lauren laughs

first off, it’s strange for me to walk to the cyber cafe. yes, people walk everywhere, but lots would take a zemi jan (moto taxi) rather than walk 10 minutes in the heat, and yovos are even less likely to walk. still, i like to compare it to my walks through federal hill from home to metro (oh, how i miss metro!) the roads are dirt/sand. palm trees are scattered about, but it’s not quite the same effect as the palm lined streets of CA, FL or SC. in fact, the palm trees are so unglamorous, that i didn’t even notice them for sight (maybe because there are so many other cool things to look at), but for sound. the leaves make this clapping sound in the wind. palm leaves are woven together to form walls, roofs, shade, floor mats, hats, anything. so i walk along this dirt road, side stepping piles of trash and standing water. in one spot, the water covers the whole of the road, so i have to walk on a low wall to keep from stepping in it. it’s not that i mind getting wet. i almost prefer to walk in the rain. it’s just that sitting water is a sure way to get sick or get worms… so i walk on the wall. my carpenter and his kids always smile and wave, which makes my day. other kids sing the yovo song, which is known throughout all of cotonou, “yovo, yovo, bon soir! cava bien, merci! yovo, yovo, bon soir! cava bien, merci!” sometimes i smile, sometimes i ignore them (really, the song does get annoying after you hear it for several months), and sometimes i sing with them… which really throws them for a loop. i wait for a few goats and chickens walk past, i try not to get hit by zemi’s, and then i arrive at the cyber café, where edmund (the owner) greets me with a huge smile. he thinks it’s funny that i walk, and offers me a ride back to my home-stay, but i tell him honestly that i like the walk.
this morning a zemi tried to take me to the cyber. i responded (no) in fon, “eh-o.” he laughed. there’s nothing funnier than a yovo speaking fon.

so, back when i was working in the renewable energy world (i do miss that job and my peeps), someone mentioned the idea of a solar backpack. now that i’m here, i’m going to go ahead and say that this would be VERY useful. especially for trips to the village! which i plan to start next week. that should provide some great blogging material…

i was thinking that i’d write a quaint little post about how enchanting my walk to the cyber is, and all the interesting things i see… but then anne marie emailed me this absolutely hilarious video:

and i decided to share it instead. what former spanish teacher wouldn’t appreciate such nonsense?!

so… my visa states that i have to leave the country every 3 months, meaning i have to leave benin by november 8. granted, i could just drive to togo, and i might, but i was really hoping to visit friends that happen to be in tanzania at that time. interestingly enough… it cost about twice as much to travel IN africa as it does to travel OUT of africa. shoot. paris would be cheapest, but who do i know in paris? so, i’m wondering… anyone have friends i can visit in paris or elsewhere?

ron and ruth just sent me some pics from their visit last month. here we are enjoying a coke at a bar on stilts in ganvie (benin’s venice), the village on a lake. you can see appliqué hangings that are typical of benin hanging behind us.

pictured are ron, ruth, alexis and me. alexis is one of the peeps i work with here. he does all our bookkeeping and he speaks english pretty well too! he’s a ray of sunshine in my life.

the past couple nights i’ve gone out with some girlfriends to a little patio bar around the corner from where i’m dog sitting. a lovely beninoise woman just opened the place, and i think we may have been her first customers. i keep going back because i love the sense of pride she exudes. at one point she asked me to follow her to “regardez” look at something, she was so excited, and led me to the bathroom. i wasn’t sure what she meant at first, but then realized she was just glowing with pride at how nice and clean it was, and she wanted me to tell her so. so i gave her as many compliments on the bathroom (which really was nice and clean) as i could think of. each time i go to the bar, she gives me a “cadeau” or gift… last night it was an apple. i shouldn’t have eaten it, since the yovo are supposed to soak their fruits and veggies in bleach water before eating them (unless they’re cooked) to ward of parasites our bodies aren’t used to, but i ate it anyway. it was a cadeau! my stomach seems just fine so far…

so this actually happened about 2 weeks ago, and i didn’t mention it because i didn’t want to alarm anyone, but i hear it made the news back in the states, so here’s a link to the story. there has only been one beheading in benin, but it happened to be in the village where my friend sarah lives. she’s a peace corps volunteer. luckily, she was visiting cotonou, safe and sound… but she is back there now, so please pray for sarah’s peace of mind. and safety. and a good start to the school year.

on the bright side, it’s a very beautiful day in benin today!

i just discovered a bath tub in the house where i’m dog sitting. WOW!

and i’m using a much more posh internet cafe for the next 10 days than i usually get to enjoy, complete with a much faster connection… so i have successfully uploaded a few new pics to my photo gallery. i’ll highlight a few now…

this is one of my many roommates. he’s about 3 inches, in case you can’t tell. i call him gregor (i hope some of you can figure out why.)

this is my carpenter who works in a shack down the road. he was making my bed in this picture, which is waiting in storage for a home.

this is a navy guy and the benin flag on the navy boat that took us out “whale watching” (if you can call it that). you can see the city of cotonou in the background.