On Being Busy and Whatnot

Heather has been busier than I on this blog lately, so here is a quick rundown of what I’ve been up to and what is in store for me/us coming up soon.

My biggest project that I have been working on, the website that I have been creating for my parc is finished—for now. My supervisor and I recently wrote up a budget for the calendar year 2012 that included funds for everything involved with allowing folks to view my labor of love.

Last year we submitted our marketing budget too late. Apparently it needs to be submitted in July so that numbers can be bandied about before it is voted on in November. If or when the funds are approved, we can move forward on the other items included in our funds request, which mainly consist of printing flyers, brochures, and other promotional material to deposit at local hotels and give out to Beninese tour guides/companies to promote our little piece of fantastic in the craziness of Bohicon.

As Heather wrote in the last post, our first annual Bohicon Camp GLOW was a success. See her post below for more details.

Last weekend after the camp we hosted some new stagiares (read: trainees) who arrived July 2 for their “demystification weekend”. It was basically a chance for them to see what volunteers actually do with their time in Benin, and it was a great opportunity for Heather and I to see just how far we have come. This weekend we will host three more and I will leave with them to go down to their training site in Porto-Novo for the week where I will be leading some training sessions.

Our favorite Zemidjan recently revealed to me that he wants to start his own business, so I will start meeting with him on a weekly basis to teach him the essentials (accounting, keeping track of stock, marketing, etc.). If that all goes well (and I have the time) then maybe I will approach the nice folks at the Maison des Jeunes and see if they would like me to lead a free weekly seminar to budding entrepreneurs.

We will be spending a week in Parakou in a few weeks to help out with the Camp GLOW there, then hit Savalou for a few days on the way back down south to take part in their (famous in Benin) Ignam Fête to promote my site. That should be a great opportunity to network with tour guides and eat lots and lots of Ignam Pilé (think: super-mashed potatoes with peanut sauce and meat).

A few weeks after that, we take our month-long vacation to Greece/Italy, and shortly after that, a pair of very special folks will be visiting us for a few weeks (can’t wait to see you, Brian and Dustin)! That will take us into the holiday season and the end of the year.

But before Brian and Dustin arrive (and after our vacation), my girls’ soccer club at our local school will start up again, and I hope to get a good turnout. I received approval from the American NGO who supplies us soccer balls to have Peace Corps release some to me, but due to what I believe is a miscommunication between the NGO and our vast bureaucracy, I have yet to receive anything. Here’s hoping that that all works out.

I have been so busy that I haven’t finished a book in over a month! It’s a good busy. Don’t worry Mom and Dad, I am eating plenty and working out a lot. I even feel like I am gaining some weight back.

Premier League starts August 13! Glory Glory Man United!

Cheers.

A Perfect Storm?

June 8th...

Chaleur is over. No more sleeping with the fan on full blast. No more sweating through the day and night. No more trudging through the heat down the street to our local bar to sit out on the breezy second story with an ice cold drink (though that’s still a good idea any time, regardless of the weather). La saison, they say, est fini. It has been replaced, though, with la saison des pluies. The rainy season. And it came with a vengeance.


We have actually been saying for weeks now that the long, hot, dry season was coming to a close. The days have cooled off and become a little more humid. Clouds have been dotting the skies. Some rain has come down here and there. But not like today.


We were fortunate and blessed to come here from San Diego, which sees more than 300 days of sunshine each year. Rain was always an enigma to me. Sometimes when it rained in San Diego, I would just curl up on the couch and watch out the window as the rain would be illuminated as it came down through the glow of the streetlight. For part of our honeymoon in Miami we were entranced as South Beach flooded so massively that patio furniture outside the hotel began floating down the street. A lone biker slowly made his way down the street, his feet submerged completely under the water as he cranked the pedal downwards. That was me today.


I went to my girls’ soccer practice at 4pm at our local school, and saw some dark, ominous clouds on the horizon and coming my way, but didn’t think anything of them, even though they brought with them thunder and lightning. In my naivety, I thought it would pass. It didn’t. I decided to call an early end to practice, and as we were on our way out of the school, Heather called.


