Medical Update
Although there is nothing wrong with my tooth anymore, there is something very mysterious going on with my back. It keeps waking me up in middle of the night. This is why I have the internet and the time to write on a Monday morning, when I should by all rights be in class. I do hate missing class! Especially in the very, very short second semester. The semesters are not even at all. The first is October through February and the second is March through June. The reasoning is that because many teachers don't actually start teaching until mid or late November that the first one needs to be longer. This makes the second semester really stressful because there ends up being 2 exams that are only a month apart, because of the short semester and the week and a half Easter break. That means that it's really hard to teach the kids enough to put on a final exam in a month, especially when I am laid up in the med unit way too much.
School and Such
School is going really great. I have most of my kids' names down and I have gotten to know most of their families, those of them that live in my village anyway. One of my summer "maybes" is to go to some of the smaller villages around my larger village and meet the families of those students who board in town, but live in the "bush" or in many cases, the "valley", meaning the river valley that boarders the village. I am really looking forward to moving ahead with my students as they go to 4eme (8th grade) and I have been looking ahead to what is in that curricula. First, my mom is sending me a baby name book so that at the beginning of the year I can have them all pick out "American" names like I remember doing in French class. I am also very excited to continue corresponding with a French teacher and her students at home. I just got the letters that my students wrote and they were a riot to read. There is also a section about heath, and one about technology, both of which I want to do special projects about. I was thinking that because I am so close to Porto-Novo maybe I could take them (or some of them anyway) in to town just for a little bit of technology training. Just to show them. Many of them have never seen, much less touched a computer and I think that being computer literate is really important for students in an ever technology-saturated world. I know that I can't teach them to be really good at computers in one day, but I could give them some exposure to computers that they lack at the moment. I can also use the technology unit to get them to listen to the BBC World Service, which comes in very clearly in my village and listen to some honest to God British English for awhile. I also want to really hit on the health unit and I think I will have some of my friendly neighborhood health volunteers come to talk with them about things. This will also be good to get them hearing different American voices than mine (although they do still have problems with my accent from time to time).
General Notes...
I can't believe that the school year is almost over! It does not seem like I am winding down to the end of my first year. I will have Camp GLOW just after school finishes and then I have 3 months of, well, nothing. I don't know what I am going to do with myself! I will probably spend a lot of time traveling to other people's sights, as well as getting a visit to Camille in Senegal in sometime. I also what to work on a mural for the ugly wall that they just put up in front of my school. I should study for the GREs, which I think I will take during my February school break, and of course there are the new volunteers coming in!
All of us here are very, very excited about the new "stage" when we have internet, all of us are constantly stalking the internet trying to find out who is coming. And although it seems like most of them haven't gotten their invitations to Benin yet, we are sure that the flood will start soon and we can't wait to answer the endless questions about Benin (where is that anyway...?) and packing and what the first few months will be like here. Even though I am not working at stage, because I live near Porto-Novo I am really looking forward to getting to know the new stagiers before they get dispersed all over the country.
Easter Break
So because of my tooth issues I decided to spend my break in my village. I figured that out of the 3 weeks leading up to the break, I had been home for the grand total of 5 days- and I really just wanted to rest, hang out with my friends, and not spend any money. It is very easy to not spend money in village, because other than basic produce, there is not much to buy. It was also great to get to catch up on cleaning my house. You would not believe how dirty a house gets when you dont have windows, just wooden slats and screens. When I got back from GAD, there was so much dust on the floor that I left footprints. And that was only not sweeping for a week! I can't imagine what it will be like when I go to Senegal over the summer break or when I go to Europe for Christmas! It was really nice to be home, grade my exams, and not really do much else for a while. I did get a trip in to Porto-Novo and my friend Laura came to visit, so it was really enjoyable.
Parakou GAD Weekend
The GAD dinner is very amazing. It's basically an excuse for all the volunteers to get together, have more fun than should really be allowed, and spend way to much money for a good cause. I did the 10 hour trip to Parakou by my usual moto/taxi route to Cotonou plus an 8 hour bus ride from Cotonou up north. There were a bunch of us who took the same bus so it was as fun as an 8 hour bus ride can be, especially since there was air conditioning. We ended up staying with a PVC who lives in Parakou and has a huge house, there were probably about 20 of us staying there- others stayed at hotels, the Parakou workstation and with other volunteers who live in Parakou.
For me, one of the most fun things was getting ready with everyone. It very strongly reminded me of college, especially when I lived in the dorms, but later even at the Tower apartment, and we were getting ready to go out. Girls running all over the place, giving opinions, doing hair and makeup and borrowing everything that everyone else has. Then taking pictures of it all. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera with me, and it has been acting weird for awhile, so I dont have many pictures, but all of my friends do and I will try to get some from them.
The name "GAD Dinner" is a bit of a misnomer, as during the weekend there are actually 2 main events, and both include dinner. Friday night is the Date Auction and Talent Show. The talent show had a very small showing this year, which is planning on being remedied next year, but those who did perform were really great, there was one dance act and one singing act and we all thought they were great. The date auction, which is best kept toward the end of the evening when people are less attached to their living allowances, was very very interesting indeed. Basically, people auction themselves off and all the proceeds go to GAD. For example I bought 2 "dates"- one for an hour and a half of massage and one with a friend for a bike tour of Park W with a volunteer who lives right by it. I'm really looking forward to both, even if I did spend twice as much as I meant too... oops.
Saturday was the only real day that we had in Parakou and mostly it was great just to hang out with everyone, especially those who I dont get to see very often. And also, to eat. We made French toast that morning, and then in the afternoon we went to a place called Sunfoods and got cheeseburgers, milkshakes and fries. Umm. After all of that (and a nap) it was time to get ready for the GAD Dinner part of GAD weekend. This affair starts off as a very sedate (as sedate as PCVs get anyway) silent auction and dinner. I didn't have much money at this point, so even though I was in a little bit of a bidding war with another PCV over some little bronze giraffes, what I did end up winning were 2 woven bracelets and a huge number of seeds to plant. The seeds I am really excited to start with once I can afford to buy some planters for my porch. The dinner was very good, I had vegetarian lasagna, so good in fact that I felt the sting in the roof of my mouth for days after I tried to eat it too fast. Then, there was music and dancing, and the most important factor, a swimming pool. My memories get a little hazy here... I do remember being thrown in, some rather entertaining chicken fights and dancing until the wee smalls. Eventually though, I did get some sleep and then I did make it to the 6am bus back down to Cotonou. It was definitely some of the best times I have had thus far in Benin, and I can't wait to do it again next year!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
To make up for my last post...
Be sure to check out my new pictures on facebook!
In Cotonou on my way to GAD weekend! More about that later!
