These past few weeks have been crazy with lots of work and changes. The new group of Volunteers swore-in at the Ambassador's house at the end of September which was really exciting. Now they are all at their posts learning the ropes. I can't believe it was a year ago when I was in their position...crazy to think about how time is flying by. I also had my mid-service medical exam and did a bunch of tests. I am healthy as ever which was a relief to hear.

The rainy season has stopped up north and right now we are in the 'petite chaleur' which is a small hot spell. Hopefully it won't last too long and we will be able to get some more rain before the harmattan comes (the dry wind from the Sahara). Our workstation has two guava trees and the fruits are starting to get ripe so much of my time is spent looking for good ones to eat. I haven't really tried guavas back in the States and I don't know what I was missing because they are delicious and apparently good for you. I am all set up at my new post and have been really busy with fixing various things at the workstation, getting to know people and visiting Volunteers in my region. As PCVL, I visit all of the new Volunteers in my region and find out what kind of projects they're working on, any problems they need help with, etc. It's one really cool aspect of my job. Although, I am surprised at how busy I have been with administrative stuff and repairs to the workstation. It seems as if something is always breaking (mostly electrical) and getting things repaired isn't particularly timely. But I am learning a lot and I hope to think that I am getting the hang of things.

Aside from my post in the north, I went down to Cotonou on my birthday to do some admin stuff. The ride down takes about 12 hours and can be done in a day but we got stuck in Bohicon of all places because the road was blocked from an accident and night fell. I was a little bit upset that I wasn't able to make it to Cotonou and eat Thai food for my birthday but I was stuck with some good volunteer friends and we celebrated in Bohicon...and even went swimming at midnight in the hotel pool!

Tomorrow I finally get to return back up north. I am so excited because I miss it already, have lots to do and my postmate is back from vacation and she is going to help me meet potential work partners. Sorry for the scattered thoughts and the fact that I haven't posted in a while!

So I am sitting here in the northern workstation using a computer with internet! Life is good now that I am finally moved up north. After 2 days of bush taxis, 10 hours on the road and 1 instance of the driver falling asleep at the wheel (while I was also sleeping), my stuff and I made it in one piece. My house is really nice and I am in the compound with the workstation. I have tiles floors, a proper bathroom and CIELING FANS which should come in handy during the dry season. No electricity? No problem. The workstation is equipped with a generator so when those nasty power cuts come, I will still be somewhat comfortable. As I think I said before somewhere on this blog, I am the new PCVL (Peace Corps Volunteer Leader) for the Alibori region in Benin. There are regional houses in this country for the volunteer community to use for work and transit purposes. Along with the workstation comes the PCVL who is there to manage the house and staff (guards, cleaning people), act as a liaison between the bureau in Cotonou and support volunteers in his/her region in various capacities. Right now I am shadowing the exiting PCVL for about a week then I will take over the reigns. I have to admit that I don’t know this area well at all and have visited only 2 times prior but I really do love the north already. It’s the rainy season right now so the weather is agreeable but once the dry, hot season kicks in around February I’m sure the 110 degree nights will make me revisit the idea that the north is awesome. But anyway the scenery is so different and the people are so relaxed. I am really looking forward to spending a year up here. Although I am about 12 hours from Cotonou, I have to make the journey often for administrative purposes and will be able to feast on the amenities that it has to offer.

It was hard saying my goodbyes in Bohicon but I will be passing through quite a bit on my way down south and can visit. My post is being replaced by a married couple so I am really excited about that. He will be replacing me at the Office of Mayor and will work at the archeological park and she will be working with the Centre Promotion Sociale doing health projects. They will be living in my old house and I’m sure they will find it really nice.

I’ll be sure to post pictures of my new town and house soon!

Family and friends back home: I miss you and much love!

