** I wrote this post on Saturday, June 30th**


 

Hello Everyone!

Happy weekend! My first full day with the host family has been really good one. As I got ready for my half day of French class I felt prepared for the class, but not for breakfast. Mama and Pap had already eaten, and the kids hadn’t yet, so I ate a lone while the kids watched me and sometimes offered helpful advice. How do you open the can of Nescafe? Do you just tear off a piece of the bread? What do you scoop the mayonnaise with? It’s incredible how many questions a daily activity can generate. However, both the kids and the parents were helpful, and did seem to resist the urge to laugh at me.

I was given a ride to school by Heidi’s host papa. She is a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) with whom I share a French class, and amazingly, she is also my neighbor. French class was pretty intense, but I can see that it will be really helpful. It’s just Heidi and I in the class, but today, many Peace Corps French classes met at the same Beninese school. It was good to get to swap stories and see people.

We only had a half day of class so at noon we called my host papa on our teacher’s cellphone, and he picked us up. Many students had to catch a Zemi, the motorcycle which is the most common transportation, so Heidi and I are feeling very lucky.

Throughout the afternoon and evening I played with the kids. I found out the two girls are 11 and 9 and the boys are younger than them. I mostly played with the girls. I observed some of their chores and set up the water filter the Peace Corps gave me, we watched some TV, and I drew some pictures and they told me the words in French.

Getting to know the family and my Beninese instructors has been a great experience. I will admit something in hopes that you can relate. When I was seeing pictures of Benin, it was hard not to find the people a little intimidating. Most people in the pictures looked very different than my friends and family. And in addition to that it seems to be in Beninese culture not to smile for pictures. In fact, in the picture I got of my host family they all have confused scowls on their faces. But in fact, my host family is very generous and considerate, very interested in me, and very good natured. When I observe someone first hand, hear their voice, see how naturally a smile springs to their face, and understand the words they are saying, I really am struck by how similar we all are the whole world over. And with regards to my host family in particular, I am also impressed by many of their not-so-third-world items and attributes. There is a big TV in the living room which is usually switching between Beninese news and African Music videos. Indoor plumbing and electricity, and of course the Mazda in the drive way.

Being in Benin has reminded me a lot of being in Jordan. This is probably helpful because when I was in Jordan, I wasn’t there to fix problems, I was there pilgrimaging/studying their archeological sites. I think that successful experience has facilitated an extra measure of calmness and respect for Beninese culture.

Before I wind down this post, I am sorry communication hasn’t been as consistent as I hoped. On Monday I will a cellphone, and I hear you can get some internet set up through that. Who knows, maybe that’s how this post will eventually reach you!

Anyway, I am thinking of you guys back at home all the time, and things here are great.

Love,

Lauren

First Day with my host family

**I wrote this post on Friday, June 29th**

 

First Day with my host family

Today was one of the days that I have been most nervous about: the day we all met our host families. I have got to say, it’s been so great!

In the morning we packed up our stuff at St.Jean Eudes dormitory/hotel/compound (I never quite figured that out) and went to the Peace Corps base in Cotonou. After an introduction to what French class will be like over the next three weeks, we loaded onto the buses and drove to Cotonou.

When we got there we were supposed to find our family, based on a picture we had gotten earlier. My family seemed to have a Mom, Dad, an older girl (maybe an aunt? Maybe a sister? It was hard to tell) and then a girl and two boys under the age of 12. I was having a difficult time finding them, but didn’t feel too bad, because I was seeing equally confused expressions on the faces of the Beninese host families. Finally I found my host papa and he greeted me with a handshake and a kiss on the cheek. From that moment, through the rest of the day, the family has been so generous, understanding, and enthusiastic.

After meeting a host family we had to sit through a few speeches about how great this Volunteer-hosting is (I was pretty sold, who am I kidding). Afterwards we were supposed to meet up with our French teachers. I explained to my host papa that I had not met my French teacher yet. He went up to /my/ Peace Corps schedule coordinator to explain to her the problem! I thought that was very kind.

When we got to the house they showed me to my lovely room with light blue walls and (wait for it) my own bathroom! I never expected to have my own bathroom and was a little worried about the politics of sharing an outhouse with family members. Clearly my expectations were way low. I have my own room with a locked door in addition to a locked safe box (apparently the Beninese are really into locking things, so this isn’t offensive). And yeah, I have my own private bathroom!

