First Post In Benin!!

July 27, 2009

The last few days have gone by all too quickly. I'm getting to know my fellow stagiers (trainees) and also some of the current volunteers. We are living in a hostel/monastery in a suburb of Cotonou; as it is an enclosed compound we don't get to go out much, so most of what I have seen of Africa is from the van going to and from our training area to the PC office for shots, various interviews, and to use the wifi! Today we have zemijohn (moto-taxi) training - don't worry Mom, we have helmets- and also interviews with our program directors (ikes!). So I don't have much time, but I will probably get a chance to call later this afternoon (morning to you). Love you all!

PS- I am going to add a sidebar with things that you should feel free to send me! Yay Packages!!




July 25, 2009 (I think)

I’M HERE!!!
Got here tonight (hopefully I’ll get to post this tomorrow, there has to be internet somewhere!!) at around 10 PM, got to our first place to stay. It’s called St. Jean Etudes and it’s a monastery/school that the PC rents for us the first few days, it’s a dorm-like situation. We meet our host families on Tuesday, so until then- it’s home!

Our flights were LONG!! With a two hour delay in Philadelphia and then another 40 minute delay in Paris. I slept off and on and as a result didn’t see one whole movie during the total plane time of 18 hours. I did however, receive a gift from the Airplane Gods- a pair of ridiculously swollen feet! I’ve never had that happen before and now my feet and even my lower legs are swollen so that my chicken ankles look like cankles!

On the ride in from the airport I got my first glimpse of Africa, and it looks good enough to eat. We were all crammed into a couple of vans and as we drove through the city every so often over the smell of burning gasoline would come a delectable snatch of something better, I can’t wait to have the chance to explore!

Time for bed now, under my mosquito net, which is both functional and aesthetically pleasing...

Love you, Miss you, Write more soon!

Philadelphia!!

Hi All!
I got this far! I've met a few of my fellow PCVTs, we went out to dinner last night and had a great walk/chat along the way. Training starts at 1 PM so I'm getting some sight seeing in with the girls I met last night and I'll update you all after some things start to happen.

I love and miss you all!

Good News!!

Today was a day filled with good news from the Peace Corps!

First, this morning I called the PC travel agency and got my flight info settled. I'm leaving on the 21st at about noon and arriving in Philadelphia at around 10 PM, with a stopover in Nashville. All of that makes it seem like it's really real and is really going to happen.

The next bit of excitement was that I will not be delayed because of my Hypothyroid! Yay! I do have to make sure to have it checked out once I've been in Benin for about 2 weeks (which will be two months after I started taking the medication, so it's really just a check-up), but I won't be delayed! Yay!

Really the one down point in my day was that I started packing in earnest, so my room now looks like an alcoholic lives here due to all of the liqueur boxes piled high (they do make the best packing boxes though!- so good and sturdy!). And now that I have my flight info I can pretty safely say that I can take my guitar with me to Benin without too much of a problem, although Delta did say to have it in a hard case, which worries me... Oh well, I guess there is always something to fret over!

One more week in my Seattle apartment :( I sure will miss it, from Babar upstairs to the drunks in the alley, but especially I will miss my roommate Marie and my half-roommate Andrew! And maybe my super-huge closet too!

30 DAYS!!

So as of today I have 30 days (and a few hours) until I leave for Benin.

I thought you might all like an update...

First, the last day of school was yesterday. I met this particular milestone with both excitement and sadness. While I have been subbing in Seattle Public Schools since October, I have been at mostly Thurgood Marshall Elementary since the beginning of the year, working in two different rooms of Autistic boys. Over the past few months I have grown really attached to both the staff and the students and I will really miss it; however, I can hardly wait for my Peace Corps assignment to begin.

Excitingly, I got my staging information on Wednesday! Unfortunately, because I was still working and the PC travel agency is on the East Coast, I haven't made my exact travel arrangements yet, but I will on Monday! When I think of this I begin to think that this is really going to happen. Yay!

Depressingly, I think I might get delayed. I recently got a physical done to be on the safe side before I leave and the Doc discovered that I have a Hypotyroid (sp?) which should really not be a big deal (the pharmacist told me that the side effect for an overdose of the medication is "jitteryness"- yep, it's that serious...) but because I'm leaving so soon and the PC likes you to be on any new medication for 3 months before you go, it's a problem. Hopefully it will all work out, but in the meantime my palms have broken out in hives from the combined stress of this and some family stuff as well. I WANT TO GO TO BENIN!!!! NOW!!!

