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Funny how food inspires me: today for lunch I was eating peanut butter (which is no surprise, thanks to mom and dad!) with bread and fried bananas. I would have taken the bananas fresh over fried, but Maman beat me to it. Maman brought the bananas to my door and almost caught me living my secret life; I was dancing to Dispatch in my second room. There is no real reason why I do not ask Maman if I can play my music on the family’s stereo, except that I would attract far more attention dancing in the family room than I do by myself. I attract enough attention by walking down the street. Actually, by existing. <br />

Arent all matches "strike anywhere"?

Erika Kraus
2006-02-18 16:04:33

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Funny how food inspires me: today for lunch I was eating peanut butter (which is no surprise, thanks to mom and dad!) with bread and fried bananas. I would have taken the bananas fresh over fried, but Maman beat me to it. Maman brought the bananas to my door and almost caught me living my secret life; I was dancing to Dispatch in my second room. There is no real reason why I do not ask Maman if I can play my music on the family’s stereo, except that I would attract far more attention dancing in the family room than I do by myself. I attract enough attention by walking down the street. Actually, by existing.

There are little things that make me appreciate my life in America. Most prominently on my mind is the ability to wear jeans and tennis shoes without people wondering, “masculine woman? Or voluptuous man?” I can really confuse children when I go running in my slightly-above-the-knee shorts and my hair is up. What saves me from extremely embarrassing moments is that pagnes are very comfortable, so I wear them. I went to Grand Popo, a coastal village, with other volunteers on my return trip from Athieme last week, and for a couple beautiful hours I swam in a two-piece swimsuit. Running and swimming in two-piece swimsuits make me feel very exposed, mostly because so much leg is bare. Capris are okay.
What also makes me very American here is that I will live with four rooms entirely to myself. Mama found out last night that I would not have a maman to make food for me in Athieme, so she started to quiz me on what foods I knew how to prepare. Tonight I am going to make pate blanche, because I cannot live on rice, couscous, and beans alone, I must have variety! So many different flavors of carbohydrates! But luckily for me, making American meals, including all-ethnicities-American (Mexican-, Italian-, Chinese-American, etc.) is not difficult. Not only does the Peace Corps provide an extensive cookbook full of recipes successfully ...

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