Bisous du Benin!

So I'm already running short on internet time, so I'll try to keep this brief-ish. This last week was the launching of my Amour & Vie team in Penelan. I've talked about Amour & Vie in past posts- it's a national program all about health peer education in village. So the launching (or lancement) is basically a big party for the village to let them know what we're all about and get them ready to have their worlds rocked. It's also an opportunity for the important men in village (like the traditional chief and delegate) to publicly give their support, so the project is more likely to succeed. Representatives from Cotonou Amour & Vie came to see the lancement, check in on us, and make sure things are going smoothly for us so far. This meant fellow volunteer Brigitte (yay!) and Hugues, who is the Beninese guy in charge of Amour & Vie Cotonou. It was really great that they came out and supported us, and it's always really helpful to get somebody else to talk to your team in French, and cover anything that you (I) said, which your team (my team) totally ignored.
So I was trying to get my team to put this thing together for like the two weeks leading up the the event, but most things like this in Benin happen LAST minute. So my efforts to get a jump on it where...not entirely successful. So the lancement was on a Sunday. Which meant that all Saturday and Sunday was last minute running around to get the entire event worked out. Penelan doesn't have electricity so all our cold drinks (a definite requirement) had to be brought in from Penessoulou- which involved me zemming out at 7 in the morning and dragging around coolers with 50 lbs of soda in them. We rented a sound system, which required both a generator and gas to run the generator. But in addition to the sound system there was a traditional band that we hired to get the party started with some dance music. There were speeches to write, a lesson plan for my team to plan. (They gave a sample presentation on family planning just as an introduction to the program.)
Because there are no really restaurant type places in my town,we had to order all the food in advance. And apparently it's rude and exclusive to just hire one woman to do everything. So I had to get Reine to be an intermediary while I bargained with the village's women's association, who were going to do all the cooking the day off! We had yam pilee (mashed yams) and chicken. It was actually really good.
I also wanted my nice neighbor to do the official launching ceremony at the very end. Which is apparently offensive to my supervisor (a non-entity that I've talked to twice at the maximum). Although my supervisor has no idea what this project is even about, he is technically my liason in village. And it would be disrespectful to him (and the village who chose him) if I went over his head. So.... I had to go talk to him and get him to make a speech.
I also had to walk around Saturday morning with my team and make house visits to all the important men in village and personally invite them to the event. This was the fun part- they were all super sweet to me, and talked about how important health was, and how I was such an asset to the village (flattery will get you everywhere). “The first thing you pray for in the morning is health. You are trying to bring health to our village- how could we not support you?” The delegate (basically a kind of political representative) actually had a longish conversation with me about how it's important that traditional voodoo health rituals work together with the health center. It was really interesting, and I learned a lot about how my village views health. And how to plan an event.
I'm gonna cut this off, even though there is so much more I could say. The event went really well- there were about 100 people there (there are pictures on facebook). It was definitely one of my most rewarding experiences in country. Because it was something that everyone in the village could see that I was doing, and I got so much positive feedback. For most of your service, most villagers will not understand at all what you are doing, why you are there, or what your role is. And I feel like I got the opportunity to show them that I'm here, I'm working, and I'm a part of their community. It was a pain in the ass to put together, and I think that's why it was so much fun when it went off without a hitch. I was very proud of my village for being so helpful, and so receptive, and so totally gung-ho. And I was proud of myself! It's this kind of real village experience that volunteers ALL live for. It's few and far between, but it makes it worth it.

