Hello there, long lost friends and family! I know some of you are worried I was eating up by lions, tigers, or whatever other dangerous animals you think are prowling about here. (FYI: There are no such animals prowling about here. The animals that do stride or scurry about-goats, sheep, chickens, lizards, mice, and as well as a plethora of insects- have left me in peace... that is for the most part. A couple nights ago two ants bit me, one late at night, the other early in the morning. When this particular kind of ant bites, it stings for hours... and there's really nothing you can do, except curse the tiny dead carcass that has caused you loss of sleep. I chose to listen to peaceful music to pacify me... and to drown out the other not-so-peaceful music coming from somewhere (yes, even at 11 at night and 4 in the morning there is music playing somewhere. Fortunately, my neighbors GENERALLY stop around 11 and don't start up again until 6. There are, of course, numerous exceptions.) And the other exception to being left in peace by the animal world are the mosquitos...not a big fan of them! The drowned mouse and drowned lizard in my bath bucket didn't disturb my peace; if they had run over my body while I was sleeping, that would have been a different story!
So, how am I doing here, apart from my mostly peaceful coexistence with the animal kingdom? Very well. I am thankful to be here, thankful for the experiences I've had here, thankful for the relationships that have been forming, thankful for the things I've learned, and also thankful for the ways I've been able to help. Although my time here has been different than I expected and even hoped for, I am still very glad to be here. The last couple of months I've been contemplating how long I really want to stay here- whether 10-11 months as initially planned or only 6, mainly due to the fact that I don't feel like I'm doing much here. Although I haven't officially decided anything, I can't really picture my time here coming to an end in a month. I'm not ready to leave that soon. I still don't know that means I will stay here until December, but I'm not ready to leave yet. I still have lots I want to learn and experience and do. Besides, I still have a lot of books left to read!! (I think I've only read 6 of the 30 something books I brought :)). Also, I would like my French and Aja to be better before I leave as well. (Speaking of French and Aja, here's a little update on my language acquisition: I understand the majority of conversations in French, or at least the gist of what's being said. Frequently I still have to ask for clarification or repetition and I probably misunderstand lots and never know it. I can follow the general idea of sermons and trainings, but have a difficult time with radio or TV, which is ok because I rarely listen to the radio or watch TV (However, due to the fact that Junior World Cup has been going on these last two weeks, the TV has been on a lot at my place lately. Often I leave to go somewhere else, because there's only so much soccor I like to watch). With Aja, it's a different story. I am still at a very very basic level- greetings, basic market phrases, very simple conversations about how many kids you have or what you did today. The problem is that I don't use the things I've learned in my Aja lessons enough and so am not mastering it well. When I am in situations where Aja is the only way to converse I can't think of anything to say. I do, however, pick out more and more words I understand when others are speaking. However, one word a sentence is not usually enough to derive meaning :)).
So, you're wondering what on earth I've been up to. My organized and structure-loving mind will break it down for you for each day of the week. Obviously I haven't completely been freed from "clock time" (see last blog entry). :)
Monday I work with a few different high school students on English, which I really enjoy, but which will probably soon come to an end, since the school year is almost finished. The majority of those who live in my little village/neighborhood are students and will soon go home to their villages for the summer. However, some of them have already said that want to come weekly to still work on English. Monday I also work with Josee, a little girl who is probably about 9 years old but in first grade, on math and soon I hope to start on reading as well. My involvement with her started because I took her to the doctor to see if something could be done for her. She has no pores and is constantly hot. All day long she pours water over herself. When she goes to school, she cares a bucket of water with her so she can douse herself, and all of her clothes, periodically to cool herself down. Her hair is extremely fine and straight and only a few of her teeth grew in. Since working with her, I also think there is probably a neurological problem, since she has difficulty retaining things. After a couple unsuccessful trips to the doctor, nothing has yet been concluded, and she has been referred to the hospital in nearest city, about an hour away. If it is indeed a neurological problem, it may not be something that can be changed. You can pray for her and her family as well: her mom is raising five of the children in a one-room mud house across the street from me. Three older ones live in another village and the father lives in the capital and comes home once or twice a year. Mondays I also give piano lessons to Jennie, the daughter of the missionary family that is my connection to Benin.