As the family showed me the room my host papa told me ‘we had this double bed, but the peace corps said only a single for one person, so I hope this is ok’. They had bought a single mattress and put it on top of the double mattress!

The kids are pretty bashful around me, but they seem really sweet. I’m excited to get to know them better. My host mama talks a little fast for me at this point, so I haven’t gotten to know her as well but she has been so genially kind, welcoming and hospitable, I am pretty excited to work my way into cooking and working with her.

Oh, they also have a wonderful air conditioned car in a world of motorbikes, and so does their neighbor who is hosting my classmate, Heidi. So it’s been a pretty great soft landing for me. I’m feeling really lucky and really excited. As we were driving from the big meet and greet to the host house, I couldn’t help smiling to myself. I am moving into Benin. And so far, it has been all of the wonderful different yet familiar adventure I could have dared hope that it would be. 

I am having the adventure of a life time and I am loving it.

With love,

Lauren

at my desk for orientation

Thursday in Benin

Hi everyone! Today is really Thursday. It’s been a really fun day. When we woke up in the morning there was a torrential downpour. I hurried to get my raincoat out of my bag. When my roommate and I ran to where we needed to meet, there was about three inches of water on the road. My sandals and skirt were soaked. However, my backpack and shirt were nice and dry under my raincoat, so I was a happy camper. It was actually pretty fun. Plus we had to wait like a half an hour for the buses that were taking us to the work station, so by the time we got to the station I was pretty much all dried off.

Most of the day has spent doing individual meetings. There was a French interview, and a medical check in,  a ‘get to know you’ meeting with the head of Environmental action and an introduction to bikes and motorcycles. All of the meetings were really encouraging. Everyone seemed to go out of there way to say they had my back, and that I shouldn’t stress out.

The motorcycle training was especially helpful. We talked about how to call over a moto-taxi, negotiate a price, and even get on the motorcycle. Then we got to go for a ride on the bike. I’m not going to say that it wasn’t a little intimidating, but it was also really fun. I am glad we got to practice all together, when the moto-taxi drivers know we are all newbies, instead of needing to just take the plunge on our own.

It seems like internet might be a little more scarce than I hoped it would be. I mean, I know that I am going to be in a lot of different contexts, but It doesn’t look like daily access is going to be an option soon. So, like I said before, I’m going to keep trying to typing up entries daily, and posting them when I can. In the mean time, any time you want to email me at lauren.mae@me.com, I would love to get your notes! Also as of yet, I haven’t gotten on facebook. It loads very slowly. Maybe that will change with time??

On that note, I do have my mailing address!

Lauren Mawe Peace Corps Volunteer

Corps de la Paix

B. P. 971

Cotonou, Benin

Feel free to send me stuff J So far, my stuff seems to be holding up fine, but I mean, it’s only day 2 in Benin, so we’ll see how that goes.

It’s really nice to be with a whole group that is so focused on serving others. Of course there is a the occasional observation of something negative (power going out in a torrential downpour perhaps), but really there has been a staggering lack of complaining from the group, and an abundance of Merci’s. And the more I slowly see of Benin the more I love it. So far, this is really the adventure I might have hoped for.

While I have a minute, that reminds me of another topic. And I’m sorry if I am chatting everyone’s ear off. I won’t hold a grudge if you if you don’t read every word.

Security: I will admit that coming here, security was something that I was somewhat nervous about. I am glad to say that there have been a lot of briefings about security, and from what I am hearing from current volunteers and the training staff, the incidence of any crime is pretty low, and volunteers generally feel really safe, especially in more rural areas where they know all their neighbors.

I am really interested in where I will be placed for post, whether it will be in the north of the country or the south, in a rural or urban area. I talked with the Environmental Action Director, and he said that at post, most volunteers use their cellphone to get internet access, so we will see about that. I should be getting my Benin Cellphone on Monday, the current volunteers are buying them for us. So great.

Ok, I’m going to see if I can’t check up on facebook or something. To summarize, life has been really great here, and my thoughts are with you guys.

With love,

Lauren

Orientations

First full day in Benin! I have to say it’s been a really good day. Like I said before, it would be really easy to get stressed and overwhelmed worrying about how life is going to be with my host family, and how good I am going to be at picking things up during training, and of course, life at post. However, I have been choosing to just take life one day at a time, and just look at the challenge in the next hour.

