One Month to go!!!
Trip Start
Sep 22, 2003
1
59
62
Trip End
Dec 13, 2005
Materi,
Benin
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
We know it's been a long time since you've heard from us. We hope you all are doing well and enjoying the fall colors. We're doing great and are just finishing up our service, since we leave in just one month!!!
It's hard to believe only one month is left to do everything we have to do and to savor all the last times of doing things we enjoy in village. Since the school year just started, we will now be able to finish up some projects we've started with teachers and the schools. After spending all of September at post during the harvest season and when everyone is either in the fields or on vacation; we had all these people coming up to us and asking us to start projects and ideas with them in October and November. YIKES!!! That's cutting it kind of close but we'll do what we can. Rebecca and her tofu are in high demand now that the soybeans have been harvested, and Jason will be working with students and teachers starting up gardens and tree nurseries. And we suppose that too much work is a great way to end up our service. At least we will leave feeling really needed.
So while we were planning all of our future work, we took time to go do some things that we've been meaning to do ever since we got to post. Right on the outskirts of Materi there is a "mountain/hill" that we've been talking about climbing with our friend Dassibou for a long time. Well finally one day we set out early and with Dassibou as our guide and protection against snakes we hiked it. We can't really say we got to the very top but near enough in order to have a great view of our village and the surrounding area. The top is considered sacred so it's taboo for outsiders to see it, and we figured it'd be best if we didn't upset the local spirits in our last months at post.
We've also been doing our best to eat as much yam pilé as possible. The yam harvest has started recently and we'd gone without having it for a long time. We're not sure if we've described this local delicacy yet but it's become our favorite local dish. Yams are a potato like tuber but the size of a log. They are boiled and then pounded with a huge mortar and pestle. This becomes similar to mashed potatoes but is denser and stickier. You eat it with your hands and after pinching off a bite size wad you dip it in a really tasty peanut/tomato sauce. This can be served with the local "squeaky cheese" or any one of the various local bush meats (deer, cape buffalo, bush rat) or you can opt for the more domesticated meats, such as the guinea hen, the chicken, the pig, or the cow. So our mission for our remaining time in village is to pack in as much of this special meal as possible.
This past weekend we were able to book our return flights to the US. So we guess that makes it official now, and it's pretty exciting, emotional, sad, happy, and crazy all at the same time. We will leave Materi on the 13th of Nov and then wrap up paper work in Cotonou until our flight at midnight on the 18th. We will fly into Dallas to spend Thanksgiving with Jason's mom and family and then will be in VA in time for Christmas. We have arranged with two other PCVs, that we are really close with, to fly out on the same flight and we'll actually fly all the way to Houston together. This will be a great treat because we'll get to share in the ecstasy of our first McFlurry (closest thing we'll get to a milk shake in Paris) and then have 6 hours to either see Paris or just hang out in the VIP lounge due to all of Jason's previous travels. We can't wait to try all the great foods, and cheese, and wine and it will be extra nice savoring it with people who will understand us completely when we can't stop talking about how good EVERYTHING tastes.
It's also really weird because of we are having to say goodbye to fellow volunteers that have been with us ever since meeting in Philadelphia. We just said goodbye to four really amazing volunteers who are moving on to their next adventure (a Cameroon/Morocco/Portugal trip; returning home to Montana; and one going back home to Alabama with her new Beninese Husband). During the last dinner with them we were all telling stories of the first people we met in Philly and everything we were feeling during those initial days. What is so amazing is that these people who were randomly placed with us to go to a country few of us had ever heard of; now mean so much to us and have all become a very important part of our ever growing "family". Through all the adventures, joys, laughter, struggles, and sadness theses people have been through it all with us and it's pretty difficult saying "until next time". But on the plus side of things we now have an amazing contact list for when we are traveling in the US and our family now includes people all over California, Washington State, Montana, even more of Texas, New York, and many others including American Samoa. Now we just have to figure out how we can arrange to see all of our old friends and family, and still fit in these new places on our list.
Well I hope this fills you in enough on what's going on with us. Please continue to send your emails and keep us updated on your going-ons because we really enjoy hearing about what happens on that side of the world and with all of you.
Love,
Rebecca and Jason
