Gains of a Loss: Reflection of an i-Pod Dream

I know I've complained a lot about the "toubab" tourettes phenomenon. But I just don't think any of the folks at home can possibly grasp the magnitude of this annoyance. Let me try to help. Imagine those summer days when your Mormon neighbors' grandkids all visit (nothing against Mormons whom I quite like and think as a group they have commendable work ethic and family values. Point is, lots of kids.) On the first morning, you hear your Mormon neighbors on their inflatable castles (how does a neighbor of YOURS afford an inflatable castle? Must be that work ethic.) And over your morning coffee you find their squeals and shreiks cute and endearing. Then it continues for 2 weeks straight, you've invested in ear plugs, and bought costco advil. Now replace every single utterance they produce with "toubab" or "gimme a present!" ALL directed at you. Take them from the inflatable castle and put them in your yard, peeking in your windows like paparazzi after Britney Spears> Also down the whole street, in your office, the grocery store, the library, the bars... EVERYWHERE. Maybe you used to like kids, like me. Now you have to talk yourself out of running them over. And you still don't know.
This is why I've been starting the bike odyssey back to the village with my discman. It makes me yearn for an i-pod, this indescribable spiritual boost that music brings. I pout for a bit about how other PCVs have a completely different experience with i-pods, computers, close-by internet, electricity, reliable phone-service, food (even rice and vegetables), water pumps or compound wells, village boutiques... or maybe even all of them! So I often feel pathetically sorry for myself. Sorrier for myself, in fact, than for my villagers because they don't even know what they're missing! Then I remember how a song on my discman, a piece of potato, and a call from America can honestly and completely make my day. It's nice to be able to appreciate things without effort and feel sorry for the inflatable castle people who just can't, at least not without straining, "i know I'm lucky compared to most and I KNOW I shouldn't complain, but..."
Anyway, the wonders of a discman in defense of toubab tourrettes. It doesn't exactly block them all out, but to a background of Bad Religion or MB's or Patrick's mixes, they are way easier to ignore and pedal contentedly. What makes me crave an i-pod is the fact that the discman will only work the first 10 k. After that, imagine a road that is the sight of a multitude of accidents: a boulder truck spill, a sand truck spill, a deadly pointy rock truck spill... The discman in all its glory is not so powerful to overcome this terrain.
I'm coming to appreciate this short-coming too. I have enough time to essentially block out the "toubab's." The farther I fo towards my village, the less this is necessary. I'm surprised, every time I surrender the headphones to the bumps, to be thankful I don't have an i-pod. "Gimme!" is replaced by "Greetings!," "Come eat with us!", "The road is hard; take a break!", and "Hadiatou, we've missed you!" Oops. I probably would have missed hearing these if I still had music pumped into my ears. Had I unknowingly ignored anyone? Without an alternative, I chat with fellow travellers, take breaks with sweet-faced strangers, make friends. Better than the soundtrack to rent.
I'll still skip "toubab," but friendly words are music to my ears.