lunch with the director and scheduling

Hi All!

A big day with the Peace Corps today! My French class, and many others, met at Songhai, since all the Environment and also Community Economic Development volunteers had lunch with the director of Peace Corps Benin. We had met him during the first few days of orientation, but it was nice to hear a little more about his life and his prespective on the peace corps. He did say one thing in particular that really struck me: Peace Corps has a tension between being a practical aid organization and a cultural exchange.  He brought it up because finding the balance can be difficult, but I realized that is one of the things I love about Peace Corps. Both aspects seem so necessary and interrelated to me. It is a cool thing that we have going on here.

Language class was actually a little un characteristically difficult today. Our class joined up with another class that seemed to need a little help. At first it was really great to have some other French class mates, and get to hear their stories and thoughts (as another trainee said, you can only ask someone what their father’s name is so many times). But after a while the troubles that the other class has been having started to bubble to the surface. The fascilitator is newer than our fascilitator Aurelien, and the exercizes he chose were a little more academic, with less immediate personal application than what we enjoy in our class. This might have been fine on it’s own, but their was at least one trainee who was having a very difficult time staying motivated to keep trying in french, and because of that wasn’t really presenting herself positively. As other trainees tried to joke and be sympathetic the balance of the class really got out of whack and basically, it took a long time to do even simple exercizes and almost everyone was a little frustrated by the end. I do hope things get better for those other trainees. It made me grateful for what a good rapport we have in my french class, and how dynamic, passionate and organized our fascilitator is. It’s nice to recognize the things that are working out right.

Unfortunately, neither Heidi nor I have heard from Bethany, and I’m afraid she won’t be rejoining our stage. It would be sad to see her go, and she will be missed, but I hope this is the best choice for her.

Things that are happening next:

On Saturday we have a language placement test. Our French competency will be re-assessed in a conversation exam, and if we do well enough we may get to start with a local language.

On July 27^th we are supposed to find our placements for work during our service in the Peace Corps.

On August 5^th I believe we will be leaving for a two week visit to our future posts. We will be staying with different host families and be getting our first look at the local climate, traditions, food, and of course, our work!

After the two weeks at post we will start our technical training.

If all goes well, Lord willing, as Dr. Phillips would say, we will all swear in as Peace Corps Volunteers on September 14^th, after that, it’s off to work!

Thanks for reading and for all your support!!

With love,

Lauren