“Craig, are you coming home soon?”


“Yeah, we’re finishing up and on our way out.”


“It’s going to pour!”


As soon as she hung up, it started pouring at our house, about a mile away to the east. Less than a minute after that it would get to me and I had to ride into the storm. I was just at the front of the school when I was smacked in the face by a blinding, sideways rain. I literally could not see more than 20 yards ahead of me. The dirt road I was riding down was a river a few inches deep and I was pedaling against it. For some strange reason, some people were still outside! I pedaled past men pushing rickshaws full of wood as well as quite a few children whose parents had sent them outside to get water, balancing the full bassines on their heads while waiting for someone to open the door to their concession so they could enter. Our concession was under a few inches of water when I arrived. Our welcome mat was not, in fact, welcoming. Electricity was out (though it came on soon thereafter). Heather was taking a video of our concession as I tramped in, soaking wet.


I watched the video later. I looked like a wet dog. My hair was matted and my clothes stuck to me as I trudged through the concession, high-stepping through a few inches of water with my bike in tow, trying to keep my sandals from sliding off of my feet.


The storm kept up for a solid two hours. By nightfall the storm was on its way out. Over the next few days, we discovered that some trees in a rare pretty shaded area had fallen over, their exposed, gnarled trunks shredded from the high winds; roofs had been ripped off houses; some dirt roads will need to be re-graded from the rivers that ran down them just a few days before.


The rainy season is here, and I learned an important lesson this time: Whenever I go out, in addition to bringing a book, always pack a poncho. At least until chaleur rears its ugly head again.

Football, Part Deux

It has been far too long since my last football update. I thought that these would be much more frequent.

A few highlights from the past month or so:

•I played for the first time in a long, long time with my neighbor’s team. It was kind of silly how this all came about, since I had been bothering the guy for six months about playing football with his weekend buddies. Heather and I will be running a week-long girls’ camp in June and are soliciting local schools for lists of their girls with the top grades so we can invite them. Our neighbor is the equivalent of a Vice Principal at our local school, and one day he came by to drop off his list of girls for us to formally invite to the camp. While he dropped it off, he started gloating that he would get to play soccer the next day (a Wednesday) because, since it was the day of the presidential inauguration, the president gave all state employees the next day off. Heather suggested that he take me along and, with his back to the wall, caught between a rock and a hard place, he was forced and coerced into inviting me. I woke up early the next morning and went with him to our neighboring city of Abomey and we played for 2 straight hours without a break. I have been busy the past few weeks but apparently everyone asks about me. Can’t wait to get back to post to show off some more Yovo skills.

•After I wowed Gilles and his friends with my skills, he invited me to play in a soccer game at his school. The school was having an end-of-the-semester party and part of the week-long festivities, of course, was a Teacher-Student football match, presumably so the teachers could literally kick the crap out of their students. Long story short, I started the game and scored the opening goal of the game (with a header, no less!) on a brilliant front-post run. The crowd went bezerk. Not bad considering I don't have cleats (I've been wearing my flats and everyone else has real cleats). We tied, 1-1. See the “Photo Mélange” page for pictures of my triumphant debut.

•I have started a girls’ soccer team at said school (CEG 2, in case you were wondering), and it has started off well. Actually, when I went to the school to make the announcement that I wanted to start a girl’s soccer team, I was literally—literally!—laughed out of the school, then of course nobody came to my meeting that I scheduled. Out of nowhere, my neighbor told me that girls had been asking him where I was because they wanted to play (apparently everyone already knows that he’s my neighbor, or that I’m his neighbor—whatever). We had our first practice and I just let them play. We had 9 girls show up and more are on the way when word gets out about it. I am working on getting a soccer ball for each girl (and some for the boy’s team, as well). We will practice on Wednesdays where I will lead a formal training session, and probably Saturdays as well (on their own to mess around).