March 19, 2010
Lizard Wars
At about 2 am last night I woke up to this incredible noise coming from my ceiling. I’m pretty sure that there were two lizards having a turf war up there. I have seen this between lizards before. Mind you these are not the little house geckos that run up and down my walls, these are big, ugly lizards with orange, yellow or red heads and tails- if they have tails, many of them don’t (I assume battle wounds). The scratching, pounding noises made their own images to me in the dark. What happens is that both lizards do push-ups at each other, and then one of them lunges and either misses or grabs a hold of the neck of the other lizard and sakes, hard. This leads to a scuffle, until the unlucky lizard escapes and the process starts over again. Last night, this went on for about 2 hours, loud enough that even blasting my iPod I couldn’t block it out (not to mention with my iPod that loud I can’t sleep!). So it was a fun night.
The Rains Have Come!
In other news, the dry season is over! It has rained (REALLY RAINED, HARD) three times in the last week. The whole village and everything around has changed. My area is green year-round, but with the rain that green has gotten more lush and has added about 30 shades. The heavy rains have also increased my concern for the amount of erosion that is going on in my village. Because it is on a hill, slopping down to the river, every time it rains extreme amounts of water make all the “streets” into muddy rivers. Last week while I was walking to school after a rainstorm in the afternoon, I took a false step and ended up in a sink hole halfway to my knee. I had to fish for my sandal in the mud. Luckily, I found it! When I got to class my students told me “Madame, your foot is dirty!” I had tried to get most of the mud off at the pump at the school, but without something to scrub with, the tiny grains of dirt wouldn’t come out of my skin! Back to what I was actually talking about- erosion. The cure for erosion here is that after it rains, women go down to the river and put dirt in a huge basin (what they use to wash cloths and dishes and small children), then they carry the dirt back to where it had been before. I suppose this is better than doing nothing, but there has to be something more! So while I was stuck in Cotonou this week I talked to the APCD (department head- I forget what it stands for) for EA (Environmental Action) so that they can check out the situation here to get an EA volunteer when I leave. I thought about trying to get one for next year, but the more I think about it the more I want a PCV to end up with my awesome (and fully furnished) house. Also, I kind of like having my village to myself, even if during the first few months here I was dying for want of a post-mate.
Ironically, it just started raining again. Listening to the rain outside is so soothing, the sound, the smell, the cool, the wet, are all extremely comforting to me. The smell especially. You would think that Seattle rain and Benin rain would have a different smell, but they don’t. It still has that tinny smell that makes my teeth tingle and reminds me of eating caned tomatoes. I love to sit on my porch with a mug of tea and watch the rain, and to take a shower in it. The rain comes fast enough off the roof that it makes a real shower, even if it is freezing cold. And often now it also comes with thunder and lightening. When there is a storm at school it amazes me that my students here are also scared of thunder and lightening, just like kids at home. The reason this surprises me is that children here often seem so much like miniature adults. They work more than most of the adults around, as well as going to school. And because of how much they work it can be easy to forget that they really are children, until they show fear at a storm, or break into a joyous dance and song. That’s one of the reasons I love singing in class, it brings out the children that sometimes can disappear behind very adult eyes and faces.
To Future Benin Volunteers…
So I can’t help but remembering that at this time last year I was just learning that I was coming to Benin. Not only because its that time of year, but also because we have filled out our applications to work at the 2010 Stage (Training). I also very well remember the anxiety that went into planning, packing and saying good-by, especially the packing. Somewhere near the beginning of this blog there is an exhaustive packing list. I’m not going to say that you shouldn’t worry about packing (I was told that and it was really frustrating), instead I am going to tell you the things that I packed that I use the most that are not immediately obvious.
1. My iPod speakers. I got Sonic Impact iF3, which are a little pricy but totally worth it. Basically you want some with 3 basic requirements: 1.Battery power, I mean that they charge on AC/DC- that way when the power goes out your alarm clock still works, 2. Radio-I listen to the BBC all the time, I’m listening to it right now, I do wish I could get VOA though, 3. Decent sound quality- you don’t want to not be able to hear what your playing over, its also really fun to put on Western music and then dance African style with your neighbours.
2. Computer- this was a big discussion on our facebook page, but really, you want it. A lot of people have cheap netbooks (including me) and have no problems with them. I am at post, writing my blog, right now. This means I can type a blog in advance and save myself a ton of money in internet time. I can also calculate grades a lot faster. Not to mention I can download movies, music, and books as well as get them from everyone else. You also need an external hard-drive of a decent size. And virus protection, because internet cafes are VERY viral.
3. Lesson Plan Book- obviously just for TEFL volunteers, you can also get it sent!
4. Sony Reader- I can get new books! Its also really great for when the electricity goes out, because it has a built-in light, and for long trips, because I read really quickly. Its preferable to the Kindle because as long as you register it at home you have no problem downloading, whereas I have heard that Kindle has issues.
5. A Real Pillow- the ones here really suck and I’m pretty sure I never would have slept during stage if I hadn’t had it. Get a Space Bag, it won’t take up that much space.
6. A Real Towel- I just brought a swim towel with me and after a month and a half of using just that I almost cried when I got one in the mail. I should have just brought one. Besides, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” advises it, so you can’t go wrong.
I think that’s about it. Cloths, keep it light, tank tops are really fine, just don’t show your bra straps (really- that’s what the Beninese will judge you for), at least that’s how it is in the south, where you will be training. By the end of stage you will have a better idea, and you will have had cloths made here anyway. Long shorts are fine too- but girls should keep is below the knee. Leather flip-flops (Rainbows) are fine too, that‘s all I wear. Just remember when your packing that you can get sent pretty much anything (except electronics) and you can also get stuff sent (or send it to yourself before you leave). This is especially true for any household items, as your host family will take care of you for the first 2 months.
HOT TIP: I got away with overweight luggage by telling the airline that I had a government-bought ticket getting to Philadelphia and it wasn’t a problem after that. Apparently they are not supposed to charge you over if you work for the federal government (in most cases the military) but mostly I think it has to do with how sympathetic the desk agent is.
We look forward to meeting you, really! If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment. And someone please start a facebook group!
The World is Going Crazy, except Benin
Recently, West Africa has been in the news a bunch, at least on the BBC. Nigeria is having all sorts of problems (were not allowed to go there), Niger just had a coup, and Togo is having trouble during their elections (we’re not allowed to go there temporarily too). And those are just the countries that share boarders with Benin! There are other things going on in Guinea, the Gambia, and probably others that I haven/t heard about. You’d think with all of that that Benin would be a little crazy too, but not here. Benin just marches along, to its own drummer you might say. As far as I have seen, Christians and Muslims get along well, because everyone is a traditional animalist anyway. The military is too busy trying to control the totally porous Nigerian boarder to stage a coup. And people are generally just happy to put pate on the nat (the Beninese version of bread on the table) to care too much what happens in Cotonou and Porto-Novo.
