Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With Bows

When the dog (mosquito) bites, when the (massive African) bee stings, when I'm feeling blue...
A few of my favorite things:
-My morning coffee and crossword
-Calls from America, from anyone, but dad calls the most
-Rain pouring down on my rin toof
-Letters!
-Having my neighbor kill the lizards that get stuck in my backyard (the part I like is not having to do it myself)
-Daily to do lists with tasks in multiples of 5 (the habit will never change, but the tasks are radically different)
-Moto and bike rides on paths barely big enough for two feet
-Pregnant goats. They're midget goats so when they are pregnant they are bigger horizontally than vertically. Looks like they swallowed a chess board. Gets me every time.
-Having people say "welcome" instead of "hello" when I get near my house
-Getting more breadfruit and sweet potatoes than I paid for from the mama down the street
-Trying to speak Fon. If it's correct people get giddy and call over their friends to witness the American speaking their language, like I'm a baby who has just said her first words.
-Watching the flow of vendors for the evening market from the villages, women carrying tubs of bananas, onions, smoked fish, and corn on their heads with infants strapped to their backs.
-My friend Eleonore's two kids- a girl, 4, and a boy, 2. The cutest kids I've seen in Benin.
-Exchanging stories with other PCVs
-Once in a blue moon, getting a Nigerian station on my radio that plays the occassional English tune
-The little boy next door who wonders over unannounced and stays to dance in my living room. He also makes me sad, because he's 4 but looks and acts like a 2-year-old, and is extremely bow-legged. The only silver lining to that is that our shadows look like Curious George and his owner walking down the street, which always makes me chuckle.
-Funny questions, like "Do you have the cold (weather) in the US?" How do you respond? They think cold is 75 degrees. I'd like to tell them about a little place we call Alaska but I don't think snow is something people can really grasp.
-Kids and old women who want to hold my hand, touch my skin, play with my hair
Babies!! Some of my favorite photos.