Yes, we are alive and well. I know everybody is anxious to see some pictures, but they are proving impossible to upload. We will figure something out and post some soon. We have not had as much access to internet as expected because our days are packed so full. This past week Miranna started teaching model school: a free summer school for local kids so we can practice our teaching. Charlie is learning how to weigh babies and has started learning our local language: adja. So needless to say, free time that was previously spent after school checking email now goes to lesson planning or language studying. We have a lot to write about and hope to catch up soon: our host family, model school, our visit to Lalo.
A week ago we spent a few days in Lalo and the surrounding area checking out where we will be living for the next two years and meeting our work counterparts. We’ll write more about this in the new future, but all in all it was a good visit and we look forward to settling down there at the end of September.
Thank you for all of your emails, we will work on typing up responses this week and sending out updates soon. Keep them coming. A few of you have asked what you can send us: magazines or books, pictures, individually packaged snacks and drink mixes, anything creative you can think of that will fit in a padded envelope and entertain us, and of course old fashioned letters with all your news. Our address is in an older post below. Merci en avance.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
A Day in our Life as Peace Corps Trainees
We thought you might be interested to know what have we have been up to since we have arrived in Porto Novo. We are called trainees because we are not officialy Peace Corps volunteers until we complete training and swear-in at the end of September. There is a group of current volunteers that are with us each week to help in our technical sessions which has been very helpful. So, this is pretty much what our weeks are like (there is a little variety from day to day):
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
6:30-7:30 Get ready, have breakfast (Charlie typically has an omlette, bread, coffee and Miranna has pineapple, bread, tea)
7:30 leave for school (Miranna goes via zemi because she lives far from her school, but Charlie can go via bike- pour schools are about 30 minutes apart so we dont see each other during the day)
8-10 Language class
10:30-12:30 Technical class (For Charlie this includes classes on child and maternal health, AIDS, maleria, etc; for Miranna this includes lesson planning, grading, grammer review, etc)
12:30-1:30 Lunch at school- we buy lunch from women that bring something theyve made to our school- typically rice and beans, or avocado sandwhich- also easy to find pineapple and bananas
1:30-3:30 Language class
3:30-4:30 culture or technical class
After school things vary: some days their is a soccer game, some days I come to the internet cafe, or some days well go with some friends to a buvette for a drink. We rarely go right home after school because our family dosent get home until about 7 so their isnt much to do- but we are home by 7:30 when it starts to get dark.
From 7ish-9ish we chat with our host brothers, do homework, boil and bottle water.
9ish- 10ish we eat dinner (no, im not kidding) and chat with our host maman and papa- the kids dont eat with us. We typically have fish or chicken, some sort of starch like potatoes, rice, or couscous, and some kind of vegetable- the food is very good but everything is cooked in palm oil!!!
10ish- to bed (yes, right after we eat) so we can get up at 6:30!
On Tuesdays the whole group is together and it is when we do all of our medical sessions, cross cultural sessions, and any admin work that needs to be done.
We also have class on Saturday until about noon- typically language. Last Saturday my group got together after school and had a cooking session where we learned how to cook Mexican food here in Benin! It was yummy! The next cooking session: American breakfast foods.
And there you have it- our typical days- its pretty exhausting even though we are sitting all day!
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
6:30-7:30 Get ready, have breakfast (Charlie typically has an omlette, bread, coffee and Miranna has pineapple, bread, tea)
7:30 leave for school (Miranna goes via zemi because she lives far from her school, but Charlie can go via bike- pour schools are about 30 minutes apart so we dont see each other during the day)
8-10 Language class
10:30-12:30 Technical class (For Charlie this includes classes on child and maternal health, AIDS, maleria, etc; for Miranna this includes lesson planning, grading, grammer review, etc)
12:30-1:30 Lunch at school- we buy lunch from women that bring something theyve made to our school- typically rice and beans, or avocado sandwhich- also easy to find pineapple and bananas
1:30-3:30 Language class
3:30-4:30 culture or technical class
After school things vary: some days their is a soccer game, some days I come to the internet cafe, or some days well go with some friends to a buvette for a drink. We rarely go right home after school because our family dosent get home until about 7 so their isnt much to do- but we are home by 7:30 when it starts to get dark.
From 7ish-9ish we chat with our host brothers, do homework, boil and bottle water.
9ish- 10ish we eat dinner (no, im not kidding) and chat with our host maman and papa- the kids dont eat with us. We typically have fish or chicken, some sort of starch like potatoes, rice, or couscous, and some kind of vegetable- the food is very good but everything is cooked in palm oil!!!
10ish- to bed (yes, right after we eat) so we can get up at 6:30!
On Tuesdays the whole group is together and it is when we do all of our medical sessions, cross cultural sessions, and any admin work that needs to be done.
We also have class on Saturday until about noon- typically language. Last Saturday my group got together after school and had a cooking session where we learned how to cook Mexican food here in Benin! It was yummy! The next cooking session: American breakfast foods.
And there you have it- our typical days- its pretty exhausting even though we are sitting all day!
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