Sweet Magoumi

First impressions are pretty funny, right? I remember first rolling into Magoumi thinking, “This is so small and isolated and why aren’t there any normal roads? These houses seem placed at random in a maze-like labyrinth. Oh my goodness!” But after one and a half months my thoughts about Magoumi are “What a sweet magical town nestled gently between rolling hills and fields of corn, yams, rice, and PEANUTS!”  Magoumi has a couple big open spaces, but a lot is packed with houses. And the houses aren’t in walled concessions, but clustered together, which means I walk into random peoples’ living spaces and invade with my foreign bizarreness!

After studying anthropology, I’m a firm believer that a culture and lifestyle are inherently tied to the language. Thus, it’s really important to me to make big efforts to learn Idaasha (I-daaa-cha). The people get so excited as I scramble my way through basic greetings. Here’s a sampler during the morning:

A: E kooni (Good morning)

B: Awareni (How are you?/I’m well)

A: E mon fe? (How are the kids?)

B: Awa. (They are well.)

A:E koanan. (Thank you for yesterday.)

B: EE. E koanan. (Thank you for yesterday.)

A: E surereni? (Did you sleep well?)

B: E. (Yes)

A: Odibokpinde. (See you later.)

B: O. Odibokpinde! (See you later!)

I have no idea how to actually spell any of this, but that’s what it sounds like. It’s really fun to unravel the inner-workings of a new language. And the moments as I stumble my way through Idaasha are frequently filled with laughter and hand slapping. Good times.

The last thing I want to mention is the children in my concession. I live in a cluster of houses with a handful of children faithful to me. Everyday I hear “Madame! Madame!” I watch them play and sing, drum for each other on empty bleach bottles while the really little ones dance the shoulder-shakin’ Beninese dance. I like to refer to them as my body guards whenever any gentleman stops by to greet me. The kids are HILARIOUS. One day they followed me to school. It was before classes were actually in session, so I was just kinda going from room to room, maybe writing notes, etc. If I stopped at one place for a moment, my pack of 7 body guards ages 10 years and younger, would stop and play hide and seek in the various classrooms. But the moment I transitioned across the school yard, I would hear a flurry of Idaasha sprinkled with “Madame, Madame!” I interpreted this as “Hurry up! Madame is leaving! We must follow and protect her in this new and foreign land!”

One of my favorites is a three or four year old named Sharif. He’s such a trouble maker, but such a little charmer. If I shake my finger at him and tell him in French not to do something, a clever grin breaks on to his face, followed by a mirror image of myself, one hand on hip, finger shaking, and garbled French.  SO CUTE! Another favorite is a 12 year old Latifa who was one of the previous volunteer’s good friends. She lives in the house connected to me and is incredibly hard-working and helpful. She’s got a joyous smile and is always curious and eager to learn more. Together we’ve made banana bread (I made her celebrate her birthday complete with candle blowing, fellow girlfriends, birthday song, and cake (banana bread = gateau.).  We’ve started English tutoring twice a week, followed by the Go Fish card game. I’m settling. And nesting. At moments it’s lonely. And exhausting. But then little Sharif will run up to me and hug my leg. Or Latifa breaks out her grin and welcomes me back home. And the world spins madly on. (I am listening to this song by the Weepies and could not help but incorporate it!)

Transitions to Teaching

I have neglected this blog. Are we surprised, given my nature of procrastination, simple laziness, and feeling slightly overwhelmed when using the internet café in my market town? No. Thus, I shall try to make up for it nowwww.

Swearing in as a volunteer for a second time was a somewhat surreal experience.  But it still felt INCREDIBLE. Stage this time around was challenging in new and extraordinary ways. The emotional strain at first, seeing volunteers who’d been here for a year left me feeling bitter sadness. “That could’ve been me!” was all I could think. I wanted to greet new volunteers with warm bottles of water and even warmer smiles. Swallowing those bitter pills got a whole lot easier as I got absorbed in the people and activities around me. Particularly model school and team TEFL! Model school kicked my Ms. Fat booty into gear! It was one of the most helpful teacher training experiences I’ve undergone. It involved teaching English summer school classes from 8-10, snack pause (read: vent with fellow trainees about trouble students pause), and classes again 10-11, followed by a feedback session. It was great to plan lessons together, feed off each others ideas, strengths, and weaknesses, etc. What’s more, at all times there were at least 2 people observing the class, so I got personal advice from trained teachers, and fellow trainees. I learned so much from observing others, noting their techniques, and experimenting with my own classroom activities.

