Tomorrow (September 8th) I am going to English club in Zoungbonou and will be talking about the Star Spangled Banner and the Pledge of Allegiance. And looking at the words to each and then the researching what it all means…it’s beautiful. America is awesome and I won’t see it for another year.
And I miss my family. I miss talking to my mom every night. I miss taking my sister on errands, shopping, etc. I miss driving. I miss fast internet in my own home. I miss feeling cold. I miss gummy bears. I miss pho. I miss my dog. I miss washing machines and dryers. I miss fast food, especially the drive-through part. I miss real grocery stores. I miss movie theaters. I miss cute boys with blonde hair and blue eyes. I miss all paved roads. I miss “one-person-per-seat” and the whole “click it or ticket” deal because that implies that one is obligated to wear a seatbelt. I miss the absence of HUGE cockroaches and mice in my house. I miss only having to speak English. I miss debit cards. I miss traffic lights. I miss left hand turn lanes. I miss coffee and Starbucks (on every corner). I miss Evergreen trees. I miss freeways. I miss (whole) rainy days and weeks (you would too, eventually)! I miss those days where it’s sunny and still freezing cold outside. I miss regular haircuts. I miss wearing make-up and cute clothes. I miss wearing high heels even though I hate them at the end of the night. I miss department stores.
I miss America.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Updates. And R.I.P. Eddy
I have started to workout. A while ago I downloaded the Couch-to-5k podcast…it’s a 9 week program to get people started in running. Anywho, I have started it several times and have never managed to get past week 5 or 6 for some reason or another. But tomorrow I start week 2! I have been running at the parc public…they fixed it up real nice for the fete and now the outside circle is like running around a track. And if I get out there early enough, there are no people there to watch the yovo run. In addition, I have just run out of both of my gas can thingys, so I am left to eat only fresh fruit: apples, pineapple, mango and salads. I hope that I can get ahold of a new gas tank, but if not, it can only help me in my quest to lose a little weight.
I went to Porto-Novo earlier this week to do the bake sale. I might have mentioned this in another blog, or to someone, I dunno… I ended up making a profit of 15500 CFA, which is about $34…doesn’t sound like a lot, but I doubled our current budget. It was really fun doing the bake sale—maybe not so much the actual baking because I was up until 3:45 in the morning. And I had only had 3ish hours of sleep the night before (more on that in a minute). But I hitched a ride on the Peace Corps shuttle and arrived at Songhai where Nathaniel made the announcement and soon I had a huge line of people wanting to buy brownies, cookies, key lime pie, and empanadas. In the end, I sold everything but a couple packs of cookies I was happy to eat so that they wouldn’t go to waste! And it was also nice going to Porto-Novo because I hadn’t really had an opportunity to meet the stagaires (thank you Maria for not choosing me) and we hung out a bit during the down time.
While I was in the bureau Monday, I had a chance to speak with Dr. Rufin. I haven’t been sleeping very well these past few months and turned into somewhat of an insomniac. Insomnia = no fun! So I ended up switching to Doxycycline.
So then I returned home Wednesday afternoon, around 2ish. And once I got home I reached into my bag and then I remembered, well I guess I remember not remembering to take my keys out of my locker at the bureau before I left for Porto-Novo! So yup, I came all the way home without my keys! But it ended up working out. I called my PCVL, Kaili and she got a hold of Kyle who was at the bureau and had my keys. Kyle then went over to the taxi station and sent my keys to with a chauffeur. In the meanwhile, I wasn’t sure what I was gonna do. I was sitting outside my gate brainstorming and trying to get a hold of Ellen, when a neighbor rolled by and offered to let me stay at his house. But I don’t really know the Papa, so I felt a little uncomfortable doing that. So I rang Thierry’s doorbell and he was home. Thierry is my neighbor who is kinda like an apt. manager. He hands out the water and electric bills, etc. Anyways, we’re buds and he let me stay with him. We chatted, watched TV, fed me…until I called the chauffeur and zemmed down to get my keys from the gare (taxi station). Ahhh…what a process! But at least I didn’t have to go all the way back to Cotonou. I really hope that this won’t happen again, but it kinda already has happened before. Except last time, I remembered that I forgot my keys before I hopped into the taxi!
