Typically our blog posts will be thematic rather than chronological. However, I decided to post the first couple of entries in my journal because they give a pretty good feel of some of the differences we experience - expected and unexpected. I hope this post gives you a glimpse into our lives as we get settled.
2 August 2013 – Fernand
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Day 1 to brave an unknown city full of strangers
without being able to share the same language.
·
We live in a four bedroom, four bathroom,
several other room, and distiller in the kitchen, house. We looked out the
window of our bedroom in the morning and the neighboring lot is bare dirt
inhabited by a scene from a national geographic show about rural Africa. Mom
cooking over a fire, chickens scratching for food, tin roofing material put
together to form a shelter, more tin for a latrine. We appear to be in a land
of sharp contrast.
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| Is this a Bird of Paradise? They grow like weeds here. |
·
Met a guide (Vitali) who said he could get us to
school. He had no idea where he was going, but eventually got there after
experiencing our first zemidjan (motorcycle taxi). We were sure we would never
take one. First preconception shattered.
·
We have to slow down. Most of the people stroll
slowly to where they are going. Of course we figured it out after walking our
normal pace for a few minutes and sweating. Walk slowly and keep your cool –
maybe that’s a good philosophy.
·
When we got to school we met several local staff
members who were ecstatic to see us.
Eric – office manager
Lambert – guard (school is guarded 24/7/365)
Rene' – gardener
Fernand – janitor
PS. Several of these people earn an annual
salary, full-time, of less than $3000. Amazingly, with an average per capita
income of less than $300/yr, this salary puts them comfortably into the middle
class – if there is one.
Fernand became our guide and mentor.
·
30 yrs old with a wife and two kids that he is
proud of.
·
He walked approximately 5 miles showing us the
right way to get to school – about 15 blocks. He showed us how and where to
shop. We have an idea of what is better to buy on the street (phones, fruit,
pots) or in the store (perishables) and what sort of prices are right (the
currency of Benin is the Central African Franc – CFA with a value of approx $1
= 500 CFA).
·
Karin has become a quick pupil of French –
always asking Fernand to teach her. Our goal is to speak passable French with
the locals and we have asked the school staff to teach us. The local Fon
dialect may be next J.
·
He took us to a local restaurant for lunch.
Foofoo (a word from my childhood – don’t know if it’s the right one) made with
maize (think sticky mashed potatoes) with peanut sauce and goat meat. Yum.
Karin had the vegetable sauce; which she was enjoying until finding a crab and
some other meat that she could not identify. We have leftovers in the fridge.
·
Apparently he is also our housekeeper and
gardener. When we got home from marketing, he pruned, cleaned, and scrubbed the
front porch and yard. He even washed the trees.
Looking forward to day 2: going in to school for a while,
then hit the markets on our own. We will try to bargain well.
3 August 2013: Lizards galore
·
At 9 am, Karin and I
decided to walk to school and check it out for a while on our own. We
remembered the route from yesterday with no problems. Maybe it was because it
was not too hot yet, but there were hundreds of lizards that scampered out of
our way while we walked the half mile. They were mostly brown geckos of various
sizes from three to six inches. Then there were the colorful ones that could
get up to eight inches.
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| Look what followed me home. Can I keep it? |
·
The infrastructure here is not good. The roads
in our neighborhood make outer east Portland side streets look like heaven.
Amazingly, there is a steady stream of cars and zemidjan all day. The word is
that they do fill the holes on a regular basis, but the abundant rain undoes
their work very quickly.
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| Trust me. I called the city about the pothole. |
·
On our walk to
school, noticed that garbage and other refuse was stacked up on the sides of
the streets. Another infrastructure issue. We did find out that “Napoleon”
takes care of our garbage. Three days a week, we put our garbage can outside of
our locked gate when we leave. He gives it to the “garbage collectors” and
gives our can back when he sees us come back home. I am not clear yet where the
garbage goes. From what I understand they sort it thoroughly and reuse most of
it. The rest…?
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| Crows are important recyclers everywhere. |
·
The school is interesting. It is in a villa
across the street from UNESCO and the Ghanaian Embassy. I counted five teaching
spaces (classrooms). However, we are finalizing the lease of the building next
door which will greatly expand our space.
·
We were able to get on line today for the first
time while at school. That means we could let our family and friends know that
we arrived safely. We will get internet at the house next week. Then we will be
able to communicate regularly. It will be expensive – 50,000 CFA ($100/mo).
·
Fernand went to the market with us again today.
Karin is picking it up fast. She got some supplies as well as the makings of
dinner and some local beer – Beaufort (think Bud). When at the market we have
to be careful not to spend too much money. It would draw too much attention to
ourselves. Even though we have a list of things we need to outfit our kitchen,
we will accumulate them over time. Yesterday we negotiated a set of three
aluminum pots for $12,000 CFA ($24).
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| It's not a good summer Ale, but what are you gonna do? Go local. |
PS: we found out that
our neighbors are Nigerian Muslims and this is Ramadan. Have not met them yet.
