Showing posts with label staging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label staging. Show all posts

yay! stage is almost done!

(written 14Sept2010)

So this week is swear in! I'm getting ready to move out of my host family house and mosey my way up to village. This is going to be my last blog for a while- probably. Or maybe just like two weeks- it depends on how quickly I settle in and get desperate for the sweet sweet smell of big city pollution and the internet cafe possibilities that accompany that. I'm pretty anxious about the move, because I don't see how two people are going to fit all their worldly belongings into a regular sized taxi. And it's like a regular move in the US, which is generally sucky because there's a lot of box lifting involved. Swear in is Friday, move in day is Sunday, and apparently my host dad is throwing a giant fete on Saturday, which he described as “dancing, dancing, dancing, and exhaustion”. That makes me nervous.
The swear in will be a lot of fun, everyone is staying over at a hotel in Porto-Novo and I'm assuming it's just gonna be a giant dance party. It'll be nice to be a real volunteer, and get the perks of real volunteer- like money, and replacement glasses, and alone time, and generally the ability to make one's own life choices. We're throwing the swear in at the Ambassador's house, and he's a cool dude. He likes volunteers and opens his pool on Saturdays so we can take a dive. I saw him on TV last week talking about September 11th and felt kindred.

I have just realized that the internet I was going to use to post this as I'm writing it right now is down- so this will probably seem really old when it is put up. Since there is no internet, I've sort of lost my motivation to write any more, but I hope you all are doing great!! Talk with ya soon!
Xoxo

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cotonou (continued)!

(written 19jul10)

Still in Cotonou! We've had a lot of free time the last day, and brought my netbook to the Peace Corps office to use their connection. It's not really free time. I should be studying French. But....you know....it's optional....

CONTACT UPDATE
So I'm going to be getting a cell phone at the end of stage (September). If you want to talk to me not on skype, I would recommend getting Pingo or something similar. It's really expensive for me to call the US, so I'll probably like call you and then have you call me back. I do have some phone credits, so I might call from some other volunteer's phone in the next couple weeks. But... that's still kind of a pain- we'll see.

So this is a copy/paste of part of an email I sent- I decided that it was a lot of information and I should just tell everyone:

So I'm leaving Cotonou tomorrow for my host family- I hope I get someone good cause..blech.. Everyone just says that you need to just hang on through stage and just one training after another because post is what everyone really wants to do. I definitely already am looking forward to post announcements, and would rather forget all this learning altogether.

We did another tour of the city yesterday and it was pretty rad, we got to see the ocean at a not nice beach. (We're supposed to be going as a group to a good beach in Porto Novo in a couple weeks.) So the PCVT we were with (PCV Trainer- they are current PCVs that come to help out with stage) was telling us about how he was drunk once and went to go hang out in the ocean (there's a tikki looking bar right on the water that looks exactly like the one in blood diamond). Anyway he looked down by his feet and saw a hypodermic needle. And then he decided not to hang out on the beach anymore. One of the biggest issues in Cotonou (and everywhere) is trash. Your village just makes giant piles and burns it when it's full. But kids are like playing in the trash pile in the meantime and like putting everything in their mouths. So if you have tampons or razors or batteries that can't be burnt you throw it down your latrine, or you dig a giant hole and just bury it. That's nuts.

Anyway, I'm still having fun- although already it's totally hard in moments- I have a really close girlfriend named Shannon- who's from TEXAS- hint hint Mary. I also have a great friend named Veronica, and we trade Sillybands all the time. It's hard because you're always split up by sector (i.e. health, business, agric, tefl) so you get separated from your buds. But really, the people I adore are really too many to mention. This evening I copied 108 movies of my friend Matt's external drive. Um.. yes.. my life just got 80% better. PLEASE SEND ME SILLY BANDS IN THE MAIL. THEY ARE THE GREATEST THING EVER!!!!! AND I WOULD ALSO LIKE OB TAMPONS!

I have like no bug bites at all and poor Shannon is getting eaten alive. I do however have two GIANT bites on my butt that must be from like a raccoon cause they are huge! And it hurts when I have to sit for hours in the hard wooden chairs.

Benin is pretty incredible, and really like an alien planet (as everyone says). I was sitting on my bug bites learning about malnutrition and I looked outside and it was just beige and beautiful and breezy, and everything I've always wanted. Africans say once you go to Africa it will be with you forever. I always had Africa in my head and my heart, and now I know it's part of my soul and my body itself.

I miss you, I love you. TELL ME WHAT YOU'RE DOING! Mel and Grandma- I got your update emails, they were absolutely lovely, thank you! I love you're comments and emails- I'm reading them all, even if I'm not getting my act together to write you back quite so soon!

P.S. I also put some stickers on my zem helmet this afternoon- which pretty much makes me awesome. Everybody loves to take pictures of each other with the helmets because they make our heads look giant, but I couldn't find my camera in my luggage for two days- but now that I got it again I'm hoping to get back on track with that.

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cotonou!

1:39 AM Posted by shell dawg 2 comments

(written 18jul10)

Hey friends! So as you may have gathered, I'm in AFRICA!!! How exciting! So I'm in the town of Cotonou, but by the time you read this I will have probably moved to Porto Novo and gotten my home-stay. We're currently doing a bunch of trainings at a hotel. I'll try to get some pics up of the hotel and friends, cause I do have some on my camera

On that note, I have realized that the reason a lot of PCV's don't have that many pictures of Benin on their blogs, is that it's not entirely culturally appropriate to take pictures of whatever you want, especially since I am a yovo (foreigner). And you have to ask permission everytime you want to photo anything. So I'll do my best to get photos for you guys, but no guarantees.