•My neighbor is quickly becoming one of my best friends at post. We get together to watch all Champion’s League matches. He calls me when the game is about to start to let me know that there is a game on, which is hilarious because 1. I can hear him shouting into his phone from the other side of the wall and 2. We always discuss our “game plans” the afternoon of the game. “Of course I know there’s a game on! I’ll finish my dinner and I will be right over!” Heather gets some peace and quiet out of it, and since Manchester United is in such great form, she doesn’t have to deal with me sulking around when we lose. I just finished watching the first leg of the Man Utd-Schalke match up here in Parakou. We went to a bar to watch the game but the TVs kept going out (weird because the lights stayed on…most of the time). At halftime Heather and I went back to the workstation and just streamed the game live and used the in-house projector to watch the game on the wall. Two-nil and advantage Manchester to take back to the Theatre of Dreams!

Life is good. Football is here and it is plentiful.

Cheers!

Dog Days of Chaleur

We are in the long, hot dry season, and it is turning out to be everything that we were promised: hot, steamy, humid, and hot. When we sit in our concrete house with tin roof we feel like we are sitting in an oven (with electricity and running water). It feels like South Florida without the ocean breeze.

I try to do my important stuff in the morning before it gets too hot. After riding the 5-7 km to work or into town in the middle of the day makes me sweat so much that my fingers pucker up like I just spent too much time in the bathtub (if I had one). We try to run a few times a week but if we sleep too late (every time), we have to wait until it’s almost dark and the heat is down to bearable levels.

Beninese people do not sweat. Maybe it’s just because I’m new in town, but my hyperactive sweat glands were never much of a problem until I moved here to the near-tropics. Fortunately we have a bar a stone’s throw away from our house with a breezy second story, plenty of music, and cold drinks. Beers are only a dollar!

Other than the oppressive heat and humidity, things are going well. I’m starting to work on a website for my park, and Heather has been running around like mad applying for grants and organizing a girl’s camp for this summer and our marathon team for September. Our mamá down the road sells ice and cold bisap (a sweet, sugary, dark-purple hibiscus drink; think: Kool-Aid).

Thank you all for the care packages, love, prayers, and support. It’s almost rainy season again! Yay!

Cheers.

Sponsor Us For The Marathon!

As most of you know, Craig and I, along with 2 other PCVs, are planning on running a marathon in Ghana in September as a team to raise money for Camp GLOWs in Benin.  Camp GLOW is a girls’ camp that Peace Corps does every summer vacation that focuses on empowering girls to stay in school, promotes self esteem, teaches them about reproductive health, staying healthy, sexual harassment, and gives them the opportunity to speak with other successful women from the community.  It is a great camp with a lot of positive feedback in respect to supporting and encouraging girls and is one of the most memorable parts of most volunteers’ service in the Peace Corps.  Craig and I are putting on a Camp GLOW in Bohicon, the first one here, this summer vacation.

We will not be asking our family and friends to donate towards Camp GLOW, unless you want to of course, given the fact that the economy has affected many people we know.  Instead, we are asking for our friends and family to cover our fees and costs to participate in the marathon.  We do not want any of the money that we raise for Camp GLOW to go towards our costs, so we are asking for your sponsorships to cover those fees.  These sponsorships will not be tax-deductible since they are not going towards Camp GLOW, but if you did want to donate towards Camp GLOW, which IS tax-deductible, we will have information on how you can do that soon.  

