Something About a Horse and a Lion

Or, World's Longest (and Most Boring) Blog Post. Here is the backlog of posts from when I first got here and didn't have internet.


Written 6/30/12
So I thought that having almost two months post-graduation before I moved to Benin would feel like lots of time...yeah, nope. Turns out time really does fly when you're having fun.

It's been a while since I posted, so let me update. Two weeks prior to departure, my awesome friends and family threw me a going away party - I was definitely surprised and I felt so loved. There was lots of (quality!) beer and Hank even made buffalo wings (they were AWESOME). I couldn't have asked for a better sending-off present...except maybe that all my favorite people were there at the last minute before I left/at the airport to send me off. Seriously, the love I received for the last couple months in Gainesville is something that I will never get.

I don't feel like writing all about it, but basically my last month in Gainesville was more wonderful than I ever thought it could possibly be. I did lots of fun things and ate tons of delicious food.

Staging was fun. I arrived in Philly (from Jax, via Atlanta) with enough time to get to the hotel for the start of registration. The day was mostly spent trying to remember anybody's name and having Peace Corps try to make sure we understood what we were signing up for. After training was finished, a bunch of us went out to a bar for food and booze (delicious cheeseburger and Guiness/Sam Adams Summer Ale ftw) down the street, and on the way home, we checked out Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell (albeit from across the street/through a window).

The next morning, we loaded up on buses and drove to NYC to JFK. American Airlines was not very prepared for 63 of us to show up like that, because they only had one person working originally (they thankfully later found 2 others) so it took 2 hours or so to check in all of our luggage. We flew out of JFK at 8pm (after sitting for two hours on the runway) to Brussels and then flew from Brussels to Cotonou. On our flight to Brussels, Devon and I sat next to a 12 year old boy from the states (who was born in Guinea and on his way there with his mom, but whose dad is Beninois) named Mustafa. The kid was hysterical. He drank like ten cups of coffee on our flight (which unfortunately made him get up to pee a lot), but he helped us with the airplane magazine crossword and told us lots of unintentionally-funny west African sayings (I think some things were lost in kid translation. "The smallest chicken will have the greatest time cracking out of the egg" "Something about a horse and a lion..."). Our stage arrived in Benin on Tuesday evening, and after waiting for an hour for the slowest baggage claim ever (I'm just glad my bags arrived), we were greeted by current PCVs who whisked us away to St. Jean-Eudes, a religious complex on the outskirts of Cotonou. Word of advice - Brussels Airline attendants are nazis about using the airplane bathrooms, so come prepared if you want to brave the toilet in the Cotonou airport - it's not what you're used to. Cotonou is definitely different from Gainesville! I'm glad PC doesn't let us drive here.

St. Jean-Eudes was where we spent the first couple of days of training, where we were eased into the lack of AC by having rooms with running water and electricity (and a wonderful fan) and flush toilets down the hall. A bunch of the stagieres had commented on the lack of rain we'd seen during the couple days of "rainy season" we'd been present for, so I think the weather heard us and made a point. The day we drove to PC headquarters, there was torrential rain. It reminded me of Florida during a tropical storm (which is funny, because that what was happening in Florida at the time). It was really nice while we were sleeping, but when we had to get up at 5:30 to shower and head to the buses, it wasn't quite so much. The power went out in my building a couple minutes after I woke up, but thankfully came on a few minutes later (I couldn't find my headlamp at the bottom of my enormous suitcase, and wasn't even sure how to use it to light up the bathroom while I showered), but once I was in the shower and had just finished lathering myself up head-to-toe, the water cut out. Luckily, my roommate and I had been letting shower water collect in the bucket in the bathroom, so I was able to rinse myself off with that (my first semi-bucket bath!), but I will admit I did stress out for a second wondering how I was going to get all the soap off me so I could be downstairs and presentable in 20 minutes. Thankfully, that wasn't the day we had to pack up for Porto-Novo, because the flooding between my building and where the buses were was intense...there would've been no way my bags wouldn't have gotten soaked through. I am very thankful I splurged on a nice rain jacket.

While at PC headquarters, I learned how to call, argue, and ride a taxi-moto (zemi), in the rain, through 6 in+ deep water...it was a little nuts but very fun. I'm glad that PC Benin is one of the few countries that allows its volunteers to ride motorcycles. We were also fitted for bicycles, bicycle helmets, and zemi helmets.

