goats & turkeys

So...I've realized that most of the pictures on my camera from the last three months are of my puppy, haha...so here are two of the most recent. The second one is of Jasper and my adopted goat. My neighbors bought this little goat right before I got there, and because it's from outside, the other goats shun it and they leave it out of the goat pen (I also think my neighbors dont really feed it as much). Anyway, when I first got Jasper he was half the size of the goat and I was terrified whenever he went near it. Well, as you can see now he's about the same size and we've all become great friends, I even named him "our friend the goat". When Jasper gets hyper he loves to run and jump on the goat, although goats play by ramming their heads together, so then Jasper tries to get away before the goat gets him in the stomach. It's hilarious. Jasper's food comes wrapped in manioc leaves, which I've started feeding the goat, so he's not so shabby anymore. They even take naps together on the stoop! It occurred to me last week that the holidays are coming up though, and I'm gonna be really depressed if my neighbors feast on our friend the goat!! I'm sure they appreciate how I'm helping to fatten him up though...I'll keep my fingers crossed...

In other news, my birthday and Thanksgiving were fantastic. I was up north for a week long training with all the other English teachers, so I got to celebrate with a lot of people. The night of my birthday we cooked a delicious Mexican feast (brownie cake for dessert!) and had an 80s power hour, complete with the best 80s wardrobe you've ever seen. You cannot believe what you can find in the markets hear that people threw away in the states. Not only did we have leg warmers and off the shoulder sweatshirts, but full on prom dresses and very official looking shoulder-padded business suits. It was classic.

Thanksgiving was just as fantastic, complete with giant turkey legs, stuffing, mashed potatoes (made by yours truly), sweet potatoes, and so so much more. All 19 of us sang amazing grace beforehand and after we went around the table and said what our experience in Benin has made us most thankful for. I said it was my education, but not just my formal education, more so the overwhelming amount of knowledge we have that we don't even realize and the fact that more is available at out fingertips (thank you google). The average Beninese person can't afford a newspaper or a book, or even read a map, let alone use a computer or time at an internet cafe. Anyway, after giving thanks we played a really fun get to-know-you-better game by pulling questions out of our watermelon cornucopia...good times!