2 birthday songs and a seka seka

This year I got to celebrate my birthday in Benin.

It was Q7's last day for training, and all the rest of OneStory had gone back to their country. So there were 7 of us left.

The morning started with lots of "Happy Birthday" greetings including a card from my parents. And the morning continued with with lots and lots of rain. Now maybe in the states, rain would seem like a downer. But here in Africa, we are praying for rain, and it really is a shower of blessings when it comes. It's much needed this time of the year for the people's crops to grow, and it helps cool things down during this hot season. It was nice to feel cold and want to put on sweats or comfy clothes, and just take it easy for the morning.

By the afternoon, when the sun came up, some of us went to the market and bought lots and lots of fabric... I have a few fun ideas for skirts and outfits... it's exciting.

Near the end of they day we were heading to the "hippie tree", which is basically a bunch of great cloths, dresses, and other fun fabric hung out in the open on cloths lines. Well on this day the hippie tree was not there... so we saw this other place which was like a city square, with a statue in the middle, and loud music playing, and they had different booths set up selling anything from fabrics, to jewelry, to souvenir stuff. It made me think of something like an art fest or a music fest they have back in Detroit.

So one of the girls and I were looking at some cloth at one end of the square, while my supervisor and the other girls walked off to the other end... next thing I know, I hear this man on the mic suddenly say something in English, and it sounded like he tried to say my name... so I step out a little to see where this man was, and he spoke again, and yup I was right, he was speaking English. He was saying happy birthday Reaiah... well more like "weeyah." Then they played the happy birthday song in English then in French. Then one of the other girls tells them to play this French song we hear a lot in our villages, and next thing you know he's telling us to get up on the stage and dance... and so... we did... it was quite an event.

That evening we all went to a nice Indian restaurant. Since it was my birthday, the owner gave us a awesome appetizer sampler for free. And the rest of the food was very good too. For dessert we went to another place for some great ice cream.



And to end the day, we returned to the guest house for more fun and goofiness... and that's all I'll share about that...

It was quite a day, a great way to celebrate a birthday!