Stay Up Late

Hillary Clinton is my neighbor.

In a chain of several bizarre behaviors, the three year old girl who lives next to me has, for reasons unbeknown to me, taken to calling herself Hillary Clinton. I think O’bama has got himself some serious competition.

Among these strange events, I participated in the Borgou AIDS bike ride not to long ago and had a fantastic experience. Myself along with nineteen other volunteers took off on a Friday morning and finally reached our destination on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon--a total of 179 kilometers was biked in those days. Along the way we stopped in fourteen different villages and gave HIV/AIDS sensibilations; we spoke in French while Beninese Volunteer Corps biked with us and translated into local language. Perhaps one of the “coolest” villages we went to was one in which neither the young girls or young boys had ever seen a condom. Whether or not we elicited any sort of behavior change with those kids it was pretty hard to tell, but at least we opened their eyes a little to show them that if they wanted to be protected, there are methods available. The bike ride itself was just spectacular and gorgeous which helped to take away from the significant pains that were happening down in the buttocks region of my body. Throughout the trip I was made much to aware of the fact that I was merely a figment of the athlete I once was. It also didn’t help that my bike was so busted by previous village accidents that I was limited to three gears the entire time--all part of the fun I suppose. Additionally, in a semi-related tone, during the bike trip, I ate the best Beninese cuisine I have ever had--great sauces, hearty portions, and plenty of protein for all. Even with the derriere pains, it was a really great time and a wonderful chance for me to see a beautiful side of the country--not to mention that I was able to do volunteer work with lots of friends by my side. Not too shabby.

In other volunteer news, I started a correspondence club with a group “9th grade” Beninese students and “8th grade” American students (I believe I already mentioned this actually). Anyway, we finally sent off the letters, and I think that it was a really great success. The day before we sent that letters, I had some of the kids read their letters and some of my favorite quotes are as follows: “My mom just left my dad because she found out that he has two other wives;” “My like to play football and I want to learn basketball, but I do not have the opportunity (this came from a female student);” “I get up everyday at 5:00 to do chores and study before school;” and “…my favorite sport is Frisbee.” These kids are just so dynamic and smart and great that it was nice for me to see. I think that as a teacher in the Peace Corps, it’s easy for me to get jaded and think that nobody wants to learn English and that I’m just here to serve my two years and then go back home. It’s easy for me to label every student as a lazy trouble-making kid who wants to cause the white, young, female teacher problems. However, I feel like this club renewed my spirit a little bit or at least gave me a good whack on the head to open my eyes back up to realize that there are good kids in the school system. In fact, just the other day, I was giving a quiz and one of the kids had torn up little slips of paper which he scattered all over his desk--on each slip of paper, he had written the words “I love you.” I think that’s just about cute enough to warm any cynical heart.

Plans for this summer are piling up fast in contrast to the painful slow ending of school. While original plans had the end of school scheduled for May 16th, it has now been postponed indefinitely--our fate rests in the hands of the Minister of Education who is going to tell us when to end. Naturally, the school extension is due primarily to the lengthy teacher strikes of which I did not participate in--naturally. The good news is that the new extension is pushing right up against my previously approved summer vacation plans, so with the thumbs up of my director who says to me, “You already did all the work,” I will be leaving for vacation on the 6th of June to take a little tour around Ghana. I will be in great company during the trip, I will be excited to be in a country where I understand the language, I will be staying with host families provided my former medical residents of my dad, and I will be missing the last painful weeks of school--it should be a fantastic trip.

In the medical arena of things, I am finally getting over a nasty bout of ringworm. Pretty sure ole Jaguar gave me that lovely gift. However, the ringworm was the reason for me being in the pharmacy that was the inspiration of my previous journal, so I suppose that it was truly a gift after all. I also seem to be getting over a recent fascination with insomnia. For a couple weeks there, I was unable to get more than 2 or 3 hours of sleep each night. Not sure what triggered that, but it sure was fun--and by fun I mean not fun at all.

In sad news, my postmate has officially left me. There are now 106 kilometers between me and the next volunteer. Yikes. I believe that her change of mind sets our stage at a steady 1/3 departure rate. Ridiculous. Emma actually had very good reasons for leaving, but that still doesn’t make it any less sad and disappointing for me. Her and I had a good relationship and a good understanding with each other. She made life a whole lot easier for me, and I hope that in some small way I was able to make her time her more enjoyable as well. We were a good match. Anyway, now I can only hope that she will get replaced by someone from the next stage who is just as cool (and as just a good of chef).

Bed is calling. Goodnight to all. Love.

*Two days later*
As this post reads out rather dully to me, I would like to leave everyone with a trivia question: What do the musical artists Akon, Aqua, Celine Dion, and Cher all have in common?

Answer: They are absolutely adored by the people of Benin. Oh yes. Good music never dies.