Safe & Sound... will update the blog at some point in the very near future! :) (Finally found a wifi connection here today). :)TnT [View Full Entry]

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Framleis er alt vel. Eg kjem ikkje inn paa yahoo mailen og for derfor ikkje skrive mail. Dette beklagar eg. I ettermiddag vert det eit moete med CHRISC styret her i Mbulu, og der haapar vi aa faa mykje nyttig informasjon som vi kan vidareformidle til StudentKRIK i Bergen. Naar dette er gjort vert det truleg volleyball med dei lokale heltane! Jaja, det var no berre ein liten beskjed. Ha det bra! [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Cotonou and got dropped off at the main market during rush hour. Then followed the most terrifying moto taxi ride of my life. The driver weaved between cars that I thought were going to hit each other, at one point I actually put my hand on the hood of a car I thought was going to hit us. I could see, though, that if he hadn’t driven like a maniac we would never have gotten anywhere, traffic was hardly moving. We met up with some Benin PCVs at their bureau who pointed us to an affordable hotel and [View Full Entry]

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Our first stop in Benin was Grand Popo, a small beach town not far from the Togo border. Grand Popo has lots of hotels but seems to lack tourists this time of year. I think we were the only ones staying at the beautiful Auberge de Grand Popo; they were so desperate for our business that they invented a 25% Peace Corps discount. The Auberge has a beautiful beach with thatch shade huts and a swimming pool. It also has a beautiful outdoor restaurant that we couldn’t afford, but we found some great seafood in town. There are several kinds of [View Full Entry]

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How? How can this one place, this one small village, this one spot on the face of such a vast planet change me so profoundly, warm my heart all the way through, teach me so many lessons, inspire within me such a complex combination of happiness and sorrow? Doumè. No, not the village, not the market, not the dirt roads and the isolation and the poverty and the local language. Rather, all of it. All of it bundled into one indescribable experience. Layer upon layer unfolding itself daily, weekly, monthly in my mind. The smiles, the smells, the feel of the [View Full Entry]

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Ecoutché, Adado, Thank you and goodbye!!!! Thank you for the memories, the adventures, teaching me how to eat Yam pulli with my hands and pumping the water for me. Thank you for being patience while I stumbled along with my French, and for the laughter while I tried to speak Tcha. But it is time to say goodbye. How do I say goodbye to a village, a culture, a school and people, who I know have changed my life forever? How can I explain to a child why I have to leave, why I can't stay with them longer. My last [View Full Entry]

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The sun shines on Koko at 6.30 each morning, though the roosters seem to think it should be 5 as that is when they start to crow their morning chorus. I tend to wake about 7 to the crows or the crying child Angelo from next door, or to the children already arriving at 7.30 to start sweeping the school yard. School is meant to start at 8am, but this can be a flexible as sometimes the teachers just dont turn up, or they forget to bang the bell (an old orbital saw from a wood mill which they bang with [View Full Entry]

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In the last week of my Peace Corps Volunteer experience in Benin, I realize I have not yet posted these photos. I might even have some more later... I went exploring in the ruins of Athieme. I went the first time randomly, and without the camera. The second time I went, someone warned me that snakes like to hang out in ruins, so the dogs accompanied. I was assuming a snake would find the dogs before me. The other photos are of things dear to me- mangoes and small children. [View Full Entry]

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How to describe another world of new feelings, sights and smells, while sitting in an air conditioned room with a cold beer?? My world here is very different to home in New Zealand, but different in a wonderful way. It has now been just over a month, and I have two months still to go. Every day is a learning experience, the way of living here is just so different on every single level, but when I say different I do not mean better or worse, just different. Where am I? Benin is on the west coast of Africa, next to [View Full Entry]

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Woke up thinking it was 10:00 when it was actually 11:00 because of the time change. Weird to think there's a time change when Benin is only 90 miles from the Ghanian border. We headed off to the Python Temple which is the voodoo place of worship. When we arrived there was a morning service taking place which was completely unexpected as we were informed the temple was more of a museum than anything else. It was really awkward walking in and I thought they would be osmewhat annoyed with us, however, they offered us chairs to sit down and observe [View Full Entry]

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