What is COS Conference?

COS is an acronym meaning “Close of Service,” and COS Conference is the last in a series of Peace Corps training workshops that we attend throughout our service. Specifically COS Conference is when we are trained on how to come home. It is our last chance to all be together at the end of this incredible 2 year journey that we embarked on together in Philadelphia 2 years ago. Mostly, it really is a training on what to expect in America.

Friday, in Cotonou we started off with opening remarks form our Country Director. We had an important session on what type of health care to expect, or to not expect, once we go back home – and what medical clearance we need to go through before we get on our plane. (Basically the same physicals we had to do in order to enter the Peace Corps have to be done again in order to leave). Followed by some security information, and a question and answer session with RPCVs who are currently working with various NGOs and living in Benin.

The RPCV panel was incredibly insightful. Hearing about stories of readjusting (or not readjusting) to American life. The things that were shocking to people as they returned home. How to answer questions, that we really might not want to answer... and how to tell if the person asking really wants an answer. And of course about finding work after Peace Corps.

Me with the EA Program Managers
[Photo Thanks to Sarah A]

In the afternoon we had an official luncheon where we were presented Certificates of Appreciation from the various ministers of the Beninese government (the Ministry of Environment presented them to the Environmental Action volunteers) – and then we packed up into buses and headed to the beach in Grand Popo for the rest of our information sessions.

I am not going to go into detail about all of the things we learned this weekend. In summary we talked about resume writing, interviewing, how to frame our Peace Corps successes in a way that is applicable to work in the US – we talked about our successes individually and also in sector groups (showing how much we accomplished as a group was really uplifting) – we talked about our concerns with the program (ie changes we would like to see for future volunteers) – how to say goodbye to our friends in village – how to address the fact that most of us might not ever come back to this place we have been living and building relationships in for the past 2 years – the types of questions (both good and bad) that we will probably be asked when we get home and how to respond to them – the perks of Peace Corps service (NCE and Fellowships) – Networking – Closure – and so on and so forth.

The moment during the weekend that I found most interesting was when we were handed back our “Aspiration Statements” that we had been asked to send to the office in Benin before our arrival in June 2012. At first I was impressed by how well I used to speak English – after that initial shock – I thought it was really great to be able to see how much I did and what things I didn't get to do. It was interesting to see how naive (not in an entirely bad way) most of us were – as we were heading into this new adventure.

For me personally, when I applied to Peace Corps, I applied specifically for Environmental Action and Environmental Education posts. I even turned down an offer to leave at an earlier date, if I was willing to switch to the Agriculture Sector. My aspiration statement whole heartedly reflects this. Which is interesting, since we really are an agriculture program – and I have spent my service working with farmers to improve their techniques and with schools to grow vegetable gardens. This isn't what I wanted to do, and it will not be my passion in the future, but I am glad I did it and I feel that I ended up serving where I was meant to serve. Even though I was not doing the work I expected to be doing, even at the point of my aspiration statement for Benin, most of the goals for myself and my service, are things that I did do and I did them successfully.

I think that it might sound silly – to most people at home to say that we needed to be trained to come back to the USA, but coming home is going to be hard. I won't know the technology, or the current fashion. A song might come on the radio that EVERYONE knows from last year or the year before – and it is very possible that I will never have heard it. People will have started and ended relationships – and I will have missed it. New jobs, and babies and even a few weddings have happened while I have been disconnected. So when we come home be patient with us – and be understanding if we don't want to constantly talk about our experience – or maybe if we do.Who knows what will happen.

As long as chocolate chip cookies and the going down the shore are still both things -- it will all be OK. It just might take some time – and if I am speaking in a language other then english – tell me because I might not realize it. If my clothes are funny... well that might just be something you will have to live with.

Z

September Already?

Happy September Everyone!!
I'm not gonna lie the weather isn't changing here.

Papaya Kitten has gotten much bigger over the last two weeks - - he is eating his kitten kibbles like a champ and even got his rabies shot on Friday!!

Not really much to report on – I started the week off with a normal Monday morning meeting. Tuesday I was super busy trying to get a tree count, transplanting lettuce and onion seedlings with one of my farming groups and checking in with some other farmers nearby. Later that afternoon I joined the trainees as they did an insecticide training with one of my newer groups (whose veggies look wonderful by the way!!) I was really surprised to see that they made nice little placards for the crops they are growing with me – I will have to remember to bring my camera next time. I spent most (and by most i mean barely a day and a half) of my week in Cotonou getting some things done that required internet and eating some much needed Cotonou food. The week ended strong with a trip out to another volunteers village to help with a tomato conservation (jarring) formation followed on Friday by various Misserete escapades and friend visits – including of course the visit by the vet that Papaya was thrilled about.