The Problem With My Tooth
I have a problem. Since I got here I have discovered that I love bone marrow, mostly of chickens, but goat is good too. So last Saturday I was in Cotonou, having dinner at a place popularly called (by PCVs) “Fish and Chips”, when I bit on a chicken bone in an attempt to get at the marrow. I popped a filling. Now I need a root canal, says the Beninese dentist who has the nicest office I’ve ever been in. The problem with that (other than it really hurts) is that to get a root canal I have to go to South Africa. Now, I know what your thinking‘,” oh… poor Glenna, she has to have a free vacation of South Africa, boo hoo.” The thing is that I don’t want to miss school. Especially this close to the end of the year I really need to be around, because if I spend even 3 days in South Africa that’s 5 days I’d miss of school (one day for travel both ways) , and that’s basically a whole unit that I would miss. However, if this had to happen eventually it could not have happened at a better time. If I can get it taken care of in the next two weeks, I’m golden, but I have to get approval from D.C. first, so hopefully that will go well. Wish me luck!
In Cotonou on my way to GAD weekend! More about that later!
March 19, 2010
Lizard Wars
At about 2 am last night I woke up to this incredible noise coming from my ceiling. I’m pretty sure that there were two lizards having a turf war up there. I have seen this between lizards before. Mind you these are not the little house geckos that run up and down my walls, these are big, ugly lizards with orange, yellow or red heads and tails- if they have tails, many of them don’t (I assume battle wounds). The scratching, pounding noises made their own images to me in the dark. What happens is that both lizards do push-ups at each other, and then one of them lunges and either misses or grabs a hold of the neck of the other lizard and sakes, hard. This leads to a scuffle, until the unlucky lizard escapes and the process starts over again. Last night, this went on for about 2 hours, loud enough that even blasting my iPod I couldn’t block it out (not to mention with my iPod that loud I can’t sleep!). So it was a fun night.
The Rains Have Come!
In other news, the dry season is over! It has rained (REALLY RAINED, HARD) three times in the last week. The whole village and everything around has changed. My area is green year-round, but with the rain that green has gotten more lush and has added about 30 shades. The heavy rains have also increased my concern for the amount of erosion that is going on in my village. Because it is on a hill, slopping down to the river, every time it rains extreme amounts of water make all the “streets” into muddy rivers. Last week while I was walking to school after a rainstorm in the afternoon, I took a false step and ended up in a sink hole halfway to my knee. I had to fish for my sandal in the mud. Luckily, I found it! When I got to class my students told me “Madame, your foot is dirty!” I had tried to get most of the mud off at the pump at the school, but without something to scrub with, the tiny grains of dirt wouldn’t come out of my skin! Back to what I was actually talking about- erosion. The cure for erosion here is that after it rains, women go down to the river and put dirt in a huge basin (what they use to wash cloths and dishes and small children), then they carry the dirt back to where it had been before. I suppose this is better than doing nothing, but there has to be something more! So while I was stuck in Cotonou this week I talked to the APCD (department head- I forget what it stands for) for EA (Environmental Action) so that they can check out the situation here to get an EA volunteer when I leave. I thought about trying to get one for next year, but the more I think about it the more I want a PCV to end up with my awesome (and fully furnished) house. Also, I kind of like having my village to myself, even if during the first few months here I was dying for want of a post-mate.
Ironically, it just started raining again. Listening to the rain outside is so soothing, the sound, the smell, the cool, the wet, are all extremely comforting to me. The smell especially. You would think that Seattle rain and Benin rain would have a different smell, but they don’t. It still has that tinny smell that makes my teeth tingle and reminds me of eating caned tomatoes. I love to sit on my porch with a mug of tea and watch the rain, and to take a shower in it. The rain comes fast enough off the roof that it makes a real shower, even if it is freezing cold. And often now it also comes with thunder and lightening. When there is a storm at school it amazes me that my students here are also scared of thunder and lightening, just like kids at home. The reason this surprises me is that children here often seem so much like miniature adults. They work more than most of the adults around, as well as going to school. And because of how much they work it can be easy to forget that they really are children, until they show fear at a storm, or break into a joyous dance and song. That’s one of the reasons I love singing in class, it brings out the children that sometimes can disappear behind very adult eyes and faces.
To Future Benin Volunteers…
So I can’t help but remembering that at this time last year I was just learning that I was coming to Benin. Not only because its that time of year, but also because we have filled out our applications to work at the 2010 Stage (Training). I also very well remember the anxiety that went into planning, packing and saying good-by, especially the packing. Somewhere near the beginning of this blog there is an exhaustive packing list. I’m not going to say that you shouldn’t worry about packing (I was told that and it was really frustrating), instead I am going to tell you the things that I packed that I use the most that are not immediately obvious.
1. My iPod speakers. I got Sonic Impact iF3, which are a little pricy but totally worth it. Basically you want some with 3 basic requirements: 1.Battery power, I mean that they charge on AC/DC- that way when the power goes out your alarm clock still works, 2. Radio-I listen to the BBC all the time, I’m listening to it right now, I do wish I could get VOA though, 3. Decent sound quality- you don’t want to not be able to hear what your playing over, its also really fun to put on Western music and then dance African style with your neighbours.
2. Computer- this was a big discussion on our facebook page, but really, you want it. A lot of people have cheap netbooks (including me) and have no problems with them. I am at post, writing my blog, right now. This means I can type a blog in advance and save myself a ton of money in internet time. I can also calculate grades a lot faster. Not to mention I can download movies, music, and books as well as get them from everyone else. You also need an external hard-drive of a decent size. And virus protection, because internet cafes are VERY viral.
3. Lesson Plan Book- obviously just for TEFL volunteers, you can also get it sent!
4. Sony Reader- I can get new books! Its also really great for when the electricity goes out, because it has a built-in light, and for long trips, because I read really quickly. Its preferable to the Kindle because as long as you register it at home you have no problem downloading, whereas I have heard that Kindle has issues.
5. A Real Pillow- the ones here really suck and I’m pretty sure I never would have slept during stage if I hadn’t had it. Get a Space Bag, it won’t take up that much space.
6. A Real Towel- I just brought a swim towel with me and after a month and a half of using just that I almost cried when I got one in the mail. I should have just brought one. Besides, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” advises it, so you can’t go wrong.
I think that’s about it. Cloths, keep it light, tank tops are really fine, just don’t show your bra straps (really- that’s what the Beninese will judge you for), at least that’s how it is in the south, where you will be training. By the end of stage you will have a better idea, and you will have had cloths made here anyway. Long shorts are fine too- but girls should keep is below the knee. Leather flip-flops (Rainbows) are fine too, that‘s all I wear. Just remember when your packing that you can get sent pretty much anything (except electronics) and you can also get stuff sent (or send it to yourself before you leave). This is especially true for any household items, as your host family will take care of you for the first 2 months.
HOT TIP: I got away with overweight luggage by telling the airline that I had a government-bought ticket getting to Philadelphia and it wasn’t a problem after that. Apparently they are not supposed to charge you over if you work for the federal government (in most cases the military) but mostly I think it has to do with how sympathetic the desk agent is.
We look forward to meeting you, really! If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment. And someone please start a facebook group!