So what have I been learning? Well... pretty much everything. We've gotten a lot of orientation information, had a lot of discussion about what is and is not reasonable to expect culturally and in your work at post. We haven't particularly gotten into the nitty gritty of training yet. This morning we got to meet the American ambassador to Benin (squeal!) Yesterday we visited the Peace Corps headquarters in Cotonou, which is where all my bosses work, and you can stay if you're sick or just passing through. There's internet and kitchens and the PCV library where you can take whatever you want. There's also this thing called dead yovo, which is a cabinet where exiting PCVs throw things they don't need/want and you can go and pick up whatever you like. There are four main Peace Corps offices like this around the country, and they each have the same sort of amenities, so depending on where you're stationed, it acts as a main hub. Hmmm...what else happened yesterday. We also got our zem helmets (zemidjans are motorcycle taxis, and your main way of getting around), our bikes, our bike helmets, and awesome double sided saddlebags to keep all our bike stuff in. We also had our language interviews (eek!) which was a little bit nerve-wracking because I have apparently forgotten all my verbs. After siesta today we're gonna get our language level placements and start getting into it.

I think that's just about it. It's basically impossible for me to describe what is going on here and what Benin is like. Our staging class has met a lot of the current PCVs who are extremely helpful with orientation, and throughout every part of the organization it really feels like you're with family. After the minute amount of time that I've been here, I feel absolutely comfortable talking with any of the staff about anything. And as far as my stage-mates are concerned, we are pretty much already like glue. I know a little bit about everyone (there's 70 of us), I've got names down pat, and we pretty much love being around each other, and it's frankly a little bizarre how well we get along. I definitely have some good friends already, but I try not to hang out with them toooo much, so that I can get to know every one.
Benin is pretty much like what you'd imagine from every movie about Africa ever. As far as landscape is concerned. Like it's definitely a little dirty, and there's trash everywhere, and manholes in the sidewalk which you can fall into if you're not looking. If you sit in one place and wait long enough, someone will walk buy and sell you exactly what you need from a basket on their head. There are a lot of trees, more than I expected, and little lizards running all over the ground constantly. It hasn't been that hot yet, but we are on the tail end of the rainy season and it will be getting warmer in due time. I went to a “supermarket” yesterday and got an apple and an ice cream bar- SO AMAZING! We haven't had real fruit at all so far, although that's a lie cause there were some oranges at breakfast. But they're not like regular oranges, they're really tough and mostly just for sucking out the juice. It's amazing how quickly you can start craving other foods. I must say that everything I've eaten here has been delicious (and organic)! We have pasta, rice and cous-cous a lot, and there's always a baguette with the meal, so it's super carb heavy. But we've also had fish and beef and some delicious spicy sauces and egg salad-type things. It really is quite good. I'm really looking forward to getting some bush-rat, which will probably be happening once I get to home-stay. Benin is pretty darn cheap. I had a beer last night for 60 cents US. But you know, they don't give us a ton of cash to work off of.

Well siesta is almost done. I'll try to think of other things to say that might give you an idea of how things are- I know reading is not always that helpful. I miss you all very much, but I want you to know I'm doing good, and I'm being taken care of! I love you, and I'll talk with you all soon!

P.S. Lemme know if you have any questions about Benin for me! I'd love to answer!

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philly! (continued) and general revelations.

My dearests. First off, THANK YOU all so much for your beautiful comments and emails, I am reading each one of them and will try to get back to you each in the next couple days when I have some down time. This is gonna be a super quick post.
I am flying out of JFK tomorrow evening, and am super excited to get my rear in gear. Tonight after training I had a lobster dinner with a group of my new friends at some historic pub that we just ran across. We ate dinner in "George Washington's favorite room" and I had Thomas Jefferson's ale made with his own secret recipe. We have a per diem of $140 that we need to blow by 3:00 tomorrow, so after our fancy dinner we went to what is apparently the oldest ice cream parlor...in America? It's called the Franklin Fountain. Delicious. Just got home, it's 11:30 at night, and getting ready to get some yellow fever shots tomorrow morning.

I just want you all to know, how tragically sad I am that you're not experiencing this all with me. Because honestly, even after not even being in my country yet, this has been one of the most kick-ass days of all time. I am having so much fun, making friends at like an extreme rate, laughing my butt off, and having an all around blast. It's so nice to finally be around people who are all in the same position as you. The staff are all so wonderful and understanding. And pretty much everyone is interesting and awesome. Go figure. SO. Join the Peace Corps!!! All your dreams will come true!!
Next post from AFRICA!
love.

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philly!

Hey ya'll! I've made it into Philly and our hotel is right in the middle of the historical district! I went for a walk this afternoon and saw the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall and the building where Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence! There are some nice gardens and sculptures, and it's warm and lovely and a little bit cloudy. 
All of us in the hotel are Beninese, I have a cool roommate from Minnesota, and everyone is super friendly so far!
That's pretty much it. I did go to a deli this evening for dinner and bought my favorite Fage yogurt and got back to the hotel and realized I didn't have a spoon. And I asked the woman at the front desk, who didn't speak English very well and she told me to go the hotel pub. And the hotel pub wasn't really interested in giving me a spoon, so I just went upstairs and figured I should get in an African mood. So I ate it with my fingers! Yum!
Thinking of you all!

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