lauren laughs

i’ve pointed you to rob’s blog a few times before, because really, there’ s just too much here for one girl to cover. it helps to have blogging friends. but rob also has a series of videos on youtube that will give you an even better idea of life in benin, as well as life with the baker family, if you’re interested… it is one of my homes away from home!

click here to see rob’s videos.

i’ll try to upload some of my own one day… i’m also thinking of podcasting. wouldn’t that be fun? but first things first. the apartment hunt continues. and school starts tomorrow!! (we think…)

apartment update… i looked at one yesterday that was great, but too big and too expensive. 3 bedrooms, living room, huge kitchen, huge terrace, 2 bathrooms… $275. i know. you think it’s a steal, but it’s over my budget. plus, 3 bedrooms is really more responsibility than i need! i saw two over the weekend that were waaaay to dark and dreary.

the good news is that starting tomorrow, i get to dog sit for some friends, AND stay in their house with hot running water! not that i’d want a hot shower at this point. the temperatures are climbing here, and i’m waiting for my body to adjust.

which reminds me… something weird about this place… while i basically sweat all the time, i find there is no such thing as BO. i guess when you sweat enough, it just stops smelling? an odd discovery, i know, but intriguing enough to share with the broader public, i think.

i’ve been told the mail situation gets a little crazy(er) in december, so anyone wishing to send christmas cards or gifts should do so now. not that i’m expecting anything, but i was relaying this message to my mom yesterday and thought i might is well just share the news with the world. so here are some mailing do’s and dont’s:

do send mail to my po box
Lauren Robbins, JPC-Benin
06 BP 2250
Cotonou, Benin

envelopes (and padded envelopes) should go straight to my po, but boxes will go to the airport, where i’ll have to go through customs, which is fine, just take note of the following…

don’t include receipts or any price tags
do write “donation” clearly
do low-ball the value of contents
do realize it may never reach me 🙂
don’t let that discourage you!! 🙂
don’t giftwrap items

it may also be good to include a letter saying the contents of the box are a donation and not for re-sale, but only if you’re sending lots of stuff.

if what you send is intended for christmas, just write “xmas” somewhere on the box, and i’ll do my best not to see what’s in it while customs people sort through the contents, k?

again, envelopes avoid all this mess, so good gift ideas could include pictures or a mix cd of all the new music i’m missing!

sitting in the hot sun, working on my permanent farmer’s tan, sweating up a storm… i look out at the thousands of faces in the market and think, ‘this is the life.’ not forever, but for now, for sure.

the dantokpa market is the busiest in cotonou. it’s not a place the yovo frequent. but today i went with pelagie and juliette to shop for fabric. i bought 6 meters of two different wax colored cloths. i picked one and juliette chose the other. i wish i could take pictures of the market so you could see what i see, but carrying a camera is asking to be mugged. i could sit for hours and people watch, though. i did sit on a stool for about half an hour to do just that. i bought “fan milk” (frozen yogurt in a pouch) for $0.20 and sucked on the cold vanilla flavor while feasting my eyes on the sites and colors.

after the market, i went to juliette’s house. like most people here, juliette lives in a concession, which are little rooms off a central open space, sharing water and bathrooms. they’re like miniature villages. augustinne, living in the same concession, makes clothes. she took my measurements and my fabric. i’ll have two new african outfits in a week’s time. while visiting chez juliette and augustinne, i was offered lunch. i can never get used to taking food from people who have so little, but they see it as a blessing, so i accept… it’s a good thing i like food so much! the kids living in the concession thought it was so funny to see a yovo in their house. they were shocked when i sat on the floor, but pelagie explained, “she is a missionary, she will accept anything.” i laughed and said, “c’est vrai! it’s true!”

the kids wanted to touch my skin, my nails, my hair. i smiled as one of them counted to see if i too had 5 toes on each foot. i mean really, what could be better? these are the moments i have to hold in my heart when i feel discouraged.

i went to a concert friday night with some friends. benin’s president sponsored the event and the proceeds from ticket sales went to the president’s anti-corruption efforts. the singer, tiken jah fakoly, is a reggae artist from cote d’ivoire. the concert was supposed to start at 8pm. in typically african fashion, peeps started wondering into the concert hall around 11pm as the opening acts got started a mere 3 hours late. never before has the term “acts” been taken so literally, as each artist lip-synched to his own music. it wasn’t even discreet! but finally, at midnight, the real show began, and tiken jah fakoly was not one to lip-synch. from what i could tell, he was a pretty talented lyricist and musician. the crowd loved him, though i was pretty pooped when he finished at 2am. anyway, it was a good experience, and i’m glad to do my part to fight corruption here in benin… hmm… i wonder how that money will be spent?

perhaps you’ve played jenga. perhaps you’ve even ventured to play ultimate jenga. but have you mastered the game? to be a “jenga expert,” one must achieve a whopping 30 levels of jenga blocks, which nicholas and i surpassed today, setting a new cotonou record of 34 levels. if you think your jenga skills are superior to ours, we invite you to cotonou to challenge us. game on.

so this week was a special treat for a number of reasons, ron & ruth chief among them. r&r work for yfc, and their job is to provide pastoral care to all the missionaries. they email me regularly, asking how they can pray and offering encouraging words, they send me cards, and once a year they visit me for some face-to-face time. i’m sure it’s no coincidence that their visit came the day after my semi-mental-breakdown sunday. it was a quick visit, but we accomplished quite a bit. the three of us spent 2 nights at the baptist guesthouse, where i enjoyed laundry machines and hot showers, we ate some delicious meals, and we even traveled a bit. there is a village in benin in the middle of a lake, not on an island, but on stilts. they call it “africa’s venice” though it’s completely different. once i get some pictures, i’ll tell you the full history of ganvie. it’s pretty amazing. r&r, who have visited 60 different countries, had never seen anything like it. anyway, ganvie was cool, but the most amazing part of the trip was just the blessing of r&r’s presence. i cried when they left, but i feel more refreshed than i do sad.

tonight i had “tea” with madelaine, ruth and micah (kids of rob and lois). good times, good times. these are their dance moves.

if you’re ever in cotonou and desperate to get clean clothes, you’ll be happy to know that the baptist guest house has a FULL size washer and dryer, which you can use for $3 a load. i feel like a new woman.