Hey everyone. Before I start writing I want to wish everyone a happy holiday season. I will miss you all but I will be celebrating over here, Africa is not that far away lol. Things have been super busy here recently. I have had several meetings to go to for peace corps and I also visited some friends for thansgiving. First right now I am in Porto Novo again for a two week workshop. We are learning about HIV/AIDS education and how to start malnutrition programs in our community. The guy I am working with from my village and I are very excited to go back and start working because we found many things that we can do in my village. This is going to take me off topic but I must discuss something before I tell you all of my work plans for my village.

Over here in Africa many of the charties dont work very well. I am talking about charties such as Christian Childrens Fund (which actually is a decent one), and many religious organizations. First one of the reasons that many of these charities dont work is that they are corrupt. The people that run them over here keep the money they get for themselves and only help people of there choosing. Also many of them dont help the poorest people who actually need the help. Let me give you an example. In my town there is an ONG much like CCF, that opperates from France. People adopt a family and send money to help them. Well first of all for the families to be chosen they cant be polygamist, which is highly prevelent over here and is a stupid reason not to help poor children; and they also have to have some money because they have to go to the health center and get examinations and shots. I think this is absolutley rediculous. The people who need the help are the ones that cant go to the health center for shots and can barely feed themselves; Now I am not saying the ones that can pay for this dont need the help to, but the ones that really need it are turned down. These are the people I am going to to try and help though because no one is telling them the things they need to know to stay healthy and feed there children well. There are a lot of them though and it is going to be hard but I hope I can make some sort of difference. When I am older maybe I can start a charity that doesnt discriminate due to religious prefrenences and helps the people who cant afford things instead of the ones that can. That is just my opinion
Oh and also many of the World organizations are corrupt as well. For example the World Health Organization donates food to people all over the world. Well how they do this is to have a person in a community that they communicate with and they give all of the food for one community to that person. Well as you can imagine many of these people dont give the food out for free like they are suppose to but keep it for themselves and then sell it at the same price as everything else. It really floors me that the WOLRD HEALTH ORGANIZATION cant get their shit together and have a better system of checks and balances. Also a lot of times the world health organzatin has to pull food out of countries and stop helping them. Then the people that had come to rely on the food, because they just gave it to them instead of trying to start a stustainable food project, starve to death. Ugh it is just so damn frusterating because so many things over here dont work like everybody believes.
Sorry I just ranted on for ever but being over here has changed many of my views on things and really opened my eyes to the corrupt and ignorant giants of the world.
On a lighter note as I stated above I have found lots of work that I think I can do in my community that I am very excited about. So hopefully I can at least help one person while I am over here.
I have been hanging out with my friend for about a week now. We have had lots of fun going out and just takling english together lol. Oh and I kind of have a boyfriend over here. He is Nigerian and very sweet to me so far but it is not going to be serious anytime soon because I am over here to work and not to play. Well that is all I know for now I should be able to write again soon because I have internet for the next week. KODO BADA

Sorry for not writing

Hey everyone sorry I havent written in a while. I have shockingly actually been quite busy. Lately at work I have been doing baby weighings in smaller villages and visiting hanidcapped children. I have really enjoyed the baby weighings because I have gotten meet a lot of women and there children and we havent had any really underwieght kids so that is a blessing. It has been difficult however visiting the handicapped children because many of them have cerebral paulsy, sorry about the bad spelling, and there is hardly anything you can do for children with that even in America.
Other than that I have also been traveling a lot. I went up to a northern village for a meeting and got to hang out with many of my friends for an entrie weekend. In this village there is a peace corps house for us to stay in with many bedrooms, a kitchen and lots of lounging space. It was very relaxing and very fun. The first night we went to a beer fest and after words played beer pong and slip n slide, just as if we were at a frat it America haha. The next two nights we took it pretty easy.
I also recently got to go to Cotonou for a meeting. My two friends and I stayed in a hotel a we ended up going to a real club and danced all night. I also got like a million packages from my mother while I was there and I barely made it back to my village.
Lets see what else, I think I am going to get a dog, I found dog food and I really think it would be nice to have somone to come home to. I am really starting to like my village though and I am beginning to feel very comfortable there. Oh yesterday I had an ant and mouse invasion in my house, my neighbors had to come over and pour petrol all over my house to get ride of the ants, and they caught the mouse and let him go outside. Apparently when it doesnt rain here and around this time of year the ants are everywhere and get into everything. Did I mention how much I love my mesquito net because if for anything I can at least hide undert there forever. In two weeks I will be done with my first three months at post which means I can travel and do what I want. I will also be heading back to porto novo for two weeks for another training session. Well thats all I know now. KWABO