One notable example is my dear friend Thomas who I’m sure is marveling his students in the Bariba far north. He would hop around the classroom, clapping his hands, yelling “Energy, energy, energy!” At the beginning of each class he would say “Are you ready?!!” to which students would reply “YES, we’re READY!” Although I don’t think I am quite as hoppy as dear Thomas, I adopted his “Are you ready?” technique. Many days, I also need to get pumped up for class and this little chant get’s ME READY to teach.

Another activity I’ve enjoyed is incorporating pictures and drawing. In Porto Novo, I did a listening exercise where I described a scene and the students drew what described. I reversed this idea in Magoumi and drew five pictures of a boy during his day, while students worked in groups to write sentences in the simple past about my beautiful drawings (ha!) My favorite student created sentence described a drawing where a boy sat in class while the teacher taught at the blackboard. This one group wrote, the teacher danced at school! Haha. Perhaps they were referencing my own dramatic theatrics during class!

Teaching in general has been filled with the ups and downs of life. Frequently, on my walk to school while wading through the seasonal stream (bah) I think, “Oy. Here we go. Teaching.” But as soon as I start interacting with my students, a rush of energy rolls through my body. Yes, there are frustrating moments. Particularly when students will copy grammar activities, but won’t DO them. It’s frustrating at times when students won’t put the effort in. When this happens, I assess, what can I do to make them understand the activity or grammar rule? But the other issue is that these students are new too critical thinking and applying rules. A lot of primary school is rote memorization versus creating and applying. I tell myself I need to be patient with my 7^th and 8^th graders. I’m not only teaching English, but how to perform as successful students. And it’s amazing how after a couple weeks of applying a formula or rule, many will start to pick it up. I shall go into teaching more later. For now, I try to stay creative, motivated, and optimistic!

You Are What You Wear

Family and friends, as you may know, I am not the most fashionably conscientious person. However, here in Benin, clothes matter BIG TIME. And people have this uncanny ability to take in EVERYTHING you’re wearing from earrings to shoes within the first 30 seconds of seeing you. Throughout training, the TEFL volunteers have been reminded of the importance of dress, especially as a teacher. Teachers are automatically well-respected members of the community, thus they are expected to dress accordingly. That being said, I wear long skirts and modest shirts (I like to refer to myself as modest mar-eee-ah). I’ve now realized that one of my biggest faux pas in Niger was wearing plastic, but OH SO comfortable Havana flip flops everyday. Alas, now I must wear nicer strappy sandal contraptions that entrap my mosquito-bitten feet. Today, I was wearing just such a cute pair. Unfortunately, while walking home I tripped (unsurprising) and broke my sandal! Irreparable! The AGONY!

Haha, not TOTAL agony, but this presented a problem for the rest of my walk home. I tried to keep the sandal on my foot, while my friend encouraged me to walk like a proud seductive flamingo. On the journey home, walking as a proud seductive flamingo, as soon as people saw me, they started chuckling to themselves. People across the street, yards away would yell, “Yovo, your shoe is broken!” Yes, thank you. It was actually quite a hilarious situation and I couldn’t stop laughing. People offered to give me rides on their motos, to give me their own shoes, and to take me to the shoe cobbler. I felt more like a clown than a proud seductive flamingo, but all the same, it was quite an experience. The best part was when this small boy who always asks me for a gift, ran up to me demanding a cadeau. I promptly took off my broken shoe and gave it to him! Alas, even he refused this hurt gift.

Lesson learned: Everything you wear matters. It makes a lot of sense. In the US people put a lot of pride, energy, and money into the appearance of their houses or cars, but when money is tighter, it makes sense to put that energy and pride into dress. Maybe I’ve just been living in some strange Mariah warped time continuum, but I feel like in the US, people have more freedom to dress to express their unique personality. Yes, for work, a gala event, or perhaps some posh club in LA I couldn’t get away with rubber flip flops. But any birthday party or random bar outing, hello Havanas! Dressing to express personality definitely exists here as well, but as a foreigner in a new land, it also seems that my personal way of dressing lazily does not fly for most social situations here. I need to dress my part and dress in a way that shows respect to my community and the individuals I encounter along the way. Inshallah, my sandals won’t break and I’ll look fly for the next TWO years of service. Inshallah.

To the village!

