Imagine being a girl going to school in Benin

where you might have to walk miles each day just to get to class

now imagine going to school with 8 hours of manual labor/chores to do each day (boys have none)

and imagine staying in school despite being made fun of in and out of the classroom, and being pressured to get married and get pregnant at a very young age

and now imagine, despite all this, getting straight As.

These are the girls I am working with this week, Camp Success de la Donga. We have recruited the 3 top girls from each school in the Donga, one from three different classes (classes are based on merit, not age, so the age range we have is from about 8 - 16 years old, 57 girls total). We have them here for the week, all expenses paid, and are running sessions on how to succeed in school, how to recognize malnutrition and the basic food groups, what to do before/during/after sexual assault, how to reach out to their communities, how and why you should choose a career path, how to brush their teeth, what the negative effects of early pregnancy are, how to be self-confident, how to play sports, and many more.

Some of those subjects probably seem pretty easy, and they are. These girls don't know these things simply because no one has ever told them.

The concept behind this camp was to mobilize the girls throughout the region, so that they may inspire and influence the girls and the people in their respective areas - 3 girls from each school so that only one girl doesn't have the burden of spreading this information by herself.

It will be a fun rest of the week, and after that: American Blitzkrieg!

This is a 2 day bought here in Djougou, the American Volunteers against the German Volunteers in honor of the 4th of July. Saturday is a soccer match, and sunday is an American football match. The Donga Radio station has been advertising the match all week, so we expect a turnout similar to that of last year, with a couple hundred Beninese spectators. Monday, on the 4th of july, we are having a bbq cookout.

As I am currently sitting at the buvette (an outdoor bar... literally, a little drink?) typing up an email to my boss in Cotonou, I am met with the usual yet humorous reaction to my laptop from the village locals. The proprietor of my house just came up. Here's a short blip of a typical conversation:

Proprietor: Ah-HAAAAnnnggg!!! Ouorou!!(my village name)

Me: hey, good evening.

Proprietor: That girl, is she in there (pointing to my computer)

Me: what girl?

Proprietor: the girl that was here the day before yesterday.

Me: there was no girl here the day before yesterday. (Maybe he's asking about one of the other volunteers in the area?)

Proprietor: the one that already left.

Me. the one that left a couple weeks ago? (referring to Anne, who just visited)

Proprietor: Ah-HAAAAAnnnnggg!!! she's in there?

Me: (confused, recalling previous conversations about how I use my computer to talk to friends and family, and maybe he thinks I'm currently talking to her?). No, she isn't in there...

....

Me: do you mean, are there pictures of her?

Proprietor: Ah-HAAAAAnnnggg!!!

Me: yeah there's pictures of her (beginning to pull up her facebook page)

Proprietor: Ah-HAAAAAnnnggg! (turning to leave, not interested in seeing seeing pictures)

The language barrier is really hard for volunteers when they first arrive here, even for those who have taken French classes. Eventually, after months of frustration and weird conversations, you eventually learn that it isn't your French skills that are lacking, but their communication skills. And that's the point when it stops being so frustrating and starts being kind of funny. There WILL be more. Stay tuned.

I have recently updated the "List" part of my profile. Instead of the very outdated "Packing List" from 7 months ago, I have replaced it with a "Project List" where I will be keeping a running list of projects I have done, or that I am involved with. Indeed, it does not look like too much at the moment, but keep in mind that I was just a Trainee until September, and encouraged NOT to start working on side projects (so that I could focus more on integrating into the community) all the way up to mid-December. Most of these projects should not surprise anyone since I described them a couple blog posts ago. New additions are the Rabbit Farm, Girls Camp, and Map Project. I'll briefly describe them below, and will go more in depth in coming months as the projects develop:

What: Rabbit Farming

Who: Me, first with my neighbors as a control group who will later help me to spread it to the rest of the village

Where: a row of cages outside of my housing area, then an entire house/structure for them outside of Pelebina

When: within a few months, after I get price estimates, apply for funding, then receive said funding

How: Most of the work will come from making the structure, which I will need to draw up and have a carpenter make for me. It will be paid for by one of the various Peace Corps funding bodies, which will depend on the overall price once it is done being budgeted. Maintenance will begin with me and my neighbors, who will then spread the word to the rest of village if they deem it to be successful. At that point, a larger rabbit farming operation could commence.

Why: meat here is sparse, free-roaming, and too expensive for parents to give to their kids. A cheap and easy way to raise their own will mean a better diet and better overall health for everyone and reduce infant malnutrition, which is mainly caused by lack of protein.

What: Girls' Camp

Who: the 2 girls with the best grades from the main CEGs (High School equivalent) in the Donga region of Benin. The counselors are most of the volunteers of every sector here in the Donga.

When: One week during the summer, when they are out of school.

How: Project will be funded by Peace Corps and various Mayors Offices around the Donga. Two girls have been chosen from each school so that only one does not have to carry the burden of sharing what they learned when they return to their communities. The best students have been picked so that we may hold them to a higher standard of comprehension, new ideas, and maturity when addressing topics. Guest speakers of influential women in the community, along with selected volunteers, will teach them about how to succeed in education, birth control options, health, basic computer/internet skills, athletic, and team building exercises.

Why: The condition of gender equality here in Benin leaves a lot to be desired here in Benin. Whether looking at problems from a a business, education or health point of view, empowering women is an undeniable facet for development. Since most girls get pregnant in their teen years and drop out of school, and many women can't/don't space the births of their children because they are not allowed to abstain from their husbands.

What: World Map Project

Who: Me, other volunteers in my area who are available, students in my village

When: Starting in a day or two (when the white paint gets here).

How: I'm drawing a grid on the side of the school with chalk, and another grid on a picture of a map of the world. I will color code ever country and label them in French. In the top right corner will be a smaller map of the world that contains no country borders and is color coded and labeled only for each continent. Below the big map will be a list of every country alphabetically, as well as what continent it is on and what the official language(s) of that country.

Why: Talking with kids, adults, students, uneducated people, I see very consistently that nobody has a clue what the world even looks like. In fact, when shown an unlabeled map of Benin, MOST people have no idea where they are even in their own country (follow-up projects, of course, will be and Africa map and a Benin map). People are confused about the difference between China and Asia. Some think Brazil is in the United States. Some think the US is in Europe, while others think the US is the entire North AND South America. Some think Germany is not in Europe. Clearly there is a lot of confusion about world geography. By giving this community a resource and educating people about geography, it will open up discussions about other cultures and ideas that they have never heard of. The more new ideas they are open to listening to, the more prepared they will be to cope with the issues they have here in the Donga.

Ok, I’m slightly hesitant to say this, kind of in the same way that a local hates to spread the word about a favorite hole-in-the-wall hangout, in fear that it will become overrun with outsiders – but Eric is an amazing tour guide. Seriously. I mean, one’s first time in a third-world country can be kind of intimidating (apparently a 9th grade, church-sponsored Tijuana trip doesn’t count), and he did a great job of letting me get comfortable in the environment before forcing me to eat strange stuff or sacrifice puppies to the voodoo gods. Kidding! In fact, he let me eat nice, expensive food for the first couple days, and by the time we headed out of Cotonou, the most developed city in Benin, I was down to sample the more local cuisine. Along the same lines, when I arrived in Benin in the middle of a thunderstorm, he conceded to a taxi instead of pushing me straight off the plane onto the back of someone’s moto, bags in tow. In addition, just the amount of information he was able to share, whether he realizes it or not, was incredible – it was like having my own personal, relevant guidebook. I could point to anything and ask, what is that?! – and he would have the answer, usually along with some background info as well. It was awesome. I should also mention that every time I noticed a baby sheep, goat, dog, cat, or chicken, I would point it out to him in the most annoying and unashamedly girly manner, and he never complained.

So, from my own experience, here’s what the uninitiated visitor to Benin should know:

Transportation – As my athlete friends at UCLA may be able to attest to, I am not the best vespa passenger. I guess I just don’t trust them NOT to run into something. That said, the best way to get around cities in Benin is on a zemidjan, or zem, which is a motorbike taxi. However, after the first white-knuckled and slightly embarrassing ride, I started to enjoy them. For some reason, it was fairly easy to just sit back, hang on, and relax. I will admit that at times I had a running commentary going in my head, especially when approaching crowded and crazy intersections, a commentary that went something like “oohhh my goddddddd here we gooooo…” I hear that sometimes zems will take clueless foreigners to the beach, instead of their destination, to mug them, but Eric knows what’s up so if you’re with him you should be good.

Taxis are used for intermediate distances, and they’re cars stuffed to the brim with people. Think a ’89 Peugeot sedan, cracked windshield, trunk held down with rope, loaded with cargo, with four people in the front and up to five or six in the back. Not the most comfortable way to travel, and a definite chance of losing circulation in your limbs. Now imagine it swerving around the huge potholes in the road, the ones big enough to lose a goat in, right into the path of oncoming traffic, only to swerve back at the last moment. This made me nervous. I think Eric sensed it, probably when I was gripping his shoulder like a preteen watching a scary movie, so he didn’t tell me until later that one of our taxis had, in fact, sort of hit a zem.

Buses, in comparison, were pretty luxurious. We took them to go up and down the length of the country, journeys that took a loooong time due to the condition of the roads. But – we had our own seats, a window with a breeze, and we weren’t pressed up against any strangers. No complaints there.

I can’t say there is any food that I didn’t like, but that’s because even Eric didn’t have the heart to make me try gumbo, a substance that looks like green slime and which had supposedly caused another volunteer to be sick in a culturally insensitive way. Much of the street food consisted of some starchy, play-doh-y substance and an oily sauce, sometimes with chunks of meat or soy cheese, which is actually pretty damn good. Also, eating with your hands is surprisingly satisfying. On the more expensive side, I can tell you that antelope (and rabbit) with fries is marvelous, especially when paired with a beer and a view. Speaking of beer, they’re twice the normal size, and a quarter as expensive. If you go to Benin, you will drink a lot of beer, and it will make for some deliciously relaxing afternoons (and zem rides). As for local brews, try the chouk (spelling?), a millet beer, but be aware that sodabi tastes like gasoline and is rumored to make you go blind if consumed too readily. I was lucky enough to try it at the house of Eric’s supervisor at the health clinic, who was from the south, because I was told that the sodabi from the north is the stuff that’ll really mess you up. In fact, when Eric told people up north that he was going to make me try sodabi, they looked horrified; it gave me a lot of confidence. I feel pretty good about my culinary experience in Benin, because I have it straight from the mouth of a king that, yup, that’s pretty much all there is. Potential travelers to Benin should note that, had I not blithely ignored many of my travel doctor’s warnings, I wouldn’t have tried much of this stuff, and would have missed out on a lot. I even took a few defiant sips of tap water near the end of the trip. I’m still here.

