Because our internet sucks and we have to add pictures very randomly...

Porto-Novo

We have been in Porto-Novo for 5 days now. Porto-Novo is the administrative capital of Benin but it isn't nearly as busy as Cotonou. When we were in Cotonou we stayed in a 1-star hotel (it definitely did not have an ice machine!) a few blocks away from the Bureau (Peace Corps HQ).

We are all moved and settled in with our host family, who are fantastic--Grandpi is a former French professor with UNESCO and Granni is a former government minister here in Benin. We were really lucky to get such an amazing host family. This past weekend we washed our clothes for the first time (finally!). We needed help so we asked the domestiques how to wash clothes by hand and they thought that it was HILARIOUS that their crazy Yovos wanted to do all of their laundry by themselves! We had a group of kids sing the "Yovo song" to us while we hung up our clothes to dry, and Heather tried to teach them to input her name instead of Yovo, which worked until we turned our backs, then we turned into Yovos again. We have also mastered the art of filtering and boiling our own water. We have a system down to make sure that we have a constant supply of clean drinking water and we are waiting for more storage containers.

Language training is coming along. Heather's French is flooding back to her and she can sustain a coversation but I'm on more of a French language rollercoaster--I will understand everything for a while but then have entire minutes go by where I have no clue as to what is going on. Grandpi said tonight that I am making a lot of progress. I'm glad that he can tell that my studying is paying off.

Heather and I train at different sites and our house is between the two. Heather is close enough to bike to training but I am pretty far away so I get to Zem every day, which costs about 150CFA (about 30 cents) each way. I get to practice my French when I haggle. It goes something like this:
Me: Bonjour!
Driver: Bonjour!
Me: Comment ca va?
Driver: Ca va.
Me: Et ta famille? Et ton travaille?
Driver: Oui, Oui, ca va.
Me: Je vais aller a Songhai. Tu connais?
Driver: Oui.
Me: Combien a Songhai?
Driver: 200. (deux-cent)
Me: No, 150! (cent cinquant)
Driver: 200. (deux-cent)
Me: No, no, 150! (cent cinquant) Il y a beaucoup de zemis! (I start to walk away)
Driver: Ca va, 150. (flicks his head to motion me to get on)
SUCCESS!

The food in Benin is heavy on starches and oils and meat doesn't come in convenient steak or nugget form like it does in les Etats-Unis, so we get a lot of practice picking out fish bones of our meals. For breakfast we usually have some fruit or bread and coffee, for lunch we get some street food (usually a big plate of beans and rice with a spicy red sauce, plus an entire baguette, which all together costs 325CFA), and I try to find the Fan Milk guy wherever we go. After training we study or hang out with friends or visit with Granni or Grandpi if they are available, and for dinner we usually eat rice with jus (a tomato-y, onion-y, oily sauce which is served with basically everything), chicken or fish, and fresh pineapple for dessert. Pineapple here isn't as yellow as it is in the states, but it tastes sweeter and it's like 100CFA each and if you wait on the side of a busy street long enough, someone will walk by with a big plate of pineapple on their head and sell some to you. Amazing!

We went to a local merchant fair on Sunday and there were venders from all over the region--Burkina Faso, Niger, Togo, Nigeria, Benin--selling tissue (cloth to make clothes), food, medicine, and beer. One of the breweries in Porto-Novo even made an Obama beer! Obama is really popular in Africa. Every once in a while we see people wearing Obama shirts that were made locally. Back to the Obama beer: I think that Heather nailed it when she commented that it kind of tastes like watered-down tequila. I'm not one to turn down a 300CFA beer so I didn't really have a problem with it, but I wouldn't buy a case or anything. Since we bought two, they gave us one free. They normally don't let people take the beer to go but they let me take it because "he's our president" and I thought that it would be a nice present for Granni and Grandpi. I think that it's still in the refrigerator. We told them about it but Grandmi made the same face that Heather did so I don't think that they are going to drink it. Oh well!

We should find out information about our post soon, and have our post visit Sept 1-4. There is a big celebration this weekend for Benin's 50th anniversary so that should be pretty fun.

