Oops...

So appparently that video didnt turn out so well; ill try again later. Im in Porto Novo right now; but i stupidly forgot the flash drive with a few blog posts on it already so this on is live people!

First of all, thank you all for the birthday wishes weither they be in email, failed or sucessful phonecall or facebook message, which i cant read due to technical difficulties, but i know are there!I had a pretty awesome birthday weekend, with a trip to Cotonou, cupcakes and a little party in my consession with my neighbors and even some packages that got through customs, thanks Mom and Mae!

Since then, I have been well, if a little busy! School is starting to pick up and this last week I gave my first quiz. The results were dishartening, especially considering that all we have done so far this year is review from last year, I should say that the results were only really dishartening to me; for Benin, and the French type school system in general they were very good, as more than half of my students passed. Being in a system that teaches to the top of the class while leaving the bottom of the class in the dust takes some getting used to... and Im still not entirely sure how to go about it!

Sadie the kitten, more awkward adolecent cat already, is doing well. Still eating lizards in the house and more recently in the consession at large as I have started letting her run around when i sit outside grading papers or reading or what have you. The Mama of the consession thinks that she will still run away, but because every time she comes in the house I give her little smoked fishes she always comes bounding up the steps when I call her. She treats my mosquito net like a kitty jungle gym and hammok and has recently started sleeping up there, so that when I wake up at 6 am, there she is looking at me with hungry eyes and saying *feed me mom, feed me*.

You know your a PCV when...One of the packages that I got on my birthday was from my mom, thanks again mom, and when I opened it I didnt really get to look at the contents too much before shoving everything in my bag and heading back to my post. When I got home I was so tired it was all I could do to simply pour myself into bed and sleep, therefore it wasnt until the next day that I pulled everything out and really looked at it. The first thing I did was put all of the choclate into my little dorm sized refrigerator; yeah, i know, i have a fridge. anyway I noticed as I was pulling things out that a ton of ants had gotten into my bag during the night! I thought this was really annoying and kinda weird since everything was sealed and I hadnt had an ant problem until then, but I dealt with it and whatever... So a couple of days ago I got an intese chocolate craving and headed for the bag of m and ms that were chillin in my fridge. Opened the bag, noticed theyd melted a bit, oh well and started munching away. Then I noticed, the entire bag was filled with dead ants! What did I do? The only thing to do... I went through the bag and picked out the ants. All the time, not grassed out but slightly annoyed that A.damn Beninese customs for having ant intfested wearhouses where they kept my package for weeks and B.damn Mars CO. for not having well sealed bags! After the sorting was through and I was eating some m and ms I mused that in a year I probably would eat the ants for the extra protean and that in two years i wouldnt have to rationalize eating ants, and that a year ago I would have thrown the whole bag out! Life is sure interesting...

Every once in awhile when Im planning classes or something where I have to think of the date I think of how weird it is that its OCTOBER, which ends today. and that it feels as if I have really only been here a few days, except that when I think back to when we first got here it seems like a million years ago! As I sit on my porch and drink tea while looking over the breathtaking Oweme Tiver Valley I think about the fact that at home its cold and rainy and it will soon be winter and Im sure that the next two years will feel like endless summer to me.

With that! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
love and miss you, Glenna