boycotting the lunch lady...

for the first week during training i used to ride back home to my house and eat lunch there prepared by our domestique...i would always return so sweaty and smelly that before eating i would take a shower...this proved to be completely useless since within an hour i would get back on my bike and ride back to cocotier, arriving just as sweaty as i was before my afternoon shower...to solve this problem, my family would brown bag my lunch in the morning while i ate breakfast...so i no longer needed to make the trip during the day, when it is at it's most hottest...it made things much easier...i would place my lunch in my side pouch of my bike, throw on my messenger bag, put on my helmet and be on my way...my days were much easier - i could hang out at school, eat my lunch in peace, take a nap on the cement floor, a bench, or a table or walk around the neighborhood which is how i found my lunch lady but i'm getting ahead of myself...my host mom would always ask me what i would like to eat...my response would always been the same "surprise me"...at first i was happily surprised by the rice with chicken in tomato and onion sauce...pease, potatoes, carrots and pieces of hot dogs mixed together...spaghetti with a ground beef sauce...i was well fed, enjoyed food that was favorful and spicy (the way i like it)...however after some time it turned into rice with fish in a tomato and onion sauce, or pasta with fish in a tomato and onion sauce, fish with blah, blah, blah...fish, fish, fish...don't get me wrong i love fish bt it was getting to me eating it everyday plus for some reason the taste was no longer enjoyable to me...it went from being new, exciting, and pleasing to my tastebuds to old, boring and almost repulsive...out of respect for my family i would eat but one day my tastebuds revolted and i just couldn't eat it anymore...i returned home ashamed with my lunch barely touched one afternoon...antoinette, who made my lunch everyday, asked me why...i said i wasn't feeling well and that i had no appetite (which wasn't a total lie)...the next day i walked aroudn in search of a new place to eat and that's how i found the lady i would end up boycotting later...she spoke no french, only fon which is a tribal language mostly in the south of benin (50% of people in benin speak fon)...most times there was a girl or some kids running around who would end up following us out of curiosity who would translate for us...her rice and wagasi (cheese - i'll explain later) were amazing...so amazing that i would stop at a little hole in the wall store, buy myself a fizzy cocktail (a delicious fruit soda) and walk over to my lunch lady where i would eat there everyday for lunch and would convince others to join me there...

now what could ruin such a beautiful relationship...her attitude, rudeness and eventually trying to rip people (yovos) off...at first i can't say she was a very frendly person but she wasn't rude...her portions for the prices we were paying were also pretty skimpy...here in benin, you can either expect or ask them to add more food or an extra piece of something... i would always ask her to put a bit more rice and beans for the prices she was charging...she would laugh and then put a tiny bit more which really didn't make a difference...but the more i would go there with people the rudeness starting showing through...i kept going there cause i gotta say her food was great...but the rudeness was wearing thin on me...what eventually made me stop and boycott her all together were two incidents that happened within two days of each other...first incident, i ordered my usually rice and beans, two pieces of wagasi, sauce and two hot pepper...i enjoyed my food as always however when i went to pay she didn't give me change back...wait a minute, she owed money so i tell her how much i ordered 100F rice, 50F beans, 200F wagasi which is what i order from her every day...she tells me that i ordered 150f rice and 100F beans...i never order that and she knows that but for some reason she was trying to rip me off...we got into an argument cause she wouldn't budge and neither would i...at that moment one of the PC language teachers comes over and notices a problem...i tell him what happened and he helps me get my change back from the lady...in reality it wasn't much money but i've been eating at her stand everyday for weeks and everyday i order the same thing...suddenly she does this...i walked away feeling angry but not totally turned off...the next day is what did it...i was meeting two other people at her stand for lunch...i had some errands to do so i told them i would meet them there...as i was walking up i hear the lunch lady say 150F for wagasi to my friends...as soon as i turned the corner i immediately yelled at her for trying to rip us off again...when i was talking she just put her head down knowing she was wrong, and gave every one their meal for the right price but i had had enough...i walked right back to the school and announced to everyone my boycott and asked if they will join me...they did...