Every member of our team of four will be petitioning their family and friends as well to sponsor us as a team.  Our team costs to take part in the marathon are:

--Team Registration Fee                                    $130                                   

     *Must be paid by April 30^th

--Visas for Togo                                                100,000cfa  (about $200)

     *by July 31^st 

--Visas for Ghana                                                60,000cfa  (about $120)

     *by July 31^st

--Transportation Costs                                       120,000cfa  (about $240)

    *Cotonou to Accra, round trip

    *by September 1^st            

--Lodging Costs                                                120,000cfa  (about $240)

    *10,000cfa fee each to stay in

      PC office in Ghana for 3 nights

    *by September 1^st

Total                                                                        $930

Again, this is for our entire team, so Craig and I will be responsible coming up with about half of that.  The most important amount that we need now is our registration fee.  This fee goes up if not paid by April 30^th, which obviously increases our costs.  If our closest family and friends, or about 10 people, all pitch in $50, then our costs are easily covered.  As soon as all of the costs are met, we will post a blog immediately to inform everyone to avoid additional sponsorships.

If you are interested in sponsoring us, you can mail a check to Craig’s parents, the Wiricks, and they can deposit it into our account for us.  Send us an email or a message on Facebook for their address.  

Thank you for all of your support: emotional, mental, and financial!  We are lucky to have every one of you in our lives. 

Fête de la Gaani

This weekend we traveled northeast to Parakou, then east to Nikki to attend the Fête de la Gaani, a traditional Bariba celebration that lasts for about a week in the dusty town of Nikki, the capital of the Bariba kingdom, which traditionally spans the north of Benin and into Nigeria and Niger. They are renowned as expert horsemen, and during the celebration, the Bariba kings parade through town on their horses amidst drummers and “race” each other in front of the palace in Nikki (the videos are on Facebook).

This year’s celebration was noteworthy for a couple of reasons. First, Peace Corps had a few booths up during the festival to showcase the PC-started Beninese Moringa Association (ABM), a Shea Butter group that three PC volunteers work with, a Peace Corps 50th Anniversary booth to showcase what we as volunteers do in our communities as well as to search for new work partners, and a Tourism booth to showcase the great tourism sites in the country: Abomey, Grand Popo, Parc Pendjari, Boukoumbe, Parc W, and my archeological park in Bohicon, the Parc Archeologique d’Agongointo. Our mayors were supposed to pay for flyers to be printed but my mayor didn’t, so I had only 3 flyers for people to look at (but was able to get the word out, anyway). Second, our American ambassador was a special guest during the celebrations and got to walk hand-in-hand with the king of Nikki during the main celebration. Third, we were able to show off our booths to not only our ambassador and his staff, but also to our PC staff, including our country director; even though Benin is a small country and we have a small PC and embassy staff, we are a tight little community and it is awesome to show such camaraderie for each other.

After the fete, we returned to the Parakou workstation and we had a town hall meeting with the ambassador and embassy staff for us and other Americans who live in Benin. It was great to meet up with them again and to be able to hear our ambassador speak on issues affecting us here, such as what the embassy does for us, funding issues, safety and security issues, and upcoming elections news.

Tomorrow we head back down south to Bohicon, where we will be for a long while without any traveling, which is great because we miss being at home! Heather will go to Cotonou soon for a medical check-up but other than that, we will be staying put until at least April when I come back to Parakou for another training (and Heather heads to Cotonou for a training in May). We are sad that this big block of traveling is over because we love seeing other parts of the country but we will be happy to get home to our wonderful neighborhood and out of the dust. It’s time to focus on our projects and really get some work done.

A bientôt.

Cheers.

Birthday Weekend

First, to back up a little bit, I had my IST (in-service training) two weeks ago. It went well. I learned a bit about how to request funding for projects, was able to get together with my work partner and formally make a work plan, got to see my fellow volunteers again who live nowhere near us, and I ate a lot of free food. We are hoping to be able to get our girl’s soccer team up and running over the next month at the local private school, and I have a lot of people to meet and monies to ask for to promote my worksite. I’m ever-so-slowly gaining weight back, and as soon as we are back in our normal routine at post (in two weeks), we will be able to work out regularly again so maybe that weight that I gain back will be muscle.

Now on to this weekend. My birthday was on Friday, so we came down to Cotonou on Thursday to celebrate and also to take the State Department Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT). My birthday was basically perfect. We spared ourselves the hot West African sun and humidity by staying inside in the cool air conditioning all day, I was able to get some work done thanks to the lightning-fast internet connection in the workstation, and I ate a lot: buille, pizza, a cheeseburger, german chocolate cake, and ice cream.