A big portion of my down time the past few weekends has been taken up with the PSN Bakesale. The PSN Bakesale is an "annual event" that takes place during training (since we have a captive audience of Americans who would kill for cookies and cake!) My house (due to my location) has become a sort of hub for all things bakesale related during the training weeks - I have had a few overwhelming days but I do love helping out.. so in the end the stress of a few burnt cakes is completely worth it! The proceeds of this fundraiser go towards the Swear-In Party. A party that PSN throws for the trainees after they swear in as volunteers to celebrate the fact that they made it through training. Training is rough. The party is well earned. We have been trying to switch up the baked goods each week (although chocolate cake is hard to replace) and so far we have offered chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, chocolate cake :-P, and lemon pound cake (which magically appeared out of a lemon cookie recipe – you never know what will happen in a make shift oven) –  This week I am planning on brownies and pineapple cake – but it might just end up being chocolate cake again if I can't find any pineapples!! I really do love to bake I just prefer to do it in the land of real ovens and grocery stores. Brownies AND chocolate cake? Why not.

Anyway, nothing fancy this week! Just a brief update.
I would say it was a typical week.. but that isn't true.
Those don't really exist here. (Why do I feel like I've said that before?)

Miss Home and Love You All
Z

The Longest Month

I honestly CAN NOT believe July is half way over.

Last July was easily the longest month of my life.. I know that I am not the only one here in Benin who feels this way and I know that all of the new trainees are probably feeling equal or at least similar to how we felt last year. So, it is really crazy to me that I feel like they just got here (even though they should be getting their site announcements in 10 DAYS!).. when I know they probably feel like they have been here a year. (Sending them all a mental DU COURAGE!) Honestly, – Arrival in Benin to Site Announcement – felt like it was at least a few months for me. Every time any of us go back and look at the calendar from last year, we are all always surprised by how short training actually was.

That is all.
Just a thought.

Love and Miss
Z

Also..While I'm online..  I updated the "What I Miss" list last month and never mentioned it.. so fyi.. that's HERE.

Peer Support

This past week I was in Cotonou for “PSN” Training. PSN stands for Peer Support Network.

The peer support network is a group of 12 volunteers chosen to act as a support system for the rest of the volunteers in country. In the training manual it is described as “a group of PCVs selected and trained to provide emotional support to their peers in concert and cooperation with the Peace Corps staff of the country. The goal is to provide quality support in a manner that enhances the potential and the productivity of the PCV in their service to the people of their Peace Corps country."

The training was great. Even though it was only two days, I couldn't help being reminded of the different Peer Mediation and Peer Support trainings that I had attended when I was younger. We practiced listening skills and how to keep a conversation going. We talked about how to recognize when a situation is dangerous and requires outside help. We learned how to help when someone is grieving. We talked about alternative stress reliefs to recommend if we feel that someone might be developing a drinking problem. After a lot of really helpful discussions we practiced having conversations with one another, using different scenarios that might come up.  We learned about the different resources that Peace Corps Washington has available to us, hotlines and emotional counseling that are free for PCVs (and definitely under advertised – since this was the first time I remember hearing of any of this).

Peace Corps is generally a high stress job.. and volunteers are constantly teetering on an emotional roller-coaster. During our training last year, we had a session where we were given a chart showing where we should be emotionally at different months during our service. The majority of our first year of service.. we are expected to feel unhappy, stressed, depressed, and worthless. The second year (according to the chart) gets better. Currently we are supposed to be going through mid-service crisis followed by many months of feeling adjusted and satisfied with our work. On top of that it is time for us to start looking into our plans for after Peace Corps.. there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I think I may have had my mid-service crisis early... and while things might not always go exactly as planned here in village, I feel well adjusted, and the projects I am doing I am happy with. So that is good.

That being said, since we are so often below the “Happy and Content Line.” Having a group of peers who are not only willing but also trained how to successfully help each other get through these funks is useful to both us and to administration who may not be as well equipped to deal with situations that they can't completely relate to. Since we are going through the same (or similar) situations as each other, we are better prepared to give advice than a host country national on staff, or an RPCV who works in the office and lives a city life in Benin. While these people are obviously awesome and do a great job keeping the system running.. their lives are much much different than ours and sometimes it can be hard to relate.

Aside from functioning as a phone line. PSN also holds events, does fundraisers, and goes on site visits to make sure the new volunteers are settling in well when they first go to their posts. We sell t-shirts, candy-grams, and host bake sales. We host regional “wellness weekends” at the workstations where volunteers can sign up to come, and eat a healthy dinner, do yoga or go running, attend arts and crafts sessions, and watch movies (to name a few activities). These events are often focused around holidays where people might be feeling more stressed than normal due to homesickness.. such as Christmas or Valentine's day.

I am excited for this coming year with our 2013-2014 PSN team. We have some great ideas and are looking forward to planning a celebration for the 10th Anniversary of the Peer Support Network in Benin in February. I think we have an amazing team with lots of diverse personalities and interests. It is going to be a really awesome year.

Z

In The Middle

A general update:

Mid-Service, in reality, is not for another month or two.. but here in Benin we are already feeling it full force.

