Porto Novo

July 20th, 10:25pm Beninese time/4:25pm CST, Contonou

So first thing's first: I bought a phone! And 3000cfa worth of minutes! And then used up 2000cfa talking to mom less than an hour ago! I also called Colt's fam, looking for a number to get in touch with him...but, rather unsurprisingly, they didn't know either. Bad puppy! Dad was also unavailable. Geez, people.

I'm sitting here now in the hotel room in Cotonou, listening to many of the other stagaiers (pronounced in a french-y sort of way like "staahh-gee-airs" meaning "trainees") outside on the patio drinking and enjoying our last night all together. Tomorrow we're off to meet our new host families in Porto Novo where we'll be until September 17th. They are supposed to provide us food and shelter and help us figure out how to do laundry and get to our classes as well as communicate with us in french and help us learn about Beninois culture. The kids of the family are supposed to actually walk us to school on the first day! We got photos of our families and there are 11 people in mine and it looks like 5 of them are teenage girls! Maybe they like Twilight lol. There is a papa with two wives and two smaller kids like age 10 or 11 with another older woman who might be a grandma or aunt. I seriously can't wait to meet them and get to work remembering their names.

Training will be at a primary school in Porto Novo, walking or biking distance from our family's house. The Rural Communicty Health (RCH) and the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) people are all together on one side of the city at one school and the Environmental Action (EA) and the Small Business Development (SED) people are on the other. My married couple friends, Krista and Andrew, are in different schools (Krista is RCH and Andrew is EA), but will live somewhere in the middle of Porto Novo with their host family and will spend most of the day apart. I like them because they are both awesome. Today, the guard of the hotel (who is hilarious, btw and speaks about as much English as I do French) confused me with Krista and asked me if Andrew was sleeping in our room. After a couple really confused moments I just burst into laugher and re-introduced myself. He thought that was pretty funny when I explained and later when Andrew came down, we all joked that he had two blonde wives. Ah, good stuff.

I am really excited to meet my family and nervous about my ability to communicate effectively en francais with them. There are a lot of simple things I really just don't remember how to say and my vocabulary is ridiculously bad. For the most part I remember a lot of verbs and basic conjugation, but that was always my strong suit. Ask me how to say "window" or "monkey" in french and I will be lost.

During my long and very expensive (haha, mom, I love you) conversation with my mom, I mentioned that I had like a million mosquito bites and she expressed surprise since I had written earlier here that I had yet to see a mosquito. Well, just to clarify, I still haven't SEEN one, but I have seriously 23 bites on my lower limbs (none above the ankle yet though...). The little suckers are tiny and for some weird reason I really haven't actually caught one in the act yet, even though it feels like I am getting attacked pretty hardcore right now. I don't know how they get under the mosquito net at night! Ah!

I started my mefloquine today (that's the one that is supposed to give us crazy dreams) to prevent malaria. Not to alarm anyone, but apparently I missed one of my doxycycline doses this week. I have one extra pill in my case that I shouldn't. Oh well. I told the doctor during my medical interview this morning and she said that since I am doubling up today with the doxy and the mefloquine that I should be protected. Malaria is a truly interesting disease. One that I do not want, but sort of do in a strange masochistic way. But don't worry, that one doxy miss was a one time deal; I'll be taking the mef once a week on schedule like a good girl. The most common malaria strain here also happens to be the most deadly and I'd rather not risk it, call me crazy.

Things I want to buy in Porto Novo: multiple traditional skirts and full African outfits, a big purse/bag for all my shit bc I don't like carrying around my backpack all the time, a wallet/change purse for my money and la petite monaie (coin change...basically anything less than 1000 francs is a coin), and my kickass, awesome, will-be-planning-it-every-time-I-see-a-place-to-buy-tissue wedding dress. I'm SURE I will think of other things to purchase with my HUGE Peace Corps salary*. I love SHOPPING!

I shorted out my surge protector by trying to plug it into the universal adaptor I brought that I had plugged into the wall here. There was a big spark and then smoke started coming out of it. I'm sort of confused because it says that it works for up to 330 V and the voltage here is 220 V...compared to the United States of 120V....so whatever. I can just buy a universal power strip for like 300 francs. I don't understand this technology stuff. But fuck, I love my netbook. It is really portable and light, small and convenient. Almost as cool as me.

I am going for another run tomorrow morning with K and A and a couple other people. It is really funny to see the look of surprise on people's faces when they see all the yovos running in unison down the street at 6:30 in the morning. I'm sure running in PN or village will be much more fun because it's even more unusual there. Score!

AH. Traditional Beninese food was today. The food we've been having is a sort of Americanized toned down version with couscous or rice or pasta with some sort of tomato and onion based sauce with a meat or cheese side and white, french baguette bread. That is not necessarily the stuff that the Beninois eat. What they have is pate with sauce. It's pronounced "pot" and it is made from some grain that I can't remember that they boil until it's sticky and solid. They use that to pick up the sauce with the right hand (the left hand is taboo in Beninois society). The sauces I've had are the tomato which I like, the vegetable legume one which is delicious, and the okra one...which is like snot in color and consistancy and disgusting. The pate has no flavor itself and can come in either blanc or noir or rouge, but I've only tried the first two and only liked the white one. They also have a kimchi like fermented pate blanc and that was pretty gross, too. The cheese is okay if it is fresh (I can't remember what it's called), but if it's a few hours old it is waaay too sour and I can't really choke it down. The salads I've had here are awesome; just lettuce, tomato, and onion with egg halves and some sort of really light mayonnaise sauce. It's tasty! And they also had some fried potatoes today that were delicious and the best fucking croissants I've ever had are served during our coffee and tea breaks here at the hotel but I'm not sure if they're a staple item. They don't really do dessert here, which is a bummer, but I had an oreo today from another volunteer who brought them with him. Tres delicieux. I'm really curious about what my host family will be cooking for me tomorrow night. They know I'm a vegetarian and apparently it's not a big deal to let them know what I like and dislike. Well, I think I can say that in French. Je l'aime or je ne l'aime pas.