Going back to post was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I had to lug all of my baggage and find a taxi to take be back to Bohicon, argue for 30 minutes with the driver to get a fair price and spend 4 hours stuffed in a van to get back to post. When I got to my house, I noticed an awful smell. I opened my back door to find a bucket laying on its side with a dead animal fully decomposed except for its hair and bones. Upon further inspection I realized it was a dead cat. And apparently rats had a feast on the cat and left the most amount of rat droppings I have ever seen on my floor. Why?! How?! Ugh I was so angry and disgusted I had nothing to do but cry. This blog is going to get brutally honest but yes, I cried and called my mommy. First time in Benin. Anyway I finally cleaned it up and apologized to my neighbors because they said that something smelled terrible about a week ago. Now they know why...

My post mates Katie and Margaret and our French friend Delphine invited me to dinner that night, so I felt better to see people who understand. Delphine and I stayed at the restaurant a lot longer and were chatting until about midnight then we both went home. I forgot that I had broken the key to my gate a few weeks ago and one of my neighbors locked it, so naturally I thought "Jeff just jump the gate, you've done it before." Well at the top of the gate there are these metal spikes to deter people from doing what I did and when I got up there and jumped, my sandal got caught on one of them and I basically dived into the cement head first. Thank God my neighbor heard it and came out. I was knocked out for a few seconds and have never seen stars before until then. My neighbor took me to the local hospital (it was scary by the way) and I called my doctor in Cotonou. I spent the night in the hospital and they watched me during the night and in the morning I my neighbor arranged a car and I went to Cotonou. I felt so bad because my Peace Corps doctor, Dr. Lomo was really worried and was calling me all night and my neighbor Gilles was really worried.

Anyway so now I am in Cotonou and I saw a neurologist and surgeon and everything looks okay. I had a CT scan today (there is one machine in Benin) and should get the results next week but everything should be normal. Looking back at what I did, I know that was really really really stupid of me and I should have just knocked and woken up someone. I guess that it took me falling on my face to realize that my neighbors are really the best...and my Peace Corps doctors is the greatest and took really good care of me so don't worry Mom and Dad!

These past couple of weeks have been quite a shock. My mom and grandma took a tour around Italy, Austria and Germany and I decided to meet them for a few days. I flew into Zurich and had to find a train to Innsbruck which wasn't a challenge but there was an accident and some lines were blocked so I had to change trains 3 times and take a bus but finally made it and got to meet up with mom and grandma. It was really great to see them and Innsbruck was such a pretty city. It started raining and the weather was in the 40's and 50's so that was a big shocker for me. Living in Africa, I don't have any warm clothes so I had to make due with some jeans mom brought and a thin sweater. Anyway the next day we went to Obergammergau which is this little town in southern Germany where every 10 years the people living there put on a Passion of the Christ play. Mom's tour guide managed to get me a ticket and it was such an incredible experience. I am really glad I got to go. The next day we went to Munich and walked around for a bit and my mom and grandma left the day after. It was really hard to leave them but I know I will be home in April. I spent the night in Munich and caught a flight to Barcelona.

Barcelona was everything people described it to be and more. By learning French I felt as if I completely forgot all of my Spanish but I was amazed at what came back and was able to get around. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was in the high 70's. I stayed right off of the Ramblas in this hostel called Kabul and it was really fun. I met lots of fellow travelers from all around the world and it made me want to do the backpacking thing more. But I quickly realized that if you are young you come to Barcelona not only to see the sights but to also party. Our hostel was great about getting us free entry into clubs so naturally everyone went out most nights. In Africa I am usually in bed by 10 or 11 so I definitely was not prepared to leave to go out at 2am...and pay 10€ for a drink. That could have fed me for a week in Benin. One of the nights I was there it was St. John's Day, a national holiday, so the whole city descended on the beach at night and were partying and lighting fireworks. It was really fun and crazy to see. Anyway I had a few days there and got to see some awesome places including Mont Juic, Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, and of course the beach. It was so nice to lay on the sand in perfect weather and just relax!