The World is Going Crazy, except Benin
Recently, West Africa has been in the news a bunch, at least on the BBC. Nigeria is having all sorts of problems (were not allowed to go there), Niger just had a coup, and Togo is having trouble during their elections (we’re not allowed to go there temporarily too). And those are just the countries that share boarders with Benin! There are other things going on in Guinea, the Gambia, and probably others that I haven/t heard about. You’d think with all of that that Benin would be a little crazy too, but not here. Benin just marches along, to its own drummer you might say. As far as I have seen, Christians and Muslims get along well, because everyone is a traditional animalist anyway. The military is too busy trying to control the totally porous Nigerian boarder to stage a coup. And people are generally just happy to put pate on the nat (the Beninese version of bread on the table) to care too much what happens in Cotonou and Porto-Novo.
The Problem With My Tooth
I have a problem. Since I got here I have discovered that I love bone marrow, mostly of chickens, but goat is good too. So last Saturday I was in Cotonou, having dinner at a place popularly called (by PCVs) “Fish and Chips”, when I bit on a chicken bone in an attempt to get at the marrow. I popped a filling. Now I need a root canal, says the Beninese dentist who has the nicest office I’ve ever been in. The problem with that (other than it really hurts) is that to get a root canal I have to go to South Africa. Now, I know what your thinking‘,” oh… poor Glenna, she has to have a free vacation of South Africa, boo hoo.” The thing is that I don’t want to miss school. Especially this close to the end of the year I really need to be around, because if I spend even 3 days in South Africa that’s 5 days I’d miss of school (one day for travel both ways) , and that’s basically a whole unit that I would miss. However, if this had to happen eventually it could not have happened at a better time. If I can get it taken care of in the next two weeks, I’m golden, but I have to get approval from D.C. first, so hopefully that will go well. Wish me luck!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Update...
Not so much going on here...
Its amazing how, well, normal and boring life is. In a good way. It's like home. I live my life, make food, go to work, hang out with my friends. The surroundings are different, but life is still life. I feel like I'm really hitting my stride with things and I feel really comfortable with my life here. Hope you all like the pictures of my kids! Next year, I think I am going to let them all pick out American names (now that I know there real names), I'm also laying the ground work to start a girl's club, so that girls can have a safe forum where they can talk about issues that are important to them, but can be a little taboo.
Anyway, all's well! And I'm excited for spring break when ill have some time to travel!
Love! -G
Its amazing how, well, normal and boring life is. In a good way. It's like home. I live my life, make food, go to work, hang out with my friends. The surroundings are different, but life is still life. I feel like I'm really hitting my stride with things and I feel really comfortable with my life here. Hope you all like the pictures of my kids! Next year, I think I am going to let them all pick out American names (now that I know there real names), I'm also laying the ground work to start a girl's club, so that girls can have a safe forum where they can talk about issues that are important to them, but can be a little taboo.
Anyway, all's well! And I'm excited for spring break when ill have some time to travel!
Love! -G
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
The New Year...
January 30, 2009
Is the Super Bowl this weekend? Or was it last? Who played? Why do I care? Who had the best commercial? I have no idea why I need to know this, but it suddenly occurred to me that I want to know- and I also have an intense craving for cream cheese bean dip.
First of all, I really want to thank all of you for your donations for Camp GLOW. I know that the economy is not the best and that extra money is always scarce after Christmas, but I really, really appreciate it, and the girls that will benefit from the camp thank you too!
Anyway, the posting of this blog (the 4th or 5th) marks the end of my longest continuous stay at post. During “lock down” (the first three months at post) I made the mistake of calling the doctors whenever any little something health-wise. If I lived further from Cotonou this would not be a problem, but because it’s only 2 hours from Cotonou they would make me come in for things that either could have waited or they could have told me what to do on the phone. So during “lock-down”, while I stayed every night at post, there were several harried and hurried trips to town, which I hate doing, FYI. It’s so much nicer to be able to even stay one night and then come back.
So the last month has been interesting. Because I spent Christmas at the Med-Unit in Cotonou, I am super broke this month. (We got paid on the 23rd, because of the holiday). So I have been doing my own laundry and hauling my own water this month (yes, I’m that broke) and I have decided that I kinda like it. Not to mention that if I pull my own well water for 2 years, my arms will look amazingly toned when I get home!
The Oweme Festival was not what I thought it was, but it was fun! For one thing, we didn’t miss class, which was a blessing. The festival lasted for 5 days (Wed-Sun), there were speeches, music and dancing and some little booths where I wished I had money to by things. Its always fun to hang out with my students too. Especially when they convince me to dance, pretty much so they can laugh at me. (I’m pretty glad that there’s no photographic evidence).
The first weekend of the New Year, I bought a new cat. My friend Kara went to the marche with me. We were at Marche Ouando in Porto-Novo, which I hate. Its too big and everybody just screams “yovo, yovo, yovo” at you. Kara decided that I was a bad person when I splashed water on a beggar with no feet because he grabbed my arm while I was opening a water bottle. (Sorry, Mom) I was just pissed off at Ouando already and being forcefully grabbed just really pushed the wrong button. So we got to the live animals section (cats, dogs, chickens, turtles) and a woman there actually TOOK my water bottle from me. I had to pry it out of her hands (I paid for cold, clean water, I’m not just gonna give it to some woman because she thinks that because I’m white I can afford it- did I mention I hate Ouando?). The lady charged me too much (1500 CFA) for a very tiny, emaciated kitten. I don’t know why I didn’t barter better, but I think it had something to do with this woman shoving tiny, starving, dehydrated kittens in my face. I asked for a girl, because boy kittens spray. Kara and I went to get some soy milk at Songhi (a kind of teaching farm that sells the best produce around, and also makes things like soy milk, honey, jam and organic soaps) and I promptly named her “Eleanor Rigby”. However, by the next day, when the kitten was less emaciated and had sprayed all my furniture, I decided it was a boy. My vet seconded this opinion. So, I renamed him Rocky Raccoon. Rocky even had rings around his tale! So we were getting along great, I spent the 10,000 CFA to get him vaccinated, and a week later, he died. Yep, that’s right, number 2. Why do the Pet Gods hate me? My vet’s reaction? “Again! What happened this time?” Glenna’s Response: “Um, he was real little?”
School has been going really well. I am finally getting the names of kids down, in large part I think because I made them all nametags out of cardstock. Not only that, but when they are working hard during work time or do something difficult (read aloud, answer a tough question) they get stickers, but I will only put stickers on their nametags. This has two awesome effects, (a) it means that they don’t loose their nametags and (b) they are really excited to participate (they love stickers). So I am finally starting to get good at names. This month has been pretty fun anyway, I got to do music vocabulary! Yay! I love music vocab! Last Thursday was a little nerve wracking for me, as my APCD (I cant remember what the acronym is but she’s the boss of all the Education volunteers, her only boss is the CD- the Country Director) came to one of my classes. The lesson I did was a Jeopardy review game as exams are next week. She really liked the lesson, but she says I use French too much in class (which is totally true, I’ve just gotten lazy, so my students have too- no worries, I quit French cold turkey in my next class and it went really well). She also talked to my worst class (that was the one she saw- they were unnaturally quiet, especially for playing a game) and I’m really glad she did. I feel like this class might be a lot easier to handle from now on.