I moved in with my host famille yesterday. On the way to their house from Songhai (an awesome place where I will be doing EA training in Porto-Novo), I saw someone wearing a "Tobacco Free Florida" shirt. Tresdrôle! We haven't talked much because my french sucks, but there are deuxguys, four ou fivewomen, a boy (9 ans) and a girl (7 ans) dans ma famille...I think. I think their names are, in order: Esaie, Clotilde, Rita, Delphine, Sandra, Noelie, Gerard, et...J'aioubliée. I don't know who is related/married and who just lives/works here, but everyone has been very nice and patient avec moi. In the past 24 hours, I have only messed up badly a couple times...I told my host maman (while trying to find out the word for bat - side note, they have awesomely huge bats here, so they might be fruit bats? Je ne sais pas) that I love owls/am not scared of them, only to find out later from my language teacher that they are associated with evil sorcery here. I also touched Esaie’s shoulder for balance while getting on his zemi this morning on the way to Songhai. This is why they put us in host families!! It is also why Peace Corps trains host families about weird/awkward Americans before we show up. My host family has a zemi and a Honda (Civic, peut-être? They got a kick out of the fact that I have a Honda as well, back home) and a huge house/compound. My room is awesome...it's kind of like a small (200 sqft?) studio...I have my little bedroom with a desk, armoire, lock box, book shelves (full of deep philosophical African literature)... there is a divider, and behind that I have a toilet (which flushes), a sink, and a shower. I have no idea what my family does for a living, but they are obviously very successful...they have a flat screen tv! Oh, and this afternoon when my host papa picked me up from Songhai, we had a hard time talking but we totally rocked out to Shakira'sWakaWaka in the car. :)

Today I took pictures with quite possibly the cutest (9 month old) baby on the planet (Amber's host nephew?) and saw a baby goat (that couldn't have weighed more than 4 pounds) outside the door to my family's compound. Cute overload. I also was called yovo for the first time (and then a thousand more times) by small children (there is even a chant they do sometimes - "yovo, yovo, bon soir, çavabien? merci!") and hailed my first taxi-moto and paid the beninois prix (200 F).

I haven't starved yet! At every meal there has had one or multiple things I will eat (ilsmangentbeacoup du pain ici! je l'aime!). Food at my house family has definitely been the best so far. Last night, my maman made chicken and rice (which was a teeny bit spicy, yum), with french bread and avocado slices. I didn't work up the courage to eat the avocado, but the vinaigrette that she made for them was heavenly...I'm pretty sure it was just oil, vinegar, and garlic paste. It was freaking delicious, and something that she'll definitely have to show me how to make because I can see myself putting it on everything. Cematin, there was chocolate chaud (being advertised as an energy drink? Also, why people drink hot drinks here is beyond me, but it was good), and toasted french bread avec le beurre et le confiture de mangue (which I tried and was very delicious. Also, it was made at Songhai). For lunch, she made a chicken omelet (je pense? I didn't ask) with sweet potatoes, which were yellow and totally not like sweet potatoes at home (they were yummy). There are lots of oranges here (which are green/yellow like smaller grapefruits kind of), pineapple (which is white), and bananas (which are like 4 - 5 inches long). I'm hoping this streak of delicious host family food continues. Fingers crossed.

I would upload pictures, but internet here is treslentement. :( You should be happy to hear that (knock on wood), I have felt fine thus far. To those of you who have sent me wonderful emails, they are so very appreciated. I have read them but haven't had the time/good enough internet to respond. I love it here so far, but at the same time, I am so far out of my comfort zone it's a little bananas (I also miss you guys like crazy!!!!), so messages from home were great. 

I'm sorry if this was very rambling, I'm trying to write quickly before le dîner. I should be getting my cell phone on Monday (the store didn't have 67 phones they could sell PC, so they are importing some from Togo), at which time I will be calling you all....Also, incoming calls are free for me. ;) Last random comment - people really do wear awesome clothes here, the amount of stuff women/people can carry on their noggins is insane, and the amount of stuff people carry on zemis (as well as the conditions they can drive in) is insanely impressive (par example, a family of 5 or 2 men and 2 goats).

À un de cesjours! Je t'aime!!!! (Aussi, qu'est-ce qui passé, America??) 

P.S. You should youtube "Djogodjogo" and see if there is a music video online somewhere...c'est le chanson the that has been stuck in my head for two or three days now (we have a dvd player on one of the PC buses, and the driver likes to play the mêmedvd with the same few videos over and over... it apparently translates to "jailbait" in Fon! Hysterical.


