Hello everyone!
Yesterday, August 1st, was Benin’s Independence
Day. As one volunteer’s host mama described it, “There is a military parade,
and music, and parties, and the president will give a speech and we will watch
it all on the television!” I felt like I could relate, thinking back to
watching 4th of July fireworks on TV in the United States.
We only had a half day of classes, so I resolved to go out
with other trainees after class and get a burger. It’s not hard to miss classic
American food when everything is new and different. Even though I was pretty
sure the burger wouldn’t be the same as it was in Boston, I still wanted it.
Classes were fairly low key and I got to learn a little more
Bariba. The journey to the burger was successful. It was indeed different than
a burger in the States. The meat was at least seasoned differently. However, it
was very satiating. Probably 2/3 of the trainees came out to the burger joint
and a neighboring restaurant. It was so nice to just hang around with lots of different
people, and chat about our language classes, and just about anything else that
crossed our minds.
In the afternoon I watched so of the festivities on TV with
my host siblings, and I also chatted with my host mama about my Bariba
vocabulary. It has been really exciting o get to run things by her.
Today (Thursday) we had class at the Ecole Normale Superiur,
and we spent a lot of time talking about the near future. Tomorrow we are
meeting our homologues, or mentor/boss/counterparts for our work at post. It’s
an exciting time, but I am definitely nervous about making their acquaintance.
I am trying to remind myself that they are pretty nervous too. We will have
different informational sessions with our homologues Tomorrow and Saturday, and
then on Sunday we will begin the journey to post. I, along with a bunch of
other trainees and our homologues, will probably wind up resting for the night
at the Kandi Peace Corps Workstation, or else the Parakou Workstation. We will
see.
While I am visiting my post for two weeks, I will be staying
with the family of one of my work partners – a director of one of the three
primary schools. I am excited about getting to make this personal connection
with a future colleague, and I hear that the family has two kids, so that is
exciting. However, the Peace Corps has recommended that we keep valuables (like
a laptop) locked at our host homes in Porto Novo. It is unlikely that we will
have an equally secure private place to store such valuables during our short
visit. I am starting to resign myself to the fact that this visit is going to
be relatively electronic-free. I am trying to think of it like a vacation.
For that reason, it is unlikely that I will be able to post
between August 5th and the 18th. If we do stay over night
at a work station, it’s possible that I could post then, and there is a
possibility that there will be a cyber café in my town. Other than that, I
think this two week trip is for assessing my future communication options, not
communicating consistently through out. However, I am hoping to get a phone
call or two in with my immediate family, so the lines of communication are
staying somewhat open J.
I hope you are doing well, my thoughts are with you all in
the States, and I am very grateful to get to stay in touch as much as I have.
Thanks for reading,
With love,
Lauren
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