24 january
Black/White, Bodies, Gecko, English, Laptop and Moped !
In the beginning of my stay in Grand Popo I thought that there was me, the Finns and the black Africans. Different colours of black Africans.
Now I think there are me and the finns that make a unity of yovos, and then there are friends, colleagues, fruit ladies, moped chauffeurs, children on their way to school, and a bunch of people I haven’t had the chance to talk to yet. The blackness has disappeared. All that is rest is my own yovoness. I don’t see people as black anymore. I see friends and smiles. I do have to admit though that I react when I see a new yovo in town; who is that and doing what? Interesting how fast a way of perceiving things can change. That I am grateful for. Maybe old dogs can learn to sit after all.
The regular body contact stroke me as slightly awkward in the beginning. My female colleagues straight forward grab my breasts, my male boss likes to comment my butt, lunch lady wants me for herself and makes sure to always touch my butt before I leave…and so on and so on. There is a lot of talk about my butt. They appreciate a round African butt on a yovo. Feels very strange to get so many comments about my body from people I don’t know. I don’t think much about it anymore unless it is a new form of comment. At least most of the comments are positive; otherwise it could be a bit heart breaking…
Today there was a frozen gecko in our fridge. I wonder how it got in. When it got taken out it fell like a dead dude on the floor. A while later it decided that ok, enough time being frozen, so it got up and continued its day as normal. Impressive. Geckos and lizards enjoy our garden. When they are not chasing each other they are relaxing in the sun. In the evenings they are curious what we are up to in the house so they tend to take a peak before being chase out by a mean yovo.
Today is the day for English course. The trainee is also teaching English twice a week for anyone that is interested. Yesterday we had only three students and yet it was somewhat difficult to know how to teach. The difficulties are caused by the fact that the students are all in very different levels of English knowledge. Otherwise I think it is quite fun.
Oh yes, my laptop died a week ago. It just got tired from the humidity and refuses to be turned on. It is a shame as I have plenty of music on it and there are pictures from here that I didn’t yet put on my usb, argh. Oh well. I am convinced that after some resting it will be a happy camper again. Rasta Gildes (Lion Bar Gildas for those of you that knows him) convinces me that it can be fixed. He will bring it to some fixer; maybe it would enjoy a lively voodoo ceremony. Hah. Of not fixed here it might wake up in Finland. Who knows how computer thinks?
Another oh yes, I decided to buy a moped. This way I am free to drive wherever and whenever I want and don’t have to walk alone in the darkness. The only catch is that I have to go to Togo, to Lomé, to buy it and drive it myself over the boarder. I could buy an old shitty one from here but apparently I would have to put a decent sum of money on constantly repairing it so it is better to buy a new one from Lomé or a quite fresh one at least. Can’t say I am a moped expert but it shouldn’t be too difficult to drive a small moped in the sand. Shouldn’t be more difficult than biking in the snow, at least this is what I tell myself. Luckily I don’t have to make my moped business on my own. The energetic museum boss Soile is here for 2 months and she is also buying a moped, so on Saturday Soile, Saku (her husband) and I go to Lomé and come back with two lovely mopeds; at least so we hope. I will be a proud moped owner!
It is fun to see that all kind of people have found this blogg, former stipendiâtes finlandaise and stagiaires, family and friends! I hope I am able to describe the things I feel, see and experience in a way that you can in some ways share this time with me. I will try to post some pictures as soon as possible. At time of writing this internet has been down for a couple of days, but there is always tomorrow.
30 january
we have not had internet for a week, so now i came with monsier kwassi to the nearby villages internet to check some work e-mails. lots have happened again. Two days ago i spent the night and following day at the hospital with one of the finnish artist. He calles maarit and me at one in the morning as he had had an attack of eplilepsia. we took him to grand popo hospital and i spent the night with him there. They couldn't do anything so we just waited. One interesting detail is that we should have brought our own bed sheets with us, as there are none at the hospital. Obviously we did not knw this so we slept on some plastic beds. At 8 in the morning we went to cotonou where i dragged him around the whole day as he was in very bad shape. At the same time maarit sent me an sms saying that tehre is a moped i could buy; cheap. I answered, yes, and make the deal.
So when i returned from cotonou at 10 in the evening, which was by the way madness to drive in the darkness, i had a moped in the livingroom. I tried it yesterday and of course i directly fell off.. so i am filled with bruises but hey, that is the way it is in the beginning. It is a cool moped; not a scooter. I will post pictures one day but now i have to run. Thank you all for e-mails, and sorry that i haven't been able to answer ( cause of no telephone ligne). kisses and hugs
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Harmattan, Ouidah, Mina and Corruption!