Other important information: be prepared to be stared at, and yelled at by kids and sometimes adults. It’s good if you’re a bit of an attention whore. Be prepared also to discuter a lot, or bargain (argue) about prices. Not only is it just what people do there, but everyone will try to charge you more because you’re white. Eric is really good at holding his ground while discuter-ing, and I found that if you just stand quietly next to him while he’s in action, it works out. But try it for yourself, it can be extremely satisfying to steadfastly refuse to pay a full ten dollars for a necklace. Outrageous!

Honestly, there’s a ton I could write about (such as, good lord, actual places we went? Eric can do that), but this post is embarrassingly long already so I’m going to sign off. Final thoughts: if you don’t mind your travel methods sometimes being daunting, are not a picky eater, don’t mind having dirty feet and sweet tan lines, and enjoy chillin’, go to Benin. Actually, go in any case, cause Eric is there and what other reason do you need?

Eric, thanks for a great trip, and I don’t want to make you jealous or anything, but I’m going to LA tomorrow and I’m going to eat a Father’s Office burger and Korean BBQ. Also, I had breakfast cereal today. And yes, it was mixed.

I guess the dinner party last Saturday night was a classy event. It turned out to be the birthday celebration of my supervisor at the health center, and given his high rank in the community, he pulled out all the stops to show off how cultured he was by preparing a westernized dinner..

Consequently, and unfortunately for all of the guests, the main course was a cold spaghetti with canned vegetables, topped with sliced hot dogs.

Who was I to tell all 14 of the Muslims at the table that hot dogs contain pork? I'm not entirely sure about that anyway.

This blog marks an exciting new milestone! I am actually sending this blog post from my laptop, sitting at my post, somewhere on that map of Benin in one of the general areas that nobody really cares about. I was finally able to purchase a USB internet key, with unlimited monthly access (a necessity, I found out, when I was sampling a fellow volunteer's pay-as-you-go internet key, and wasted all my credit reloading pages that hadn't loaded properly time and time again. The connection, as I'm sure you could guess, leaves a lot to be desired). Nevertheless, the glass is definitely half full, and as a re-teaser into what my blog is all about:

Although Benin is featured in travel guides for the entirety of West Africa, or of the continent of Africa, travel books for Benin alone are mostly just rumored among ex-pats and volunteers, and very rarely seen. Which is why, when I saw I copy of Benin: the Bradt Travel Guide written by Stuart Butler lying on the table in the library section of the work station, I decided to commandeer it for a look. While thumbing through, I couldn't help but notice a striking dichotomy between Mr. Brandt and Mr. Butler, specifically the passages written below:

"AFRICA IS HELL As you'll know if you've already visited the continent, there's nothing that's good or comfortable about Africa. There is nothing at all nice, nothing gentle, nothing friendly, nothing pleasant and nothing easy. In every possible way, Africa is the worst place in the world. Whatever way you look at it, Africa is Hell. Don't think of it as anything but your worst nightmare. Don't imagine that you might like to exchange your supermarket chaos, your credit-card bills, your mortgage or even your stroppy boss for the life of an African villager. You wouldn't. And if for some reason you did, the chances are you would now be dead. Harsh words from a guidebook writer trying to encourage you to buy his book and visit Africa, you might think, but just look at the facts.

- Africa is the only continent to have grown poorer in the past 25 years.- 70% of sub-Saharan Africans live on less than two dollars a day and 49% live on a dollar a day or less- One in three Africans is undernourished- 17 million Africans have already died of HIV/AIDS, whilst a further 28 million currently have the disease and there are already 11 million AIDS orphans. This year alone two million Africans die of AIDS.- One million Africans will die of malaria this year. This is 90% of the worlds malaria deaths and 70% of them involve children under five years of age.- A woman in Africa is one hundred times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than a Western woman.- 200 million Africans go hungry every day - while the amount spent annually on ice cream in Europe would be enough to provide every single person on the planet with clean, fresh drinking water.- More than 14,000 people a day die from problems related to extreme poverty"

-- Stuart Butler, page 78

Indeed, interesting words from a travel book writer. In the publisher's foreword, however, we find a different message:

"First, a confession: I was keen to publish a guide to Benin because I was an admirer of the beautiful 15th-century Benin brasses (or bronzes) that grace many British museums. It was only after the book was commissioned that I learned the truth: Benin City, capital of the Kingdom of Benin, is in modern Nigeria. I had the wrong Benin. Stuart's emails during the course of his research suggested that although African art may not be central to Benin's culture, African arts - magic arts - certainly were. 'In fact I don't think there was a single day that something weird and memorable didn't happen. We met kings and princesses, sorcerers and witches, as well as more than a few dead people. The average day could see us being pissed on by a python, whipped by a god or having a party with some dead twins.'

The manuscript lived up to expectations, and when I'd finished reading it I told anyone who would listen that this was the most extraordinary book we've ever published. Truly! What other guide could justify a heading: 'The Bradt field guide to gods, ghosts and dead people'? Where else can you get advice about dealing with sorcerers, and tackling bicycle chickens? In how many other countries can you meet the local monarchy, mostly in human form but including a tree that was once a king? Magic and folklore abound, people change into lizards, or ants, or just about anything they fancy - and through it all run practical instructions for enjoying this amazing country. It's super!

Two very different viewpoints for one book. As for me, having lived here for half a year, I can't say for certain which side I'm leaning more towards. That answer, I guess, will come. Stay tuned and find out with me.

Wow.

Yes i'm still here; didnt forget about the blog.

So ill try to do a quick update in an attempt to avoid overwhelming you the reader and me the writer. I am having a fun Christmas up in Natatingou, my work station. Most of the volunteers spent christmas at Grand Popo beach resort on the border of Benin and Togo, but a handful of the northern volunteers stayed up north to have a quainter, less crowded christmas, save money on travel, and go on safari at Penjari (on the border of burkina faso, where the city of Nati is the jumping-off point for the park). So that's where i'll be for new years.

Last week was our IST (in service training) back down in Porto Novo, forcing us to return than the intensely unpopular city we spent 2 months of our training, amongst the Goun people (pronounced GOON, appropriately enough, totally lacking any respect for anyone with white skin). Despite dreading my return to this city, i actually had a great time. I think this was mostly due to the fact that i was in a hotel room with fellow volunteers, most of whom we havent seen since the end of training, with air conditioning and TV, speaking english. We also got a per-diem of almost twice our normal pay, despite getting 2 free 3-course meals a day at the hotels restaurant. Our days were spent suffering through training classes, reminiscent of our training last summer, but the evenings, rather than awkward culture clashes at our host families' houses, were spent eating out at nice restaurants and having dance parties on the roof of our hotel. IST also marked the end of our First Three Months at Post, where we were only allowed to leave our post/city for a max of 2 days per month. Now we are free, real volunteers who can travel throughout the country, or any country for that matter. We're all pretty excited about that.

The main point of IST was to give presentations about our respective villages to our bosses and each other, since our First Three Months were supposed to be an integration period solely for learning about our village, and isolating any potential projects that we could carry out for the next year and a half. IST was also for learning about the various forms of funding available to us for our projects.

My ideas for projects for my community are:

Moringa Plantation -

Moringa is a tree indigenous to northern india, that easily grows in tropical climates, and pulls considerable amount of nutrients into their leaves. Apparently, gram for gram, moringa leaf powder has 17 times the calcium of milk, half the vitamin c of an orange, 10 times the vitamin a of carrots, 15 times the potassium of bananas, 20 times the iron of spinach, and 9 times the protein of yogurt, just to name a few. (moringanews.org). Given the malnutrition rates of my area (about 46% of kids less than 5), and the horrible horrible diet of boiled maize gruel and oil/pepper sauce for most meals, Moringa could be a really great tool to get kids to grow up right. My plan incorporates starting a plantation of 500 trees once the dry season is over, and finding funding to build a shack to dry and process the moringa leaves on-site. i would then stock health centers and pharmacies with packets of the powder, and inform the health workers of how moringa will help with various conditions they see on a daily basis. I would also issue them to mothers who come to my health center for nutritional recuperation (my role at the health center). Eventually, as people become more familiar with it in my area, i would collaborate with people who work at the village markets and phase myself out of the entire process, creating jobs and a consistent source of this new food group for the people in the Donga.

Radio Show-

Considering my area is very under-developed, decentralized, and uneducated, I think it is a perfect place to have a radio show. Most people don't have electricity, and there are not many recreational activities, so the majority of people have battery powered FM radios that enable them to listen to music or pick up some news in french, all while staying in the comfort of their home/village. Many of the radio shows that are played are in french, and several in local languages, but none of which offer health advice/sensibilizations to its listeners. My plan is to find funding for air-time on a weekly basis, and broadcast health advice pertaining to what I've recently seen at the health center. I would intertwine american hip-hop so that it would be fun to listen to and not just preach-y, but would ideally have two different shows, one aimed at mothers (usually the most uneducated) for advice about how to take care of their baby (turns out its very much not intuitive, and even the basics are tough for them to wrap their heads around). The other target demographic would be the later teens and adult males who tend to have the most power for change in their homes and in their communities. The show would be broadcast out of Djougou, and would be for the entire Donga region, which would be about a million people. It would require a monthly trip to the Djougou radio station to pre-record the following month's shows. To make sure people are listening, i would at first host various Majors of health centers, and various village chiefs, one or two at a time. When they return to their respective villages, they'll probably make sure everyone is hearing them on the radio. Once they know about the show, they'll probably continue tuning in, since a lot of the airtime is unused, and they pretty much will listen to anything being broadcast. I would also use the radio show to plug my moringa plantation.

So that's what i have for now in terms of projects. i would also continue going to the health center for nutritional recuperation consultations and follow-ups, as well as random stuff like painting world maps on the side of schools (if you show kids a map of benin, they say its a map of africa. if you tell them it is benin, the ones that do know it's benin dont even know where they are on their own country's map).

So that'll be it for now. Stay tuned for updates on funding for my projects. Should be pretty exciting if it can get them going within the next couple months or so. (see facebook for pictures, its slow i only have time to upload on one website)

New post to come soon, just wanted to post this video about Benin. Thought it would present Benin a little bit better than how I could!

