UNO and Frisbee

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I like to write in the morning, sitting at an old school desk on a bench on my porch. This morning Papa brought me two fresh baguettes; I am in the process of eating some with honey. I am not alone; Maman is sweeping in front of her door, and Papa and my “sister” Valerie are going in and out, getting ready for the day. Last night I played an endless game of UNO with Maman and Evarise, well, endless until 23h, an hour after I usually go to my room.
Yesterday was a very active day for me; I met Jacy to go running at 6h30 and had a good run. We saw a hunter coming back from his night’s work, probably hunting bush rat. He was wearing a headlamp; that is, a floodlight attached to a generator he carried on his back. I am going to miss running in Aplahoue because there are hills here, which makes a run interesting, but in Athieme everything is flat. Darn river plains…
For class we had a field trip, literally a trip to a field. I followed a farmer on my bike for quite a while. It was a great bike ride, because not only was it far, but on roads I had not been on yet and past people and homes I had not seen. Africa is much more beautiful once out of the towns and off the black top road.
And in the evening I played the most fun game of ultimate Frisbee yet. The stagaires of Aplahoue met the stagaires of Azove for a very intense game. What else made it fun was that our Beninese professors joined us to play too. Watching native soccer players in a game in which they can only take two steps with the “ball” is amusing. We played and played until it was dark. We stood around for a bit chatting, during which Felicie, Brandy, and I had an orange-seed spitting war, eventually including Jacy too. Then we all went to a bar.
My favorite “technical” class was during this week. I partnered up with Brandy to plan an activity to practice for environmental clubs. We had a group of 20 kids, about ten years old on average, and we talked about trees. I had so much fun. We put up a piece of blank paper and had a student draw a tree. Then we asked all kinds of questions that led to all the benefits of trees. Each time a student answered, I had him/her come forward to draw whatever had been said. When a student said firewood, I had her draw a fire. A student said that birds live in trees, so she had to draw a bird. At he end of 15 minutes or so we had a beautiful piece of paper with a big tree surrounded with all the good thing trees provide. I asked how we could conserve trees, and a brilliant student said, “Don’t cut down trees!” I pointed out that sometimes it is necessary to cut down trees, and the class genius said, “Plant another tree each time you cut one down!” Everyone applauded. It was beautiful!
So I bought this honey from the apiculturalists I might be working with. The honey is so very good. I ate a little with just a little peanut butter. I am at the bottom of my jar, and since I don’t know how I will react when I no longer have any, I have stopped eating peanut butter until I can replenish. Just thought I would give you an update.
One other cute story: I have been reading Harry Potter these past two weeks. I found a copy of Harry Potter 5, so I read that before I borrowed Harry Potter 6 (this is why there are not as many letters in the mail, sorry about that). To make up for being so anti-social, I read in the family room. Freujus pulled up a chair to put his feet on as he sat down next to me, reading the dictionary upside-down. This was the best he could do to mimic what I was doing, and he did a very good job! So instead of reading, of course, I looked at the pictures in the dictionary insisted on by the Adja-speaking monster. Yes there is a picture of this. I was reminded immediately of Stuart reading a book upside-down next to me on the toy box at home, only Freujus didn’t have snot tusks. Ha ha! Love ya Stu!
Hope you all are well- ebk

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Comments

[mom]

your best yet
I loved this entry! You don't mind if I steal your lesson on trees, do you? I'll send more pb. Stuart is gonna love you for the tusk comment!

[Lana]

Erika you sound like you are doing a wonderful job. I think that you will surely make an impact on the people and the enviroment. And the part about the book, well i thought of stuart too. How cute! i can't wait to meet these people. love you erika beth!

[Nancy Jo]

SOunds great
We miss you here..and tomorrow I will miss you there..that is the BIG J!haha:)