12 Things I Miss About Home...Besides Food
Trip Start
Feb 03, 2011
1
22
23
Trip End
Jul 26, 2011
Lokossa, Mono, Benin
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
1. Reliable Automobiles
This year we were lucky enough to have a friend of Prince's lend us an air-conditioned, leather-seated, 70,000-kms-on-it car! And yes this car was a major step up from shared taxis, which are 5-7 passenger cars loaded with 10-14 people (and animals), but nearly every excursion in Prince's car ended with a trip to the mechanic. Flat tires, blown tires, breakdowns, car won't start, hood flies open while driving, etc. I am very much looking forward to hopping into a car without thinking twice about whether or not we will arrive at our destination without a breakdown.
2. Safe Driving Conditions
This ties in with #1. The reason behind half our car troubles were the roads! Potholes that can swallow your car, washed out roads, suicidal goats, chickens and cow herds, and careless children all pose a threat. Not to mention the maniac taxi drivers, whose cars are piled three times as high as the car itself with loads that look like they may topple over at any second, whizzing past your vehicle just as a transport truck comes barreling towards you! Driving in Benin is dangerous and it's evident as you pass by the many accidents you are guaranteed to see if you drive for more than an hour in any direction.
3. Not To Be So Hot and Sticky
Benin gets hot! Sometimes unbearably hot. When the skies are clear, humidity through the roof and the sun shining with all its force, Benin can be a tad uncomfortable. So you take a cold shower, you get dressed, you sit by a fan, and somehow you are already sweating again and still not clean. There seems to be a constant layer of greasy, sticky sweat on all areas of your body at any point of the day. I will be thrilled to have goosebumps again, not just because I'm in an AC car, but because I'm more than a few kilometres from the Equator.
4. To Sleep In My Bed
This is a big one! Right now I am sleeping on a large, yellow piece of (dirty) foam with a free pillow I took from the airplane on my flight to Benin. I can not wait to hop onto a comfortable mattress, that is clean, with plenty of pillows and blankets! Blankets that you are actually cold enough to use. At this point, even with a fan pointed directly on me after a cold shower, I sleep without a single blanket and feel no need to...I'm still hot!
5. To Walk Somewhere Without Causing a Scene
Being white in Benin does not go unnoticed! In fact every time we leave the house, whether we walk 5 minutes or an hour, it is almost guaranteed that somebody, somewhere will notice you and either:
a) greet you as you pass
b) greet you and ask for your phone number because they would very much like to keep in contact with you
c) sing to you "Yovo, yovo, bonsoir. Ca va bien? Merci."
d) greet you then try to sell you something off their head
e) all of the above
It will be nice to leave the house and not have to stop and talk to every person you pass. Or to leave the house and not be yelled at, hissed at or sung to by perfect strangers. Yes, that will be nice.
6. Fixed Prices
Bartering is fun and I somewhat know the prices for many things. Mangoes are 100 francs (20 cents), large pineapples are 100 francs (20 cents), bread is 125 (25 cents) and zem rides (motorcycle taxis) are 100 francs (20 cents). But being yovo (white) in Benin automatically sets the starting price in any negotiation at least double or triple the real Beninese price. This can get tiring, especially when you know the real prices. To enter a supermarket where the price of every food item is listed will be a relief. I hate the feeling of wondering whether I'd been ripped off or not, but at least it's supporting the local economy instead of a corporate giant!
7. To Have Menu Choices
There are tons of roadside restaurants all over Benin and most of them can whip up some decent food for cheap. But sometimes I find it funny to go to a restaurant, look at the menu and then try to order all to find out that your choice isn't available...or your second, third or fourth choice either. I've learned it is easier to go into a restaurant and ask what is available rather than make it an awkward situation. The same goes for drink options. To be back in Canada with multi-page menus, where everything on that menu is available just sounds peachy.
8. A Non-Leaky House
Our housing situation in Benin is very comfortable and definitely above par compared to our neighbours, however we live 23 1/2 hours a day with only a single tap in the backyard which we use for cleaning our dishes, feet, laundry, house, etc. We also use this tap to fill buckets which we use to empty our toilets. You see, if we leave the water running all day the house leaks and the bathroom faucets run constantly. We turn the water on for roughly 30 minutes everyday so everyone can take a cold-water shower and brush their teeth. Outside of that 30 minutes, the tap in the backyard is available!
9. Tap Water
This should probably be higher up on my list! Drinking safe, bacteria-free water straight from the tap is such a taken-for-granted luxury! I can't wait to have a glass of cold tap water with ice cubes! Although we are lucky enough to have a fridge here, after an hour or so out and about your bottle of water turns lukewarm/hot. The fact that the water is usually warm, buying water is expensive and annoying, and you feel embarrassed to turn away a host who offers you a bowl of water from their well, make me thankful and all the more excited to have safe, drinkable tap water when I return to Canada.
10. Electric Stoves
While I've enjoyed cooking meals over a charcoal fire, it is hard work. Just to boil water in the morning requires you to:
1-start a fire using charcoal, petrol and dried coconut
2-maintain that fire by constantly fanning it
3-add water to pot and boil like mad (gotta kill those bacteria!)
4-fan like crazy...it's still not boiling...gotta crank up the heat
5-swap out with someone...your arms are tired and the water is still not boiling
6-finally watch the water boil for at least 3 minutes before enjoying your well-deserved coffee, tea or milo chocolate energy drink.
I think next year I will bring a plug-in kettle, however cooking meals follows the same procedure! You earn your meals!
11. Garbage Cans
I'm not going to lie I have seen a couple public garbage cans this year while in Ouidah, however they did not look to be used properly and one of them did not have a bottom. Garbage in Benin goes straight to the ground. At our house we'd keep a box in a corner, collect it all and then every few weeks, burn it outside. Things like cans, bottles, peanut butter containers, broken flashlights and whatnot we'd leave at the end of our driveway and find it disappeared just minutes later. But when you're out of the house and you buy a fanmilk (icecream mini-sip treat) where are you going to throw that wrapper? That's right. In that heaping pile of stinky garbage right in front of that woman selling toothpicks and chewing gum off her head. At first you feel like a litterbug, then you kind of get used to it. Still garbage cans and recycling bins will be a nice thing to see (and use).
12. Canadian Banks
I hate the banks in Benin, especially in Lokossa, where I've been living the past 7 weeks. From time to time I have to go to the bank to withdrawal money, whether it be for us, the orphanage, a field trip with the kids, etc. But the banks in Benin drive me mental! A line of 14 people could easily leave you fuming in your seat for a brutal 2 hours. You may be asked to move to an even longer line-up after having already waited an hour. You may be told after your 2 hour wait that the Western Union connection is down, so you'll have to try again tomorrow. You may be told a variety of unpleasant things that leave you hating the banks in Benin as much as I do! Although Canadian banks can make you feel like a robot, at least they're efficient with a reliable source of electricity.
A dozen things I am looking forward to in Canada. Coming soon, A Dozen Things I Will Miss About Benin. Even if I complain and moan and groan about all the things I'm looking forward to in Canada, nothing can really weigh out or win over the things I'm going to miss about Benin. Benin always wins.