A couple weeks ago (...maybe a month? It was whenever kadafi died) my close mates Jared and Heather and I had a nice little pow-wow in Jared's town of Aledjo. They each live like only 10k away from me, but they are both teachers, and somehow our schedules never really line up, so it's very rarely that we're all together! We had the goal of climbing the Aledjo mountain which is in a town right next to Jared's, and it the highest elevation in Benin (although not the tallest mountain I'm sure).
Aledjo is super cute, and actually really huge, especially for being out in the bust and off the main road. It is the main market town for goods coming across the border from Togo, and has the biggest marche in the county (commune) of Bassila. I really should be going to Aledjo for market days, but it's kind of expensive for me to get there ($6 US round trip), because I have to zem on a dirt road for a little ways. Anyway, it's right on the Togo border, so it has a cool mix of cultures!
So the three of us got there on Friday afternoon and hung out chatting for a while at a buvette (bar). We went a got some yummy cheap-ass traditional food (corn pate and goat for less than $0.50 US). And after that we went and hung out at another buvette owned by a friend of Jared's who's really cool. And by then it was getting kinda late, but we walked down to the Togo border to go to Jared's favorite chouck hut. Chouck is homemade millet beer, and it's really popular in the north. It was an awesome hut, in the middle of the forest, in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in Benin? Or Togo? Who can tell. We spent an hour or two drinking beer, shooting the shit with some of Jared's Beninese friends, and petting an adorable newborn puppy. All in all it was so so much fun. It's great to see how village life is for other volunteers, and get to see a little bit of traditions in other villages.
In the morning we went and hiked the mountain, which was steep!! It's dry season, so there is 5 ft. tall grass overrunning everything. And the last half of the hike, we kept losing and finding the path in the grass. So it was a little bit of a struggle getting up, and then there wasn't much of a view. But it was fun all the same, and some good exercise!
Bottom line: hiking=awesome. buvettes=awesome. village=awesome. good friends=supreme!

A word about my health! Pretty much right after posting that last blog post about having malaria, I got back to Penelan and got malaria AGAIN. I don't think it was as bad as the last time, and I took the medicine pretty quickly and kept it in check. My mom is convinced that I was running myself a little ragged in between bouts and the first case of malaria never really left my body.

I also got food poisoning last week for the first time in my life. It was a pretty inspirational experience. I still can't pinpoint what the culprit was. But it was kind of amusing because my dog and I share a lot of the same food (he usually eats my leftovers). And whatever it was made him barfy too!

I have gotten lots of sweet inquiries as to my health, and I really appreciate it. I want to let you all know that I am totally fine, I'm back to 100%. And I promise, no more malaria!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! (the best holiday ever- besides fourth of July)
Sending all my love and thanks to you for being such good friends to me. I hope you and your families have a great holiday season!!!

Hey I just wanted to send you all a quick update because it's been so long. I just got back from a conference with Amour & Vie, which is a program run by PSI (a groovy international NGO). PSI (Population Services International) is a great NGO, and they do a lot of health work in Benin with malaria, HIV/AIDS, water sanitation and family planning. So the Amour & Vie program was a training for representatives from our villages (there were like 10 volunteers who participated). The program trains them on health issues, and trains them how to give presentations, so they can go back to village and sort of “peer educate” the villagers in local language. So it's pretty cool! It's a lot of work for us right now, me and my reps are trying to set up the program in Penelan and there have been some hiccups and misunderstandings, but in another month we should be up and running, and Penelan will get at minimum two health lectures a month. By villagers, and not me! Yay sustainability! So that's sort of my main project right now.

I've also been setting up post visits for the new kids. I'm going to be visiting six different posts in November of volunteers from the new stage, just to check in on them and make sure everything's going okay. So I've been helping to set up the logistics for that.

What else has happened? I got malaria about two weeks ago, which majorly cramped my style for a little while. Malaria is the worst kids, you should avoid that for reals. I for sure wanted to die.

Last month I also got a Beninese style tattoo in my friend's village. They just make little lines with a razor blade (a new one, no AIDs!), and generally fill it with some kind of ash so the lines stay. A LOT of volunteers get these tattoos, I'd say maybe 75%, because it's pretty iconic, I'd say the same percentage of Beninese people have the scars. The guy doing mine used the ash of bird feathers, which is pretty cool! I had to eat part of the ash before he did it as pat of the ceremony. I got three little lines on my back, it's sort of a general symbol of protection.

I realize this update is horrifically short, but I feel like there is at once so much to say and so little. Now that I've updated you all on what's sort of been going on, I'm hoping next month I can get into some fun stuff! I won't have internet again til Halloween, so I hope you all have a great October!! Lots of love.

P.S. I forgot! My camera broke, so there haven't been pictures in a while, but my mom is sending a new one in the mail, so pictures should be back soon!

(written 16July2011)
My friends! It has been an egregious amount of time since my last blog post. For that, I apologize! I don't really remember what the last thing I told ya'll about was- but I've pretty much been on the road since the end of April doing In-Services for Peace Corps. Which generally means spending a lot of time in the south, and saving up my money so I can afford to go to the one Indian restaurant in the country.

