Medical Update
Although there is nothing wrong with my tooth anymore, there is something very mysterious going on with my back. It keeps waking me up in middle of the night. This is why I have the internet and the time to write on a Monday morning, when I should by all rights be in class. I do hate missing class! Especially in the very, very short second semester. The semesters are not even at all. The first is October through February and the second is March through June. The reasoning is that because many teachers don't actually start teaching until mid or late November that the first one needs to be longer. This makes the second semester really stressful because there ends up being 2 exams that are only a month apart, because of the short semester and the week and a half Easter break. That means that it's really hard to teach the kids enough to put on a final exam in a month, especially when I am laid up in the med unit way too much.
School and Such
School is going really great. I have most of my kids' names down and I have gotten to know most of their families, those of them that live in my village anyway. One of my summer "maybes" is to go to some of the smaller villages around my larger village and meet the families of those students who board in town, but live in the "bush" or in many cases, the "valley", meaning the river valley that boarders the village. I am really looking forward to moving ahead with my students as they go to 4eme (8th grade) and I have been looking ahead to what is in that curricula. First, my mom is sending me a baby name book so that at the beginning of the year I can have them all pick out "American" names like I remember doing in French class. I am also very excited to continue corresponding with a French teacher and her students at home. I just got the letters that my students wrote and they were a riot to read. There is also a section about heath, and one about technology, both of which I want to do special projects about. I was thinking that because I am so close to Porto-Novo maybe I could take them (or some of them anyway) in to town just for a little bit of technology training. Just to show them. Many of them have never seen, much less touched a computer and I think that being computer literate is really important for students in an ever technology-saturated world. I know that I can't teach them to be really good at computers in one day, but I could give them some exposure to computers that they lack at the moment. I can also use the technology unit to get them to listen to the BBC World Service, which comes in very clearly in my village and listen to some honest to God British English for awhile. I also want to really hit on the health unit and I think I will have some of my friendly neighborhood health volunteers come to talk with them about things. This will also be good to get them hearing different American voices than mine (although they do still have problems with my accent from time to time).
General Notes...
I can't believe that the school year is almost over! It does not seem like I am winding down to the end of my first year. I will have Camp GLOW just after school finishes and then I have 3 months of, well, nothing. I don't know what I am going to do with myself! I will probably spend a lot of time traveling to other people's sights, as well as getting a visit to Camille in Senegal in sometime. I also what to work on a mural for the ugly wall that they just put up in front of my school. I should study for the GREs, which I think I will take during my February school break, and of course there are the new volunteers coming in!
All of us here are very, very excited about the new "stage" when we have internet, all of us are constantly stalking the internet trying to find out who is coming. And although it seems like most of them haven't gotten their invitations to Benin yet, we are sure that the flood will start soon and we can't wait to answer the endless questions about Benin (where is that anyway...?) and packing and what the first few months will be like here. Even though I am not working at stage, because I live near Porto-Novo I am really looking forward to getting to know the new stagiers before they get dispersed all over the country.
Easter Break
So because of my tooth issues I decided to spend my break in my village. I figured that out of the 3 weeks leading up to the break, I had been home for the grand total of 5 days- and I really just wanted to rest, hang out with my friends, and not spend any money. It is very easy to not spend money in village, because other than basic produce, there is not much to buy. It was also great to get to catch up on cleaning my house. You would not believe how dirty a house gets when you dont have windows, just wooden slats and screens. When I got back from GAD, there was so much dust on the floor that I left footprints. And that was only not sweeping for a week! I can't imagine what it will be like when I go to Senegal over the summer break or when I go to Europe for Christmas! It was really nice to be home, grade my exams, and not really do much else for a while. I did get a trip in to Porto-Novo and my friend Laura came to visit, so it was really enjoyable.
Parakou GAD Weekend
The GAD dinner is very amazing. It's basically an excuse for all the volunteers to get together, have more fun than should really be allowed, and spend way to much money for a good cause. I did the 10 hour trip to Parakou by my usual moto/taxi route to Cotonou plus an 8 hour bus ride from Cotonou up north. There were a bunch of us who took the same bus so it was as fun as an 8 hour bus ride can be, especially since there was air conditioning. We ended up staying with a PVC who lives in Parakou and has a huge house, there were probably about 20 of us staying there- others stayed at hotels, the Parakou workstation and with other volunteers who live in Parakou.
For me, one of the most fun things was getting ready with everyone. It very strongly reminded me of college, especially when I lived in the dorms, but later even at the Tower apartment, and we were getting ready to go out. Girls running all over the place, giving opinions, doing hair and makeup and borrowing everything that everyone else has. Then taking pictures of it all. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera with me, and it has been acting weird for awhile, so I dont have many pictures, but all of my friends do and I will try to get some from them.
The name "GAD Dinner" is a bit of a misnomer, as during the weekend there are actually 2 main events, and both include dinner. Friday night is the Date Auction and Talent Show. The talent show had a very small showing this year, which is planning on being remedied next year, but those who did perform were really great, there was one dance act and one singing act and we all thought they were great. The date auction, which is best kept toward the end of the evening when people are less attached to their living allowances, was very very interesting indeed. Basically, people auction themselves off and all the proceeds go to GAD. For example I bought 2 "dates"- one for an hour and a half of massage and one with a friend for a bike tour of Park W with a volunteer who lives right by it. I'm really looking forward to both, even if I did spend twice as much as I meant too... oops.
Saturday was the only real day that we had in Parakou and mostly it was great just to hang out with everyone, especially those who I dont get to see very often. And also, to eat. We made French toast that morning, and then in the afternoon we went to a place called Sunfoods and got cheeseburgers, milkshakes and fries. Umm. After all of that (and a nap) it was time to get ready for the GAD Dinner part of GAD weekend. This affair starts off as a very sedate (as sedate as PCVs get anyway) silent auction and dinner. I didn't have much money at this point, so even though I was in a little bit of a bidding war with another PCV over some little bronze giraffes, what I did end up winning were 2 woven bracelets and a huge number of seeds to plant. The seeds I am really excited to start with once I can afford to buy some planters for my porch. The dinner was very good, I had vegetarian lasagna, so good in fact that I felt the sting in the roof of my mouth for days after I tried to eat it too fast. Then, there was music and dancing, and the most important factor, a swimming pool. My memories get a little hazy here... I do remember being thrown in, some rather entertaining chicken fights and dancing until the wee smalls. Eventually though, I did get some sleep and then I did make it to the 6am bus back down to Cotonou. It was definitely some of the best times I have had thus far in Benin, and I can't wait to do it again next year!
