I am finally in Benin (West Africa). The computer service is limited and I just generally am horrible about posting so we will see how this goes. I am going to be teaching English in a village to middle schoolers for 2 years. First we have 2 months of training.

I am sitting in my bed surrounded by a mosquito net; it reminds me of those red tents we (my brothers and I) used to put up over our beds when we were little. Our plane out of Philadelphia was delayed; we sat in the plane for close to 2 hours. Luckily they did have movies we could watch. I watched Bride Wars and I love you man during the flight. I love you man was pretty good, Bride Wars, not so much. We got here and had dinner and then took our first dose of malaria meds no hallucinations or crazy dreams as of yet. We have running water, not hot water but the cold water is refreshing, electricity and even a toilet. A toilet is a big plus here, even better if it has a seat and amazing if there is toilet paper.

The next morning we had vaccines for typhoid and meningitis. We had the yellow fever vaccine before we left Philadelphia, and we have more vaccines to come. Typhoid not so much fun, my arm killed. Then we got our bikes and a ridiculous motorcycle helmet for taking the motorcycle taxis to get around, it looks like it should come with a space suit. I got an old one that has a sweet Beatles sticker on the back. We are apparently getting new ones but I kind of want to keep mine. We then had a language interview and after all that, and not showering in the morning we had ID photos, can’t wait to see mine.

There is something called fan milk it’s amazing, kind of like ice cream, the current volunteers brought us to get them and I am already obsessed.

The weather really isn’t too bad right now, there is a pretty nice breeze most of the time, sitting in small rooms or vehicles can get hot but for the most part it’s pleasant. I actually woke up in the night cold last night (but we do currently have a fan so I don’t think that will be much of problem on a regular basis) The food is ok, every morning for breakfast we have bread and tea, I discovered jam this morning which was very good. I also discovered I am not a fan of instant coffee.

Lunch and dinner usually consist of fish, fish or fish and some type of veggie and potato or rice. We did have goat yesterday which I was ok with until we went to the market and I saw a slaughtered goat, and many other random animal body parts, it was disturbing to say the least.

Cotonou is a big city and apparently nothing like the rest of Benin with the exception of Porto Novo. We are going to Porto Novo soon where we will meet and stay with our host families until swear in. After swear in we got to our villages where we get our own house. The city reminds me of being in China, they drive like mad men. There are a lot of motorcycles which the Beninese ride around on without helmets. Yesterday I saw one with 5 people on one, the dad with his son on his back, and a mom with a baby on her belly and one on her back.

On that note the kids are adorable, they get so happy and excited when you wave to them, and they love “Yovos”. Yovo means white person which is what I am normally called. With the exception of a guy yesterday who called me “Dream” with a French accent because that’s what my necklace says and he assumed that was my name.

There is trash everywhere and garbage cans literally nowhere to be found. Apparently they either reuse everything or burn it. One of the volunteers told us her neighbors in her village burns all of her garbage for her, they go through it and take what they can reuse and burn what they can’t, they waste nothing.

We did “zemi” training, zemi’s are local motorcycle taxis. You ride on the back of a motorcycle, we don’t drive them. I was very freaked out by them at first but they are actually really fun. In the big cities you see them everywhere.

Random fun facts about Benin:

There is stick scaffolding; its awesome/ I would never get on it

Gas is sold on the side of the street in glass bottles, its so cool

Ill write more as I think of them...

More to come!