The old volunteers are buying their plane tickets home and we are questioning whether we really have the knowledge to guide in a new generation of Benin PCVs. Of course we will find that we do, but that doesn't mean that we know it yet.

Some of us are feeling overwhelmed that there is a whole year left.. overwhelmed that a whole year has already passed.. and overwhelmed by the amount of work we feel like we have yet to do.

A really great time travel to the middle of the country for some really productive conversation.

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This week I am up in Parakou for a gardening workshop. This workshop was organized by another volunteer -- in order to assist with network and communication between actors at all levels of the market gardening process. Seed production/distribution to garden production to markets and restaurants.

As most of you know I work with market gardeners in Akpro-Misserete (the Porto Novo region of Benin). Since I live close to the cities there is access to a good diversity of seeds in my area, as well as access to information, but this does not mean that the farmers know this, or have the means to access it. On the other hand.. there is often a problem with accessing markets willing to pay a good price for produce, especially when experimenting with something not previously grown at said farm in the past.

Benin has lots of resources but there is a lack when it comes to communicating and network, which is what I believe was the purpose of this workshop.

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Right now, in Misserete, I am working on a project to diversify the crops grown by my farming groups. For the past few months we have been working with seed samples of different varieties to grow crops such as tomatoes, hot peppers, cucumbers, okra, carrots and radishes – and this week I received a whole new batch of samples seeds from East-West Seeds . I am excited to try watermelon, onions, lettuce and beets with the farm ladies!!

All of these crops can easily be grown in my region of Benin, once the farmer knows the process, and most of them can be grown year round. Some of these crops (such as tomatoes and hot peppers) the farmers have tried in the past, but perhaps couldn't find an opening in the market, or just didn't succeed due to insects, or water access. All of these crops are sold in Benin, and the majority of them are imported from neighboring countries to be sold in our local markets. In the mean time the local farmers (all) grow fields and fields of the same African legumes, corn, and manioc. By teaching the farmers to grow these new crops we are increasing the local access, and potentially lowering their prices, making it so that vegetables that aren't bought by your average family because of the cost might be able to be more widely eaten enriching diets of families. Also, if farmers grow the crops that are currently imported, they should be able to make more money per area of land then they currently do.

The problem with this.. is that people are creatures of habit. People like to eat the foods that they are familiar with.. and they like to buy from sources that they know and are comfortable with. Its just little steps. So for now, we will continue working with these seed samples, raising the farmers confidence in the new crops and trying to build vending connections.

Earlier this week,  before I came up to Parakou, we had “a rose and a thorn” (as Erik's mom likes to put it) in this project...

One of the crops, that is definitely gaining popularity at least in my region of Benin, that we were hoping to have success with is cucumbers. Unfortunately, in the first farm where we planted our trial plots, all the cucumbers (3 different varieties!) have died. – Luckily (and completely unexpectedly) I received a second batch of cucumber samples today.. so we will try again. I just worry about people becoming discouraged or thinking a crop is too hard to grow. For this specific “harvest” of cucumbers I had been traveling a lot, so I will monitor our new batch more closely, hopefully they take this time... and I really hope we have better luck with cucumbers at the other farms where I work.

Radishes, on the other hand turned out to be a more positive, and very interesting experience. One of the seed samples was for large white daikon style radishes. Not a crop you normally see here in Benin, but we had the seeds so it couldn't hurt to try and see what happened. These radishes grew amazingly well.. and we had beautiful large radishes in just 3 weeks. The women were visibly very happy with them, they enjoyed growing them, they especially loved the large green leaves that they immediately removed and used as a sort of mulch for the tomatoes (not sure why but hey whatever). The problem, we thought, was not even the “exotic” vegetable vendors in Cotonou wanted to take them off their hand. - - That being said I made a show about calling a volunteer I know who works with some restaurants, and acted very confident that we could sell them. This apparently motivated the women, because they called the next morning to say that they found a vendor and sold the radishes. – And WE LEARNED that the reason we couldn't sell the radishes, is because they are considered a fete food, and are generally sold during the months of December and January. Its interesting to think that while in this country most things can be grown and potentially sold year round, people have preset ideas about when they will buy them.. and therefore the market is still “seasonal” in a sense.

It is really exciting to me that this project seems to be moving forward. I was also really happy that the radishes worked out, and hopefully counteracted the disappointment over the cucumbers.

This is what I've been up to recently.

I'd love to get some updates from home!

Love
Z

Time Is Flying

All throughout the year we have optional trainings that we are allowed to sign up for and attend depending on what our projects are and what we need to learn for them. Along with these trainings we also have two official “In-Service Trainings” (ISTs) that everyone is required to attend. The first one took place back in December and was used for evaluating our first three months at site and making plans for new projects after our first 3 months at post and our community studies. The second (and final) IST took place this week. The second IST is meant to touch base and give volunteers a chance to attend sessions for projects that are cross-sectoral.