Update: 7/1/12
The streak of yummy food continues (I hope it never ends). This morning was the same petit-dejuner as yesterday, and lunch was some kind of meat (I never ask what, but I think I've only been served chicken and beef...I don't want to know otherwise) with black eyed peas with a side of carrots/beets (je pense)/lettuce (I ate some carrots and tried a beet!). For dinner it was potatoes and carrots (about the consistency boiled potatoes have before you mash them) with chicken and lettuce (ahhh! You should be proud, I ate 4 large pieces, albeit smothered in vinaigrette, without gagging once - huge deal for me). I asked Rita (no idea who she is in the family yet, but she is the maman of les deuxenfants) what the ingredients were for the vinaigrette, and they are: garlic, dijonmustard (never would've guessed), black pepper, oil and vinegar. Yum.

Last night I found out that there is a buvette attached to one side of the family compound. Esaiealso told me everyone knows him by the name Dr. Keibo...I don’t know why, since he is not a doctor. I also don't know why his last name is Keibo, because I live at the Akindesmaison? I need to start asking these types of questions. Noelie (another person in my family??) was working there, selling phone credits (this will be super convenient when I finally get my phone - hopefully tomorrow). Sandra, a teenager (whose daughter, je ne sais pas), was working there too, and told me that she is a student who wants to pass her BAC exam (awesome). There was some kind of big music fête last night about two houses down from me in the street (I asked why there was a party, and apparently it was just 'cause they like having parties here)...people started setting up at like 6:30/7 and they didn't finish/the music didn't start til 10:30/11. I went to bed a couple minutes before the music started and it went literally all night. I may have dreamed part of it, but I woke up a lot last night (it's hot and humid here and they play music VERY loud) and checked my phone and I swear that they didn't stop playing until like 5 this morning. I think. It was crazy. I wish I was baller enough to stay up and listen/dance?/have fun with everyone. Next time?

This morning I got pictures of two of the baby goats that live in the street outside my family's compound...You will love how cute they are if I can ever post pictures. I also got pictures of a couple of the types of lizards they have here...once is about the size of an anole, but the other is considerably larger (maybe a foot long total?) and multiple colors. They're both pretty neat looking. I'm pretty sure my host family thinks I'm a total nut because I get so excited about the animals they have here/the insanely adorable infants that I see.

I kicked a disintegrating/partially deflated soccer ball around with the little boy today (his sister watched and was intrigued by my hair)...it was fun. I want to buy him a new one, but I'm not sure if that would be offensive or not? The kids have a hard time understanding me, and I them, but they are easier to be awkward with than the adults for sure. Tonight, the little girl was wearing a dress that was orange and blue - it was awesome - and I tried to explain to her that I liked it because the colors were the school colors of UF, but I don't think she understood, even though I dug out my UF sweatshirt to show her. I didn't think I would be very excited about having clothes made here, but I totally am. I've heard that to buy the fabric and hire a tailor to make a dress is like $6-$12 USD. Not bad!

I watched tv with Gaga (that's his nickname, his real name is Gualbert) cesoir, and we saw videos for Jesse Jane and Rihanna songs and I'm pretty sure we watched the french version of Ugly Betty? He told me that he studied informatique at the university for 2 years and at Songhai for another year. He said some other stuff, but I didn't understand and he couldn't figure out how to say it in English/say it better in French...Story of my life at the moment. ;)

It has rained 3 times today so far (but not hard like the other day in Cotonou, just a light rain for a half hour or so). It feels like Florida in the summer...it cracks everyone up when I say that I like the weather, because they don't think of the US being like this, apparently. But it makes me less homesick. :) I do miss AC a little bit, but not as much as I thought I would - stagieres actually do adapt quickly. I'm glad we didn't arrive in the hot season, though... I also got used to cold showers/bucket baths after like one day. People here shower like 2 or 3 times a day, it's nuts...I have started washing my body twice, but my hair already has trouble drying...if I wash it that much, my head will start to mildew! Side note - it amazes me how little mildew there is here (maybe it's just my house?) and bugs, considering that everyone leaves their doors/windows (sans screens) open all day. Maybe it has something to do with being in a city? I don't even want to think about how many roaches would've come into my old house if I tried that!

Random note - the muslim calls to prayer here (5 times a day?) are really beautiful (but I'm glad we don't live super close to a mosque - the calls are very loud).