Needless to say, my village does not have internet access. There is electricity here, which I'm thankful for, although on a good day, you'd have to count with two hands how many times per day the power goes out; it is usually restored in a few minutes. On a bad day, you would only count with one hand because the power would stay out for hours at a time. Two days after I first moved here, the power went out for 10 days.

The big city of Djougou (pronounced like jew goo) is a quick 45 minute drive up the highway. The method of transportation I described in a previous post, taking zemis, is nonexistant here in Pelebina because it's not a big enough city, or, it's not a densely populated area, rather. To get around up here in the north, people (who don't have their own motos) rely on taxis. Taxis are usually old chinese-made 5 seaters or station wagons stuffed with 8 or 12 people, respectively, that operate usually during normal business hours by passing back and forth between big cities. For example, a guy with a car will work as a taxi driver between the big cities of "A" and "B." Other taxis operate between cities "B" and "C." Thus, if you live in A, or somewhere between A and B, and want to get to C, you will flag down a taxi in mid-route on the highway, get off at B, go to the taxi station and find a taxi going from B to C, which will depart once the taxi driver finds enough people to fill his car. As previously stated, the taxis are stuffed with people. It is common knowledge here that cars can fit 4 people across each row. Thus, a 5-seater accomodates 8: 4 people in the back, 2 people at shotgun, one person straddling the stick shift, and the driver. A station wagon, similarly, will accomodate 12. Every taxi driver has an assistant who helps load and unload the passengers' cargo that gets lashed to the roof of the car, which is usually so much stuff that it at least double's the car's height. This assistant will stand on the bumper and hold on to the roof rack if the taxi is at capacity. If it starts to rain, he squeezes inside anyway. a

So, for me to get to Djougou, all I have to do is walk out to the highway and wait for a car to pass. If the car stops, I argue a price for taking me to Djougou, strategically find a place to sit that will allow full blood circulation in my legs, and breath only out of my mouth for the next 45 minutes. Occasionally, someone with a car who isn't a taxi will offer you a ride because they want to look important (riding with a white person) to the people they drive by on the highway. I don't worry about getting robbed because there's very low crime here, and people who have their own car dont want the money, they want the status. Plus, if they do for some reason decide to rob me, the joke's on them. I have a Peace Corps salary. And it gets refunded to me anyway by the bureau.

As easy as it may sound to get to Djougou and find an internet cafe, I have been restraining myself from taking this trip for another reason. The people in my village seem a little hurt when I leave. They try really hard to make me comfortable here (getting my water for me at the well, cooking dinner for me, gifts of fried dough, fashion advice, cup after cup of "local brew") that I feel like a jerk when I leave all the time the first few weeks I'm here.

So blogging, as you can see, has several deterrents. Hopefully this is temporary. I am planning on looking into options for satellite internet, that would entail buying a USB signal receiver and buy internet credit up in Djougou just like I would buy phone credit. Unfortunately, for some crazy reason beyond my comprehension, the USB receivers work with all computers EXCEPT those with a Windows 7 operating system. Working through the Stages of Grief, I have passed the stage of Disbelief when I tried it out myself with another volunteer's receiver. I am now at the Bartering stage, which means I am going into the service provider's HQ in Djougou and make them figure out how to get internet out of the sky and put it into my computer. I'm assuming there HAS to be something I can download to make it work with W7...right? I also heard rumors that if I buy an internet phone and link that to my computer, it could work. On verra, as they say in France and West Africa (aka, we'll see).

Anyway, as I'm sure it is very fun to read a blog about how I cannot blog, Ill move on to new topics:

So I was panicking for the first couple weeks here. I couldn't find food. Luckily, I had blown almost all of my move-in allowance the weekend before moving to here from Porto Novo on lots of packaged food (rice, pasta, canned vegetables, tuna, etc) in anticipation/fear of this. In retrospect it was a good move, although I am still mostly without furniture. What the locals eat around here is mushed yams, sometimes with some oil/tomato sauce, for breakfast lunch dinner. Yams here are different than in the US. They're white, like a potato, except they're more grainy. They're about 18 inches long with a diameter of maybe 7 or 8 inches. They're prepared by putting chunks in a hollowed out stump, and smashing them with batons for about 30 minutes, releasing the starch and giving it a doughy consistency. Aside from starch, I've eventually figured out where to go and how to get things I want to eat. Still not exactly a wide selection of food, as I'm sure you can imagine, but it works.

I know in a previous post I talked about going to the king's palace and getting a village name of Woroo (or however you spell it). Up until about a week ago, I thought this was all a little excessive for a small town with one buvette, one mosque, and no food. Turns out Pelebina is a kingdom (the fact that it has a king should have tipped me off) with MORE villages than just the one I'm living in. Seventeen villages and several nomadic camps, the center of which is also called Pelebina, the same name as the kingdom, and the source of my confusion (a situation akin to New York, New York). During my In-Service-Training (IST), I have to report to the bureau several things about Pelebina, including a map of my area. Here is what I have so far:

The thick line is the highway. The thinner lines are dirt roads, and are definitely not that straight. From what I can gather, the highway stretches about 30 kilometers from Gbessou to Wassa, and so the kingdom is somewhat circular with a radius of about 15 kilometers. There are schools and mosques in each village, but the only health center is in Pelebina centre.

My next step for the map is to locate farmlands, water sources, mosques, restaraunts, trash heaps, rivers, soccer fields. Anything of interest, as well as a helecopter landing zone and evacuation protocol in the event that I need to leave quickly, such as a life-threatening illness, a coup d'etat, or if an American priest burns a Koran (seriously).

So as time passes, and my village realizes that trips to Djougou don't mean that I don't appreciate their hospitality, blogs should become a little bit more regular. Very regular if I can figure out the satelite internet situation, which is what I will go do right now. Wish me luck.

So since the testing for French was finished last week, we had a quick session for local languages on Wednesday. I went in the Dundi class, since it is supposedly spoken in northern Benin, as well as Nigeria through Mali (with slight variations of course). It was a pretty fun session, and since it is a tonal language, it was pretty difficult for the 3 of us native English speakers (Matt, Elaina, and I)to pick it up. Hoping to learn more about the language, I searched online for some resources, or even any indication that the western world has heard of this language. I found nothing, so I thought it would be cool to post my notes here in this blog, perhaps being one of the first and only people to transcribe this language in English. The language facilitator, Habilou, explained his language to us in French, so a lot of my notes are French-->Dundi, which I'll keep, but also add the English definition in bold. In parenthesis after the dundi word is how I sounded it out. the 'r's are slightly rolled.

Dundi Language:

Saluations-

le matin (good morning): NA.SU.ba or oo or EE

if someone says nasuba to you, you can say EEnasuba (engggnasuba) back to them

susuba = le matin (morning time, in general)

suba = demain (tomorrow)

Midi (mid day, noon): nazari (naZAree)

l'apres midi(afternoon): nahoiyo (NA.HOY. yo)

le soir (evening): nawichiri (na.wi CHI.ree)

et le travail? (how's work going? a common salutation here) = metegbei (Meh Tegh Beyh)

if the word starts with mete, it is a question

appropriate responses: Alafia; bani

they both mean "all is ok" but everyone seems to like alafia better

tu as bien dormi? (did you sleep okay?)= nkanibanii (nkAHni baNEEee)

et la maison? (and you're house is okay/intact?)= metefu

comment ca va? (how's it going?)= metega

Au revoir (goodbye):

1) Acidensu (aCHI.DEN.su)

2) Acikayo (aCHIkahyo)

a demain(see you tomorrow): Acisuba (A CHI SUh bah)

bonne arrivee (a casual welcome, used all the time): nakayo

arriving back from a voyage: gabite (GA bee tey)

salut! (whats up/hi): Fowh

bon travaille (good work, used as a greeting when someone is in the middle of doing work): nagbei (NAg bei)

thank you (for money or a gift): nanoru (NA NO ru)

thank you, in general, for conducting business, or asking how im doing: nagbei

je voudrais (i would like...): aaba

oui: oo (Owh owh)

non: ao (Ah owh)

je ne veux pas (i don't want...): a suba

Je suis occupe (i'm busy): akamee diyo(Ah Kah Meh. Dee yo)

Je suis fatigue (i'm tired): afara (AH farra)

il est fatigue (he is tired): afara (ah fah rah)

Je suis arrive (i arrived): aka (Ah ka)

il est arrive (he arrived): (aHka)

j'arrive (i'm getting here right now): aaka (AAH kah)

il arrive (he's getting here right now): AH AH ka

Ou est la toilette (where is the toilet/bathroom): mani salagnya OR mani salagono OR mani nkpei fubana

l'homme blanc (white man): anasara

Im an american: abara amerikborono

give me your money (aggressively): kananoru (kana NOr ru)

noru = argent

noru si: i dont have any money

c'est comment? (how's it going?)= mete nteno

or Tu es la? (literrally "you are there" but it means hey there or what's up AFTER you are already hanging out with them. not as a greeting) = ngon o nindii

(the double ii sound at the end of a word also means its a question...)

je ne comprends pas le dendi (i dont understand/speak dendi): asuma dendicinin (aSUma. dendi chehnin)

Ou trouve-t-on.... (where can I/one find...)= mani ntimati nera

nera = vendre (to sell)

n = on

timati = tomatoes

mani = ou (where)

where is the marche? (market): mani yobu gono

gono = etre (to be)

mani = ou (where)

yobu = marche (market)

la farine (flour)= hamini

Fruits= turi hinze (TOOh ree HAHhn zee)

fruit also means the small version of something, as in, the fruit of a mango tree is a small mango? but if you say the fruit of his work is small work?

puppy = hensinze

du boeuf (cow that's alive)= how (howh)

ham = meat to eat

le viande du boeuf (beef)= howham

le mouton (sometimes sheep, sometimes goat...havent figured that one out yet)= feji

the viande du mouton (sheep/goat meat)= fejiham

le poulet (chicken)= gorono goro(gni)o (gni is is how i will write this sound. its like saying "ing" backwards, but you have to really accentuate the "ug" sound at the beginning. also kind of like swallowing as you try to say eeee at the same time. there is no phonetical character in existence (or in academia, at least) to describe this sound!

les oeufs (eggs)= gungri (GUNguhi)

j'ai faim (i'm hungry) = here gono aga (Heh reh. Goo nah agah)

J'ai soif (i'm thirsty) = hari zeu gono aga (HAhri zeeou Gohno agah)

