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Late Thursday night, I read the journal Greta had been keeping of her stay in Benin. I was delighted to find an objective writing-eye with personality… so I kept it and am publishing it for all to read. I am doing the same with Grandpa’s too, but not with my own. I am the author, I get to choose.

Reading their Journals, by Greta

Erika Kraus
2006-10-07 13:47:14

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teams played each other Saturday afternoon. It was a good game for people watching. The stadium was packed with people and many more were standing along the sides of the fields. Mathurin’s Athiémé team won with two goals to none. Grandpa was glad he had worn his yellow shirt, the same color as Athiémé.
Erika made a very yummy dinner of wagasi cheese and curried rice. I am very envious of Erika’s cooking ability. I have never made curried rice before! I may need to buy a new cookbook…
Sunday, September 10
We spent another lazy morning at Erika’s house. Grandpa and I made some pancakes while Erika ran some errands. Guillaume “stayed with us.” He came back later to ask to take Grandpa to the river. He really likes Grandpa and even dressed up! Grandpa was very touched.
That evening we were invited to dinner at Mathurin’s house. He has a very nice house across town. He enjoys his satellite TV and turned it to an English-speaking channel for us. The only one there was, which was C-Span. It was still very nice of him.
Dinner at his house turned into a party! He had invited José and his wife and several other friends. It was a party of about ten. We tried sodabe, which is a pretty hard alcohol. We also got to try pate, which is a corn-jell-o concoction and a staple in Benin meals mostly because it is very filling, but it also tastes pretty good in any sauce. Mathurin also offered us palm wine. I liked that very much. Between the sodabe, palm wine, and the big beers, Grandpa and Erika were getting pretty silly. My stomach was too questionable for alcohol, so I was the DW, designated walker.
Monday, September 11
Erika got some mail at the post office today. She was excited all weekend knowing she had it there.
We had to meet the deputy mayor of Athiémé since Erika had said she would bring us in Monday morning. He decided to come to the house instead.
We were also trying to get ready to go to meet Erika’s ...