We had some good friends to stay here in Pèdè last weekend. They are a family we knew in our church in France – in fact Alexandra and I knew each other before we knew our husbands, and she was the first person to talk to me about SIM's work in Benin. She did a work placement in the hospital here in 2000, and Guillaume, like me, first visited Benin in 2002. This summer they've come back to Benin so that she can do a few weeks' work in the hospital and he can help with a music camp. Their first child was born just 6 weeks before Simon, and so it was exciting for us, if not for the kids themselves, to see them together again! All four kids got on well together, which gave us parents more time to chat over the weekend.
It was a refreshing break for us to spend time with old friends, to relax, reminisce and share news. Another unexpected benefit of them being here was that we were no longer the most “outside” people here. Suddenly we were the ones who knew people, who could explain how the church service goes, who were able to give a rudimentary translation of the sermon, and so on. For the first time I had the impression of being on the inside – as relative as that may be!
This is not to say that I am no longer experiencing culture shock, but at least it has been balanced out a bit by our weekend.
It was a refreshing break for us to spend time with old friends, to relax, reminisce and share news. Another unexpected benefit of them being here was that we were no longer the most “outside” people here. Suddenly we were the ones who knew people, who could explain how the church service goes, who were able to give a rudimentary translation of the sermon, and so on. For the first time I had the impression of being on the inside – as relative as that may be!
This is not to say that I am no longer experiencing culture shock, but at least it has been balanced out a bit by our weekend.
A photo of our church taken back in April:
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