Is the Super Bowl this weekend? Or was it last? Who played? Why do I care? Who had the best commercial? I have no idea why I need to know this, but it suddenly occurred to me that I want to know- and I also have an intense craving for cream cheese bean dip.
First of all, I really want to thank all of you for your donations for Camp GLOW. I know that the economy is not the best and that extra money is always scarce after Christmas, but I really, really appreciate it, and the girls that will benefit from the camp thank you too!
Anyway, the posting of this blog (the 4th or 5th) marks the end of my longest continuous stay at post. During “lock down” (the first three months at post) I made the mistake of calling the doctors whenever any little something health-wise. If I lived further from Cotonou this would not be a problem, but because it’s only 2 hours from Cotonou they would make me come in for things that either could have waited or they could have told me what to do on the phone. So during “lock-down”, while I stayed every night at post, there were several harried and hurried trips to town, which I hate doing, FYI. It’s so much nicer to be able to even stay one night and then come back.
So the last month has been interesting. Because I spent Christmas at the Med-Unit in Cotonou, I am super broke this month. (We got paid on the 23rd, because of the holiday). So I have been doing my own laundry and hauling my own water this month (yes, I’m that broke) and I have decided that I kinda like it. Not to mention that if I pull my own well water for 2 years, my arms will look amazingly toned when I get home!
The Oweme Festival was not what I thought it was, but it was fun! For one thing, we didn’t miss class, which was a blessing. The festival lasted for 5 days (Wed-Sun), there were speeches, music and dancing and some little booths where I wished I had money to by things. Its always fun to hang out with my students too. Especially when they convince me to dance, pretty much so they can laugh at me. (I’m pretty glad that there’s no photographic evidence).
The first weekend of the New Year, I bought a new cat. My friend Kara went to the marche with me. We were at Marche Ouando in Porto-Novo, which I hate. Its too big and everybody just screams “yovo, yovo, yovo” at you. Kara decided that I was a bad person when I splashed water on a beggar with no feet because he grabbed my arm while I was opening a water bottle. (Sorry, Mom) I was just pissed off at Ouando already and being forcefully grabbed just really pushed the wrong button. So we got to the live animals section (cats, dogs, chickens, turtles) and a woman there actually TOOK my water bottle from me. I had to pry it out of her hands (I paid for cold, clean water, I’m not just gonna give it to some woman because she thinks that because I’m white I can afford it- did I mention I hate Ouando?). The lady charged me too much (1500 CFA) for a very tiny, emaciated kitten. I don’t know why I didn’t barter better, but I think it had something to do with this woman shoving tiny, starving, dehydrated kittens in my face. I asked for a girl, because boy kittens spray. Kara and I went to get some soy milk at Songhi (a kind of teaching farm that sells the best produce around, and also makes things like soy milk, honey, jam and organic soaps) and I promptly named her “Eleanor Rigby”. However, by the next day, when the kitten was less emaciated and had sprayed all my furniture, I decided it was a boy. My vet seconded this opinion. So, I renamed him Rocky Raccoon. Rocky even had rings around his tale! So we were getting along great, I spent the 10,000 CFA to get him vaccinated, and a week later, he died. Yep, that’s right, number 2. Why do the Pet Gods hate me? My vet’s reaction? “Again! What happened this time?” Glenna’s Response: “Um, he was real little?”
School has been going really well. I am finally getting the names of kids down, in large part I think because I made them all nametags out of cardstock. Not only that, but when they are working hard during work time or do something difficult (read aloud, answer a tough question) they get stickers, but I will only put stickers on their nametags. This has two awesome effects, (a) it means that they don’t loose their nametags and (b) they are really excited to participate (they love stickers). So I am finally starting to get good at names. This month has been pretty fun anyway, I got to do music vocabulary! Yay! I love music vocab! Last Thursday was a little nerve wracking for me, as my APCD (I cant remember what the acronym is but she’s the boss of all the Education volunteers, her only boss is the CD- the Country Director) came to one of my classes. The lesson I did was a Jeopardy review game as exams are next week. She really liked the lesson, but she says I use French too much in class (which is totally true, I’ve just gotten lazy, so my students have too- no worries, I quit French cold turkey in my next class and it went really well). She also talked to my worst class (that was the one she saw- they were unnaturally quiet, especially for playing a game) and I’m really glad she did. I feel like this class might be a lot easier to handle from now on.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Camp GLOW!
Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) is a really great camp for girls that PCVs have every year. Each volunteer who participates brings 1-4 girls to the camp. The whole idea behind it is that we show the girls what they can be and where they can go with an education. We run sessions on things like health and study skills, as well as just being an old-fashioned summer camp. The one for the southern region (where I am) is held in Porto Novo and I am really excited about participating so I hope everyone can donate a little!
Even $5 helps. Here is the process:
1. go to www.peacecorps.gov and click on "Donations"
2. at this point, you can search by the last name, "Hurst"(the girl who set it up), OR click on "view all volunteer projects" on the right side of the page
3. you can then search under "Benin" or "Michigan" (her home state)
4. click on the Camp GLOW PCPP. They can then read a short description of the project, see how much of the total has been raised, and make a donation.
Remember, all donations are tax deductible! Thank you everyone!
Even $5 helps. Here is the process:
1. go to www.peacecorps.gov and click on "Donations"
2. at this point, you can search by the last name, "Hurst"(the girl who set it up), OR click on "view all volunteer projects" on the right side of the page
3. you can then search under "Benin" or "Michigan" (her home state)
4. click on the Camp GLOW PCPP. They can then read a short description of the project, see how much of the total has been raised, and make a donation.
Remember, all donations are tax deductible! Thank you everyone!
Christmas and New Year
January 8, 2009
OK. So… Lots to cover since the last post I wrote. Going in reverse chronological order (like the rest of the blog)…
New school semester started and the kids are being torturous, because it’s really hot and really humid and they just got off vacation. I guess I can understand, because I tend to get all hot and irritated with them because its hot and humid and I just got off vacation. And after one week of classes, apparently next week there is another holiday, the Oweme Fete (the Festival of Oweme, the region I live in), during which my school doesn’t have class for a week.
New Years at post was really fun. My family (my neighbors) had a party and all of the extended family came, so there were lots of kids with sparklers and fireworks all over the valley at midnight and 3 chickens and a goat with this sweet kind of bread stuff called ablko and pate rouge (pate is what they usually eat and pate rouge is the stuff that they make on special occasions because its better than regular pate, like way better, because it has tomatoes and spices in it). We decorated the whole concession (thanks Mom and Dad for the lights!) with lights and streamers and balloons. I got to play with babies all day, which was pretty great!
Christmas, although it didn’t start out great, was really fun. I ended up staying at the work station because I didn’t feel like I could make it home. So I ended up staying here. I had pretty good Lasagna on Christmas Eve and a Cheeseburger on Christmas. We were also invited to swim at the Ambassador’s pool on Christmas day, so why you were all sitting in freezing rain, I was sitting poolside, reading a good book.
