Djougou and bisap!

Sunday 8:45 Benin/2:48am CST

Happy Sunday morning, tout le monde! Some of the family is at the Evangelical church and the other section (which includes Maman Rico) is at the Catholic church. From what I gather, this difference causes a little bit of drama in the household. I declined to attend either simply by saying I didn't want to go. They didn't press me for more details, but I think I would just say that I believe in something different. Apparently the Beninese just want to know you believe in something, but don't really care what it is, haha.

Last night over some bisap (bee-sap), a sugary drink made from hibiscus leaves, I talked with Maman in English and realized that her English is not so good afterall. She can really only barely remember basic phrases for greeting and some vocabulary, so I think it's pretty funny that she told me that she spoke English! It's really weird to be here and recognize that my French is better than a lot of people's English. My French instuctor, for example, teaches English when she doesn't work for the Peace Corps, but she definitely cannot sustain a conversation in English. I guess high school foreign language instructors are often the same way if they don't regularly speak the language they are teaching. It's just strange to know that my best language for communication here really is French. When someone says something to me in English and I don't understand the word because the accent is to thick or they're mispronouncing it, I ask them to tell me the word in French, and then I'll totally understand what they were trying to say in English. It's just bizarre to have to ask for clarification in a language other than English. I also showed Maman, Rico, and Ginny some pictures of my family and Colt and I have this one of Dad holding me on his back when I was like 6 months old or something and they thought that was HILARIOUS. Men do not carry babies like that here and women ALWAYS carry babies strapped to their backs, so Maman was in a giggle fit over that. She also thought Colt was handsome and I promised to bring him through Porto Novo on our way up to Djougou in December. I spent a lot time explaining all my parents' marriages and remarriages and what brothers belonged to what parents and she exclaimed at the end that American families were just as complicated at Beninese ones! That surprised her I think because we're always portrayed as so nuclear: Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother, dog, white picket fence. I felt pretty stoked to be able to give a good picture of America; that's the 2nd goal in action! (The Peace Corps has 3 goals: 1)To help people who need and want our help, 2) To share American culture with the Host Country, and 3) To share the Host Country culture with America)

Yesterday we did some baby weighings in a nearby village. I weighed two babies and they were freaking adorable. A couple babies were on the borderline of the danger zone, but no one was in the red. We spent a lot of time with the mothers singing and dancing before and after the activity which was a fun icebreaker and helped put the moms at ease before handing over their little babies to a bunch of yovo strangers! A lot of us used the moment to get a shit ton of pictures of and with the crazily enthusiastic African kids. They really love cameras and posed in all sorts of ridiculous poses, just like Oliver does! It was really fun although one bad thing has happened. MY CAMERA DOESN'T WORK ANYMORE! The stabilizer (according to people who know stuff about cameras) isn't working and I can't get a clear shot of anything; all my photos are strangely distorted. Nothing really specific happened to it; I didn't drop it or anything...it's just old I guess. So that's a bummer. It is sort of priority that I get another camera at some point...preferrably something nice and good that will last and take some bomb ass photos of Africa...but one that is user friendly for a photography novice. I am sort of into it, though, so it's something I could definitely learn about and get into. ANY SUGGESTIONS? My birthday is in fact coming up, just 3 days after swear-in...if anyone is interested. hint hint to anyone not already helping send Colt to me for Christmas...

Speaking of Djougou...

It is apparently a beautiful area of the country and the city is surprisingly clean for its size. I am excited to be in such a vibrant, hopping place. It is, like a lot of Benin, full of a lot of young people, and there are many efforts to get more tourism going. It's a very Muslim city with each neighborhood having at least one mosque. I am hoping to get an opportunity to go to service with some neighbors or something, but I'm not sure about the rules for non-followers. I'm pretty sure another trainee went with his host family once, so we'll see. Djougou is the major carrefour (intersection) in the North, with roads leading to Natitangou (my Peace Corps work station city only an hour away), Parakou (the other work station city in the North), Cotonou (the Southern work station), and the Togolese border. Apparently most people have cars and/or motos as it is a relatively wealthy city and there are beaucoup de zemidjians. It is also known as a safe city, with a few instances of petty theft as the only concern. I will have running water in my house and will probably end up boiling my drinking water and then filtering it only because I'll want to use the spiget on the filter to collect my water from. From what I've gathered from most volunteers, filtering tap water is a little bit overkill. There is a grande marche that has pretty much the best stuff in the North, including a lot of fresh, organic vegetables and fruits. There are also boutiques for more expensive stuff like pasta, butter, spices, and coffee. Wagashi is native to the North and is apparently super delicious up there...and since wagashi is probably my favorite Beninese food (when it's not too strong), I am pretty happy about that! There are two health centers and a private hospital, as well as many birthing centers. It seems that PSI, the NGO I'll be working with, is interested in having me work with sexual health and family planning initiatives, which is totally great. I'm also, hopefully, going to have an opportunity to work with some of the birthing centers if I ask for it. I definitely don't want to work in the PSI office all day...that's not really how I envisioned my Peace Corps service. But a little bit of that is fine as long as i have time to do some of the more hands-on stuff I am interested in doing as well.

A few days ago I had another "holy shit, i'm in Africa" moment. Maman and I went to Cotonou on Friday to say good bye to Jess before her flight and on the way, the driver was playing loud African music on the radio. The sun was setting and the silhouettes of the palm trees were outlined by the pink haze on the horizon and people in the car were chatting animatedly in Fon or Goun. I took a deep breath of the cleanest air outside of the cities I've had and thought "WHOA, I am in AFRICA." I'm almost certain the novelty will wear off, in fact to some extent it already has, but for now, I am happy to savor those split second moments where I feel the adrenaline of newness again and even if just for a fraction of a second, reaffirm my decision to live and work here. I am exactly where I want to be right now in my life and that is a wonderful bit of knowledge to have.

Until next time,

E