feeling good was good enough for me

I had written a huge blog post on about four or five sheets of grid paper that I was so excited to use. After the three hour bus ride up north to Nattitangou, which was really beautiful, I sat down at the computer at the work station and realized, true to form, that I had left the paper at home.

Manigri is really great. Whatever reservations I had before are completely vanished. The people are so happy to see me and everyone is so kind. I really love walking to school and salutering (or trying to) the ladies on the side of the road. My Nagot is just starting to become passable, in that I can saluter Marche Mamas. It's always a really good feeling when someone laughs out of pleasant surprise or just plain shock that you know how to speak their language.

The Yovo-ing here is really different than in the South. In the South there are many different ways the Fon or the Aja would call white people. Sometimes it was excited, sometimes aggressive and other times taunting. I never feel as though someone is being racist or cruel when they call me Ouebo, the Nagot word for Yovo. (to be fair i decided a long time ago to never be sensitive to any 'Yovo' at all) They are more just trying to get my attention so I can wave at them and saluter. There are a good number of Fon in pockets of Manigri, and there the Yovo calls are still calmer than in the South. It's a greeting, not a verbal assault. It's nice.

Also, true to what I've been told, everyone wants to help me and be friends with me. Regardless of what their motives or intentions are, I find that really welcoming. They want to carry my bags, they want me to visit their stores, they want me to sit with them. Eventually I will start visiting houses, but right now I am still getting settled into things. The women at the couterie I started going to are all so beautiful and so excited to see me everytime I come in. They all shake my hand twice and eventually I start blowing kisses into the air as if I were the President or the Mayor. The babies in that shop are really friendly as well. I had one on my back just a few days ago.

My colleagues are really refreshing to talk to. Not a lot of people, on average, speak French well enough to carry on a conversation. However, I have spoken a number of times to the teachers at the CEG, who have their own ideas about international politics, development, and education. I find some of it englightening and some of it reassuring. (other times, as is the nature of those discussions, frustrating) It is good to hear that the people here are not ignorant to loan conditionality and the Debt Crises. It is good to hear that people outside of banks and policy makers do understand how international lending institutions make decisions and how that effects their daily lives.

The roof in my bedroom leaks. Not a lot, just the littlest bit. Just the littlest bit on my computer charger. Just a little, tiny bit. Enough to effectively fry my computer charger. This makes music listening impossible unless it is on my shortwave radio, but eventually I will get a new one sent to me and it will be pas grave. In the meantime it has been great to be reading all the time. There are so many fantastic books in Natti that I am really excited to take home, like treasures.

I am really sorry this has been another messy, unsubstantive post. Just be assured, you have a good one coming to you. I have to go back to Manigri and play with my kitten.