Changing my Address!

Hey all. I've changed my address so if you want to send me a package or some mail, this new one will get it to me faster. In the past, all mail went to the capital and then Peace Corps picked it up and sent it up to Nati on the shuttle. Nowadays we only have a shuttle coming up once a month and I rarely go down to Cotonou anymore...so it just makes more sense to get the letters/packages full of amazing awesome goodies (HINT HINT)/birthday presents (HINT HINT SEND NOW IF YOU WANT ME TO GET IT IN TIME) directly sent to the Nati workstation.

Elaina ________ PCV
Corps de la paix americain
BP 168
Natitingou, Benin
Afrique de l'Ouest

Ok, now everyone send me goodies! Gluten free of course :) Check out my wishlist for updates (I just typed "upcakes" haha...I wish!)

Probably the worst thing ever (and some good ones, too)

So colt is not coming to Benin tonight. If he had made his flight with his visa and passport he'd be getting here in Cotonou in exactly 2 hours. But he didn't get his visa/passport back from the benin embassy in time and so he didn't get on a flight to Benin and so he won't be getting here in 2 hours...in fact he might not be coming here at all unless he gets his visa/passport before his next scheduled flight which he set for the 24th. Nothing is set in stone, I should have known better than to get so hopeful, but I can't help it. I always hope and I always put all my damn eggs in one basket and when they break I'm always surprised even though it was the hundredth time and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. So, long story longer, I was angry, than sad, than angry, than numb, and now I'm just tentatively optimistic. I'd...um...sort of like to see him, you know? But I'm done ranting and crying and complaining to everyone around me. I think everyone here is sick of me...especially since I spent the last like five days complaining at least four times a day about how much the the humidity in the south sucks!

Good things: I bought a hookah for not too expensive and smoked some delicious apple/vanilla tobacco at Kara's amazing second story apartment in Cotonou. It was wonderful and relaxing and really helped take my mind off of...that really really unpleasant stuff in the paragraph preceding this one...ha. We went up on the roof and watched stars and airplanes coming into the airport...although it was really depressing thinking about how colt wasn't...er...on one of those planes approaching West Africa right now. Ok, fine, let me say one more thing about the suckiness of this whole thing. Like ten people have friends, family, and lovers coming to visit this week and I'm just like in this unpleasant limbo listening to people talking about it and ugh. it sucks. I mean, the other guy's fiance's flight got in tonight at like 11:30pm and I was totally on the roof when her plane touched down and i was totally bummed. But than someone made a joke about sheep and boredom and well, all was good for a while.

Other good things: this extra time means i can actually clean my house, buy some food, and get clothes from the tailor before colt (maybe) arrives.

Bad things: We can't go on safari anymore and I had to cancel our reservation for that. I don't think we can afford to go now, either in time or money since he had to pay like the majority of the ticket price in order to just switch the dates of his departure. He would still have to go back to the US the same original day, the 5th. So that sucks.

Other bad things: I find it unlikely that there will be enough money for me to get a refridgerator. And i'm not gonna lie, at this point I was almost more excited for that than colt. Almost.

Good things: I bought three cans of diet coke to take back to Djougou. I was going to wait and put them in the fridge, but I don't think I'll be able to wait just to be disappointed, you know. I think I'll be drinking them during this next few days of really intense waiting.

Other good things: I purchased some champagne at Erevan for colt's (hopefully) visit/christmas. I was really proud because I talked to the guy for a while about what was the best brand for my money...i really wasn't prepared to spend the 30 mille for real champage, so i convinced him that good sparkling wine would work and got a good bottle for 4 mille. GO ME!

More happiness thoughts to keep my sanity: the Cotonou workstation is almost completely decked out in Twilight posters which makes my heart sing whenever I see taylor lautner smiling out at me.

Also: I am going to try to get Anthony Bordain from NO RESERVATIONS to come to Benin. We've all decided that I am the one in charge of creating the suggestion letter and sending it to him. We think a Peace Corps themed show in 2011 is perfect because it's the 50th year anniversary for the Peace Corps and it's like the premier volunteering organisation in the world and well, you know, television shows like that stuff. Doug and Kim are applying for the Amazing Race, so it only makes sense to jump in on this. He can stay at my house and I'll take him to this awesome yam pilee place...yes, I'm seriously stoked about it. Actually, if someone wants to download NO RESERVATIONS episodes and send them to me, I'd be really really happy and love you forever.

Also: Just read NEW MOAN, a Twilight parody that Dana sent me and it was probably the best thing ever (in contrast to the title of this blog post haha). Thank you DANA and FAMILY!

AND: SWIMMING!! The American ambassdor opens up his swimming pool to Peace Corps volunteers each Saturday afternoon and this was the first time I happened to be in Cotonou on a Saturday so I went swimming with Eric and Heather and Kara and a bunch of other volunteers. It was glorious and even though I only had a bra and panty combo, I felt like I was in America for a few hours...somewhere in America with palm trees and poorly constructed french...but still. I definitely got a bit sunburned.

