chasing the snake!

Today's update on our snake situation! He has been seen again, sliding under the gate out of one compound and back through a drainage hole in the wall back into the other compound, and out again when he heard voices! So we have blocked up our drainages holes until rainy season comes round again, and this evening Marc and Philémon burnt the long grasses out in front of our compound wall where the snake was hiding this morning. Here is a photo taken over the wall:

Hopefully the snake will soon realise that life around here is far too eventful for a shy being like himself, and will slither away to pastures new. Or be killed.

newest neighbour?

When I last saw a snake on our property, it was a cute little thing, black-and-white striped and only about 20cm long. I was a little concerned that a child could have been tempted to touch it without realising what it was, and we had a serious talk with our boys.

Last Thursday morning during break-time I heard a pandemonium, and Benjy crying loudly. The boys and their friend Jochabed came running into the house, and we learned that they'd seen a snake. Benjy was simply crying from the unexpected shock. They'd apparently seen it drop out of a tree and slide away from them, and had very sensibly run in the opposite direction.

We have two compounds on the mission property here. The children saw the snake in our house compound, but the next day Marc saw it - probably the same one, given the description - in the other compound when he was out running. He grabbed a stick, but it managed to hide in some kind of burrow.

So today Marc and the translators went to have a look for it. Philémon is a particularly good snake killer, and having experienced "hunters" around seemed safer! They didn't find anything, though, and their conclusion was that we'd probably scared it off ... let's hope so!

The "snake hunt":

a few of my favourite things (2 & 3)

Tea. Tea is one of my favourite things, and while I drink less here in the heat than I used to back in Europe, I do enjoy starting my day with a hot cup of tea. I then use my teabag again for my breaktime tea at 10.30am, since good teabags are not the easiest thing to find here!

This mug is another of my favourite things. It was sent to us by an English church home group for Christmas 2009, and what amazed me was that they had - I assume without realising - managed to find one of the two verses we chose for our wedding: "We love because He first loved us." (I John 4:19)

French at last

We heard on Christmas Eve that I had successfully obtained French nationality through marriage, and we were invited to a ceremony at the French Embassy in Cotonou last week. It was a bit of a long way to go, but it didn't seem like the kind of invitation you can refuse!

Our first challenge was to find Embassy-suitable outfits for Marc and the boys. Fortunately they had all we needed at the big hypermarket in Cotonou – though only just! I also found a handbag I could carry which would be big enough to put nappies in without actually looking like a change bag!

It was funny to see that Simon chose to wear a tie like Marc, and was very proud to do so, whereas Benjy, despite choosing to wear the same thing as Simon, very obviously only did so because he realised he had to look smart! He did love his new shoes, however, which he chose himself.

The ceremony was actually an informal reception for myself and two other (Beninese) ladies who had also obtained French nationality through their husbands. We were each allowed up to six guests, and then there were various Embassy and Consulate staff members there, so there were between 30 and 40 people. We were complimented on our smart and extremely well-behaved children (Proud Parent moment!) despite Eve sitting down on the thick-pile carpet, pulling her shoes off, and then rolling around. Poor little village kid, used to dusty concrete floors!

We were served drinks to begin with, as one party were held up in traffic, and once they arrived the Ambassador called us ladies forward. She gave a little speech congratulating us and reminding us that French nationality brings both rights and privileges. The “Marseillaise” was played, she gave each of us some paperwork, and there were official photos taken.

After that there were canapés and small-talk. We enjoyed meeting the Embassy and Consulate staff. While in some ways our life up in the village is very different from theirs in Cotonou, ex-pats always have things in common, and so we talked about bringing up children overseas and that kind of thing.

I was glad to have marked my becoming French in a special way, and it will certainly be a family memory!

Our family with the Ambassador:

The Embassy:

a few of my favourite things (1)

I have decided to write some posts about my favourite things. Not that I am, I hope, too attached to objects, but there are a few things that make life easier or more beautiful. The first I love for its usefulness:

This vegetable peeler has been with me for nearly 14 years now, and I can honestly say that in all that time I have never found a better one! In fact sometimes on holiday I have wished I had it with me. Bought at Lakeland, made in Switzerland, and a joy to use!

We nearly had a tragedy last week, though. I was looking for the peeler and couldn't find it. Marc was sure he remembered washing and drying it the evening before, so we started looking through all the drawers and cupboards. No luck. So I suggested looking in unlikely places, and opened the compost bucket. There it was, nestled in a pile of sweet potato peelings! "Oh, I must have been remembering washing it the day before yesterday..." was Marc's comment. Thank goodness we didn't throw the compost onto the compost heap before needing the peeler again!

Christmas 2013

I thought I would give a few snapshots, in words and pictures, of our Christmas here in the village.

On Christmas Eve we were visited by the church children, who were visiting all the church leaders to bring Christmas greetings. They marched in, sat down, sang to us, and then marched off again. They made a colourful picture!

On Christmas morning our kids had stockings. The boys opened their small presents and then enjoyed helping their sister to open hers. We then took our traditional family Christmas one-take self-timer photo.

We went to church at 9, though we knew it would start a bit later because of Christmas, so sat outside for a while, greeting people as they arrived. Eve isn't a big fan of church at the moment, as it is her nap-time and she doesn't like sitting still. So I just stayed for half an hour of singing at the beginning, but it was good to be worshipping with fellow Christians to celebrate Jesus' birth!

We had guineafowl for Christmas dinner, with roast and green veg, and gravy and bread sauce.

After the afternoon nap, there were more presents, and then an outing to watch the church playing a friendly football match. You might spot some familiar heads among the spectators!

Finally we started a new tradition of a family video night, watching Shrek 3, which Benjy had had for Christmas. It is rare that we all sit down together to watch something, and it was fun! (Eve was already in bed, she'll have to wait a few years to be included!)

blowing your own trumpet? or something else?

Our translators translate from French - using several different versions - into Monkolé. I then check the Hebrew text against what we have in Monkolé. People sometimes ask me if it isn't good enough to simply translate from the French.

Here is just a small example of why I think we get a better translation if we compare it with the Hebrew. As we were translating II Samuel we came across several instances of the Israelites blowing a "trumpet". This had been translated from the French into Monkolé as "kãakãakĩ" and when I asked my translators what it was, to check, they said "a trumpet", and confirmed that it was a metallic instrument.

In Hebrew the word is (if I transliterate) "shofar", a ram's horn which is blown through to create a loud, carrying sound. And in Monkolé, a similar horn is called a "kuu". So where appropriate, we have been changing "kãakãakĩ" in our text to "kuu".

(I have just had a look in a few English versions out of interest and have found a lot of "trumpets" but one "horns"!)