Another saturday at work.
Harmattan is slowly over and heat has showed its side. It is humid and hot, but apparently nothing yet. Today Harmattan could again be felt as the morning was nice and chilly. During the middle of the day during the last week it has been so sweaty that one can’t do much else than run into the big waves or throw oneself in the nearby Hotel’s swimming pool. The waves are big and the water is salty. The best time for swimming is between 12-14 p.m as the sea is at its calmest during this time of the day. The waves are anyways big at this time and the currents are very very strong so one has to be careful. The salty water and the waves hitting me in the back of my head make my hair very funny, its becoming Rasta à la naturell. The Rasta-reggae population of Grand Popo really likes my messy silly looking hair.
On Wednesday I visited Ouidah with the Finns. My job was to translate everything the guide said in the museum of history and at the port of no return. It is tiring to concentrate to hard especially as I naturally get the Swedish words in my head but not the Finnish ones, so my head is doing a double translation task…phew. But it was very interesting as it was all about the slave trade and the history around it. It is a cruel brutal past. The things we people do to one another, it’s incomprehensible.
I have been thinking about the local dialects lately. People here learn French in school but hardly ever speak French to one another. Here they mostly speak mina that is also spoken in southern parts of Togo. I tend to forget that French is not people’s mother tongue. Then I realized that it is a bit like being a finn-swed, most of finns-sweds speak a good if not a fluent finnish but many also struggle with it. It is like French here; many speak it absolutely fluently while other struggle to find words and especially numbers. This mostly concerns elderly as young people use French on a daily basis in school.
My mother called me yesterday and said that there had been a program about Villa Karo on FST. Apparently it had shown Villa Karo in a very bad light in many different ways. Local authorities that they had interviewed had a negative view of Villa Karo and its impact on Grand Popo. This surprises me as it is not the impression I get being here. Many locals appreciate Villa Karo greatly partly because it has woken up a sleepy almost dying little town and given many locals jobs and party because Villa Karo organizes free concerts every months and movie nights every Friday. For the concerts up to 4000 people attend from all nearby villages. The institute is open for everyone; at least this is the point of the institute. Yesterday a local catholic school visited the postcard exhibition and the children between 3 and 11 years of age were very excited and it was many times pointed out to them that they are always welcome to the institute. Drawing and music classes are being arranged for local children, obviously for free. Of course there is also another side of the coin. The program on FST had apparently also shown a side of corruption, that Villa Karo put money on beer and parties while the town needs money for schools and medicines and so on. Finnish Artists that maybe don’t have enormous amounts of money in Finland can live like Kings here and eat at restaurants every night and basically buy all they want. Of course this is very frustrating for people in a poor country that can’t put a third of a monthly salary on an evening out at the restaurant. Of course being here as a yovo feels a bit perverse at times. We live in the fancy houses and eat at restaurants. The program also brought to light something about Villa Karo stopping a Finnish school to collaborate in Grand Popo. It is quite impossible for someone that doesn’t know the language or the culture to come here and collaborate and this is why the project should have gone through Villa Karo, as the cultural institute already had a steady foot in the society. Well I haven’t seen the program so I shouldn’t comment more but it simply doesn’t seem like objective journalism. One can always create a bit of drama it one wants to. Why didn’t the program bring to light any of the positive effects Villa Karo has on this town, or was the point that there are not any? I have a hard time believing that.
Harmattan is slowly over and heat has showed its side. It is humid and hot, but apparently nothing yet. Today Harmattan could again be felt as the morning was nice and chilly. During the middle of the day during the last week it has been so sweaty that one can’t do much else than run into the big waves or throw oneself in the nearby Hotel’s swimming pool. The waves are big and the water is salty. The best time for swimming is between 12-14 p.m as the sea is at its calmest during this time of the day. The waves are anyways big at this time and the currents are very very strong so one has to be careful. The salty water and the waves hitting me in the back of my head make my hair very funny, its becoming Rasta à la naturell. The Rasta-reggae population of Grand Popo really likes my messy silly looking hair.
On Wednesday I visited Ouidah with the Finns. My job was to translate everything the guide said in the museum of history and at the port of no return. It is tiring to concentrate to hard especially as I naturally get the Swedish words in my head but not the Finnish ones, so my head is doing a double translation task…phew. But it was very interesting as it was all about the slave trade and the history around it. It is a cruel brutal past. The things we people do to one another, it’s incomprehensible.