October 20

So I have come to the conclusion that I think I am becoming mean over here in Africa. Not something you would have thought huh. Well as I said before I used to love children and now I am starting to hate them. I can not stand to here the Yovo song one more time and I here it at least a million times a day. So therefore I have started to be mean. To the children who sing the Yovo song I give them mean looks and ignore them, and then when a child says my name, I smile and praise them and am very nice to them. So I suppose I am in turn teaching these children through some sort of positive deviance not to sing the Yovo song. I feel bad being so mean but it is like nails on a chalk board to me now.
On a more fun note coming up soon is my big regional meeting for Peace Corps. I am super siked for many reasons. First it is on Halloween so I will some form be able to celebrate my favorite holiday with friends. Also the meeting was originally going to be in Bohicon, the town that I go to all the time, but now they have moved it to Parakou, a bigger city up north that I haven’t been to yet so that will be super cool. And lastly our regional meeting is at the same time as the people that live in the Parakou region which means I will get to hang out with twice as many of my friends and my good friends Nora and John Mark will be there. This could definitely not have come sooner. I can’t wait. After that I also have only 1 more month of “grounding” here in Djidja and then I can travel and do what I want. YAY
I also wanted to inform everyone that I have finally conformed to the African dress code. When I first got to Benin I was told I could not wear speghetti straps and that I most definitely had to have straps. Well that is really only for business purposes and ridiculous considering how freaking hot it is over here. So I have branched out and I now wear spaghetti straps with my Pagnes or I just wrap a pagne around my chest like a towel and just wear that. I am pretty proud of myself if I do say so and it is soooo much cooler. It is what all of the African women wear who have lived here for centuries so why should I fight it. I do still wear the occasional American clothes and I definitely still indulge myself and wear jeans because as we all now I am a fashion loving, girly girl at heart. Oh and did I mention I still haven’t given up mascara and I don’t think that I ever will. I look deranged without it. Oh and I almost forgot, I will NEVER not shave my legs.
As all of you can see (if I was able to upload the photos, I am writing these blogs from my laptop) I put up some photos. All of the people in the pictures are my neighbors who have really been great to me and helped me out a lot. The young boy eating is the one who is teaching how to cook Beninese food. I bought a ecraser the other day. This is a stone slab, that is probably 8 by 12 inches, that comes with a stone where you grind things down. Usually you will use it too make pepper sauce, tomatoes sauce, and making you garlic very fine. I now have the hang of it and I can now make many more Beninese dishes because of it. The other people are just more of the neighbors that I have.
So that’s pretty much all I have for now, oh I can’t believe MU has lost the past two football games, but I will say it does kind of make me happy because I know I was there for the best and exciting year of football we have had in years. Au revoir

