First Thoughts on Benin
Trip Start
Sep 22, 2003
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2
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Trip End
Dec 13, 2005
Cotonou,
Benin
Sunday, September 28, 2003
But let me first fill you in on the events leading up to now...
As many of you were wondering Hurricane Isabel was pretty nasty to us. It was the most hurricane like hurricane that's hit the area in a long long long time. As of a couple of days ago Rebecca's parents were still without power and there were just soooo many trees and powerlines down. But like I said it could have been worse and fortunately for us it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
We were able to stay with a cousin of mine in Philly and get our last piece of good pizza and some homemade brownies (Hmmmmmm.... brownies...) And then we met the rest of our Peace Corps (PC) group (37 total) at a hotel the following day. The orientation was really good and there were lots of exercises to get to know everyone and also address the concerns and feelings that everyone had. We then were bused to NY flew to Paris, 7 hours of layover later we cought another 6 hour flight to Benin (pronounced Been-in). We were met and swept through customs by the PC officials which made the very hectic airport a lot more manageable. We then loaded up everyone's stuff and went to this dorm like building which is actually a catholic monastary.
The weather here is hot but manageable. I haven't seen any thermometers but I'd say it is in the upper 80s mid 90s with very high humidity. We've gone through one day of oreintation and the staff here are all really really nice. There are also around 6 current PC volunteers who are staying with us this week here in Cotonou and answering all of our questions and just makeing sure everyone is doing well. So that's really great to get to meet people who are actually doing what we're about to do. Today (sunday) we have off, and I think we're going to the beach this afternoon. And hopefully a game of beach soccer will insue.
So the plan is to spend the rest of the week (until next thursday) here in cotonou at the convent and then we're off to our training sites. Rebecca and I will be living in the same site together but I'll be traveling around 6 miles each day to a neighboring village for my environmental training. After 3 months of that we should be off to some part of Benin. We'll let everyone know when and where that will be.
Ok I'd better go because there's a long line for the computers here at the PC office.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Love,
Jason and Rebecca
