Excuse me as I make myself into a liar...

Well, a surprise meeting in Nattitangou (the nearest big "city") has led me to the world wide net so....hello again!

Post is....amazing! Normal day:

Wake up at 7 am (or earlier if I hear the call to prayer around 6), boil water for drinking and for oatmeal, eat and get dressed.
Around 9 or 10 I leave the house (after having done some housekeeping such as washing dishes or doing laundry by hand...) and I start walking around and "saluating."

This is an elaborate process: number one, it's in Lokpa a pretty hard, local language that is really only in this small corner of Benin. Also if I happen to be saying hello to an older person, especially an older man, I am required to crouch down/remain bowing for the entire time which could include such questions as: did you sleep well? did you wake up well? how is the morning/afternoon/evening/night? how are the children? how is your house? how is your work? how is your husband?

This last, when posed to me, is responded with "I do not have a husband." This, without fail, is met with peals of laughter and then wild pointing at the nearest man, or the speaker if he is male (thus indicating that I should marry him). At this I emphatically say "no!" and wag my finger in their face which we both laugh hysterically at for a number of minutes. We then look around at other people, passing animals, baobab trees, and then I say "ok, I'll see you later!" and I move on to the next person to start the entire process over again. This is so incredibly fun!

Life's little essentials:

Water-->I pay a minimal amount for some neighboring girls to bring me pump water which I then have to filter and boil for three minutes before I can drink a glass. Like I said earlier I do laundry by hand once a week, and I take fairly regular bucket showers (i.e. I pour freezing water over my head with a bucket).

Food-->I desperately try to cook edible meals for lunch with varying degrees of success but for dinner I always eat over at some welcoming neighbors' house. The food: something called yam pile (pee-lay) which is DELICIOUS! I'm not sure how to describe it...think of mashed potatoes but the consistency of something akin to clay accompanied with sauces/meats/or cheeses, sooo good!

Buying things-->Market! The big market at a town called Kassua is every Tuesday and it's amazing! Just about everything you could want (ok, no spices really, or vegetables to speak of...and some fruits..but this will change depending on the seasons..) and its chaotic and loud with vibrantly dressed women who want to bargain with you in Lokpa. Fabulous.

Ramadan will end soon and there's going to be a huge party in my village that everyone's going to, but before that I've promised my neighbor that I will "do the fast" with him for one day--no food or water from sunup to sundown, plus praying five times a day....this will be interesting....

End consensus: this is going to be fun.