1 = afo (AH fo)

2 = ahinka (ah HIN ka)

3 = ahinza (ah HIN za)

4 = ataci (ah tah chi)

5 = agu (ah goo)

6 = aidu (AYE doo)

7 = aiye (AYE yeh)

8 = aiyaku (ay yah koo)

9 = aiga (ayh ee gah)

10 = awei (ah wee ayh)

20 = waranka (warh ahnkah)

(the following are the sizes, in francs (CFA), of money you get here. 1 franc doesnt exist. 1000f is the smallest bill they make, any smaller and it is called 'petite monay' aka coins)

5f = bie (bee Yeh)

10f = dalahinka (dala HINkah)

25f = dalagu

50f = dalawei

100f = waraka (Wah Rahn kah)

125 = waranka cini gu (Wah Rahn kah chEENEE goo)

150 = waranza

200f = weitaci (wei TAh chi)

500f = zogufu (zon GUh foh)

1000f = fotofo (foh Toh foh)

2000f = fotogu

5000f = fotowei

10000f = fotohinka

c'est combien? marigeno

5500 = fotogu nna zongufo

nna = and/plus

guru = time

say guru and then a number to denote what time it is BUT drop the 'a' off of the word for each number, then say it. it will be pronounced differently

quelle heure est'il (what time is it?): guru marige ya kari

10h: guru wei (goo roo wee ayh) (note: 10 is awei [ah wee ayh])

Since post visit was a 5 or 6 day ordeal, depending on the definition of "returning from post," I will try to brush quickly through the monotomy and boring details. Especially those with which I can easily make a more in-depth blog entry once I live there. I also supplemented the text with some video I took along the way. Here goes:

As stated in the video, Elaina is posted north of me in the big city of Djougou, while Matt is ridiculously far north, on the Niger border (although his house will serve as a good jump-off point for the pan-sahara trip from Niger to Senegal that me and him are planning for a group of us to go on). That particular trip was in a shuttle to rendez-vous with more volunteers/homologues, and then drive eastward to the bus station in Cotonou.

The bus station is pretty easy to navigate through. There's a guy who works there who will lead you to whichever bus you need to take. Since there's only a few "highways" in Benin, and the shape of benin is pretty straight and narrow, it's really easy to find the bus you need, since they pretty much all go northward, hit the major cities along the way, and will stop whenever you need to get off.

Michelle is posted just a bit south of me, off of the main "highway," and despite her village being without electricity or running water, the map indicates that she is at a central point for a handful of other volunteers, and so her post will probably end up being a meeting point for other volunteers in the area to hang.

You can see that the bus is pretty similar to charter busses in the U.S. This one happened to be a double-decker, and we nabbed one of the 2 table-seating arrangements.

The bus drive across Benin was relatively cheap. To get to my village, which is at about the midway point in the country, only cost about $10 worth of West African Francs (5,000 CFA). The bus stops constantly for pee breaks (i.e. peeing on the side of the highway), and for street vendors to tempt the passengers with their products by reaching in the open windows, hands full of goodies. While I have been honing my ability to ignore even the most aggressive vendors, other Beninese seem to embrace the opportunity to buy things by stocking up on groceries by the bag full (the only bags people use here are industrial strength cement bags), so much so that it makes it very difficult to move around the bus.Busses even come with their own vendor aboard, which is usually a "traditional medicine" pharmacist. Both times I rode the bus, the guys were loud, teeming with body odor, and promised to have the solution to any medical problem. They presented each product, which all seemed to look like either bark/wood shavings inside of a used liquor bottle, or little viles of liquid. The Beninese women would giggle and laugh, and when he was done with his schpeil, they would buy his cure-alls. At this point I would shake my head, and feel overwhelmed at the amount of work that needs to be done here, although from a cultural perspective, slightly amused at what I just witnessed.Although this was technically my Post Visit, I'll spare a lot of details about my post, since I will be able to write more about that when I am actually living there.

I did get somewhat of a surprise on Thursday morning in Pelebina, my homologue took me for a walk that ended up being a meeting with the "king" of the area. As we pulled up, I saw big round terra-looking buildings with paintings on them of leopards and giant snakes eating people and the like. The buildings were connected by walls, creating a courtyard in the center.

I was lead into said courtyard where the "king" was waiting for me. He was dressed in baby-blue silky-looking robes, although not notably different than the attire of the wealthy citizens I see around the capital here in Porto Novo. He tricked me into thinking we would saluate with just a handshake by pulling me in to kiss both cheeks a la the Parisian well-to-do, and then pulled my forehead to connect with his while he murmured a few words probably in Yom, the language of Pelebina. He doesnt speak any French, by the way. He sat me down in one of the two chairs in the courtyard, while he took the remaining.

Seemingly out of nowhere (probably because I was distracted by the ambiance and rehearsing in my mind what to say and do to minimize my chances of a cultural faux pas) about a dozen men seemed to file into the courtyard, and thanks to several translators, from the king's language to some other language to French, so that I would understand, I learned that all these men were the kings counsel and cabinet. They sat on mats on the ground around the chairs, at which point I realized how much of an honor sitting in a chair was.

What was particularly interesting about their interaction was that their greeting here in Pelebina was grunting back and forth to each other. How it works is: one person starts it by saying "NNNggg" and then everyone else around, in unison, repeats "nhhnnnhnn." And this repeats about 4 or 5 times until the person who starts it gets bored. They talked and debated, while I tried to pick out French words from their conversation. They asked me a bunch of questions, such as how old I am, how many kids I have, how many wives I have, if I am the eldest son in my familiy, etc. Eventually, the decided I was to be called Ouarou. Wait, what? This was a naming ceremony? Ok, sweet, whatever. Henceforth, I am Ouarou de Pelebina (pronounced WAh-roo, slightly rolling the 'r'). A few minutes later, I said my "merci"s, exchanged a few grunts, and headed out.

So anyway, more about Pelebina in weeks to come. As mentioned in my previous blog post, I ended up being able to visit Djougou, the "big city" where Elaina lives, and eventually to Natitingou, an hour by taxi north of Djougou, which despite being smaller than Djougou is where the PC decided to build a work station for my region.

The original plan got messed up when Elaina got sick. Since I couldn't get a hold of Michelle, probably since she hadn't charged her phone, I decided the trip was worth even taking by myself. When I got to Djougou, Elaina looked terrible, and Doug, a current volunteer who is also posted in Djougou was facilitating the process of calling the Peace Corps doctors. Here's a bit about what Elaina had to say:

So Doug, Elaina and I all stayed at the hospital for about 6 hours while Elaina went through 3 IVs and a couple different forms of antibiotics, since the doctor didn't know exactly what the problem was.

At about 6, Doug and I ordered a plate of spaghetti for Elaina, and headed out. Doug had found out that a lot of other volunteers and trainees were in Nati that evening, and decided it would be a fun time not to be missed out on, so he came with, which made it a lot easier for me.

After stopping at his house to get a couple things, we headed over to the taxi garre, and flagged down a taxi (an old, beat up car that they cram full of people) that was heading to Nati. Despite cramming 4 people in the front and 4 people in the back of this little 4-door foreign car so full that I was losing circulation in my leg, I enjoyed the ride. At this point the sun was setting to our left, over rolling hills covered with very African-looking trees, and I would have pulled out my camera for a picture if I could move.

I had heard the Natitangou work station was the prettiest of the 4 work stations in Benin, but I wasn't expecting this. It had a very cozy feel to it, and a je-ne-sais-quoi vibe to it that a lot of hip cafes in LA try to achieve.

Me and some other volunteers went to a buvette for the evening (an outside bar. basically, the only kind of bar here in Benin). Before sunrise the next morning, we headed off to the bus garre to get stand-by tickets. The majority of the other trainees had bought their bus tickets the previous day, before I had arrived, so the only other PC people on my bus were Michelle, and a current volunteer and trainer named Brandon. Despite the bus being much slower and full of some pretty cranky Beninese, we had a good time.

The bus at one point began smoking from the engine. The Beninese people started freaking out in mass chaos, forcing their way of the bus, very uncivilized. They were hitting kids and trying to crawl over seats to get out. The three of us waited for the mob to exit the bus, and then we got off, where I took this video:

The bus ride took 13 hours total, (which was longer than the trip from DC to Benin via Paris) and as we arrived in Cotonou we realized we were too exhausted by travel to attempt to track down a taxi and do another 1.5 hours to Porto Novo, so we stayed at the bureau. We went out to a delicious expensive Thai restaurant to celebrate the end of an adventurous day, and spent the evening enjoying the bureau's free wireless internet, and sleeping very very well.

This week is going to be an exiting one - all of the volunteers are visiting their posts. We leave tomorrow bright and early, some of us so early that it's not even so bright. For me, I have to be ready to go at 5:30am, and have a "9 hour bus ride" to my village. Of course "9 hour bus ride" is a literal translation from west african french into english. In reality, when a beninese says "9 hour bus ride" it actually means a 17 hour sauna on wheels, which is usually stuffed to twice the capacity and going half the speed limit. This is a loose translation, mind you. Nevertheless, I will come armed with my ipod and half-functioning headphones (the left ear speaker is busted. See: Wish List - UPDATE for new headphones) and will be ready to nap.

Every volunteer has different plans, because what each person's schedule is during the post visit is completely up to the "homologue" that is responsible for showing us around, translating from french -> local language(s), introducing us to important people, discussing prices and getting the carpenters started with furnishings for our new home, finding us food, etc. That said, this is our time to figure out exactly what our villages have to offer, so that we know what to prepare for and what to buy in Cotonou before we more there permanently (to spare us from any unnecessary "9 hour bus rides" just to shop for essentials).

We only have 3 assignments to be completed when we show up for training back in Porto Novo Next monday:

- Begin making a map of the village

-Keep a daily journal of activities (in French, for French class)

-note and report any sub-standard issues with my future house

So it's ambiguous at this point whether the rest of this week will be equally/more stressful than the usual training process, or a much needed relaxation session. Obviously, I hope it's the latter, but I don't want to sit around doing nothing all day either.

On Saturday, I have been tentatively planning on organizing some transport for me and some other volunteers posted around me to meet up in Djougou (the big village/town that's closest to us, where we will be going to buy things other than food and basics, and where we will be going to use internet and other priveledged things of the sort).

From Djougou, we are also hoping to ride up to Natitangou, which is our official "work station," which means there is a library for volunteers, beds, showers, and medical supplies. The plan is to spend the night in Natitangou (the cool kids call it Nati for short) and catch the bus out of there Sunday morning, so that we can get back down to the South by Sunday evening.

