lots of stuff

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