Happy Easter! Christ is risen!  Even when it doesn't seem like Easter, even when there was not one mention at the Baptist church today of Jesus' death and resurrection, even when there was no feast or even a meal with others to celebrate this momentous day, Christ is risen indeed!  It is good to celebrate in community, but when necessary, it is also possible to celebrate and be joyous alone.  And therefore, this is a good day!

 

I was very surprised that there was not one mention of Easter at church today.  You might think it's a matter of language and I just didn't understand.  And although there is a lot I don't understand, I do know the words for Easter, death, resurrection, etc. and I understood the general gist of almost everything that was said... and there was no mention of what an important day it is.  You might be thinking that it is celebrated on a different day here, but that is not the case either.  The schools have a week break right now, in conjunction with Easter.  The Catholic churches have special services all week.  Even many non-Christians get together to feast today.  So, I'm not quite sure why it was completed omitted at the church I was at. I knew ahead of time that it wouldn't be quite as big a deal as I am used to, but I expected at least the sermon to have something to do with Christ's resurrection.  It wasn't.   But like I said, that doesn't diminish the fact that for me, this is a day of celebration.  So, I sit here and celebrate with some of you as you are sitting in church at this very moment (factoring in time change). (Little side note: During next year's lenten season, I recommend that you read the book Reliving the Passion of Christ by Walter Wangrin. It has little readings for each day of Lent and is excellent).

 

So, it's been a few weeks since I've written and some of you are wondering what I've been up to? Have I started working? Am I fluent yet in French and Adja? Have I adopted any cute little kids yet? The answer to all those questions is no. And just so no one is confused, no, I'm not planning on adopting any kids while I'm here!  I actually don't have a lot of news to report.  I haven't started working yet.  I was supposed to start at Plan Benin two weeks ago (which I wrote about in the last blog), but the first day I went, the director was gone and they had an outside team working with them all week and so told me to come back the following week. Well, this last week I was sick.  It was my first bought of being sick and I'm amazed (and thankful) that I've been here for almost two months before getting sick!  The first night I was miserable- fever, chills, head ache, the runs (worse than the runs, but I don't want to gross people out) that made me get up over 20 times that night (and no, that is not an exaggeration).  I had no idea what I had and I was a little worried because the Broyles were in Togo all week and had just left that morning.  I didn't eat the next day and slept and rested lots.  By the following day I felt somewhat better and ate some, and by Thursday I felt fine. Needless to say, I didn't start at Plan Benin as I had planned and will hopefully start this Tuesday with my internship there.

 

Thursday I did ride my bike 17 km to finally meet the director of the clinic.  I've tried to speak with him almost every week since my arrival here, so I was happy that it finally worked out.  I am really impressed with all that this organization does (too much to write about in this blog update) and am excited about the ways I might be able to be plugged in.  The director, who is German (and so yes, my German comes in handy even in Africa :)), is excited about having a fresh person to look at the way they are doing things and provide evaluation, criticism, and ideas for improvement.  There are many things I should be able to get involved in, and although I still don't know any specifics or logisitcs, here are three general areas that interest me:  working with the orphans who live there (he wants to utilize the fact that I'm a teacher and have me work in some capacity with them, possibly teaching English), developing something for the mothers to do who are there with their HIV-infected babies (organizing someone to come and teach them to make some sort of craft or something they can sell in order to have some income and also to have something to do with their time), and working with AIDS- counseling.  Right now they have ten of the staff members who have gone through AIDS counseling training with the organization Doctors Without Borders.  However, they haven't really set up the space or schedule for it to take place, so it currently takes place during the doctor's visit. But since there is only one doctor (there are also several assistants, who basically function as doctors, and two midwives), it is difficult for him to take the time that is necessary to do AIDS counseling before and after testing.  Over 3,000 people were tested there last year.  So, the director is hoping to send me to training with Doctors Without Borders and maybe have me work on the logistics of setting up the space, schedule, and whatever else needs to happen in this area and also do some of the counseling.  This really excites me, but my practical mind wonders how much of this I really could do.  At this point I have no training in the area of counseling, especially not AIDS counseling.  Even if I get the one or two week training to help prepare me a little, there is still the language problem.  And even if I can master French well enough, I know that I will not be able to master Aja to that degree.  Most of the women coming for testing don't even speak French, but even for those who do speak some French (a few women, all students, many men), I think it would be better for them to be counseled in their mother tongue, in a language they are completely comfortable with, especially if they are tested positive.  But those details can wait to be worked out... it's just my practical mind that already starts thinking too realistically.  I need to dream a bit, too :).  I really am excited to be able to start doing something productive with my time.  I need to return next week when both the director and the assistant director are there, in order to discuss more specifics of what days I'll work there (at this point I'm planning on being there two days a week), whether I'll spend the night there (it's 17km each way... biking there was not so bad, but biking back was exhausting because it's a gentle slope uphill the entire way), and a bunch of other details. If it weren't so far, I would probably prefer just working there, instead of having my time split between two organizations, but I'll wait to decide any of that until I've been involved with each a little first.  The great thing about coming here on my own is that I'm not tied to either one.  Both have said that if I decide to only work with the other, that is fine as well. So, we'll see...