Tuesday I tag along at the organization Plan Benin, which I've mentioned before. Sometimes we visit a bunch of villages to pick up letters for the children's sponsors, to check on the construction of a well, to pay school fees at a school, or for a multitude of other reasons. Other times I go along to a formation of villagers concerning hygiene and sanitation. Still other times we visit development teams who are spending 10 days in a village writing a development plan. It is with Plan Benin that I get to observe the juxtaposition of the traditional vs. the modern. We visit villages in which there is no running water or electricity, often not even latrines or wells; villages where few women can speak any French, places where many children gather and stare when my color of skin appears. And yet I am also with the highly-educated, those who've been to university, who drink coffee in the morning, who operate Microsoft Word and ask me for my e-mail address, who have a toilet inside the home or at least a fancier personal latrine, who can communicate effectively in English (and 5 other languages). It's been really good for me to observe this class of people as well. (More some other time on the tension in Africa between tradition and modernity).
Wednesday I bike my 20 km each way (that's 24 miles in all) to Gohomey to teach French and Aja. No, that's not a typo. Yes, I know it's extremely ironic, but I am teaching French to the women who live at the center with their babies and toddlers who are extremely malnourished or have HIV. Except for 2 or 3 of the 18 women, they can't speak much French past Bonjour or Bonsoir (Good day, good evening). Anywhere between 6 and 12 women show up each week for a simple French lesson. Suprisingly, this is actually one of my favorite times of the week. Every Wednesday I don't want to get up and go, but once I'm there and am actually working with the women, I really enjoy it. I also work with two women (the two who already speak and read French) on how to read Aja. This is probably even more ironic than the French, because I still can't really speak much Aja. However, I've learned to read and write it and so am trying to pass that on to the women. It's definitely a team effort for them to understand what they're reading, because the language is so tonal and one written word could have many different meanings. Even though I can read the word, I don't know the tone and therefore it can be a guessing game to understand the meaning. I usually have Koudjo help me each week before I teach it, in order that I can understand the meaning and can help the women better. In the afternoons I play games with the orphans who live at Gohomey. I also work with four 3 and 4 year olds on preschool kinds of stuff, while the rest of them have additional tutoring from their teachers. We work on colors and numbers and things like that. I've never had the desire to teach preschool... and I still feel that way, no matter whether it's English, French, or Aja :).
Thursday I go to an association of people with HIV. This, as with the other things, has not turned out as I had maybe hoped. Some weeks I go and no one else shows up for an hour or two so I leave and go home. The weeks where something is going on, it's just me tagging along, unable to really be of any help. I tag along as we visit people to check on why they didn't make their monthly doctor's visit (either to Gohomey or another nearby clinic). Other times I tag along as we visit widows who have taken out a micro-loan, to find out why they didn't come to pay the monthly amount they are supposed to reimbourse. Still other weeks all mothers of the 220 orphans (here an orphan is a child who has lost EITHER mother OR father) in the association arrive for the distribution of corn, beans, and cassava flour. It is especially this day of the week as I tag along (and Tuesday with Plan Benin) that I try to remember what I learned in the book Compassion (see previous blog entry) and try to pray, because there is not much for me to DO. Next week, however, I get to "do" a little: I am going to start giving English lessons to one man in the association (and possibly others as well).
Friday I again work with a couple students on English, plus I try to take time to study Aja on my own. I also have two hours of Aja with my tutor Friday (and Saturday and Sunday as well). Saturday, after playing basketball (which sadly, I haven't done for over month and now am afraid to go because I don't think I can do push-ups anymore :)), I do laundry-yes, by hand- and clean house. (Tangent regarding houses: I recently moved into my new place. Although it was supposed to have happened a month and a half ago, it's been less than two weeks since I moved, because the owner didn't come with the key as promised. This owner is not near as responsible, or clean and orderly, as the last one. It took all day to move all of his things in the little house into one of the rooms and clean, clean, clean. I am still waiting for him to sell a whole roomful of wood so I can have a separate bedroom. Right now I have a kitchen/bathroom and living/bedroom, which is fine, but it would be nice to have one separate room where others don't come in, to sleep and to put my things. It took a few days to get used to using the latrines outside rather than having an indoor flushing toilet, but for the most part it doesn't bother me anymore. (Notable exception: when it poured all day long and the latrine flooded with a couple inches of muddy water :)) Also, I have a lot more visitors from the animal world at this place, probably because it's older, darker, mustier, because only one room has a ceiling- the others have just the tin roofing. However, still, I have the nicest house in the neighborhood and so I'm thankful for it. Plus, I'm glad I was able to stay where I already know people and feel comfortable). Back to Saturdays. In addition to my Aja lesson and trying to study a bit on my own, I sometimes try to write some e-mails (like I'm doing right now) ...but obviously not very often :). Sunday is church, sometimes followed by a visit to the cyber cafe to check on e-mails that still get sent to my yahoo account. I also have another Aja lesson that day. So, there you have my "schedule", not that you wanted a play-by-play account, but some of you have asked for it.
