NO PREREQS

So! I know this was supposed to be a ten day thing, 1 post per day, but each time I head to the cyber I’ve just been so occupied that I forget to put up the #10 post I wrote earlier this week. So now I’m going to release numbers 9 and 10 today since I’m getting a little short on time before my trip comes to an end.

Number 9 (help me come up with a good name in the comments), is a simple picture that tells few tales, but the ones it does tell it shares loud and clear. My initial reaction was, “cool” after I took it (a couple weeks into my stay here), but now I know it is much more than “cool”. Maybe even more than “really cool”... only time will tell.

Let’s start with the device itself. This is one of two pictures that I took during my time here that my computer found its way into (the other was a picture of the kids at the orphanage practicing typing on it). Rightfully so, you might think. Why would anyone want to photograph a plain old PC (not even a Mac) in the middle of a trip to Benin?

Well photos aren’t always about what looks good, they are about the memories they invoke. And in this case, the memories are of many dull days of typing at my computer: searching for and filling out grants, translating English to French and vice versa (no google translate unfortunately), reading books in pdf format, creating management material for the orphanage, pretending to do work for the orphanage while really doing nothing, and of course the least dull of all: writing this blog.

At least now when I look back at this picture, I can nostalgicize about those feelings of dullness... that’s not something that every picture can do for you. Think about that the next time you... um... yeah ok, there’s no point in pretending that the computer actually adds something to this picture. We all know the reason this made the top ten is...

Yes, our very own Aristotle, the youngest of my host family coming in at an impressive 2 years old. He leaps tall footstools with a single bound and runs towards first sight of his older sister’s Nintendo DS faster than a speeding bullet. Here he is pictured in action, though it is unclear what is going through his head at this moment. He is either trying to imitate his favourite safari animal, or preparing to leap off of the chair he was sitting on by striking a daredevil pose. Most probably a combination of the two. This guy has so much energy that it’s pretty much written that he’s going to grow up to be an athlete. As you can see, he’s already practicing his best “Patrick Kane’s mouthguard hanging out the side of his mouth” impression.

There’s not much else of note in this picture, but I’ll list the remaining things that caught my eye:

- those greens poking though the stone railing give you a small idea of how beautiful my host family’s veranda is on a nice breezy summer day.

- that’s my knee in the bottom left of the computer screen. Sloppy photography? Maybe. Kurtha pyjama? Definitely.

- you can see the reflection of a plant pot, albeit distorted, in the shiny glossy area below the keyboard. Why is this even remotely interesting? The pot holds a prickly variety of cactus with an extremely bitter tasting inner flesh (I was bored). That same week my host dad shows me how he spices up vodka: with cubes of the meat of this plant fermenting in the alcohol for a week or so.

And that’s picture number 9! Numbers  8 and 7 tomorrow :)