Last thing: We got cell numbers! The country code is 229 (cell phone service here is pay-as-you-go and it only uses credits for the person who initiates the call). Feel free to call us! We would love to hear from any/all of you!:
Craig: 66.26.83.97
Heather: 66.23.93.81

Enjoy the pictures below of Cotonou, Heather and I doing our laundry, Obama beer, me getting shots from Dr. Rufin (l) and Dr. Lomo (r), Zemidjan traffic in Porto-Novo, and the cute kids who live near Heather’s temporary training site.
Cheers!

We Made It!

   Hi Everyone!  This has to be a really short email since there is a line to use the computer, but we wanted to let everyone know that we are here safe and sound.  We got in at 8pm on the 16th and have been busy bees ever since.  We are at the Peace Corps office in Benin right now for our oral French exam, which just reminded me how rusty I am, and to write you since our internet is non-existant where we're staying. 
   We will post more details about our little adventure on getting here later when we have more time.  We're hoping to get away for some internet cafe time in about a week.  Things are going great here though and we had a very big and nice welcome from other volunteers and staff when we arrived. 
   Another quick note: we were told that we probably won't have time to get our cell phones any time soon and everyone highly recommends waiting until September or so because there are a bunch of people going home and will probably cell their phones to us for ridiculously cheap prices (or maybe for free), which means that we won't be able to receive phone calls as of right now.  Once we get settled in with our host family next week, we can find out our host family's phone number and see if it would be ok with them if we received phone calls there.  Thanks for all the support! 

A Bientot!

Africa-Bound

   Yesterday, we had our full day of orientation where we were able to meet everyone that is going to Benin with us.  There are 60 total people going to Benin, which since Benin is about the same size as Pennsylvania, that is a lot of people!  We met the different people who are in our fields of work so we got to know who we will be working with, which was exciting.  Orientation was basically an ice-breaker that allowed us all to get to know each other with team building exercises.  It was pretty good and it went by relatively quickly, given that it was the whole day.
   We also got a spending allowance, which reimbursed us (and more) for the $20 we had to spend to get from the airport to the hotel, as well as a food allowance and "En Route" allowances until we arrive in Africa, which is awesome.  We also had to spend $120 for checked bag fees when we left San Diego, which they are reimbursing us when we arrive in local currency.  That will be our cell phone money! So we will have cell phones whenever we have a chance to go and buy them.  Stay tuned to find out our phone numbers.
   Today, we had to wake up early to go to the government clinic and get our yellow fever shot.  Apparently, we don't get our malaria pill pack until we get there, which is somewhat of a concern to us since we're arriving during the rainy season and there's probably going to be mosquitoes galore.  I guess they haven't had any issues with it since that is how they're doing it, so we're just going to trust the system.
    We're about to check out of our hotel now, then we have a few hours to get lunch and do any last minute sight-seeing before we have to meet back at the hotel and board our NYC-bound bus to get on our flight out of JFK.  This will probably be the last time you hear from us for a while.  I guess that once we land, they allow us to send out a quick message to let everyone know that we're there safe and sound and that is basically all we're going to have time for until we are finished with training.  Training can last anywhere between 2-3 months, depending on how well we do and how quickly we pass everything.  So if you don't hear from us until September, that is why; don't freak out.  Remember, if there is anything bad that happens to us, the Peace Corps will notify our "Emergency Contacts" (our parents and siblings), so you don't have to wonder about our well-being. 
    Thanks again for all of your support and love!  We look forward to hearing from you via letters until we can get internet again.  Our phones will be on and working until 11:30pm tonight (EST) when we board our flight, so feel free to give us a call to say goodbye one last time. 

A Bientôt!

We are in Philly!

   After spending almost 2 weeks on our "Farewell Tour", visiting friends and family up in the Central Valley and Arizona (thanks for hosting us everyone!), we arrived back in San Diego Friday afternoon for our going away party.  Our going away party went off with a bang and we are so thankful to everyone that showed up to wish us well and say goodbye; it means a lot!
   Saturday, my former coworkers and very good friends threw us a going away BBQ that was amazingly delicious.  Saturday night, my sister came into town from up north to spend our last few days in San Diego with us and to see us off. Sunday, we had a fun-filled day in Mexico to watch the World Cup final, get our last Mexican food fix in, and just enjoy the beach for the last time.  It was amazing!  Monday we basically just spent finishing up our packing, laundry, and last minute errands while trying to squeeze in some final moments with our closest friends and family.