So, as few of you know, I just got back from a trip to America for Mary and David's wedding!!! Happy day!! It was really nice, but quite stressful, because I felt like there wasn't hardly any time for me to do all the things I wanted to. I was running around shopping for things to bring back with me, and eventually managed to compile 120 lbs of luggage, most of it food. And shampoo. I'm definitely already begun fattening up a little. There's no way to really talk about everything it did/ATE (the primary goal of any Peace Corps return-ee), so here's some quick highlights.

Going to bookstore and thrift shop with the fam (my two favorite kinds of stores)
Getting good coffee and eating out at my favorite restaurants
Mel's homemade guac, and other yummy homemade things
Mom's quartet coaching
Seeing an honest to goodness dolorian a while eating breakfast (pictures on f-book!)
Going to the SF MOMA with my family for some super art
Seeing an awesome play by Shady Shakespeare (my favorite company)
Getting Vietnamese sandwiches with the Hauperts
Running errands for the wedding, including Costco!
Dim sum with John in the city, and finally going to Humphrey Slocombe's, the most magical ice cream shop this side of mission st.
Meeting all the relatives at the wedding, seeing old friends who warm the utter cockles of my heart
The WEDDING: every single part!! EVERY SINGLE PART! I love you both so much! It was a really amazing day/night. AMAZING.
Going to night slides (water park!) at katie rose's house
Katie's momma making delicious home-cooked dinner for us, and a visit from Carol!
Bbq with the volleyball kids in Sacramento
Catching up with friends and fillin my life full to the brim with love

Big apologies to everyone I was not able to see when I was back, my schedule was out-of-control-tight, and there were I lot of things I wanted to do, but was unable. (My dad ate a lamb chop I was thawing in the fridge, so we went and bought me more so that I could have a lamb chop experience. It was sitting in the fridge, but I totally ran out of time- and meals-and forgot all about the poor lamb chop. And now the memory of it's grass-fed glory haunts me.)
Please let me know what has been going on in your lives, I cannot wait to come back for realsies and catch up! I love you, and I miss you so much.

(written 14July2011)
The new stage (AKA the new group of peace corps volunteers) arrived July 2, so we've been busy gettin them trained! They will be in Porto-Novo til September (like I was). At the end of August I'm going down there to run the sex-ed week for the health sector. Fun, fun!

I was there with some other PSN (Peer Support Network) members to welcome them in Cotonou when they flew in, and it was neat to be there on their very first day! It's nice to have the opportunity to see all of them and meet my new future friends. Admittedly, they kind of freak me out. They are all so glassy-eyed and vaguely lost. And they make me feel vaguely lost. Ahh to imagine that was once me!

(written 14July2011)
So there have been a LOT of changes in Penelan! My homologue, Reine, DID have the mysterious baby! It was born the day after I left for America. Her name is Gracia (or Grace). She's adorable. Reine has like this swanky legit crib that she got in Cotonou for the baby. I don't know how she brought it up to village... so many things I'll never get.

Other big news. The little dirt road that runs from Penessoulou to Penelan used to be about ten feet wide (maybe?). Now it's like a football field! It's at least quadrupled. I think they are gonna go all the way and actually pave the sucker. Apparently this road is going to continue to the town over (Aledjo) and on to Togo so trucks can get through more efficiently and everyone can get their trade on. So they just tore down a bunch of trees to make room for the road. And they even widened it past the marche in my village, which means they took down some peoples' houses to make room for it. And now when travel the road, not only is it kind of difficult to tell where you all because all the regular landmarks have disappeared, but there are literally halves of houses lining the road that goes into village. They look like mini sitcom sets, because you can see into what used to be a room. I'll get a picture for you. I find it rather amusing. There is talk about whether or not this project is a precursor to electricity? Hmm? I give it five more years.

