1st Few Days in Benin

Just a quick update while we have a few minutes here in the Peace Corps office. We are doing well! We have been staying at a monastery in Cotonou since we arrived here Friday. There isn't much to report because we have been very "sheltered"- it almost feels like we are at summer camp. We have had a lot of introductory sessions on a variety of topics, medical interviews, language interviews, etc. We don't leave the compound except in a van to come to the Peace Corps office- so we don't have too many stories to share! Except yesterday I got to escape with a few other people to a "buvette" down the street with a current volunteer and some other trainees. We had a soda and after about an hour of being stared at by the people working at the bar, they came over and asked us for our picture before we left. We were like- OK- and then they all got in the picture with us. It was really funny because the volunteer that we were with said that they had never had this happened to them before.
We leave on Wednesday for our host family stays in Porto Novo and this is also when the real training classes begin. We're excited to get everything started, begin to experience the culture, and begin to feel like we live here!

A picture of traffic in Cotonou from the van window- note all the Zemidjans (moto taxis)! We got to ride one for the 1st time today near the Peace Corps office to practice. I was terrified, but it actually was really fun!!! (No worries, we have massive helmets we wear!)