Although I definitely feel like my time is quite full and busy, there are still times that aren't scheduled. During those times and in the evenings I cook, hang out with friends, give English help, sometimes get to read, have Jennie spend the night occasionally, receive visitors (and sometimes their requests), and hang out with "my husband". Various people call me the wife of almost four-year old Kaka, who I've mentioned before. His mother died shortly after he was born. His father is drunk much of the time and does nothing to support his 7 children. His grandmother, who sweeps the area around my house daily because I'm Kaka's wife, takes care of Kaka and often nurses him (although my guess is that at her age it's a matter of comfort rather than any sort of nourishment). It is the oldest son, who at 22 or 23 years old, has taken over the responsibility of the entire family. He has made sure that each one of his siblings goes to school (which means he pays for school fees, uniforms, supplies), in addition to giving them a home and food and taking care of medical expenses, etc. I've enjoyed getting to know this family and am thankful for the little ways I've been able to help. (In an upcoming blog, I'm going to address how you can help, if any of you are interested. I'd like to find sponsor for each of this children, although I haven't quite worked out all the details of it yet. For those of you who don't sponsor a child somewhere already, start thinking about doing it here in Benin. That way I actually get to meet the child!!)
A few weeks ago I had the experience of staying in a village in the bush in Togo for a couple of days, with no running water, electricity, or toilets/latrines. I had visited this village my first month here, but had stayed with the Broyles in their house about a mile away...which has all those amenities (no electricity but a generator). This time I had the opportunity of staying in the village with Koudjo's family, in a mud hut constructed over 25 years ago... and still standing in great condition. I enjoyed taking my bath under the brillant star-speckled sky, but having to walk a few minutes into the bush to use the "bathroom" is something that I would have difficulty adjusting to for the long-term. (Most people don't go quite so far, but I was a little paranoid that people would watch me :)). I was able to briefly help the women of Koudjo's family (his father's three wives, as well as aunts, half sisters, sisters-in-law, and a bunch of others that are somehow related) shuck dried corn. His father wanted to send some fresh corn home with us.. and when I say fresh, I mean fresh: we walked to the field on the other side of the village, chopped down the stalks, and took the ears. Not only have I never harvested corn before, I also never knew that each stalk of corn only produces one ear, occasionally two if you're lucky. This visit, although my Aja is still extremely limited, I was at least able to do the greetings, which are considered extremely important here. One morning we made the rounds to greet everyone in his family, over 20-25 different houses! Koudjo's family is the founding family and the largest family in that village. We also visited various other people in that village and surrounding villages those couple days. I think we ate 5 or 6 times each day, because everyone cooks for you when you come to visit. His mother especially, spoiled me completely by cooking lots of good food for me. For the first time I observed a ceremony of communicating with the ancestors. His father was thanking the ancestors for their aid in solving a land dispute and was asking, among various things, for the continued protection for his children. Recently Koudjo's youngest brother, who was going to high school in a city 60 km away from the village and who is not involved with either of the two political parties, was almost killed by masked men. They were about to pour cement down his throat, when he requested time to pray (he's not a Christian). The next thing he knew he was on the road walking towards his village!! Miracles really do happen here!!
Well, as usual, I feel like I have so much else I want to tell you, especially about the way of life here in Africa, but also more about the things I've experienced, people I've met, thoughts floating around in my head, lessons I'm hopefully learning. But much time has passed since I started this blog, my fingers are tired of typing, and you're eyes are probably tired of reading. I will sincerely do my best to write a little more frequently than this last time :) and hopefully will truly write more about various aspects of the way of life here, the culture, the struggles, the interesting differences, and much much more. I am still working on getting a chord for my digital camera, so no pictures yet...hopefully next month!