October 15

Hello all, hope everyone is good I am doing pretty well over here. I just got over a cold and am feeling much better now. Things are going well, even though my boss has been gone all week, she is “sick”, I haven’t done heardly anything new at work just the same old nothing lol.
Today was rather interesting though. I asked my neighbor if she would teach me how to make “pate” and sauce legumes. And she said she would, and told me what to by at the marche. Well it tuned into the biggest ordeal ever. Me and the young boy who helps me, went to the marche and bought lots of stuff. When we got back he probably made 5 more trips to get things that we needed again, which needless to say got very expensive. Well the girl asked another girl to help to me, her, the other girl and the young boy were all in my living room cooking ( I didn’t end up doing very much). They used tons of crap in my kitchen and we also had probably 10 children at any given time running in and out of my house. In the end it took about 3 hours to do all together, I spent quite a bit of money, and I ended up feeding half my neighbors. But that’s all ok I guessm it was really good food and I have plenty left over for dinner. So today was pretty fulfilling I guess.
I haven’t been getting much sleep over here recently because for some reason at around 2:00 in the morning, the neighbor hood dogs have decided to get together for choir practice. I sounds to me like 20 dogs are all howling and growling together for about an hour. I never new dogs could be soooo freaking loud. It is also quite scary as well because I have never heard of this before except in some creepy horror film.
On a more interesting note I have been noticeing that guns are a lot more prevelant here in Africa than in America. In America I could probably count the number of times I have see guns, and they were usually before my father went hunting or on an officer of the law. Over any old Joe could be walking by and half a machine gun straped to his back. Needless to say a lot of the time it is the Gendarms (police) who have these giant rifles or machine guns, however the other day I was sitting on my stop and two guys walked by with probably the biggest guns I have ever seen. I think they might be called elephant guns. It is just crazy the stuff you can see over here any old day of the week.
Also as I was sitting on my stoop the other day I started to feel very bad for the dogs that live around me. The reason is that the flys over here are always swarming all over there heads and the dogs have to continueally shake there heads to keep them off. I probably sat and watched this one dog for over 15 minutes and realized that that is probably the most annoying thing in the whole world. I mean the dog couldn’t even take a nap.

October 8

October 8,2008
Hello everyone, hope all is well. Things are going pretty well over here in Africa. I have been in my village for over a month now and things are going pretty well. I have started working, even though it is not very much. I have furniture in my house as you can see from my pictures and my house is slowly starting to feel like home and not just some place I come to, to sleep.
For work so far I have been working with sole hanidcaped childredn trying to help rehabilitate them. We these strange chairs at our office, one is for sitting the other is for standing, that help children learn how to sit and stand correctly. Most of the children that we use the chairs on either can’t sit up my themselves or can’t stand/walk. I play games with them while they sit in these chiars, such as put the shape in the right place and memory games. I have also started looking into this ONG called Mercyship. It is like a cruise ship that has been converted into a traveling hospital. The docotrs who volunteer with the ONG travel around to different countries giving free surgeries and things to that nature. I have a lot of children in my area that are in need of surgery and I am really hopeing, they ship is coming here in February, that I can get some of kids the surgeries that they need. I can’t do much yet because I don’t know much but once I do if I can at least get one child a surgery it would be amazing. My friend Aaron who told me about it said something like that could make your whole Peace Corps experience worth it and mean something. He is completely right and I really want to help these kids. That would just be amazing if it could work out. I am not going to get my hopes up though because many of the things that we try to do here just don’t work a lot of the time do to many factors, which is ok, but you have to learn not to get to excited about stuff because you don’t want to get let down.
On that note I was let down pretty bad today by some of my neighbors. I had been missing some money here and there lately, nothing substantial, but it had always been after I had, had people in my house and I was starting to get suspiscious. I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions and I really wanted to believe in the best in people so I decided that I probably just lost the money. Well today I had two of the neighbor girls in my house, who were my friends until today, and I went back into my room to grab something and when I came back that were kind of hovering in the area of my backpack. Well I told them I wanted to take a nap and they left and as soon as they did I went over to by backpack, found it open and my coin purse was open and empty. It really upset me. I said something to them to the effect of “ I know one of you took my money and I am very upset about it” however there really isn’t much you can do about so I let it go from there. It just means that now I really can’t let people into my house anymore. I talked to one of my friends here about it and she told me when she was living with ther host family one of her sisters was taking money from. We talked about how it really does hurt your feelins and you feel used because for all the good stuff you do for these people, such as giving them food and candy which I did almost on a daily basis, it feels like that didn’t even matter to them and they went and stabed you in the back. You also have to think about like this though, they want nice things and see you with nice things and think that the money they take really won’t be a big deal to you and that you probably won’t even notice. Well I did notice but I am going to try and be understanding about it, I am however not going to be very nice to the two girls as I was but I will still try to keep decent relations with them.
So that was my day today. And tomorrow will be another day, and I will start again fresh with a new day and hopefully things will be good tomorrow. That is usually how I take things here because some days can be just shit, excuse my French lol, and other days can be the best days ever so you really just have to take in one day at a time. I am at the moment really looking forward to my regional meeting that we are having at the end of October. I get to go stay in Bohicon with some of my friends for a night and hang out so that will be a lot of fun. I also got to talk to a couple of my friend who are up north last weekend and that was really nice. One of them I hadn’t heard from at all because he deosn’t have service in his area so if was nice to here that he was alive and kicking.
I was reading somewhere the other day about race in Africa, actually I think it was mentioned a couple of places, and they all kind of consistently said the same thing and that is that there really isn’t a concept about skin color, the concept that we have in America, over here. I think that when many Africans leave Africa and go to America they are very lost because for some reason people group all people with black skin in the same category in America. ( I know this statement is obvious but it needed to be said). And over here your are categorized by you ethinicity, such as Fulani or Yaruba. It also made me think about other things over here that I find interesting. Such as the fact that there are so many different religions in Benin and everyone is so tolerant of one another. People don’t make it an issue over here. To them is as simple as this, you believe what you believe and why would I care that it is different from me. I like that thought process over here, I also think that it has to do with the fact that there are a lot bigger things to worry about over here, such as food. Americans and many other countries are too sheltered. We have to much time on our hands to think about stuff. And I am not saying this is a bad thing, it is just a fact, we have too much time to think. I definitely have a lot of time to think over here and that is probably why I am I rambling on and on right now haha.
So I think Ill end this blog with a good quote from the song I am listening to write now,
“How many years must some people exist before there allowed to be free
and how many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see, the answer my friend is blowing in the wind , the answer is blowing in the wind.”
Joan Beaz

