Sunday, August 12, 2007

Hello Miriam's Mother

I looked in my wallet to discover that I have $26 to last me the next 21 days. Sweet.

Fortunately, you can live comfortably on $1 a day as long as you don't have to travel or go to the doctor. Though I suppose the term comfortable is relative. Another volunteer introduced me to the glories of porridge the other day, which costs about 10 cents for a large bowl. I'm also planning on showing up to hang out at friends' and neighbors' places around mealtimes, since they usually feel compelled to invite you to eat with them if you're at their house when food is about to be served.

Saturday, August 04, 2007

I've Gone Macro Crazy

Back when school was still in session I saw a kid draw a map of Benin for a test, but when labelling Togo and Nigeria he switched them, which is like an American not knowing the difference between Mexico and Canada. So I decided to paint a world map on the side of a classroom, which went well. Pictures of that and many other things have been uploaded.

In phone news, the President of Benin announced that the two GSM licenses that are currently suspended would be sold off in 72 hours if their respective companies didn't pay the $60 million fines they owe. The next day the companies announced that they would pay the fines. Phone service should resume on Monday.