This is an entry I have posted on the Peace Corps website, but I am publishing here because I want to add pictures. The pictures with this entry actually have no relation with the writing. Following entries might or might not have the same pictures/writing relationship. I have kept a journal for along time; since third grade, with only a few months missing here and there. Usually writing, especially journal writing, flows easily from my brain to my pen-controlling hand, as easily as one foot follows the other while running. Lately I have had many false starts- the 18th of [View Full Entry]

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Because I have some time on my hands... [View Full Entry]

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My eyes met directly with two others this morning. Two blondish ears, kind of over-large for my companion’s being, perked eagerly, awaiting my response. This was the unspoken dialogue: Bubs: “Can we wake up now?” Erika: “No.” His elbows thunked and he sighed as he went back to waiting. The weather has changed again. Harmattan and its dust have left, leaving clear blue skies. These clear blue skies are otherwise known as direct sunrays. Ugh. Hot. My elbows thunk and I sigh as I, and everyone else, wait for the rain. Work is moving, if I translate di [View Full Entry]

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Step 1: Disassemble plans. They hadn’t really meant anything, anyway. Don’t be silly. I left Athiémé as early as possible Friday morning to arrive on time to apply for a visa for Ghana. I made it to Cotonou by noon, and happened to find a volunteer-friend (she volunteered to be my friend) at the office. She gave me two critical pieces of information because she is a good volunteer: 1) that I needed my passport to have the visa stamped in, but because I am kinda stupid, my passport was still in Athiémé, and 2) that Ghana was on holiday, so [View Full Entry]

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The Summary: Stuart finally has blue lips. He is the only one of the Kansas family that has been in the West African coastal waters for two hours or more. Three of the remaining four stayed for an hour or so. The fifth waded in until a man cleaned out his sinuses without forewarning. Ew; she went back to her book. Four more Kansans in Africa- the first time leaving the North American continent- to visit another Kansan who has left the States three times: for one night in Fernie, British Columbia, then 12 days in Thailand, and now a couple [View Full Entry]

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Harmattan has arrived. Harmattan is a wind that blows from the north, from the Sahara desert. The wind carries dust, and it’s the dust that blocks the sunlight and creates “winter” in equatorial West Africa. To me, Harmattan is as close to winter as I will get for some time still to come. I am colder than I was during the rainy season, and more regularly. I close all the doors and cover with a sheet every night. I sleep all the night through, no dripping sweat to awake me, and I get out of bed slowly, wearing two pagnes and [View Full Entry]

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They have cut the electricity again! Just when I want to read email. So I sit in Lokossa, killing time at the public park. I killed time at my favorite coffee-flavored sweetened condensed milk stand as well, with an egg sandwich to perfect the breakfast, but all the death was attracting the wrong kind of business. About a week ago I organized an outing with As.P.E.L. and the women’s groups. There is a super-efficient center near Lokossa that produces vegetables, chickens, fish, and rice, an extension of the Centre Songhaï in Porto Novo that I have mentioned before. In hopes of [View Full Entry]

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Tomorrow, Tomorrow I will do everything tomorrow. Tomorrow I will wash my bike, though I refuse to wash the tires. Tomorrow I will take an interest in my dog's basic education, assuming he comes home tonite. Tomorrow I will find my morals, or is it my marbles I have lost? Tomorrow I will saluer (say hello to) all whom I have not seen in the past three days. Tomorrow I will quell my Kansan daydreams. Tomorrow I will organize my stuff to be able to eat at a table. Tomorrow I will eat better than caramel popcorn, gari and sugar, and [View Full Entry]

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I know that when I am so hot, so hot that rather than drying off after a bath I just start sweating, rain will come. Sooner or later, rain will fall and my toes will be cold and I will be able to drink coffee or tea at 14h. I know I have to wait, though. I might sweat for a long time, a couple days even, before the world finally cools down. I also know that rain cancels any plans. I love not needing to wear real clothes for the majority of most days. I get dressed to leave [View Full Entry]

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29 Septembre 2006 Vendredi List the positives first: 1) The internet worked, so I emailed and did travelblog easily and uninterrupted for two hours at the bureau, 2) I cashed the school money check for a student in Athieme, and 3) I bathed and ate once I finally made it home. My run this morning could be considered a positive as well. Only Willie and Melchior had arrived at the stadium by 8h, so the three of us talked and then left. I prepared myself for what I had planned to be a quick trip to Cotonou. I had the taxi [View Full Entry]

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