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I don’t know if Derique is shedding more, or it I am sweeping less, but there is A LOT of dog hair in my home. Gross. He’s lucky I like him, otherwise I would kick him out. That, and he made doggie-doors for himself. He even made a doggie-door in the fence; however, he waits patiently for me to open doors for him, rather than using his own.

Update

Erika Kraus
2006-08-28 19:38:03

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you are definitely missing out on a good laugh. I will give you the gist, though nothing compares to the real-life re-enactment: I spotted a wild turkey in the alley while walking home from the school. Humorous events followed: trapping the turkey in the neighbors garage, meeting my kind and very muscle-y neighbor Bill for the first time, taking a tour of his home, attic and basement included, while waiting for Hillbilly John, the man who knew how to catch turkeys because he had emus, and
The Girls of the Girls' Club drink a pop. (I am from Kansas; even in Africa I say "pop")then the capture of the turkey while watching Bill help by running from the turkey.
Thinking of this story made me want to re-create it for someone here in Benin. I realized, though, that the only laugh I might receive would be from my turkey impersonation (person inturkenation?). Otherwise, what’s strange about a large, edible bird being in your yard? And of course I would have already known my neighbor and his home, because his home would be very similar to mine, and if we wanted to catch the turkey, meaning we wanted to eat it, we would just tell some kids to go do it. The kids would kill it and clean it too.

Kind of killed my great turkey story.
I think I know my friends here fairly well, even though culture keeps us from laughing at each other’s stories. I love them, I really do, but culture holds us ever just a little bit apart.

Today is the second round of elections in Benin for the presidency. I promise that I am in Athieme, as I was instructed. You can ask Elisabeth, who is “reading” old National Geographic magazines. The elections are between
Yayi Boni and Adrien Houngbedji. The second round is exactly two weeks after the first. (Since writing this entry, Yayi Boni has been elected President of the Republique du Benin.)

Also, since this is an update, Orion is no longer in the about-22h-night sky. Still studying the book and the sky to find Virgo and Ursa Major, just to start. Also today, Wednesday, March 29, 2006, starting roughly at 10h, there was a full eclipse of the sun! It was soooo cool. Not only that I got to see it, with the safety glasses, but that the late morning that is usually already hot was like night, and was actually cool. It was totally bizarre, but definitely amazing.