My youngest host brother, Feujus, is the cutest six-year old monster. His eyebrows even turn up a little, like horns. He beat me twice at UNO; he gave himself all the wild plus-four cards before dealing. I hadn’t been to visit my host family since my return from vacation, so I stayed the weekend. I watched a lot of TV- Papa had bought a small satellite and my host brothers and sister were skimming the eight channels for films and music. On Monday back at home, the waste-management tractor came through my neighborhood. We had to wait until the river left [View Full Entry]

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‘Sit in your yard and watch the leaves fall.’ Dove Dark Chocolate Promise. Yes, the front porch with a book and a breeze is all well and good until you’ve done it for a week. Sorry Dove- I don’t mean to be bitter, but all I have been doing is sitting. I wish I only had a moment to watch the leaves fall, rather than that being my main activity. This first week back at post after the States was harder than I thought it would be. I was lonely as I had never felt it before. I had been used [View Full Entry]

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Working with students at the local library on the history of Athieme eventually led to a field trip to Abomey to tour the royal palace and the statue of the last Danhomeian king (Danxome being the previous name for the country of Benin) who resisted French colonization. We had a lot of fun looking at stuff and hearing blood and guts stories of ancient times. [View Full Entry]

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These pictures are of the flooded Mono river during the first two weeks. After the first two weeks, the river went back to its bed, but only stayed there for a week before flooding again. When we were drying out, the air reeked of rotting vegetation, but now that we are wet again, I have a fresh breeze off the water. I am told that the third time the river leaves its banks in its flooding season, which is now, big fish come with the water. (Obviously big fish don't come into my yard during the dry season...) The first two [View Full Entry]

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These pictures are also from a while ago... The HIV/AIDS awareness bike trip was in April 2007, and covered the enitre Mono/Coufo region and followed the old train tracks. It was a wonderful trip. See www.peacecorps.gov/volunteerjournals to read more about the trip. [View Full Entry]

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These pictures are more of running around Benin, as I know it. A mixture of everything. [View Full Entry]

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I visited another friend of mine in the Collines region, or in English, the Hills region. It's beautiful up there, and a drier climate much like the north. These people fleeed the Fon by living in the hills during the time of slavery because the Fon would take prisoners to trade with the Yovos. The pictures show a little of the life in the hills. The basketball pictures are there because I like them a lot- the first one is the boys' and girls' teams, the second is of the basketball court on the day of the regional school tournament, looking [View Full Entry]

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This is late, but these are photos of Kate and Tina's visit in June. [View Full Entry]

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Oh- this site is so neglected! Pardonnez-moi beaucoup! Here are some pictures, maybe that will help... [View Full Entry]

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The Weather I was sleeping on the porch, as normal, and was still hot, as normal, though the porch is many many times cooler than any other place in the house. The breeze can always find me there, so that is where I sleep. When I say hot, I mean that candles don’t hold their upright position, and if I were to sleep inside, I would sweat so much that I would wake up often to drink water and still not have to urinate in the morning. And that’s at night. I had gone out for a drink in the [View Full Entry]

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