- Tabaski. A yearly Muslim holiday, Tabaski constitutes a Beninese national holiday, which means – surprise! – no school. Luckily it was on a Tuesday, so I didn’t have classes anyway. More on Tabaski to follow, since the explanation I started writing is way too long for a bullet point.
- Tabaski, Part 2. On actual Tabaski at about 4pm, the Beninese government announced that the Tabaski national holiday would continue an extra day, so there would be no school Wednesday. This one actually did mess up my plans a lot (Wed. I teach 6eme, and both of my classes are behind). I asked why Tabaski was going to continue, and my host maman explained: “Well, you know, we worked so hard today having the party that tomorrow we need the day off to relax.” Ohhh… right.
- Problem with Woman at School. I think I wrote about this last week – a woman professor at school was refusing to call me Madame, instead calling me Mademoiselle as loudly and emphatically as she could. I’d ask her to call me Madame, and she’d refuse… you expect that from men here, but the fact that it was coming from a woman (a professor!) was really getting to me. At the end of last week, I said something to the effect of, “Madame, I respect your marriage. Why don’t you respect mine?” Then I pulled out a picture of me with my husband. Today, she walked up, called me Mademoiselle, and then immediately checked herself. “Good morning, Madame.” Success.
- Other Problems at School. I told the other English department teachers that I was going to Parakou, and they all demanded that I bring them presents… really unprofessional, I think. Not sure how to handle it. I only got to teach my 6eme classes once this week, and now they’re really behind. My 5eme class on Thursday was going really well until the entire class sort of mutinied and refused to do one of my activities. In return, I’m making them do the assignment as homework, plus do another huge (21-sentence-long) homework assignment. Screw you, little assholes, I have the power here.
- Free Food! Today (Friday, 11.19.10), after a hella long trip to the bank – 1.5 hours just to withdraw money! – Elyse and I treated ourselves to “fried” chicken for lunch. We were just about to pay when an attractive older man walked up to our table, told us he had already paid for our meal, and gave Elyse his phone number. “Call me sometime, if you get the chance.” He didn’t ask us to marry him, demand our numbers, or try to get money from us. By far the most tempting Beninese man offer we’ve gotten to date… plus, free food!
- Elyse Visits. After our adventures in Cotonou today, we headed back to my village in a taxi. On the way we ate FanMilk (cheapo ice cream substitute), chatted lots, got an actually good price on the taxi without arguing, and saw a rainbow. Good day, excellent company… : )
- Onward and Northward. Tomorrow we head to Elyse’s post for the night, and after that, to Parakou (in the middle of the country) for a week of training with the other first-year TEFL volunteers. Yay Americans! I expect lots of fun stories, some debauchery, and lots of good food.
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