Some sweet random pics...

Done by my sister, Nora. Only took about an hour and a half!

Yes, that's a python. They are considered sacred in Voodoo. We were at the sacred temple of the pythons in Ouidah, which was also the major slave port of Benin.

Post Visit to My New Home in Dogbo

Early last Wednesday morning I left Porto Novo w/my directeur (principal of my school) for a 3.5 hour taxi ride to Dogbo. After my first round trip taxi ride to Dogbo and back, let me say that I will never complain about being uncomfortable in a car at home again! I don't think I've ever even been in a car at home as old as the ones here. Yet, despite rain pouring through the roof and having 4 people in the back seat for 3 hours, the rides were generally pleasant because I was travelling with other peace corps trainees.

Upon arrival in Dogbo I was greeted by the administration and the board of the parent's association. The volunteer currently posted there (who I'll be replacing) was also there, as well as one of the two other female professors out of a faculty of 55. She is a French professor, and I'm really hoping we can become good friends. To maintain my professionalism, I can't really spend a lot of time with my male colleagues outside of school, so I'm looking forward to seeking out the few other females.

After taking a tour of my school and going out for lunch, everybody accompanied me to meet the mayor and the chiefs of the local and state police. I also had the good fortune of arriving on marché day (market day), which happens only once every five days. Although there is a small market everyday where I can buy stuff, the big market is just huge and chaotic with lots of variety! Lauren (the current volunteer) and I spent some time walking around the marché and I asked her the fair prices for just about every single thing I could see. I'll need to learn the local language of Aja quickly so I can more easily discutez prices w/the mama's at market!

The next two days were mostly just spent with Lauren walking around town and hanging out. She pointed out some important places- like her tailor and the pharmacy, as well as who will give me a fair price on toilet paper and which mama to stop at for good beans and rice. She also introduced me to a French family working at a local hospital and a Dutch couple in town with an NGO.

Friday was actually Benin's independence day, so we watched a ceremony with the mayor at a local moument and then a cute little parade. Actually, the only people in the parade were the state police, local women's organizations, and then all the local taxi/moto drivers. Quite the interesting assortment....hehe...

The parade ended by mid-morning and we spent the rest of the day relaxing and cooking cornbread for both of my neighbors. As you can see from the picture, I live in a concession, which is basically one building with a walled in yard. I have the middle house of the concession (so the middle door in the picture), and the people on both sides are so nice. Lauren said they always help her with anything/everything, so that's reassuring. Apparently both families love cornbread. Peace Corps gives us a cookbook and Lauren has prepared them other things like chocolate cake and peanut butter cookies, but I guess they don't really like it. The cornbread is such an easy recipe, but apparently they are baffled by it. They were so happy to hear that I know how to make it! I'm actually really excited to start experimenting with a Dutch oven and work out some good recipes. If anybody has any good recipes please send them along!

Anyway, overall, Dogbo seems pretty great and I can't wait for the next 4 weeks to go by so I can move to post and get started. Lauren is switching posts and moving to replace a different volunteer in a furnished apartment, so shes leaving almost everything behind. As you can see, it's a lot of furniture and shes leaving most kitchen stuff behind. It's so lucky for me because it makes moving that much easier, and maybe I'll use some of my move-in money to buy a couch!

As for the next 4 weeks...we just started model school this week, so I'm officially Madame Kristin!

My Post!

At the beginning of September I will be moving to the town of Dogbo! It's in the southwestern part of the country, about 3 hours or so from the largest city of Cotonou (so pretty close). I'm also very close to the border of Togo, so I'll be able to easily make a few trips there. Dogbo has about 4,000 people, so it's not really the small village I was hoping for, but oh well. The fact that it is in the South and a larger town means I will have relatively regular access to fruits and vegetables, whereas some people in the North wont at all in some seasons. I'll also be able to easily travel to larger towns and cities to buy basically anything. I don't think there is internet in Dogbo yet, but the nearby city of Lokossa has internet, and I think its about 45 minutes away by taxi, so not bad. I'll be expecting letters from everyone though!!!!!

I'll actually be replacing another English teaching volunteer in Dogbo, which is both exciting and a little sad. Exciting because I will inherit her house and most of her stuff hopefully (which I hear includes couches!) But its also a little sad, because I'll have to deal with peoples' expectations based on what her and other volunteers have done. Ooooh...also, I'll have electricity, running water, and even a toilet! Not gonna lie, definitely a little dissapointed about that...not the all-out rural I expected, but I have plenty of friends to visit around the country with those conditions, so I'm feeling pretty grateful :-) .

I'll be meeting my school principal tomorrow and traveling with him to Dogbo from Wednesday to Sunday, so I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!

Ma Famille!

I live with Maman, Papa, Nora, and 3 of my nieces, who are the three oldest girls in the picture below. They've been so patient teaching me how to wash my laundry, cook over a charcoal fire, and wrap my bumbahs...Which is the traditional dress that most of them wear-- basically just a large rectangular piece of cloth that you wrap around to form a skirt, then you wear a matching top to go with (I'm wearing one in the picture with the kids, but its kind of hard to see). Anyway, they've been so generous already, and they promised to come visit me at post! My dad is a printer, and I got to visit his workshop the other day. He literally creates copies by taking metal letters and arranging them in frames and then uses a large machine to press ink on the print and then onto papers. It's just like something you'd see in an old-fashioned printers shop from long long ago. It really was amazing to see, and after 25 years, he still loves it.

This morning I read french fairy tales to my nieces for like 2 hours! The youngest one hasn't started school, so she doesn't even speak french, but she was still so excited. They call me "tata kristin" meaning aunt, and gives me lots of hugs whenever I come home from class. For my techincal training we're actully recruiting local kids on summer vacation to come to english class so we can practice, and I'll be bringing my oldest niece. Shes actually a year too young, but shes the top of her class, so I know she'll do great!