What else to share? I'm sorry for any grammar/spelling errors, I've written this quickly without proofreading. I boiled and filtered my water for the first time today! Today was also my first day off where I didn't have any PC stuff, but tomorrow I have 8am - 5pm language class (we do PC stuff Mon-Fri and half of Saturday). Hopefully I'll learn something. ;)

<3 <3 <3 <3 xoxoxoxo


Update: 7/4/12
Happy birthday, America! (Joyeux fête d'independance!) I have never considered myself the most patriotic person in the world, but somehow being here for a week (and one day! Holy moly, it feels like it's been 6 months already!) has made a bunch of us excited about celebrating today. After school (language class again all day), 10-15 of us went to a buvette in town that was across the street from a van that sells burgers...so we drank beer (best beer of my life, je pense...it actually wasn't great at all, it was just so nice to decompress with other stagieres) and ate burgers. It was probably the least burger-y burger I've ever had, and it was very expensive at a whopping 1700 cfa (in comparison, my lunch cost 200 cfa, and a Heineken was 700 cfa), but it was so nice to have one. One of my friends brought little American flags and I even painted my fingernails with my red/white/blue glitter polish. Again, I know it's only been a week, but it FEELS like it's been so much longer.

Hiersoir, I learned qui est qui in my familly. Clotilde and Gaga (actual name is Gaulbert. He is Clotilde's adopted son) are my "family" and everyone is a family friend/someone who works at my house. Esaie is the chauffeur!

I think my language is making baby steps. I think I understand a little more than I did when I arrive. My language teacher, Masso, is great. He is so very patient and good with us...which is very good, since we can be a bit slow sometimes. We were talking about the phrase "yovo" yesterday in class, and he was telling us that he gets yovo'd sometimes, which cracked us up; he says it's because he's a light-skinned African, but it doesn't seem like it to me. I guess that stuff is all subjective. We even had a discussion yesterday about local languages in America....here they are super prevalent, and Masso didn't understand why they aren't aux États-Unis....so we had an interesting time trying to explain the way the Europeans colonized the states and eventually caused the die-off of many of the Indian tribes/cultures over time. I wonder what the Europeans' effects were on Benin, back in the day (ie. how the local languages were impacted)...regardless of what happened, I love that everyone I've met speaks a local language in addition to french. Ma famillebeninoise speaks Goun (I think that's how it's spelled), which my host brother said is common in Porto Novo. I'm hoping if I can get to a decent level of french before the end of training, that I will be able to learn at least un petit peu of local language (PC teaches Fon, Dendi, et Bariba, but maybe I can learn some Goun from my family). Speaking of local language, there is a church...shindig? mass? revival? Je-ne-sais-quoi in my living room right now. Some of it is in French, but a lot is in Goun. I sat in on one the other day, and it was reeeally different than what I think of when I think of catholic events in the US. I have no idea how to describe it, besides there being a lot of passionate singing and some dancing.

I tried to explain Albert the Alligator, the UF mascot, to Rita, her kids, and Sandra yesterday...yeah, that was a total flop. They all made amused, perplexed faces as I tried to tell them about a person who dresses like a crocodile (they don't know alligators here) and hangs out at sporting events.

I got my cell phone yesterday!! If anyone feels like contacting me, incoming calls/texts are free for me! My number's 67.71.34.20. :) It costs 1 cfa/second to call anyone (Beninese or US) and 100 cfa for me per text to the US (outrageous...I could buy a pineapple for every text I make!). It was amazing to finally be able to talk to some of you...I think I will quickly overcome my aversion to the phone.

I get to learn to do laundry by hand tomorrow...this should be interesting. I also made plans to go to the marché with Rita, Sandra, and Noelie to buy some tissu, which I am super stoked about. I can't afford much on a stagiere's salary, but I will at least be able to get one awesome something made (I'm thinking skirt).

I am hoping to get to an internet cafe soon so I can post this stuff soon before it turns into a novel.

I am so glad I am here.


Update: 7/7/12
Happy birthday, babies!! I love and miss you so much!! I can't believe you are 4!