 

Since moving into my own place three weeks ago, I've been able experience life here in ways that I didn't the first 5 weeks (3 + 5= 8... yes, I've been here almost two months. Crazy! Being here seems so normal... most of the time!).  I've enjoyed finally learning to cook some African food.  Jules (who I've mentioned in previous blogs- he's best friends with Koudjo and is the brother of my French tutor) has received the title "professeur de la nouriture".  You can probably decipher its meaning, but just in case you can't, he's my cooking instructor.  A couple weeks ago I had two different inaugurational 'ceremonies' of my new home.  For the first inauguration I learned to cook Pat (corn flour that's boiled into a thick porridge and then hardens a bit in a bowl, after which you flip it over onto a plate and it stays molded. )  You break off little pieces of Pat and dip into the Sauce.  There a many different kinds of Sauces.  Most involve some sort of oil (palm nut, coconut, or peanut) , tomato paste, hot peppers, salt, and a variety of other things, such as greens, okra, fish, occasionally other kinds of meat, etc.  For the second inauguration I made Riz au Grat, for which you prepare a Sauce and then cook rice directly in it.  Since then I've also learned to cook manioc and different Sauces for Pat. 

 

Besides African food, I've also experienced another part of culture here, the "popping-in" of people, since living on my own.  People constantly stop by to visit.  Without being invited, they sit down and procede to talk to you or watch you, regardless of what you might be in the middle of.  If you are in the middle of eating, one must invite them to join.  If I'm cooking something, or especially when I'm learning to cook some African food, it's not uncommon for a couple people to come in and watch.   Yesterday I was doing laundry and I had 6 little kids watching... it's a little disconcerting because I know that most of those kids are better at washing clothes by hand than I am (by the way, washing clothes by hand takes a long time.  I definitely have a new appreciation for washing machines! Dryers here really wouldn't be necessary, because things dry so quickly here in the sun).  I haven't started popping-in to other people's places yet, mostly because I feel like I always have enough pop-ins that I want some time to myself.  However, I feel that to be friendly, I better start reciprocating.  And although I've enjoyed getting to know more people around me, I've also become a little jealous of my time. With people having the freedom to come in almost at any time, I've had a difficult time having time by myself, which I definitely need to be recharged.  Some of you know that I brought almost 40 books I was hoping to read!! :) Up until this week, I hadn't finished a single one.  (This week, because my friend Koudjo has been in Togo all week and the students are on a school break and therefore have had very few pop-ins, I finished four books that I was in the middle of... and it was wonderful having time to read!).  Besides reading, I was also hoping to have more time to play guitar, journal, etc, but that doesn't really happen.  Also, these last two months I definitely haven't spent as much time studying French and Aja as I would have liked and as I really need to.  I trying to learn how to find a balance between spending time with people and having time for me.  My idea of time is a very foreign one here.  People here don't spend time on themselves. Most don't have books to read, journals to write in, guitars to play, music to listen to.  They spend their free time with people and expect that everyone is that way.  So, I want to learn from them, to value others and put people as a high priority, but I also know that I need to guard some time for me as well. (For those of you who pray for me, there you go- finding the right balance).