    So needless to say, after a bitter-sweet 4 day weekend of fun, memories, goodbyes, and tears in San Diego, we finally arrived in Philadelphia.  We had to get here a day early since orientation starts tomorrow at noon and it's such a long flight with a time change, which is fine with us!  We have never been to Philly before.
    Our flight was at 6:30AM out of San Diego, which means that we got there at 5AM and after a night of not much sleep (since it was our last night with our friends and family) we arrived at the airport deliriously sleepy then had to go through a very emotional goodbye to the 4 people who came with us to the airport at that ungodly hour to see us off.
   Once we arrived in Philly, figured out how to get to our hotel, got to our hotel and checked in, it was already 5PM EST.  We thought that everything that we wanted to see would be closed already, but to our pleasant surprise, we were still able to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Ben Franklin's grave, and Craig had a Philly cheese steak.  Overall, it was a long, but very good day!   There was another Peace Corps group that was already here and they are leaving for South Africa tomorrow morning.

  
   Tomorrow starts our first day of orientation then Thursday we have to go to the clinic with the whole Peace Corps group at 7AM for all of our shots, then we check out of our hotel at 11, and by 3PM (after more orientation meetings), we are on a bus headed for New York City to fly to Paris out of JFK.  We're hoping that since we're leaving so early and we don't have to be at the airport until 8:30PM (3 hours before our flight to Paris) that maybe, just MAYBE, we will get to see a little of NYC before we leave.  We're not going to hold our breath, but it would be awesome if that did happen! 
    Thank you again to everyone for supporting us throughout this entire process, which we started a year ago, and for all of your continuing support.  We are going to miss everyone so much!  We know that it hasn't been easy for some of our friends and family members to go through this with us, and some of you may not understand why we would quit our good, stable jobs to join the Peace Corps for almost free, and we really appreciate you supporting us anyway. 
  

Tips on Sending Us Mail or Packages

In 10 days we will be leaving for Benin!  That being said, the PC says that it takes 2-4 weeks for a letter or package to arrive.  If you'd like to write us, you can start now.  If you do write us letters, be sure to number them on the envelope because they may hold our mail until we get more so they can give it to us at once or they may come out of order.  Also, from what we have read, we will probably not have access to internet for an extended period of time after we arrive, like 1-2 months!  So don't worry if you don't hear from us online.  Snail mail may be the only way you'll hear from us during our first couple months so get the ball rolling and start writing us so we have letters to respond to.  :)

As of now, no packages are necessary at this point because we don't know what we will have access to and what is available over there yet, but if you want to send your dear friends/family a care package in the future, here are some tips for any future packages: 

Never write the real contents of a package.  Write general items such as "food," "clothes" and "magazines"- not the specific items or brand names. Don't give them any reason to want anything that is inside.  Also, if you're sending something like seeds for our garden, definitely don't tell the post office that. 

Never write the real value of items on the customs form.  Always put $10 or less otherwise, we have to pay taxes on packages.  If they think there are valuable items in a package, they will open the package and then charge us more money or they may take the contents for themselves.

Write "Dieu Te Regarde" on the package in large letters.  This translates as, "God is watching you" and if they are religious, there is less of a chance it will get opened and looted through.  It also helps to write everything (even addresses) in big RED letters because that is generally associated with government or top secret things that they don't want to mess with.

You will want to include an itemized list of the contents in the package so if there is something missing, we will know it.  If they don't know English, then they won't know what the note says, and even if they do, they will know that someone paid attention to what was sent so if everything doesn't make it, there is more of a chance of someone following up.  Lastly, use the US Postal Service- not a FedEx or UPS.  The best and fastest way to get us a package is by mailing it in a flat rate box, or a padded envelope which is the fastest method of them all. 

Thanks for all the support!