Thank you to those of you continue to pray for me... your prayers are very much appreciated! Thank you to those of you who write me...I love hearing what's going on with you! And thanks also for those of you who at least think of me occasionally. There are some of you I think of, but just haven't gotten around to writing personally. I will try my best to change that so that you, too, know that I'm thinking of you.
Lots of love,
Chrischona
P.S. Please, if any of you know high school and college students who would be willing to correspond with young people here, I have several (and could have many) students who really would love to correspond with someone in English (e-mail or regular mail). Even if they are friends of friends of friends, could you please pass the word around that I'm looking for people? Merci d'advance (thank you in advance.... something you frequently hear!)
So, how am I doing here, apart from my mostly peaceful coexistence with the animal kingdom? Very well. I am thankful to be here, thankful for the experiences I've had here, thankful for the relationships that have been forming, thankful for the things I've learned, and also thankful for the ways I've been able to help. Although my time here has been different than I expected and even hoped for, I am still very glad to be here. The last couple of months I've been contemplating how long I really want to stay here- whether 10-11 months as initially planned or only 6, mainly due to the fact that I don't feel like I'm doing much here. Although I haven't officially decided anything, I can't really picture my time here coming to an end in a month. I'm not ready to leave that soon. I still don't know that means I will stay here until December, but I'm not ready to leave yet. I still have lots I want to learn and experience and do. Besides, I still have a lot of books left to read!! (I think I've only read 6 of the 30 something books I brought :)). Also, I would like my French and Aja to be better before I leave as well. (Speaking of French and Aja, here's a little update on my language acquisition: I understand the majority of conversations in French, or at least the gist of what's being said. Frequently I still have to ask for clarification or repetition and I probably misunderstand lots and never know it. I can follow the general idea of sermons and trainings, but have a difficult time with radio or TV, which is ok because I rarely listen to the radio or watch TV (However, due to the fact that Junior World Cup has been going on these last two weeks, the TV has been on a lot at my place lately. Often I leave to go somewhere else, because there's only so much soccor I like to watch). With Aja, it's a different story. I am still at a very very basic level- greetings, basic market phrases, very simple conversations about how many kids you have or what you did today. The problem is that I don't use the things I've learned in my Aja lessons enough and so am not mastering it well. When I am in situations where Aja is the only way to converse I can't think of anything to say. I do, however, pick out more and more words I understand when others are speaking. However, one word a sentence is not usually enough to derive meaning :)).
So, you're wondering what on earth I've been up to. My organized and structure-loving mind will break it down for you for each day of the week. Obviously I haven't completely been freed from "clock time" (see last blog entry). :)
Monday I work with a few different high school students on English, which I really enjoy, but which will probably soon come to an end, since the school year is almost finished. The majority of those who live in my little village/neighborhood are students and will soon go home to their villages for the summer. However, some of them have already said that want to come weekly to still work on English. Monday I also work with Josee, a little girl who is probably about 9 years old but in first grade, on math and soon I hope to start on reading as well. My involvement with her started because I took her to the doctor to see if something could be done for her. She has no pores and is constantly hot. All day long she pours water over herself. When she goes to school, she cares a bucket of water with her so she can douse herself, and all of her clothes, periodically to cool herself down. Her hair is extremely fine and straight and only a few of her teeth grew in. Since working with her, I also think there is probably a neurological problem, since she has difficulty retaining things. After a couple unsuccessful trips to the doctor, nothing has yet been concluded, and she has been referred to the hospital in nearest city, about an hour away. If it is indeed a neurological problem, it may not be something that can be changed. You can pray for her and her family as well: her mom is raising five of the children in a one-room mud house across the street from me. Three older ones live in another village and the father lives in the capital and comes home once or twice a year. Mondays I also give piano lessons to Jennie, the daughter of the missionary family that is my connection to Benin.
Tuesday I tag along at the organization Plan Benin, which I've mentioned before. Sometimes we visit a bunch of villages to pick up letters for the children's sponsors, to check on the construction of a well, to pay school fees at a school, or for a multitude of other reasons. Other times I go along to a formation of villagers concerning hygiene and sanitation. Still other times we visit development teams who are spending 10 days in a village writing a development plan. It is with Plan Benin that I get to observe the juxtaposition of the traditional vs. the modern. We visit villages in which there is no running water or electricity, often not even latrines or wells; villages where few women can speak any French, places where many children gather and stare when my color of skin appears. And yet I am also with the highly-educated, those who've been to university, who drink coffee in the morning, who operate Microsoft Word and ask me for my e-mail address, who have a toilet inside the home or at least a fancier personal latrine, who can communicate effectively in English (and 5 other languages). It's been really good for me to observe this class of people as well. (More some other time on the tension in Africa between tradition and modernity).
