Au Village

Today was my second language interview. I think I have made huge strides since my last one where I said I don’t know and I don’t speak French over and over to my interviewer. It seemed like it went pretty well, I mean I think it could only go up from there. I’m sure you can all imagine me uncomfortably laughing and just repeating I don’t speak French, it was amusing.

Last Saturday we went to a village and did our first baby weighing. It was packed we weighted 85 babies from 1 month to 6 years. It was super fun, but completely unorganized. Plus we had translators because most of the women spoke Fon (spl?) which is a local language. This week has gone by fast so far, we find out our posts tomorrow—extremely excited! Apparently we are going to the recreation center where we have class once a week. We will be drawing a map of Benin, then after we each find out our post we go and stand on the map! We also have new PCVTs this week which are just as amazing and nice as the last ones were. One of them went to UNC so we chatted about some people we both knew and about good ole’ Carrboro. Unfortunately she is a second year so she leaves at the end of August. Her parents sent her dvd’s of the ACC and NCAA tournaments the past two years…hint hint:).

The party this past Sunday was extremely fun. I have some awesome pictures from it. There were so many people and a live band. My mom has like 30 siblings apparently my grandfather had a more than a few wives. I met my Papa for the first time, he seemed pretty nice, but it was sort of a hectic day. Two of my friends from PC came and we dressed in traditional outfits. I was pretty dehydrated by the end of the day from dancing, etc... I also took a picture with the King of Porto Novo!

I went running last night with my friend Mani’s brothers. I explained to them that I have run like 2 times in the past three months. We still ran for an hour and 15 minutes! We ran from our house all the way to the general assembly building by the grande marche. I know that none of you have any idea what that means, but trust me it’s far. It was a good workout though and I was happy that they accompanied me. They both ran on either side of me since it was already dark outside and the roads aren’t all paved and well sidewalks are sparse. I will say that I slept pretty well last night. I think we are going to make a more regular thing and throw in some soccer and basketball too. Well have to get back to school…2 more hours of French class then nutrition presentations.

Hope all is well with everyone at home! Au revoir.

***Okay so I wrote the earlier part yesterday, but I had some issues at the cyber café and I couldn’t post it. So I got my post!!! I will be living in Zinvie and working in Yevie a village right outside of the city. I am about an hour from Cotonou in the southern part of Benin. I am super excited. I have a post mate who is from PSL 20 the one before me and another person in my PSL is about an hour away in the same department. The people where I am living speak French and the people where I work speak Fon. My counterpart is an NGO + COGES. It is a health clinic with four midwives that offer continuous care. There main goals include maternal and child health and nutrition. There will also be many opportunities for me to do educational seminars. I am extremely happy with my post and I can’t wait to do a site visit.

I also received the results from my language exam. I moved from novice-low to intermediate-low, that is a huge jump. I guess I did really well, but I didn’t think I did that well. Hopefully I can keep up. I was happy with the results overall. I guess I know more than I think. Now we are off to build a garden and get super muddy.

Au revoir!