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.

tutoring

This morning I held a little tutoring session. I told the kids to show up at nine o’clock with any questions they may have had, or to show up if they needed any extra help with stuff that we covered in class, and that they did not understand. And I am pleased to report that about 17 kids showed up! They had a hard time with a “quarter to” and a “quarter past” but after several explanations, equivalents, examples, and drawings, I think the kids might have understood. The only thing is is that it was my smarter, more involved students—Petronile, Ricardo, Boris and Sylvain, and Hyacinthe—showed up and asked the questions. I had a couple of my slacker kids show up too, and I don’t really know why they showed up, ie Aime and Olivier. But nonetheless, I am glad that they were there and wanted to learn and study with me outside of class. I think I want to perhaps do this every or every other Saturday mornings. It was nice because, unlike in class, I don’t have to fight with them to shut up. The kids who are there are there because it’s their choice. I made it perfectly clear that it was not rattaprage, not obligatory.

feelin better

i have to admit that out of the three holidays...new year's was probably the roughest.

but i am feeling better now. we have resumed classes and time just keeps on crawlin. i gave my kids a quiz yesterday and i'd say about 95 percent of them passed with the moyen=median. i am giving the other 2 classes quizzes today. and i can't believe how much i look forward to grading those things. i think i just like to see if they are actually learning something from me.

maria, my APCD, comes to visit me, and observe how i teach this coming tuesday! oh man, i am one nervous cookie! but at the same time all i can do is my best because i am going to have her observe me teach my WORST behaved class. however, i have an inkling that they will somewhat behave if they have my APCD, and the other English teachers in the classroom watching them too. they are like that puppy who will do tricks in front of you but no one else. except that they behave miserably for me, but the moment someone else steps into the room; you would think they are all angels!

i went to the tailor today. i am having a tank top, a dress, and a tunic top. and i am fixing one of the dresses i had made a while ago. the dress is cute and appropriate to teach in, but the skirt part of it is HUGE! some little kid came running up to me and he reached out for my stomach region and called me "mama." that made me cringe and i don't think i have worn it since. i told the tailor people that, and they all laughed and jokingly asked that...being a mama isn't good? and i said NO! i am not a mama, and they have to take in the skirt part a little because it makes me look fat! we all had a little laugh and it is gonna be fixed. and the skirt part is gonna be like a tulip skirt thing; i am excited about that. and i can't wait to see what the tunic top will look like. they said it'll be done by wednesday...we'll see about that. and all that is only costing 8 mille or about 18 dollars.

Marley is getting bigger. his fur is falling out in patches. and my friend keeps coming over to give him some kind of medication. i hope it goes away because it is making him look kinda ugly!

mmmmkay, i think that is all for now.

safari!

here are some pics. they are probaly not in order. that takes too much time and effort. and i'll load them up on here gradually. there are just too many and they take FORever!

merry christmas everybody!!

My life as a Rollercoaster.

Sounds like a good title for a book, no?

Anyways, the other day I was at the market and I finally found the soy beans!! Yay protein! But these little guys are no edamame. Nope. I first have to sort through them to check for bad ones and bugs and rocks and whatnot. Then I have to bring some water to boil, and only then am I allowed to throw in the soy beans. Apparently, if soy beans get into contact with cold water before boiling, they produce a bad smell and taste. The beans must gently boil for 45 minutes to deactivate the protein or something, otherwise people are unable to digest/utilize the protein, and then what would be the point of eating soy beans? Oh and get this, after cooking them for 45 min, I just rinse them off, and then I can lay them out in a thin layer to dry out. And after 3 days they are dry, and then I can take them to the mill to may soy flour! I think I am going to be a happy person, now that I have found the soy bean.

Last night I made sweet and sour soybeans. It was quite an effort, and in the end it did not taste much different from my delightful teriyaki/adobo sauce. So next time, I will save time and ingredients and just make teriyaki/adobo soy beans. Regardless of ho much effort they were, they were delicious and I was happy to ingest a bundle of protein.

Seven days until Christmas. and eight days until I go on safari! I am going up north to a city called Natitingou. I have heard great things about this city and how gorgeous it is. So we will just see about that. Either way it will be nice to go on vacay and spend some time with other volunteers that I have not seen in FORever, well since stage ended back in September. It is Dennis’s birthday on Christmas. awww, he’s a Christmas baby. Dennis is a great guy and I am glad that a bunch of us we be gathering for his birthday! It should be a lot of fun.

And then I do not know what plans are in store for New Year’s. I hear that Christmas Eve is the bigger of the two holidays, so I don’t know what is going to go on. Or where I am going to go.

Alright, it is now 10:02 and I wanna bike down to the cyber and get some exercise. I am trying to shed the pounds I gained while stuck in Dakar. I guess one good thing about being away from home I don’t have to worry about those holiday pounds that always get to me. ;)

Quirky.

Definition= An equivocation; a quibble.

equivocation= the use of equivocal or ambiguous expressions, esp. in order to mislead or hedge; prevarication.
quibble= an instance of the use of ambiguous, prevaricating, or irrelevant language or arguments to evade a point at issue.


…I had to look it up. took more efffort than i thought it would. i guess the shoe fits, huh. lol.

I was recently told I am quirky. Never really thought about it, but I guess I am. And I don’t care. People here think I am nuts anyways. They are always watching everything I do, and 99% of the time I feel ridiculous, but I have learned to live with it. And it’s almost normal to me now. And I remember back in Dakar, I didn’t get nearly as much attention, which was nice at first. But then oddly enough, I think I started to miss it.

Sorry if I wrote about this already, but I just wanted to put it out there if I hadn’t already.

And one more thing, my typing has finally gotten better. No more finger/chicken pecking the keyboard. I can almost just about type and not look at the board when I type. Wow, I wish I was this good back in school. I think I might have saved myself a lot of time, writing all those papers and all. Ha.