au revoir Benin

i am now officially an RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer).

omigoshicantbelieveididit! two years. and now it's done. this chapter of my life is over.

well, i left Lokossa on Saturday. That morning i woke up super early and made my way to the orphanage to say bye around 8 and stayed till 9. leaving there was tough. especially at the end. Marcellin, the oldest kid and my buddy rounded up all the kids that were around and they just stood around me in a half circle. it was incredibly awkward. and i was fighting back the tears. finally after several moments of silence, i made a mini speech and ended with crying. then Marcellin said a bunch of thank yous and then no one else said anything. and then one of the Tatas came up to me told me to not cry and then started rubbing my arms. it was pretty chilly that morning as it had rained all night long. after Tata rubbed my arms for several moments, the small kids follwed suit and then i had like 10 pairs of hands rubbing me. it was needless to say a memorable moment.

it was around 10 o'clock when i got home and the kids soon started coming over. by the time the taxi arrived i had about 15 kids in my tiny little living room. the kids were just sitting around entertaining themselves with my playing cards and chatting away.

the taxi showed up probably arrived around 12:45pm. to be honest that is a little on the early side! hahaha. anyways, it was clear to me when the taxi arrived though i was inside because there was cloud of gloom that took over everyone. then there was a quick dash to grab all my baggage and take it out to the taxi to load up. around that point, a former colleague called me up to see when i was leaving and i said through a shaky, teary voice "the taxi is here!" and he was there within minutes.

soon enough the taxi was loaded and i HAD to say my final goodbyes to all my people. that was really hard. i started up the crying chain reaction. one by one my kids started crying or were as close as they will ever be to crying. and i went around to each person and gave them a most awkward hug. not awkward for me but for them. the Beninese do not hug. it's not a hugging culture.

the last thing was getting Rosie into the car. and it was a lot more difficult than i thought it would be! because it had rained all night, the ground was all muddy and gross. it took several minutes to get her in the car, but around an hour into our voyage, she had calmed down just a bit. but by getting her into the taxi she ended getting her muddy paws all over me. naturally the Beninese were horrified and wanted to grab me some water and a rag to clean myself off. but whatever, on we went.

and then we got to Cotonou and i began the process of doing COS (close of service) stuff. and for the past four days i have stayed at a hotel where theoretically they don't allow dogs. but i think they know how much money they get from PC and the guards looked the other way. i'd also like to think that my charming personality coerced them to allow Rosie to stay in a room where she'd be locked up whenever i wasn't there.

and there you go. time is really running out. i think the driver is taking us to the airport in about 45 minutes. so i am gonna cut it short here. besides, the rest is all a bunch of boring bureau stuff. minus the fact that our Acting Country Director implemented an awesome little "gong" ceremoney where they clang this town crier bell and anyone and everyone in the office is invited out to the front area to say a few words to the volunteers finishing their service. and once the volunteer says their words they clang the bell and POOF you're an RPCV (returned peace corps volunteer)!

there you go. wish me luck. i will now enter the readjustment zone.