I was gonna post this when I was at the cyber Friday evening, but I was having some issues with the computer and my account and the flashdrive…bottomline it just didn’t work out.
I was gonna zem home cause I am semi lazy and figure I would just run in the morning, but I decided that I would walk until I found some street food for the dog. But it turns out there wasn’t much out there except bouille (bwee). It’s like porridge and there a gazillion kinds of it and it’s delicious with a side fried doughballs. So I am walking at a fairly brisk pace so that people on the street don’t really have the opportunity to stop me and engage me in conversation. Then I am about halfway home when a bicycle pulls up next to me. I try to ignore it (it’s amazing the guard I have built myself). And then I hear a familiar “bon soir, Madame!” It’s Desiré, one of my favorite kids. (he’s the one who found me dog #3, carried my helmet home for me a bazillion times, helped me get my front gate key copied on a Sunday…this kid is awesome!) I often see him riding his bike around.
Anywho, we end up walking back together and along the way he tells me that one of his classmates died earlier this week! It was Eddy. I can’t exactly picture his face, but he was friends with Desiré and those boys. RIP Eddy. I guess he got sick or something. And he was throwing up, and that’s all I know. I don’t know how much more death I can take.
I went to Porto-Novo earlier this week to do the bake sale. I might have mentioned this in another blog, or to someone, I dunno… I ended up making a profit of 15500 CFA, which is about $34…doesn’t sound like a lot, but I doubled our current budget. It was really fun doing the bake sale—maybe not so much the actual baking because I was up until 3:45 in the morning. And I had only had 3ish hours of sleep the night before (more on that in a minute). But I hitched a ride on the Peace Corps shuttle and arrived at Songhai where Nathaniel made the announcement and soon I had a huge line of people wanting to buy brownies, cookies, key lime pie, and empanadas. In the end, I sold everything but a couple packs of cookies I was happy to eat so that they wouldn’t go to waste! And it was also nice going to Porto-Novo because I hadn’t really had an opportunity to meet the stagaires (thank you Maria for not choosing me) and we hung out a bit during the down time.
While I was in the bureau Monday, I had a chance to speak with Dr. Rufin. I haven’t been sleeping very well these past few months and turned into somewhat of an insomniac. Insomnia = no fun! So I ended up switching to Doxycycline.
So then I returned home Wednesday afternoon, around 2ish. And once I got home I reached into my bag and then I remembered, well I guess I remember not remembering to take my keys out of my locker at the bureau before I left for Porto-Novo! So yup, I came all the way home without my keys! But it ended up working out. I called my PCVL, Kaili and she got a hold of Kyle who was at the bureau and had my keys. Kyle then went over to the taxi station and sent my keys to with a chauffeur. In the meanwhile, I wasn’t sure what I was gonna do. I was sitting outside my gate brainstorming and trying to get a hold of Ellen, when a neighbor rolled by and offered to let me stay at his house. But I don’t really know the Papa, so I felt a little uncomfortable doing that. So I rang Thierry’s doorbell and he was home. Thierry is my neighbor who is kinda like an apt. manager. He hands out the water and electric bills, etc. Anyways, we’re buds and he let me stay with him. We chatted, watched TV, fed me…until I called the chauffeur and zemmed down to get my keys from the gare (taxi station). Ahhh…what a process! But at least I didn’t have to go all the way back to Cotonou. I really hope that this won’t happen again, but it kinda already has happened before. Except last time, I remembered that I forgot my keys before I hopped into the taxi!
I was gonna post this when I was at the cyber Friday evening, but I was having some issues with the computer and my account and the flashdrive…bottomline it just didn’t work out.
I was gonna zem home cause I am semi lazy and figure I would just run in the morning, but I decided that I would walk until I found some street food for the dog. But it turns out there wasn’t much out there except bouille (bwee). It’s like porridge and there a gazillion kinds of it and it’s delicious with a side fried doughballs. So I am walking at a fairly brisk pace so that people on the street don’t really have the opportunity to stop me and engage me in conversation. Then I am about halfway home when a bicycle pulls up next to me. I try to ignore it (it’s amazing the guard I have built myself). And then I hear a familiar “bon soir, Madame!” It’s Desiré, one of my favorite kids. (he’s the one who found me dog #3, carried my helmet home for me a bazillion times, helped me get my front gate key copied on a Sunday…this kid is awesome!) I often see him riding his bike around.