This sort of traveling is not really encouraged or common for volunteers to do during a post visit - the admin mostly wants us to just stay in our villages the whole time - but I feel like it would be more useful to see what kinds of things I can buy in the nearby markets, and what to expect of the work station before moving up there, rather than spending a 4th day in my soon-to-be-village.

Pictures of the trek will come soon. I hear the intire area is very picturesque, so fingers crossed I will have some good shots by the time I return.

Above is a video of my room and the rest of the house I have been staying in. I have been trying to post this video for a while now, unsuccessfully each time because it is a 4 min clip and the internet connection will break halfway through and mess it up, or I won't have enough time to wait for it to load. After augmenting the image quality several times, this version, about 1/10th of the original quality, eventually uploaded. So bear with me on the quality, its just to give an idea of what my housing situation has been like since arriving, and what it will be like for 3 more weeks up until I move to my permanent residence (which i guarantee you will not be as glamorous).

So I have a phone here now. To call, you need to dial:

011-229-66-27-33-05

- the "011" part is just to get out of the US. If for whatever reason you don't need to worry about that part, skip it, or replace it with whatever code you need to depending on your phone plan or what country you're in.

- the "229" part is the Benin country code. If you come visit and you're already in Benin, don't dial this part.

- the rest is my personal number. Give it a try!

So at this point after being here for a few weeks, it have a better sense of what kind of things I should have packed more of. I have already received some pieces of mail, which was very exciting. Below I'm posting a wish-list of things I find myself wishing I could find here. Not that I expect any/all of these things, but if anyone is bored and feels so inclined to mail one or all of these things, it would make my week.

-just a letter or post card from you so i can hang it on my wall next to my desk

-Postage stamps (USPS)

-bbq sauce or any other american comfort food

-pictures of you, or of really simple american things like a house, a room, apartment, etc.

-a small mirror

-melatonin

-duct tape

-a guitar capo

-nylon guitar strings

-jazz guitar books (bonus points if it's joe pass)

-gardening gloves

-small speakers for an ipod (battery powered or not)

-a couple lighters

-tea packets (the more interesting or exotic the better, chai par example)

-seeds for cool or aesthetically pleasing plants for my garden (they say indiginous plants from India work well because they have a similar climate. hawaii probably works too)

This previous Wednesday, the RCH (rural community health) volunteers all got to go on technical visits to current volunteers' posts, which we would return from by either Saturday or Sunday. Groups of 3-4 people were assigned each post, and we basically just got to be shown around the village by the current volunteer. Accompanying me on my tech visit were two other trainees named Tom and Maggie.

The volunteer I stayed with was named Louis and has been in Benin for a year. He has electricity and running water and a dog named Rex. He works at a health center that is only about a 20 minute zemi ride outside of Porto Novo, making our commute way less stressful than other volunteers whose tech visits were in Northern Benin (about a half-day commute). Despite its proximity, the village was very slow and quiet. We didn't really get the opportunity to see what it was like working at the health center because the workers were on strike so it was shut down. They did, however, keep open the maternity ward because they average about a birth a day. We swung by the health center on Thursday to get orientated, learn how to take blood pressure, do malaria tests, fill out baby weight charts, the works. We returned on Friday to find a woman already at 8cm as if she was waiting for us to arrive. We were invited into the birthing room in the heat of battle, only to discover several minutes later that this was a very rare birth. The baby was breeching. Specifically a frank breech, as I would find out later, which is where the baby's bottom comes out first, with its legs extended so that its feet are under its head. That would have been enough excitement for one day, but there's more. The baby came out with an eerie-looking pale blue skin color. She wasn't breathing. The three of us volunteers watched in horror as the med center workers tried resuscitating the baby by massaging its torso. Minutes passed. They tried vacuuming her trachea to clear up any mucus. Hours passed. They put a respirator pump over her face to manually pump air into her lungs. Days passed as we stood motionless watching. Finally the baby began coughing, and I checked my watch to find out that only 4 or 5 minutes had passed. Wow, it felt a lot longer. Louis nonchalantly walked back up to us with some gloves on, apparently having just finished up some other work we didn't think to ask about. He mentioned that babies die in delivery a lot here. He's seen it before, and thought it was going to happen that day. The other 2 volunteers and I were able to move our mouths to start talking again, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say we were glad that we didn't watch a newborn baby die on our technical visit before we even got to post.

Later that day, we were doing a vaccination visit to a nearby community when me and Tom noticed that the queasiness from watching the birth had not worn off several hours later. Maybe it was progressively getting worse? Is that even possible? Turns out it is possible, provided the queasiness is not from watching a birth, but instead the symptom of an actual illness. A couple hours later Tom and I were "bed" ridden (and by bed ridden, I mean couch and Benninese-yoga-mat-thing ridden, respectively). He had a temperature of 36 degrees, and I was clocking in at 39.5. I guess we had 2 different illnesses. Both of which weren't malaria, which is reassuring, but makes the question of why Maggie didn't get sick too all the more mysterious.

During the night of my fever, I heard from afar a mystical spirit entity roaming around the forest/jungle of the village. Now I know what you're thinking: crazy dreams from a high fever, but you're wrong. Need I remind you that Benin is the home of Voodooism. The spirit of Oro (a secret society of important people, voodoo priests and other frat members) will come and go, appearing only at night. You can hear him whistling and whooshing around town, making a sound kind of like when you tie a piece of wood about the size and shape of a credit card to a piece of string a few feet long and spin it really fast over your head. As much as Oro's presence is made while you're sleeping, you're strictly not allowed to see Oro or you will be killed. For this reason, the Peace Corps Safety and Security Advisor has advised us that we should not look at Oro. Everyone in town is given ample warning as to when Oro will be out, not to mention you can hear him coming a mile away, so it is not an issue, but regardless sometimes volunteers will evacuate their village for a month at a time so as not to accidentally catch a glimpse.

We left Louis' post the next day with a few experience points under our belts, wiser about what to expect when we get to post, now knowing what Oro sounds like, humbled at what size a "big" spider actually is, and full of ideas for what we will do once we get to our post. It was overall a positive experience, and I'm excited to see what my house/post will be like in comparison.

So I thought it would be fun to show what kid of meals they serve here in Benin. These are pictures of my breakfasts and dinners over the past few days as a reference for how one eats here. (Please note that I haven't had a chance to take a picture of the main staple of their diet yet because I haven't had it within the past week. So instead of waiting to post this blog to include it, I'll just build up the suspense by talking more about it later. )

As a guest at my host family's house, I eat alone at the table before everyone else. The rest of the family will either eat after me, or outside in the courtyard area. Most meals consist of a very oily bowl of onions and peppers, with a side of something starchy. You'll notice there is a lot of fish. Most of the time they don't bother processing the fish at all, and will just cut it in half (separating the head from the tail) and toss the pieces in a stew. Since I'm a special guest, I've sort of been getting VIP treatment. Stay tuned for pics of my meals once the initial excitement of my being here wears off...

Here are a few of the Breakfasts:Egg, cucumber, lettuce, onion, tomato, for the sandwitch. Side of teaAvacado, lettuce, onion, pulled fish, tomato, cheese, and bread. Side of teaPulled fish mixed with onions, peppers, and tomatoes. Tea, and a plate of pineapple

...and some of the dinners....

Goat stew with potato, carrots, and onion in a creamy mustard sauce (which I'm not too fond of). Side of papaya and pineapple.

Beans and onions, sprinkled with a powdery thickening agent. Side of plantains.

Kind of like a pot pie. Pulled fish, potatoes, carrots, and peppers inside a fresh-baked crust. Side of coke.

I have finally been assigned to where I will be living and working for the next 2 years*. I will be in a village called Pelebina, which is very close to the Togo border in the Donga region of Benin.

It is central/north Benin, so there is a little bit of French spoken still, but a decent amount of the language is still the tribal African dialects. It is predominantly Islamic, although there is probably still some Catholicism and, as is the case with the majority of Benin, there is the ever-present influence of vodooism. Should be interesting. Its still unclear what my housing situation is, but as far as I can tell from the outdated paperwork I receieved (which was written in chicken-scratch and in French) I am living in a house with multiple structures. There is no electricity, and my water will come from a well that is on the compound. It does indicate that there's a roof AND the walls are painted, which I can't help but be excited about. My neighboring volunteers are all really cool so it will be fun living within a short bike ride from them. I'm also within a short bike ride from a monkey forest. And not just any monkey forest, but a SACRED monkey forest. I'm definitely looking forward to checking that out.

*The assignment is not binding. Volunteers can apply for other projects or openings around the country if they wish, usually after a year into their service.

So I think I mentioned it in my very first post, but since I was able to successfully upload a video about moto riding, I'll go into a little more depth.

Benin is a special country in regards to Peace Corps policies. On one hand, no Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) are allowed to operate or ride on motorcycles. In Benin, however, it is the main mode of transportation, and therefore PCV would basically not be able to function without it. So the compromise is that we can ride on motorcycles (called motos, zemidjans, or just zemis here) as long as we always wear the PC issued moto helmet that we received upon arriving to Benin.

You can get anywhere you need to go by hailing a zemi driver (the taxi service of Benin). Usually if they see a yovo (foreigner, white person) standing on the side of the street, they'll stop and ask if you need to get somewhere. You tell him where you need to go, and he tells you a price. Usually he'll try to rip you off since you are a yovo, so if you explain to him that he's charging too much, or that you live here, you can find a compromise.

The video below was taken while I was riding on my host-brother's moto this past While we were checking out some sights for the fete national (national celebration) that marks the 50th anniversary of Benin's independence.

Today I found an internet cafe right next to the school where we have training. I bought a bunch of time in bulk so I got a good deal. It came out to about 20 cents per hour, which is pretty good here. Usually the going rate is about 60 cents an hour. So since it looks like I'll have the luxury of going on the internet more often, it also means I'll be able to post smaller and less significant posts about being here in Benin.

Today I am happy to announce that I found a fan for my room. I haven't been sleeping too well since I got here since I've been waking up several times each night because I'm just too uncomfortably hot (and other times because of obnoxious roosters). I hypothesized that this was because I have not been keeping my window open since that would invite all of gods creatures big and small (but mostly the biggest of the smallest) to enter my room. In fact, immediately after I opened my window for the first time, a very sizable cockroach darted onto the window sill from the outside wall. I was able to get it to leave, but window hasn't been opened since, and my sleep has been suffering from it.

