Peace Corps Update #7

Monday, September 10, 2007

This past weekend I saw where the tornado touched down outside Azove. Only a couple of buildings got flattened and nobody got hurt. Good news.

Things I know (and how I know them):

1) Most of the time, using the second-least-efficient method possible of doing something will be an improvement in this country. I know this because I have been here for 6 weeks and have yet (I believe) to see anyone using anything but the least efficient method of doing anything. Case in point: In Cotonou I walked past a constructions site (several, actually) of a multi-story building. In order to lift the sand for concrete from the ground up to the floor under construction they build a series of ascending platforms, each one recessed from the one below it. Then, someone on the ground lifts the sand ONE SHOVELFUL AT A TIME from the ground to the next highest platform. This process is then repeated as many times as needed to lift the sand to the proper floor. On a busy day it is not unusual to see a tower of twenty men doing nothing but shoveling sand up the side of a building.
2) Gas stations are an unnecessary luxury. I know this because they are nearly non-existent in Benin, and the few that exist are seldom used. Gasoline (Essence, en francais) is mostly sold here by small vendors who dispense smuggled Nigerian gas from old, reused liquor bottles or five liter palm oil cans. A Beninese gas station is basically a table full of old bottles by the side of the road.
3) Automobiles are also an unnecessary luxury. While there are quite a lot of them in Benin, they are VASTLY outnumbered by “motos”. A moto is anything with two wheels, a seat and an engine. My scooter would make a great moto here – although PC bars volunteers from owning a moto. Nevertheless, the vast majority of inner city taxis are also motos, so PC issues every PCV in Benin a moto helmet so we can get around easier and cheaper. Thus we are still allowed to put our lives in danger, just not to be in control of the level of danger…go figure.
4) Humans can survive on plain white starch with sauce. Is an explanation really necessary?
5) After six weeks of nothing but plain white starch with sauce, most humans will do almost anything for a hamburger. I know this because last Sunday (not yesterday, a week ago) we got someone to go to Bohicon (BOY-cahn) to get ground beef and we made hamburgers and fries for our cooking “class”. Bliss…
6) It is actually possible to make things other than plain white starch with sauce from the things available in the local marche. I know this because yesterday for cooking class we had an “Iron Chef” competition. For the uninitiated, Iron Chef is a TV cooking competition where two world-class chefs compete against each other. Each contest has a theme ingredient that is announced immediately prior to the contest. Well, our theme ingredient was…Peanut Butter! We had four teams and everybody made at least one really great dish. But our team went above and beyond! There were four of us and we each concentrated on one dish. My compadre, the other Steve, made hand-made ravioli filled with a PB, cinnamon, onion and piment chutney. Emma made cole slaw, served with PB-fried raman noodles. Sebastian was in charge of dessert and made PB and pineapple stuffed French Toast. And for the main entrée, I made…yes, a stuffed flank steak! (Sound familiar to anyone? Mom? Julie? Bob?) What, you may ask, was it stuffed with? A stuffing of bread crumbs, onion, celery, garlic, piment and peanut butter! Each dish was then served with/on some form of native vegetation. Not surprisingly, we won the competition hands down.
7) Man’s greatest invention may be the Dutch Oven. See above.