December 21, 2009
Sick for Real.
So I have Strep. It’s not fun at home, but it’s really not fun in Benin. I did not go to school today, which means that I didn’t give my kids their over the break homework, which means that they don’t have any over the break homework. And the trip here, harrowing at the best of times, was enough to make my cry in a taxi. Anyway, here now, started on antibiotics a few hours ago and I’m already feeling better. A fine Christmas present for me! What really is a great Christmas present is that when I did get here I had five packages waiting for me! Thanks Mom and Barb!
Love and miss you!
PS Question of the day: What is the most depressing Christmas song ever? ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’, ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ or ‘Coventry Carol’?
December 12, 2009
Goodbye Sexy Sadie.
This morning I woke up at 8 am. This is very unusual, because usually Sadie, my cat, wakes me up at six so that I will get up and feed her. When I did wake up I of course went looking for my crazy cat. She was in a very strange place- under my desk, seemingly asleep. I bent to wake her up when she didn’t wake and give me a sleepy look. She was cold. Rigor Mortis had already set in. I cried. I called my friend Kara, she told me she was coming up immediately. Then I called my mom. I talked to my mom for 2 hours, in fact, until Kara got here, followed closely by Lou, fellow member of the Dead Pet Society, and Scott. Kara went with me to the vet, my friend Josef, who told me he would take care of her. He also seems to think that she ate a rat or something that had eaten poison, because she was fine last night. It was really great to have my friends here for support and just to be here today, but now that they have left my house just seems that much more lonely, sans friends and sans Sadie.
December 11, 2009
Thanksgiving! So I realize that I haven’t written about what we did on Thanksgiving, I forgot about it because I told so many people about it on the phone. Thanks for the Thanksgiving calls!! So I spent Thanksgiving in Parakou (in the North) at PSW (Personal Strategies Workshop). I know this sounds like a drag, but really, it was great. It was like a constructive bitch fest. We all got to bitch for awhile and then we got to talk about how to fix the things we were bitching about, it was amazing! We got fed well, there were showers and flush toilets and every night we got together and did amazing things. Monday we just sat at a bouvette and chatted and drank. Tuesday we had a party where we dressed up like each other. Wednesday is a blur because I stayed up til 4 making dessert. And then Thursday we had an amazing Thanksgiving! For one thing, just being with all the PSL 22 TEFLers again was really great. There aren’t any other teachers in my entire region, so I had only seen a couple of them since swear-in. Tuesday there was a communal amazing occurrence where we all drew each other’s names out of a hat and then had to dress like that person for the evening, I dressed up as Eric, complete with his actual Obama shirt, cigarette and black beard (done with magic marker, so glad that came off!). Wednesday was a prep night for Thursday, and as I was the head of Team Dessert that meant a lot of prep. Clayton, Erin and I wisely decided to make the desserts (two pumpkin pies, two apple pies and a double batch of cheese cake) the night before and then just heat them up on the Thursday while everyone else was still eating. We got out of our session at 5, got ingredients by 6 and started baking. The real kicker was that we had to make pumpkin puree by hand, which isn’t that hard but needs an oven. We did have an oven, but a teeny tiny one, so just making the pumpkin puree took 4 hours (one pumpkin at a time) and a lot of Erin‘s elbow grease. That got us to 10pm. In the interim time we had sliced apples and Clay had made some amazing butter crusts. I must mention the rolling pin. Clay started rolling out pie crusts and there were suddenly ants all over (not a totally unusual occurrence) and he couldn’t figure out where from. In the quasi delirium caused by working too late and realizing that your not even half done, he put out a feeler, “Are the ants coming from inside the rolling pin?” Me: “No Clay, they must be in the flour.” I check the flour, nope, no ants there. Clay: “No I really think they are coming from inside the rolling pin” Me: “No way, let me see.” I took the rolling pin and gave it an experimental whack against the sink, a shower of ants tumbles out. “Shit”. We then spend what seems like forever running the rolling pin under the kitchen sink (God Bless running water!) with varying degrees of hilarity, gross-out and mild hysteria. Then Clay gallantly rolls out the piecrust with a waterlogged rolling pin. The cheescake was the real dark horse of the night. Have you ever made cheesecake without sour cream and without cream cheese? I have, we used Vache Qui Rit and Crème Freshe, and then we figured out that somewhere along the line I had go really confused about math and had to sub what we were lacking in dairy products with extra pumpkin puree. (So what if it was more like a custard? It was still cheescake-ish! and it was still really good!) Then all that was left was the actual baking. While I was timing that I manically cleaned the Parakou Workstation Kitchen. If you have lived with me, you know that this is a pretty typical thing for me to start doing at 2am. Need to keep awake? Make some tea and clean/rearrange something. It’s Glenna’s Guide to Life. When things were baked and Clay had “made” some room for them in the fridge, we walked back to the place where the PSW was held. We could have stayed at the workstation, but we decided not to, I’m not really sure why. When we got there we discovered that not only were we locked out, oh no, there was also no guard at the gate to let us in (like there is supposed to be). Erin called Jamie, Jamie got a chair, I got uncomfortable bruises on the inside of my thighs. It was a fine way to start Thanksgiving. I should also mention that while we were making pastries, Team Meat was killing 3 (4?) birds, a Turkey(maybe 2), a Duck and a Pentard (that’s a Guinea Fowl, I think) and then shoving them all one inside the other, making the Beninese version of a TurDuckin, a TurDucktard, as Brandon branded it. Sarah found an egg in the Turkey, we used it in a pie. This next bit is going to be difficult for me, as I was so sleep deprived that I don’t remember so much of Thanksgiving Day (you know, the norm). And as I am totally crazy I also took responsibility for gravy. I made A LOT of gravy, but it was really freakin’ good. I can’t really take too much credit for that, because it was mostly amazing due to the duck drippings from the TurDucktard (and it was also orange). I however, feel justified in making so much because we had a crap load of mashed potatoes as well as a crap load of yam pille (pounded yams-which is the best of Beninese food), and most of it got eaten anyway. After dinner the desserts were all gone in approximately 20 minutes, as was the liter (!!!) of heavy cream that Obdin and Eric obligingly whipped up (by hand!) for me. I actually made it back shortly after 1 that night, only to find that I had lost my key (probably somewhere in the sand in the courtyard of the Workstation) and ended up staying the night with Melissa, one of the been-here-a-year volunteers, as her roommate had decided to stay the night at the workstation and then get up early to try and get into my room before the shuttle left for Cotonou at 8 Friday morning. I’m really, really glad that after no sleep I didn’t have to take a bus. Friday night I stayed in Cotonou, which was nice, and then I had Thanksgiving again on Saturday. This time I made mashed potatoes, they were really easy and the real butter in them made them amazing (see last blog post). Cotonou Thanksgiving was a potluck type thing at Mel’s apartment. Mel’s post is Cotouou so she has an apartment there, said apartment has an amazingly huge deck (huge like it’s twice the size of her apartment), which is why she gallantly volunteered it for Thanksgiving. It was much more laid-back (at least for me). However as it is still our “lockdown” (where we are supposed to stay at post for the first three months), Lu, Kara and I headed back to our posts way too early (in my opinion) so that we could make it back before nightfall. I spent all day Sunday recovering from an amazing week and my two Thanksgivings.