I decided yesterday that enough was enough, and that I would set up mosquito netting over the window (this will all make a lot more sense once I get some pictures and/or video up). I rigged a slip and pulley system so that the window panes can swing outward and back closed without me ever undoing the mosquito netting. However, when my host family saw me finishing up the project, they offered me a fan, which ended up working out great. I slept all through the night, and even slept with my shirt on since the temperature was so tolerable. Consequentially, today was a very happy-go-lucky day for me.

I'm constantly amazed by all the little differences between the U.S. and Benin. For example, in America our roosters say "cock-a-doodle-doo!" to the rising sun as a signal for all to begin a new day, probably as a majestic looking silhouette atop a white picket fence. In Benin however, the roosters will actually sneak up to right outside your window and start screaming bloody murder at 4:45 in the freaking morning and will continue sporadically throughout the day. Its facinating, just facinating.

So this previous Sunday, my host mom came to check on me while I was eating, as she usually does. In Benin, guests eat before everyone else, and they eat alone. Most of my meals have been served in this fashion, although since I keep asking when everyone else eats, the father has begun to eat dinner with me. I am beginning to regret my decision since the only conversation between us is actually him just giggling at me between handfuls of food. Anyway, as I was eating my lunch on Sunday, the mom came to me and told me to prepare an American meal for dinner that evening. They had invited her sister and nephew over, and were going to show off having an actual white person, nay, an AMERICAN staying with them by having said American prepare an American meal. Since the ingredients one can find at the market are pretty limited to a few vegetables, live seafood, and live chicken, I racked my brain trying to figure out something I could cook for 5 people that I wouldn't likely mess up in a Beninese kitchen (a room with stools, cutlery, and a kerosene stove). I thought chicken fajitas would do the trick. The guacamole would be easy. There are plenty of tomatoes, onions, and garlic. The avocados are a little bit bigger than a softball. My plan was to caramelize some onions, mix in some peppers and chicken strips, top it off with some guacamole, use some laughing cow cheese. And for tortilla I could just use the loaves of french bread that are sold on every street corner and smash them down a bit. It would work...I found everything at the market and the stuff I didn't, my host brother told me we already had at the house, including garlic and chicken. Later that day, when I started cooking, I asked the mom where the chicken was for me to start cutting up. Turns out the chicken are kept on the side yard (coincidentally, about 4 feet away from my window). There was a rooster and a hen running out in the open. The mom told me to pick one for dinner, and you can bet on which one I chose.

The rooster was delicious. The fajitas turned out great, and the guacamole was probably the best I've ever made. The guests and family seemed to like it, although I'm not sure if they were just being sensitive to my feelings. Either way, I'm not losing any sleep over it.

The Flight:

So yesterday evening we finally arrived in Benin. The flight from Paris to Benin was quite different than what I expected. I won't go in to what I expected...but the plane was a normal sized continental plane. Each seat had a tv monitor on the back, so that people could watch a movie or play a video game of their choosing. Everyone on the plane spoke French. The African people on the plane were all dressed very formaly in western clothes, i.e. polished shoes, slacks, jacket, tie, blazer, and sometimes a hat. Even the African children wore this for the flight. The white/European people, on the other hand, all seemed to be dressed very casually. One French group seemed to be whole-heartedly embracing the African experience by dressing entirely in what appeared to be fly-fishing vests, 3/4 length khakis, and safari hats. Through all the random conversations around me, I have been able to understand a good majority of what they're saying. My French lessons from years ago are coming back to me.

While my other 2 counterparts seemed less than impressed with the airline food, I welcomed as much as i could get before the mystery of Beninese cuisine would be revealed. It was interesting flying over the Sahara, despite its monotamy. I only saw two very small towns through the entire desert between Paris and Benin. But other than the ocasional surveyance of signs of civilization, I mostly just slept on the plane. Arriving into Cotonou, the city looked very flat. Its shaped similarly to San Francisco, with an inlet and a huge bay that surrounds it with water on three sides. Many of the buildings seemed to still be under construction in some way, and some of the structures were partially or entirely in the bay. It was interesting to fly in after the sun set because I noticed very few lights were on despite it being the biggest city in Benin. There were scattered street lights, and an occasional building illuminated, but that was it.

Arriving:

Everything since getting off the plane has been very easy for us. Abnormally easy. Since the rest of our staging group has moved on to Porto Novo for training, the three of us have the Cotonou staff's full attention. We were greeted at the airport and led into a VIP room (too small to accomidate the other volunteers when they were here) in the airport with air conditioning and couches. There, we talked with a couple of the staff members we would be working with and we were given bottles of water and bread to snack on. Meanwhile, another staff member braved the mass surrounding the luggage carousel and hunted down our baggage for us. We took a Peace Corps jeep back to the Peace Corps Headquarters, but stopped to pick up a couple pizzas along the way. The hq is located in the wealthier part of town, adjacent to all the various embassy buildings and such. When we pulled in, a guard opened the gate for us, but before could drive any further than the gate, the guard did an inspection for bombs all around the undercarriage of the car and under the hood. We did a quick orientation of where everything is as we ate our pizza.

The Peace Corps Office:

The peace corps office/hq is a three story building surrounded by walls with spikes on the top. The entrances are guarded by one or two guards at all times. The architecture will take some getting used to. There are random steps in hallways or in doorways. Because they want the air conditioning to escape into the hallways, the doors mostly remain shut, which makes it somewhat of a maze to get around. One wing of the second floor and the third floor are all administration and medical offices. The other wing of the second floor is a lounge, bathrooms and showers for volunteers. The first floor is the volunteer computer room (where I am currently sitting), and the volunteer library and sleep-room (about 6 bunkbeds, and a shelf full of clean sheets and towels). Unfortunately I am not allowed to post pictures online, as it is a security risk. I'm not really supposed to take pictures of Cotonou either, since the people believe it will steal their soul. Apparently I will be able to take pictures when I arrive at post (my assigned village), because the people will know me and be able to see the pictures instead of in the city where they think I'm a tourist stealing their soul and immediately flying back to the U.S. to do god knows what with it. So, I will have to describe it instead:

A view of the city from the Peace Corps office:

In the City:

The deveoping world cannot be more literal. Many of the buildings seem to still be under construction. The most of them, I have not seen any lights on inside which makes me think they're abandoned. Not all the roads are paved but even some of the paved roads will have enormous dips in them, probably from when the rainy season compacted the dirt beneath it. Sometimes chunks of the pavement will be missing entirely. Today, I saw a small boulder in the middle of an intersection. Not sure what that's about. The roads are mostly filled with motorcycles/electric scooters. This is how everyone gets around in Benin. They're the taxis. Today, we were issued a motorcycle helmet and were orientated on how to hail one and heckle the price. In front of what seems to be every other building, there are piles of dirt, cement, bricks, fruit. Anything. The scaffolding for the buildings are just long, straight branches.

This would be a pretty depressing sight, if not for the trees, and vivid colors of the street life. Down most of the busy streets, there are people selling things on the side of the road. Clothes and african fabrics are hung up along the sidewalks. Electric keyboards, cell phones, fruit, belts, pictures, are all being sold on the side of the streets, but most of the vendors are in designated markets. The volunteer who is orientating us said it best: "anything you want you can find on someone's head." It was funny for me to be shown around the market by a current peace corps volunteer. Every once in a while she'll point to a person sitting in a corner selling stuff, and she'll say "oh and over there is where we usually get our peanut butter." etc, etc. There are stores here, but sometimes the person on the side of the road is just more convenient.

The People:

Hopefully that paints a picture well enough. The people here are all very friendly. Suspiciously more so in the markets...There, you are a rock star if you're white. People do favors for you hoping to get some cash from you. One guy stopped traffic on a very busy street for us so we could cross. Regardless, I still see them all being nice to each other too, so I dont think they're just sucking up to us so we buy their stuff. Here, its rude to be not nice. As weird as that sounds, if you do not say hello to people and ask them how their day is going or how their family is (this is for anyone, your taxi driver, a food vendor, anyone), then they think you are rude.

My job:

So today I was fitted for a bike, given a 10 week supply of antimalarial pills, given the meningitis vaccine, interviewed by my boss for what type of assignment and village fits me best, and interviewed in French to know what level of French comprehension I am at right now. I'm pretty sure I am being placed in intermediate, which is able to understand, talk and ask questions, talk about yourself, hobbies, family, etc. Advanced level is if you can debate whether the death penalty is morally wrong, or give a presentation on the role of government in a society - more philosophical, advanced stuff. I'm not really stressing about it; throughout training there are so many french teachers that our class size is 2-3 volunteers per teacher, and we have class up to 4 hours a day I think. My boss who's in charge of all the health volunteers is pretty cool. We chatted about job skills related to health, as well as totally un-related. He seemed particularly excited about how I play soccer. Apparently every tuesday for the rest of training, the volunteers and staff meet up together in the middle of the city for a soccer brawl. He was also interested that I was a Boy Scout. I think this inevitably means I will be assigned to one of the rougher parts of the country to live in. But yeah, he was very fun to talk to and I think I made a really good impression.

Future:

Tomorrow, we are leaving at 7:30 in the morning to drive over to Porto Novo, which is 45 minutes away. It is there where we be for the duration of training. Tomorrow the three of us tardy volunteers will finally meet up with the rest of our staging group. We will start training a day or two behind the rest of the trainees, and we will stay our first night at our host family's house, which will be sure to be an awkward experience. Stay tuned.

It is almost time Togo. I will be Ghana this evening, which is good because Ive Benin the states for almost a week longer than I should have. Next time you see me, I'll probably be sunburned, but hopefully also Mauritania.

Ok enough of that. So it looks like we're finally leaving. I am currently sitting in the hotel lobby, having already checked out of my room at 11am this morning. Since then I have ventured downtown to pick up our passports from the PC headquarters, and got to mingle with the Madagascar staging group here in the lobby while they were waiting for their charter bus to take them to the airport. One of the Madagascar trainees approached me and asked me if I was Eric Newton. After some talking, it turns out he also went to UCLA, was roommates with my former boss when I worked the Hedrick Front Desk, and his girlfriend is in my staging group in Benin! Small world. He also entrusted me with a letter for his girlfriend for when I meet back up with the rest of the group in Benin, so I feel very important as the carrier of this guy's parting words. I'm also carrying a mystery package from another trainee's mother, which arrived at the hotel in Philadelphia too late for to get before she left. So hopefully as the bearer of a significant other's parting words and a mother's last minute-delivery, my arrival to Benin will be met with more excitement than otherwise.