More news! My neighbors- the mean school director and his daughter, the slave girl- have moved! Things had gotten pretty bad with them the last couple months. He was like getting drunk and beating her all the time (she's like 9). And then she would come hang out at my house to get away, or try to get me to help her (despite there being nothing at all I can do). And it was MAJORLY stressing me out. I tried to talk to a couple people in village about it. I found out that nobody liked him (he's from Cotonou or the south somewhere) but there wasn't really anything they could do about it because he was posted there by the government. And he was buddies with the man in charge of postings so nobody could report him. Hurrah mild corruption! His wife and other kids already left him earlier in the year, because he's an asshole, but they left poor slave girl behind because she's his daughter by another wife. Anyway, I guess he decided to move a couple towns down to live on a farm he's been working on. YAY! And the best news is that slave girl has moved to be with other family in the south somewhere! So not only am I rid of him, but more importantly, she is too! Happy day! The bottom line here, is that slave girl is no longer lurking outside my door trying to get in every ten minutes, and the director isn't trying to have drunken philosophical conversations about discipline and the school environment today (which are not fun talks to get roped into). SO- I can hang out in my front yard stress free! I can play my ukulele and nobody will bother me! I can play fetch with Atticus in the yard. I can sit and read on my stoop. I don't have to hear his radio going 24 hours a day, so I can sleep at night! And I can sleep in in the mornings if I want! I can play my music loud, and have dance parties! Pretty much everything got awesome.

Last bit o' news! Me and my nice neighbor have been talking about getting me a garden for a while, and when I was in America, he and his kids built a beautiful fence for me! It's about as high as I am, and there's a jolly little gate! And I know he hoed the inside of the garden to make it more plant-able. He wants to dig out some raised beds before we get started. The rainy season has come a little late this year, and is sort of beginning to start now. I'd say we should have the seeds in beginning of August, and then we'll see what grows! I'm excited to work on it with him, and I'm looking forward to us hanging out and talking shop. Maybe I can get him to eat some vegetables for once.

(written 14July2011)
As you can see from my other post- lots of new things have happened! It's really exciting, because it makes me feel like I have a new beginning. Everyone was so sweet to me on my return (naturally), and it's really good to be back. Everything about the weather right now, and the way my house smells, is exactly the way it was when I moved in last fall. I'm in the same place and same time. All the villagers are doing pretty much the same thing. But the way I view everything is different. It's an interesting, almost eerie feeling, because if you blink, it could seem like no time has passed at all.

The hardest thing about being back is going from being so busy to not. I've spent the last couple weeks in Penelan and Bassila, just quietly running errands, watching movies, and finding little jobs for myself. Before I went to America, I was at In-Services for Peace Corps for like a month and a half. I've gotten really used to seeing my friends, and having things to fill my day. I've had to sort of remind myself what village life is like, and it's been a bigger readjustment then I thought.

Matt got his job as boss of one of the workstations (in Kandi) so it's very odd to talk with him on the phone now. He's usually eating good food, hanging out with volunteers, and watching MythBusters on DVD (or some such wonderfulness). Shannon's been in Ghana all this week with her boyfriend who is visiting from America, and Heather's in England visiting her boyfriend there. All this has been pretty weird too, just cause I've gone from being surrounded by people to what just feels like.... stillness. But in a way it's been really good. I've been taking my time to refocus, and I'm really looking forward to doing some real work the next couple months. Coming up at the end of July, I'll be a counselor in a week-long Boy's Camp in Manigri (which is near Bassila). I've known about it since March, so I'm glad it's finally here, I think it's gonna be a lot of fun! And it'll be my first chance to get back in the swing of things (aka projects).

So for the last week- with lots of time on my hands- I've taken a piece of advice from the mind of great philosopher Morgan Spurlock, who shows us that just about anything can be done for 30 days. I've put together a list of things I'm always meaning to do:
work out
sketch
floss before bed
go outside and do something!
And I'm gonna do these things, every day, for 30 days. And see what sticks! So far, it's been a lot of fun. The part I'm most excited about is exercising, which I haven't regularly done since the last session of my college yoga/pilates class in December of 2007. I think I actually like crunches! (for now.)

No pain, no gain! Try something you've been putting off, just for thirty days- you might be surprised!

I love you all, and miss you dearly. I hope you all are having wonderful weeks, and I'll try to make my next update come a little swifter!
xoxo

(written 24March2011)

This is kind of a project heavy couple of posts- but I wanted to let you guys know about the other projects I'm lining up for the next couple months. So you have an idea what I'm doing!

PAPAS CLUB IN PENELAN
I talk about Boys and Girl's club all the time with my nice neighbor in Penelan, and he suggested- independently- that we start a Papa's Club. Which made me ecstatic, because that is an actual thing within Peace Corps health, and I've been thinking about approaching him with it for a while. It's basically a vehicle to encourage birth control use and fair treatment of women and children. Cool, huh?