So two days ago I figured out how to get the BBC(it‘s only in French 3 hours a day!), this is HUGE news in the small world of Glenna, and has reminded me that Stuff Is Happening outside my village. And now I have formed opinions, and as I don’t have my usual outlet for said opinions (people who will understand me if I speak English, and a bottle of wine) my new outlet is my blog. Lucky You!
OK, so apparently there is a big UN conference on Climate Change or whatever and the focus of it seems to be giving money to the developing world so that the developing world can take care of its emerging environmental problems. Just to give my thoughts some context: 1) I live in a developing country. 2) I come from a developed country, so when I lay blame… 3) Someone’s mom sent them an article (from the Washington Post?) that mentioned Benin- to say that the Carbon Footprint of Benin is less than that of Washington D.C. 4) Having opinions here is like having opinions in a bubble. (That’s just a random thought really).
OK…here goes… I’m pretty sure that most of the pollution problems in the developing world are caused by the developed world. Case in point: Europe sends it’s old cars to places like Benin. When they don’t pass the ridiculously high (read:what everyone’s should be) emissions standards in Britain or France cars from there get sent to places like Benin where they carry a ridiculous number of goods and people for the next two decades, using gas that is so dirty that they strain it through an old cloth before putting it into a vehicle. When the cars finally die, they are cannibalized and then left to rust in a river, field, jungle etc. On the other hand, at least people here can use cars. What they cannot use- your garbage. The United States sends all of our trash to China, including very un-recyclable computer parts, and then Americans get their panties all in a twist when some of the toxins that we drag across the Pacific Ocean (none to carefully) come back in cheap plastic toys. In this case, Africa is the China of Europe, or to use standardized testing form China:United States::Africa:Europe. While I have not seen it here, before I left in my search to read everything ever published about Africa, I came across a few stories about old computer parts (especially the old, bulky glass monitors, which contain mercury) getting shipped here as well as China, complete with pictures of cute kids skipping barefoot across a trail of monitors through a field of burning microchips. While burning trash at all, much less computer trash, seemed totally barbaric to me at the time, I know that’s just what happens here. There are two ways to dispose of things here: 1) Just throw it on the ground- this is much less shocking in village, where half of everything comes wrapped in teak leaves 2) Burn it, yep everybody burns everything, it really bothers my allergies, probably because half of everyone’s trash seems to be the ubiquitous black sachets, I wonder what kind of crap that puts in the air?. So, Developed World, are you listening? STOP SENDING YOUR GARBAGE TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND YOU CAN KEEP YOUR 100,000,000 EURO!
End of opinion, for today anyway.
OK. So… Lots to cover since the last post I wrote. Going in reverse chronological order (like the rest of the blog)…
New school semester started and the kids are being torturous, because it’s really hot and really humid and they just got off vacation. I guess I can understand, because I tend to get all hot and irritated with them because its hot and humid and I just got off vacation. And after one week of classes, apparently next week there is another holiday, the Oweme Fete (the Festival of Oweme, the region I live in), during which my school doesn’t have class for a week.
New Years at post was really fun. My family (my neighbors) had a party and all of the extended family came, so there were lots of kids with sparklers and fireworks all over the valley at midnight and 3 chickens and a goat with this sweet kind of bread stuff called ablko and pate rouge (pate is what they usually eat and pate rouge is the stuff that they make on special occasions because its better than regular pate, like way better, because it has tomatoes and spices in it). We decorated the whole concession (thanks Mom and Dad for the lights!) with lights and streamers and balloons. I got to play with babies all day, which was pretty great!
Christmas, although it didn’t start out great, was really fun. I ended up staying at the work station because I didn’t feel like I could make it home. So I ended up staying here. I had pretty good Lasagna on Christmas Eve and a Cheeseburger on Christmas. We were also invited to swim at the Ambassador’s pool on Christmas day, so why you were all sitting in freezing rain, I was sitting poolside, reading a good book.
December 21, 2009
Sick for Real.
So I have Strep. It’s not fun at home, but it’s really not fun in Benin. I did not go to school today, which means that I didn’t give my kids their over the break homework, which means that they don’t have any over the break homework. And the trip here, harrowing at the best of times, was enough to make my cry in a taxi. Anyway, here now, started on antibiotics a few hours ago and I’m already feeling better. A fine Christmas present for me! What really is a great Christmas present is that when I did get here I had five packages waiting for me! Thanks Mom and Barb!
Love and miss you!
PS Question of the day: What is the most depressing Christmas song ever? ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’, ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ or ‘Coventry Carol’?
December 12, 2009
Goodbye Sexy Sadie.
This morning I woke up at 8 am. This is very unusual, because usually Sadie, my cat, wakes me up at six so that I will get up and feed her. When I did wake up I of course went looking for my crazy cat. She was in a very strange place- under my desk, seemingly asleep. I bent to wake her up when she didn’t wake and give me a sleepy look. She was cold. Rigor Mortis had already set in. I cried. I called my friend Kara, she told me she was coming up immediately. Then I called my mom. I talked to my mom for 2 hours, in fact, until Kara got here, followed closely by Lou, fellow member of the Dead Pet Society, and Scott. Kara went with me to the vet, my friend Josef, who told me he would take care of her. He also seems to think that she ate a rat or something that had eaten poison, because she was fine last night. It was really great to have my friends here for support and just to be here today, but now that they have left my house just seems that much more lonely, sans friends and sans Sadie.