October 3

So everyone i finally got the blogs on here that I had written on my laptop a really long time ago. I finally found a cyber near me that would work fast enough for me to actually do some things one it. LOL

All in all I am doing really well I think. I really like my house, I have great neighbors, and I finally got some furniture in my house (look at the photos for sept. 18 that is my bedroom)

I have done lots since I have been at post. Last weekend I went to a huge party in another town for the re opening of a palace. It wad really fun and if i can ever get the pictures on here you will get to see some of the really cool voodoo rituals I got to watch.

I have also started doing some more work. My homologue came to town Monday and Teusday and a news crew came to shoot some stories on the womens cooking groups my NGO started. So if any of you are over in Africa you can look for me on ORTB.

Other than that I dont know too much else i have really just been hanging out with my neighbors and not much else. So I hope everyone is well and hopefully I can write more soon.

September 14 i know i put them on backwards

Well, it looks like I officially live in Djidja now. I guess it is still somewhat unofficial however since I still have not moved into my house yet, oh had I mentioned that I have been here over a week now. And yes to answer the question I know you all were already thinking my house was suppose to be finished way before I even got here. On the Brightside however a nice family, actually I would say a man since his wife and children live in a house near by, has allowed me to stay in a small apartment they have in their concession. I am pretty sure I kicked the older son out of the place he sleeps but what can I do.
On a lighter note I would say I am doing as well as can be expected. The first night was tough I was actually very upset to leave my family here and I was also missing my family and friends at home quite a lot. I got through it though and am still here. It has been quite a trip to move somewhere, where you know not one person, you are very unfamiliar with the culture, and yes I am going to say it, the only white person for 40 miles. It is not as hard as I thought though, people are genuinely a kind race and I have found that the people here are kind as well. I would say the hardest thing here is that I have absolutely, positively NOTHING to do.
I am not sure I have explained this yet but for the first three months of peace corps service you are suppose to just asses your community. That doesn’t mean that you can’t begin some projects, but you are really just suppose to get to know your community. Which is a good idea however in the long run it means I sit around a lot with nothing to do. Also my homologue is out of town for the next month and I can’t really start anything without her. I am in contact with some other NGO’s however that I am hoping I can start doing some things with. I am very excited to be here and I know that in the long run it is going to be good it is just hard to get through this slow, transitional period. I also don’t like always looking towards the future but I feel that is all I am really doing right now, just playing the waiting game. Waiting to know people and my community better, waiting for my homologue to come back, and waiting for the these three months to be over with so that I will have something to do and can start something.
So I guess I could some up my first week for you. The first couple of days I went to the CPS ( centre de promotion social) where I will be working and sat around while my bosses assistant did some things. He also took me to the mayor’s office several times to see people, most of who I had met on my post visit. We also went to the NGO Bonde Fondle which is an affiliate of Child Fund International, where people from other countries sponsor children here in Africa. I think I will be doing a lot of work with them actually. I was also taken to several tailors, mechanics, and hair tressors to see the AIDS orphans that are doing apprenticeships there. Some how we do stuff with them but I am not sure yet what that is, my French still isn’t up to par. I also biked out to two villages to see them doing cooking demonstrations on healthy porridge to feed 6 month to two year old children. That was a very interesting experience. The one village that we went to was very small and poor, many of the children were malnourished and had been for a while, that made me very sad. This job is going to be hard at times. It was also difficult for me because there was this dog there that was clearly on the brink of death, its ribs were protruding dramatically and it had soars all over its body and ears which is a sign bad nutrition and starvation. That hard thing was that I felt horrible for this animal but the people in this village for very obviously not even feed their own children so how was could they possibly take care of a dog. It was just something that really made me think. It also made me really happy that I am here so that maybe I can help do something about one of the too. It is amazing all the work there is to do here, it is just difficult to know what to do exactly and where to start.
