Watching the weeks fly by

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  Porto-Novo, Benin
Wednesday, August 13, 2008

At the moment we're at
the beginning of week 6 - which will no doubt rush by, then next week is
'post-visit, and the next week after that will be 'test-week', all building up
to the language interview at the end of that week, and then before you know it
we're in the final week and the swearing-in ceremony, the 40th anniversary in
Cotonou and leaving for post.  We're also
given a few days to do some shopping with our settling in allowance so that we
can set up home in our respective posts. 
Apart from the necessities the big thing I want to get for myself
right-away is a kitten (and I would need to get it rabies vaccinated right
away).  A lot of volunteers either have a
dog or a cat, and it's a nice company thing to have (but don't tell
Nicky).  Part of me would like a dog,
just for the novelty of being able to have one and never having had one before
- but I'm ultimately a cat person, dogs are a little too self-reliant here, and
part of my argument for getting a cat is I really don't like mice.

 

I hope too have lots of
news for you after post-visit, which will be a good opportunity for me to give
you an idea of communication logistics, how often I'll be able to email
etc.  For the first 3 months at post we
are limited in how much we can travel, and we are generally meant to stay at
our post.  So I'm not  sure how that will work with even being able
to travel down to cotonou
and drop off/collect super-snail mail.  Another
exciting thing I found out about my post is that my area is big into the Oro
Fetische (a fetish deity which has a lot to do with vodun - voodoo to you and
me).  The Oro is a sort of phantom that
appears at ceremonies all over my area, it's very male dominated secret society
stuff - and the ceremony period generally lasts for 3 weeks and it started on
sunday.  It is the vodun belief that if a
female sees the phantom, they will die (we compare the 'Oro' to the female-only
beninese version of 'the ring' video) and therefore during the time of ceremony
most women are generally under house-arrest. 
As a westerner - I am obviously somewhat exempt, but the PC wants us to
be extra careful  and so they have taken
the measure of moving Sunny, the one female volunteer in the region and my post
mate, to Cotonou
during the three week period.  I'm not
sure yet whether I'll be able to do the post-visit, or whether I'll be
restricted.  The PC won't let anything
stupid happen, and I do have a female homologue (beninese counter-part) who
knows when and where specifically the 'phantom' will 'appear'.  It's more about respecting the culture, which
is of course very important.  I find it
all very interesting - but I might get some interesting stories about having to
blindfold myself!

 

So there's that to look
forward too.   The French has been going
well, I feel that I'm Improving all the time, less worried about the upcoming
test.   Also, of my american education I've
been learning how to throw an American football properly - and I'm getting
better with that - so I can often be found hurling the football around with the
guys and one girl from Green Bay, Wisconsin, so that kind
of explains that!

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