About 2 weeks ago, I sped away in a bus on the rough roads of Benin: Twas a journey north, to the center of Benin known as the hilly regions or Les Collines. Also on the bus were the diecteur of the school I will be working at and my counterpart, a fellow english teacher. We were bound for my village, whiwh is a 15 minutes motorcycle ride away from Glazoué, a big market town and probably the closest town that you'll find on a map. When I got to my village I was struck by how tranquil and calm it was. No paved roads, no electricity, and surrounded by fields of rice, yams, PEANUTS, and corn. I'm not gonna lie, it was a bit startling at first to arrive in the village and think "oh my shnap! This is small." 

But the world has it's ways and the very night of my arrival I fell sick with a malady that I can only describe as a small monster living in my intestinal track, doing acrobatics and causing me to run to the latrine, which was a good 3 mintues walk away. 3 minutes is forever when a monster is inside you. Is that too much information? Sorry 'bout it; Not sorry 'bout it!

Anyways, so my host family who I stayed with for the post visit grew very alarmed at my unwillingness to eat and my sicklynature in general, so at 22h00 they decide to take me to the local hospital, despite my vehement protests. Alas, they persuaded me to go and after waking up the nurses and convinving them not to give me a shot, I got some medicine and started to fall in love with the village. The nurses were hilarious and super friendly with me, even when I became delirious and started saying weird-mariah things. And my host family was so caring.

The next day I woke up feeling 100 times better; the sun was shining, little goats and piglets frolicked through the streets. Life was good.

The rest of my visit I spent trying to practice greetings in Idaatcha, the local language and I went out to the fields with my host family. It's so incredible to feel SO comforted and SO welcomed in a tiny village where I hardly know anyone, nor do I actually speak the language. I'm loving these vibes and look forward to officially moving in!

K, internet time is almost up! loveeee

A Lesson in African Hospitality

A Lesson in African Hospitality

This past Sunday afternoon, my maman beninoise was preparing “pate rouge.” Pate is a main staple item in West Africa, serving as a base for various sauces. Basically, it’s equivalent to rice or pasta. Pate Blanche is made from ground up corn (or in Niger, millet) mixed with boiling water and then mixed and mixed, stirred and stirred with a wooden paddle instrument. It has a general consistency of gelatinous mashed potatoes. I’ve never missed rice so badly. HA. It’s actually not sooo bad. Especially pate rouge. Pate rouge is made by making a basic tomato sauce FIRST with the boiling water, and then stirring in the flour. SO good. It was like all the flavor of sauce, minus all the oil. Unfortunately, my maman doesn’t like it that much, thus looks like I’ll be eating the fermented pate blanche, Akasa, more often than desired.

 Another favorite of mine is Bissap, a juice made by boiling dried hibiscus flower petals and adding loads of sugar. My maman beninoise has taken note of my cries of delight whenever I touch the sweet nectar to my lips. THUS, we have it quite often.

Last Sunday, my mother was busy preparing pate rouge, chicken wings and fried fish for her husband, three kids, one american lady (me), and two miscellaneous family members. We all sat down to lunch and within five minutes the doorbell rang.

Two family friends stop by and, having arrived while we are dining, are obligated to sit down and join us. Diiiiing! Oh, what’s that? Ten minutes later, the bell has rung again with papa beninois’s family friend and 17 year old daughter in tow. No more pate rouge, but a quick jaunt to a nearby food stand provides some pate blanche and there’s plenty of fish, chicken, and just enough bissap. Riiiiiiiiiiiing! Oh, hey it’s the preacher we talked to last week. “Larissa (my 18 year old sister), run out and get him a cold sprite. And more pate blanche!”

Laughing at all these unexpected guests I joke at how popular the family must be to have so many visitors. Maman beninoise laughs and asks what would happen in the U.S. I mutter out something about offering visitors something to drink, but how there probably wouldn’t be enough food to serve 5 unexpected guests. Besides, people don’t generally show up unannounced in the U.S. My maman beninoise again laughs at this and recounts when she first married papa beninois. His brother had come over for dinner and she’d made just enough pate for the three of them. However, just as the meal was starting, her new mother-in-law shows up unannounced. She quickly ran out to buy some pate from a nearby vendor. On her return to the house her bemused mother-in-law shares some essential advice, especially for Africa. When you’re cooking a meal, always make a little extra. You never know who’s gonna stop by!