Anywho, we end up walking back together and along the way he tells me that one of his classmates died earlier this week! It was Eddy. I can’t exactly picture his face, but he was friends with Desiré and those boys. RIP Eddy. I guess he got sick or something. And he was throwing up, and that’s all I know. I don’t know how much more death I can take.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
i guess Rosie likes to sleep on this chair. she's such a weird/funny dog.
passed out on her pillow
Primaël; aka Mayo. probably my favorite person right now. loves to wear my sunglasses...or my headband
Mayo on his trike. you should see him wearing my bike helmet. he's such a pagailleur!
see that little white speck? that's a kid playing in the field just outside the orphanage.
a couple of boabab trees. i can't get enough of them. wish they could grow back home!
same trees as above. i love the natural contrasts of colour in this country. i love the red dirt and the shades of green. so pretty.
the setting sun
a view of the town from around my neck of the woods.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
fete d'independence
the one doing a salute is Dr. President Mr. Yayi Boni. sweet car...i want one
the group at Cape Coast Castle. Obama was there just days/more like a week before us!
they built a fancy new fountain at the park. and cleared away all the brush and made it look all pretty for the fete.
on the other side of the park
a view of the street.
all in all, i guess i am a little sad that the Independence Day came and went so fast. it was a bon moment.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
newbies
they arrived last night: pale, clean, and baby-faced! they were sooooo cute. it's kinda hard to describe. but it was an amazing feeling to be that volunteer who's been here one year. to be the volunteer with answers to all (well, most) of their questions.
and then there is GHANA! what can i say. Accra is like America. we literally couldn't see the difference between Accra and some tropicalish-nice-warm-weather city in the states...except that there were more black people. Ghanaians (spelling?) are so nice and helpful and i feel like they didn't try to rip us off as much as they do in Cotonou. and bottom-line it was nice to be able to speak English. although to the flip-side, English was no longer our "secret language"...which comes in handy here in Benin.
i of course forgot to bring my camera along with me, but everyone else brought theirs. so, supposedly, i will be getting a disk or some thing with pictures from everyone's camera. so sorry. y'all will have to wait for pics!
13 more months! and i feel like it's gonna FLY by. it already has.
and then there is GHANA! what can i say. Accra is like America. we literally couldn't see the difference between Accra and some tropicalish-nice-warm-weather city in the states...except that there were more black people. Ghanaians (spelling?) are so nice and helpful and i feel like they didn't try to rip us off as much as they do in Cotonou. and bottom-line it was nice to be able to speak English. although to the flip-side, English was no longer our "secret language"...which comes in handy here in Benin.
i of course forgot to bring my camera along with me, but everyone else brought theirs. so, supposedly, i will be getting a disk or some thing with pictures from everyone's camera. so sorry. y'all will have to wait for pics!
13 more months! and i feel like it's gonna FLY by. it already has.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Obladi, oblada…life goes on
Today is my one year anniversary for arriving in country. And it has been quite a year!
I have relearned my French, pick up a little Fon (afonganjia = you got up well?), read 34.5 books, watched countless movies, taught 150 students English, participated in a girls’ empowerment camp, learned how to crochet, had 3 dogs, went on safari, lost a friend to violence, gained 100 friends, stayed healthy, learned how to do laundry by hand, survived the hot season in Africa…and I am sure there is a lot more, but that’s about all I can think of at the moment.
As I was filling up my water containers I was thinking about how truly amazing sliced bread is! I mean you can find bread in just about any part of the world, but in how many places is it already sliced? And how many places in the world do you have 101 varieties of bread to choose from: white, whole wheat, 3-grain, raisin, buttermilk, honey-wheat, rye, sourdough, pita, baguettes…it’s great!
I am listening to the most played songs playlist on my itunes…and it totally reminds me of the times right before I left. It’s funny how songs can invoke memories like that. I remember sitting on the computer, I was on facebook and blogger looking at a volunteer’s pictures and reading her blog totally freaking out about Africa and what I had to pack and just trying to get a general idea of Benin and I remember it was a pretty hot day…I am sure it was like 85 degrees or so. And my dad says to me something along the lines of it’s this hot in Benin at night. And on a side note, when I got to Philly with the other west coasters, we went out for dinner and I grabbed my fleece thinking that it would get a little chilly as the evening wore on. But I was wrong about that. It pretty much stayed warm that evening. Is that like a Seattle thing or a west coast thing where it gets kinda cold at night?
