It’s October, the rains are slowing, and the school year is hopefully right around the corner. I’ve been busy the last month or so with Peace Corps training and seeing other volunteers, and also shocking my neighbors by remaining in village when school isn’t in session. Rainy season still is Read more…
I haven’t updated for a couple of weeks, but that is mostly because nothing that exciting has really happened. I’m glad to say that I am done with teaching for the school year, which is good because the last couple of weeks both the students and myself really weren’t that Read more…
My time in Porto-Novo is drawing to a close, and starting this week my work as a “real” volunteer will start. On Sunday I will be going up to Parakou, where I will stay for a few days to make some purchases I will not be able to make in Read more…
Last week marks the start of my teaching experience. After one week of teaching Beninese summer school these are the three things I’ve learned: I don’t mind teaching; I hate lesson planning; I really hate kids. Long story short, it’s really hard to control a class of 40 Beninese 11-15 Read more…
So for the last two weeks I have been away from home visiting my future post/school. The first three months or so I’ve been living in Porto-Novo for training, but for two weeks in the middle of it they send us up to our posts so we can kind of Read more…
Things seem to be settling into a fairly normal and predictable pattern here. I wake up at about 7 every morning and take a bucket bath, then I kind of dink around for a little bit until my breakfast is ready. Breakfast is the same thing everyday, two eggs scrambled Read more…
My life revolves around clothes. Specifically finding the loudest patterns I can and bringing them to my tailor. Last weekend, after I found out I had 10,000 more CFAs then I thought I did, I went to the grande marche on a tissu hunt with my friends Ron, Sarah and Read more…
Not a whole lot of exciting things have happened in the last week, although I have been able to pinpoint what Benin smells like. I would describe the general smell of Porto Novo as state fair animal barns with just a hint of middle school locker room. For the most Read more…