Baby There's a Shark in the Water

So another member of my a cappella group has decided to take the Peace Corps plunge. This time it's Austin and his wife Brooke. There are a lot of benefits to serving as a couple in the Peace Corps, and I wish the both of them the best of luck. The married couples here seem to be very happy, and also seem to be getting a lot of work done. So much of the endless bantering could be avoided if I didn't have to explain why I have no wife and kids. Although it's usually a fun exchange, it gets a little old when the community members ask you every day why you don't have a wife. "Well," I say, "I just don't have one. I may look old with this beard (I don't) but I'm actually very young. In America (blah, blah, blah, etc. etc.)." Well, the two of them are going to be great volunteers. Austin is one of the wittiest writers that I've ever encountered, and I look forward to reading his blog (honestly). Anyway, the point is that they are going to be serving somewhere in the Caribbean. "The Caribbean," you think, "How fortunate!" But here are a few holes I immediately poked in their argument:

1. Haiti is in the Caribbean.

Actually, that was only one hole, but I believe it's rather significant. While I'm not saying Haiti is a bad post (I'm quite sure that Benin is actually poorer), I just wanted to put forth the idea that NO Peace Corps post is easy. However, interestingly enough, Haiti was the second Republic formed in the Eastern Hemisphere. There will always be poverty, you will always confront hunger, and your living conditions are almost never as comfortable as they were in the States. But it's all a wonderful experience, nonetheless.

I'd like to take a moment to point out the many ways in which my village resembles a tropical paradise:

1.) Palm trees are ubiquitous.

2.) It is all sand. And not deserty sand. It is sand in the midst of a tropical forest.

3.) People are often drunk on local millet beer and grain alcohol, and all villagers walk around in cheap flip-flops.

4.) People are always lounging in the shade of trees, which bear the fruit of mangos, papayas, limes, and other tropical fruits. These are also in my back courtyard.

5.) The weather is always warm (understatement). It never rains.

Reasons why my post is not like a tropical paradise:

1.) There is no water.

But that one counterargument is enough to make my village a hardship post. The fact that there is no water (and no electricity) debunks the entire possibility of Kemon being a paradise. We are presently in the (somewhat lofty) process of installing electrical wires and water towers in Kemon. I do not believe that I'll reap the benefits of these services during my time in Kemon.

Lost of work going on right now. Congratulations to the Gender and Development program here for staging a successful pair of evenings here in Parakou last weekend, during which they earned a lot of money for the funding of PCV projects relating to gender. I'm in the process of applying to use some of these funds for a project I plan to do with my students.

Offshore drilling, health care, student loan overhauls. Exciting time there in the States. RIP, 'Cuse. Seems so far away...