After Barcelona I was supposed to take a night train to Paris but there was a strike and I had to take a bus which took about 16 hours. Normally I would have been really upset and uncomfortable but now that I am a Peace Corps Volunteer I can do anything. Give me my own seat and I'm good to go! But we got into Paris around noon and I went to my hotel and walked around the city of lights. I felt so comfortable there because I didn't have to speak a lick of English. I have to admit that my accent is a bit terrible but I definitely got by and had some good conversations. One of best hours of my life was doing laundry...with a washing machine and dryer! I went to a laundromat and just stared at the machines cleaning my clothes properly. Haha the littlest things make me so happy right now. I also think I ate McDonald's at least once a meal each day. Glorious.

Anyway it was a really good vacation and at times I felt really lonely but met lots of people and got to see my mom and grandma for a bit. I also find that while traveling alone you have complete freedom to go wherever you want and see whatever you want. It was such an overwhelming experience to be in the developed world. I think it hit me harder than I think. I am writing this blog entry on a packed Air France A340 over the Sahara and it is so surreal to be going back. Frankly, this is going to be really hard for me. Part of me just really wanted to catch a plane back to America...or stay in Europe longer. I suppose that I have my new post to look forward to but I still need to tell my work partners that I'm leaving. Actually I think my director was supposed to do that today but funny story: the Mayor of my city is sitting a few rows behind me on the plane...go figure. But I must run and I will be sure to update soon!

These past weeks have been really crazy with all kinds of happenings but I have been doing well as a whole. I am leaving today on vacation so I am so excited! The rainy season finally started and it is so much cooler, especially at night. I don’t really need a fan anymore to sleep at night because I now get a cool breeze in my room. It is wonderful but when it rains a lot, the roads are almost impassable which is really hard, especially on my bike.

I am a bit frustrated with my work in Bohicon because things are slowing down a lot and I have had a few Peace Corps training formations so I haven’t been able to coordinate times to start projects with my work partners. However, I know that I am moving at the end of August and I will be working 2 weeks of training for the new group of trainees in July. So I really will only have time to finish up some things and prepare to move, which I am so excited for. I haven’t told my work partners that I am leaving (the Director of my sector wants to tell them and hasn’t been able to yet) so I feel really bad because everyone keeps talking about things we can do in the future together and I can’t say that I won’t be able to. However, I should be replaced in September by a new Volunteer so I know they will have lots of opportunities for work.

A couple of weeks ago I went up to a small village called Camate where my friend Tony lives. His village is nestled between some hills and it is so beautiful there. Anyway he has a group of women who wanted to start to make bread but needed funds to start up. Tony found the money and they have been successful making bread and selling it (there is no bread in his village until now) but they don’t really use accounting and needed a system to track revenues and expenses so I went up there with my friend and fellow Volunteer Ravi to help Tony and the women. It was definitely interesting because we are so used to tracking everything by the penny but here it is so different; most small businesses are so informal and rarely use any sort of accounting. Tony figured out how much money should have been generated by the sale of bread. We added up all of the money made by the women and of course were short by a few thousand francs. When we asked them why they had no idea but after prying it out of them by asking multiple questions we found out that they bought things like plastic bags but also gave away lots of free bread as “gifts” to friends or family and they sold some bread on credit. After explaining at length that this behavior hurts them they understood and hopefully they can stick to a system. It was definitely a learning experience on both ends as we needed a translator to translate our French into local language because most of the women didn’t speak a lot of French and getting the point across was challenging. But in all I think we all learned something and hopefully these women can start making lots of money!

These past few weeks have been ridiculously busy. I feel like I have been all over Benin going to trainings. A couple of weeks ago I went up to Djougou with my post mate and our Amour et Vie team (our team of peer educators who teach youth HIV/AIDS education and prevention) for remedial training. The formations were so long and somewhat boring for me because after an hour or so of being presented to in French, I just zone out. However I got to stay in an air conditioned hotel room and got a chance to meet up with my friend and fellow SED volunteer Doug, who lives in Djougou. After a few days, Doug and I went down to Ketou to support our friend Rich who was doing a fundraiser for an orphanage he is trying to build. It was really fun and he raised a lot of money. After Ketou we all went down to Porto Novo for an in-service training for my sector (Small Enterprise Development). The trainings were so boring but we accomplished a lot and are preparing for the new group of trainees in July.

