I am approaching my second month in Benin and if you ask me how am I feeling about the change of countries, my simplest answer would be the same as I have been responding to friends from South Africa which is, I feel like I am on an adventure.
Everything is new to me, the way things are done, shopping, and dressing which I am still holding onto my South African outfit, wearing shorts most of the time and sneakers.
To dwell a bit on the outfit, I tend to attract attention, I recall my first time at church I was getting that look of "here's is a visitor amongst us" kind of look. I was the only one in the church in jeans and a t-shirt with sneakers, the entire church was in the native outfit and sandals which is quite fitting for the weather than my outfit.
In South Africa I can dress in shorts to church which I sometimes do on hot days, from my observation, I am most likely going to be asked to leave if I rock up at church in shorts here, so I am not even going to try it.
Grocery Shopping
Unlike in South Africa where there are
price tags on the products on display in grocery stores like Spar, Checkers, Pick n Pay, and even the small spaza shops, etc., products are on display without price tags in Benin.
So you have to have a few negotiating skills to shop around in Benin. I picked that up with my cousin's wife when we shopped together. Price negotiating skills aren't what I am good at, I just want to pay for stuff and get going.
Last week I went veggies shopping, I picked up the amount of tomatoes I wanted and asked the cashier lady how much it is, and she said 1000 CFA, I knew I had to negotiate and to my surprise, my response came naturally objecting to the price she told me amicably, I asked to
pay 500 CFA for it, she looked at me with a serious expression and we a had to settle for 700 CFA.
I was partially happy with myself that I negotiated though I still felt I could have paid less for the amount of tomatoes I purchased. Perhaps I need a girlfriend ASAP so she can help me with shopping, women tend to excel better at shopping.
I haven't been to the shopping mall in Benin here, I expect price tags to be on products in the mall unlike at the neighborhood shops. Fortunately, my cousin's wife introduced me to where she usually does her shopping so they tend to treat me well since she brought a customer for them.
For me, the adventure continues.
Image by @doze
