Santa Claus in Benin!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! It was and still is very busy here in Benin, from Tabaski (a Muslim holiday in December based on the moons) until the end of the voodoo festival in March it is a party, especially in the South, lucky for me! As you saw in the title, yes Santa Claus came to my village. One of my friend’s, another volunteer put on a Santa costume that I found in Cotonou a few weeks before Christmas. My family in my concession was thrilled; I even made him bring out the gifts I got them in a sac. It was a great time and I made some brownies and banana bread. I had never made brownies from scratch, so I thought they were bad, but my friend told me that’s what they are supposed to taste like…haha shows that I am used to the box brownies I guess.

I had a great Mexican dinner of sweet potato and cheese enchiladas with some other volunteers a few days after Christmas, and then spent New Year’s with my host family in Porto Novo. My friend Mani and I got us all matching tissue outfits and we had a great time dancing, eating, and just hanging out with the family. I also walked to this village that borders my commune, I thought it was on the water and it was in October, but now it is dry season so there is no water. I was shocked, it was still really beautiful though and these people live half of the year on water! The architecture of the houses is amazing as you can see and I did still get to cross the river in a boat. I would really like to do some work there, especially about malaria.

My local language is still coming along, I hang out at the market almost everyday after work to listen and practice with my maman, and it helps me out. Work is going okay, I had a meeting with the director of the CEG (middle and high school) about a summer camp I want to plan for August and about teaching computer class, it went well and I’m excited about getting everything underway. I am starting formations every Thursday at my ONG, which isn’t a huge thing, but it’s still getting necessary information out there. I hope everyone is doing well, stay warm, while I continue to try and stay cool!