After a week in Porto Novo I went to Cotonou to interview for the position of Peace Corps Volunteer Leader. Benin has 4 PCVLs who manage a work station/house for volunteers in a specific region of the country. They also support volunteers with projects and are liasons between PC Admin in Cotonou and the volunteers. So anyway my interview was daunting as it was a panel of people asking me really hard questions, some of them in French. When I get nervous I can't even speak correctly in English so needless to say I sounded like a preschooler in French. At the end of the day they brought me back in to tell me that I got the position in Kandi, the departmental capital of the Alibori region. It is the most remote region in Benin and takes about 10 hours by bus from Cotonou but it is so pretty up there and the people are very nice. I will also get to learn Bariba and Dendi.

I love the friends that I have made in Bohicon and the work that I am doing but decided to go for PCVL because things really have been hard for me here. The south is so much more different and there are a lot of people who are really abrasive. In Bohicon I am harassed almost every day on the streets. When I go out I have to mentally prepare myself for lots of "yovo" calling and attempts to rip me off. It is such an ordeal to get on a moto taxi because I have to argue relentlessly with the driver to get the correct price. Most people think I am a rich tourist or NGO worker and I can't explain to 200,000 people that I am not and that no one pays me to be here. Honestly I think that a change like this will be very good for me and I am very excited! I should be up there in August/September.

A few weeks ago fellow volunteers Sarah and Hannah, her friend Michael and I went on a safari to Parc Pendjari up in northwest Benin, on the border of Burkina Faso. This was my first time visiting the Atakora region of Benin and it was so beautiful. The landscape is so much different than the south and the topography is much hillier. We spent the night in the Natitingou workstation for volunteers then continued on with our guide Aziz and his Toyota 4Runner. The park in Benin is known for its very diverse wildlife and is considered the second best spot in West Africa to see wildlife (the first being Cameroon). We definitely saw lots of antelope, elephants, hippos, and a few lions. It was so crazy to be in the wild with these animals. Our guide knew some good spots and we got close to lots of elephants and really close to a big lion.

After a day and a half of riding around the roof of the car, we went to the waterfalls near the park and they were incredible. The guide there said we could jump off so Sarah and I climbed up this rock about 2 meters high to jump. After we jumped he was like, "No you need to jump off of the top." Needless to say Sarah and I almost killed ourselves climbing up vines and rocks to the top. She jumped first and landed weird and I was left up there alone thinking about how much this was going to hurt. I finally mustered up the courage to jump and it hurt so bad but was quite exhilarating. The jump was about 55 feet but from up there it looked so much higher.

Anyway it was an epic trip and I crossed another thing off of my bucket list so I am pretty happy. Will update everyone soon.

I've been meaning to post a photo of my family and finally have a fast enough connection! I'm standing with my host parents Patrick and Veronique and in the front is my host brother Auriel, and my sisters Ordelle and Carene. It was great visiting them...I've missed them and my Mama feeds me so well!

I am sitting in Cotonou at the Peace Corps Bureau recovering from my In-Service Training and I just want to go back to post. Last week some of my friends came to Bohicon and we went to Cotonou and swam in the US Ambassador to Benin's pool. The new ambassador and his wife are so nice and opened their pool to us on Saturdays. It was so weird but also refreshing to be swimming! Anyways I had to go back to Porto Novo last week for this training and it has been exhausting because we had formations all day long every day! However, Volunteers in my sector (Small Enterprise Development) really learned a lot of new things we can use to apply in our posts. It was also really exciting to see all of my friends. I haven't seen some of them in close to 4 months! I did out every night and ate meat. It was delicious but I spent way too much money and now have to eat rice and beans the rest of this month. While I was in Porto Novo I went over to visit my host family and it was so incredibly great to see them. We caught up on everything and exchanged gifts. I can't wait to go back and visit again because I miss them so much!

