Monday, May 5, 2008

harry potter?

Thank you to Julia for giving me Bradt guide to Benin by Stuart Butler. It's awesome. I've pretty much read through it cover to cover and now I am even more excited to go. Molly and I had read aloud time with the book and now we are both in love with Stuart Butler, who feels free to share his biased opinions without apology throughout the book, such as "africa is hell" but he clearly knows and loves Benin, and I like how he includes NGOs tourists can help during their stay or afterwards,
He tells ghost stories and fairy tales that make me feel as though I will be very afraid to sleep alone in a rural village, but his love for the people (he calls them Benin's main attraction) convinces me Benin is the right choice.
As a teaser for you guys, here's what the back cover says "Congratulations! In your hands is the key to a world of magic and mystery more potent than anything Harry Potter could throw at you. Enter the world of Benin: a place hidden away in the green folds of west Africa, a place that few have heard of, but a place that will leave you enchanted by your spell." As silly as the stories are, the book is actually a legitimate and informative guidebook too.

Also, great news, I finally submitted my aspiration statement and revised resume to the peace corps. I am a little confused as to the purpose of these documents, so I just sort of included everything I could think of in my life that has related to the Peace Corps (a surprisingly large amount of things, actually).

In other news, in efforts to make the most of my last weeks in NorCal, I went wine-tasting to Ridge and Thomas Fogarty this weekend. Both are less than half an hour from school, and yet I've never been. So much fun, we bought wine and then gave us a recipe from a magazine that had been paired with that wine, so then went to grocery and made the dinner. But then we had to sit on the floor of Claire's room to eat it (so much for being classy). Still, wine tasting is a lot of fun, the wine class I am taking is finally enabling me to actually appreciate wine, just in time for Benin. haha.

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