On Saturday, we got up early to take the FSOT at the American Cultural Center here in Cotonou. We both took the test last year so we thought we knew what to study and what to expect but the test covers so much general information that it is difficult to study for. Despite the State Department adding an extra essay question on the end, we both are optimistic about our results (we will find out in “3-5 weeks” how we did). After the FSOT, we had a celebratory beer, then went swimming at the Ambassador’s house, played softball with the embassy staff (PC vs Embassy, the Embassy won, 1-0…we want a rematch!), then hung out with the embassy staff afterwards at a local restaurant. I was also fortunate enough to chat with my mom and friends over Facebook and received a birthday phone call from my best bud. Thanks again for all the birthday wishes. I understand that Brian partied enough for both of us this weekend!

Tonight we are going to a Super Bowl party (the game starts at 12:30am), and tomorrow we will try to get a spot in a PC vehicle that is heading north. If not, we will just take an early taxi up.

At the end of next week we will be traveling again, this time up north to Nikki, to work a PC booth at the Gaani Fete to promote PC’s 50th Anniversary and tourism in Benin. After that, we will be home for a while and unable to travel due to upcoming elections, but fortunately we have multiple cyber café’s in our town so we will be able to post updates.

Until then,

Cheers.

6 Months In Country!

Yesterday, January 17^th, marked six months since we started training and began our lives in Benin as Peace Corps Volunteers.  It seems like much longer ago.  It feels like we’ve been here a year already but at the same time, we can’t believe how fast time has gone by.  Craig and I were talking about the very beginning of our journey last night.  We were talking about how sad it was to get on the plane to leave San Diego and how I could barely control my blubbering when we were at the airport in New York, waiting to board our flight to Benin.  It hit me then how insane I was to be moving across the world from everything and everyone that I knew and loved for over two years of my life.  We packed up all of our belongings, found homes for our animals, quit our decent-paying jobs (mine, I actually really liked), did a farewell tour with family and friends, and then we found ourselves at the JFK airport, saying our last goodbyes to family and friends on our T-Mobile contracted phones, wondering what we were really getting ourselves into. 

We’re very happy that we took that leap into the unknown, especially since it’s not scary anymore.  The unknown has become known.  We are well-integrated into our community, are starting up projects left and right, have gotten used to West-African French, are learning local language, and actually know how to live here.  We know how to get from point A to point B, know how and where to pay our electric bill or water bill, we know how to haggle prices even better than how Tijuana taught us, and we know exactly how to handle our unimaginably hectic taxi gare in Bohicon.  The bus gare is still a mystery sometimes, but we’ll get the hang of it before we leave, I’m sure.  Overall, we are really happy here.  Joyfully happy.  The kind of happy that puts a smile on your face about something insignificant and you can’t wipe it away.  It’s a great feeling. 

Moving to Benin, a little-known place, and joining the Peace Corps to embark on the unknown adventure has both been the scariest thing and the most exciting thing that either of us have ever done in our lives.  We have had some lows, but we have had a lot of highs.  Without the support of all of you back home with all of your loving care packages, letters, emails, and words of encouragement, those lows probably would have taken a much harder toll on us.  We count our blessings that we have such an amazing support network of family and friends back home, patiently waiting for our return after our adventure is over.  Here’s to the next six months! 

Peace Corps Update

Heather and I found out on the 5th that we have been officially nominated for service and, if all goes well, will be leaving sometime in July for a yet-unknown destination in francophone West Africa. We found out that I'll be working in business advising and Heather will be working in a health care position. We are awaiting our medical/dental paperwork to push through before the official invitation is extended and we learn the location of our destination. I wasn't sure initially what I would use this blog for rather than to just have one, but we'll be updating this (somewhat) regularly with updated on the Peace Corps and other things I find interesting. Exciting times! Cheers