So yeah, 4th of July. I am heading down to Cotonou early, well I’m hoping early enough to arrive at the bureau, take a hot shower and then head off to the ambassador’s house for a potluck(/BBQ?). But I don’t really think that any volunteer is planning to bring a plate…I mean how can we? If I were to make something at post, there is no way that thing is gonna survive its way to Cotonou. And I guess I am a little sad that I will be missing out on fireworks 2 years in a row, and it’ll be 3 years in a row by the time I am back.
And I guess, speaking of summer. To me summer entails long nights. Warm days. Camping. BBQs. Picnics. Bonfires. Trips to lakes/bodies of water. So I guess where I am going with this, is that to anyone in charge of dessert for a potluck or BBQ or something…I have a recipe for “key lime” pie that is super easy and pretty darn good:
Any kind of pie crust you like (graham or regular…I like the graham one best)
3 eggs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
½ lime juice
Make the crust and bake it till it’s light golden in color. Mix the other stuff all together. Pour it over the crust. Bake for 10 minutes. And that’s it. I don’t have a temperature for you cause I don’t exactly have an oven. I have a makeshift “peace corps dutch oven.” But I can tell you that I don’t have the temperature on high.
And lastly here are my pictures from Camp GLOW.
(these will come up later today/tonight when i get back from swimming and pot luck)
I have relearned my French, pick up a little Fon (afonganjia = you got up well?), read 34.5 books, watched countless movies, taught 150 students English, participated in a girls’ empowerment camp, learned how to crochet, had 3 dogs, went on safari, lost a friend to violence, gained 100 friends, stayed healthy, learned how to do laundry by hand, survived the hot season in Africa…and I am sure there is a lot more, but that’s about all I can think of at the moment.
As I was filling up my water containers I was thinking about how truly amazing sliced bread is! I mean you can find bread in just about any part of the world, but in how many places is it already sliced? And how many places in the world do you have 101 varieties of bread to choose from: white, whole wheat, 3-grain, raisin, buttermilk, honey-wheat, rye, sourdough, pita, baguettes…it’s great!
I am listening to the most played songs playlist on my itunes…and it totally reminds me of the times right before I left. It’s funny how songs can invoke memories like that. I remember sitting on the computer, I was on facebook and blogger looking at a volunteer’s pictures and reading her blog totally freaking out about Africa and what I had to pack and just trying to get a general idea of Benin and I remember it was a pretty hot day…I am sure it was like 85 degrees or so. And my dad says to me something along the lines of it’s this hot in Benin at night. And on a side note, when I got to Philly with the other west coasters, we went out for dinner and I grabbed my fleece thinking that it would get a little chilly as the evening wore on. But I was wrong about that. It pretty much stayed warm that evening. Is that like a Seattle thing or a west coast thing where it gets kinda cold at night?
So yeah, 4th of July. I am heading down to Cotonou early, well I’m hoping early enough to arrive at the bureau, take a hot shower and then head off to the ambassador’s house for a potluck(/BBQ?). But I don’t really think that any volunteer is planning to bring a plate…I mean how can we? If I were to make something at post, there is no way that thing is gonna survive its way to Cotonou. And I guess I am a little sad that I will be missing out on fireworks 2 years in a row, and it’ll be 3 years in a row by the time I am back.
And I guess, speaking of summer. To me summer entails long nights. Warm days. Camping. BBQs. Picnics. Bonfires. Trips to lakes/bodies of water. So I guess where I am going with this, is that to anyone in charge of dessert for a potluck or BBQ or something…I have a recipe for “key lime” pie that is super easy and pretty darn good:
Any kind of pie crust you like (graham or regular…I like the graham one best)
3 eggs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
½ lime juice
Make the crust and bake it till it’s light golden in color. Mix the other stuff all together. Pour it over the crust. Bake for 10 minutes. And that’s it. I don’t have a temperature for you cause I don’t exactly have an oven. I have a makeshift “peace corps dutch oven.” But I can tell you that I don’t have the temperature on high.
And lastly here are my pictures from Camp GLOW.
(these will come up later today/tonight when i get back from swimming and pot luck)
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