I can't remember if I mentioned it, but the ipod is in working order, thanks to monsieur Colt S. Sellens. Merci, mon amour. <3 Speaking of all that, there is one other engaged person here, a guy named Scott, who has only been dating his lady since March! So...whoa. I know a few people are in long term, committed relationships, too, but besides the married folk, I am pretty sure mine takes the cake. When people find out they immediately express their support if I decide to ET (early terminate). Those comments would annoy me if they weren't so close to the truth of how I've been feeling sometimes!

But come on! I bought a cell phone! Tres cool, non? I just WISH WISH WISH my babyluv had a way for me to get in touch with him...Since it will probably be several days before I even get a chance to post this. Ahhh, nothing is reliable here or easy to plan around.

But hell, TIA, man, TIA.

Elaina

PS. TIA means "this is Africa" for all of you who have not seen Blood Diamond or anything else related to foreigners in Africa...

PPS. It is actually like that here. You should watch M. DiCaprio in that if you want to see where I am. That's in Liberia which is a bit northeast of here, but it's basically a good depiction of West Africa.

PPPS. I have not yet lost the African gamble. Google it. That's all I have to say about that.

PPPPS. If you want my phone number in l'Afrique just message me on facebook or email me. Don't post on my wall something you really want me to read and respond to, bc I'll only have time to do that in extreme situations of free internet time. So let me know and I'll get you the digits or you can get them easily enough from ma mere if you can get in touch with her sooner than I'll be able to check online again! I love and miss you all and thanks for reading =D

E

*I don't have a huge salary. I was being sarcastic. I make 94,000cfa a month which is a bit less than $200...which will still be one of the highest paid in my village, but is definitely not enough for Cotonou or Porto Novo shopping sprees. Oh well.

July 22^nd, 22:34pm Benin time, 4:34pm CST, Porto Novo, Benin

This is the second night I’ve stayed at my host family, the Hounzounkou family. They are all really nice and want to help me with my french, which is painfully bad when put into a situation where the only thing I can speak is the language. There is a mama, a papa, a big brother, a younger brother, a big sister, and a younger sister who all live in the same house with me, but there is another mama and at least one or two other youngish girls who all live in the same family compound in a different area I think. My host maman who I see the most is really nice and speaks English, but she said she wasn’t going to let me use it at all and I heard her telling the kids to go talk to me in french, haha. The older sister, Amelie, is also nice, but very direct. She doesn’t smile unless you are having a conversation with her. She is 17. Ricardo is 12 and he is my favorite so far. Genevieve is 13 and she is also really nice. The papa said in English last night when he came home from work “you will pass a good time with us!” so that made me laugh. I only talked to him for a little bit because I am really tired pretty early and I don’t think he always stays in this maison. I think it’s a little like Big Love, lol.

Tonight after dinner (a huge salad with beets and lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, and eggs on top of spaghetti with a mustard viniagrette sauce. Actually not too bad, but definitely weird lol. But there were pineapple pieces on the side that were the best freaking pineapple I’d ever had like ever. Like actually it might have been the best fruit I’ve ever had. And since I really like fruit, that means it was like one of the best tasting pieces of food of my life. SO GOOD.)....so after dinner, both mamans and Ricardo, Amelie, Genevieve, and another sister who maybe doesn’t live here, but maybe does, but I think she might be the daughter of the other maman, Estelle, hung out in the huge livingroom with a chandelier and watched an Argentinian soap opera that is dubbed in French. I sort of tried to study my french, but mostly listened and tried to catch stuff.

Basically if someone speaks slowly and directly to me, I can understand like half of what they are saying. The rest of the time I am primarily lost.

Amelie walked me to the school where I have my lessons this morning. I studied French all day pretty much and got some rice and beans with tomato and onion sauce for lunch from an apparently reputable vendor. It was fine, but I really need to lay off the carbs. Whew.

Tomorrow I have school at the big compound place called Songhai that is really nice. It is far away from my house and I am like 90% sure I have to take a zemi to get there which will be...interesting. But I have my helmet! J’ai un cas!

Ok, I am exhausted and SO HOT. There is no air in my bedroom. I REALLY need a fan. Or I am going to die. NEED AIR!

I am attempting to boil and filter my water tomorrow. So far, I’ve lasted on three huge water bottles from the hotel, but that is running out and it is time to get down to business.

Oh, I guess I should say that I have electricity, but no running water. There is a well where I get my shower and toliet water from and I bring it inside and then use the plumbing like normal, but pour the water in. Sort of like dad’s house when the water would get shut off lol. I took a bucket bath today and actually found it surprisingly pleasant; I was very conscious of each drop of water that I was using and really felt intellectually stimulated by the process. We’ll see if it gets old.

Oh! Also, the YOVO YOVO song business has started. I LOVE it and think it’s adorable, but other people really hate it and get annoyed. It’s just little kids, but whenever they see us, they start chanting in a sing song voice, “yovo, yovo, bonsoir. Ca va bien, merci.” And it was totally stuck in my head all day. It’s pretty cute. They get these huge smiles on their faces and start clapping and jumping up and down and grab their friends, calling out the words. They just seem so happy to see us! I don’t think my own mother is ever that happy to see me! Haha

Ok, I like it here, c’est tout! Je suis fatiguee!

Elaina Hope

Friday, porto Novo, 7:16CST, 1:16 Benin

I MISS COLT and this internet SUCKS. waaaaaaa

C'est tout =(

E