Reluctantly crouched at the starting line...

As I’m writing this blog, I’m eating one of the last “oilomelettes” that I’ll ever eat in this country. This is the only way to describe the amount of oil that goes into preparing every Beninese food item, but I’m grateful that my homestay family was kind enough to provide me with this. Sadly, the baguette that I’m eating will also be one of the last – I only have small loaves of sweet bread available in Kemon. My homestay mom is convinced that today’s stomach problems (mild, mind you, but there are problems) are caused solely by the pimont (spicy pepper) that I ate last night, but I can think of a litany of other possible instigators. Anyway, my homestay family is presently singing the “Dave is sick in the stomach” song and my mom just described how my ass is on fire. I have 3 more nights here. I’ll miss this family.

Tomorrow is swear-in, which is the day in which we all officially become volunteers. We get paid our sizable move-in allowance, go to a “fancy” dinner, and party the night away. All of us are more than ready to get started (at certain points during the last two months, I felt as if I was no more than 12 years old), but I also recognize that I’ll miss my homestay family, my volunteer friends, and having most of my meals cooked for me. Moving to post brings a whole new set of problems: how to find food; how to prepare food; how to get by without electricity or running water; and how to communicate with those who can’t speak French (or English, for that matter). No one even knows exactly when school will start. What we do know is that school will probably start sometime in October.

I will be participating in the “Swearing Song” tomorrow, which will be performed immediately following our formal acceptance speeches. It’s called the “Swearing Song” instead of the “Swear-in Song” simply because of a poor Beninese translation. Many people actually do swear during the song due to the difficulties in singing the unnecessarily difficult French lyrics. I picked up a large Beninese drum called the Djembe yesterday and added another dimension to the song. I wasn’t exactly proficient, but I’ve already got someone searching for a drum maker to get one before I go to post. As for the song, it’s deliciously cheesy. I simply adore it.

As I prepare for my departure, I want to thank everyone for reading my blog. Subscribe to my page! If you have a google account, it’s easy to subscribe. Also, I encourage everyone to leave comments - I love reading about your lives and your reactions to my experiences here. My blogging will be really infrequent during the first three months at post because this is technically the “lock-down” period, during which we’re not supposed to leave our post at all. Keep writing emails during this time! I’m not neglecting you. I actually might try to get my mom to write some entries based on what I tell her when she calls. My thoughts are with all of you as October, my favorite month, approaches. This will certainly be a peculiar Fall.