May I use your bathroom?

French & African faux pas...  

This has been a great source of entertainment for us while we've been here. Let us regal you with some of the things we've said that have caused confusion and better yet other things that we've heard that have only increased our confusion.

May I use your bathroom is a wonderfully polite way to ask to.... well you know... "Do your business". But, here if you ask for the Salle de Bain(bathroom) the Beninoise while being confused hospitably take you to their shower. Quickly we have learned to ask simply for the toilet. However, this requires further questioning on their part. For example, "Do you have to 'uriner' or make 'kaka'? After two months we have resigned ourselves to telling our host just exactly what our 'business' is. This has made our life easier yet less private...

When we first arrived to Benin people kept asking us 'Have you done a little' or "Tu as fait un peu?" We wanted to tell them that we had preached allll day in the hot African sun. We didn't do a little! We did a lot!! We've now come to realize it just means, 'You've had a full day.'  Now we just say, 'Yeah we've done a little.' 

We're also quite amused with the beginning and end of our meetings here. Everyone greets each other by walking up, shaking your hand and saying 'Bonsoir'/'Goodevening' and then at the end of the meeting the same tradition is replayed only they add, 'Bon fin de la reunion.' Which literally means 'Good end of the meeting.' Now at the end of a meeting we'll probably find ourselves walking up to you, shaking your hand and saying, "Good end of the meeting." For this has become quite a habit for us. In fact, they preface 'Bon' with just about any activity you're doing here. For example yesterday we were sitting, waiting for one of our Bible studies when her husband walked by us and told us, "Bon assis." Which means 'Good sitting'. We appreciated his words of encouragement while we performed this difficult task. While walking down the street we'll be told 'Bon arriver' which is a nice way of welcoming someone when they arrive, however we're often still en route... Then there's 'Bon travail', 'Good work'... 'Bon courage', 'Good courage' or 'Bon continuation', 'Good continuing'. 'Bon retour'. 'Good return' when returning home. Everything is good, good and good here!

The Nigerians who speak English but sometimes take from French, greet us by saying, 'You are welcome' in a deep serious tone. This always makes us wonder what in the world they did for us. But, it's just their way of welcoming us. 

We're constantly being reminded that learning a new language requires much more then a new vocabulary and it sometimes means revealing exactly what will happen in the 'Salle de bain.'

Bon peaking

Bon head balancing while writing down a new return visit. ;)

"You are welcome." This is where we live in Porto Novo, Benin.

Bon smile

Bon peaking again... I'm not the only one who peaks here. 

Bon courage! Here's the lieu. You might notice it is certainly Not a Salle de Bain.

Katie and Rebecca

Do You Know the Way to Parakou....

Rebecca and I bouged ( that is Franglish for traveled) in Benin this past week. And really I must say that you have not lived until you've experienced an African bus. We first traveled from Porto Novo to Abomey, to stay with the missionaries there. Abomey is about a 3 hour drive north of here. I was privileged enough to find a seat that the back quarter of it was missing. Let me tell you it is quite the gift to keep yourself balanced on 3/4 of a seat while riding down a road in Benin. My talents prevailed and I stayed on the seat the whole time. We arrived in Abomey and had to hire zim drivers to take us the 7 kms to the missionary homes. After


Our Gourmet lunch with the missionaries

 we had argued over a 40 cent difference in price for about 20 minutes we hopped on the back of the motor bike with all our luggage. You can imagine how wonderful we must have looked when we arrived at the missionary home. My guess is we resembled homeless people. The missionaries acted like we looked just fine, and hugged us and welcomed us, with a fantastic gourmet meal. We attended the family study that night and felt like we too were part of their family.
The next morning we went with a young missionary couple from Quebec in their territory. They preach in the local language of Fon. They pick up a local brother with their car every morning. This brother is unable to walk due to a debilitating disease, but he is a full time volunteer, pioneer. Eric, the young missionary carries him to the car and out of the car. He sets him up along side the street and lays out all of his literature and the brother preaches to everyone passing by. Rebecca and I were truly humbled by this brother. What strong love and faith he must have in Jehovah.
We stayed at the missionary home for 2 1/2 days and then boarded another bus for what was supposed to be a 3 1/2 hour ride to Parakou. Our bus was having difficulty and broke down along the way. Our very resourcful chauffeur fixed it and we were off again. We arrived 5 hours later, and we might have looked a little worse than when we arrived in Abomey. Once again, our friend that we were staying with, Aurelie, welcomed us with open arms into her home. She is a French sister who has been doing missionary work here for 6 years. She definitely marches to her own drum! We enjoyed staying with her and getting to know her. She has a motorbike that she zips around town on, and everyone in Parakou seems to know her. All we had to do was say we were staying with Aurelie, and people immedietely liked us! We went preaching with the Parakou French congregation., and really enjoyed meeting the local brothers and sisters.
We ate the local specialty of igname pile. It is manniock root beet with these huge rounded sticks. They fry cheese and mutton in a peanut sauce and serve it all together. It is quite tasty, if I say so myself (even though I had to skip the cheese). Needless to say we left Parakou with a good taste in our mouth from the food and association. Our trip home was completely uneventful, thankfully, and we arrived back at home sweet, home, Porto Novo.
posted by Katie

Eric setting up for preaching with special needs brother

Derek, a missionary in Abomey with his "car group" or should I say "bike group"

Kingdom hall in Parakou

Need Greaters from around the world

This "Happy Family" was outside a poissonerie.  They do seem happy riding around together!

