Needless to say, I may be coming back with really short hair…that’s only if my host Mama allows me to cut it which she has yet to do. Guess I’ll continue the braid and headband look for the next two years. Don’t worry Erin, I won’t be coming back with dreadlocks for your wedding ☺.
Where to start…so last week we had our technical visit. We went off in groups of 2 or 3 to visit current volunteers. The visit is meant to give us a little taste of what life is like being an actual volunteer and how we can fill the long days ahead. Me and my fellow environmental volunteer Bailey, visited a volunteer in a village outside of Bohicon. After a 4 hour taxi ride from Porto-Novo, with ten volunteers crammed in a 7 passenger car, we arrived in Bohicon. We split up and headed off to Katie’s (the current PCV) village on the infamous zems (moto taxis).
I was pleasantly surprised at how nice her house was; she had a living room, bedroom, kitchen, and even a dining room. She also had a flush toilet and shower! It was a much needed break from the go-go-go mentality of the first month here in Africa. We relaxed quite a bit and took the occasional stroll into town to buy food and then hurried back to the quiet village. It was awesome to see how much a part of the town Katie was; my favorite part of the weekend was when we walked around saying hi to people around town. The relationships that a volunteer makes with the “village people” (not to be confused with the “YMCA” musical group), is sooo important because that is when you begin to feel like you are part of a community.
We did some other pretty cool things like visited the archeological park that another volunteer works at, went to the fetish market which is really just a bunch of dead animals for sale to Voodoo practicers (anything from monkey heads to frogs to dried skins…we only stayed for about 7 minutes), ate dinner with a few French people and felt completely intimidated by their phenomenal accents (by the way, West African French? Not that pretty), took a zem ride home after it flashed flooded on Saturday which was quite an adventure, and we lazed around and watched a few American flicks as well. It was great not to be in language class for 5 hours a day or working on technical stuff either!
Other than that, everything has been going pretty "normal..." Au revoir!
Hello my African Queen! (By the way that is Granny's favorite movie :)
ReplyDeleteSo PREKETE it is!! Oh my goodness! I'm so happy to know that you have an actual location! And how amazing that it is a new post! You are going to make huge changes for the people there and I'm sure they are all going to fall in love with you (not hard to do). I can't wait to hear about the experiences you have at your post. I just know you are going to take so much away from working there.
Well the fetish fair sounded like a blast...(Picture me doing my "I'm going to vom" face). Bahaha I have this strange feeling you are going to come back to America practicing Voodoo... but I'm glad the dreds idea is out! It would be really interesting to see if you cut all your hair off like you say. But just think how pretty long hair will look in those wedding pictures :)
Same old, same old here in Reno. I went camping the rents and my new pup Kavi (Indian name meaning wise man). He loved camping and riding on the boat, but swimming in water was not his thing! He is so cute and no one believes me when I say I got him at the SPCA for $65. I guess he looks like a super expensive, high class dog or something. Who knows? He is very lively and outgoing but also loves to get his beauty sleep. I love him and he has totally taken my mind off the fact that you left me! Ok ok haha that was totally a lie! He is just a good buddy to have around until you get back-- no replacement ;)
Well hang in there my friend... It seems that you have some very exciting things coming up! Can't wait to here about them! Only thing on it's way here next week is the start of the school semester... booooooo
Love to you,
Chanun and Kavi (although you don't know him yet)
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteChanun isn't the only one with a puppy...yep, I joined ranks of chihuahua fanatics. She is so cute, no name yet, why don't you pick out a short, cool, African name (are there any short African names?).
We love being able to talk with you and will be calling soon. We are gearing up for Burning Man and in reading the comments it looks like BM without Borders has alot of ex Peace Corps volunteers...and they sponsor PCVs to come to BM...Erin and I are volunteering to be greeters at the airport, so it will be a great experience meeting people from all over the world. If I meet someone from Benin, I will send stuff home with them for you!
You are experiencing a lifetime of lessons, keep it up, relax and stay safe. I am praying your post will be as nice as the one you visited (flush toilets??)
Love to you always,
Your Verdi Momma (who also says do not cut that hair)
Lauren -
ReplyDeleteCUTTING YOUR HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION! Take it from your sister who regrets chopping her hair off. Well, it sounds like you had a great week last week. It seems so surreal to me that you are in Africa building clay stoves and riding around on those "zems". I am learning so much just from reading your blogs. So, when are we going to meet in Paris - I really liked that idea!
So I guess you're going to have to get a dog in order to fit in when you get home. Mom's puppy is adorable, even for a rat-dog (ha ha...I know I have two). Can't wait for you to meet all of the new family members (Nun's pup too!).
I am so happy that time is flying by...May gets closer everyday...I can't believe that I just finished up midterms. Please call me when you can and maybe we can figure out a time to Skype. Reno is definitely missing something without you - last weekend was really weird without you being there.
I love you Lo Lo - be safe, don't cut your hair and keep in touch (call me when you can)!
Love always,
Bindz