Total Eclipse of the Heart

So, most of you have never heard of Quarterflash I suppose. That's OK, it doesn't matter, one-hit wonders are not generally too important and they have nothing to do with this post anyway.
A new king, only the third president elected of the country and now, a total solar eclipse. Little did I know the wonders of Benin ere I arrived. I wonder what's next. Seriously though, I have witnessed a lunar eclipse and one or two partial solar eclipses but never a total solar eclipse before now. Ito cured February 29th about 10:30 am. My postmate Steve had brought me glasses for viewing the previous day and I shared them with my neighbors (both named Marcelline incidentally, one as a first name the other as a surname) during the event.
The neighbor who is my landlords wife did not know anything about the eclipse happening. My other neighbor came out about 10 and said the eclipse would occur in five minutes (she was listening to the radio). We looked up (with the glasses) and saw that the moon was covering about three-quarters of the sun. This amazed my landlords’ wife and she became very excited and informed her friend in the neighboring concession. In fact, she continued to do so through the entire process.
As totality approached we could hear others in the area becoming more excited as well, particularly the nearby private school. The noise level spiked suddenly at totality and took a while to settle down afterwards. Some were merely excited at experiencing the rare event. Others I'm sure were probably a little concerned at what was happening not having knowledge of its occurrence or cause.
For those of you who haven't seen a total eclipse I'll describe it as best I can. There is a slight drop in light level only just before totality, as well as for only a short time (about 30 seconds in both cases) afterwards. Totality here lasted about 2 minutes. The suns corona, of course, becomes visible but, that may be one of the less spectacular aspects of the event. The clouds overhead became very dark while those nearer to the horizon remained apparently unchanged. When the sun went directly behind a cloud however, there was a circle of color around the sun. Not like a rainbow as there were no distinct bands but there were many colors in the cloud. I know it was just light being bent by the water droplets in the cloud but it was still rather unique. The sky turned a deep, dark blue and several of the brighter stars became visible. Most people seemed more interested in stars being visible during the day than the sudden drop in light level or other sights.
Although the drop in light level was sudden and dramatic it did not ever become very dark. It was like early twilight, just about sunset, a half-hour or so before nightfall. The birds however thought it was more like dusk as they started singing again just after totality ended.
After the big event Steve and I were congratulated for knowing about the eclipse and being prepared for it (having glasses for viewing). The unfortunate part of this is that it is the result of one of the problems in Benin right now. Although not the only people to know about the eclipse or be prepared for it we were the only complemented. We knew about the eclipse from the radio and learned where to get the glasses from talking to friends and neighbors. Every Beninoise does both of those things much more than Steve and, certainly I, do. We were singled out by some for special notice because we are foreigners and, especially, white (sorry, light-skinned).
The problem I refer to is that, in my experience, some Beninoise have an inferiority complex towards foreigners in general and often whites in particular. I know that inferiority complexes, as well as other disorders, can be complex in origin and difficult to counter (right, Dana?). It can, I'm sure also be difficult to determine their cause. Not being very learned in these matters (or any other as I've been told from time to time) I will not try to discuss causes or treatments at this time. I can, however, speak to the effects I see here.
Those with this inferiority complex (if that's what it in fact is) think that foreigners are rich because they are better (Of course, you and I know we are not all rich). We are smarter, healthier and wealthier because we deserve that, not because of any chance of geography or history. These people often then think that they are not capable of doing anything worthwhile. They often, in fact, don't have a job. Those that do have a job are either not very good at it or have one that doesn't require much effort or thinking; taxi driver, divers vendor etc. They think that the Peace Corps and other groups are here in Benin not to help the Beninoise live better on their own but rather to, in effect, run the country. We are here, they think, to fix roads, not to show them how to build and maintain highways and city streets for themselves. We are here, they say, to teach in the schools, not to teach others to teach. The only thing we cannot do, they claim, is tell them anything about religion (of course, that's a trait with a lot of people in virtually every country).
These people are obviously never going to contribute very much to the improvement of Benin. Fortunately, there are not very many of them (they are annoying though) and will hopefully not be too much of a hindrance either. There are people in America who don't do much good also but that economy is doing OK.
So closes another chapter in the life of Benin (bet you never thought you would read so many). I'll get another one out as soon as I can but that is sometimes out of me control (internet had not been available here for over a week because the phone system was not operating). I'm just trying to stay dry in the meantime.So, most of you have never heard of Quarterflash I suppose. That's OK, it doesn't matter, one-hit wonders are not generally too important and they have nothing to do with this post anyway.