Wish me luck because now I have to face the reality of Bohicon and my primary project. I received a lot of tools I can use but it will be pretty hard to implement them. Another Volunteer Tony and I are going to make an association of independent tour guides/drivers in Benin so that project is going to be huge and I am very excited and nervous but it should be big!

First off I would like to say Merry Christmas to everyone! This was my first Christmas away from my family and friends back home and I was a bit homesick but was with my friends here and we had a great time. When I left for Benin it was late July and somehow I think that time in the United States permanently stood still there. I keep thinking that my friends back home are still enjoying summer and are gearing up for school. Football season has yet to commence and it is still of course hot. Now that I read stories about how cold it is I am in disbelief because all I ever have experienced here is the relentless heat of Sub-Saharan Africa. It most definitely doesn’t feel like Christmas so I suppose that has helped to curb any homesick feelings.

For Chirstmas, I traveled to Kandi, which is a small city in northern Benin where the Peace Corps has a work station. It is basically a house for Volunteers in that region where they can do work, have a real shower (no hot water of course) and use the internet. Well a bunch of us invaded and had a great time on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We made cheeseburgers and potato salad and it was delicious.

After Kandi, I travelled even further north to my dear friend Hillary’s house in Malanville. Malanville is a crazy border town on the Niger River full of semi trucks waiting to cross the bridge into Niger. The people there are so diverse as there are many different ethnic groups that live in Malanville, but the Dendi people are the most represented and the population is predominately Muslim. It is like night and day between northern Benin and southern Benin. The geography couldn’t be more different that in Bohicon. It is so much drier and I was actually freezing cold at night, but in the daytime, the sun just beats down and it feels like you are in a desert. I will say that people in the north are so nice and welcoming. It was so nice to not hear “Yovo” constantly!

It’s been a while so I suppose I should update my loyal readers as to my doings. It does not at all feel like December! Right now the winds have changed direction and blow from the Sahara bringing all sorts of dust and dryness to Benin. They call it the harmattan here. I am pretty far south and don’t see the full effects but basically it doesn’t rain and the air is much drier. The mornings are much cooler but in my opinion the dry heat and sun is relentless and unforgiving. I guess I am used to the hot and humid heat of Florida. I would take that over this any day. There is also sand EVERYWHERE. I have to sweep my floors twice a day…I honestly don’t know where it comes from. And the real hot season (Le Chaleur) should arrive in March so hopefully I will survive!

Thanksgiving was really fun. I spent the day with some other Volunteers about an hour north of Bohicon and we all brought food to share. It was a true potluck. I conquered the Dutch oven with my gas stove and made some apple crisp which actually turned out pretty delicious. I found real brown sugar (imported from Cote d’Ivoire) so it made it that much better. We also ate turkey (although it turned out pretty gross but it was still turkey). I have no complaints.

Work is going well. I have my good days and my bad ones as with any job. I can’t wait until us new volunteers are allowed to leave post (end of Dec.) because I really need to do lots of research about the tourism industry here and I need a fast internet connection to finish the website for the park. I finished the marketing plan for the park with my counterpart and we came up with some really good ideas. He made the budget and showed it to me. My jaw instantly dropped because what we need to do does not cost as nearly as much as he is asking the mayor for. Apparently that’s just how it works here…you present your plan and ask for a ridiculous amount of money with hopes of getting anything. It’s literally like creating a proposal and asking $3,000 for something you know would only cost $100-200. But hey if it works then I guess I shouldn’t try and fix it. Hopefully it works… It is so hard for me to be an observer sometimes. There are so many cultural caveats and nuances between relationships and business here. Some things you just simply cannot change. Even though I know that something can be made better, people just won’t be receptive to it because the culture will not permit it. That is the hard part about being a business development Volunteer here.

And on a random side note, I just realized that the Gators are playing today for the SEC. It pains me that I cannot watch but GO GATORS!!!

So this is the place that I work at and a picture of me inside one of the subterranean houses.

