Tuesday, August 01, 2006 Happy Birthday Benin.

Today is Benin's independence day. I celebrated by going to the parade. It stood in prety sharp contrast to the independence day parade last year in Lokossa. The Parakou parade was huge, organized, and actually a parade. It was actually really fun, and really good. Of course getting up early in the morning sucked.

I forgot to mention yesterday that not only was Sunday of the turning on of stop lights, but also the day of the departure of Ellen. First one in the Borgou to leave, and not the last (until October). This time of year is a weird emotional roller coaster. New people arrive: Excitment! Old people leave: Sadness! New people go to post: Happiness! You realize you have to live with these people for another year: Sadness! (Haha, just kidding PSL-19. I probably love you)