Sunday, November 13, 2005 Holy crap! I'm alive!

Ha, actually I'm very much alive... and bored. Surprise.

Coming back from Cotonou was fun, we took Confort (yes, I spelled it right) Lines which runs daily from Parakou to Cotonou and in the opposite direction for a paltry 5500 CFA ($11). For that you get your own seat (a luxury in this country), a direct ride, and a sandwich and sack of water. The bus rocks. It does take a little bit longer than a taxi, but it's cheaper and more comfortable, or is it confortable?

Sara on the return from her Cotonou cat adventure and Glen coming back from VAC with me went to the chook marché for Glen's birthday and had the usual rioutous time. Pipi-nyagu man was there again (and just as funny... he was upset that Katie wasn't there since that was the planned day of their wedding) which was even more funny. Ly is in town this weekend and we're going today, so I'm hoping he'll be there yet again. That would be too good.

This past week was also package week. Praise God, the address I posted was correct for Parakou as I got two packages. In one from my mom among other things was a purple koosh ball. Oh my gosh. You haven't seen hilarity until you see a 6 year old boy poking it with a stick to verify it isn't alive. Let's back up. There is a kid that sometimes seems to live next door to me. Our relationship is pretty simple. He says "give me 25 francs" and I say "never". That's pretty much the extent of our interactions... but recently he's been more interested in the weird white guy that lives down the way. He poked his head in and was checking out my hobo-wine garden (yes, I finally started... pictures and descriptions to follow upon completion) and I thought it would be funny to throw the koosh ball at him. He practically jumped out of his skin when it landed near him. The wind was blowing slightly, so the koosh tendrils were swaying softly... and his eyes and face were the most hillarious thing ever. I wish I'd had the foresight to grab my camera. In any case, now he's assuredly not scared of it and likes nothing more than to come and ask to play with it.

In other news, I have a lot of pictures to post... but unfortunately bandwidth is limited by money. I'll do my best to come again this week and upload... but no promises. Eh, I think there was something else to talk about too.. but for the moment it's left me. Sorry!