(Originally written on the night of Sunday, January 24, 2010)
- Tonight, after the sensibilization, AnnMarie (the new, neighbor Volunteer; I invited her along to see what it was all about) and I played some variation of soccer with about thirty kids in the village we were in (Avokanzoun). And by variation I mean: there were two little balls that we kicked around in various directions and kids went screaming after them. I include myself in that description of kids running. And by me running what I really mean is: me flailing my arms about my head with an accompanying “WAAAAAAHHHHHH” as I tried desperately not to trip over my feet in an attempt to hike the ball around in the sand. I didn’t lose friends over it. I actually think the kids liked my unique approach to sports. And lemme tell you somethin’ else. I’m not used to runnin’ around like an eight-year-old anymore. I haven’t been eight years old for some time. Not only that, I’m not really used to runnin’ in general. Because I don’t run. Because I get winded pretty easily. And just one more thing: it was so much fun. Really, it was one of those times where you smile so much that the back of your head by each of your ears hurts. Real bad. But you can’t stop smiling because you’re having so much fun and you just try to smush your cheeks together to stop the pain, but you know it won’t go away until you can really stop smiling. Give it a whirl and you won’t be disappointed; run around like a kid, with kids. Arm flailing optional.
- Also after the sensibilization, we stopped by the Moringa Resource Center. It’s a cleaning and drying center for the leaves, actually; there aren’t any more resources than that. So I saw some leaves being dried in the room, but in the fields- not so much Moringa. Actually I don’t know if I saw any. Lots of manioc, always lots of manioc around. Not sure what’s happenin’ with the Moringa, but I’m gonna see about it. I’m almost positive there should be a LOT more.
- Did I mention that when I came home after being gone for so long that all the concession kids greeted me at the gate, yelling my name? It’s not much of a story beyond that. They were happy to see me and it was great. That’s about it. I don’t have anything to new to say about how we can’t have lengthy conversations but it doesn’t matter because we’re all cool with saying what we can through our smiles. Ya know, those warm fuzzies. But not too warm or fuzzy because it’s a stifling bajillion degrees here. And the real “chaleur” hasn’t even hit yet. That means heat. And it’s on its way- and I’m not excited because I would vote that it’s already plenty hot here.
- I got my first electricity bill. Well, I've received two but they were for months before I was living here so they weren't mine to pay. I just got October's bill. Yeah, October. And it came to a little more than one American dollar. Bahaha.
Well, those are just some miscellaneous notes. I’d say there are a lot of those in life. Especially here, it seems. Oh, here’s one more: You know that song by Hot Chocolate that begins (I think), “I believe in miracles! Where ya from? You sexy thing.” I heard it. This morning it was just playing from somewhere. Love it. Aaah hahaha! And love you all! My best from Benin :o)
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