COS Conference

We just go home from our COS (Close of Service) Conference in Cotonou, where, among other things, we chose our COS date (aka the date we leave Benin, aka September 2), reflected on our service, spent one last time together with the rest of the folks we arrived with, and looked forward to future endeavors.  Peace Corps was nice enough to put us up in a very nice hotel for three nights and we had conference sessions all throughout the day, including a career panel with returned PCVs (a.k.a. RPCVs, a.k.a. Craig and Heather in a few months), lunch with government ministers, and feedback about Peace Corps programs and work in our communities.

Craig with the other Small Enterprise Development (SED) volunteers, at COS Conference

The graphic below is woefully incomplete, as there is a lot that we will miss about Benin.  When we get home you can ask us all about it.

Cheers.

Visitors: Denisse and Marcel edition

Heather and I played "tour guide" for the past few weeks when our friends Denisse and Marcel came to visit us.  We picked them up in Cotonou and visited Ouidah, Grand Popo, our home in Bohicon, and Parakou, and introduced them to interesting Beninese things like water in bags, FanMilk, sodabe, tchouk, vodoun, local clothes, and more.  They even made some new friends when we visited a small village near our house.  Check out the photos from their visit.  (Click 'em to see them larger.)

Marcel enjoying his first water saché, at Marché Dantokpa in Cotonou

Marcel on his first zemijan, in Cotonou

Denisse and Marcel at the Python Temple in Ouidah

Craig, Heather, and Marcel at the "Gate of No Return" in Ouidah

Denisse in front of Lion Bar, a Rastafarian hotel in Grand Popo

Marcel and Denisse's first encounter with a Beninese gas station

Denisse washing clothes by hand

Moto time!

Vodoun altar just south of Bohicon (on Vodoun tour)

C'est trop grand!

At Craig's worksite, Parc Archeologique d'Agongointo

Drinking Tchouk in Parakou

At GAD (Gender and Development) fête in Parakou (night 1)

GAD night 2 (Parakou)

Making new friends!

Cheers