a lot more.

Outside Kitchens

Most kitchens here are outside of the home. These days, many homes have inside kitchens but I think because of tradition, most women decide to keep their main cooking spot outdoors. Although they do not use electric stoves outdoors, they often have several cooking units- which act like small grills (used both with and without the grill piece) which are run by using charcoal and wood. (See in picture).

Here, most dishes consist of a sauce (with meat) and a starch such as rice or foutou, which is a side dish of plantains beaten into a uniform ball. I have to admit that foutou is going to be one of those Ivoirian novelties that I am sure to miss once I depart!

The method for making most sauces here involves crushing (to crush = écraser in French). Essentially, it’s like there is some unspoken rule that vegetables should not be visible within sauces. So, what do women here do? They crush their vegetables using a stone or a hand-held crusher (there must be a better word…) before adding the veggies to the sauce. Shown here is a photo of me crushing tomatoes using the kitchen utensils most often used to crush vegetables.