Our shuttle is picking us up from the hotel in about 30 minutes, and our flight leaves at 10 tonight out of D.C. (instead of New York, as I had previously thought). We are still stopping-over in Paris to refuel and then heading south for another 6 hour flight to Benin. I'm crossing my fingers that no volcanoes are about to erupt...

So, to stay true to my peace corps experience thus far, i have encountered more delays. My passport situation is still up in the air, despite the flight to Benin by way of Paris departing in a mere 6 hours. This means, of course, that I am not going.

yet...

Apparently upon arriving and officially registering for the Peace Corps yesterday, about 10 or so people still did not have their passport/visa ready to go. Peace Corps staff worked hard to get all of the passports and visas ready by today, but unfortunately they could not get all of them done in time. me and three other fellow trainees were the unlucky. At this moment we are on a train to D.C. to be near the embassy and Peace Corps headquarters and the diplomatic passport office and all of that good stuff. We have each recieved a per diem through Tuesday totalling $160, plus free hotel accomodations in Georgetown. The Peace Corps staff who are heading back to D.C. on the same train as us has informed us its a pretty happenin' part of town. They're hoping to recieve news about our passports/visas by tomorrow, but realistially they're shooting for Monday (nothing happens over the weekend so we get to sight-see).

Meanwhile, the rest of my staging unit whom I met in Philadelphia are currently bussing to JRK, where they will fly to Paris and arrive in Cotonou, Benin by tomorrow. Their weekend will consist of a big welcome, introductions to the Peace Corps staff and volunteers already in Benin, and chilling out around town, presumably bonding and having fun without us. However, the three of us in D.C. will be savouring our last moments of luxury (pool, internet, beds, etc) and laughing all the way to the bank (literally, to pick up our $160 per diem). we should be in Benin by early next week in time for the skill/language evaluations.

I think in general, despite deep sympathy from the rest of our staging group, the three of us are pretty psyched to hang out around our nation's capital, and we realize that with an impending 27 month program in Africa ahead of us, a few days in a comped hotel room is definitely a glass half full.

Hey guys. So, apparently some of you are clamoring for an update. Since he’s busy doing important Peace Corps stuff, Eric has given me (Anne) the honor of a guest update. Complaints may be directed towards Eric. None will be accepted from Victor.

We’re in Philadelphia for Eric’s staging, which actually officially started ten minutes ago. Getting to Philly was quite an adventure – we both flew out from Sacramento Monday morning, but on different flights – mine had a layover in Vegas, and his was non-stop, so he was meant to get to the East Coast 2 hours before me. However. As my plane approached Philadelphia, the captain informed us that there was a holding pattern over the airport, and we didn’t have enough fuel to fly for another 30 minutes – so we were diverted to Baltimore, which was supposed to be another ten or fifteen minutes in the air. Fifteen minutes later, we learn that we are being diverted again, this time to Norfolk, Virginia, which is much further away. So some of you may be aware that I am not a huge fan of flying. At this point, I’m mentally calculating how much fuel we have left, and staring out the window thinking: “Descend! Descend! Why aren’t we descending?!?” At last, on our (I’m positive) last few drops of fuel, we land. So all this time I’m worrying about Eric waiting in the airport, doing a crossword or killing aliens on his iPod and impatiently checking his fancy new Peace Corps-appropriate watch and thinking that I am just not worth the trouble. I call him. “Hey, I’m in Virginia, so you might as well head to the hotel… wait, what? You’re where?” Yep, Eric was in Pittsburgh, and had been for the past 3 hours. Not happy. Turns out bad weather over Philly had resulted in a huge backup of planes at the airport, a “gridlock” as our kindly airport employee told us. In fact, he felt the need to define “gridlock” multiple times. Such as: “Think of cars going through the tunnels here during rush hour. When they’re all stopped. That’s gridlock.” And a few minutes later: “Think of New York City during rush hour. When there’s lots of traffic. And nobody can move. That’s what’s going on over in Philly.” I gave the guy what may have been an unintentional death stare and muttered “I know what gridlock is, I live in LA,” under my breath, and the people around me laughed. Anyway, to make an already long story a bit shorter, we took off two hours later to much cheering and applause. Never has the phrase “This might be a rough flight, folks, so keep your seatbelts buckled” sounded so sweet. Eric and I ended up arriving ten minutes apart, ironically extremely convenient.

So, Philly. I like it here. We both like it. It feels very European, especially since I’m used to LA, and have no real previous experience of the East Coast. There are some awesome public squares, you know, the good old-fashioned green kind with a fountain or statue in the middle, plenty of benches, frolicking children and squirrels, etc. Not something you find in Los Angeles. Eric says the city gives him a good vibe, and that he likes the historical significance of the place, and I agree. We did some classic Philly things – ate some great sandwiches (hoagies?) including a cheesesteak, saw the Liberty Bell, and the oldest residential street in America. Pretty cool. We also sweated a lot in the humidity, which is another classic summer Philly experience, but it’s OK – it’s a great excuse to take multiple showers per day. One exchange: “So is this what the humidity will be like in Africa? “No, it’ll be this hot, but with twice the humidity” “Ah.” Bon chance, Monsieur Newton.

I’m sitting in the hotel now, having sized up his new Peace Corps companions, the ones he will be getting to know verrrry well over the next three months of training. I’m not quite sure what I expected to see, but most of them look… pretty normal. Did I expect bell-bottoms and peace sign t-shirts? Nahh, I couldn’t possibly be that shallow. Or maybe it’s just the “business casual” dress code that’s keeping them hidden. Maybe I was expecting to see a lot more zip-off pants – the ones that were really popular in middle school, remember? No offense to any of you who wear them still, I am sure they are very convenient in unpredictable weather or for the indecisive among us. Anyway, the point is, they look cool (the people, not the pants), and pretty attractive as well for the most part. I wonder what they think of me, if they’ve thought anything at all. I’m guessing it would be something like “Who’s that girl sitting next to that super hot guy? When is she gonna leave so I can introduce myself? And is that the girl who just threw up in the bathroom? Gross.” Patience, girls and guys. You get him all to yourself very soon. And yes, that was me.

Aaaaand now, back to your regularly scheduled program (Eric). Enjoy.

-Note:: This entry was written on June 14, but was not posted until a couple weeks later. see next entry for more up-to-date information.-

So the past couple weeks have been pretty significant. Two weeks ago Tuesday, I got a call and email from my placement officer. Unlike the medical clearance office, this guy worked quick. IMMEDIATELY after I was medically cleared, he sent me an email with an 'unofficial' invitation to serve in Benin. The deadline for him to send out the invitation was the next day (6 weeks before the departure date). Last week, I officially accepted my invitation, and I am now officially a Peace Corps Volunteer! I guess. (I will feel more legit saying this once I am actually sworn in).

The assignment is to serve as a Community Health Advisor, with an emphasis on maternal and infantile health and nutrition. And, as per usual in Africa, to help with Malaria and the AIDS/HIV epedemic. I was told I need to apply for a visa and a new no-fee (govt. worker) passport ASAP. I have yet to do that, as I am awaiting the mail to deliver my birth certificate from my mom. Hopefully that will get done in time since a falure to get this passport in time will result in me not being allowed to go.

July 14-16 is my staging date, where I fly into Philidelphia where I meet the rest of my Benin group and listen to a couple lectures about being a Peace Corps Volunteer. Then on the 16th I say goodbye to the US of A and jet over to Porto Novo, Benin to begin training.

In terms of employment: back in September when I was looking for jobs, me and my employers had an understanding that my employment was to terminate in mid-June. Since one of my jobs is at an Elementary School, this is still the case. My private employer (the real estate broker), upon hearing about the ambiguity of my departure date circa about a month ago, agreed to keep me through the summer. However, once I told her I was leaving in July, she changed her mind and decided it would just be easier to have me cease employment with her mid-June again. So long story short: I am ending both of my jobs at the end of this week. This seems pretty exciting to me, because it will give me a solid month to relax, live up some of our first-world comforts, and enjoy the So-Cal sun while I still can. But more importantly, it will also give me a decent amount of time to camp out in the UCLA libraries to study French, Benin, and infant mortality rates.

Despite my excitement of my month-long guilt-free vacation, I am felling pretty stressed out with all that I have to do from now until I have to leave. There is a whole packet full of paperwork I need to do. I have to cross my fingers that the visa and passport will be ready. I have to take several last-minute trips with friends. I need to buy supplies. I need to make travel arrangements. I need to apply for credit deferments and insure my posessions I'm bringing to Africa. I need to find a subletter from July - Sept. I need to watch the rest of the episodes of Lost I havent seen yet. So much stuff to in only 4 weeks - stressing me out. But at least it's finally happening.

So good news: I have finally gotten legally cleared. This actually happened several weeks ago on April 10, but I haven't posted it on the blog until now because I have been holding out for more, actually significant news. But nope. Still nothing. This sucks.

The time I was supposed to receive my invitation has gone and passed (that was supposed to happen Mid-April), although people I talk to and read about on facebook's Peace Corps Group Page are continually getting their invitations despite having departure dates in June, July, August...Now it is coming up on my supposed departure date (Mid-June) and they have still not begun to look at my medical paperwork.

This has been a constant, daily stresser for me because I am nearing the end of my employment for both of my jobs. (I had arranged for both of my jobs to be temporary and to terminate in June, which I thought would be perfect timing for my supposed Peace Corps departure in Mid-June). So, the fact that they are taking their sweet time with my paperwork and not updating about it means I may or may not have to find another job for the summer, as well as another place to live. I mean, it would be fine by me if they needed to delay me a couple months or so, as long as they tell me that's their plan.

I think this aspect of the Peace Corps experience is A-typical, since everyone else I have talked to going into PC is leaving at about the time they were told they would. I even posted on the Peace Corps Group Page wall, asking if anyone was experiencing the same situation that I am, but I never got any responses. So I'm starting to worry.

The email I sent the pre-service unit yielded no promising results, just a short response basically telling me to shut up and wait it out. (You can find the actual, more subtly worded version of that email in my previous blog post). Since then, I have been brainstorming ideas for what I can do to get them to look at my paperwork. The best idea I have so far is to re-send in all of the completed medical paperwork (since I made copies). Maybe when they recieve it at the PC headquarters in Washington, they'll realize my file needs to be expidited.