December 11, 2009
Thanksgiving! So I realize that I haven’t written about what we did on Thanksgiving, I forgot about it because I told so many people about it on the phone. Thanks for the Thanksgiving calls!! So I spent Thanksgiving in Parakou (in the North) at PSW (Personal Strategies Workshop). I know this sounds like a drag, but really, it was great. It was like a constructive bitch fest. We all got to bitch for awhile and then we got to talk about how to fix the things we were bitching about, it was amazing! We got fed well, there were showers and flush toilets and every night we got together and did amazing things. Monday we just sat at a bouvette and chatted and drank. Tuesday we had a party where we dressed up like each other. Wednesday is a blur because I stayed up til 4 making dessert. And then Thursday we had an amazing Thanksgiving! For one thing, just being with all the PSL 22 TEFLers again was really great. There aren’t any other teachers in my entire region, so I had only seen a couple of them since swear-in. Tuesday there was a communal amazing occurrence where we all drew each other’s names out of a hat and then had to dress like that person for the evening, I dressed up as Eric, complete with his actual Obama shirt, cigarette and black beard (done with magic marker, so glad that came off!). Wednesday was a prep night for Thursday, and as I was the head of Team Dessert that meant a lot of prep. Clayton, Erin and I wisely decided to make the desserts (two pumpkin pies, two apple pies and a double batch of cheese cake) the night before and then just heat them up on the Thursday while everyone else was still eating. We got out of our session at 5, got ingredients by 6 and started baking. The real kicker was that we had to make pumpkin puree by hand, which isn’t that hard but needs an oven. We did have an oven, but a teeny tiny one, so just making the pumpkin puree took 4 hours (one pumpkin at a time) and a lot of Erin‘s elbow grease. That got us to 10pm. In the interim time we had sliced apples and Clay had made some amazing butter crusts. I must mention the rolling pin. Clay started rolling out pie crusts and there were suddenly ants all over (not a totally unusual occurrence) and he couldn’t figure out where from. In the quasi delirium caused by working too late and realizing that your not even half done, he put out a feeler, “Are the ants coming from inside the rolling pin?” Me: “No Clay, they must be in the flour.” I check the flour, nope, no ants there. Clay: “No I really think they are coming from inside the rolling pin” Me: “No way, let me see.” I took the rolling pin and gave it an experimental whack against the sink, a shower of ants tumbles out. “Shit”. We then spend what seems like forever running the rolling pin under the kitchen sink (God Bless running water!) with varying degrees of hilarity, gross-out and mild hysteria. Then Clay gallantly rolls out the piecrust with a waterlogged rolling pin. The cheescake was the real dark horse of the night. Have you ever made cheesecake without sour cream and without cream cheese? I have, we used Vache Qui Rit and Crème Freshe, and then we figured out that somewhere along the line I had go really confused about math and had to sub what we were lacking in dairy products with extra pumpkin puree. (So what if it was more like a custard? It was still cheescake-ish! and it was still really good!) Then all that was left was the actual baking. While I was timing that I manically cleaned the Parakou Workstation Kitchen. If you have lived with me, you know that this is a pretty typical thing for me to start doing at 2am. Need to keep awake? Make some tea and clean/rearrange something. It’s Glenna’s Guide to Life. When things were baked and Clay had “made” some room for them in the fridge, we walked back to the place where the PSW was held. We could have stayed at the workstation, but we decided not to, I’m not really sure why. When we got there we discovered that not only were we locked out, oh no, there was also no guard at the gate to let us in (like there is supposed to be). Erin called Jamie, Jamie got a chair, I got uncomfortable bruises on the inside of my thighs. It was a fine way to start Thanksgiving. I should also mention that while we were making pastries, Team Meat was killing 3 (4?) birds, a Turkey(maybe 2), a Duck and a Pentard (that’s a Guinea Fowl, I think) and then shoving them all one inside the other, making the Beninese version of a TurDuckin, a TurDucktard, as Brandon branded it. Sarah found an egg in the Turkey, we used it in a pie. This next bit is going to be difficult for me, as I was so sleep deprived that I don’t remember so much of Thanksgiving Day (you know, the norm). And as I am totally crazy I also took responsibility for gravy. I made A LOT of gravy, but it was really freakin’ good. I can’t really take too much credit for that, because it was mostly amazing due to the duck drippings from the TurDucktard (and it was also orange). I however, feel justified in making so much because we had a crap load of mashed potatoes as well as a crap load of yam pille (pounded yams-which is the best of Beninese food), and most of it got eaten anyway. After dinner the desserts were all gone in approximately 20 minutes, as was the liter (!!!) of heavy cream that Obdin and Eric obligingly whipped up (by hand!) for me. I actually made it back shortly after 1 that night, only to find that I had lost my key (probably somewhere in the sand in the courtyard of the Workstation) and ended up staying the night with Melissa, one of the been-here-a-year volunteers, as her roommate had decided to stay the night at the workstation and then get up early to try and get into my room before the shuttle left for Cotonou at 8 Friday morning. I’m really, really glad that after no sleep I didn’t have to take a bus. Friday night I stayed in Cotonou, which was nice, and then I had Thanksgiving again on Saturday. This time I made mashed potatoes, they were really easy and the real butter in them made them amazing (see last blog post). Cotonou Thanksgiving was a potluck type thing at Mel’s apartment. Mel’s post is Cotouou so she has an apartment there, said apartment has an amazingly huge deck (huge like it’s twice the size of her apartment), which is why she gallantly volunteered it for Thanksgiving. It was much more laid-back (at least for me). However as it is still our “lockdown” (where we are supposed to stay at post for the first three months), Lu, Kara and I headed back to our posts way too early (in my opinion) so that we could make it back before nightfall. I spent all day Sunday recovering from an amazing week and my two Thanksgivings.
So two days ago I figured out how to get the BBC(it‘s only in French 3 hours a day!), this is HUGE news in the small world of Glenna, and has reminded me that Stuff Is Happening outside my village. And now I have formed opinions, and as I don’t have my usual outlet for said opinions (people who will understand me if I speak English, and a bottle of wine) my new outlet is my blog. Lucky You!
OK, so apparently there is a big UN conference on Climate Change or whatever and the focus of it seems to be giving money to the developing world so that the developing world can take care of its emerging environmental problems. Just to give my thoughts some context: 1) I live in a developing country. 2) I come from a developed country, so when I lay blame… 3) Someone’s mom sent them an article (from the Washington Post?) that mentioned Benin- to say that the Carbon Footprint of Benin is less than that of Washington D.C. 4) Having opinions here is like having opinions in a bubble. (That’s just a random thought really).
OK…here goes… I’m pretty sure that most of the pollution problems in the developing world are caused by the developed world. Case in point: Europe sends it’s old cars to places like Benin. When they don’t pass the ridiculously high (read:what everyone’s should be) emissions standards in Britain or France cars from there get sent to places like Benin where they carry a ridiculous number of goods and people for the next two decades, using gas that is so dirty that they strain it through an old cloth before putting it into a vehicle. When the cars finally die, they are cannibalized and then left to rust in a river, field, jungle etc. On the other hand, at least people here can use cars. What they cannot use- your garbage. The United States sends all of our trash to China, including very un-recyclable computer parts, and then Americans get their panties all in a twist when some of the toxins that we drag across the Pacific Ocean (none to carefully) come back in cheap plastic toys. In this case, Africa is the China of Europe, or to use standardized testing form China:United States::Africa:Europe. While I have not seen it here, before I left in my search to read everything ever published about Africa, I came across a few stories about old computer parts (especially the old, bulky glass monitors, which contain mercury) getting shipped here as well as China, complete with pictures of cute kids skipping barefoot across a trail of monitors through a field of burning microchips. While burning trash at all, much less computer trash, seemed totally barbaric to me at the time, I know that’s just what happens here. There are two ways to dispose of things here: 1) Just throw it on the ground- this is much less shocking in village, where half of everything comes wrapped in teak leaves 2) Burn it, yep everybody burns everything, it really bothers my allergies, probably because half of everyone’s trash seems to be the ubiquitous black sachets, I wonder what kind of crap that puts in the air?. So, Developed World, are you listening? STOP SENDING YOUR GARBAGE TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND YOU CAN KEEP YOUR 100,000,000 EURO!
End of opinion, for today anyway.
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