Funny story…well not really funny but now I suppose it sort of is. So I’m riding my bike to the park and these two guys stopped me on the side of the road. This all happened in front of the park so I figured they were visitors and I stopped to say hello (me being the nice guy that I am). The man was talking about how he is a pompier (Anglais: fireman) and how the artisans at the park wouldn’t sell him a belt. I was like “umm okay I’m leaving now” but the guy grabs me by my belt and starts shaking me like he was trying to steal the belt off of my pants. I backed away thinking that this man was obviously deranged but he came at me again and did the same. Strangely, I didn’t feel threatened, because I encounter people on a daily basis who are “fous” (Anglais: fools, crazies, madmen, whatever…) and they are completely harmless…I mean this guy didn’t harm me but he shook me pretty hard trying to rip the belt off of my pants. He then looked at me and ran to his friend on the motorcycle and they sped off. The whole situation happened so fast that I didn’t notice that he stole everything that was in my front pockets which was some papers and my cell phone. I was so pissed and now am fuming because I lost all of my contacts and I’m out 15,000 francs…

So I reported it to the gendarmerie and police and to my PC security director and was able to recover my same cell phone number at the MTN store…(after watching World Cup next summer you will all know what MTN is…they are the cell phone company that is taking over the continent of Africa and are sponsoring the World Cup in 2010…and in my opinion are brilliant at marketing). Anyways, I lost all of my contacts (including my family in Porto Novo…I suppose I will have to wait for them to call me) and my shiny new Nokia…and I suppose I also lost much of my dignity… I am the kind of person who always has to have control of a situation. In that one I didn’t have it and looking back it just infuriates me. Oh well life is all about experiences and I can now say that I have been robbed...in Africa. So to the man who has my phone: I hope you enjoy it and remember: Dieu te regard!

Anyways switching gears, work is going great! Well I’m not really supposed to be working for the first three months but we need to get a Marketing Plan for 2010 submitted to the mayor of Bohicon…in 2 weeks! And it doesn’t help that I have a degree in Finance and I worked in Finance. All I remembered from the one marketing class I took is the four P’s…So I’m in a bit of a pickle but I do have some ideas. My goal is to build a website for the park which definitely can be done…it’s just going to take time. We also want to write to editors of various guide books to see if we can get into them. Our goal is to market a lot towards foreign people visiting Benin and I think we can capture a lot of people who are going to visit the Palace of Abomey which is 7K away. The biggest thing I took away from my work at Disney was partnership. …and believe it or not I am a firm believer. It works. But here? Not so much. Since the park is owned by the Mayor’s office and ultimately the community, then everyone should know about it right? Wrong! People don’t know about it and they need to! And it seems that there isn’t a lot of support on the national level. We need to partner with different tourism sites and agencies to get people to come because it is truly incredible to see and can add so much to a visit to Benin. We also need to make lots of friends with people in Abomey, because we all know that people make a point to go there and why not come to our little park for an hour and support the community here! Coming soon…a bon website designed by yours truly.

And finally a funny side note: I was in Parakou for a volunteer meeting during Halloween (I was Harry Potter by the way) and I was on the back of a zemi (moto taxi) and saw a Toyota Rav 4 with…a UCF sticker on the back! If any of you readers ever wonder (like me) where all of the used cars in America go…Well I found the answer. They end up in West Africa! I almost peed my pants with excitement and told the moto driver “Ca c’est ma ville aux Etats Unis!” The other day I also saw a car with Oklahoma plates on it…something crazy to think about.