BOYS CAMP
The boy's camp for our region is happening in July, and I'll be a counselor for it. Like most boy stuff- a lot of it is about learning to appreciate women, and how to be “a good husband”. But you also get to hang out with a bunch of kids, which is fun. I'm most likely taking over the planning of this camp next year.

COMPUTER LESSONS IN BASSILA
Shannon's girl's club is have internet and computer lessons and the cyber cafe in Bassila in April. I'm gonna be there for the week to hang out and help, and we've invited my nice neighbor to come too, because he's super interested. And lives in a village without electricity, so getting him near a computer would be adorable.

BIRTH CONTROL FORMATION
(fall 2011)
Shannon and I really want to do some birth control formations in Bassila, Pennesoulou and Penelan. There would be three formations in total. The first would just be a general information session about different kinds of birth control, the importance of birth control, etc. Ideally we would have married couples come to the event, and split them into two groups: male and female. Shannon works with a man in Bassila who does talks on birth control, and he could talk to the men, while we talk to the women with my homologue. The second formation is about training health workers to talk about birth control with others. And the third formation would be a training session for male community leaders. We are sort of unsure about how successful this is gonna be.... but we'll see. Peace Corps Washington has official taken family planning out of the health goals, because it's too hard. But that's dumb. It's important, screw them.

HEALTH BABY CONTEST
(fall 2011)
Starting next fall, I'm doing a six month “health baby contest” in Penelan. If you read “Nine Hills to Nammbmkdsookijaaa...” it's the same thing she did in her village. The contest would last six months, with a sensibilization on a different subject each month. For example, birth control, malaria, first aid, and the basics and importance of baby weighing. I would be available at the health center during marche days to help women with baby weighing. In order to win the contest, women must meet certain criteria, go to all the meetings, and weigh their baby X times per month. At the end of the six months there will be a fete and presents for the women who are the winners. Fun!

ART CLUB
This is a pipe dream. I don't know if it will happen.

MURALS
(summer 2011)
If I get an art club going, they can help with this, but if not than I will get the girl's club to help. I want to make murals of the world, africa, benin, donga, and penelan inside the classrooms at the elementary school in Penelan. I'm gonna do it over the summer, when there are fewer children running around making a mess.
I would also like to do some murals on the walls in the health center. But I'm gonna let Reine pick what that's all about, cause I'm sure she's got an opinion on the subject.

Still ongoing and admin:
GIRL'S CLUB IN PENESSOULOU
Same old, same old.

TRAININGS IN COTONOU
In May, I have three different trainings happening in Cotonou, so I'm pretty much spending the entire month down south. The first is for trainers of the new stage coming in July, the second is just a health in-service, and the last is a food security workshop that I requested to go to. Although...I'm not entirely sure what that is... so... I'll keep you posted.

NEW STAGE
Is coming in July! I don't know when I'm going to be down south helping out, but I'm already getting really excited to meet the new kids!

Unrelated:
GARDEN
I'm trying to get a little garden built outside my house. Mel sent me some seeds, and I'm getting pumped. I found some old flowerpots at the penessoulou dump, and I'm cleaning them out so I can have some flowers in my house. Joy!
Nice neighbor already took some carrot and bean seeds of mine and planted them in his garden a couple months ago. He does all the work, and I get vegetables. Doesn't that seem a little off to you? The carrots are ready, and we've been eating some here and there. Today I'm gonna make him some carrot cake! His hot son sold some of the carrots when I was out of town, and I think he got in trouble. When I was talking to him yesterday, he tried to give me mille franc ($2) for the carrots he sold. It was absolutely ridiculous!! I obviously refused. I try to tell them that they did the work, they can do whatever they want with the veggies. But it's a hard sell.

RABBITS
I'm also trying to get a rabbit huch built (everything's so complicated) so I can raise some yummy rabbits! If they're too cute I might need to get nice neighbor to kill them for me.

(written 24March2011)

Hello all! I have been absolutely awful about writing blog posts because I've been traveling a lot and have been suuuuuper busy the last monthish, so I figured I should just fill you all in on what I've been doing!