I've decided that I am going to start going to mosque more frequently like probably once a week. I like my headscarf, I like the rituals, it's relaxing and really helps me integrate into the community, which is really difficult to do in a larger city like mine. And I can learn local language that way and even work on my casual Arabic which is really kick ass.

OH! Another good thing: I got a Dendi practice book to study! I'm going to learn so much I cannot wait. All the mamans qui vendent les choses will sit through my practicing and love it so much I've never had anyone so excited by my education except for maybe my dad when I was like 8. Ah, it's so exciting!

Hmmm, quelle autre? I love air conditioning and there's a lot of it this week....er....hmmm. I'm taking a FREE shuttle up to Djougou on Monday instead of the bus, so I'm saving some money, right on with your right on. Keep on with your keepin' on. Yeah, i should probably go shower and go to bed now...colt's nonflight would be getting here in one hour and 20 minutes and I'd be getting picked up from the workstation to head over to the airport in like 15 minutes.

Wow, these next few days are going to be awful. But (hopefully, the eggs! the eggs! one basket! faire doucement!) when he gets here, all will be remedied. At least after I give him the silent treatment for a whole five minutes or something.

Send me mail!

Elaina Murray, PCT
Corps de la Paix Americain
01 B.P. 971
Cotonou, Benin
Afrique de l’Ouest (West Africa)

These tips are from one of the married couples' blog (not the ones that look like me and colt), Craig and Heather's Excellent Beninois Adventure:

"If you do write us letters, be sure to number them on the envelope because they may hold our mail until we get more so they can give it to us at once or they may come out of order. Also, from what we have read, we will probably not have access to internet for an extended period of time after we arrive, like 1-2 months! So don't worry if you don't hear from us online. Snail mail may be the only way you'll hear from us during our first couple months so get the ball rolling and start writing us so we have letters to respond to. :)

As of now, no packages are necessary at this point because we don't know what we will have access to and what is available over there yet, but if you want to send your dear friends/family a care package in the future, here are some tips for any future packages:

Never write the real contents of a package. Write general items such as "food," "clothes" and "magazines"- not the specific items or brand names. Don't give them any reason to want anything that is inside.

Never write the real value of items on the customs form. Always put $10 or less otherwise, we have to pay taxes on packages. If they think there are valuable items in a package, they will open the package and then charge us more money or they may take

the contents for themselves.

Write "Dieu Te Regarde" on the package in large letters. This translates as, "God is watching you" and if they are religious, there is less of a chance it will get opened and looted through. It also helps to write everything (even addresses) in big RED letters because that is generally associated with government or top secret things that they don't want to mess with.

You will want to include an itemized list of the contents in the package so if there is something missing, we will know it. If they don't know English, then they won't know what the note says, and even if they do, they will know that someone paid attention to what was sent so if everything doesn't make it, there is more of a chance of someone following up. Lastly, use the US Postal Service- not a FedEx or UPS."

Well, y'all. I definitely want packages at some point, but right now, I'd really just like letters and photos. Or magazines so I can make sweet decorations for my house later. But for the next two months or so, I'll be with the host family, so I won't really get to do a lot of my own decorating or anything.

So, let's talk communication. I have quite a bit of time in the PC office before I head back to the hotel for dinner. Basically, phones here work through a couple different companies, the main and most reliable and used one is MTM. Phones are cheap and there are a lot of crappy knock offs, but real brands, primarily Nokia, are the way to go. Most volunteers have a small $50 black phone from Nokia that texts and calls. You buy credit from these dudes on the street and then enter the code into the phone to put it on. 500cfa is about $1 and will get you about 5 minutes of conversation, which seems not bad, but it's ridiculously expensive. That's for you to call someone. If someone calls you, than it's free for you to talk. So, if I call the states, I have to pay that ridiculous amount, but if someone from the states calls me than I can talk for free. So all y'all rich folk in the states will need to be calling me. Mostly, what I think will happen is I'll call really quickly and hang out and than you can call me back.

Now, it costs for you, too. But it's waay cheaper. You're best option is to use skype and go through your iphone. Just download the program, you are smart and can figure it out. You can also use skype on your computer. You need a microphone and speakers...clearly. I think you can also buy international calling cards and use them as well, but I don't really know the process for that, but I'm sure you can figure it out as well. Or you can just forgo regular phone conversations and be content with like a 5 minute one every now and again from me. Or wait for internet...facebook messages are good. Wall posts are not so good bc I really won't be able to respond to them if I'm limited in my time online. Email is always an option as well since that's usually the first thing I'll check with facebook.

I gave my preferences today for where I'd like to be at post and I said I want: Cell phone service, electricity, and a post close to Cotonou. I said I was ambivalent about post mates and running water. So we'll see. My optimal experience would be to live like an hour or less away so that I can come to Cotonou as often as possible. But we'll see where they put me. I hope my directness at saying "please put me near Cotonou with electricity and phone service" was perhaps a bit more direct than other volunteers and that means they'll give me what I want.

Well, that's about that. I think, interestingly, I've exhausted my internet capacity for now. I wish mom or zach or lucas or oliver or jeni or skyler or josh was on facebook so we could chat! I'll be online most of tomorrow, too, so I should be able to do that then...if anyone actually reads this!

Miss you all,

Elaina