le changement

i'm there: safe, sound and happier than ever!!!

my luggage is lost somwhere between tripolis and cotonou but it doesn't bother me much. it seems that a tshirt, a pair of pants and lots of people that you love is quite enough for a good life :) i wouldn't even mind my backpack being lost forever if it wasn't for some gifts that i have for the people here and for the camera cable (for now there'll be no pictures)

what's new in benin?
- "le changement" - the new politics brought by Yayi Boni, the president who's been in power for the last 2,5 years has brought mostly road works. people say that he's the president of a construction site ('president du chantier'). they're quite happy with him although thay say that's it kind of a hard period now with the food crisis
- credi-ong hasn't changed much except for the farm that has developped a LOT - now it's really beautifully organized and well managed. wait for the pictures
- probably a lot more has changed... give me some time to really see it :)

what has not changed are the smells, the wonderful people that i've missed so much, the beauty of lamplights in the evenings, the terrifying buzz of dantokpa (west africa's biggest marketplace), the seemingly chaotic traffic of cotonou, zemijeans' (taxi-moto) yellow shirts

now i'm catching up on my friends' lives and trying to figure out what i really want from this journey.....

**** BONUS ****
globalisation a la beninoise
* Iesous (app. 12 years old beninese) teaches Angelique (29, francaise) how to solve sudokus
* Martial (beninese) sings '100 lat, 100 lat' ('happy birthday' in polish) for Nono's birthday
* Damien (french) and Leon (beninese) plant (with a lot of success) vietnamese beans in the farm's fertile soil
* Kasia (polish;)) buys at Dantokpa (benin) a tissue (made in...?) printed all over with Saint Mary (international;)) and inscriptions in swahili (tanzania, kenya, congo...)!!!!!!

i love life so much ;)