Ze Germans Are Coming!

Heather and I both traveled this past weekend, albeit in opposite directions.

Heather headed down to Cotonou to greet the new stagiares, or trainees, who arrived Saturday night, and to hobnob with Embassy staff at the Ambassador’s 4th of July party that was held on July 1. With the arrival of the new trainees, it means that we have now been here for an entire year! We are halfway there. We have not realized how far we have come until we met the new little “baby birds”—what do you mean you don’t know how to ride a zem or eat ignam pilé?—it is both eye-opening and humbling to see how much progress we have made since we arrived in Benin last July. We seem to have adapted nicely so far. Thank you all for your continued love and support.

I headed to Djougou, about 5 hours north, to play in an annual soccer game between German volunteers and American Peace Corps Volunteers dubbed “American Blitzkrieg”. It is a two-day competition, where we play European football on the first day and American football on the second day. The volunteer who hosted us and organized the event wrote up an announcement that was broadcasted on local radio in the area for two weeks prior to the match, and Beninese who live a few hours away knew about the match.

A few PCVs have German Volunteers in their cities/villages. The German Volunteers generally go to university after their volunteer service. They serve as volunteers as a “civilian option” to mandatory military conscription. They work with local Non-Governmental Organizations, just like we do, but they get a lot more money, can purchase and drive their own motorcycles, and are only here for a year rather than for two. And they all speak really good French and English. A few can also speak other languages.

We ended up with 12 volunteers playing, and the Germans unexpectedly showed up with at least 20. We arrived at the stadium in Djougou an hour early, and the stands were already mostly full and the Germans were taking team pictures and warming up. Both teams talked a lot of smack before the game. We made WWII jokes, and they wondered aloud where all the Americans were (the punch line: “Are they in Iraq?” “Ok, how many troops do we still have in your country?”). We had the makings of a classic encounter.

Before the game we lined up and walked out to the center of the field, single file, then faced the crowd and sang our respective national anthems. I lined up in center midfield in a playmaker role, tucked in nicely just behind our two forwards (one of whom, I would find out later, was 3 beers in when he arrived at the field, but he was wearing cleats so it evened out). The field, of course, was dirt, and we more or less estimated the touch and goal lines. The quality of the game was about the same as the field (overall, not so great). The Beninese showed up for a show and we didn’t disappoint, and they laughed at us as we slipped and clumsily mishit plenty of passes and shots. There were a few good give-and-go’s, and there was some quality here and there. We ended up winning 1-0 with a first-half goal, but three or four would have been more reasonable.

After the game we all went out to a bar where a concert was organized. I’m not sure if it was for us or not (there were about 40 of us and we far outnumbered the Beninese at the bar). We had a great time and made some new friends.

This week Heather and I are making the final preparations for our girl’s camp. I am in Cotonou for a meeting (I am our regional representative for the Volunteer Advisory Council, or VAC), and will take the PC shuttle up on Sunday with lots of necessary items for our camp, while Heather is at home working with her supervisor to hammer out the final details.

We have about 2 months to go until our much-needed vacation and 4 months until Brian and Dustin visit us for a few weeks! Can’t wait to see you guys!

Cheers!