So I guess I now know everything I need to know to be a successful volunteer?

Monday was just for the volunteers.. for talking about the results (and quality) of our first reports and for discussing opportunities that will be opening up to us in the following year.

Tuesday our work partners showed up and we commenced two days of “sector specific” workshops. Tuesday happened to focus on bees and bee raising... Wednesday (day three) was all about animal breeding (specifically chickens, rabbits, and bush-rats). While these sessions were incredibly informative – I don't really see myself doing any large scale animal projects (imagine that). I do however plan on doing a small rabbit project at my primary school for educational purposes, so things like – feeding and vaccinating animals was useful. I have already learned most of what I need to raise rabbits from my supervisor but its good to hear the opinions of multiple sources.

Thursday was the day of cross-sector sessions. I attended a session on Malaria and one on Latrine building. My counterpart and I are talking about the possibilities of doing a latrine project with the women in the farming groups that I work with.. so that the women have a place to go to the bathroom (as opposed to just going in the field).

Friday was mostly just an evaluation of the week. I attended an optional session on Grant Writing while my counterpart went to a session on hygiene (to continue with the cross-sector information). I found the grant writing session very helpful. Even though we have already learned all about writing grants it was good to have a more detailed session that specifically goes over the problem areas of our grant forms. I feel like I learned much more in this grant session than I had in previous grant writing sessions. 

It is really strange that our final IST is now over. We are officially no longer new volunteers. The volunteers from the training group before us will be going to their close of service conference next month and the new group of volunteers will be arriving in June. We are slowly moving into positions for second year volunteers and we are finding out which volunteers are planning to stay on for a third year.

This also means that there is no “official” Peace Corps reason for all of us to get together again until our close of service conference – which is a whole year away. This was a sad realization for me because I have some great friends who live in parts of the country where I am not likely to get to see them. It is crazy to think we might not get to see each other for a year!

Is time moving this fast at home?

Z

Expectations

I spent this week staying at the Songhai hotel (a whole 15 minutes from my house) with about 13 other volunteers and our selected counterparts for what we all thought was going to be a training on how to add nutritional information/aspects to our current projects. While it is obvious that there are ways to include nutrition when talking about say... a vegetable garden. Sometimes it is really hard for us as volunteers to combat language and cultural barriers especially when something is as culturally loaded as the topic of food can be.

To all of our surprise.. this “Nutrition Training” that we had been invited to was actually focused on how to give formations and negotiate with women pertaining to to the health of new born babies. The idea behind this being (and for good reason) that the most important step in combating global issues with malnutrition is to teach mothers how to properly feed their babies for the first two years of their lives. During early development nutritional deficiencies can end up being life long irreversible problems if they are not dealt with properly. This is lots of really great information.. but we have four sectors here in Benin and the only volunteer sector that ever works one on one with babies is the Health Sector.

So you can imagine all of our surprise when we showed up at this nutrition training expecting to talk about our gardens and food pyramids only to find that we were going to spend our entire first day and most of the second learning the in and outs of breast feeding. - -

A major part of what it means to be a Peace Corps Volunteer is that you need to be flexible and make the most of any situation even if it doesn't meet up with your original expectations. Unfortunately, this week I felt that the group of us – myself included – took a little longer than normal to remember this. By the end of the first day I think that most (if not all) of us were agitated and felt as though we were wasting our time. By the end of the second day we were completely checked out. It wasn't until the third day of our three day training that we (as a whole) remembered what we were doing here.

This specific maternal nutrition mini-training was a trial run for Benin Peace Corps and is one of the newer Peace Corps world wide standardized training – still in its early stages. Since this was a “trial run” of a standardized training (I'm not going to get into whether standardizing PC training world wide is a great idea or not) we were lucky enough to have some observers at the training from Peace Corps Washington.

After a long talk with our Washington buddy in the evening after day 2 of the training where he was able to better explain to us the reasoning/goal behind the training.. and we aired some grievances.. we all showed up Wednesday morning feeling refreshed. Even if we weren't exactly ecstatic with the training we had a better understanding of the situation.. and we had gotten some of the negative feelings that were keeping us from being the best volunteers we can be off our chest.

I think that on day 3 of our training we really pulled together to show what Peace Corps is all about. We went to a village and did some practice runs of working with women to negotiate/discuss better feeding practices for their infants. Showing that even the volunteers who may never do exactly this activity at post got something really important out of this training – culturally sensitive negotiating techniques. AND later in the day – because they heard what we wanted – we were given a session on how to tie nutrition into the projects we are already doing.

Sometimes it is no fun being the "guinea pig" for a new training were no one really knows what to expect. However, as Peace Corps volunteers there are some expectations. Peace Corps expects volunteers to be flexible and to provide thought and feedback. The volunteers expect that Peace Corps will take their feedback into consideration and not take advantage of the position of the volunteer. 