 

Besides the high school students who live around me, I've also gotten to know a grandma and her grandson Kaka.  They live in a little dirt house with dirt floors and a tin roof, just 15 feet away from me.  Kaka is around 3 years old.  His mother died a couple years ago from hepatitis; his father lives here with him. He has a bunch of siblings, too, some of which are grown, and the other younger siblings live with them nearby. Kaka loves to come in all the time and just watch me. Since my Aja is extremely limited and he speaks no French, except for "Oui" (yes), which he replies everytime I say anything to him in English or French, we don't talk a whole lot.  I learn words from him by pointing to things and asking what it is. We draw pictures together. And he spends a lot of time just watching me.  I can start reading a book or studying and he'll just sit there and watch me.  I practice my Aja on his grandma and we spend most of our time together just laughing, because my little bit of Aja lasts a few seconds and then she says things I don't understand.  Often I try to repeat what she's saying, but I don't really know what it is I'm regurgatating. So, we end up just laughing.  I'm really thankful for this lady, especially since she's really the only lady I much contact with (besides Thora).  I love to bring her things from the market, especially since she doesn't ask me for anything. 

 

That brings me to another type of experience I've had since living on my own, requests.  It is completely culturally acceptable to ask someone who has more than you for something.  If someone is sick, people go around to all of their family to ask for money (and that can mean very extended family may come to request money).  This is a very foreign concept for Westerners.  I was advised from the very beginning not to give out any money and at this point I've stuck to that, but it's not easy.  I'm not sure what the correct thing to do is. I have money and am extremely wealthy compared to most of the people who live around me.  Should I give to those who need, like the neighbor who cannot pay his school fee or the other neighbor who needs medicine? But if I help some, then do I need to help all who ask? Where do I draw the line? I pray and ask for wisdom.  However, when one of the students next door comes at ten o'clock at night to ask what I've prepared today and when I don't understand his implications and he directly asks what can I give him to eat because he has nothing to eat, then I give him food to eat.  It is also not uncommon for someone to ask you what you will bring them from the market.  And yes, you are then expected to bring them something.  Another request that surprised me was when another one of my neighbors was going home to his village and he asked me what I was going to give his mother.  When I asked my trusted interpreter of culture, Koudjo, if that was normal, he said that if I had some sort of relationship with his mother, then that was common.  I've been working with this student in English and so I've asked about his mother as part of our conversational practice.  He had told his mother that a white woman had come to the village to live and so she had sent her greetings to me.  So, I suppose we now have a relationship :).

 

As much as some of these cultural difference take some getting used to and challenge me to evaluate my own culture, upbringing, and values, I am so very thankful to have this opportunity.  Hopefully I will learn the positives of this culture, as well as retain (and possibly even introduce here) some of the positives of my own culture.  I am really excited to start working this next week, and I'm sure I'll be exposed to many new things that will cause my head to want to explode with more questions...but that's one of the reasons I came here, to grow and be challenged.

 

I hope this blog update finds each of you well. I've enjoyed hearing from many of you, now that I have a better e-mail situation worked out. Thanks for being interested enough in my life to read this :) and thank you for your prayers as well.  Love, Chrischona

 

P.S. Ironically, after having written about people requesting things from me, I now have a couple requests as well. I guess I'm adapting pretty well! :)

1.  I have two people at the moment who would love to have a penpal in the States.  One is Jules, my friend and cooking instructor.  He's 17, is in 12th grade (there are 13 grades here), and speaks pretty decent English.  I've been teaching him some computer skills and hopefully this week we'll set up an e-mail account for him at the cyber cafe.  The other is the older brother of Kaka, Marcelin, who is 21 and a student at the high school (people start school at all ages here, so it's not uncommon to have people my age who are still in school). So, my request is this.  If you know anyone, preferable guys who are in high school or maybe even college, who would be willing to correspond with these two guys, please let me know. Also, I'm sure I'll get more people in the future who will ask the same things, so if there are more than 2, that's great!

2.  If you have any information on AIDS-counseling or on prevention, especially abstinence education (possibly to use with a few of the churches, I don't know yet about school groups here), I would appreciate anything.  I do have a few things and the clinic probably has things as well, but I know some of you have some expertise in this area as well.

3.  I'd like some recipes, especially for Asian and Indian dishes.  A peace corps volunteer who finished her stay here yesterday, gave me various Indian and a few other Asian spices.  But since I didn't expect to have those available, I have no recipes and don't know what to make with them.  The only recipes I brought with me were for different kinds of breads (bread, tortillas, banana bread, English muffins, puris, etc)... comfort food which I love!

 

Thank you in advance!

