10 Things I Learned this Week, Edition 1.

Posted by Gaurav On Monday, May 30, 2011 4 comments
With Sunday rolling around, I wanted to start a feature that I hope to continue once a week here in Benin: ten things that I have learned this past week. I think this is important because it allows me to make light of the learning curve I’m having here, while giving readers an idea about my experiences during the week without boring them with too many details. So here we go, week 1!

Prince, my French teacher, takes care of my more orthodox lessons in Benin.
1) Even light rain can hurt when you are doing 80 on a moto down the highway.

2) Children will go as far as licking concrete walls to get attention, and no, it’s definitely not a cultural thing.

3) Not to pay for tours unless they are in both French AND English.

4) The bigger the roach, the fewer whacks it takes to kill.

5) In the “Yagbo yagbo bonsoir, ca va bien? Merci!” chant sung by children whenever I pass some of them, “yagbo” means “white person”.

6) I’m a yagbo.

7) Thunderstorms that would get “storm warning” notices on Ontario TV screens are the norm here.

8) The concept of a cell phone contract is perplexing to most people I’ve tried to explain it to.

9) The Portuguese were the first to establish the slave trade in Ouidah. 

10) Sitting in front of a DSLR stating your name and aspirations looks easier than it is on the other side.

Hope you enjoyed! Currently the internet is down but I hope I can get this post up sometime later tonight. Please don’t forget to leave comments, it is greatly appreciated! If you are reading this and you have your own blog about your summer program or for that matter anything to do with my website, please let me know so I can share the address in my links.

Not able to upload pics right now for whatever reason... really frustrating but I will figure it out tomorrow!  

Tout à l’heure!


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4 comments to 10 Things I Learned this Week, Edition 1.

  1. says:
    May 30, 2011 at 5:30 PM

    Raj I absolutely love this idea about "10 Things I Learned this Week!"
    I found it so interesting how the people of Benin view you as a yagbo...very interesting. Why do you think that is?

  1. says:
    May 30, 2011 at 11:18 PM

    Anonymous Bonjour!
    Three posts in one night? Sweet.
    I agree it's very interesting that they see you as a "yagbo" (I love that word xD); and this new "10 things I learned this week" really does add both humour and insight to your blog. Also, it is really cool how they shower the dancers with money as well. Glad things seem to be going well =)

    - Priya

  1. says:
    May 31, 2011 at 4:07 PM

    Gaurav Thanks for the feedback! This will definitely become regular then :) I'm a yagbo here because anyone who is not black is considered white! I think this is probably because they dont have much interaction with foreigners who aren't white and so they dont have a name for them in their language, or see a need to differentiate.

  1. says:
    June 13, 2011 at 7:46 AM

    Adam haha Gaurav, in Africa, I too am a white person
    it's actually worse to be a brown person here though - you get ripped off either way, but if you're brown you're apparently also the target of racism?!?
    i've also noticed with the rain thing that drizzle is the swahili word for thunderstorm

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