Independence Day and Homologues

Hello everyone!

Yesterday, August 1^st, 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 4^th 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 5^th and the 18^th. 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