some random updates

July 29th, 3:18 pm CST, 21:18 Benin
Well, my stomach ache is much diminished today and I feel a lot better. Yesterday we spent a good couple hours playing a pretty intense game of soccer with all the volunteers and some of the language facilitators. There are a few of us with some soccer background, but I was actually quite happy at how quickly it all came back to me. I was wearing a skirt which made running and manuevering difficult, but it really made me miss playing soccer! Those were the days, man. I should have kept up with it or tried harder or something because it is way badass. But I suppose I have rubik's cube skillz and karate skillz to make up for it.

I went looking for tissue today with the Wiricks and eventually I had to go home because it was getting dark, but apparently they totally found some and are getting sweet clothes made for the fete (party) on Sunday for independence day. I totes missed out. Oh well, hopefully I'll be able to go sometime this weekend, maybe Saturday afternoon.

I learned from my host sister, Rosine, about hair weaves today. It was very informative and I feel a little embarrassed that I don't really know anything about how many black women do their hair. But she showed me how the faux cheveux was actually sewn onto her actual hair and then she oiled it and put it in a cute knot at the knape of her neck. Which is all really impressive considering that there are no mirrors in the house and we all use whatever reflective surfaces we can find, like the glass doors!

OH, and my host sister is AMADIE, not Amelie as I've been calling her and apparently she's actually 18. There's a host bro who is actually the uncle of Amedie...who is 23, but he's not always here. He does have my number, though...and I cannot for the life of me remember his name. But Ricardo I know! He kicks ass (and apparently sometimes his sister, Genevieve...who they call "Ginny" but I don't know the spelling of it). Rosine is also 18 and I don't really know if they're actually half sisters from different mamans or if one is adopted or if they are twins or what. I don't think twins, so I really don't know. It's wild and I love it!

i got a letter today from Mommoo and it made me very happy! I don't really have the time to send letters back right now because I'm pretty sure I'd have to get them to Cotonou somehow first which is about an hour away...so for now, please please send me letters or packages with PHOTOS of you and magazines like Cosmo for light reading and craft projects.

And I really want to take pictures, but I can't get them online, apparently, because it takes an hour to load each picture...so does anyone have any suggestions? Maybe I could try emailing them and Colt can post them or maybe try sending them through the snail mail on a flash drive? I don't know...people might have to wait until I get back before they see them!

Ok, that's it for now!
E

July 30th, 3:00pm CST/21:00 Benin

The married couple, A and K, who resemble Colt and myself, are in Cotonou tonight because the husband has food poisoning! It was pretty wild actually; during class (bike training...very dull), K received a phone call and then hurriedly left on her bike to go home and no one told us anything. It was pretty clear that A was involved and Heather texted her hubby, Craig, who has school with A, and he said something about A having to go to Cotonou. I found out a little while ago from K that they should be back by Sunday and that it was food poisoning specifically. It’s a little ironic because he is always joking about the safety of eating “street meat” and joking about liking it too much. Haha. I’m glad he’ll be okay. There’s actually another one of us stagaiers at the med station in Cotonou right now because of heat exhaustion and sickness. It’s crazy!

On the subject of sickness, my problems have almost completely gone away. My appetite is still a bit lower than normal, but I’m alright with that. Everything is carbohydrates here anyway, so I’m definitely eating enough. I get a little cramping in my stomach right after I eat, but it’s not as bad as it was at the beginning of the week.

Tonight I talked with my host sister, Ginny, a lot. We discussed snow and how she wants to go to France and the United States for university and to see different things and study English. We spent a long time talking about her maternal language which is a local one that I forget the name of, but it starts with a D...and we also spent time talking about the things she knows in English. She would name something and I wouldn’t quite understand her accent and so I’d have to ask her to say it in French and then I’d understand what she was going for. It was very strange to have to ask for clarification in French and actually understand what was going on! Also she taught me a few words in her maternal language, but of course, I can’t remember and can barely pronounce them to start with! She said D, her langue, is not very common, but Yoruba, Goun, and Fon are more common and that she can understand Goun also because it’s so common. She said that Papa tells them to speak French, so they speak that when he is around (and also when I am around because I am supposed to be learning French!), but when he’s not around, they all speak in that language so that they don’t forget it. It was a pretty cool conversation, actually. One of the best ones I’ve had with a host country national since I’ve been here. I feel like my French has gotten much much better and I am just not afraid to make mistakes anymore. I’ll bust out some future proche, future simple, passe compose, and a little immediate past and present. I even whipped out a conditionelle passe the other day and just about gave my language facilitator a heart attack haha. I can’t do that on command, though lol.

Today we went to a village and saw a local school and health center and got to talk to a midwife and the local community about their town just to get practice with speaking to a community. It was really cool to use French and chat with the kind of people we’ll be living with once we get to post. Everyone is just so excited to work with us and to talk to us about their town. I don’t think I’ll have too much trouble being accepted by my community as long as I make the effort to go out and meet people. The ‘community map’ project is pretty easy to do with a group of people and very well thought out as far as community involvement goes. The process doesn’t feel patronizing, which I was worried about, but because we as volunteers are mostly acting as facilitators at the meetings, and the people are doing most of the talking, it was much more inclusive. I definitely need more French to feel comfortable doing it on my own, though. And we had to have someone translate from French to Fon for the community, and then some people even needed French to English translation, too! It was kind of wild.

After that, my APCD (pretty much the highest up boss I have besides the country director), took me aside and told me that there were rumors that I was leaving early because I was engaged and he wanted to know if they were true. I was totally shocked and told him that I was not leaving anytime soon and that I had been invited to Benin even after my engagement. I told him that all of us have ups and downs, but that he would be the first to know if I was deciding to leave. It’s not a choice that would really just surprise him out of nowhere. It isn’t something that I can just do; he would be very aware if I was leaving. It was just frustrating to hear that people are gossiping about me or other people ETing. If someone wants to ET, we’ll know. Until then, it’s not really polite to put wagers on it. The fact that the rumors got all the way to Christian, the health sector APCD, is very annoying. The point is thus: I’ll stay here as long as can. That’s really all any of us can say!

I had a horrible, freakishly realistic nightmare last night that I know is from the mefloquine. I woke up around 4:30am or so, still believing that the dream was true for like a minute and I don’t think I’ve ever felt as sad and empty as I did for that minute. Once I realized it was just a dream and not real, I was so overwhelmed with relief that I totally bawled my eyes out and fell back asleep for another hour or two. It was really trippy and totally different than anything else I’ve felt. I can usually figure out when I’m dreaming, but this was so vivid, I literally thought I was living that life. I did not know where I was when I came awake and I didn’t know anything really except despair. It was super weird and intense. Not bad enough that it disrupts my life or anything and definitely not bad enough that I’d need to switch to doxycycline, the once a day pill, but just kinda freaky enough to mention! It’s sort of interesting in an academic sense, too. I’ve noticed other people discussing their mefloquine induced nightmares and they are all about giant bugs or monsters or freaky things like “snakes crawling into my skin” stuff like that, but my nightmares are all about bad things happening to the people I love. I guess that’s the price I’ll pay for having lots of love in my life!

Ok, it’s cooking time tomorrow at the RCH volunteers’ house in Porto Novo and then Satin (a health volunteer getting ready to start her 3rd year who rocks super hard) is going to help some of us get tissue and have some pretty clothes made. Yay!

Ok, I’m exhausted. Bonne nuit,
E