Another world

While there are things we miss about life in Europe, there are others we most definitely don't. Yesterday was a mixture of both for me!

I went into Paris - that alone is far from my daily life in Benin! - to meet a friend who I first met over twenty years ago, and have been writing to - and occasionally meeting up with - since then.

(Yes, definitely Paris!)



I knew it was a strike day on the trains, but while I was concerned I might not get a train, I hadn't quite realised what it meant for conditions on the few trains that were running. I was lucky to fit into the already-packed train, and then spent an uncomfortable half an hour packed like a sardine as we travelled towards La Défense. One poor lady started feeling very unwell - I felt sorry for her but encouraged by the way people around her did what they could to make her feel better. Our train terminated at La Défense, and fortunately I realised that it would be best to get out at the station before, and transfer to another train there ... when that train reached La Défense it was quite scary to see people standing packed together 5 or 6 deep on the station ... I don't know if I'd have had the pushiness to get myself on a train in those conditions!

It was a great relief to get off that train, and to take another, less full, underground train to my destination. I have never thought I'd want to live in a big city, and that experience did nothing to change my mind about that!

It was lovely, though, to visit the National Museum of Asian Art "Musée Guimet" - suggested by my friend - and to admire artefacts thousands of years old. It always makes me wonder about the people who saw or handled them daily all that time ago. And again, a very different experience from life in Pèdè.

Catching-up with Rachel was wonderful too. We write to each other often enough to know the important events that have happened, and the main news about our families, but it was really nice to be able to ask a question and have an immediate response instead of the 6-8 weeks it can take with the post between France and Benin. (Obviously for urgent questions we can use email, but we really prefer pen and paper!) Nothing beats face to face communication!