Hey, I Just Met You, And This Is Crazy, So Let's Get Married

Thursday, June 21

So I made it through the "Second Day Slump"-the title I have dubbed the second day of any trip where you feel the most homesick because the initial shock of being in a new place from the first day is fading and the rest of your stay lies ahead, looming in its seemingly great length. During my stay in Central Europe, the SDS nearly killed me and was definitely the worst day of my trip so far, so I was glad to realize that today is my third full day and I breezed right through yesterday. 

And then I took it upon myself to reorganize and clean up my luggage and the SDS tried to catch up with me. I looked through a photo album, read all of the notes my family had left me, and vowed from now until I leave, not to go messing with my bags again because it just made me miss home a ton! I know that my family is having a lovely time frolicking on the beach in San Diego right now-probably digging lots of tiger traps (for some reason my family doesn't build sand castles on the beach, we just dig holes)- so I know that I don't have to worry about them. As for me, Brownie, Christian (my French professor), and I hammered out an incredibly busy schedule between two hours of French and three to four hours at the orphanage nearly everyday, plus guitar lessons at CIAMO during my last two weeks. It is going to fly by. I don't want to leave, and if I could relocate my family to be here with me, I wouldn't. Maybe we will come back someday to do some family volunteering.

Now I really must dedicate the rest of this blog to my two marriage proposals that I received yesterday. After I made myself some lunch, I decided to go find the beach which is actually sort of difficult because maps of Ouidah are hard to come by…possibly because most of the streets don't have names; people live "behind the post office" or "next to the market" as opposed to on a specific street. So, I headed in what I thought was the right direction, realizing after about 20 minutes that it was most certainly wrong, therefore, I flagged down a moto-taxi and arrived in five minutes. As soon as I got off the bike, I was snagged by a "tour guide" who I knew would be charging me for his expertise, but I also wasn't really sure how to convince him that I would be fine on my own. Twenty minutes of Franglais and 500 francs later, I knew everything there was to know about the Port du Non-Retour and the surrounding beach. When I asked about all of the pieces of glass and pottery on the beach, my guide took me to a pile of broken bottles which he said dated back to 300 years ago when the Portuguese brought whiskey for the king in exchange for people. And then he told me that before I go home, I should marry his brother. I told him I was way too young. He told me I could wait a few years and then come back. This was my favorite exchange in French yet. 

Only to be topped as I was walking back home when a young man started walking next to me. We chatted back and forth in French and then he asked me what I would think if he loved me. I could not stop laughing. He kept saying "Non, non je t'aime!" I told him no, he did not m'aime and tried nicely to end our conversation by telling him I would probably come back to the beach on Sunday. He was excited about this and said "Oh yes, on Sunday we will go to the beach together?" My laughing redoubled. I tried to pull the "je suis trop jeune" (I am too young) card again, but then he asked my age and what a coincidence, we were both 19. Truly, a match made in Heaven. I finally convinced him that he could walk me to the end of the road we were on and then I would be going on solo. 

So, 20 minutes of hot sun and humidity later, I made it home, hot, sweaty, but still single. Minus a power outage for about 45 minutes, the rest of the evening went on without event. Unless you count a gigantic storm during the night, complete with plenty of thunder, which I guess only a kid from the desert would count as a big event. I was just excited because the rain and thunder kept my neighbor's stupid rooster quiet for a couple of hours. I swear, there is going to be some rooster soup soon if that thing doesn't figure out when sunrise is pretty dang quick. Supposedly, in French, roosters say "coco-rico." It pretty much still sounds like "cock-a-doodle-doo" to me, but I don't really care either way, I just want it to "coco-shut-up-it's-two-in-the-morning-doodle-doo." =D=D=D=D

Welcome to Julia's Creative Clothes Drying.

 The view outside my door.

Also, be prepared, coming to a blog near you very soon are some freaking adorable kids! Until then, au revoir!

For the honor and glory.