Highlights from today:
- On the way to Songhai this morning, I saw a grown man wearing a tight black hoodie, which said on the back, in the lower-back area, "Golddigga"
- A girl wearing an Obama Girl shirt
- Helping Sandra study for the English portion of her BAC, which is this week. She told me she is going to college and wants to be a doctor. (Gerard told me he wants to be a police chief and that Bernadette should be a doctor, too...I like)
- Getting over the intestinal troubles I had yesterday that were caused by (I'm speculating) eating wayyy too much pineapple in a 24 hour period. They're just so cheap and so delicious!
- Having an actual conversation avec my maman (not just pleasantries)
- Getting to use the internet at Songhai
- Getting to start the Hunger Games series (bringing a Kindle was such a good idea)
- Leonie's (a PC staff member's) awesome yogurt...which comes frozen in a tiny little bag that you have to suck it out of

Highlights from yesterday:
- Getting into a long discussion in language class with Masso about American holidays. Explaining Thanksgiving was fun and so was explaining how Santa Clause (Papa Noël here) travels from house to house on a sleigh pulled by reindeer (and enters houses via the chimney!)

Things I was surprised how quickly I adjusted to:
- Cold bucket "showers"
- Lack of coldness in general

Update: 7/13/12
The Kindle was a good choice. Despite the fact that I have busy days between training and hanging out with my famille, in four days I read The Hunger Games series as well as Bossypants by Tina Fey. Another stagiere gave me 1,400+ Kindle books from her USB drive the other day, so I'm pretty much set for the next 26.5 months, as virtually every book I can think of to read was on that thing.

Tonight I showed Sandra my computer and showed her tons of pictures of Henrik and my real family. She was such a good sport about looking at them all and listening to me talk about everyone, and she really liked seeing pictures of Florida. She took her BAC on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and said that it went well, so I am happy for her (so many tests, reminds me of IB...side note, 3 of the 4 kids in my language class are IB grads. It seems like I know a disproportionally large amount of kids in PC that were IB students).

I bought tissu a couple days ago at the marché with Delphine and Rita. It was fun to see all the wild colors/patterns that people love here, and they were super helpful in choosing the fabric and buying it. I think I'm going to have my maman sew the tissu into a skirt and a dress. Did I already say that the women at my house are all tailleurs? 

It also cracks me up, how protective of the trainees our host families are. Every time the three of us had to cross a road on the way to the marché, one of them held my hand. :) Where in the US, honking is not something people use much and is kind of rude, honking is part of the language of the road here; people honk when they're behind you/passing you/want you to move out of the way/saying hello/for everything. So many trainees complain that they feel like little kids...and it's true, everyone treats us like one...but it's really not that bad. Our families and PC are just trying to keep us as safe and protected as possible while we adjust to a new environment and learn the language/culture.

Speaking of culture, salutations are very important here, even in Porto Novo. At post, they're supposed to be even more important, because villages are less...modern? You come across as an ass if you don't greet people when you should. The ones that I get greeted with the most are:
- Çava? ("How are you?" to which you can answer a variety of things, including "çava", I'm fine.)
- Bonne arrivée! ("Welcome home!")
- Tu as biendormi? ("Did you sleep well?")
- Tu as bienmangé? ("Did you eat well?" When I say that I do, I almost always get corrected and told that I don't eat enough, but that they'll still do their best to turn me into a fatty)
- Tu as bien travail? ("Did you have a good/productive day at work?" I learned that you are in fact not supposed to say you got a lot done, regardless of what you did. In a collectivist society such as Benin, it's not polite to make it seem like you're trying to put the success of yourself over the success of the family/community)

My language skills are improving, slowly but surely. There are still a lot (a lot) of times when I don't understand what people are saying, but it's getting better, and I'm much less nervous about talking to people. It's funny, I actually get a lot more stressed about speaking French in front of other stagieres than I do Beninese people.

Update: 7/24/12
Random thoughts:

C'estcequ'elle a dit! Trying to explain "that's what she said" jokes to my language teacher was hysterical. I'm bringing them to Benin...along with the phrase "true story" and the jellyfish fist bump.

Things I miss an unbelievable amount:
- Food. Every kind of food I eat in America. Mostly:
         - Buffalo anything. I have dreams about buffalo sauce
         - Cheese. Cheese fries. Macaroni and cheese. Virtually anything avec fromage (not the wagasi they have here)
         - Chocolate (which is funny, because I never ate much in the states)
         - Doughnuts (also almost never ate)
         - Asian food. Teriyaki. Indian food. Mexican food. Anything not Beninese.
- Henrik (I'm still trying to think of ways to sneak him into Benin)...Missing him is so much different than missing my family and friends (who I miss VERY much), because I can't call or email or Facebook him. Why can't cats use skype?? :(

Friday are post announcements!!!! Holy frijoles am I excited! I will finally know where I'll be living for the next two years après stage. We'll get information about our region/who else will be living near us/our house/etc. And August 5th I'll actually be going there for two weeks!