Sledgehammer

I do believe it’s about that time again where I write an incredibly long blog update to make up for the past three weeks that I have not been able to have internet access, so here goes. *crack my fingers*
So after Dassa, I thought that things would slow down a little bit. I was now officially a Peace Corps volunteer, and I knew that I had been traveling quite a bit which is not only quite exhausting but also quite costly, so I thought that I would just sort of hibernate for awhile until I absolutely had to leave again. However, it seems that either reasons appeared before me or I created reasons, but either way the traveling didn’t stop and I do believe that I have seen a great deal of this country in just my first couple months here at post. And as I mentioned in my last post, despite the hassles that accompany traveling in Benin, the country itself is so beautiful that I hold the opinion that it’s always worth it to make the trip. Anyway, rather than recount all the happenings of each voyage—Gogonou and Cotonou-- (mostly because I have by now forgotten the details) I would rather just share some of the more exciting happenings of my day-to-day (as well as the trips).
These stories are in no particular order, just the way the I am remembering them at the current moment.
First, this past Monday, I was surprised and excited to learn that the German ambassador was coming to Manigri to plant some trees. I didn’t know then and I still don’t really know why Manigri was the town to be, but I was excited nonetheless (as was the school). So after classes end in the afternoon, all the students and all the professors gather around to make preparations to greet the ambassador. All the students lined the road that leads to the school and all the professors stood around looking important while really doing nothing at all. It was actually really fun to watch and it became a very endearing moment in my heart for the school—the place always seems so hard, so cold, and it was nice to seem so life for once, some excitement among everyone, some smiles on the faces of the students and the professors. Several of the professors even took to walking up and down the street waving and grinning like idiots pretending that they were the main attraction in their own private parade. It was quite humorous. So after some period of waiting there is a stir in the crowd and *trumpets sound* here comes the German ambassador. I am surprised to see that he is wearing khakis and a polo shirt and that of all things, he is white! I keep forgetting that other white people exist! Anyway, he does his ambassador thing and walks around the school with his entourage and then comes over to the “courtyard” and plants a tree. *The crowd cheers, he clasps his hands together and does a victory shake on either side of his head* Then, he leaves. Just as quickly as he came, he was gone. And just before he got into his car, he looked at me and says, “Du courage.” Thanks, Monsieur Ambassador. So he left and there were still two more trees to plant, so I said that I would gladly help with one and so down I went in my skirt and started digging in the dirt with my hands. Now, I am proud to say that I officially have a tree planted by me in my honor at the CEG Manigri. And let’s be honest, it’s pretty much the coolest and best looking tree that I have ever seen. It could definitely beat up the Ambassador’s tree…if trees could fight. The follow up to this story is that later that week I was talking to my students about the event and it turns out that everyone thought that the Ambassador was my dad just because he was white and tall. They were very surprised to learn that he wasn’t and that on top of it all that I didn’t speak any German. I’m just full of surprises.
Ok. Second is that Monday, my postmate Emma came over because she was feeling down because she had just said goodbye to her boy toy and she knew that I was feeling down because I had just said goodbye to Erin, so she decided that we needed a girls night. So, together we made a pizza (half pineapple, half mushroom) and watched a movie on my computer. An uneventful night but a fun night; almost felt like we were back in the States…almost. The next morning I didn’t have class until 3:00, so we decided that we needed a morning project. Hair braiding was the answer that we came up with or going to get our hair tressed as it is called here. So down we went in the village to find a good place, which wasn’t too hard considering that there a million bazillion hair places. Anyway, we find a good place and sit down. It took about two or three hours to finish us and in the process I experienced some of the worst pain ever, but I think it was worth it. I now look like a thug from Detroit or a least somebody who should be playing sports at all times. If nothing else, I made some new friends in town and it was a good excuse to just sit and talk to people for a couple hours. Even with the pain, I think that I would do it again. Thug 4 life.
