It’s the little things

That matter. And I feel like that saying is only magnified, here in Benin. I am going to ramble on about the little things that I miss and that you may take for granted.

Cold weather. Seatbelts that work. Grocery stores and how pretty much you ever needed can be found at Fred Meyer. Whoa. Fred Meyer. I haven’t said/written/seen that name in forever. What a weird name, hahaha. Ok, free drink refills at restaurants. Oh man, when I get back I am going to Red Robin or something and just order a Sprite. And that’s it. And it will be cold and there will be ice cubes and the Sprite will just keep coming. Of course it won’t be as delicious because for some reason pop just tastes better outside the US. Hot tap water, tap water that is drinkable. Maybe I’ll get a Sprite and a water. Yeah. That sounds nice.

Ok, I got side tracked…and I was on a roll, and I forgot some of the things I was gonna write…so, moving on.

I know I still have about 20 months left, but I have already started thinking about all the things I am gonna miss. 1. I sometimes love the fact that when I am with other volunteers we can speak English and say just about anything about anyone and 99% of the time no one will understand what we are saying. Although I really shouldn’t think of that as a rule here. I went to Cotonou with Catherine and on the taxi ride back…well, it was quite uncomfortable because a bigger guy squished into our row. And here it’s 4 in the back. So I started saying some things that weren’t so nice. And then after I literally tumbled out of the car, that guy said something in English and I was like oh, that’s nice he “speaks” English and continued on my way. But then later when I talked to Catherine she told me that the bigger guy held a conversation with her for the remainder of the 30 minute ride back to her village. Oops! But like I said, for the most part, it’s nice to really just say what I want and no one knows what I say, especially if I say it with a smile.

Fanmilk. I will miss Fanmilk. It’s this fantastic Togolese frozen “ice cream” type of goodness that comes in these little plastic bag things and they are soooo delicious. They are pretty much the closest thing I have to ice cream at any given moment. There’s all kinds of flavors: chocolate, vanilla—tastes like vanilla cake frosting/cake batter, Tampico—haven’t tried it but it’s like Sunny D or so I heard. And there a couple of yogurt varieties. But my favorite has to be Lait Vanille. It’s the newest flavor and it’s like a frozen vanilla milk. And it’s cheap. Only 100cfa. Which is less than 25 cents. The only down side to Fanmilk is that when you are all done, you are wishing for another.

Reading. I think I will miss all the reading time I have here. I have read nearly 14 books since being here. That’s about 2 a month. No record breaker, but it’s more books than I read all of last year. And I am sure that I would have read more if I hadn’t brought the laptop—I tend to choose to watch movies over reading. But at the moment I have seen all the movies I have here (there’s a LOT, trust me) so until new movies make it to the Nigeria movie man, or I borrow more from the bureau or Allison, I will have to settle with reading.

Alrighty, my attention span is still that same and I am now bored with writing this. I may or may not finish this little rambling. Most likely not. So here’s until next time!

PS

I am now a part of a secondary project. I will be helping out Mr. EDEY in his English competition for students of CEGs in the Mono-Kouffo. I am so far responsible for writing texts…I have no idea what I will write, yet.

And I think I will either start up an English club, or some kind of tutoring Saturday mornings. The past few times I have held tutoring, I’ve had about 20 or so kids show up. And they are so cute! We typically go over material that we have gone over in class and then sometimes they’ll ask me random questions that have nothing to do with the material.

PPS

I hate to admit that I have favorite students. I wonder if it’s like that with all teachers everywhere. There are just some students that are cuter and smarter than others. Oh man. I can’t believe I said that. But seriously. And I guess it’s just easier to work with them. This past Saturday we were going over telling time and everyone kept getting the answer wrong. And I really try to call on girls more often than boys. I try to call on girls to correct other girls. It’s not good to have a boy correct a girl when she gets an answer wrong. It’s just not good for girls in a society where women are still subservient to men. I try to call on girls to correct boys. Sometimes the boys catch on and I can hear them complaining, and it makes me laugh…but I try not to let it out. sometimes I wonder if these kids think I am crazy. Some of the things that they do crack me up. I don’t think any Beninese teacher would laugh at the same antics, but for some reason, there are times when I just can’t hold it in. I guess it would be clearer if I could come up with a specific example, but I am drawing a blank. Next time something funny happens in class, I will jot it down.

Alright. I am really done now.