Natitingou

Natitingou, I wouldnt call it the land of dreams but its pretty darn cool. Natitingou is where I go to do banking, buy hard to find food (like soft french cheese and off brand nutella!), and take some R&R from Benin. Natitingou is a little yovo (white person) island in the northwest of Benin. But its still in Benin, and the same rules of general annoyance apply. For example, every single time I go into the bank there is something wrong with my check. I've attempted to correct these things and write them down and change them for the next time so that hopefully I can get it right but then the bank teller find something else thats wrong. Before what was happening was that I would wait in a long line (like 20 to 30 minutes sometimes) be the next person to go up someone would look at my check, take me out of line tell me to fix some nit-picky little thing (like put the date on the back) and then put me in the back of the line. This has happened to me numerous times, but lately I've been able to make up to the teller and fix the thing he wants me to fix while he's counting my money. I spend about 5 minutes less time than anyone else as the window and still I get yelled at. So after waiting in an obnoxiously long line, then I make it to the window and the teller looks at my check, 'melissa you didnt finish filling out your check, you need to put the date and the place where you took the money out on the back of the check' note this information is already on the front 'and then you need to sign, and when you signed on the front of the check you signed a little in the white this is wrong and your signature is not good sign correctly next time.' So I fill out the needed information on the back of the check and sign it again on the back, then hand it back to him. His responce 'is this your first time to the bank Melissa?' I almost wanted to yelled at him right then and there that his system was nit picky and that nobody really honestly filled out their checks correctly, as they always spend at least a few minutes at the window talking with the guy. But instead I say 'hmm' not a yes or a no just 'hmm' to which he responds 'sign again correctly' The Beninese have HUGE problems with my signature. When I sign something they think I'm careless. But heres the problem if I signed something the way they wanted it wouldnt match up with my signature on my ID card, which they do actually compare the signatures. So I sign again, same signature (I think their problem is that it doesnt take me a full 2 minutes to sign something like it takes the Beninese, they are all about making it look good) and the guy looks at me 'Melissa you need to be more careful when you sign your name' Then I explain that's how I sign my name and it looks just like the signature on my ID card, if I signed any differently it wouldnt look the same and that would be an even bigger problem. So I finally get my money after having him have a stern talk with me about filling out checks, my signature and that I should correct these things when I come back next time. Its too bad that I actually have to go back and deal with his bullshit again, because if I didn't I would choose to not use the Natitingou bank for a little while. My options are quite limited if I boycott this bank for a little while but we shall see. Maybe next time my check will be perfect, wishful thinking.

And last thought: Im thinking on my way back to the states next year (has it really almost been a year?) to have a petite vacation in europe somewhere, anyone got any suggestions? My current ideas: Ireland/ England/ France (already been to France but I'd go again)