Hi Everyone!
It’s been a great
Sunday here in Benin, I hope it has been in for you too!
This morning the whole family packed up and went to St.
Michael’s for church in the morning. It’s my favorite of the three churches I
have been to. It is the closest to home, and has a community feel. I was happy
to catch more of the phrases in the service this time, I was even able to
follow parts of the sermon. The music is pretty cool too. It’s hard to pick out
words, but it does always have such a joyful feel. Also there weird little
cultural difference – in the US (or at least in New England) when we clap along
to a song in 4/4 time, we usually clap on the 2 and 4. Here is a 4/4 song, they
clap on the 3 and 4. That caught me off guard. Fortunately, as someone who is
not rhythmically gifted, not knowing the words, I can count out the measures to
make sure I’m on the right beat. Thanks marching band!
After church lunch was turkey with beans. I actually liked
it a lot (this was two new things, and in general, I am happy to report that I
am developing more of an appetite for Beninese food).
After lunch I hand washed my clothes with my little host
sister Cena, under the instruction of my host Mama. I am pleased to say I felt
a little more confident than the last time. Still my hands were so raw
afterwards. I can really understand why people, especially kids, re-wear
clothes until they really are dirty. Otherwise you would have so much laundry
to do! I had a surprising cross cultural moment during the washing process. In
general we have been told that women are expected to do all the domestic work.
However, while I was washing clothes, my host Mama’s younger brother was
visiting and chatting. At one point he crouched down and said, “try it like
this”. And then proceeded to wash one of my shirts to demonstrate an effective
way to quickly get the collar and sleeves. I was both grateful and surprised.
It was really cool to see a slightly different method than my host mama’s also,
she is so deft, it can be a little daunting!
After that I got to chat on the phone with my Mom, Dad, and
Aunt Julie (by proxy) a little bit. It was so good to hear from them and it is
just always encouraging to hear that people are enjoying the blog, and
appreciating the information. I’m so grateful to you guys for reading it!
Dinner was a Sunday special of fries and plantains with
fish. I have let my host mama know that my favorite Beninese dish is fried
plantains. I had a great conversation with my host family about the next couple
weeks, and everyone’s upcoming birthdays, etc. Apparently here 10 and 20 are
big birthdays, and Onelia brought out her photo album from her 10th
birthday last year. It was so exciting to see her birthday outfit, and pictures
of the family from a year ago, and a surprising number of familiar faces that
have visited over the past three weeks. It was heart warming. Apparently, I
will have to come back here at the end of January for Cena’s 10th
birthday party. It’s exciting to have a little over two years here to get to
celebrate birthdays with the family and all of that. On that note, I finally
learned the ages of all the kids: Onelia (11), Chancella, or Cena (9), Jerro (7),
Romeo, who is actually a cousin but it living here for now (6), and Yani (5). I
have probably spelled all of their names wrong, so sorry about that, but there’s
a little more information!
Thanks for reading!
With love,
Lauren
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