In my opinion.. even if the training itself didn't meet expectations (and was kind of bizarre) I think that the facilitators and the volunteers did a really great job of wrapping up the training and meeting each others expectations. We were all able to show that we were listening and that we are capable of making good out of an otherwise painful situation. 

Z

Welcome to the North

This week I was in Parakou for a week of training. Parakou is located in the Northern half of the country... not the far north.. but it was a nice 6 hour bus ride from Porto Novo for me to get here.

My first impression of Parakou was that it was insanely quite (since it is a city I was expecting it to be similar to the cities I am used to in the South).. Secondly I noticed that the heat was much dryer.. Third I noticed that the landscape isn't nearly as green. This made me glad to be posted in the south I like the more humid heat.. I like the greenery.. and I love being so close to the Ocean. I have already grown accustomed to the faster (more crowded?) life of my area. That being said there is A LOT of north – the north is much larger than the south.. and Parakou is only one tiny city. [Note: If you had told me months ago that I would have called life in the south faster than anything I would have laughed at you]

There is a workstation here in Parakou. It is much different than my workstation at the Bureau in Cotonou. Obviously the biggest difference is that it is not attached to the main office – but it also has a bigger library and kitchen. It is more homey (really just a big house as opposed to an extension to the office with bunks in it). This also has its negatives however – there is only one computer and it doesn't get kept quite as tidy. I like that I can go to the workstation and actually take care of work with administration in Cotonou – but I definitely see the draw of having an escape that is completely separate from all of that.

In Service Training (IST) was interesting. Our pre-service training was filled with language and cultural sessions and many many hours of technical training for working at our sites.. the IST was focused more on the Administrative sides of things. The hotel that the environment sector stayed at “Le Princess” fed us really well for breakfast and lunch and really well done snack bars twice during the day.

During the first two days we had talked about our problems and successes.. had a security session.. and a medical session (information about what to do if you fall sick while out of the country) – half of the first two days was taken up by our individual reports on our communities – this gave each of us a chance to share our stories and some pictures with each other (and probably allowed us to stay more focused throughout the rest of the week).

We had an informative and important session on how to report our activities to Peace Corps. There is a whole system in which we have to enter project descriptions.. participants.. outcomes.. etc. In theory this allows Peace Corps to monitor the actual effect our programs are having and how many people we are reaching (this is actually a fairly new concept/system in Peace Corps). There is also a section where we write about our success stories (and frustrations). After we submit these quarterly reports to our administration they forward them to Peace Corps Washington. These reports are the source of all of the feel good stories that Peace Corps uses in advertising – these reports are also used by Congress for filibustering.

On Wednesday our work counterparts joined us for the rest of training. The sessions with our counterparts included planning projects and we had a session on the stages of habit changing (getting people to change their gardening practices reads similar to addiction counseling) and the ever entertaining topic of cultural differences. Mostly we had discussion and brainstorming on projects and ways to implement our new projects.

It was really really awesome to get to visit another part of the country.. but now that the week is over I will be very glad to be back in the south. I would say “time to get to work” but the whole country goes on break for the fete season (Christmas and New Years)... so I guess that will have to wait until the New Year!

Volunteers and Host Country Work Partners -- Parakou

Feeling more positive about things than I was a week ago.

Z

Before I Moved To Benin

When I was preparing myself for this amazing adventure... I (like most other volunteers I would imagine) spent a lot of time being overwhelmed and stressed out. I made a few mistakes (for example I probably should have stopped working a few weeks sooner) which caused me to rush through a lot of my goodbyes.. it was a huge whirl wind. While obviously spending time with loved ones before you leave (especially those that you will not see again for 2 years) is what everyone should be doing.. and of course packing is important too.. I would advise making sure that you have enough time to really enjoy those last couple weeks. I know for me I spent way to much time wrapping up projects I had been working on for months.. and stressing over everything (imagine that). Packing is important.. but honestly anything you REALLY need to survive you can find in your country of service.. people do live there.. if they didn't you wouldn't be going.. anything special that you pack is really just a perk. I know that when I was packing I filled a good portion of my luggage with snacks from home (at the advice of a few different former volunteers) it felt like a silly waste of space.. but I assure you it wasn't.

That being said.. if I had the ability to do the last few weeks over again.. I would try not to stress so much.. maybe by 2014 I will have learned that one. I am starting to think however that my general stress level is deeply engrained and probably not going anywhere anytime soon.. I was stressed out as a baby and I will probably continue to be so for the rest of my life. I accept that.

So everyone is probably thinking right now.. ok Zoe.. as of this week you have officially been in Benin for 3 full months... why are you talking about this now?