I have been thinking about the local dialects lately. People here learn French in school but hardly ever speak French to one another. Here they mostly speak mina that is also spoken in southern parts of Togo. I tend to forget that French is not people’s mother tongue. Then I realized that it is a bit like being a finn-swed, most of finns-sweds speak a good if not a fluent finnish but many also struggle with it. It is like French here; many speak it absolutely fluently while other struggle to find words and especially numbers. This mostly concerns elderly as young people use French on a daily basis in school.
My mother called me yesterday and said that there had been a program about Villa Karo on FST. Apparently it had shown Villa Karo in a very bad light in many different ways. Local authorities that they had interviewed had a negative view of Villa Karo and its impact on Grand Popo. This surprises me as it is not the impression I get being here. Many locals appreciate Villa Karo greatly partly because it has woken up a sleepy almost dying little town and given many locals jobs and party because Villa Karo organizes free concerts every months and movie nights every Friday. For the concerts up to 4000 people attend from all nearby villages. The institute is open for everyone; at least this is the point of the institute. Yesterday a local catholic school visited the postcard exhibition and the children between 3 and 11 years of age were very excited and it was many times pointed out to them that they are always welcome to the institute. Drawing and music classes are being arranged for local children, obviously for free. Of course there is also another side of the coin. The program on FST had apparently also shown a side of corruption, that Villa Karo put money on beer and parties while the town needs money for schools and medicines and so on. Finnish Artists that maybe don’t have enormous amounts of money in Finland can live like Kings here and eat at restaurants every night and basically buy all they want. Of course this is very frustrating for people in a poor country that can’t put a third of a monthly salary on an evening out at the restaurant. Of course being here as a yovo feels a bit perverse at times. We live in the fancy houses and eat at restaurants. The program also brought to light something about Villa Karo stopping a Finnish school to collaborate in Grand Popo. It is quite impossible for someone that doesn’t know the language or the culture to come here and collaborate and this is why the project should have gone through Villa Karo, as the cultural institute already had a steady foot in the society. Well I haven’t seen the program so I shouldn’t comment more but it simply doesn’t seem like objective journalism. One can always create a bit of drama it one wants to. Why didn’t the program bring to light any of the positive effects Villa Karo has on this town, or was the point that there are not any? I have a hard time believing that.
Friday, January 11, 2008
More Greetings
Now it is a bit more than a week ago since I came to Benin. Feels like I have been here much longer because of all the people I have met and all the things I have seen and learned. An everyday life has started with work, marriage proposals, laughter, drums, darkness and lots of dinner invitations. I work from 08-12 and 16-18 and every other Saturday 8-12. There are 9 “stipendiâtes finlandaise“ and 2 more Finnish people, so at the moment there are plenty of Finnish people in the house.
I have a home now, I got it arranged so that I will continue living in Maarit’s house. She will be here until beginning of February and actually it is really nice to have company to share ideas and experiences in the evening. She is very funny. My mother asked me if it is a safe place to live, and what can I say: yes and no. It is safe because everyone knows that Maarit and I live there and it is a very small village so it would be a disaster if anything would happen to us, but on the other hand the front wall and the wall to the backyard consist of mosquito net; so if anyone wants to enter the house it is very easy; just tear down the mosquito net. I found out that it is the same house that Vivi-Ann Sjogren lived in when she wrote the book “Detta motet”. She wrote that she had the feeling that people are watching her; especially when it is dark outside and the lights are on, well I do feel the same sometimes. People are interested what the new yovo is doing.
Yesterday was the national voodoo festival. Thousand of people came to the village nearby and the day was filled with drums, dancing, ceremonies and plenty of things I have never seen before. It was a great experience. I took loads of pictures and videos that I can show one day. All the children were more than surprised over my piercing. The freak out when I pull it out a bit. Funny. I got a few marriage proposals again, phew. Even the ones that you have neglected a few times keep on trying, but then again why not, quite many Finnish ladies that have passed through Grand Popo have had affairs with local young boys. It is great business for the men; as they usually receive money and gifts from Finland after that, so why wouldn’t they try with the new one… it is a bit frustrating when people, many people, call you many times a day and all night long, but I assume it is only this crazy in the beginning, at least I hope. I have been told that people just wait for me to choose one, after which it will be less chaotic. It is madness. I have become good friends with a local boy that isn’t talking about marriage, so maybe now that people see me all the time hanging around with him they will assume that he is my chosen one… even though he is just a friend.