For the last month or so I've been planning (with Shannon) for a Journee des Filles (a girl's day) which is going to happen April 2nd in Bassila. It's basically a mini-conference for the girl's clubs in our region. Ten girls from each of the five nearest clubs will be coming- and we'll have eight volunteers acting as counselors. The purpose of the day is to make a mini-girl's camp. We have a weeklong girl's camp every year during the summer, but only two girls from each school can come. So this is to benefit the girls who won't have the opportunity to make it.

At the day, we're gonna have two different midwives come and speak about health, periods, pregnancy, and birth control. There will be a career panal made up of important women in the community. There will be skits from each club- currently the Bassila girl's are learning Bad Romance. I'm trying to upload the video to my facebook- it's super cute! We'll have a environmental conservation lecture, tree planting at the high school in Bassila, and a screening of Planet Earth (in French). We're serving lunch, we've made T-shirts. Am I forgetting anything? So... it's been a lot of work to put it together. I've been spending my time applying for grants, creating the schedule, putting together the manual each girl is going to get on the day and talking to the volunteers who are coming. But that doesn't include the travel. I've been to Parakou three times to resolve issues with our t-shirt order, and to meet with one of the NGOs there. I'm going again this weekend to pick up our shirts which are finally ready! I was in Nati to borrow the Planet Earth DVDs from another volunteer. And for the last week, I've been in Bassila with Shannon, handing out invitations to the midwives and the career panal, requesting sound systems and projectors from the mayor, arranging the taxis to pick up the girls in the different towns, reserving the high school and basketball court, and bargaining with the restaurant who is providing the food. Next week I'll be back again confirming everything before the big day. Busy right!!?

I'm really excited for the day to finally come! It could be really awesome, but it could also be a disaster, which is kind of half the fun. Everyone I've been inviting and requesting things from have all said yes. But often in Beninese culture, a yes doesn't actually mean that you'll show up. So I have no real way of gauging what's gonna happen. Exciting! It has been feeling REALLY good to be actively doing something, and to be keeping myself busy. I've been having a lot of fun putting it together, and I'll let you all know how it goes!

P.S. If you like this project- most of our day is being funded by GAD grants from Peace Corps Benin! It's not to late to donate to our GAD fundraiser in April if you so desire! (Check out the blog post before this one for more info.)

Also- new pictures are up on Facebook! Enjoy!

Hello all my dearest friends!

I want to do a little bit of a fund-raising plug to you all for an upcoming Peace Corps event here in Benin.

One of the main ways (and pretty much the quickest and simplest way) that we as volunteers get funding for our projects in country is through a pool of money called the GAD fund. There is a volunteer run committee that oversees the dispersal of the grants, and they also manage our scholarship fund for girls. Here is a little blurb about what GAD is.

“GAD-Benin (Gender and Development) was created by Peace Corps Volunteers to encourage and empower Beninese girls and women through the education of women, men, and children. GAD-Benin works with members of the Beninese community to develop sustainable programs that motivate, educate and inspire Beninese girls and women to actualize their full potential, thereby developing the capacity of their communities and country. Further, to educate and involve men to inspire equality on all levels of society.”

This year, I'm going to be using money from the GAD grants to paint maps in my elementary school, pay for art supplies and guest speakers for my girls' club, plan a day long health camp for all the girl's clubs in our region, and help start up a community garden in Penessoulou. It is the most accessible and reliable source of money for us, and is integral to most volunteers' projects.

Each year in Benin there is a charity dinner and auction, set up by volunteers and attended by volunteers to raise money for this fund. People auction off their talents, like coming to your house to paint a mural, or sometimes people just bring back things from America. There is a talent show, a date auction, and we donate all sorts of fun things out of pocket that are all auctioned off to benefit our GAD fund.

My post mate Heather and I will be auctioning off a two-day getaway that we're going to plan, cook for and host at our workstation in Natitangou. It'll be a delicious dinner, followed by an all expense paid trip for four lucky winners to the nearby waterfalls. We're really excited about planning it, and looking forward to seeing how much we can raise!

Now that I've attempted to give you the Cliff Notes version of the program (I'm sorry if this is confusing!), this is where you come in. GAD is an official part of Peace Corps. And Peace Corps, as a government agency, is not legally allowed to fundraise. In years past, volunteers have perfected a loophole. Money “donated” from America to in-country volunteers, which is then spent at GAD dinner, goes straight to GAD grants without being directly linked to Peace Corps. If you are interested in getting involved with Peace Corps Benin, and helping fund our awesome projects here, this is the way to do it!!