The Streets of Porto Novo

I was walking down my street today on the way to class when it suddenly occurred to me that there were goats and chickens randomly wandering around. Funny how after only 3 weeks that seems so normal. If a goat doesn't come up to my mid-thigh in height, it definitely does not even get noticed anymore. I'm still puzzled as to why they don't wander too far from home, but yesterday I did see a goat dodging motos on a main street. I didn't stick around to see what happened though...

The word road or street sort of begins to take on a new meaning here. Most of the main roads (what we might call busy streets) are either paved or bricked, but all of the side streets are just a red dirt/sand substance. Some are smooth (ish), but most are very bumpy with frequent rocks and puddles acting as barriers to both walking and driving. It's amazing to watch motos and cars figure out how to navigate them. It took me about 4 or 5 days to find the flattest, least rocky, least muddy streets around my neighborhood for my morning run.

I wake up around 5:30 or 5:45 everyday to hear the first call to prayer. It was so new to me that it woke me up the first few weeks, but now I generally rely on my alarm clock. If it didn't pour during the night (which it frequently does now that we're in a short rainy season), I try to head out at around 6:15 for my morning run. At 6:15 its still dark outside and it's actually quiet -- trust me, calm and empty streets are a rarity here, even at midnight. There are no goats or chickens or children out yet, just about one or two early risers outside sweeping their dirt.

Beyond the lack of usual commotion, this morning calm is also so precious becuase I don't have people shouting the word "Yovo" at me. The word "Yovo" is one I've already heard thousands of times and it's what they call white foreigners. All of the children know a little song that goes "Yovo, yovo, bon soir! ça va bien, merci!" (Yovo, yovo, good evening, I'm good, thank you!) Many older people also use yovo to address me on the street or to try to get my attention. I've been working on teaching the older kids on my block my actual name, so now I get "Bonjour Madame Kristin!" instead of yovo! It always makes me smile, and I can't wait to teach the kids in my village.

By the end of my run at 6:45 it's already completely light outside and the streets are filling up. Vendors are setting up their tomato or bread or candy stands outside of their homes and motos are starting to take people to work. It's always towards the end of my run that I get the first "yovo!" of the day. With that I know my little time for peace and quiet is over, and I get charged up for the day. Overall I'm so happy that I've been able to take these runs fairly regularly. Beyond enjoying the exercise, it's nice to just have the place to myself for those first few minutes. It makes me feel like I'm not such a foreigner, and like I have some time to really connect with this place, rather than be incredibly overwhelmed by it.


P.S. post assignments tomorrow!! and ill try to post pictures as soon as i can figure out how to do it!!

Finally a post!!

I know, I know, I'm a horrible blogger! In addition to being very busy without much time for internet cafes, the truth is really that it's impossible to know what to say. At first, everything was just so new and overwhelming that I couldn't even express it in words to myself let alone on my blog. Now that I've been here over two weeks I've been able to sit back and process this new environment a little.

When we first arrived, we spent five days in the largest city of Cotonou and since July 10th we've been living with host families in the smaller capital city of Porto Novo. I am the newest member of la famille Agossou, living with Maman, Papa, my 20 year old sister Nora and my three young nieces. I also have 2 older brothers and an older sister who no longer live at home, not to mention tons of cousins and aunts and uncles who randomly drop by all the time to meet me.

Here in Benin, there is custom called "saluer", which in French means to saluate, or give a salutation to someone. It is common practice to receive an unexpected visitor or even random quick phone calls and text messages. "Hello, Kristin?" "Yes, hello..." " Oh good, how are you?" "Good, and you?" "Good, just calling to say hello, goodbye!" The same goes for saying goodnight and good morning and everything. It can be a little overwhelming, but I think it's very telling about how kind and generous the Beninese people are. My host family have been so generous already, and although sometimes it's hard for us trainees to not have our usual amount of freedom, I think I'm beginning to establish a good balance with my own family. They even let me come to the internet alone by myself today!!

For the most part, we're all really lucky and happy with our host families despite some small frustrations. We've already lost 5 people out of the 64 who came, :-( but for a wide variety of reasons, none really having to do with our current living situation. In fact, we're being quite spoiled by training in a city. I'm pretty sure we all have electricity and the majority of us have toilets (including me!) and running water. While post will almost certainly have a latrine and a well, I think this is sort of a nice transition into it.

I get my post assignment on Friday, then next week we go for a 4 day post visit! I'm so excited to find out where I'll be posted in country, but of course anxious to know as well! All the current volunteers say that you end up loving your post, no matter where it is, so I'm not too worried about it;

Overall, things here have been great so far and quite an adventure. I haven't gotten sick yet (although of course its only a matter of time :-) ) and I'm learning so much everyday! I'll post again soon with more details of my daily life and of course my post assignment!

p.s. these keyboards are different, so please tolerate weird and random typos!!

Loving It!!

Well, I've officially been in Benin for 2.5 days now, and loving every minute! Right now we haven't really seen very much, because we are staying in a large walled in compound just outside the city and we travel everywhere on big buses. There are about 10 current volunteers staying with us to help throughout training, and we aren't allowed to go outside anywhere without them. It's actually kind of reassuring that they don't just let us wander around until we get more information and guidance about how to handle ourselves and where to go. There are also a lot of other volunteers who keep stopping by to meet us and just talk to us about their experiences.

I know this isn't a really long post, but I've gotta be going because a long line is forming here. Once we can get out and head to a internet cafe I'll definitely write more and post pictures! I just wanted to let everyone know I arrived safely and everything is going great so far! Don't forget to check out my address posted on the sidebar and send me lots of letters and packages!! E-mail also works too, atleast until September!

Love you and miss you!