July 27, 2009

Today I had to confirm the first casuality of my trip, which oddly enough occurred in Philadelphia: my iPod. It’s a good thing its too hot/polluted to run. In general though we’ve been blessed with great weather. We’re in the middle of two rainy seasons so it’s been on the cool side and even breezy at times. Yesterday we could barely hear our training sessions because holy day drum circles were going on outside and today we ate our first goat and had lessons on how to bargain with moto (zemi) drivers. Awesome.

July 25, 2009

It’s now closing in on my first full 24 hours in Benin, the first of 820 days in Benin. Yesterday, upon arriving at Cotonou Aeroport after an ungodly amount of travel time, we were greeted by not only stifling humidity but by about 20 Peace Corps volunteers (PCVs) who had traveled from their various posts around the country to welcome us. I definitely wasn’t alone in tearing up at the sight of a few dozen strange/only familiar faces cheering us as we individually lugged our give or take 100lb. baggage to the awaiting WWII style mega jeep. A group of volunteers departs for Benin only once a year, so it’s a pretty big deal. Current volunteers alternate taking leave from their post for a few weeks to come to Cotonou and train incoming volunteers. My group numbers 56 currently and we have yet to lose one.

We are staying at a hostel in the “suburbs” of Cotonou with electricity and running water. So far we are dealing with administrative tasks: filling out papers, risk reduction, safety, dress code, rules for travel, health issues, vaccinations, issuing bikes and helmets, rules, rules, and more rules. We will be discussing diarrhea in depth on a regular basis and we are prepped for the real possibility of needing to describe it in detail to a near stranger or to send a stool sample via local delivery. Every meal, every training session, every conversation, offers something valuable, greater insight into Benin, its people, and our place within it. So far the food has seemed like an attempt to cater to American mouths, gently easing us into the unknown. I’d take some goat over spaghetti and baguettes any day though, so I’m excited to get to the homestay and have some real food! Real coffee, it seems, is a delicacy. And milk, too. I confused condensed milk for honey this morning and put it on my baguette. Tasted good, I’d have never noticed if someone older didn’t say something.

I’m not nervous, maybe I’m too excited to be, maybe its because I see similarities in Benin and other developing countries I’ve been to and feel a sense of comfort, maybe its because I’ve been working toward this since September and thinking about it for years. Maybe its because right now I’m too exhausted to feel anything and my bed feels like an incubator with the mosquito net surrounding me. Bonne nuit.

Bonjour tout le monde! So I sit now in a Starbucks in historic Philadelphia, literally sucking up the last bit of American-ness I can before my 27 month jaunt to West Africa. (It tastes burnt and overprocessed if you were wondering.) Philadelphia itself almost seems worlds away from California: history on every block, modest homes that could fit 20 at a time in the McMansions of southern California, and, most importantly, the most friendly airport shuttle drivers. My driver knew the history of Philadelphia so well that I briefly considered that he might be a vampire from the era of William Penn, because as we all know vampires don't age (yes, I watch Twilight too much...). So one of the first sights I saw in Philadelphia was the London Coffee House, the history of which struck me as particularly ironic. While, Benin was once the center of the largest slave trade in West Africa, Philadelphia was once a slave port taking in thousands each year for almost a hundred years. The London Coffee House was not only a space for political and social meetings, but in keeping with the times, a place to inspect and auction off slaves arriving from Benin and elsewhere. So you can see the irony- today a group of Americans is making the opposite trip in an attempt to right the wrongs of that time and this, from the "scramble for Africa" and decades of colonialism to the multilateral trade agreements and structural adjustment programs of today (despite their good intentions). To be sure, corruption on behalf of African governments has kept Africa down itself, just as some Africans contributed to the slave trade by capturing and selling members of other ethnic groups in the 1700s. Obama recognized this on his recent trip to Ghana, making statements of responsibility ("The essential truth of democracy is that each nation determines its own destiny.") and hope (citing examples of Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, "Make no mistake: history is on the side of these brave Africans.") Interesting what to start off the trip! For the full text of the speech go here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/11/obama-ghana-speech-full-t_n_230009.html

Random thoughts: 

1) In the future, I promise not to make political blog posts because, let's be real, I get most of my news from Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert.

2) This is my first voyage into the world of blogging- have patience. The wit and detailed feel-like-you're-there nature of my usual travel stories seems to flow easier when I know that its a select few who will be reading them. This is the big time, my very own website. The pressure is on. And though I read New York Times and Huffington Post blogs of various natures regularly, I naturally think to look to Ms. Carrie Bradshaw for inspiration. So if I start ending my blog entries with "I couldn't help but wonder [insert profound thought]," call me out. 

3) You have the option of "following" my blog, but as far as I know it doesn't alert you as to new posts but is just a public declaration of your affinity for me and my blog. Recap: being a "follower" is not necessary but ups my stock.

4) Everyone has their various forms of preferred communication: AIM, facebook chat, G chat, email, Skype, etc. I love you all and want to keep in touch but it would be easier for me if you all got Skype accounts. Then we have the options of chatting, video chatting, and calling. My Skype account is thechangeyouwishtosee.

5) Almost all of my life I've been looking forward to the next big thing. I couldn't wait to be in high school when I was in 8th grade, couldn't wait to be 16 when I was 15, couldn't wait to leave for Peace Corps when I was in college, you get the point. Its comforting to have an established next step, but when you have something always looking forward to its almost as if you're willing time to pass quickly. My hope is that for this period of my life I don't concentrate on what happens when its over but rather on the here and now. So if I have no life plans when I get back in September 2011, I'm gonna need to couch surf with you people. kthxbye.