These past few weeks have been a really good series of events and I can't complain. I ride my bike to the archaeological park (my primary work site) and it is about 3k from my house. The road to the park is paved and goes away from Bohicon. The scenery is nothing but tall grasses dotted with huge random trees. The contrast of various shades of green and the red clay roads is so striking. I just got my new camera and promise to post some photos. (to Hillary's mom and your friend - You guys are lifesavers! Thank you so much and God Bless!) Everyday I take this route and slowly but surely I come to realization that this is my home now and it is so truly beautiful. I am quickly falling in love with Benin. I was so afraid of hating it here and honestly, I do have "what am I doing here?!?" moments but overall things are just getting better and better as the days go by. I found my morning hangout at this cafeteria (a bar type establishment on the side of the road that serves breakfast) and I get an omelet with peppers and sardines and a big bowl of instant Nescafe and sweetened condensed milk. I miss real coffee so much but this is the next best thing. I do not know what I would do if someone handed me a cup of Dunkin Doughnuts or Starbucks coffee. Strangely, ther grow a lot of coffe beans in Cote D'Ivoire which really isnt all to far from here, but one can't find coffee beans in this country. Anyways, the guy who owns the place is very nice and I tell him about America. I am planning on teaching him the importance of accounting and better use of inventory so maybe he can become more profitable.

As far as work goes, this past week I went to all of the C.E.G.'s (equivalent to High School in the US)with my counterpart Theodore and we spoke to the students in Terminal (12th Grade) to offer a promotion for students who wish to come see it. Students were interested in visiting but I think they were more interested in the fact that there was an American in the room. When Theodore introduced me they all screamed for me to speak English as they have had a few years of English courses. I introduced myself very slowly and everyone started laughing because they couldn't understand me. Then I said "Good Morning" in the most ridiculous West African English accent and everyone was like "ohhhh okay." I was dumbfounded that these students couldn't understand my accent. I have a new respect for my fellow volunteers here who teach English to students everyday. Oh well you live and learn and try new things everyday...I hope to return to the schools later on and start an English club because so many people are so eager to learn as Ghana and Nigeria are so close.

My house is almost complete with everything I need. I now have 2 chairs, a table and a bed. I found a bamboo platform (that I am using as a couch) at the market when Sarah, a Teaching English as a Foreign Language Volunteer came to visit me for my Peer Support Network visit. We had the brilliant idea of carrying this thing on our heads back to my house, which is about 5k from the market. It was truly a "look at this Peace Corps Volunteer" moment. Two Americans carrying a huge bamboo bed through my town definitely drew a lot of attention. I have never heard so many "yovo! yovo! yovo! yovo! yovo!'s and yovo! yovo! Bonsoir! Ca va bien merci!'s in my whole time here. It was truly ridiculous/uncomfortable/annoying and funny at the same time. I told myself that I could single-handedly change all of the little children in my neighborhood to respect me and call me monsieur but I now know that that is an unattainable feat. But to the exceptionally rude children and especially all adults that use that term, I make a point to explain that to us foreigners, "yovo" is offensive and annoying. And the fact that there is a song to go along with it makes it unbearable sometimes (especially when an adult sings it). I call you monseiur or madame so please don't call me yovo. On peux dire monseiur, n'est pas? I've been trying to play a game with myself that my name is in fact, Yovo and it does work sometimes so we'll see how long I can keep it up. And in all honestly, 90% of the time kids scream "yovo" because they are excited to see me and I am pleasant and say hi or stop and talk to them. But tone is everything here and you definitely know when someone is taunting you, especially an adult. Oh well but the kids here are great. I wonder what the birth rate is like because I feel like they are everywhere! School just started and it is so funny and cute to watch these little kids walk to school weearing their khaki uniforms. My neighbor is a professor at the C.E.G. and he has a little 2 year old boy who at first sight was terrified of me but now curiousity has got the best of him and he follows me around whenever I see him. It's hilarious.

Sorry for such a long post and the few rants in between but in all things are great! I am really loving the people here and have made lots of new Beninese friends! French is going very well and I am learning a little bit of Fon. I will share more with you all soon!

