Ms. Kraus' Class

---

Dear Ms. Kraus’ Class:

1) My dear Jacob-

No, I did not eat the snake I found on my porch. What actually happened was that a friend of mine found out that another guy had trapped the snake, so the two of them came to my home, knowing I like animals. Usually I like to see animals alive, but I didn’t mind seeing the puff adder on my porch dead. Much safer to handle that way. At first I really did not want to touch him, but I decided I wanted the picture. I washed my hands really well afterwards.

2) Tyler-

What it’s like where I am? Well, Athieme itself is a nice little town of about 9,000 inhabitants. It was once the colonial capital, so there are a lot of colonial-style buildings, including most of the homes in my neighborhood. There are the typical mud huts too, though, with the thatched roofs and dirt floors, no electricity, and water from a well.
The weather is hot, and getting hotter. We were supposed to have had Harmattan, which is the cool and dry time of year, but the coolness did not arrive. Now we are going into the hot dry season. Ugh. The mangos are ripening on the trees, and in another month or so, I will be wading through mangos. I am really looking forward to the rainy season, which will still be hot, but at least there will be rain. Otherwise, sometimes the weather is cool enough that I am comfortable and all my friends are cold. I laugh at them.
My town is lovely. In comparison to other towns I have been to, Athieme is well educated and has a little higher average income. That’s Athieme itself though, not the villages surrounding. The towns around Athieme are typical African villages, with public wells and mud hut communes and goats and pigs and chickens. There are goats and pigs and chickens in Athieme too. Athieme is a pretty town, but as usual, there is no trash collection. Women sweep and burn the trash piles, but between those clean-up days, the streets get full of market bags and other plastic trash, and food waste. People want it to be clean, though, so maybe a system will get organized. I have to move on to the next question, or else I will go on and on.

3) My day, Dominic:

My day is going wonderfully. I woke up around 7h and drank some caramel tea and wrote a letter, then went to the mass at the Catholic Church, and now I am writing again. I ate a sweet fried bread ball, and later will eat some pounded yams with peanut sauce and Fulani cheese. Yum!

4) Karley:

My “necklace” was probably the coolest thing I have worn since being in Benin. And I mean physically cool, nice and smooth and cool. He (she?) did not bite me, but did want to tuck his head into my shirt. There were so many snakes!

5) Trenton-

Things are going so well. I really do like Benin. Some things are very hard to watch, like people gathering un-safe water to drink, or moto-accidents, or knowing how poor some people really are. I have to remember for whom I am working. But Benin is everything included in the description of friendly and welcoming, with those few jerks that one finds in every society. I feel safe and secure and very comfortable.

6) My darling Cheyenne-

The snake was on my porch because I invited him there. He left pretty quickly.

7) Linda:

I like my snake necklace too! If I find another one, I can give it to you and we can be twins.

8) Takoda-

I did not eat the snake. People do eat snakes here sometimes. When I taste one I will let you know what it tasted like.

-I have since eaten a snake. Koudjo and Adjo brought over some fried meat, telling me it was something else until I had it in my mouth. They thought they could gross me out, but I just said, “Man, it’s good!” If the book I provided sufficed, the two of them identified the snake as a Puff Adder, the same as the one that was on my porch. To eat a poisonous snake, you quickly remove the head and such soon after its death. I really did like the taste of snake.

9) Maddie dear-

Nope, I don’t eat snakes for dinner everyday.

10) Marcel-

I was nervous living by myself for the fist couple of months. I can’t admit that I was scared, but I was always sure to lock all the doors and was a little jumpy. Now, though, I am entirely at ease. I will be satisfied after the two years here of living alone. I think I will prefer to live with someone for the rest of my life after Benin.

11) Good story about that hole in the tree in the photo: I walked over there to poke my head through, but there was some voodoo gris-gris, so I negatived the action. Negatory, if you will.

Ask me more questions!

---

Photos

Coco Tree
Caught the sun on the not-so-populated road between Athiemegan and Adanlokpe (the neighborhood I still don't quite say correctly...)

Comments

[mom]

thanks!
Thank you for replying to all of our questions! The picture with the snake necklace really got them wondering about things. I know you're busy with lots of things and we appreciate you taking the time. We'll think of more of a variety of questions for next time. Love you to pieces! Did anything ever happen with that West African tale that I sent? I was curious if anyone in Benin had heard that tale before.