Bonjour tout le monde! Hello Everyone!
It has been a day with it’s ups and downs to be sure. Some
exciting cultural immersion, and some integration frustration. Let’s talk about
the frustration part first. I have had some trouble adapting to food here. I haven’t been sick, but I often feel a
little off and don’t have much appetite as I am adjusting to new food, and a
new life here. I am starting to think my stomach has a mind of it’s own. Even
though I’m eating things I like, for example rice, chicken, tomato sauce, or
hard boiled eggs, my stomach just can’t be convinced that it wants this stuff.
It’s good to remember that when I was in Hawaii, no matter how much I ate I was
still hungry, finally when I made some brownies I started feeling full. It
wasn’t that I was not getting enough to eat, just that my stomach was anxious
(if you will). I think the same thing is happening here, where my stomach is
nervous that anything new could be bad. Stop being such a drama queen stomach!
In the mean time I have been anxious about offending my host
mama, who probably spends an hour to an hour and a half preparing dinner every
night. She also doles out big portions. Fortunately, other peace corps
volunteers, and my fascilitators, continue to be supportive, encouraging me to
talk to her about any sanitation concerns or different preferences. My host
Mama herself has been very patient, accepting, and accommodating. The family seems
to have been well prepared for us (and seems to be pretty kind and considerate
to begin with!).
Ok, over to exciting cultural immersion: On days when we
have language class all day we break up the day by walking around and talking
to people in the neighborhood, usually students who have a break between
classes at the nearby high school. Today I wound up chatting with a group of
maybe 10 Beninese teenage boys, who were encouraged by my fascilitator to ask
me questions. They did a good job. We talked about the founding of our
countries (happy 4th btw) and my work with the Peace Corps, and our
differing school systems. I also received an offer to be someone’s girlfriend
(no marriage proposals yet though), was asked if I had any kids, and was asked
if American men with long hair have to use women’s shampoo. I thought the last
one was particularly funny. It was great to get to joke around with them. We
were told that men in Benin can be very jokingly flirtatious, and people also
expect that by the old age of 23 you would have a family, so I was sort of
ready for both of those questions. I deflected the later by asking if any of
them had any kids. They laughed and joked that they had about 5 each. Like I
said, it was nice to joke around with people.
After class I rested a bit and wallowed in my grumpy
stomach-ness. But after journaling and listening to some American music, I got
up and jumped into the fray. My host mama is being really cool about explaining
to me her recipes and cooking methods. I am glad to learn. Even though I have a
little more trouble understanding her than my host papa, I feel at home talking
recipes and ingredients. I’m eager to be fully helping cooking stuff. I also
learned that she, awesomely enough, is going through the arduous process of
bleaching and rinsing vegetables so they are super safe to eat. So, again, she
is really great.
For dinner we had some salad (super clean salad even) and
Pate Blanc which is basically flour and water, mixed to an almost mashed potato
consistency, with a sauce that was part tomato sauce, and part clinclin, a
local green which has a lot of beneficial properties. I tried to really give
myself credit and just ate as much as I wanted (around a fistful of pate blanc)
even though everyone else had heaping plates of it. I am pretty sure they have
been told Americans sometimes take weird small portions. My stomach was pretty
happy afterwards.
After that we watched soap operas for a while, and I showed
my oldest host sister , Onelia, how to knit. It’s tough getting started, but it
was fun to get to teach her.
Tomorrow, perhaps some internet!
Thinking about you guys all the time, I hope all is well
with you and yours.
With Love,
Lauren
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