A Quick Update

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.

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!

Porto Novo

Yesterday we moved from Cotonou (the largest city), to the capital of Benin- Porto Novo. It is a smaller city about an hour away- towards Nigeria- and even though it is the official capital all of the government buildings, Embassys, etc. are found in Cotonou. It is nice to get out of the big city- Cotonou was really overwhelming!

We moved in with our host families last night. Our family is very well-to-do; they both work in Cotonou for the Benin Government. We are the 1st Americans that they have hosted; no pressure, right? We have a very nice room and our own bathroom with running water, so I'm not sure how this is going to help prepare us for the next 2 years that we are going to live in an African village, but we'll enjoy it while we have it! We had dinner with the family last night: fish, fried potatoes, salad, and pineapple. The food here is great- just very oily and very starchy. I'm loving all of the fresh pineapple, though! So, all in all, we are doing great!

Our whole training group before everyone departed for their host families.

A cool billboard for a cell phone company we passed on the way to Porto-Novo.

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!)

Are you there?

Yes! We are here! We made it! Will write when we have a chance!

US Farewell Tour: Part Five

The last week of our time in the US has been spent in Knoxville/Jefferson City- where Miranna grew up. We've spent a lot of time doing last minute preps for our trip, but we've also had time to visit friends and family:

Miranna, Mom, and Noel- Douglas Dam in Jefferson City

Alison and daughter Kenzie, and Miranna- Gettysburg friends out to lunch.

Stacey and daughter Lauren, Miranna and Mom- catching up with long lost Camp Tanasi friends!

We also took a day trip to the mountians, which was important for our trip preparation so that we could practice using an outhouse!
Wow! Time has flown by! I can't believe our farewell tour has come to an end! It was great visiting with all of our friends and family and sorry we missed some of you! We leave for Philadelphia tomorrow morning where we will meet the other 54 members of the Peace Corps group going to Benin. After a day of orientation, we will all board the plane on Thursday and arrive in Benin Friday night! We're not nervous or sad about leaving- we're anxious to go and "get this party started"!

The Things We Brought...

Everyone wants to know- "What are you taking with you?" We have packed and repacked our bags many times trying to meet the weight requirements: 80 lbs each!

The final weigh-in!

We told Cori that she weighed too much to make the cut!

As you can see, we have a lot of stuff- but come on, for 2 years, its really not that much stuff!
So what is all of this? Here is a sample list of what we are bringing:
Clothes & shoes
Rain jackets
Shortwave Radio
Camera (digital & polaroid)
The Golden Girls Seasons 1-3 (I'm not kidding)
Nalgene bottles
Solar shower
Duck tape, ziploc bags, tupperware
Hammock
Cooking spices
School supplies
Public health books
Hand sanitizer
2 flashlights & 2 headlights
Waterproof matches
Photo albums
2lbs popcorn (Again, I'm not kidding)
Garden seeds
Kickball (thanks, Missy- the kids will love it!)
And much more...

The final pack-up!