Late Thursday night, I read the journal Greta had been keeping of her stay in Benin. I was delighted to find an objective writing-eye with personality… so I kept it and am publishing it for all to read. I am doing the same with Grandpa’s too, but not with my own. I am the author, I get to choose. Trip to Benin 2006 Kansas City-Atlanta-Paris-Cotonou Local time we arrived about 6:30 on Sunday, 25 hours after we left. We stayed in a nice hotel in Cotonou. There were lots of rooms, and beautiful woodwork. Our room, and I assume most others, [View Full Entry]

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2 September 2006 KCI to Atlanta on time 3 September 2006 Arrived Cotonou Went thru customs and Erika was there. Also baggage ok. Went to Ayihoué hotel. Air conditioning and shower. No hot water. Good beds. In AM early-extra luggage to Peace Corps and bus to the north, Natitingou. Monday: Bus owner (Benin Routes) was from Niger- went to Chicago- Bachelors’ degree in business. Came to Benin and started his company. The trip to Natitingou with arrival about 5pm included a blowout on the way. We each took a zemidjan to the hotel. Had a beer at a bar and then [View Full Entry]

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Since I asked to publish their journals (yes, I asked), both of my visitors left their notebook at home Friday morning, leaving two days completely blank. That is not acceptable in my writing, so while eating a late lunch/early supper at Le Petit Four, I asked a few questions to fill in the holes. Saturday, 16 September 2006 16h00, Le Petit Four, Cotonou, Benin, West Africa Greta Kraus, Grandpa Stuart (a.k.a. Steve Stuart) Ebk: What did we do yesterday? Greta: Oh crap . Rode in a car all day, met people, went to the bank, went to another [View Full Entry]

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I found out during a week of travel in early August that it's not only when in Kansas that I have to vacation to find mountains and waterfalls. I went north; oh my, it is beautiful. I traveled with Natalie, another volunteer from southern Benin who had never seen the upper part of the country. We met Sunday night in Cotonou, then took the bus to Parakou the following day. Parakou is the Cotonou equivalent for the north of Benin, which makes it quite a hopping city. Parakou is the mid-point of the country north and south, and is the junction [View Full Entry]

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I like sleeping until 7h. That’s about the time the bedroom starts getting warm, the neighbors play music, and I have to pee. After two months, I have returned to that practice, except for those mornings I get up earlier to run. It’s not that for those two months I slept until 8h, oh no; for two months I was on my bike by 6h15 to go to work with Florent and Patrice, the two others at As.P.E.L. with whom I conducted the project “Competition: Cleanest and Greenest City.” This was quite the project. I committed myself to be in Athieme [View Full Entry]

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I am happily exhausted. Guillaume, Derique, and my mosquitoes have welcomed me back into my home. I spent the entire past week entertaining fifty girls, 10-14 years old, in Porto Novo, Benin. I have a t-shirt to prove it. I love that age group, and I had so much fun translating time-killing games and playing endlessly. Follow-the-leader, Simon Says, Heads-up, Seven-up, Charades, we even translated the B-I-N-G-O song. Aïchath, Elisabeth, Gisele, Imelda, and I left Sunday, July 2, for Camp GLOW. We had to wait for a taxi- the chauffeur I had found did not arrive, so I had to track [View Full Entry]

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24 Juin 2006 Samedi June sure seems like a long month. I guess I have a lot to expect at the end- my birthday, the end of the women’s group competition, and Camp GLOW. Uncle Jeff did not call last night- I hope not everyone is planning on calling me on my birthday. I want people to call, just not all at once. They should write letters. I am frustrated with writing at the moment. Not here, in the journal. As I was thinking about how my writing frustration is not with my journal, I had a strange out-of-body experience, realizing [View Full Entry]

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I can understand now why crab is considered a delicacy. Sometimes I wonder why food inspires me to write, but with dinners’ such as tonite’s, I am not too surprised. There was an awful lot of thinking involved. But I am starting on the 23rd, and I mean to begin with the 1st… 1 Juin 2006, Jeudi TREE DAY! I started the day with a quick little jog around town. Very nice. I came home and brought Elisabeth to me by thinking the little twerp probably would pass by before 7h. Uh, honey, I love ya, but no way before 7h, [View Full Entry]

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I’m sorry. My parents told me I have been neglecting my writing. That’s not entirely true, because I have been writing but not publishing. I am writing while sitting in my mosquito net. The mosquitoes are awful. Imagine the sound of an overhead airplane, then equate that sound to mosquitoes, and marvel at the magnificent simplicity and efficiency of mosquito nets. If by accident you imagined a hovering helicopter instead of the airplane, add a flying cockroach to the scene and pray in thanksgiving to all the gods you know for strong mosquito netting. My mom called me last [View Full Entry]

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I have been reading “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck. I really like it. I like it so much that I have to write about it, but that means no longer reading it. I waited and satisfied two needs at once: eating and writing. Sweet and sour cabbage- not too bad. The first paragraph is what got me- “Chop a head of cabbage and an apple. Add one chopped onion and some garlic. Cook in water until the cabbage is tender…” Ooops, I mean, “To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came [View Full Entry]

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