Ou bien...

"Ou bien". [oo bee en]

A beloved and vastly overused phrase by both the Beninese and American volunteers who latch onto its multi-functional personality.  It's lovely to find words and phrases in other languages that just really have no equivalent in English--it makes expression all the more accurate and interesting.  I probably say it at least 10 times a day (being conservative).  The following is an incomplete list of common and acceptable uses of the phrase:

-or (Alright, we can get rice and beans ou bien igname pilée for lunch)
-or better (You could poop on the ground, ou bien *eye squint* you could use that latrine we built for you)
-or whatever (If it's cheaper we could double zem, ou bien)
-Or not...  (-You want to be the 11th adult in this taxi don't you?  -Ou bien...)
-Want to? (*Person points to bar sign*  Ou bien? *with head tilt*)
-Am I right?! (This is the hottest day in the world's history, ou bien?!)
-Are you sure? (You can get me to the next village without crashing?  Ou bien?)
-Absolutely not/Get away from me (-You will come to be my wife? -Ou bien)
-This is the best idea ever!! (We should buy this huge coffee mugs!  Ou bien!)

Inflection and facial expressions are key for correctly determining the applied use of the phrase.  Either way, you should try this at home.

Things

Clearly, hygiene is a bit of an issue... considering this child is just poppin a squat in the middle of the market.  Cute.

Fetus and tomato tissue.  What a find.

One of my many random cooking experiments... rice pudding.  so good.

Making hummus for the first time

Mami Wata

Thanks to a volunteer from Togo who worked the Shea conference with me... I now have my newest icebreaker question for any West African.  "Can you tell me about the mami wata?"

Mami wata (clearly derived from mommy water) is the West African version of a mermaid.  There are so many different legends and beliefs around mami wata-- there are even internet sites devoted to her.  Some of the more interesting beliefs/stories I've heard so far:

-Mami wata reveals herself to certain people who then, if they accept her, must make a room for her in their homes.  After a certain period of time, if she has deemed them of good character, she will bring them with her into her underwater world.

-Mami water helps good people and punishes those of bad character.  One story involves her tricking a cheating man into taking her home with him, and when he took off her skirt to realize she was half fish he became mute.

-Mami water keepers must wear all white on Tuesdays and Thursdays

-One woman from my groupement has a daughter who went missing for 2 weeks.  The local medicinman discovered that she had been taken by a mami wata and had to plea with her to return the girl.  The girl is now back at home but refuses to talk about what happened during the 2 weeks she was missing.

There's a lot more where that came from... do some research for yourself....

the secret life of bees: benin

i would like to first mention that i have always been a huge wimp when it comes to bees.  like, the really annoying girl who ran around in circles like a fool screaming when one was on the other side of the room.  ok so here is a much shortened version of my first bee-keeping experience.

ok so to get started me and teh awesome/crazy Bariba woman got a bunch of branches to make a big fire.  i wasn't really sure why we were doing this, but ive kind of just learned to ask questions later.   

so here's the battleground. pretty ghetto.

weapons of choice... manually operated smokers powered by flaming cow dung.  inspires a lot of confidence, no?  but at least you know you can trust the high quality protective gear they have here. hah.

the team.  flattering ensembles, no?  the woman on the right forgot her gear so she went barefoot.  guess how that worked out for her.

the last picture i have until i escaped.  so in the mean time... imagine utter chaos that apparently some people consider "beekeeping".  the last thing i remember is standing with my back to the fire trying to smoke all the bees off of me, when the other 2 women run back up the hill with a cloud of bees around their heads, screaming: "LISA!!! RUN!!!!!"

pretty accurate depiction of my state of mind at the time.

and life goes on...

peace.  loves her sunglasses.  ive taught her well.

where my neighbor teaches elementary school.

present from some loving chicken.  much better than the usual porchfull of goat droppings i usually wake up to

walkin around the 'bo.  my neighbors didn't want me to show anyone this picture b/c they think it makes our town look ugly since the roads are uneven.  buuut i think that's just what it looks like here and i didn't include any trash piles here, so.... count your blessings, i suppose

making a step towards being a responsible citizen and finally burning my trash.  i was super paranoid i was going to burn the house down... but not yet

harvest time

the week between Christmas and New Years ended up being when the rice was ready to be harvested so many an hour were spent in the fields.

Odette taking me out to check the fields and make sure they were looking ready

dry enough to fall off when hit against a metal barrel = ready to be harvested.
and do it fast before the birds and animals get to it

yes that's a machete in my hand.
and they say im not an environment volunteer.

always put the rice in grain down so it falls into the bucket

team hit the rice on the barrel until it falls off vs. team cut the rice off.  i was elected to the hitting team with Catherine, one of the elders of the groupement (i dont think they trusted me with a large knife).  I particularly loved her dental fabric that day.

some of the women who couldn't come would send their daughters in their places, since the schools were on break anyway.  i still dont understand how this girl was able to wear a sweater in the middle of the day while chopping rice stalks for hours on end.

it's really unfortunate that i didnt get to take a picture of the huge bags of rice being carried away on the back of the moto at the end of every day-- so gratifying.

my life, recently

loving fiona apple's "extraordinary machine" this week, compliments of rooming with Tavor at training:

I haven't been shopping for any new shoes and

I certainly haven't been spreading myself around

I still only travel by foot, and by foot it's a slow climb,

But I'm good at being uncomfortable, so

I can't stop changing all the time

i bought seeds this weekend... so hopefully i will soon have reports of thriving eggplant and basil!  ive never tried any gardening before, so it will be a bit of an adventure.  i cant believe there were no spinach seeds.  why, west africa, why??

So many good shirts can be found at the market.  I think im going to start buying them.

the closest thing i've found to a coffee shop!  instant coffee in a tin bowl, served on a leaf plate.  yay!

i want it

apparently some people dye their chickens pink to confuse the hawks.  i was on the run so i didnt get a good shot of them, but it was pretty confusing