Well that is most of it so far, I am sure you will be getting more blog entries because I have nothing to do so I will be writing more blogs on my laptop and then putting on my website when I can get internet. I might have it in my town in the near future, but they say that about everything so we shall see. Hope all is well with everyone.
PS I almost forgot on weekends here people play music all night long until the sun comes up, it is almost so loud that it shakes my bed with the bass, so needless to say I sleep very late on weekends here because there is not much sleeping going on at night. I think I might just have to start partying with them through the night because I’m not getting anything else done.

September 18 post Finally

Well I have finally moved into my house. I am so happy I could cry. I love my house. It is amazing that I love it because it is just concrete walls and a tin roof but it is all mine and no one can bother me if I don’t want to be bothered. My bathroom is probably the prettiest part of my house so far. It is in the back of my house and has tile floors, tiled walls, a shower head and a pink toilet. I could probably live in my bathroom it is so pretty. For those of you who have never had to share and use a latrine before, believe me when you get a toilet again you will just about kiss it.
So yes I am very happy to be in my house. I also really like my neighbors. One is a single man who works at the Centre de Sante (health center) and then there is a couple who has three kids, a 1 ½, year old and twins that are 8 months . The mom of the twins is very nice and she works at the Mayors office, she already invited me over to visit and see the kids. So, it is much better from living in a shed type house, next to one man who is never there, oh but who gets up in the morning very early and sings right outside my window, that was where the latrine and shower were .
People are also starting to be friendlier to me here. Some people know my name now so they don’t always call me “Yovo.” Also I am finding work that I am going to be to do here. For example the NGO I am working with wants to start to doing sensibilizations on family planning and I know all about that and how to do them so hopefully once they start that I can be a integral part in it. Also my boss will be coming back in two weeks so hopefully there will be a lot more for me to do.
I think the one thing about Africa that people either love or hate is the fact that there is always something going on. For example right now it is 4:00 and I can here two different types of music, crying babies, women talking and a pig crying ( I think it is being killed, not sure though.) So I would have to say that you could just look out your window and see all sorts of things but sometimes it would be nice to just have some quiet., especially at night when you are trying to sleep.
Tomorrow, which will actually be when I post this because I am writing on my laptop, I get to go into Bohicon the bigger and town and buy things, YEAH! We don’t have much of a differing food supply here in DjiDja so I am very excited to buy some things to eat.. Lately I have just been eating lunch because I don’t have anything good to cook for dinner to make me want to eat. So I guess on the plus side and I loosing some weight, however I don’t think I am getting the right amount of protein and vitamins because what I usually have for lunch is some rice and a little bit of cheese from the neighborhood lunch stand. I think when I get home Ill start the newest diet fad with the “African Food Diet” maybe I’ll make a bunch of money haha. Also I am going to buy some things to decorate my house with. They make these pretty woven straw mates here that you can use as a kind of carpet, something to sit on, or you can hang them on your wall. I am going to do all three I think just to make my house prettier. Saturday I am also going to go the carpenter and have him start making me some tables and a dresser so that I have somewhere to put things because right now everything I have is still in bags and on the floor.
Well that’s pretty much all I have for now, I hope everyone else is doing ok