 

 

When I first came to Benin, I kept track of how many days I had been here. I no longer perform that ritual, probably a good sign that I'm now used to living here. Don't misunderstand, I still encounter things that I'm not used to every day, but I'm accustomed to being here in Benin... and I'm really enjoying being here. No longer do I wish to board the next plane and no longer do I plan on cutting my time here in half :). I'm really thankful to have to priviledge, this opportunity of living here and experience so many new things.

The big news of this past week is that I've moved into my own place, my new temporary home. I'm grateful to have stayed with a missionary family here up until now, making my transition much easier. Even though it's been a really good situation (especially after I got used to living with a family and with people I didn't know), I'm excited to have my own space and schedule and home. It will be another adjustment living alone (I've always had some roommmates), but in the four days I've lived there I haven't even had a second to consider lonliness; the only time I've even been alone was to sleep. Besides, my new home is just across the road, maybe 100 yards (I'm poor at estimating distances), so I'm close to everyone I know here. At this point my new place is only temporary, for 1 or 2 months. That's partly due to the fact that I haven't decided if I want to stay in Aplahoue or move to Azove (a bigger town 4 km away)- both have their pros and cons, and I don't want to make decision until after I've started working. Also, I think the owner might only want it to be temporary since it's where he normally stays when he comes back from the city. My new place is really nice, much nicer than I was anticipating. I'll try to paint a little picture of it for those of you who are interested in details. If not, just skip on down to the next paragraph.
My little home has cement walls and floors (a contrast to some of my neighbors' houses that are made out of dirt, sticks, and tin), with three little rooms. You walk into the living room, with couches, a coffee table, a light bulb, and a TV (yes, you read it right! I sure didn't expect to be watching TV here. And I don't really plan on watching it much, but my friends Koudjo and Jules are excited to come and watch soccer games at my place (which they did last night). ) To the left of the living room is the "kitchen", a newly-added-on room, which is completely empty except for my kitchen things sitting on the floor (and some of the owners things piled up in a corner). To cook, I use the owner's little kerosene burner. Yesterday I used it for the first time and it went surprising well and quick. I wash my dishes using two buckets that I have sitting on the floor in the light that streams in from the living room. Since there is no electricity in that room, I can use a kerosene lantern (which at this point is out of wick so I'll try to find more at the market). I'm borrowing a cooler from Thora to store my fruits and vegetables. I use frozen water bottles that I exchange at Thora's daily. Although it's kind of a pain to exchange the water bottles daily and it doesn't keep my food all too fresh, it still is better than nothing. I gotta have my fruits and vegetables! :) Two steps up from the living room is my bedroom, with a bed and another lightbulb; I've just put the matress I bought before I knew I would be using all of the owner's furniture, on top of his. When the owner knew that I wanted to live there, he had a small wall built in the bedroom. Behind it he added a toilet (Yes, a toilet... a rarity here!!), a spicket with running water, and a drain on the floor, because he said he couldn't let a white woman live there without running water and a toilet. Although I had thought that I would really like to experience life here as most of the people live, I am so happy and glad to have an indoor toilet and running water! My neighbors around me use the latrines and get their water from the cystern outside. So, as you can see, I really have it very nice, with electricity, running water, and a toilet! Of course, it's still an adjustment learning to cook on one small kerosene burner on the floor, not having any sinks, feeling like my neighbors can always watch me, and the noise. What noise, you ask? Yes, the people talking right outside my window at night or the music playing will take a little adjusting to, but it's the goats that I'm really struggling with. I had no idea goats were so loud, much much louder than sheep. All night long they congregate on my door step (literally, honestly) and do whatever they're doing. I have my hypothesis of what they're doing, but I'll leave that be. I'm sure eventually I'll get used to it, but let's just say that I've been a little sleep deprived this week. Sometimes, when the door is open, a goat or chicken will pop his head in. I don't care if their just trying to be friendly and welcome me (as someone has tried to convince me), I don't plan on making friends with the goats :). The same goes for the ants, termites, spiders, cockroaches, beetles, and whatever other little creatures come to visit. So far no mice or lizards have come inside my house, but I'm sure they'll come (I had those visitors at the Broyles). Spiders and lizards I usually let be... we have a pretty peaceful coexistance. But cockroaches and beetles get the sure death, and I'm not too fond of mice either ( I was afraid they would run around on my face when I was sleeping :) ).