A new king, only the third president elected of the country and now, a total solar eclipse. Little did I know the wonders of Benin ere I arrived. I wonder what's next. Seriously though, I have witnessed a lunar eclipse and one or two partial solar eclipses but never a total solar eclipse before now. Ito cured February 29th about 10:30 am. My postmate Steve had brought me glasses for viewing the previous day and I shared them with my neighbors (both named Marcelline incidentally, one as a first name the other as a surname) during the event.
The neighbor who is my landlords wife did not know anything about the eclipse happening. My other neighbor came out about 10 and said the eclipse would occur in five minutes (she was listening to the radio). We looked up (with the glasses) and saw that the moon was covering about three-quarters of the sun. This amazed my landlords’ wife and she became very excited and informed her friend in the neighboring concession. In fact, she continued to do so through the entire process.
As totality approached we could hear others in the area becoming more excited as well, particularly the nearby private school. The noise level spiked suddenly at totality and took a while to settle down afterwards. Some were merely excited at experiencing the rare event. Others I'm sure were probably a little concerned at what was happening not having knowledge of its occurrence or cause.
For those of you who haven't seen a total eclipse I'll describe it as best I can. There is a slight drop in light level only just before totality, as well as for only a short time (about 30 seconds in both cases) afterwards. Totality here lasted about 2 minutes. The suns corona, of course, becomes visible but, that may be one of the less spectacular aspects of the event. The clouds overhead became very dark while those nearer to the horizon remained apparently unchanged. When the sun went directly behind a cloud however, there was a circle of color around the sun. Not like a rainbow as there were no distinct bands but there were many colors in the cloud. I know it was just light being bent by the water droplets in the cloud but it was still rather unique. The sky turned a deep, dark blue and several of the brighter stars became visible. Most people seemed more interested in stars being visible during the day than the sudden drop in light level or other sights.
Although the drop in light level was sudden and dramatic it did not ever become very dark. It was like early twilight, just about sunset, a half-hour or so before nightfall. The birds however thought it was more like dusk as they started singing again just after totality ended.
After the big event Steve and I were congratulated for knowing about the eclipse and being prepared for it (having glasses for viewing). The unfortunate part of this is that it is the result of one of the problems in Benin right now. Although not the only people to know about the eclipse or be prepared for it we were the only complemented. We knew about the eclipse from the radio and learned where to get the glasses from talking to friends and neighbors. Every Beninoise does both of those things much more than Steve and, certainly I, do. We were singled out by some for special notice because we are foreigners and, especially, white (sorry, light-skinned).
The problem I refer to is that, in my experience, some Beninoise have an inferiority complex towards foreigners in general and often whites in particular. I know that inferiority complexes, as well as other disorders, can be complex in origin and difficult to counter (right, Dana?). It can, I'm sure also be difficult to determine their cause. Not being very learned in these matters (or any other as I've been told from time to time) I will not try to discuss causes or treatments at this time. I can, however, speak to the effects I see here.
Those with this inferiority complex (if that's what it in fact is) think that foreigners are rich because they are better (Of course, you and I know we are not all rich). We are smarter, healthier and wealthier because we deserve that, not because of any chance of geography or history. These people often then think that they are not capable of doing anything worthwhile. They often, in fact, don't have a job. Those that do have a job are either not very good at it or have one that doesn't require much effort or thinking; taxi driver, divers vendor etc. They think that the Peace Corps and other groups are here in Benin not to help the Beninoise live better on their own but rather to, in effect, run the country. We are here, they think, to fix roads, not to show them how to build and maintain highways and city streets for themselves. We are here, they say, to teach in the schools, not to teach others to teach. The only thing we cannot do, they claim, is tell them anything about religion (of course, that's a trait with a lot of people in virtually every country).
These people are obviously never going to contribute very much to the improvement of Benin. Fortunately, there are not very many of them (they are annoying though) and will hopefully not be too much of a hindrance either. There are people in America who don't do much good also but that economy is doing OK.
So closes another chapter in the life of Benin (bet you never thought you would read so many). I'll get another one out as soon as I can but that is sometimes out of me control (internet had not been available here for over a week because the phone system was not operating). I'm just trying to stay dry in the meantime.