Update

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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 also saw a long, green, slender snake with a distinct blue head on the door of the unused room. Koudjo thought that it might be trying to eat the swallows’ eggs. It was a beautiful snake, but not in my animal book.
March 8th, every year, is International Women’s Day. The Girls’ Club made posters to hang around town. A few examples of the posters are:
- Every Girl at School!
- Two heads are better than one; Both men and women are necessary in the development of Benin!
- Continue the Fight for Women’s Rights!
- She is your Mother, Grandmother, Aunt, Sister, and Cousin, and she loves you!
Etc., etc. We hung them up around town the Tuesday night before. I had bought kind of expensive glue for the two groups, but once we got started, we learned that akassa works much better. And, Yolande could snack.
So after all our work, the Wednesday came and we hadn’t even planned a party for ourselves. I took them to the buvette, and we all got drunk. Okay, just kidding. We all had a pop. It was fun.
The Sisters sucked me in to teaching English in two half-hour sections one day a week for four weeks. Gah! English! And then Mathurin found out, so after Easter, I will be giving the same helping-my-friends-because-they-help-me, four-lesson English course. Maybe, hopefully, I am planning on asking that next year I can do the same thing for environmental education. I would like that much, much more, and I think my friends just really will like having me in their school. If needed, I can add some fun English things. Gah, English!
I also just helped Patrice finish planting 8000 acacia trees. Eight thousand. We had gathered about 4000 seeds, and then another order came in a couple of weeks later for another 4000, so we had to dig up the little seedlings beneath the trees and replant them in the nursery. That was a chore. And the work continues- we still have teak trees to plant, and mango trees to graft, and a few other species to start. Lots of good dirt work. I like it.
CLAC-the Man and I just held the UNO tournament. We didn’t have as many kids as we thought we would, but most of the girls from the club were present, and a few other neighborhood friends. We held the tournament the first Wednesday of Easter break, so I think there were quite a few other options that afternoon, like basketball or ping-pong, etc. Each of the ten who played won a notebook and one blue pen and one green pen. The two winners (both from the girls’ club, which kind of annoyed CLAC-the Man, bwa ha ha) won a brand-new package of UNO too. We had a good time.
My dear friends called me at 3h. Yes, that is three o’clock in the morning. But, I talked to Nancy, Kate, Chrissy, and brand-new Clare! All at the same time! We talked for a good bit about memories, but also about what was going on at the moment, like, that Clare was sleeping and so was I. Also, that with the rain, my toes were kind of cold at night. Lovely.
Along with memories, I was thinking of the turkey story from last years’ Discovery Day at good ol’ Benedictine College. If you are not familiar with the story, you are definitely missing out on a good laugh. I will give you the gist, though nothing compares to the real-life re-enactment: I spotted a wild turkey in the alley while walking home from the school. Humorous events followed: trapping the turkey in the neighbors garage, meeting my kind and very muscle-y neighbor Bill for the first time, taking a tour of his home, attic and basement included, while waiting for Hillbilly John, the man who knew how to catch turkeys because he had emus, and then the capture of the turkey while watching Bill help by running from the turkey.
Thinking of this story made me want to re-create it for someone here in Benin. I realized, though, that the only laugh I might receive would be from my turkey impersonation (person inturkenation?). Otherwise, what’s strange about a large, edible bird being in your yard? And of course I would have already known my neighbor and his home, because his home would be very similar to mine, and if we wanted to catch the turkey, meaning we wanted to eat it, we would just tell some kids to go do it. The kids would kill it and clean it too.
Kind of killed my great turkey story.
I think I know my friends here fairly well, even though culture keeps us from laughing at each other’s stories. I love them, I really do, but culture holds us ever just a little bit apart.
Today is the second round of elections in Benin for the presidency. I promise that I am in Athieme, as I was instructed. You can ask Elisabeth, who is “reading” old National Geographic magazines. The elections are between Yayi Boni and Adrien Houngbedji. The second round is exactly two weeks after the first. (Since writing this entry, Yayi Boni has been elected President of the Republique du Benin.)
Also, since this is an update, Orion is no longer in the about-22h-night sky. Still studying the book and the sky to find Virgo and Ursa Major, just to start. Also today, Wednesday, March 29, 2006, starting roughly at 10h, there was a full eclipse of the sun! It was soooo cool. Not only that I got to see it, with the safety glasses, but that the late morning that is usually already hot was like night, and was actually cool. It was totally bizarre, but definitely amazing.

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Photos

Bored Koffidjin
Koffi asked me why I didn't have a television. How else, Koffi, would I get these great photos?

UNO Champs!
Yay for endless UNO!!

Prizes
Everyone who played got something, and those who didn't play were sad.

Corkscrew
Since when do I have corkscrew curls? Since sweating in rainy season in equatorial Africa.

International Women
The Girls of the Girls' Club drink a pop. (I am from Kansas; even in Africa I say "pop")

Voila!
Bino #1

Bino #2
Photographer/ornithologist apprentice Elisabeth.

The Garden
There are many more plants now, but this is the garden. Lots of Acacia... That's Patrice walking by.

Comments

[Nancy]

Eclipse
I was sooo jealous of you on the day of the eclipse. I am still really jealous.

[Greta]

Corkscrew
I remember you being the most curly headed of all of us. Especially on nice humid days the hair at your neck would curl into perfect little corkscrews just like that one.