Hannukah in Cotonou

Hello!

First of all, Merry Cristmas and Happy New Year! Here there doesn't seem to be a big differentiation between the two... It's just 'les fêtes' and everyone simply says 'joyeux fêtes.' It's one GIANT party, which is funny.

I thought I would share some funniness from the Hannukah party Sarah and I had on Sunday night. She's half Jewish and seems to do the same sort of food-based religiousness as we do (ie Ukrainian Christmas), and we decided that we would invite people over for Hannukah dinner. Part of the motivation was that our lovely upstairs neighbours had us over for Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas Day breakfast, and then to hang out on Christmas Day evening - they're really quite awesome.

Sarah's usually not much of a cook, but we managed to get instructions on how to make Latkes and Kugel, and then we made some carrots and cookies to balance things out a bit. The cooking was actually a success! I think I've only made Latkes once in Grade 6 so I wasn't much help, but they were super tasty. The kugel was also awesome - it's kind of like casserole that's salty and sweet. We actually made the cheese to put into it, which was perhaps the most exciting part of the whole cooking process (heat 2L of milk, add ~1/4 cup of vinegar, let cook some more til it separates, then strain and mix in salt). I had absolutely no idea that making something resembling ricotta cheese was so easy!

So we managed to cook successfully, but that wasn't the entertaining part of the evening. Our list of invitees was quite random and thankfully a few couldn't come (we only have 7 plates and at one point nearly 15 people were supposed to come, and the neighbours weren't home at this point to borrow from). Sarah's colleague and colleague's boyfriend came, and they were really nice. They're both from Cotonou and had NEVER seen anything that resembled Latkes or Kugel, but they were game and at least tried. The boyfriend didn't eat his Latke so we rescued it in the kitchen (because Latkes are so tasty it's a shame to waste). They were young and funny - her work environment seems really different than mine, where everyone is older, serious, and stressed. The sadly had to leave early to get back home, which was far away, so they didn't overlap with many other people.

After they left the lovely neighbours and others finally showed up (2 1/2 hours late). We ate and drank and then Sarah decided we should light a candle and say the Hannukah prayer. We sadly didn't have a menorah so we used the little candle we use during blackouts (this is apparently bad luck since it's actually a candle that's specially made for putting on graves in Germany or something). Sarah said the prayer in three languages - Hebrew, English, and French - and then started to explain the story of Hannukah. I don't think I ever really knew the story, or if I did I definitely don't remember it now, so it was nice to hear. We then got into a discussion about religion, since we had a very mixed dinner crowd (the 8 people at the table represented 7 different countries!). It was surprising that most people really didn't know anything about Judaism! I don't know much, but I think I was better informed than most... Sarah's comment regarding the French and German people was "Well, they killed all their Jews which is why they've never met any." It was said lightheartedly and it was pretty funny :)

By far the best comment of the night, though, was our neighbour. We were talking about how Sarah's father is Protestant and her mother is Jewish, and he was saying that he just didn't understand that. When everyone asked why, he said "You're Jewish, right, but aren't you still Catholic?" It doesn't sound as funny here as it was at the table... He's from Mali and I bet there isn't a large Jewish population there.

Anyway, it was the first and probably last party we'll have. We definitely don't have enough furniture/dishes, and Eva (the woman who actually rents the apartment) is coming back in a couple of weeks - she's quite quiet and doesn't like big groups. It was fun, though!

And now I'm back at work... But tomorrow is a half-day, and then Thursday and Friday are holidays! Very exciting.

I hope everyone's having hice holidays!

love Katie