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by Erika, order by Date newest first.

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Basketball!
Basketball!
These guys were sooooo excited to look so cool. Too bad they barely missed getting skunked... Too bad I couldn't play... :)
Listening to my cd player with my headphones to focus on work on the computer, yet still dancing and singing aloud equals two crazy people in Yovokome. I can tell that Derique is a similar roommate to Nancy in that he prefers me to use my headphones rather than the radio. I know this because he is not hiding in the bedroom. Hiding in the bedroom makes him a little embarrassed when I step out of the bath. I am not as reactive as I was while writing the previous “femi-nazi” entry, but I still have some arguments to present. Modern [View Full Entry]

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948 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 1 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: April 14th 2006 | 193 Views | [diary=52769]


By Erika
April 14th 2006
Update Africa » Benin » South » Athiémé
Bored Koffidjin
Bored Koffidjin
Koffi asked me why I didn't have a television. How else, Koffi, would I get these great photos?
I don’t know if Derique is shedding more, or it I am sweeping less, but there is A LOT of dog hair in my home. Gross. He’s lucky I like him, otherwise I would kick him out. That, and he made doggie-doors for himself. He even made a doggie-door in the fence; however, he waits patiently for me to open doors for him, rather than using his own. The swallows are constructing a new home, on my porch again. If my world were perfect, I would knock down every bit of this old home except the porch, and reconstruct a nice [View Full Entry]

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1130 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 10 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: April 14th 2006 | 204 Views | [diary=52766]

UNO Champs!
Prizes
Corkscrew

By Erika
February 17th 2006
Maple-land Africa » Benin » South » Athiémé
The Iroko in the previously-placed picture is one of my favorite trees, but moving quickly up the list of favorites is Somba, which definitely has to be in the same family as the maple tree. The leaves are very similar, and the seeds are the exact same helicopter blade. A somba tree grows quickly and is a preferred wood for pirogues, that is, canoes. “Athieme” in Mina means “le bois blanc,” or the white wood, which is the somba. Sadly, not many of the trees remain that gave my home its name, but Patrice and I spent three hours bent over, [View Full Entry]

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1177 Words | 5 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: February 17th 2006 | 282 Views | [diary=41718]


By Erika
February 2nd 2006
The Power of Africa Africa » Benin » South » Athiémé
Kansas? Africa?
Kansas? Africa?
On the road to Ahoho. I was impressed with the resemblance to the mud road at home.
I have thought of an amusing analogy to explain a part of my life. This just came to me, so be flexible. Imagine yourself on a lovely walk in the woods. It’s a beautiful day and everything around you is familiar. The air smells fresh, the sun dapples the ground in its usual lovely manner, and grand trees surround you. You are at peace and in harmony with your environment. Suddenly, the distinction between you and the trees is your immediate reality. You say to yourself, “oh, I am not a tree. I am different.” Yet, because you breathe the same [View Full Entry]

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884 Words | 4 Comment(s) | 3 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: February 13th 2006 | 305 Views | [diary=38964]

Toes on the Horizon
I Bought a New Necklace!!

By Erika
February 2nd 2006
Home Africa » Benin » South » Athiémé
CLAC
CLAC
CLAC at CLAC. I call the "head librarian" CLAC, as well as the building.
I feel like I can better describe my home to you now. Home turf starts, after a long trip’s end and the deposition of myself from the taxi, at the carre-four between the goudron to Lokossa and the terre-rouge to Athieme. I am greeted by about ten zemidjan men, with twenty more on reserve, who all say, “Bon Arrivee!” “Merci!” “Athieme, non?” “Oui, Athieme. 200F.” “Non, Madame/Tata, c’est 300F. L’essence est cher.” “O, ao.” Finger wag. “La vie est cher. C’est 200F.” And I s [View Full Entry]

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1111 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 3 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: February 2nd 2006 | 219 Views | [diary=38967]

Friends
Yovokomey Court

By Erika
February 2nd 2006
Mmm... Water Africa » Benin » South » Athiémé
I was sitting in class the other day with a few others, listening to Ghislain lecture about the benefits and how-to’s of a tree nursery. Goes without saying that I was not paying attention. (Funny how as annoyed as I get being forced to sit in class, I still think of going back to school, even of becoming a professor…) Anyway, as I was not paying attention, I caught a word from The Boss saying something about how a fence is necessary to keep the animals out, animals that I usually consider being kept in fences, such as sheep, goats, [View Full Entry]

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1097 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: February 13th 2006 | 184 Views | [diary=38971]


By Erika
January 5th 2006
Animals Africa » Benin » South » Athiémé
AS.P.E.L.
AS.P.E.L.
At the garden, with Ghislain. Photo by Gabriel Tucker
Have I told you about the time a viper came to my door? That was a pretty interesting afternoon. In a non-related story, Ghislain came to my door Christmas Eve day with the head-forester-guy for the entire Mono-Couffo region, who had brought pythons in bags to be set free “en brusse” near Athieme. I closed up shop, leaving my vanilla tea to go cold, and hopped in the truck to go to the forest outside the next village over. We walked a ways in, accompanied by a couple men from the village council who told us we could set the [View Full Entry]

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1005 Words | 4 Comment(s) | 9 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: February 17th 2006 | 456 Views | [diary=34228]

School
Me
Mono River

By Erika
January 5th 2006
Holidays Africa » Benin » South » Athiémé
Me and Mathurin
Me and Mathurin
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! That’s “Happy New Year” in Mina too. I partied heartily for both holidays. I spent Christmas with my family in Aplahoue. I arrived Saturday evening and left around noon Monday. Darly told me I arrived late and left early. My friends in Athieme told me I was gone too long. I went to midnight mass in Aplahoue, after having watched Zelag, Darly, Maman, and another girl kill, clean, and cook three chickens, one being a “yovococlo,” that is, a white-person chicken. White-person chickens are big, fat, lay eggs everyday, and are reputed to not tast [View Full Entry]

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1218 Words | 4 Comment(s) | 2 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: February 2nd 2006 | 220 Views | [diary=34227]

Ghislain and Friends

By Erika
January 5th 2006
Monkey Corn and then Some... Africa » Benin » South » Athiémé
Today I was walking out in the African cornfield with Ghislain, in search of monkeys preparing ears of corn to eat. The combination of the smells of hot vegetation, the corn and grass taller than my head on either side of me, the rustling of the leaves and the feel of the wind on my face that also made my already sweaty t-shirt press up against me, reminded me of home. I told Ghislain that if I closed my eyes, I could see my sisters and brother and dogs with me, all out in the yard, maybe getting ready to play [View Full Entry]

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1365 Words | 4 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: January 5th 2006 | 201 Views | [diary=34226]


By Erika
January 5th 2006
Good News Africa » Benin » South » Athiémé
The good news is that I found the town library. I borrowed a great little book of poems that I am just loving. The better news is that CLAC, the library, is in my neighborhood, on my way home. The best news is that the director of CLAC let me borrow Scrabble to play with the girls in the girls’ club. I can not decide if that “best news” is that I get to play Scrabble or that the girls’ club is so much fun. In any case, I have even more books to read. CLAC stands for Centre de [View Full Entry]

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853 Words | 4 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: January 5th 2006 | 180 Views | [diary=34225]




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