Wednesday I bike my 20 km each way (that's 24 miles in all) to Gohomey to teach French and Aja. No, that's not a typo. Yes, I know it's extremely ironic, but I am teaching French to the women who live at the center with their babies and toddlers who are extremely malnourished or have HIV. Except for 2 or 3 of the 18 women, they can't speak much French past Bonjour or Bonsoir (Good day, good evening). Anywhere between 6 and 12 women show up each week for a simple French lesson. Suprisingly, this is actually one of my favorite times of the week. Every Wednesday I don't want to get up and go, but once I'm there and am actually working with the women, I really enjoy it. I also work with two women (the two who already speak and read French) on how to read Aja. This is probably even more ironic than the French, because I still can't really speak much Aja. However, I've learned to read and write it and so am trying to pass that on to the women. It's definitely a team effort for them to understand what they're reading, because the language is so tonal and one written word could have many different meanings. Even though I can read the word, I don't know the tone and therefore it can be a guessing game to understand the meaning. I usually have Koudjo help me each week before I teach it, in order that I can understand the meaning and can help the women better. In the afternoons I play games with the orphans who live at Gohomey. I also work with four 3 and 4 year olds on preschool kinds of stuff, while the rest of them have additional tutoring from their teachers. We work on colors and numbers and things like that. I've never had the desire to teach preschool... and I still feel that way, no matter whether it's English, French, or Aja :).
Thursday I go to an association of people with HIV. This, as with the other things, has not turned out as I had maybe hoped. Some weeks I go and no one else shows up for an hour or two so I leave and go home. The weeks where something is going on, it's just me tagging along, unable to really be of any help. I tag along as we visit people to check on why they didn't make their monthly doctor's visit (either to Gohomey or another nearby clinic). Other times I tag along as we visit widows who have taken out a micro-loan, to find out why they didn't come to pay the monthly amount they are supposed to reimbourse. Still other weeks all mothers of the 220 orphans (here an orphan is a child who has lost EITHER mother OR father) in the association arrive for the distribution of corn, beans, and cassava flour. It is especially this day of the week as I tag along (and Tuesday with Plan Benin) that I try to remember what I learned in the book Compassion (see previous blog entry) and try to pray, because there is not much for me to DO. Next week, however, I get to "do" a little: I am going to start giving English lessons to one man in the association (and possibly others as well).
Friday I again work with a couple students on English, plus I try to take time to study Aja on my own. I also have two hours of Aja with my tutor Friday (and Saturday and Sunday as well). Saturday, after playing basketball (which sadly, I haven't done for over month and now am afraid to go because I don't think I can do push-ups anymore :)), I do laundry-yes, by hand- and clean house. (Tangent regarding houses: I recently moved into my new place. Although it was supposed to have happened a month and a half ago, it's been less than two weeks since I moved, because the owner didn't come with the key as promised. This owner is not near as responsible, or clean and orderly, as the last one. It took all day to move all of his things in the little house into one of the rooms and clean, clean, clean. I am still waiting for him to sell a whole roomful of wood so I can have a separate bedroom. Right now I have a kitchen/bathroom and living/bedroom, which is fine, but it would be nice to have one separate room where others don't come in, to sleep and to put my things. It took a few days to get used to using the latrines outside rather than having an indoor flushing toilet, but for the most part it doesn't bother me anymore. (Notable exception: when it poured all day long and the latrine flooded with a couple inches of muddy water :)) Also, I have a lot more visitors from the animal world at this place, probably because it's older, darker, mustier, because only one room has a ceiling- the others have just the tin roofing. However, still, I have the nicest house in the neighborhood and so I'm thankful for it. Plus, I'm glad I was able to stay where I already know people and feel comfortable). Back to Saturdays. In addition to my Aja lesson and trying to study a bit on my own, I sometimes try to write some e-mails (like I'm doing right now) ...but obviously not very often :). Sunday is church, sometimes followed by a visit to the cyber cafe to check on e-mails that still get sent to my yahoo account. I also have another Aja lesson that day. So, there you have my "schedule", not that you wanted a play-by-play account, but some of you have asked for it.