Alright. Third. I mentioned that I went to Cotonou and I mentioned that I was sad because I had just said goodbye to Erin…let me elaborate. Erin, the volunteer who was in Djougou, my closest TEFL postmate, my language buddy all throughout stage, and the funniest and most down-to-earth person in TEFL, was unfortunately plagued by an old Achilles injury from the states throughout her time here and she had to be medically separated from Peace Corps. Really horrible and unfortunate news, so the girls in the Natitingou region (myself included) decided to make a trip down to Cotonou to say goodbye to our girl before she had to go. At first I had hesitations about going just because it is expensive to get to Cotonou and then it is really expensive in Cotonou, but I am so, so glad that I went. The tone of the weekend was pretty bittersweet, but I like to believe that we sent Erin off with lots of good memories. The first night we went to a high-end Indian food restaurant and then found a bar close to our hotel where we hung out until the late hours of the night. Then the next day, we met up for lunch at some place where apparently a hamburger platter means that you want two hamburgers and were apparently Carly is the only one who didn’t know this rule and where Carly decided to eat the two hamburgers and fries anyway(with a little help) because she was so happy to see meat but where she immediately regretted the decision to eat that much afterwards. After the hamburger binge, we went to the American ambassador’s house were she opens it up Saturday for Americans to come and swim in her pool (It was amazing! I was like a little kid in that I could not, for the life of me, stop giggling or smiling—I love pools in Africa…). After swimming we went to Festival de Glace which is the only place in Benin where you can get real ice cream. One word: Fantastic. Unfortunately, after that is when we had to hurry back to the Bureau so that Erin could get ready and leave for the airport. We TEFL girls were crying like babies and it’s only because Erin is going to missed so much. She is one of the people that you meet and immediately know that you are going to like this person. She puts forth no front about who she is or who she’s not. She just is, and she is great. The Nati region is going to be hurting without her. Anyway, glad I made the trip. Glad I got to say goodbye. Glad that goodbye included Indian food, hamburgers, a pool, and ice cream and not just tears.
Let’s see. Fourth. Not much to tell, but my trip to Gogonou a couple of weekends ago was amazing. It was a quite a hike to get out there and to get back, but totally worth every second. I was supposed to take a taxi directly from Manigri to Parakou and I had told my taxi driver (well not MY taxi driver, but a taxi driver) this a week in advance and then I came back the night before I was going to leave to remind him that I would need a taxi the next day. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course” he reassured me. Except, a Beninese promise is no promise at all and the next day when I went to jump in my taxi, he wasn’t ready and I discovered after about an hour of waiting that I was going nowhere fast with this guy. So I told him in a huff, “Fine. I’ll just take a zemidjan to Parakou.” He laughs at me and says, “Fine. You do that.” “Fine. I will.” 'I will' meant that I had just agreed to take a nearly 2 hour zemidjan ride (4,000CFA). Stubbornly, however, I didn’t back down, and some nice guy who saw that I was angry helped me find a zemi driver who was willing to make the trek with me. It ended up being pretty pleasant…well, not bad. We only broke down once and the driver fixed the problem within five minutes which is good because we were in the middle of nowhere with no help in site. And then, when we arrived at the destination the driver actually stayed with me until I found a taxi the rest of the way to Parakou. I told him that he could go, but he insisted that he should stay until I was safely on my way. I thought that that was a very kind gesture. On the way back, the voyage from Gogonou to Parakou took way longer than I would have ever imagined, so I ended up staying the night in the Parakou workstation which just so happened to be the old PCVL ‘s (Peace Corps Volunteer Leader) last night in town (she had been a PCV for THREE years!) so there was a free and amazing dinner on her to celebrate the evening. So that was lucky and nice, not to mention that there were several SED volunteers who were staying at the workstation en route to their early service conference, so I got to see a bunch of unexpected faces and catch up on all the gossip. Gotta love Peace Corps gossip. Nothing stays buried for very long.