"Cou Cou Cou" - Africa's knocking

The service here is quite amazing. We are constantly finding ourselves returning home on cloud nine from a day of service. The Beninoise have really impressed us with their interest and respect for the Bible.

Today we were walking to a return visit when a young girl came running out towards us and asked if were Jehovah's Witnesses. She told us we had to come in and visit them to talk to them about the Bible. At the same time four other young girls came running out hugging our legs and grabbing our hands. These young girls were begging us to have a Bible study with them! We told them that we had an appointment with someone else but we would return when we were done. (we had already passed 7 hours in service and were dying to go home but how could we refuse!? ;) When we returned, there were at least 10 young children (their pictures are below) eager to have a Bible lesson. One had already recieved a Listen to God brochure the previous Thursday and had it with her. So we gave them one more to share and the study began. They all huddled around us sharing our Bibles and looking at the brochures. They were loving every minute of it. Of course I felt the need to capture the kodak moment and thus distracted half the kids with my camera. ;D But, oh well we had fun and we'll be back soon to see them again and bring them a few more brochures. 

We've been really impressed with how serious many take their studies. Last week we were at the great grandmother's house for our study with her family. Her great grandchildren were there, but she explained that her son was at a ceremony for a family member who had passed away so we easily understood why he wasn't there. (These ceremonies are all day long really big 'events'.) However just a few minutes after 11 he walked in for our study. He told us that he had noted the time and realized that we would be coming for their study and he wanted to be there for it. We were so encouraged to see his appreciation!

There are of course more unique cases of showing respect for a Bible study. Take for example a young man we study with. We had had our second study with Laurice in a little sowing shop of his friend. His friend (whom we'll call Napolean) overheard the appointment we made with Laurice for Saturday at 1. We arrived right at 1 for our study and checked in with Mr. N at his sowing shop to see if Laurice was there. He wasn't but Napolean took charge and told us to follow him. He entered the quater of Laurice and marched right to his door which was closed and locked. He immediately started banging and yelling at Laurice's door! This was a man quite intent on making his friend keep his appointment!! The banging and the yelling wasn't working,(as Laurice was still sleeping;) so he resorted to picking his lock with a rock! :o We assured Mr. N that we understood if this wasn't a good time for Laurice and that we could just come back later, but Napolean was having none of it. Laurice was going to study with us whether he liked it or not! Once the door had been unlocked and opened the dragging began. Napolean proceeded to grab one of Laurice's legs and physically remove him out of his room. Once Laurice was on two feet he was commanded to get chairs for us and have his study! Laurice did as he was told and sat down to study with as if nothing had happened. Katie and I on the other hand were just trying to keep our composure so we could keep our end of the bargain and have our greatly anticipated study! ;p    --- (Napolean has absolutely no interest in a Bible study. He only expresses a desire for an American wife ;)

Well that's all for now. Hope this wasn't too long of blog this time. :)

Helping a study find a scripture. 

Katie diligently making use of the new brochure.

Rebecca diligently distracting all the 'enfants'

Meeting for service in front of a local college.

"Break time!" :)

Bat out of Hell

Well it finally happened. We had a bat flying around not only in our apartment but in our very own small bedroom!
It was evening. We were sitting at our desk studying on our laptops. I thought I saw something and then reasoned that I was just paranoid and had seen a shadow of the fan. A few seconds went by and I saw Katie's eyes light up while remaining silent. While I studied her face as to what it meant my attentioned was quickly drawn to the bat that was making laps of our ceiling! 8-o
So far since we've arrived in Benin Katie has made light of my concern regarding these freaky flying creatures; however I am delighted to report that we were both as equally terrified.
Quickly Katie shoots up to turn off our light, while I slammed down the computers to turn their lights off and cover my head to kiss my butt goodbye. Somehow the bat exits our bedroom and I yell out, "Shut the door it's gone!" Once we were safe behind the closed door we started discussing our possible options... A. We could just stay inside our bedroom for the next two months... B. We could utilize technology and call our roommates to petition for their help (we would have had no problem resorting to option B but sadly our credit had just ran out on our phone). We were left with option C. Option C entailed cowering behind a shared umbrella with a little flashlight to guide us to the other side of the apartment to our seasoned roommates(surely they would know how to get rid of a bat). As we went we heard the squealing of the bat which is what has earned this blog it's title.
Once we were able to get the opened umbrella and both of our bodies through Francoise's ever so small door frame we slammed the door shut and informed her between breaths that there was a chauve-souris in our apartment. She looked at our wide eyes and then at our umbrella and starting laughing. She had not the least bit of concern regarding our frantically flying guest!
While still taking refuge behind our umbrella we followed our brave Batlady out of her bedroom in a valiant effort to learn what one should do when bats visit. She began by opening the windows. The bat flew towards us again and we cowered even more behind our flowery umbrella and screamed! At that point the 'What to do when bats are in your house' lesson was over and we were confined to her bedroom while she took care of business. About 5 minutes later Francoise our heroine returned to her room and told us that the bat must have left. Sheepishly we returned to our room and tried to let the adrenaline rush pass before putting oursleves to bed. Never before had we been so grateful to use our mosquito net.
Now when I see the shadow of the fan or hear it's squeak as it circulates I'm still paranoid but can you blame me?