I just had to say thanks to everyone who sent me an email or message about my birthday! I had some good moments. I was a bit sick the day before but felt better on my birthday and a few volunteers came to Bohicon for the day to celebrate and we made banana pancakes which were amazing! After that, I was feeling bad but made myself drink a petite birthday beer. That evening I got so sick! I've never had a fever that high in my adult life and I will go ahead and say that whatever was in my body wanted to get out as fast as possible from both ends (yes too much information but us volunteers have no shame anymore). I guess I ate something bad the day before and never really recovered. But the good thing is that I had my friends here visiting me and I was too sick to think about missing my family and friends back home so I suppose it all worked out. I took some antibiotics and visited the doctor in Cotonou and feel great now! I am excited for this upcoming week because things are moving along quickly and I have a busy schedule with meeting people for new potential projects. More to come and thanks again to my family and friends!

So I am coming up on the end of ny second week at post and I feel so much better now that I am becoming aquainted with my community. This week has been so busy. My counterpart set up some meeting with various people throughout my region. I met with the management team of the archaeological park and they are anxious for me to start helping them with everything there. I am excited too and I think the first step is to establish some better accounting stucture/profit and loss analysis. I cannot bring them the sophistication of a financial system such as SAP but I am looking forward to teaching them how to utilize Excel. (Hopefully we will be getting a computer at the park very soon).

Anywyas my post mate Katie (who lives about 7K away from me) and I also met with another volunteer Meg who works with an NGO that promotes awareness and education for HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and other health concerns here. Yesterday, we had a launching event in a town close to Katie where the new team will be giving informational sessions to the youth of the community. Katie and I will be acting as liasons between the peer educators and Peace Corps. It is an interesting project and I am excited to work on it as a secondary project. Also Katie's counterpart is a really awesome guy who has an NGO that works with youth, especially oprhans so I am excited to work with him and help out with any enterprise development stuff.

If I keep myself busy, I know I will have a great time. I am realizing that things do take much longer here. I did my laundry this morning and it took me 3 hours! However, I put on some Girl Talk (thanks Caitlin) on my iPod and jammed out. Cooking has become better but it takes so luch longer than in the US. I suppose it keeps me occupied while at home so I have no complaints. I definitely took for granted my refrigerator, microwave, and oven back home. I also took for granted the deliciousness of fast food. I suppose I should have eaten more of it. I remember sitting in the Philadelphia airport before we left, stuffing my face with a Big Mac and feeling disgusted but here that is now a cherished memory. So to all of my friends back home: next time you eat Chic Fila sandwich please think of me : )

So this is my 2nd day here in Bohicon and I am exhausted…I am now officially a Volunteer! My house is empty (aside for the chairs and bookshelf that Rich gave me) and I have been busy cleaning it out, killing roaches, etc. Today I found a carpenter and had to haggle to get some stuff made so Thursday I should have 2 bookshelves and a table and chairs. I paid 30,000 FCFA which is a little over $60 for that which is so much money but oh well…wood is really expensive here and you definitely get what you pay for. I still need to find a bed and perhaps if I can afford it, I will buy a double mattress.

Yesterday I ventured to the market alone and strangely I was pretty comfortable buying various things for my house. I had a really rough night last night trying to prepare dinner. I decided to make spaghetti and French fries (I’m trying to learn how to cook) but failed miserably…my tomato sauce exploded all over the kitchen, I dropped a bunch of vegetable oil on the floor and slipped and fell, I peeled a good piece of my index finger off trying to peel potatoes and I burned my other finger. Needless to say I was not happy or feeling well but I managed to salvage some pasta and I made some really good French fries. I rigged my mosquito net with my hammock cords and had a pretty comfortable sleep aside from my Mefloquine induced dream about hobbits (I am in the middle of reading the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and combined with the anti-malarial drug Lariam makes for some really crazy dreams). Anyways this morning I had to write something because I felt so completely awkward and alone. My whole life I have been a very independent person but today I truly felt alone and fearful of the fact that I am alone at post. I miss Porto Novo and my host family, I miss the other new volunteers and I miss my family and friends back in the U.S. I know moments like these are of frequent occurrence and I feel much better that I went outside of the house and went to the bank and to the carpenter but these first few months are going to so hard on me. At the same time, I should be able to master French (I’m realizing that I am still pretty bad…) and do some great things.