It's been a while since we last wrote. A lot has happened since then. First of all, I've done more work activities which has been satisfying both because it gives me something to do during the day and also because I've already seen results of my work. I got to go back to one of the villages where I did a moringa meeting and make mud stoves with them. When I arrived, the women showed us how they had made powdered moringa and were feeding it to their kids to improve their nutrition, just like we had taught them in our meeting! Building the mud stove was great, and the women immediately caught on. In fact, next week I went back to observe them making the stoves for each household, and they had already made almost twenty on their own, and did a beautiful job! They were proud of themselves and I was so happy to know that I can make a difference here, however small.
I've not done too much work besides that, since the holiday season slows everything down. The holidays, Christmas and New Years, were realtively uneventful. Eric and I stayed in Klouekanme for both of them, because we wanted to see what goes down in our town but also because it makes our neighbors and friends so happy that we are celebrating with them. But like I indicated, "celebration" might be overstating it a little, at least compared to what we're used to. On Christmas eve everyone went to church. Eric and I prepared a special dinner- macaroni and cheese, salad with tomato, avocado, and carrots that we were lucky to find, a can of sweet corn (a realy delicacy since the corn here is akin to animal-feed corn and thus not juicy and wonderful like it is in the states) and brownies. I will admit it was a little sad being, I think for the first time, away from family (besides Eric) and being away from Portland.
Christmas day was a little more eventful, in that even more people went to church and dressed in their very best. We went to greet a colleague of Eric's. We went at 4 pm expressely to avoid meal time, but as it happened the colleague and some fellow teachers who were there had planned to eat about the time we arrived. So we ate a little of their food. Meals at other people's houses are often awkward like this for me, because of the protocol for mealtime- you must take and eat a lot of food, you should drink some water offered to you (which is especially hard since we don't drink untreated water for fear of innumerable water-borne diseases), you shouldn't refuse food when offered, etc. But we are getting used to this.
New Year's is a bigger holiday here. Our neighbors had a lot of relatives over. Everyone went to church again- I think a lot of celebration centers around church. Eric and I hung out with the neighbors some, more than we ever have. That was definitely fun and interesting. They have so many questions about the US. One of my favorites is, why are American women so severe with their husbands? I didn't understand the question and they elabroated that, well, in American films women are always pulling guns on their husbands or lovers when they get mad. I had to break it to them that America isn't actually like the movies. Because their view of America comes only from films, and they think everyone has a gun, that their are shootups on the streets everytime you go outside, that it is dangerous to the point where you have to be cautious stepping outside your front door, and that everyone loves war. The idea was also brought up, although I don't know if my neighbors believe it (and I hope they don't), that white people created AIDS to kill Africans because they have too many babies. I tried hard to dispel that myth. I also seized the opportunity to tell them about gender equality- they were very curious about the fact that women do not do all the housework and raise the babies, and thought it funny that Eric cooks and cleans! One thing I learned from my conversations with the neighbors is that people here are very open about what they think of you. After showing them my pictures from home they proclaimed that Eric with long hair was tres beau but with short hair he's no good. I laughed at that. They also told me, as a compliment, that I am "a little fat". Thank you.
Between Christmas and New Years Eric and I had a chance to go on a short safari in Parc Pendjari, up in the North of Benin. It was really interesting seeing a new part of the country- the landscape changes really fast. In fact, on our motorcycle ride to the city where we were catching the taxi, it was cold and misty and I felt like I was back in Portland driving on Skyline in early Autumn (but with different trees). It made me a little homesick. On our taxi ride, which zig-zagged across the country from Bohicon to Parakou to Natitingou, we got to see the hilly part of the country where out of nowhere spring huge rock pile-like hills. Then up North the landscape changed again. Up there it is extremely dry, browner, and much poorer. There are few motorcycles on the road and more mud huts with thatch roof than down here, where you see a lot of concrete houses. The north also produces great deals of cotton. We passed many cotton trucks loaded high with cotton bolls, periodically blowing out from under the tarp. Unfortunately cotton production is done using really harmful chemicals, which is hurting the land and people here.
We left Natitingou, a city up north where our safari group met, at 6 am to drive to the park. It was SO COLD! The harmattan winds are here now and that means dry, dusty days and cold nights and mornings. Since we're used to the temperature here for the most part, we felt chilled, even though it was probably only 65 or so. We had a guide who picked us up in his pickup that had a frame rigged in back so people could sit up high in the bed.
In the park we drove around the trails and saw some animals, including elephants, baboons, warthogs, deer, a stampede of wildebeasts (or something like them), hippos, crocodiles, and many types of beautiful birds. We saw nothing in great number (save the wildebaests) but it was worth it nonetheless to go up there. We stayed, nine of us, in a tiny room and were none the worse for it since our number kept the room warm at night. The weirdest part of the trip was being with other westerners- there were a lot of French tourists there and some other Americans. After being somewhat of a celebrity here because we have light skin, it was pretty nice to be able to be anonymous! So ultimately the trip was great and a nice break from being in our town.
So that was the holidays. Apparently New Years is a month-long celebration and will be continuing in some form when I get back from my training in Porto Novo which begins on Monday. I'm really excited to go there- to travel, to see more of the country, to get out of Klouekanme. That's not to say that I don't love our village- I like it more and more as we get used to life there, but since I haven't had a lot of work to do in the past month, I've felt a little stifled. I've been filling my days with a lot of reading, knitting, doing errands, trying out new dishes, cleaning, etc. Eric has school to occupy him for part of the day at least. We try to get out and talk to people, and we have ever more acquaintances and people to talk to. Mostly we talk about America, because there's not much else to talk about. Oh and we also listen to the radio a lot. Especially since the primaries have begun- we were thrilled to hear about Obama in Iowa!
I think that's all I have to say for now. Since I have a few days before I go to Porto Novo, perhaps I will write again, and hopefully Eric will have a chance to write as well. I'll leave you with a lot of pictures!
Our Christmas meal. The little red berries on the cutting board are the "miracle fruit" that were mentioned in National Geo. If you eat them with lime you get an extremely sweet taste that lingers in your mouth forever. It's very strange but tasty.
A typical gas station here. There are real gas stations, like the ones back at home, but these are what most people go to. I'm glad I don't have to work there.
I am sitting at our new table (we ate at a small coffee table for the first few months!) in my new Beninese-style outfit that I just picked up from the tailor. We are so happy to have the table both because we don't have to bend over to eat but also because it's just nice to be able to work at a table!
As an addition to the "ecraser stone" picture from the last entry, here is peanut butter in progress. My technique has gotten better and now it looks and tastes like the real thing.
Eric is teaching our neighbor child to juggle, or rather entertaining him. The child is wearing a paper hat I made him and flying a paper airplane I also made, which kids love here. The setting for the photo is our concession with an orange and lemon tree in the middle, and I'm taking the picture from our front door.
Here is Eric washing dishes in our back courtyard. We use the camping-style method of putting bleach in the rinsewater. We also wash our laundry in almost the same manner.
I finally got some mud stoves pictures- here I am with some of the women from the village making a stove (I am looking so volunteer-ish in my hat and large glasses, no?)
And here's the finished product, already in use!
Finally, here's a photo of us at a watering hole in Parc Pendjari. We probably look a little tired since we woke up at 5:30 or so and got to ride in the truck bed in the absolutely freezing morning (you could actually see your breath and my feet were numb). In the lake we saw hippos and many, many crocodiles. I won't put anymore safari pictures on simply because they're not that good and you can get better wildlife photos from national geo!
