Night Shifts and Weekend Fun

This week started off with 3 night shifts. They went much better this time around, I got through them pretty painlessly. Friday night I went out to dinner for my friend Jamie's birthday. This is us at the restaurant:

Saturday morning I went with a group of girls to a town called Possotome. It's 2 hours northwest of Cotonou, on a lake. We learned how to fish the local way! It was neat, except for the fact that we did not catch ONE fish. Apparently because the lake is connected to the ocean salt water filters in. So when the lake is saltier there are more fish. The lake was very unsalty on Saturday. Here I am learning to cast the net:
After fishing we walked around the town. The kids were so friendly - much friendlier than they are in Cotonou, and they rarely asked us for money which was a nice change. We scared one baby who had probably never seen a white person in her life. She started SCREAMING when she saw us. Some just latched themselves on to us, holding our hands as we walked through town. We noticed that many of the children had umbilical hernias (the belly button sticks out, much more than just an "outie"). Later we learned that it is because they are strapped to their mothers' backs for so long, and they skip the crawling phase. This causes them to underuse their stomach muscles, making them weak and at risk for developing hernias. After walking around town we had dinner at one of the hotels. For dinner they had one option: a mexican salad (lettuce, red onions, corn, TUNA, and some sort of dressing) grilled chicken (a whole leg), rice and peas, and chocolate mousse for dessert. It was pretty good, but I wasn't a big fan of the chicken - a little too rubbery for my taste. After dinner we went to our hotel rooms (which were $12 each). In my room was a double bed with a foam pillow and a fitted sheet, a mosquito net over the bed, a table and a couple chairs, and a bathroom - which was a toilette, a shower, and a large bucket (no idea what it was for). There was no air-conditioning so we didn't need any more sheets or blankets on the bed. Luckily there was a fan. Here are some more pics from the trip to Possotome:

My friend Katelyn, in our hotel room

Oranges. They peel the outer peel, cut a hole in the top, then suck out the juice. I bought 8 for $.20

Today, Sunday, I went to the Benin vs. Ghana soccer match here in Cotonou. I went with a group of about 25 people. There were hardly any women there, let alone white people. We had to get there 2 hours early to make sure we had seats, so we ended up sitting in the hot African sun for about 4 1/2 hours. Thankfully I had lots of water and sunscreen with me. The game was tied 0-0 until the last minute when Benin scored, winning the game. It was a very neat thing to experience, but not necessarily something I need to experience again.

That's all for now!