I just loved him. And if you haven't seen his Infomercial about running from the Yakuza, you haven't seen his absolute best work. Seriously. Go watch it.
In any case, everyone is a pitchman here. EVERYONE. No one is up to May's level and style, but everyone is trying to sell something, and since their life depends on it, they get quite insistent. Learning to walk away without causing a scene is an art form, and one that The Husband is still having some trouble with.
A few times in other African countries he's been screeched at, "WICKED MAN!" for refusing to pay truly outrageous Muzungu mark-up on items he didn't want in the first place. Also, for turning away beggars.
Oh, the beggars... That's one thing we'll never get used to, I think. People are so desperately poor, and yet if you hand out money, you get mobbed... and robbed. You have to find other ways to help.
But I digress. Back to the pitchmen.
When we first got here, I saw billboards with this guy on them everywhere - and I had no idea who he was.
I mean, obviously his name is Herve Renard. And he likes white shirts. And Boom detergent gets his shirts white.
All this is easily discernible, but I still had no idea who Herve Renard was or why he looks so irritated when his shirt is so white. He should be happy. The internet here is ridiculously slow, so I asked Malinga about it. He thought I was absolutely nuts for not knowing that Herve Renard coached the Zambian National football team to the Africa Cup. And people here do take their football seriously. I should probably pay more attention to that.
Malinga also told me that Mr. Renard has a bit of the Victoria Beckham thing going on with the smile. So, I guess he's not about spreading the sunshine. That's fine, of course. His job is to win football games, not smile at us.
And his shirt really is so very white.
Who am I to argue? I bought Boom to wash our clothes. I'll let you know how it works. I am already feeling the urge to pout, though, so there must be something to it.
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