The GAD dinner this year will be the last weekend in April. If you would like to donate and help us out, you can send your delightful checks to my house in California, or send it to me direct through Paypal. My mom will be rounding up the check donations at the beginning of April, and putting them into my American bank account, which I can access at ATMs over here. I will then lavishly spend all the money at our auction, making it possible for more Peace Corps magic.

I realize that this is probably really confusing, and sounds a little like a Nigerian scam. So please email me your questions (that I will try to reply to within two or three weeks!). And please know in advance, we all appreciate your support over here, monetary or otherwise. I am thinking of you all and sending my love.

Yours,
xoxo
Shelly

Send checks to:
Shelly Mussett c/o GAD
6292 Tracel Dr.
San Jose, CA 95129

or paypal it to:
mussett333@gmail.com

(written 11jan2011)

Our inservice was just for the health and environmental sectors, which turned out to be awesome. We all got to see old friends that we haven't seen since stage, and it was really cool to hear what people are working on. We all stayed in a hotel together at Songhai, for a whole week. The food was incredible. They catered our lunches and breakfasts, and we had chicken and fries and fish and spaghetti, and tuna salad, and all sorts of magical things. The very last day, we got a “pizza salad”, which is a salad.. topped with mini mushroom pizzas. It was amazing. We also found this new restaurant in Porto-Novo, called le President, which gave me by far the best meal I have had in Benin. I had rabbit and fries. And the rabbit actually had a dry-rub on it. I was delicious in a way I can't even describe. So yay food!

The inservice itself was totally lame. Because it was like stage part 2. Classes about things we'd already learned. And the homologue were there for most of the week. The sessions were geared towards them. And we spent a lot of time sitting and zoning out. I will spare you details.

The last day I was at the inservice, me and my friends Alison and Julia went to see a Christian Celeste visionary. Christian Celeste is a weird offshoot of Christianity that exists here, that I frankly know nothing about. But if you go to one of their temples (there was one around the corner from Songhai) they will do a reading for you for free. You meditate on a topic, and they “see” a vision of you, and then explain it to you. It's pretty cool. Our lady was the nicest as can be. Here's what my vision is (fairly directly translated):

I am standing in the middle of a river, and the wind is blowing the water up around me, and I begin to be afraid. But these two (or maybe it was three) angels come down and take my hand. And they tell me not to be afraid because “this river is your country, and it cannot swallow you.”
Then I'm in this garden. And the garden is beautiful, there are flowers everywhere. I'm standing with my friend, and I'm holding a bunch of roses. My friend is also my fiance. When we are a couple, people will say, “Oh it's not serious”. And I will get discouraged, and it will cause me and my friend to fight. But I have to have patience, these people will go away, and we will be together forever and ever.
Also. I shouldn't be worried about succeeding in my village. It is already written on my palm that I will do good here. I will build a castle for my village. (Chateau can also be translated as a water type building- so it could be translated as a castle, latrine, or pump.)
She also said that if people offer me to smoke, I shouldn't because it's bad for my health. And also that I should not be outside in the deep night (midnight).

So all and all, good news right!

We spent a couple days in Cotonou after the inservice, which meant more good food at expensive restaurants, a trip to Mango (the one normal clothing store in the entire country) financed by my parents, and a trip to a hotel SPA. Which was totally legit. There were four of us who went, a couple people got pedicures and haircuts, but I got my legs waxed! Best decision ever. It was so nice to just have a girl's day out, and pretend we were in Europe for just a day.

(written 11jan2011)

So after all these adventures, being back in village has been both good and bad. It's always hard to go back to not seeing Americans after a nice trip, but it's good to be home in my own house, with access to all my clothes. And things like tweezers and nail polish remover. My first day back in village, the whole town was celebrating a whipping fete! This is a fete that happens in different villages throughout the winter season. It's a coming of age celebration, where a bunch of teenage boys get together and whip the crap out of eachother while everybody watches. They make three lines on their chests... which symbolizes....something. It was really interesting, especially because I missed the big regional one that happened in a neighboring town a couple months ago, and I thought I wouldn't get a chance to see it. But low and behold, surprise, it's happening in my village, and I only have to walk twenty feet to get to it! The celebration actually ended up going on for two days. There was really more dancing and weird posing than actual whipping, but you can't have it all can you!