The little enclave where I live has its own name, but it's not considered to be a village. As far my neighbors, I'm not sure who all lives around me, because, with exception of yesterday afternoon and evening, I hadn't really been there yet except to sleep. Somehow most of them are all family, but I'm still confused exactly how everyone fits together. There are probably 10 or more little houses or huts. Yesterday I found out that there are 7 or 8 students who live around me. Since most villages don't have high schools, students here often live away from their families and rent a room. There is a high school in Aplahoue, because it is a county seat, even though size-wise it's not really big enough for it's own high school. Last night three of the students, who live in the rooms attached to the house I live in, came over to say hi. I'm glad to have some students around, because I know that I can converse in French with them. There is also a man there who studied in Ghana and likes to speak English with me (although I would rather be forced to speak only French). I've used my couple little Adja phrases with some of the people who don't speak French and it always makes them smile and laugh (I think it's because they're happy that I'm using Adja, rather than that they're laughing at me :)). Of course then they say a bunch of stuff I don't understand. Then I just smile and say in French that I don't understand (since I haven't even learned that in Adja yet). Now that I have more of a need for Adja in order to communicate with my neighbors, it will hopefully encourage me to learn it better.

Language learning is still going very slow, because I really haven't been able to devote much time to it in the last few weeks. I've been doing school with Jennie for the last 3 days since Thora has needed to go to some other villages. Other stuff, both some necessary things and also lots of fun stuff, pushes language learning to the side. I feel this pressure to learn it though, because next week I'm going to start observing an organization called Plan Benin. I'm really excited about this opportunity, because from what I've heard, this is a really well-run organization. I had met a man who works for this NGO at church and he gave me the name of the director. I went to see her last week and in my broken French tried to explain to her what I was interested in. Between my poor French and her broken English, we were able to communicate a little, but she told me to come back with Stephanie (a Peace Corps Volunteer who we both know.... but who leaves Benin at the end of this month) so she could translate and we could set up a program for me. Basically, I would like to learn what they do and learn from them. I don't know what I have to offer them. At those point I'm planning on being with them one day a week and then they're connecting me with another organization that works solely with people with AIDS, and I should be able to be with them once a week as well. At first I want to just learn from them. They work in 40 some surrounding villages with health care, education, AIDS, nutrition, and many others things. Hopefully God will then direct me in how can get plugged in with them and work together with them. If it ends up being a good fit, maybe I could just work with them since it's a lot closer than the clinic. I still haven't made contact with the director of the clinic in Gohomey, although I have repeatedly tried. He isn't there every day and right now the boss lady is in from Germany and so it's not working out to see him. There is a possibility that it will work out to see him tomorrow. I'm hoping to see him to get an idea of what he is thinking of how I can get plugged in. However, I'd like to wait to start there until the beginning of April, giving me some more time to learn French and Adja.

I've enjoyed having time to exercise. I've been running and playing basketball almost every morning with Koudjo. I've had to learn to do push-ups, because on Saturdays when we play with a bunch of other people, you often have to do push-ups if you miss. The first week I was lucky and always made at least one shot each round. However, one week, they had you do five push-ups each time you missed the shot! I ended up doing 20 push-ups (in sets of 5)! Granted, I wasn't making it as close to the the ground as I was supposed to, but they have no idea what an incredible feat that was for me anyway!!. :) Also, I bought a bike in in Togo last week (since I will need it for going to the clinic) and have been on a couple bike rides. Last week we went for what I thought was going to be a quick ride before dinner. We ended up riding to the border of Togo (about 12 km each way) up and down hills. My legs and butt were so tired, that if it hadn't been for that fact that it had become dark, I would have wanted to give up. :) Somehow when I'm riding a bike through the villages, it always brings laughter. I was assured that it wasn't that they were making fun of me, it's just really funny to them to see a white woman riding a bike. A couple of times I had a little entourage of children running after me. Other times people would just turn and stare or wave and yell something I couldn't understand.