This morning we had omelettes with green onions and parley along with bread, tea, and intant coffee. I pretty solid start to the day. After that we pretty much sat at desks in the small eent hall all day and got 5 different informational books (including the cook book!) and listened to information.  Besides the heat, and the siting we were all jetlagged, so that was a bit of a struggle. But I have to say I don’t think a single head hit the desk. The information was all important and pertinent. It really seems like everyone is motivated to be here.

We also got a snack break featuring insant coffee and croissants, and a lunch of rice and fish with a side of delicious fresh pineapple. So food has been pretty surprisingly great. They say not to get used to it, this isn’t exactly the low protein low fat diet I was promised, but I’m sure not complaining!

Happy Birthday to Kev and Mom! I hope you guys had an awesome birthday. I had to write the date on a lot of papers, and every time I was like “*buhuhuh* Mom and Kev’s birthday!” But I am glad that we got to go to Bucca and do presents before I left.

A couple of Logistics for when this gets posted. I am hoping and expecting that this is going to get posted on Thursday. After that, Friday we are going to meet up with our host families and be with them for the weekend. So, o be honest, I don’t know when the next time I will have internet will be. It’s possible that I could have it over the weekend, or at the beginning of the week when we start language classes… I’m not really sure. I hope we can all just take it one day at a time. For the time being, I’m going to try to write blog posts every day and save them up until I get the chance to post them. So, you will be hearing from me everyday (if we want to), it’ll just be a couple days in between the days.

I am not sure what else for now. I know this experience is going to be a little bit of everything, but for now, it’s really great. I’m really happy to be here.

First Night in Benin!

Hi Everyone!

I know this post probably isn’t going to hit the internet until Thursday, but I am writing it on Tuesday night, my first night in Benin.

Today started when we exited our plane from JFK in Brussels, Belgium. We had a 5 hour lay-over and shopped around a little bit. I bought two books I French, the 7^th Harry Potter, and P’tit Pif, a novel about a young neandertal and his mammoth. P’tit Pif is geared towards 7 year olds, but it’s still giving me a run for my money. Hopefully that will change with some practice.

The flight from Belgium to Benin consisted mostly of sleeping and being woken up to eat some pretty decent plane food. As we entered the final hour of the flight, we were all craning out the windows to try to catch the first glimpse of the country. I was surprised at how easy it was for us to share the mix of excitement and nervousness we all felt. As the plane finally started it’s decent we were able to make out the coast, or the Bight of Benin.  We were all surprised by how many lights we could see. There were glowing highways stretching out below us, and an even covering of illuminated two story houses.

At security, we were greeted by two Beninese Peace Corps Staff who helped us find our luggage. There were also about 8 current volunteers who cheered for us as we crossed through security.

The compound we are staying in this week has several dorm buildings, as well as a dining hall. The space in between buildings is covered by several inches of red sand. You do constantly feel a little like you are trekking across the beach, but my wheeled suitcase made it through fine so no complaints here!

Looking at my first few hours in Benin, and my first few days in the peace corps, I am really pleased with all the experiences, and grateful to the people I have met. I feel like taking things one day at a time s crucial. It would be easy to be over whelmed at this moment, but I am choosing to focus on how nice it was to put our bags down in our rooms, and just think about what time I need to be at breakfast tomorrow.

My thoughts are with you all back west. Thank you so much for your prayers and your interests. I am so glad to get to share my journey with you.

Sincerely,

Lauren

Hi Everyone! I am in JFK waiting to depart for Brussels, and from there, Benin! Yesterday was spent in Staging, where all of the trainees talked about our an ieties and aspirations. It was really validating to get to talk with fellow volunteers. Everyone seems very nice and we are all getting to know each other better. Tomorrow we will be in Brussels for the day. I am crossi g my fingers that we will have wifi, and I will be able to write another post. If there is no such luck, then the next time I will be posting is when we are all settled in in Benin! The group is all so amiable and well traveled. Most of our time has been spent getting to know each other. However,I think we are all eager to get to know Benin! It will be so nice to finally stop speculating and be there. I wrote another post last night, but sadly it didn't send. If I find it in the near future I will post it. In that post I took a moment to say that I have so much to thank all of you, my family and friends for. For the wonderful send off, all the kind facebook messages and gifts and just getting to catch people for a meal. You make a person realize how many awesome people she has in her life. I hope I can pay it forward to my new Beninese neighbors! Got to go, With Love, Lauren