Well.. my dear friend. Now that I am living in this little house of mine.. For the first time since I got here.. now that everything is unpacked and put in its place.. I have an opinion on what I should have been preparing for.. and what was superfluous. Here are some thoughts:

Things That I'm Glad I Did Before I Left

Spending Time With People: I spent a lot of time getting to see people.. even people who I hadn't seen in awhile. It is crazy really when someone knows that they won't be ABLE to see you they get the urge that they HAVE to see you... and it was really nice to get to talk with friends who I had been missing to no fault of either of us. However, this wasn't something I had anticipated and I think that some people who I did see all the time normally might have felt a bit neglected. I am sorry for this... This is probably the main reason why I feel that I might not have given myself enough open time before leaving.. the hustle and bustle of preparing for service is a crazy thing. I remember one day during the weeks before I left... some friends wanted to see Erik and I... people who I like a lot but who we rarely saw.. right before we were about to go out I got very upset.. I didn't want to go.. I was tired of talking about the Peace Corps with everyone and their mother.. I just wanted a NORMAL day with our NORMAL friends. Leave yourself some days where things can feel normal. [In case I offended anyone with this.. I'm very sorry.. if you are close enough with me to feel offended than i'm pretty positive I'm not talking about you. AND I love everyone very much it was just an overwhelming time in my life]

Getting Away: I know this probably sounds contrary to what I just said.. but another thing that we did before I left.. was Erik and I went on a small vacation. I know, far from a normal everyday thing. But it gave us a few days.. away from everything and we got to do things we like to do; go canoeing, see sites, go for nature walks etc. It was really nice. It was really good for me.. but I imagine even better for him.. to get me away from the constant packing and errand running. We weren't home.. so I couldn't worry about it. It would have to wait.

Let Them Throw You A Party: I struggled with this one. I wanted a going away party – who wouldn't. At the same time.. having a party thrown in my honor makes me really uncomfortable.. and I definitely vacillated about the importance of it. It seemed really silly BUT It was wonderful.. I am really glad that we did it.. and I am so grateful to all of my family and friends for making it such an amazing day. I think we timed it perfectly too. Not so last minute that I couldn't enjoy myself.. but close enough to my departure that people realized that I wasn't going to be having anymore free time before I left. I also got to see a lot of people who I may not have gotten a chance to see other wise. (Thank You Again Joanne and Richie for hosting this for me.. and Everyone Else who helped out that day – miss you all!)

Things That Were Important – But Mismanaged

Bike Classes: Yes.. I know I am not great on a bicycle.. and this was very important for my confidence. However, I don't like riding bikes.. I never have.. I still don't. If the bike classes were to really be worthwhile then I should have allotted more time to riding bikes before I came here. I realize now that the issue was never that I couldn't ride a bike.. that part wasn't hard to get past. The issue is I don't want to ride a bike. As of now I walk everywhere.. and I look very silly doing it.. eventually when I know the neighborhood better I'll ride my bike.. I just really hate it.

LeatherMan: If you are going into the peace corps.. get a multi-tool leatherman type of thing. Really really really important. Also Important however is maybe knowing what tools you have before you leave the country.. and practicing using it for everyday things like cutting fruit for instance. It is important to become familiar with it. For example during training one of my friends had broken her glasses (not very bad just needed a glasses screwdriver).. after a few days she sent them to medical to have them fixed (which meant they would be gone for about a week).. the next day I realized I HAD THE TOOL SHE NEEDED IN MY BAG ALL ALONG!!

Running Errands: I am normally one of the most organized people when it comes to running errands. I know what I need, where to find it, and I go out and get it, I map out my destinations and set a schedule so that the errands can be over and done with. (So organized some people actually mistake it as enjoyment.. but no I like errands just as much as the next guy I promise). During the few weeks before I left.. I was having a lot of trouble making a comprehensive list. Mostly due to the fact that I really didn't know what I needed. There were many suggested packing lists available to me but what did I NEED? What was important to ME? Also.. I wanted people to run errands with me (which is definitely less efficient).. which I'm sure wasn't enjoyable to them.. but I was trying to multitask. I'm not sure if it is even possible when preparing for the Peace Corps... but I wish I had been able to set it all aside.. and sit down make a list go get what I needed and then been done with it (like normal Zoe mode).. I think a lot of potential down time was wasted running out to stores or waiting for someone to go with me so I could spend time with them.. or sometimes even going to the same store more than once eek!

Things I Didn't Do

Practical Cooking: Everyone who knows me.. knows that I love to be in the Kitchen - cooking... baking.. dancing.. thinking.. who knows. Before I left I went on a spree. I decided that I wanted to cook things I wouldn't be able to cook here.. I was pulling out all the stops. All the recipes I had been saving to try for special occasions. If I wasn't going to be in a proper kitchen for two years I wanted to get it all in while I could. IN REALITY I should have been practicing minimalist cooking.. using ingredients that I could find easily in Benin (to the best of my knowledge at the time)... so that I would be prepared to make a variety of dishes when I got here. I am slowly building up my repertoire of non-fancy peace corps style dining. But it is VERY BORING. I should have spent the time to compile easy and a varied recipes for here before I left.. I will have the rest of my life to cook fancy. (and for some reason every time I think of a recipe from home that i could probably make here I find out it needs celery!! i never realized i cooked with so much celery! i love celery.) :-/

Pretend To Be a Boyscout: I should have spent time practicing some basic knots.. I did bring a book on Knots but I didn't practice any. As of right now my clothes line is rigged up with mini-bungycords (which were a great idea to pack) but it doesn't look very pretty. I should have practiced setting up a propane stove.. because even though they gave us a brief demonstration.. it wasn't quite as easy as I had imagined. What do you do with your trash when there is no trash system.. not everything is burnable? I should have practiced my tree-ids.. not really important for anything but my own peace of mind: its something I am good at at home.. why not here as well? I should have practiced using machetes to open coconuts and dig in the yard. Maybe I should have done some pushups.