Although I definitely feel like my time is quite full and busy, there are still times that aren't scheduled. During those times and in the evenings I cook, hang out with friends, give English help, sometimes get to read, have Jennie spend the night occasionally, receive visitors (and sometimes their requests), and hang out with "my husband". Various people call me the wife of almost four-year old Kaka, who I've mentioned before. His mother died shortly after he was born. His father is drunk much of the time and does nothing to support his 7 children. His grandmother, who sweeps the area around my house daily because I'm Kaka's wife, takes care of Kaka and often nurses him (although my guess is that at her age it's a matter of comfort rather than any sort of nourishment). It is the oldest son, who at 22 or 23 years old, has taken over the responsibility of the entire family. He has made sure that each one of his siblings goes to school (which means he pays for school fees, uniforms, supplies), in addition to giving them a home and food and taking care of medical expenses, etc. I've enjoyed getting to know this family and am thankful for the little ways I've been able to help. (In an upcoming blog, I'm going to address how you can help, if any of you are interested. I'd like to find sponsor for each of this children, although I haven't quite worked out all the details of it yet. For those of you who don't sponsor a child somewhere already, start thinking about doing it here in Benin. That way I actually get to meet the child!!)
A few weeks ago I had the experience of staying in a village in the bush in Togo for a couple of days, with no running water, electricity, or toilets/latrines. I had visited this village my first month here, but had stayed with the Broyles in their house about a mile away...which has all those amenities (no electricity but a generator). This time I had the opportunity of staying in the village with Koudjo's family, in a mud hut constructed over 25 years ago... and still standing in great condition. I enjoyed taking my bath under the brillant star-speckled sky, but having to walk a few minutes into the bush to use the "bathroom" is something that I would have difficulty adjusting to for the long-term. (Most people don't go quite so far, but I was a little paranoid that people would watch me :)). I was able to briefly help the women of Koudjo's family (his father's three wives, as well as aunts, half sisters, sisters-in-law, and a bunch of others that are somehow related) shuck dried corn. His father wanted to send some fresh corn home with us.. and when I say fresh, I mean fresh: we walked to the field on the other side of the village, chopped down the stalks, and took the ears. Not only have I never harvested corn before, I also never knew that each stalk of corn only produces one ear, occasionally two if you're lucky. This visit, although my Aja is still extremely limited, I was at least able to do the greetings, which are considered extremely important here. One morning we made the rounds to greet everyone in his family, over 20-25 different houses! Koudjo's family is the founding family and the largest family in that village. We also visited various other people in that village and surrounding villages those couple days. I think we ate 5 or 6 times each day, because everyone cooks for you when you come to visit. His mother especially, spoiled me completely by cooking lots of good food for me. For the first time I observed a ceremony of communicating with the ancestors. His father was thanking the ancestors for their aid in solving a land dispute and was asking, among various things, for the continued protection for his children. Recently Koudjo's youngest brother, who was going to high school in a city 60 km away from the village and who is not involved with either of the two political parties, was almost killed by masked men. They were about to pour cement down his throat, when he requested time to pray (he's not a Christian). The next thing he knew he was on the road walking towards his village!! Miracles really do happen here!!
Well, as usual, I feel like I have so much else I want to tell you, especially about the way of life here in Africa, but also more about the things I've experienced, people I've met, thoughts floating around in my head, lessons I'm hopefully learning. But much time has passed since I started this blog, my fingers are tired of typing, and you're eyes are probably tired of reading. I will sincerely do my best to write a little more frequently than this last time :) and hopefully will truly write more about various aspects of the way of life here, the culture, the struggles, the interesting differences, and much much more. I am still working on getting a chord for my digital camera, so no pictures yet...hopefully next month!
Thank you to those of you continue to pray for me... your prayers are very much appreciated! Thank you to those of you who write me...I love hearing what's going on with you! And thanks also for those of you who at least think of me occasionally. There are some of you I think of, but just haven't gotten around to writing personally. I will try my best to change that so that you, too, know that I'm thinking of you.
Lots of love,
Chrischona
P.S. Please, if any of you know high school and college students who would be willing to correspond with young people here, I have several (and could have many) students who really would love to correspond with someone in English (e-mail or regular mail). Even if they are friends of friends of friends, could you please pass the word around that I'm looking for people? Merci d'advance (thank you in advance.... something you frequently hear!)
posted by The Sodjis | 2:00 AM
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