Someone Gave Me A Fish Today

the frosty calm of baikal’s lake front wind kissed my cheeks and my whole being seemed to rise with the glory of the white morning sun against an even whiter snowy landscape. the cold didn’t seem to bother me as much as it usually does when I’m trudging through the february streets of manhattan. perhaps it was the knowing that it was temporary and in a few days i’d be frolicking in the tropical sunshine of my equatorial homeland. perhaps it was because i knew that i might never again find myself in siberia looking out at the world’s largest and deepest body of fresh water. they say that lake baikal actually makes up 25% of the earth’s clean water reserves. they say it’s so clean that you can actually drink straight from the lake, and that when it gets really cold the lake freezes over and it’s crystal clear. so what exactly is “really cold” in siberia?!! ‘cuz if today wasn’t it, i’m not sure i could hang. 🙂 speaking of an african’s intolerance for the cold, i’d like to share the funny story that i shared with my family yesterday via email. so…. on our way our last show in irkutsk, i asked our driver (and fellow musician) ilya if there were any africans in irkutsk. upto that point, i hadn’t seen one. ilya said that out of the 500,000-strong population, there were about 10 africans now, but there was one very popular one named francois from mali. (actually all of them are pretty much from mali. probably his relatives who have slowly come over after he was settled. i know some of you know what i’m talking about.) anyway, okay how did he become so popular? apparently he’s the local weather guy!! i laughed so hard when i heard this because i kept thinking what does an african have to say about this weather besides… “it’s very cold…again!” we laughed and laughed, and the driver actually confirmed that when francois says it’s freezing outside sometimes the local siberians think it’s pretty warm. lol!! anyway, i hope you are as tickled by that story as i was. i’ve had a beautiful time in irkutsk, and i’m humbled by the fact that music has allowed me to see more parts of the world than i ever would have dreamed of. as we said our goodbyes just before our 6-hour flight back to moscow, a new friend named edik gave me a couple boxes of siberian-made chocolate and a smoked pair of lake baikal’s famous omul white fish. and while i’ve only recently graduated from a 13-year strict vegetarian diet to that of a seldom-but-always-picky pescarian, i definitely plan on savoring the fishy taste of my beautiful siberian memories over a cozy dinner with my sister in kigali next week. dasvidanya… somi