If anyone who doesn't know me (and is preparing for service in Benin (invitations start going out in a couple months!!) or another PC country) is reading this I just want to add some other thoughts.. I spent a lot of time stressing about language before arriving.. I wish I could speak better French.. but they get you through it. YOU DO A LOT OF LANGUAGE TRAINING.. practice your language.. but don't let it eat up your life before you go to stage. Bring a hoodie.. even if you are going someplace warm.. you will want it eventually. Ask people at home to write you letters.. or maybe even send yourself a care package before you leave (a lot of people did this).. it is hard to explain how excited everyone is during training on days when mail shows up.. it is like Christmas (or your comparative holiday) just to have something from home to hold... Even if you think you don't need letters from home.. once you are here and everyone else is getting them.. you will want them.. make sure your friends have your new address (I am very glad that I did!). Du Courage!

Z

Less Than One Week

On September 14^th we will be swearing in, and then I will be moving into my house.. and setting up to be out on my own... in Africa. Scary.

Tomorrow is the last day of "technical training" and we are wrapping up our session on how to run an environmental club. My partner and I will be doing a lesson on pollination and we decided to show a clip from Planet Earth!! Yay film segments!! (Probably not realistic at our local schools... Qui sait). I have no confidence standing in front of a room full of people and speaking french.. and I completely crashed and burned when I was giving a lesson on deforestation earlier this week but I have been practicing all day for this one.. so hopefully it will go better. Its really stressful doing something you're normally good at (like talking to a group of people) especially when its easy topics that you know a lot about.. and just not having the capability to get the point across because of a language barrier :/eek.

Aside from learning about how to organize an environmental club, and how Beninese schools work (and how Zoe can lose her phone if she plays with it in class.. oops) we also learned all about mud stoves this week!! YAY MUD STOVES. Actually.. mud stoves are a lot of fun to make.. we stomped around in some mud... and made some villagers very happy by showing them how to make/ by making them a new more efficient stove to cook with (or maybe we just made them happy because we are a bunch of YOVOs). I know pictures were taken during our practice session... so when I get my hands on them I will add a picture!

That was basically it... Nothing too exciting to write home about this week sorry guys!!

We did have a big hotel party last night. We had to have our “after swear-in party” a week early due to scheduling conflicts. So that was kind of silly... but it was a great time lots of dancing and spending time together before we disperse. It is going to be weird when we are no longer all together here in Porto Novo!!

Thinking of Home

Z

*good luck at your new job tomorrow sweetie <3

What I've Been Doing

Wow. It's September... Just two more weeks and I am a real PCV!

For the last two weeks I have been working hard on the technical aspects of training which we are now immersed in. I know some people at home are interested in knowing what exactly I have been up to.. so here is the run down of what training has been like since I returned from my post visit.

For the Environmental Program we do all of our training at Songhai... I know I have mentioned Songhai a few times on here, but here is the official description:

Centre Songhai

“Created in 1985 by F. Godfrey NZAMUJO [google him]... Songhai's purpose is to draw Africa into a development mentality which consists in developing new strengths in spite of socioeconomic, cultural and environmental constraints.

The Songhai model is based on interrelationships between environmental resources, agriculture, technology, services and industry. It also includes a component of human capacity development. This is as an integrated set of management techniques, based on the values of leadership and development of entrepreneurial skills. In practice, the model encourages the use of local resources, the combination of traditional and modern agricultural practices, the adaptation of technologies and the diversification of activities. Through these practices, Songhai integrates concepts of “zero waste” and “total productivity” through the use of biological and ecological farming practices. Providing opportunities for rural communities to use and manage in a sustainable way their resources while promoting local economic development.” [description from my post assignment]

Basically.. it is a self sustainable eco-utopia created with the purpose of teaching the people of West Africa work ethic. It has been recognized by the UN as a “center of excellence” And it is a really.. really impressive place. They even recycle plastics.

We arrive at Songhai every morning early enough to water our planches (garden beds... but way more fun to say.. its pronounced plonches) before class commences at 8... Our various class sessions are over at 5.. and then we have an hour of tutoring in our local languages (I can now count to 10... saluate.. and tell you what I ate today). Usually I make it back home around 630.