Ok so I had several blogs to put on here but the stupid computer isnt working so I cant do that, so next time I am get to use the internet I will have tons of blogs to put up. Just to let everyone know I am doing well in my city. I finally got to move into my house two nights ago and I love it. I have a pet, her name is Raya and she is a giant praying mantis that sleeps on my mesquito net or my window during the day and then flies around my room at night eating bugs. I like to think she is protecting me so I let her stay around. I have also finally made some friends in my town and have found some work to do. Well got to run. MUAH

My Post Visit and The Beach

Hey everyone, hope all is well. Sorry I havent written in a couple of weeks, I havent been able to get to a cyber to do that. I do have lots to talk about though. So two weeks ago I got to visit my post in Djidja. It is a small village about 30 minutes away from the tourist town of Abomey. To get their I had to ride in a taxi for 3 hours and then on a mototaxi for 45 minutes. It was quite interesting. First of all the taxis here look like cars from the 80's and every bump you hit makes the car shake and moan and most of the time you think the car will fall apart right under your feet. And that is not ther worst part because this is all happenin will you are barrelling down the goudron and god knows what speed praying you dont wreck or hit something.
Eventually though I made it to my village safe and sound. I stayed in my village for two nights and three days. I was fed so much food that I though at any minute I would burst. They would give me giant plates of food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I swear I dont know how people eat this much. I stayed at one of the chiefs of the villages house. My bed was in a room that looked like it was a workshop, and the roof was tin so when it rained, which it did every night, I felt like I was going deaf. I had better get used to that though I suspect because my house only has a tin roof also. How lucky I am.
At my villag I went around and met all the important people, such as the mayor, the police chief, and all the chiefs of the village. I was pretty busy the whole time. My town is fairly small with only one main road that goes through it. On that road are few little bars and restaurants. There is a small market in my town every 5 days where I will be able to get most of what I need, and it I cant I can go to a market in Togo, another country, which is 15 km away or I can run in two Abomey or Bohicon the two large towns about 45 minutes from me. All in all I think I am going to like my town. It is going to be a big change but I think I can do it, hopefully.
On an even better note I passed my french exam so that I can swear in and officially become a peacecoprs volunteer. That was a giant weight off my shoulders because if you dont pâss you either have to take the test again or you dont get to swear in for a while.
Also this passed Saturday we all got to go to a really nice beach that was like 3 hours away from us. It was very fun and relaxing. I had a few drinks which was nice and also got to go in the water. The water here in Africa is very dangerous though. Something about the way are area is positioned makes the waves insanely huge and the undertow extremely powerful. So basically you can only go in up to your knees. Which really isnt far because you could be standing in what you think is just the sand close to the ocean, and boom you are suddenly in water up to you waist that is pulling you towards the ocean If you only do that though you are pretty safe becaue the water wont pull you that far. You should watch out however for people around you because if you fall you get swept backwards and an take people out and them bring them back down with you into the ocean. It was actually really fun it you were safe about it and I thought it was hilarious when I actually took some people down with me.
So next week is going to be pretty easy going. We pretty much just have wrap up stuff to do. We also have two days to go shopping for stuff for our houses. Then on Friday we have our swear in, a big dinner/party with the President of Benin, and then we get to stay at a hotel in Cotonou. It is going to be very fun and I am know I am very excited. Also each sector; health, Environment, Business, and Teaching; all got the same fabric for swear in and we all got to take it to a tailor to get what ever we want made to wear. I took a photo from a jcrew catalogue and am getting a very cute dress made.
Well once again I wish every th e best and I will write again soon. Oh and I almost forgot, next Sunday I am moving to my post officially how exciting. Oh and daddy I love you too, sorry I didnt put a pic up of you because i dont have any on my camera, but if I did there we would be several of you on here too. Love you and Mom