This weekend I will attend a few parties which will be fun. Actually on Saturday Maarit and I have invited all the Finns to our place, so they would see where we live and so on. My friend will cook for us all, think we will be around 13 people. People drink wine, beer and sodabi (local palmbooze) pretty much every day but just a bit. I have not seen any drunken people around except for a Finnish man. The drinking system here reminds me very much of the French system. Of course there are nightclubs and apparently party nightlife in Cotonou but nothing like that here in little grand popo. Just as good. It is always a pain in the ass to walk home in the darkness, and it gets dark after 7 p.m, and shortly after it is so dark that you can barely see your hand in front of you. I walked the other night, in the darkness, as my flashlight broke. The freaky part is that you don’t see that there is anyone in front of you before they are really in your face. Otherwise the walk didn’t feel unsafe at all, the only thing is that it is quite far, 3km from work. Usually I take a moped but they are hard to find at night. Wouldn’t walk like this in Cotonou or Lomé (in Togo) but here it is fine.
Oh yes by the way I haven’t had any Lariam side affects at all, so far; even though I had a fever and a terrible cough at my lariam pill day. I thought the fever and the Lariam pill wouldn’t be the best combination, but it was ok. And my fever is gone, think my body got a chock from the heat, even though we are now in harmattan which means that it is dry, cool and sandy. Cool means 34 degrees Celsius in the shade during the day. But mornings are really great, I am even wearing long sleeves as it feels cold. Soon the heat period starts, even the locals are talking about it that it is hot hot hot, phew.
So all in all things are really good and I am enjoying myself. Hope things are good over there and come to visite! You gotta see this place! Oh yes!
I have a home now, I got it arranged so that I will continue living in Maarit’s house. She will be here until beginning of February and actually it is really nice to have company to share ideas and experiences in the evening. She is very funny. My mother asked me if it is a safe place to live, and what can I say: yes and no. It is safe because everyone knows that Maarit and I live there and it is a very small village so it would be a disaster if anything would happen to us, but on the other hand the front wall and the wall to the backyard consist of mosquito net; so if anyone wants to enter the house it is very easy; just tear down the mosquito net. I found out that it is the same house that Vivi-Ann Sjogren lived in when she wrote the book “Detta motet”. She wrote that she had the feeling that people are watching her; especially when it is dark outside and the lights are on, well I do feel the same sometimes. People are interested what the new yovo is doing.
Yesterday was the national voodoo festival. Thousand of people came to the village nearby and the day was filled with drums, dancing, ceremonies and plenty of things I have never seen before. It was a great experience. I took loads of pictures and videos that I can show one day. All the children were more than surprised over my piercing. The freak out when I pull it out a bit. Funny. I got a few marriage proposals again, phew. Even the ones that you have neglected a few times keep on trying, but then again why not, quite many Finnish ladies that have passed through Grand Popo have had affairs with local young boys. It is great business for the men; as they usually receive money and gifts from Finland after that, so why wouldn’t they try with the new one… it is a bit frustrating when people, many people, call you many times a day and all night long, but I assume it is only this crazy in the beginning, at least I hope. I have been told that people just wait for me to choose one, after which it will be less chaotic. It is madness. I have become good friends with a local boy that isn’t talking about marriage, so maybe now that people see me all the time hanging around with him they will assume that he is my chosen one… even though he is just a friend.
This weekend I will attend a few parties which will be fun. Actually on Saturday Maarit and I have invited all the Finns to our place, so they would see where we live and so on. My friend will cook for us all, think we will be around 13 people. People drink wine, beer and sodabi (local palmbooze) pretty much every day but just a bit. I have not seen any drunken people around except for a Finnish man. The drinking system here reminds me very much of the French system. Of course there are nightclubs and apparently party nightlife in Cotonou but nothing like that here in little grand popo. Just as good. It is always a pain in the ass to walk home in the darkness, and it gets dark after 7 p.m, and shortly after it is so dark that you can barely see your hand in front of you. I walked the other night, in the darkness, as my flashlight broke. The freaky part is that you don’t see that there is anyone in front of you before they are really in your face. Otherwise the walk didn’t feel unsafe at all, the only thing is that it is quite far, 3km from work. Usually I take a moped but they are hard to find at night. Wouldn’t walk like this in Cotonou or Lomé (in Togo) but here it is fine.
Oh yes by the way I haven’t had any Lariam side affects at all, so far; even though I had a fever and a terrible cough at my lariam pill day. I thought the fever and the Lariam pill wouldn’t be the best combination, but it was ok. And my fever is gone, think my body got a chock from the heat, even though we are now in harmattan which means that it is dry, cool and sandy. Cool means 34 degrees Celsius in the shade during the day. But mornings are really great, I am even wearing long sleeves as it feels cold. Soon the heat period starts, even the locals are talking about it that it is hot hot hot, phew.
So all in all things are really good and I am enjoying myself. Hope things are good over there and come to visite! You gotta see this place! Oh yes!