The treasured umbrella ;)

Rebecca

What's On Your Head

Rebecca and I continue to be amazed about what African people can put on their head! I thought I had seen it all on my previous trips to Africa, but no sir, I haven't. The girl with the chickens on her head astounded me because she has to balance live, squirming chickens (and I saw one duck), AND walk around the busy market, AND come over to whoever calls her to buy these said chickens (and one duck)! I personally can't eat without making a mess, so of course, I see this head carrying thing as quite the talent. In honor of this marvelous talent, Rebecca and I give the head balancing a try. We are starting small and working our way up to the chickens. A lot can be accomplished in 2 months time....
We are also amazed (and terrified) of what gets transported on the zims. Here they sell these long poles that are used for scaffolding and supports, but have the same appearance as the pole used for vaulting in the Olympics. A man wll buy 3 or 4 of these and get on a zim. So the wooden pole extends beyond the zim about 5 feet, and behind nearlyy 10 feet. I am not joking! These pole vaulters then drive around on the streets with the poles balanced on their heads. Of course traffic here is complete mayhem and chaos. I live in constant dread of being pierced through. I have this persistant feeling of being in a knight's tournament with those "javelins" coming at me, and I have no shield. Prayers to Jehovah have become more frequent during zim transport. .
While I am terrified of the Beninoise ability to carry poles around on a zim; I am impressed and humbled by their willingness to accomodate. This is especially seen with the brothers and sisters. There is nothing that is an inconvenience. They can never do too much to help. I find myself sadly lacking in these qualities (being the scheduled, clock watching person that I am), and am endeavoring to watch and ithen mitate this beautiful feature while I am here.
posted by Katie

Floating on a blue lagoon~

Well it wasn't blue but it was a lagoon that we floated all the way to an isolated village on. It kind of felt like we had gone to a different country except that they still knew the word Yovo and used it even more frequently as "Yovos" (whites) were even more of a rarety there. 

The village was about 45 minutes away by a slow canoe. We saw how industrial one can be on a lagoon. One way to earn money is to dive down to the floor of the lake with a bucket and fill it up with sand, then signal to your partner that they can pull it up with their rope. After everyone has had their turn doing this you take your boat to shore with about 2 inches to spare before it sinks. It actually looks like quite a way to stay in shape. We're thinking about giving it a go next week. ;)

Other ways to make money is to simply ask for it. As you can see by the photos we had quite the following during our visit. These young children were not shy as they repeatedly demanded, "Donne moi quelque chose." (Give me something.) So far I've been asked to give my shoes because they were nice, my hair because they thought it was pretty and my sac because they liked it. ... I've given them everything but my shoes.

Little by little we're learning more and more of the culture here. The way they live and think and act. It's quite different, but one thing that we share in common is our mutual respect for God and His word and that gives us a nice place to build from. 

Rebecca

You Light Up My Poisson (that is French for Fish :))

We had the joy the other night of cooking without electricity. And as you can see we have a lot ingenuity, and we dug out our headlamps to assist us. It took us awhile to actually cook the food because we kept trying to look at each other and then shining the light in other person's eyes. This would then cause us to then collapse into a fit of laughing. I was very proud of Rebecca, she gutted and prepared the fish all by herself. I think that is listed in Proverbs 31 as a requirement for the capable wife. I wouldn't be surprised if next week she has bought a field.

Dinner by headlamp

We bought some hot chocolate for the next time the electricity goes off for the whole evening. We are going to light some candles and sit around singing campfire songs. Except, now that I think of it, this is not a good idea because of the extreme HEAT here. I lay in bed wishing that I didn't have to touch the bed in order to sleep in it. It's amazing how much you can sweat in just even one hour. I have one moment every day of feeling cool and clean... after my cool to luke warm shower. I dream of that shower all day long. We have decided that when we get home we are going to miss the smell of our body odor. It's fantastic, and really boosts your self esteem. We have taken to loitering in ATM booths to soak up the air conditioning in them. Don't be surprsed if we are arrested for our activities. The good news is that the heat has caused me to not be so spastic, I am forced to slow down because moving fast is just too hot and difficult. When I come home, I will be a whole new person, just wait and see!
The pace of life here really is so much slower. It's like having this constant sense of calm with no need to rush. I love the afternoon siesta. I think I am going to lobby for that when I get back to the States. I am also not sure if I will be willing to pay more than a dollar for my meals either, when I return.
posted by Katie with appreciated contributions from Rebecca