That same night Reine had all the health center workers and their families over at her house for dinner to celebrate the new year. Which was delicious (she's the best Beninese cook I know). It was really sweet to see everybody again. Atticus has grown up so much just in the couple weeks I was gone, and standing, he comes up to my knees! As usual, all my village friends are gracious as all get out. They welcomed me back. They taught me new words in local language. They fed Atticus under the table. The next day they brought me food. They helped me clean my house. They walked around with me in village. They asked about my trip.
It's lovely to be home. But as always, also hard.

This week I'm working on getting girl's club up and running again now that winter break is over. Heather and I have roughly planned out our whole semester, and I've been spending time in Bassila helping Shannon get her stuff off the ground. There are these two seminar type things coming up for girl's and boy's camp this month, so I'll be on the road again starting this weekend. So I'm trying to keep busy and get back in the swing of things.

My goal for the next two months: learn local language!

P.S. Reine is definitely pregnant. I was still confused up until about a week ago when I realized that she had gotten giant. But still? Who is the baby daddy!?

Thank you all so much for your holiday letters, packages, phone calls and well wishes. I miss you all so much, but I want you to know I can feel the love over here, and I appreciate it!! I hope you had a lovely holidays season filled with the best things: family, friends and food! My thoughts are with you. Happy New Year everyone!

(written 11jan2011)

So for Christmas I went up to Malanville to hang out with Matt and a bunch of girls who were passing through on their way to Niger for vacation. Malanville is way way in the north of Benin, and it was really cool to see other parts of the country! We went up via the highway that is on the eastern side of the country, which I've never been on, because my village, Basilla, Djougou and Nati are all on the western highway. Does that make sense? I got to visit both of the workstations in Parakou and Kandi, so I have officially been to all the workstations in our country. It was so lovely to travel, because not only did I get to see fabulous friends I don't usually have a chance to visit, but I actually began to feel like I was in Africa again. When you spend all your time in your one little area, it becomes so normal that all the excitement is like totally drained from it. And I felt like it was impossible to travel up north just because of the distance and the roads, but it really wasn't as bad as I thought, and I'm looking forward to spending more time exploring Benin!

For Christmas Eve we all went to a hotel in Matt's village that had a POOL, and the most bomb-diggity steak with green beans, and chocolate crepes. We stuffed ourselves silly and went swimming. It was absolutely lovely. For dinner we made beef tacos with salsa that was heavenly. For Christmas day, we all exchanged presents (Secret Santa), and went to the marche in Malanville, which is beautiful, and really interesting because it sells products that come from Niger, Nigeria and Burkina, because M-ville is such a central hub for all those countries. I really like M-ville as a whole. It's kinda big, but it still has a small town feel to it. You can find all sorts of yummy treats like yogurt and beignets within walking distance of Matt's house. I realize that most of these blog posts are food oriented. But getting out of village and eating real food is pretty much the highlight of any trip.

(written 11jan2011)

So I had an inservice midway through December, so the beginning couple of weeks, I was getting ready for that. We all had to do presentations on our villages, so I worked a lot on my village map and found some really cool stuff in my town!

There's a real forest a couple yard from my house if you walk out my front door to the left, and that's where a lot of my community puts their fields. So I've been exploring that area (there's a river, and some really beautiful clearings, and a Muslim cemetery, which is really not that exciting). I take Atti on walks there in the morning. I found some cool areas of town with weird abandoned buildings. I found a fish hatchery. It was all pretty neat! And I feel like I know my village a lot better, and have things to show people when I have visitors!

(written 11jan2011)

So I realize that I haven't blogged about the holidays at all! I'm been so busy since the end of november, that I've just totally dropped the ball. SO- I had Thanksgiving at my workstation in Nati, there were lots of lovely people there, and we had an AWESOME meal. I was responsible for nothing, there were a couple volunteers who got there early and did the whole thing. We had turkey (bought live, killed, plucked, and roasted in a dutch oven) stuffing, gravy, mashed potato, green bean casserole, carrot cake, apple pie, pecan pie and pumpkin pie. Which....exceeded my expectations greatly.

Basically it was a blast. It was great to see everybody- we played Settlers of Catan- and it turned out to be total American magic.