I've visited two churches in Azove, the two Baptist church around here. (There are some Assemblies of God, various other pentacostal, and a big Catholic church in Azove as well.) The one that the Broyles often go to when they are in Benin (until recently they were rarely here on the weekends) is a very small church conducted in French. There are maybe 5-7 adults and 10 or so youth. I've been there twice now, once with the Broyles and one Sunday by myself when they were gone. The people made me feel very welcome and I was able to understand some of what was going on. (Little side note, one of the youth is studying German in school and brings a German Bible to church ... his German is quite good!) Last Sunday Koudjo and I went to visit the other Baptist church in Azove, which has between 100 and 200 people. The majority of the people in the church are Yoruba from Nigeria, so the church is conducted both in Adja and Yoruba (and obviously I don't understand either). A lady came to sit next to me to translate it into French, which I actually understood quite a bit of. (In case you're wondering why Koudjo didn't just translate, it's because men and women sit on separate sides). I ended up understanding almost all of the sermon... because they translated it into English for me from the front!! Try to imagine it, three very animated men preaching/translating, trying to take turns but it not always working out. Already the services tend to be long, but I think this one was especially long because of the sermon being in three languages. We didn't get there until close to ten (Sunday school goes from 9-10, but it's conducted in church just as if it's part of church) and left close to 1. I really liked the larger church. It was full of life and the people were also really nice. (There were 4 or 5 familiar face of people I had met before, which was nice. ) There was more singing than at the other church. In addition to their traditional drums, they also had a bass and an electric guitar. Just like at the church I visited in Togo, there were dances when you bring up the offering ( which happened 3 times. I keep forgetting to ask Koudjoy about the offering, but I'm confused about the 3 different times. Once it was everyone (although in groups of youth, women, or men) and one other time it was all the women, and another time just some people. I haven't really decided to which church I'll go, because at this point I don't understand any Adja and I don't want someone to feel like they have to translate for me each time (much less having it translated from the front!). Also, if I do decide to go there, I would probably be going there alone since the Broyles don't go there are and Koudjo said it was too loud and big for his liking (I guess Uptown got me used to that :)).

Well, this chapter in my novel has become long, so I'm going to stop. On one hand I feel like I'm writing too many details and am boring people, but on the other hand, I feel like there is so much else to say that I leave out and don't even get to, especially things I'm learning. I guess maybe I'm writing more about me than the culture (but then again, I know that each of you cares for me and maybe you don't care to know every detail I Iearn). Maybe I should start a second blog for the things I'm learning about life here or for the things I read or think about...but realistically that won't happen :) (For all those of you who know how many books I brought (40or so!!) , I really haven't made a dent. I'm in the middle of 2...pathetic. My time is just going other places. However, now that I have my own place, I really hope to have more time to read. Anyway, I was in the middle of ending this blog entry, so I better follow through with it.

Thank you for your e-mails and your continued prayers. Keep praying for my language acquisition and for direction with what to do while I'm here. Also, I want to stay focused on my desire for this to be a spiritual sabbatical year, a year in which I grow more intimate with God (so, for those of you who pray for me, you can pray for that too). Please keep me updated on what is going on in your lives. I love hearing from you!
Blessings, Chrischona/Chrissy/Christine (because that's what most people say when I introduce myself, I've just started using that with some people :)).

Some of you have asked for a mailing address for me, and I finally have one to give you.

Terry Sullivan
Attn. Chrischona Gibson
BP 72
Azove, Benin

I have no idea how long mail takes, but give it a try and I'll let you know how long it takes your letter. Some of you have also asked about packages. Yes, you can mail packages, although there is never a guarantee they will get here. Thora said they've sometimes received packages in two weeks, sometimes two months, a few times even 8 months, and sometimes they've never arrived. I will warn you that I when I looked up postage from the US to Benin for packages, that it was quite expensive...so you might want to check that out first. For those of you who have asked about specific things to send, I'll give it some thought. Of course, letters and pictures. Other than that, I think now that I'm starting to live on my own, I'll start being aware of things I miss. I can think of one think now, salad dressing mixes (the dry packages) and spice packages. Besides salt and hot peppers there aren't other spices/ seasoning available here (maybe in Cotonou, but not in Azove). (And please, this is only for those of you who asked...no one needs to send anything).

Also, if you e-mail me, send your e-mails to ajatobe@usermail.com (instead of my yahoo address). Just put my name in the subject line. Thora is letting me use her e-mail account (and it usually gets checked weekly). There will be times when they're gone for a few weeks at a time. Then I'll try to let you know to send it to yahoo for a little while. (And if you sent me e-mails in the last 3 weeks, please resend them to this new address (if you still have a copy. If not, I'll eventually get them at the cyber cafe, but that could be awhile. Note, the cyber cafe has no coffee or any beverage for that matter. It's a very small room with maybe 8 or 10 computers all crammed close together on tables).

Thanks in advance for any mail that comes my way!!