My experiences thus far in Africa highlight the value of hospitality and making every visitor, friend, distant relative, and guest, FEEL a part of the African family. I had it explained to me as wanting to treat guests so well that they’ll always want to return. The social dynamic is incredibly hospitable, marked by profound generousness, and a willingness to both give and take as needed.

C’est BON

I’m gonna need some pressure to be a blog writer. I wrote that last part and then lazily went to bed without describing what I was looking forward to. And NOW I’m already in Benin!!! AND it’s incredible.

I think I was looking forward to creating some of the same experiences I had in Niger, here in Benin. Like playing with children, attempting to make traditional sauces (minus the massive amount of oil they use), and walking up to strangers and trying to make conversation. The longer I’m here, the more I realize that I don’t necessarily and shouldn’t be trying to search for the same sensations and experiences of Niger. My experiences in Benin are as unique and different as each person is individual and unique in their own ways. I can’t imagine my impressions of Niger ever leaving me and I guard PC Niger close to my heart. However, the new adventures of Benin have already been incredible.

Meeting all the new stagiares/trainees in Philadelphia was filled with that amusing nervousness and chit chat that surrounds all great liftoffs. In Benin, there are four groups Health, Business, Education, and Environment. All four groups undergo training at the same time, thus that makes about 53 of us!

My first impressions of Benin sounded something like this: “Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! No WAY! Is that water? What?! Look at all the greeeeen down there. No WAY! Yayayayayaayaay!” The climate here is definitely tropical. Warm humidity that quickly creates a thin layer of sweat, along with lush trees of the banana, mango, and coconut variety. We spent a couple days in Cotonou and despite feeling minorly isolated from real life, some volunteers who’ve been here a year took us on some foot tours.

First, let us discuss the market. Not even the BIG market. Your average market in the South is filled, FILLED with produce. Giant avocados, green leafy lettuce, plump carrots, palm nuts, crabs, fish, oranges, BANANAS, PINEAPPLE, chickens, huge arrays of spices, peppers…I could continue. And probably will on other occasions. Btw, pineapple=100cfa (around 500cfa=$1) =life is goooood.

We then moved out to Porto Novo where we live dotted throughout the capital with our host families. There was a juice cocktail gathering for our first encounters with the fambam (family). My encounter went something like this:  Having just come back from the bathroom I hear fellow trainees calling my name. They have found my family. I walk over and there’s a sassy petite 18 year old grinning at me with open arms. Her name is Larissa and she is so fabulous, words do not describe. She immediately gave me a bisou on each cheek and ushered me over to meet 16 year old Jomeo.

Let me give you the break down on the familial situation. Mama is a midwife and works 1 day for 24 hours and then has 2 days off. Papa does something with business management regarding potable water and is away during the week only to return on weekends. Jomeo is NOT my real brother (but kinda as that’s what I call him.) I have two little brothers. The youngest I have not yet encountered, but the 14 year old named Leodoric (Leo), just came back yesterday! And he was first in his class for English this year. Oh heyyyyy!

So far we haven’t done many sessions on teaching. It’s been mostly French, French, and more French. Which is great! I def need fine tuning and improvement, so I appreciate it. It’s fun to have interesting discussions (what is the most essential in life: love, work, honor, money, health, etc.), to chat, to learn new vocab, and to have those “aha” moments about things that have always been confusing. And Beninese French is beaucoup different…accents, word choice, etc. Overall things are great. I feel happy and awkward and laugh at myself each day. La vie est belle. Ou bien?

All in all, Benin is incredible!

Next Step

One of my favorite memories from college was when my dear friend dragged me on a 22 mile backpacking trip through Death Valley. This being my very first backpacking trip, with just the first few steps carrying the pack on my back, I made a dramatic “ugh” noise. As a watched the landscape change from reed marshes to grass fields dotted with hills to canyon walls, I was amazed at how easily the landscape changed with the simple placement of my feet.

Imagine how the great pioneer women must have felt crossing the continental United States! They probably felt worn down and weary at times, but they pushed through. Thanks to my friend Lindsay’s mother, I now have a yellow sun bonnet (matched only in greatness by Lindsay’s green sun bonnet.) Clearly, I now have the wardrobe to move forward once again.

I feel changed by the heart wrenching (and sometimes gut-wrenching…literally) experiences I’ve been fortunate enough to feel my way through.  In a way, I am grateful for them because they make me feels alive. Like my spirit is lighting up and growing.

That’s all a bit abstract, I know, so let's commence with some concrete Benin adventures!