Fifth. This past Wednesday, I was in Bassila for the market and I was headed to the post office to check my mailbox (WHICH, by the way, I got three packages from my parents and one package from MARIA.G.33!!! thank you so much!!!), but I was headed there on Emma’s bike. She was feeling a bit under the weather, so I was making the trip into by myself and to save some time I took her bike because I didn’t have mine as I had zemied there in the morning. Little did I know that her bike has significantly better brakes than mine. Anyway, I was pedaling along and “voila” I see a bunch of my colleagues from work. I want to stop and say hello to them as it is very rude not to do so, I put on the brakes and “weeeeee….” The bike stops quite abruptly, I stumble along with the bike for a few awkward steps, and “weeeee…” I go flying over the handlebars onto the pavement. After a moment of shock, I start laughing as all my colleagues come running over to help me up saying “doucement, doucement doucement” (*doucement means quietly or softly, I believe, in proper French, but here it is used as be careful, watch out, get out of my way, attention, etc.—anything really). I was pretty much as embarrassed as could be, so I just wanted to get out of there, so I said I was fine, but I definitely banged up my shoulder, ribs, got a couple little scrapes on my elbow and foot, two little bruises and one really big bruise on my inner thigh, BUT all worth it just to say hello. My mom said that I should have just popped up and said, “Welp. Bonjour” and then taken off without another word. Haha, that would have been great. So good to know that I am also no less accident prone in Africa. I guess I’m even surprised that something like this hasn’t happened earlier. That’s got to count as some sort of mini accomplishment.
Sixth. (I hope these are reading a bit like short stories or something). I went to Bassila, again, this past weekend to check out the basketball team/basketball court. I am thinking about building a court at CEG Manigri and I wanted to scope things out. So, I made the trip in the morning—the teams have to practice early in the morning or late at night because otherwise it’s just too unbearably hot to do anything. Anyway, I got there, and I was a little late, so the practice was already underway, but I jumped in and started doing the best that I could to teach the kids how to do a layup. I didn’t want to coach too much because I didn’t really know the French vocabulary for basketball (turns out it is pretty much the same thing), and I didn’t want to step on the coach’s toes, so I just did a little bit. He was really really happy to have me there though, and after practice was done, he had me give a little speech about who I was and why basketball was so important to me. Interesting to say the least. I returned later that day as well to observe some more of the older kids playing. When I returned, there was basketball, volleyball, and handball all going on at the same time. Totally intimidated, I walked in like I owned the place. Like I was the coolest and best thing to ever happen to Bassila. Either my strut was on or rumor had spread or both, but all the kids seemed to take to me (even the older kids), and they were asking me if I played in college and all sorts of other stuff. It was pretty funny, really. I just told them that back home I’m pretty much a legend. Haha, not really. Actually, after my interaction with all the kids, I turned to Emma and told her that now there is no way I can ever play basketball with these kids because no matter how well I play, I will never be able to live up to whatever image that they have created in their mind. I might as well just let them dream. Let them think that I really am a legend.
Finally, I think. This weekend will take me to Parakou (well after Thanksgiving up in Natitingou) for an entire week as part of an in-service training for us first year TEFL people, and I am SO EXCITED. I cannot wait to see everybody and hear stories about life and about teaching. It will be a lot of technical stuff that I won’t really want to listen to, I’m sure, but that’s okay. I am just too excited to care, and I’m sure that I will be too happy to care, so in the long run it doesn’t matter. Plus, it’s a whole week off of teaching, that’s a good enough reason for me, too!
Okay, so I think that that just about wraps up my thoughts for now. I’m sure I will think of something later, but this should be enough reading to get everyone started! I hope that for those of you still in college that you took this journal as an opportunity to procrastinate studying for some big exam or preparing for some ridiculous IS meeting (you really should try to keep on schedule, but to be honest if you don’t have exactly everything for some meeting, they don’t really care, just so long as you turn in everything at the end). For those of you not in college, I hope that this journal and other volunteer’s journals continue to serve as a hopefully pleasant distraction from life in the States. I think that most of us find our lives here to be quite bizarre at times and it’s great that we live in the age of technology so that we are able to share at least some of what we are experiencing here with everyone back home. I will say that for all of you in the “parent’s group” I have been traveling all around Benin lately (as you now know), and I pleased to say that everyone is doing quite well or at least finding good strategies to cope with the bumps and hiccups along the way. So no worries. We are surviving and we are figuring out this adventure together. Welp. I suppose that’s enough. Hello and Goodbye from Manigri.