Fun in the Sun at Obama Family Beach!

I spent Easter Monday with le groupe de Jeunesse [aka – Young Adults] at the beach! It wasn’t just any beach – it was the Obama Family Beach! [I’m working on getting a beach named after a Canadian Prime Minister….I’ll let you know how that goes!] It was such a FUN day! Jamie and Carleigh were not able to go so I was forced to use my French [which is a good thing] a lot more! A few people were even trying to teach me some Fong [local language] – which gave everyone listening in a good laugh! It’s hard to get your tongue around some of the words!

We played some games, had some lunch and had a big discussion about relationships! Young people here are very open about their status – if they are ‘free’ as they say, or in a relationship/have a fiancé or married. For example, at the beginning everyone had to introduce themselves saying their name, what they do and if they are single, married or in a relationship! I was a little surprised at this – but Olivier explained to me it is a normal thing to ask here. Apparently it is good for the young people in the church to know who is available and who is not! I learned many things about how relationships [for a Christian] work here – it’s quite different from Canada! Here are some of the differences: Guys can approach a girl and express his feelings for her, but a girl is not allowed to approach a guy and express her feelings for him. Once a guy has expressed his feelings and they are returned by the girl, the couple goes to see the Pastor of the church to ask his permission for them to ‘date.’ They also have to ask the Pastor, as well as the parents’ permission to get married. Another difference is guys don’t get married until they are in their very late 20’s or early 30’s because they must be financially stable. They don’t understand how people are able to marry so young in North America. This was a very interesting discussion to be part of!

After this lovely discussion I went swimming!!!! Oh, I just LOVE swimming and LOVE being in the ocean! The gigantic waves, the salty water…and did I mention it is SO refreshing after cooking in the humidity and heat of the day?!!! So wonderful!!! Olivier and Marielle swam with me – and it was Marielle’s first time in the ocean/first time swimming! Mind you we didn’t really swim – the water was way to rough for that. We just waded in the water and had fun trying not to get knocked over by the waves! Marielle was laughing the entire time – it was so fun seeing the joy on her face!

Since it was a holiday [Easter Monday] the beach was very busy! There were people everywhere! It was quite the experience and definitely one of the busiest beaches I’ve been on! Surprisingly there were not many people swimming. Apparently not many people know how to swim and people are warned to be careful on the beaches of Cotonou because the water can be pretty rough. Another surprising thing is most people at the beach were wearing dresses and pants and shoes! They were wearing their everyday attire! I don’t know how they do it….I would die from the heat! I also saw a handful of other yovo’s [white people] there! It is always weird running into other white people here! Who would have thought! I always want to go up and ask them what they are doing here! Haha! They are probably wondering the same about me!

Well, that about sums up my day at Obama Family Beach! I’m so glad I had this opportunity to get to know people better and spend the day at the beach! I also got some colour on my skin  Whoohooo! It was a very refreshing and wonderful day!

Sweet sign hey? There are actually posters like this up around the city...we walk by one every time we go to the cyber cafe!

Fun in the waves! I could have stayed in the water ALL day!

My swimming friends...Marielle [right], Olivier [left] and Rachelle [in the back]

Sunset!