If you are curious about how it feels to be in my situation, just stare at the image below for 5 whole minutes.

Now stare at it for SEVEN MONTHS, and you'll get how I'm feeling

So. I heard back from the pre-service unit about my email. This is their response:

Your file was assigned to a nurse as of February 23, 2010. Your nurse is currently reviewing files of applicants that are departing with earlier programs and so has not yet been able to begin your review. This is our busiest time of year so reviews are currently taking up to 16 weeks or longer. We are aware of your estimated departure date.

Thanks for your patience.

Best,

The Office of Medical ServicesPre-Service Unit

So even after I ask them to clarify, their response is still teeming with ambiguity.

Meanwhile, my friend Mariah, whose PC departure date is in July, just finished her medical clearance. AKA she's leaving after me, and they're already done with her paperwork. wtf.

----

I also CC'd the same email to my recruiter Tori Wilson to ask her what's up. She had a better response. She hypothesized that maybe they are frantically filling the positions with people who are already cleared, and since I am not cleared yet, my paperwork is just getting pushed back further and further while the spots fill up for people who are more ready to go. She also told me not to worry about the legal status taking a long time because apparently they always wait to clear people on that until after the medical review is passed. She then gave me the contact info of someone in the medical office, and that I can talk to that person as long as I realize its a favor and that I'm not really supposed to be asking this girl questions since she's too busy with more important things. I'll keep that on the back-burner until

So to summarize, Tori is awesome, but the medical clearance office staff are getting to me.

A friend recently inquired about my status, etc. on facebook. A friend of hers decided to comment on our conversation so she could give me some advice:

i would reccomend calling them...because this same thing happened to me...and turns out they had lost my medical forms...

i am not saying this will happen to you but i suggest calling to double check! Since it is getting pretty close to when I am supposed to leave, I decided to shoot Tori Wilson, my recruiter, a quick email. It's not her job to help people along with the medical evaluations, but I didn't really know who else to ask. I posted the email below:

Hi Tori,

I was interviewed by you in September '09, and had been given a nomination for a spot leaving in "mid-June" for Africa to work in health care, which I am extremely excited about. Since that time I have successfully passed my dental screening (as indicated by the "MyToolkit" resource online). Furthermore, I turned in my medical paperwork on February 2nd, and they notified me that they have received it. almost 2 months later, they have not notified me that they have even looked at it/begun to process it. MyToolkit also indicates that my file is on hold, and my legal status is being reviewed. They first notified me of this nearly 2 months ago as well, and that status has not changed since then. I find this troublesome because I did not foresee any complications with my legal status to serve in the PC.

I have networked with other future volunteers leaving in June/July/August, who are further in the process than I am, and have even gotten invitations already. One girl I talked to told me a story about how when she inquired about her slow medical-clearance process, she discovered that the PC office had lost her medical forms. As it is about 11 weeks away from my supposed departure, I am beginning to worry...

Back in Sept, I arranged for my employment to end in June, and this is still the plan with my employers. I am worried that my departure has been pushed back, and I will have found out too late and will be left unemployed come June. Is there any way I can get a sense of what is going on with my medical/legal clearance? Can you suggest someone I can talk to about the process? I understand that it is necessary for nominees to be patient, but I fear I will be job-less and house-less if PC headquarters and I have different plans for when I'm leaving the country.

My medical clearance "point of contact" has terminated her employment with the peace corps, presumably sometime after my file was assigned to her, so I'm not sure who I can talk to about my concerns.

Thanks, and sorry for the long email,

-Eric Newton

I'm sure she'll get back to me soon. She's really cool, and I can't envision her being okay with someone being left high and dry. I'll post her response once I get it....

I will try to keep this short, because this is in fact a very boring topic. But I thought it would be good to put the info up for any future PC applicants to help with the process:

Dental Stuff:

So the dental part is done and done. I've officially gotten word from PC that I have passed that part of the exam. They told me via my "toolbox" account that I am cleared. The site looks something like this:

I got the dental cleared by visiting this site:

http://www.usa-icd.org/projects/peace-corps/index.htm

If any future PCVs (peace corps volunteers) are reading this, check out that website, it will save you a lot of grief.

Medical Stuff: So I just sent in my medical paperwork today, which is why the toolkit is not saying they are reviewing it at the moment. Apparently my Legal status is under review too. I thought they would do that kind of thing before the interview, but whatever. I don't foresee any problems with that.

Anyway, the medical portion I got done for free, through the Veterans Hospital in Martinez, CA. If you are trying to contact a VA about getting your physical done there, DONT ask an operator what to do. They have no idea what is going on, and you will just get transferred back and forth from various offices who don't want to deal with you. Instead, ask the operator to be transferred to the ELIGIBILITY AND ENROLLMENT department. Sounds simple, I know, but several hours of irritating phone conversation and a couple emails were the price for this information. After you talk to eligibility and enrollment, they'll tell you if a PC medical checks are offered at their VA. If so, they'll tell you how to go about getting one. For me, the guy I talked to just told me to show up at the Hospital the next morning. easy stuff. give it a shot.

It has been a while since my last post, and since I refuse to admit that the conception of this blog was a little to early, I will provide an update:

The dental screening:

This was actually pretty easy. I googled a list of dentists who do free exams for PC volunteers, found one in Long Beach, gave them a call and it was easy as pie, besides the fact that he recommended a teeth cleaning. Although, actually making it to the appointment on time was somewhat of a miracle. That is another story in itself. The dentist was very nice about it, and as we made small talk while he looked at my Xrays, he mentioned that he had always wanted to be a PC volunteer, and since he can't actually go, he does free exams for people who can. I thought that was pretty uplifting. Amongst the tides of doubt and skepticism I ponder about enrolling in the PC, it's always a breath of fresh air to find that the general public stands behind me.

The teeth cleaning will be happening in two days, at the dentist I used to go to back when I was still covered by my mom's insurance. My dad elected to pay for it, and set up the appointment for me.

The Medical Screening:

Thus far I have made very little strides in the medical evaluation. My PC recruiter told me that Veteran's Hospitals will commonly do the evals for free, although the two closest VAs (Santa Monica and Long Beach) refuse to do them for PC volunteers. The closest to LA that is rumored to do it for free is the Las Vegas VA. My attemps to effectively communicate with the personelle and phone operators at that facility have resulted in bupkis. The one lady I was able to verbalize an entire sentince to before getting transfered to a different department insisted that I need to come to the front desk to fill out an application. I informed her that it was a 4.5 hour drive to get to the front desk, and asked if there is some way I could at least know if that hospital offers free medical evals for me before making the drive. After several minutes of her confusion, and me rephrasing the previous sentence for her so that she could understand, she transfered me to someones voicemail who hasn't called back. I have since moved on with my life.

As I am in Sacramento for the holidays, with 2 weeks off of work, I will see if I can make significant strides in completing the medical evaluation. If the VAs up here don't work, I'll try the free clinics, and then if all that fails......I'll try, Kaiser my health insurance provider.

For years my mom had been encouraging me to apply for the Peace Corps. "You'd be great at it," she'd say. I always brushed off the advice, because other carreer suggestions she gave me were:

-a soccer coach

-a librarian (so that we could carpool to work together!)

-a navy officer

All fine careers, I'm sure. But if you knew me well, then you would know that these options dont exactly float my boat. The Peace Corps suggestion got mistakenly sorted into the "reject-job-ideas" of my mind. I actually did look into it my freshman year of college, but not very thrououghly. I remember reading a brochure with the requirements for joining, and I remember seeing the requirement of a BA in English to be able to go. Since I wasn't planning on majoring in English, I dismissed the idea entirely.

It wasn't until my senior year when my mom, again pushing for the Peace Corps, said "between getting married at 18, going to school, then getting a job, I never really had a chance to get to go on any real adventure. You should look into it." That advice somehow lit a spark inside of me to someplace and do something that none of my other peers were doing. I was going to do it.

I had intended to leave for the Peace Corps immediately following the summer after graduation. I was employed through UCLA UniCamp, where I was the staff for a smmer camp that serves kids 10-17 years old who currently live at or below the poverty line in LA. I was quietly afraid that I would get rejected from the Peace Corps because I wasn't sure if I could qualify for the health care job that I wanted to do. Miraculously, though, a spot opened up at camp to fill in for the nurse while she took weekends off, as well as a week off to go to a nursing conference. I logged about 360 clinical hours as the nurse while she was away (not including on-call hours), and that became the cherry-on-top for my applicaton. I was finally ready to apply.

I barrelled through the application, got the call for the interview, and paniced over the idea of getting rejected. However, when the day came to intervew, 9/9/09, I came prepared and got offered a nomination in person, right at the end of the intervew! I was estatic. The departure date was for January (4 months away). The assignment was heath care in Africa, with a recommended French language backround.

After sleeping on it, I realized that only 4 months to save up money, say goodbye to my friends, pass the medical clearance, and find an apartment for that time was impractical. I gave Tori (my recruiter) a call to see what my prospects were for getting in in June instead. Now I am nominated to leave in June. Same job. Same language requirement. Everything the same except the departure date. And so now I have a better balance between nervous and excited. Up next: the health screening...

This morning I stumbled upon a treasure chest in the form of my old blogs posts from The Age of Myspace (aka 2004-2007ish). I needed a writing sample to apply to a temp job as a copy editor, and so I chose one of my many blogs that I wrote throughout the years. But, while trying to decide which one to send in to a potential future employer, I ended up just reading all of them. Most of them were written while I was employed as a Front Desker at a desk that was open 24/7/364 (closed on Christmas), and despite my boredom and deliriousness during oh-so-many 12am, 3am, and 6am shifts, I created scores of blogs that I find funny and creative even to this day, despite all of them getting no more than about a dozen views total by my friends and subscribers. Furthermore, I just finished catching up on some blog posts my friend Kelly updates during her year-long tenure as an ESL teacher in Japan for the JET program. Thus, a Perfect Storm of inspiration for starting my own blog about the process of a Peace Corps Volunteer. So, before I get ahead of myself, I'll start from the beginning:

The title for the blog, "How to Live in Africa," is a play on words for my premeditated emotions while serving in Africa. I predict that, while I am supposed to be helping them live better, healthier lives, they will in turn be helping me cope and adapt to life in a foriegn country. Therefore, the title refers to both the locals learning about how to live healthier lifestyles, but also me learning how to live as an African.

My aim is that the blog will help shed light on the process leading up to departure, as well as the training and service of the average Peace Corps volunteer. I hope you enjoy :)