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 three-room apartment with an outdoor shower and latrine. Then I wouldn’t have to put up with big and old house issues, and I could keep my yard with flowers and grass, and my swallows. I ... read more

1) Look through cook books for inspiration: A. Fannie Farmer B. Joy of Cooking C. Cookin’ in Benin Settle on Fannie Farmers’ Cream of Tomato soup. 2) Make shopping list, close up shop, check bike tire that seems to get low quickly (remind self, again, to fix it later), head to marché. 3) Say hello to everyone along the way, and laugh at the mayor’s secretary’s “joke” of following you to the marché, just to spend time with you. Ugh. Continue to marché. 4) Stop at friendly woman’s stand to buy tomatoes, onions, ginger, bay leaf, chicken bouillon cubes, and powdered piment. Just like a grocery store, all in one stop. 5) Yet, continue to familiar boutique to buy eggs and toilet paper and margarine. 6) Continue to carre-four friendly bread lady and buy bread. Speak ... read more

My biggest worry is that all I will do in Athieme is talk, and not necessarily talk about relevant issues, but just drink beer and sodabi and just shoot the breeze. What if I am a person that likes to study, talk, and write, but not actually do any work? I guess if that is the truth, I will satisfy two of the Peace Corps goals, those of culture-exchange. I will learn all about Beninese beer and the palm-wine distillation process, and the Beninese will learn that even Americans get a beer belly when they drink too much. I will learn how to play true football, and the students will learn how to play basketball better. I will teach them UNO and I will learn the West African version, called Eight Americans. Somewhere in there I ... read more

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, picking up somba seeds to plant at As.P.E.L. Working on it, we’re working on it. I was in Lokossa the other day, running errands such as paying the water bill and mailing the answers to ... read more

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 start to walk away. “Okay okay okay.” With the subtlest of nods my price is agreed on and away we go. Yes, this happens every single time. I pass by a couple of villages that are also home to some of the women I work with. I wave on passing by, even ... read more