AMOST DONE

So I have been here for seven weeksk now and i cant believe it. I never thought i would acuatlly make it. And I do really love it. So I found out the other day that there is a type of slavery here in Benin. What happens is families from small viallges send their children two families in big cities to do housework. This is horrible because first of all it is children, second they are not treated well at all, and third is that the little money they make is sent back to their families. What is even more appalling is how common it is here. Many of my friends are living with families who have domestiques, that is what they are called, and not one thinks anything bad about it.
Ok so enough of the tough stuff, I had a really fun weekend here. Yesterday we had a cooking session at the a current volunteers house and we made PIZZA. It was soooooo amazing. We ended up going dancing for a while after that at a bar down the street and that was a nice stress reliever. Today my family made Yam pilet [also known as Yam FuFu] it is a very long process involving yams; really long mallets, and stong arms to thrust the mallets in a large bowl that they poung the yams out it. It ends ups looking like a dough in the end and is super yummy. Lets see what else, I get to see my village next week so I will have a lot more to write about then. I hope you all enjoyed my pictures and feel free to comment on here if you want to know something or want me to write about something. A tout a lhuere

Bohicon and the Voodoun

So this last week I went to Bohicon to visit another volunteer you lives there, I went with one other person, and we had a blast. The first day we went to the marche and we bought tons of avocados, tomatoes, beans, and a couple of other things and we went home and made some amazing guacamole and beans to eat. I was so excited to make my own food, who would have thought I would say that ha. The next day we went to an Africa Zoo. It was probably one of the hardest things I have had to see here in Benin so far. The monkeys were all chained up and the lions were locked in small cages. A lot of the animals were also in poor healthm especially the lions. All of them had sores on there bodies. The biggest lioness there, who was one of the most gorgeous animals I have ever seen, had severe soars all over her ears. It was very heart breaking. I took some vidoe so maybe I can post it on here, I am also hoping to send the footage to some animal rescue organization so that maybe i can help these animals in some way. There are so many places like that in Africa though so I don't know how much I could help. The next day, Friday, was independence day here in Benin. On our way to a party we ended up riding through a bunch of voodoo men, view picture to the right, they were marching down the street. It is actually a dangerous thing to be aroud these voodoun men because they will wipe you with there sticks, which is suppose to mean that they have cursed you. It was quite funny because my friend was on a moto in front of me and my moto driver was screaming at hers to go the other way because he new it wasn't very safe for us to be driving by them. It was cool to get to see them in person though. That night some African artistsm who's work is gorgeous by the way, invited us over for dinner. It was very nice and they played blues the whole time, which I thought was a great change from the Africa music I hear all the time lol. On Saturday we also got to meet some Amazon women and a king so over all it was a very interesting adventure. My mama here was very happy to have me home though, i think she missed me. I think my brother missed me as well because yesterday he turned on MTV for me so that i could here this song i introduced to him by Chris Brown. I though it was very nice of him. Other than that I don't know too much more. The next two weeks arn't going to be that exciting because we just have classes. In two weeks though I get to go visit my post so I an very much looking forward to that. I hope everyone else is going ok, until next time, A Bientot!!!!

Life in Porto Novo Coninued

So yes I have been in Africa officially three weeks now and gone from the US for a month. WOW that is crazy. I am really starting to enjoy the people here a lot. For instance, yesterday we went on a field visit to a small town 30 minutes from where I am and we did some activities with the towns people and i really had a lot of fun working with them. One of the funnest things I found was that to start the meeting (actually this is how most meetings start) they started singing, clapping and dancing. Then I worked with a bunch of children on an acitivity and then when we the group came back togther they sang again, this time getting all of us to dance with them. It was really fun.
Benin Peace corps is having its fortieth anniversary this year and they are going to throw a big pârty for it when all of us swear in. To top that off we are getting special African outfits made for all of us to wear. And that is not even the kicker, the President of Benin, Yayi Boni is coming to the party and we all get to meet him. I am very excited about that. This week I am leaving wit hthree other health volunteers and going to stay with a current volunteer for 4 days. We are goign to go around and see what they do. Also Friday is independence day here in Benin so there will be a big Fete in the village I am going to. Well thats about all I know right now. A tout a lheure.