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Greetings from grand Popo
It is superb, it is warm, actually very sweaty, lots of people, lovely people, nice morning and evening wind, slow tempo, excellent street African food, spiders, big cockroaches, scorpions, surprised faces to see a new yovo ( white person) many many interested men suggesting marriage, people wanting too meet the new stagier finlandais, lots of smiles and laughter, lots of colours, children, Muslims mixed with voodoo, sand everywhere, very dark nights, very dark, lots of new sounds, the sea, the beach, African French and mina language, sounds of drums, dancing.
These are a few of all the impression I have received during these days. My work seems very good so I am very pleased. I have not found a new home yet but I am sure it will work out in one way or another. We will try to arrange so I could live in the former trainees house, maarit. I live with her now, we share the same bed as there is not that much space. It is nice to have someone close that have been here for 5 months but in the long run I cannot continue sharing the same bed with her, I need to find my own place. I met an older man yesterday and visited his house, I might be able to rent a studio in his house, he lives in france, but we shall see. I will go there today and negotiate about prices. It was a very fancy house, too fancy, the biggest richest house in all grand popo… I don’t need that when I live here. I would of course only rent a very small part of the house; but still. I am already a yovo, a rich yovo. Have never experienced my own whiteness like this before. No matter what I do, I will always be yovo. But if monsieur gives me an okej price I will still take it as I will be here for so long. But I doubt the price will be okey. There are other Africans looking houses available so have to check that out.
People are very friendly and open; yesterday I had lunch at someone’s house. Well you cant call it a house, from a Finnish house-perspective, but it was a home. There was also a baby that liked me. It was a funny baby. I haven’t burned from the sun at all, I just sweat like a pig, but so does everyone else, so it is ok. I am happy to be here, go to work by mopo taxi that. Yesterday night when I wanted to go home from the restaurant and I didn’t want to walk alone 3km in complete darkness with a flashlight… I managed to get a mopo ride that had no lights, so the driver put a flashlight on his forehead and then we drove like hell in the darkness, yup, well, I am still here… people do have lots of mopo accidents, so I just hope mine wont be a bad one. Maarit has a high fever, we hope it is not malaria, she might have to go to the doctor if it doesn’t get better soon.
I have a local mobile number, I am not sure if all sms get through but one can always try. And it doesn’t cost me anything to receive phonecalls from finland. Number is 0022897831277 I think the country code is 228, have to check it out.
All in all I am doing great, and I am not lonely as I have thousand of people around me all the time I am also in good health and it is not too hot yet even though I sweat a lot, it is manageable, still, before the heat wave in feb-march-april. Hugs and kisses
These are a few of all the impression I have received during these days. My work seems very good so I am very pleased. I have not found a new home yet but I am sure it will work out in one way or another. We will try to arrange so I could live in the former trainees house, maarit. I live with her now, we share the same bed as there is not that much space. It is nice to have someone close that have been here for 5 months but in the long run I cannot continue sharing the same bed with her, I need to find my own place. I met an older man yesterday and visited his house, I might be able to rent a studio in his house, he lives in france, but we shall see. I will go there today and negotiate about prices. It was a very fancy house, too fancy, the biggest richest house in all grand popo… I don’t need that when I live here. I would of course only rent a very small part of the house; but still. I am already a yovo, a rich yovo. Have never experienced my own whiteness like this before. No matter what I do, I will always be yovo. But if monsieur gives me an okej price I will still take it as I will be here for so long. But I doubt the price will be okey. There are other Africans looking houses available so have to check that out.
People are very friendly and open; yesterday I had lunch at someone’s house. Well you cant call it a house, from a Finnish house-perspective, but it was a home. There was also a baby that liked me. It was a funny baby. I haven’t burned from the sun at all, I just sweat like a pig, but so does everyone else, so it is ok. I am happy to be here, go to work by mopo taxi that. Yesterday night when I wanted to go home from the restaurant and I didn’t want to walk alone 3km in complete darkness with a flashlight… I managed to get a mopo ride that had no lights, so the driver put a flashlight on his forehead and then we drove like hell in the darkness, yup, well, I am still here… people do have lots of mopo accidents, so I just hope mine wont be a bad one. Maarit has a high fever, we hope it is not malaria, she might have to go to the doctor if it doesn’t get better soon.
I have a local mobile number, I am not sure if all sms get through but one can always try. And it doesn’t cost me anything to receive phonecalls from finland. Number is 0022897831277 I think the country code is 228, have to check it out.
All in all I am doing great, and I am not lonely as I have thousand of people around me all the time I am also in good health and it is not too hot yet even though I sweat a lot, it is manageable, still, before the heat wave in feb-march-april. Hugs and kisses
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