Pictures from the first few months!

The first picture here is me participating in some yam pillet.

The second is a picture of Yawkey and Landsdowne after they snuck into my helmet one day.

And Don't Forget to Give Me Back My Black T-Shirt

Actually, I ended up with someone else’s black tee in my bag this week. I believe it belongs to one of our female volunteers. So if you’ve lost a black tee from Old Navy, it’s presently resting at Rohan’s in Parakou.

Simply put, this has been a great week. All of the PSL 22 TEFLers swarmed into Parakou for our PSW (I’m still iffy on the acronym, but it may mean Personal Strategy Workshop.) We stayed in an awesome complex called Centre Guy Riobe, ate copious amounts of delicious food, and were able to catch up and develop some new techniques to try out before the Christmas break. It was reassuring to discover that all of us are going through the same types of problems, successes, and frustrations. It isn’t easy, but there’s always a silver lining. A child’s face reveals the dawn of comprehension or, even better, a desire to learn. A fellow teacher sees me using magazine clippings and songs in class and decides that he, too, wants to cater to the students’ more creative faculties. A woman in the market hears me talking about the possibility of starting a “Savings & Loans Club” and, without my prodding, spreads the word to the rest of the vendors and bolsters support for one of my intended secondary projects. In many ways, life here is easier and more familiar than one would expect.

Take, for example, my cats. I have three. One was left for me by Rachel, and this cat has been instrumental in teaching the other two (named Yawkey and Landsdowne, after the streets surrounding Fenway Park) how to kill the random animals that live in my house. Spiders, crickets, large lizards and mice all fit into this category. I had some problems potty-training them, but I discovered that I need to refill the sand in the litter box every day in order to assure compliance. They’re picky eaters and don’t like to cuddle with me, but I hope all of this will change over the next couple of months.

Then there’s the food. I love yam pillet, which is just boiled yam pounded repeatedly until the starch is an unrecognizable gelatinous disk. You eat it with meat (usually the innards of some local animal) and peanut sauce. Sound good? It is, believe you me. I ate yams of various sorts 5 times within a 2-day period last week. The result was not pretty, but I haven’t learned my lesson; I’m anticipating the yams upon my return to Kemon ce soir. I also eat a lot of rice, beans, tomatoes, and onions, all mixed with various spices either left by Rachel or sent from home (hence my new appeal for various American spices).

It’s hard to believe I’ve already been at my post for over two months. I get along really well with my fellow volunteers, and I’m grateful that most of them ended up being much more down-to-earth than I’d anticipated. I’ll be off to Mali on the 22nd, but I hope to update my blog once more before then. I’m planning on really engulfing myself in my lesson planning over the next three weeks, so hopefully I’ll be able to report some improvements. My friend Ali Cumber is flying down from Dubai (I think) to meet up with us for a few days around New Years. Hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was to their liking. We made a Turducken with turkey, duck, and pentard, and had an enormous spread that rendered all of us relatively useless for the rest of the evening. I killed the duck, which is the first time I’ve ever “killed with the intent to eat.” Don’t hold it against me. Best wishes to you all! -Dave

Roll on, Brother (In the wheel inside the wheel)

Back in the game! I've got a little bit of time since we're up in Parakou for some in-service training, so I FINALLY was able to check my email and log onto (gasp) Facebook. And thus, I am able to write to you at a (quasi) leisurely pace. How are things?!?! Keep me updated on your lives, either through snailmail or email. I'll be able to check my mail more frequently in a few weeks, so I promise to have more of an online presence from here on in.

So here we are. It's been an eventful couple of months at post. Lots of salutations, lots of awkward silences, lots of yelling and laughing and frustrations and pleasantries in the classroom. In short, it's been wavy. But most of the time, I love it. I've been reduced to uncontrollable laughter on several occasions in the classroom. For instance, I discovered that "I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit" exists solely to try to get the speaker to say "Sh--", and (not surprisingly) it succeeded with my Beninese students. Realizing the terrible mistake I'd made, I kind of lost it in class. It's these kind of moments that make some days easier.

I eat really well here. I mean really well. I bake goods several times a week, and I eat a TON of pounded yams, which has finally started to show in my midsection. But I really enjoy the food. And little by little, I'm outfitting my home with more tables, chairs, and things to put on the walls. If ever you're thinking of sending a package, send pictures or little mementos to hang on the wall, because that's the most integral part of transforming this place from a concrete box to a livable space. So, as one would expect, leisurely time has become "pressed for time." But I promise to write again before I leave Parakou this week. I hope all is well with everyone, and keep me informed! I promise to do a better a job at my end. Work is good, life is good, and we're in the midst of the cool season right now. Can't complain.

And I'm Locked Up (Won't let me out)

Lockdown. Less than 2 months to go. Will life change after that? I have no idea. Heres a recap of the past month. Piecemeal. Or should I say Peacemeal? I started teaching on Oct. 1 at CEG Kemon, which means that I watched young (middle school aged) children do hard ,anual labor that would be considered cruel and unusual punishment for prisoners in the US. But the kids (and everyone here, for that matter) are tough, and this is what they expect, so I saw little resistance from my village's youth. After a week of watching painful inefficiency, we started classes. Unfortunately, I lacked a classroom the first day and I taught the first class under a tree. I felt like a stereotypical volunteer with this undertaking, but these kids will never forget where they first learned how to ask "What's your name?" Unfortunately; there are some students who cant even speak French (which is what they speak here in schools), so the lesson may have been lost on some of them. Other than that, class is great. I was given another class last week, but unfortunately the time was double-booked, so the kids sat there teacherless for 2 hours. But it's the kind of thing you come to expect. "Tu as fait un peu?" Sometimes, if conditions allow.
My village is beautiful. Ok, and I'm out of time (I had so much more to write) but I promise that I'll be able to get a good one written in 2 weeks! It takes a long time here in internet cafes... Du courage! Happy Thanksgiving!

At my post, but no posts

Dave is still at his post in Kemon. The village has no electricity, therefore there are no computers. We talk with him twice a week via our Skype and his cell phone (yes, no running water or electricity, but thankfully cell phone reception). He says that teaching is going well and that he looks forward to his classes each day. He seems to have found a rhythm to his village life. Has breakfast from the nearby elementary school each morning during the week, goes to school, comes home for dinner and visits from the neighborhood kids. He has two cats named Yawkey and Landsdowne that keep him company and keep little furry critters at bay. He has had the pleasure of eating snake stew on two occasions. When the local folks kill a snake, it is very important that Dave sees and then eats it.

The Peace Corps has a policy that new PCVs are not to leave their post (with the exception of medical or banking needs or approved meetings) for 3 months. The idea behind this is to encourage the Volunteeers to assimilate into the culture of their village. So Dave hopes that he will get to internet service and continue his own blogging in December. He also plans on getting a local PO Box to get smaller mail items. Packages (rather large padded envelopes) need to still be sent to the Cotonou address. We learned from his birthday cards and packages that Holiday greetings need to be sent to Dave (in Cotonou) right now!

We know Dave has many faithful followers of his blog, and we also know it will be more interesting when Dave, not us, posts them! But just wanted you to know he is alive and well in Kemon, Benin! Mom and Dad Cowell