Bisous du Benin!

(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