An Extra-Ordinary Weekend

SO I came to Cotonou this weekend really for one thing- my friend Kara's Halloween Party. So, I left my house Saturday morning and made a stop in Porto-Novo to visit my couturier, she has made me some really great dresses- 2, maybe 3 of which I can wear when I go home (as summer dresses anyway) so I was really excited about that- now I have cloths that fit me! Oh, it was really funny the last time I got my measurements retaken. I have been going to the same woman since about 2 months into my training in Porto-Novo so she has my measurements from then. I have lost about 10 cm, or around 4 inches all around my body, that was pretty telling, no wonder I'm swimming in the cloths that I had made last year! OK, so after I that I stopped and bought a dictionary for one of the kids in my class I headed to Cotonou. After a traffic jam and a nap, I was in Cotonou.

I lucked out this weekend because the wifi is actually working well and so I got to skype with my mom, who I talk to pretty regularly but I love getting to see. Then it was off to the party where I was dressed as a 'Marche Mama' meaning that I was wearing 4 pagnas (2m long pieces of fabric) and had a bucket full of cookies on my head. It was a really fun party which ended with most of us up on the roof of the building watching the stars and the clouds and the airplanes take off from the only airport in Benin. Also, its always a good idea to take cookies into a room of drunken PCVs.

So the next morning I was here at the PC office and realized that there is no school on Monday because it is All Saints Day and as I wasnt really feeling up to the taxi/moto ride back to post I decided to stay for another day. Sunday night was a much calmer affair. My friend Laura and I made this really great chili, which I bought a TON of veggies for. Because I dont get many different vegetables at post, when I am standing in front of all that produce my eyes get a little bigger than my stomach. So in the chili there were tomatoes, shallots, zucchini, carrots and eggplant. It ended up being more of a stew with beans than a chili, but with liberal amounts of chili powder and taco seasoning it did taste like a very tasty chili. Then we took our hot, spicy chili up to the TV room here and blasted the air conditioning to simulate winter while watching 'White Christmas'. This is how we pretend that it is winter in Benin and also how I will attempt to prepare myself for the cold this Christmas in London.

So this is Monday and I will head back to post. My APCD (the boss of the TEFL volunteers) is coming tomorrow on Post Visit and will see a class of mine and also inspect my house and ask me a bunch of questions so wish me luck!