3 Weeks

Well it has now been officially three and a half weeks since i have been in Africa. I live with a host family here that consists of a mother, father, sister, and brother. They are all very nice and i like them very much. I have my own room there with elecricity and my own bathroom so that is really nice. Everyday I bike a 30 min bikeride to school, where i learn french and health related things. After that i go home and spend time with my family. Pardon my spelling errors please because i am still not used to this french keyboard. Saturday i got to go to another town for a trip and we went to several voodoo temples. That was really cool. Sunday I went to a big party at my families church and we ate tradtional food calld igame pîllet and I met a lot of there friends. I also found out this week where i am going to be living for the next two years. It is a town called Djidja and it is 98 percen voodoo religion. Ok well this computer is kicking me off the internet but i now have an internet cafe close to me so i will be writing more soon. also feel free to leave me posts on here if you xant to.

Hey everyone. So it is Monday here in Africa and it has been amazing so far. I left Philadelphia where my preliminary event was on Thursday and we got to Cotonou Friday night around 10 p.m. So far I absolutely love it. I have made some great friends so far and meet so vary interesting people. The town of Cotonou is very busy and exciting. The people who live her are outside all the time. Today I learned how to ride on the motorcycle taxi's called Zemi-Jeans. That was very interesting because you can't hold onto or touch the drivers so you just kind of balance on the back of the motorcycle. Moto-taxi's are the way most people get around in Benin.
We are staying in a hostel/Monastery while we are here in Cotonou. The place is nice, we have electricity and running water so that is definitely a plus. It is still pretty hot at night so at first I didn't sleep all that well but I am getting used to it now. On Wednesday we move to the city of Porto Novo to begin our 9 weeks of training. While in Porto Novo we live with a host family. I am excited to meet them because is seems like most people really love their host families and stay in contact with them long after they have left. Well I have to run. Hopefully I'll be able to write again soon.
Bonsoir

Staging

Well I just finished up with my staging event in Philidelphia and am getting ready to head to the airport. Staging was a lot of fun because I got to meet the other 65 people that are heading over there with me. Everyone here is really great and a lot like me so I think it is going to be a great 2 years. Finally getting here made me feel a lot better about going, for one because the people I am going with are cool, and two they start to actually give you some specifics about what is going to happen over there. One thing I am really excited about is to get my own clothes made. Apparently there like a dollar and they make really beautiful clothing. I pretty sure everything that I brought will make me stand out as a foreigner so I would like to get some traditional clothing so that I don't stand out as much. Let's see what else. Oh I had sushi for my last meal, it was amazing. I have to say it is very wierd to say, " hey I am going to Africa today" I mean how many times in you life do you get to say that. Well I have to finish packing. Talk soon
Natalie

Excitment and Anticipation

Well I have three weeks till I leave for Africa. It is getting down to the wire and I am still trying to get everything bought and packed for my trip. I am so excited though. It finally hit me a couple of days ago that I am actually going to Africa. It seemed so surreal for so long. Getting ready for Africa has definitly been interesting. There are so many things that you have to remeber to bring with you because you are going for two years. Its not just like packing for a week long vacation. It has been really helpful to talk to other volunteers about all this because without them I would probably be lost. Lately I have been thinking about the things I am going to miss and one thing is my legs. I love to wear shorts and I can' t really wear them over there because it is inapproraite. So bring on the long skirts, that will be interesting to ride my bike in. Oh ya if you didn't know they give me a bike when I get over to Benin and that is pretty much my mode of transportation while I am over there. Well I will write more in the upcoming weeks. Au Revoir:)