In the meantime I am going to try and see everyone before I (fingers-crossed) leave. I got to Spokane for my friend Anna's wedding (which was a blast) but I would like to get over for a week or so and see everyone now that I am on vacation, but it will really have to wait until I my Seattle apartment is pretty much packed up to go. So if anyone reading it is driving the ol' 90 cross-state let me know. I'm also moving to Port Townsend at the beginning of July, so come and visit me!

Tata for now!
Glenna

Back from Hawaii!

So, luck me, my Gram decided that because I am leaving for Africa in July that I should come to Hawaii with her for two weeks, and I just got back on Tuesday. It was a really, really great trip. I got to spend some time with Gram, get to test my high heat/humidity endurance (although I'm pretty sure that Benin will be both much hotter and much more humid than Hawaii), and have some R&R. I also got to test my big duffel bag: it works great- but I think I am going to need to take advantage of Osprey's amazing warranty because bringing back Deruas (Tahitian bamboo instruments)for the class I'm working in at the moment put a couple of little holes in it (and I don't want it to fall apart en-route to Benin!).

I am also going to take this opportunity to steal Camille's amazing blogging skills and upload them on Picassa with a link from this blog- coming soon!

A Packing Dry-Run.

So me being me (hyper, pro-active, slightly OCD, REALLY excited about the Peace Corps and Benin!, too much time on my hands) I decided that it would be a good idea to try and pack the things that I already own before I went out and bought more stuff (good plan? right?) and this is how it went. I have included pictures because I wanted to try and put them on my blog (which I haven't done) before I was in a developing nation with dubious Internet. Enjoy.

 
 
&nbs

Picture #1-The Problem
This is all the stuff that is on "The List" that I already own. So roughly about 3/4 of the stuff that I believe I want to take to Benin. ("Do I want to take it? Do I need it? Can I get it there?" Blog is probably coming soon) Everything is laid out (or in the case of the cloths thrown from the closet into a pile) on my double bed. I was dubious about this plan from the beginning... who's plan was this anyway? Oh, wait. It was mine.

Picture #2-The Solution
These are all of the bags that I am taking with me: my "big bag", the Osprey Porter 90- basically a duffel bag with backpack straps; my smaller bag, the Kelty Redwing 2500W which I took around Europe for 2 months; my trusty "large" Timbuk2 messenger bag; and, my guitar case. As far as I can tell these bags will pass all airline, airport and Peace Corps guidelines for luggage and such (the guitar is the only questionable part, and I have researched it enough to put myself at ease).

Picture #3-The Miracle at Summit Place!
That's it! All packed! And there is nothing but my guitar in my guitar case (I plan to pack some cloths around it for added protection) and "wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles" good ol' Tammy (my Timbuk2 bag) is COMPLETELY EMPTY! Not only that, but I didn't really even have to try to pack my other bags, no sitting on them, no straining the zippers, not even the layering of cloths and less squishy stuff to maximize space efficiency! I think packing for two years like this might be a possibility! Even a pleasure and joy! I can't believe my good fortune! I hope that I still think so when I have to pack for real!

The next challenge: Is it too heavy? But I would have to have a scale for that!

Thus ends my pre-Peace Corps musings! Good night!

Happy Easter!

I'm at home, in Port Townsend for the holiday this weekend and I am glad that once again the weather forecasters were wrong once again. It's beautiful outside! The sky just has the wispy remnants of clouds and the sea is its azure deep blue. The wind is cool, but not so cool as to cool the sun's rays overmuch and my soul aches for the beauty of it. My surroundings are perhaps more heightened by the fact that I know I will be leaving soon and that I will long for this glorious panorama. Even more piqued is the fact that I am cherishing every moment that I can spend here with my family. Cooking and singing along to classic rock with my mom while we cook. Talking about old movies with my gram. Teasing my step-brother about everything. In a way I don't ever want to leave, but as I look for the tell-tale signs of spring around me I also know that it is time for me to leave, and in the leaving, change and become a better, stronger person.

It is with this contemplative air that I am approaching this new period of, you guessed it, waiting. I have submitted all of the paperwork that the Peace Corps needs for now, and now I have to wait for my staging packet- which will arrive sometime in late June. Oh well, at least I'm practicing patience!