The first week of tech training was mostly gardening and agriculture: I learned how to build a planch, Plant things... and also transplant things. All about soil structure, How to tell which disease/insect/deficiency a plant has, All about composting, How to prepare natural pesticides, How to collect and save seeds from various vegetables. We covered a lot of things I knew and a lot of things I didn't know... a crazy amount of stuff was packed into the first week. Early in the week we had a special session on the Food Security program here in PC Benin.. which I am very excited about.

This week (week two) was more of a melange of bigger projects. We spent one whole day learning about food processing and then canning tomatoes... it was a very long day.. but we had fun. Two days were spent with a local gardening group practicing PACA (Participatory Analysis for Community Action).. and then teaching them how to prepare a natural pesticide. Also.. it was tree week. We learned our local Tree IDs, grafting, how to plant a tree plantation, and how to collect seeds/plant seeds for said tree plantation. Most importantly we learned how to dig a hole with a machete. 

On a Funny Note: Starting this week, Mama is teaching me to cook [Rumor has it while we were gone PC told them all a story about a volunteer who never learned to cook.. and then got really sick and had to go home because they starved. Now all the host parents are convinced that none of us know how to cook].... today I learned how to make a salad.

Z 

Laundry

I just finished doing my laundry.

Which is really a task here because you have to do it by hand. So I decided for this weeks blog post, I would challenge those of you reading at home.. to do a weeks worth of laundry by hand.

Supplies: A Stool (for sitting), 2 Large Basins, 1 Bar of Soap, A Water Source, A Pile of Laundry, At Least 1 Clean Bucket

First, separate your clothes by color... my mama says to wash the light colors first, but it doesn't really matter since you change the water between each color. Fill(ish) both basins with water and place your first color into one of the basins (3-5 pieces of clothing).

Next you are going to wash the clothes. Each item of clothing gets washed twice.

For the purpose of my description we are going to be washing a T-Shirt. Take your wet shirt in your hands and lather it up with the bar of soap. The first wash is for problem areas and dirt.. So be sure to soap up the collar and the arm pits.. places that get grimier. Work the soap through the shirt with your hands.. and taking bits of fabric in each hand.. rub the cloth together to work out the dirt. This should take a few minutes. Rinse the shirt in the basin... look it over.. and work the soap through some more. Once you are finished place the shirt in the second basin of water. Repeat with the rest of the clothes that are currently being washed (the 3-5 pieces of clothing of similar colors).

These items have now gone through the first wash. All of the visible dirt should be out of them.. and hopefully most if not all of the non-visible dirt. You can dump the first basin of water, and refill it. Once its refilled you can put the next few items of clothes in to start soaking. In the mean time, you are using the second basin, which is now filled with your once washed clothes.. for wash cycle numero 2. Do exactly what you did the first time, lather them up, scrub them using your hands, etc. This water shouldn't look dirty when you are done like the first basin did. (IF it does... you should probably wash a third time). Once you are done with the second wash... you want to ring out as much as the water and soap from the shirt as you can. Place this shirt in your empty clean bucket. Dump the basin and refill it for your next batch.

You are going to do this for all of your clothes, until you have a bucket full of twice washed but not yet rinsed clothing. If you have darker clothes that might run... I would suggest having a separate bucket for them.

Now we rinse. First rinse out the basins... and fill them with clean water.. and now we will rinse the clothes.

*Added Photo In Oct. 12*

Starting again with the lighter clothes, take your first item, and rinse it in the first basin getting ALL of the soap out. Once you think you have all of the soap out of the shirt, place it in the second basin and do it again. Once your shirt is thoroughly rinsed... wring it out to get all of the water out. Hang it on your clothes line!! You will do this with each item of clothes. When the rinsing water gets too soapy.. or starts to take on a color (from the clothing dyes) you want to dump the basin and refill it. You shouldn't have to refill these basins as many times as you did during the washing process.

Once you are finished and all of your clothes are hanging to dry (hope it doesn't rain).. you can go change into some clean/dry clothes, and put some lotion on your raw hands.

Z

Post Visit Week 2

Can't believe how fast that post visit was!!

Firstly... I love my post (even if I have giant shoes to fill)!!

Secondly.. they are still looking for a house for me (but hey that's life in the PC).

A lot of this week was spent learning how life works in Benin (aka waiting around and not getting anything done)... but I got to see more of the groupments.. went to the marche and ate lots of strange Beninese snack foods.. and got to meet some awesome people around Misserete.

That being said... It is stressful jumping around to different houses I am very glad to be back home with my (familiar) host family in Porto Novo... AND ready to commence training so that I actually feel like I know something when I move back to Misserete (into my own home) in September! After these two long weeks, its time to write a report (en francais) and then get some real sleep.

Love

Z 

Post Visit Week 1

I've come to realize that the next two years of my life are going to be disorganized and always filled with confusion – and somehow I'm going to have to learn to live with that.

That being said. I have a very strong suspicion that they did not know I was coming.

Right now we are in an experimental – never before attempted – stage of training called the “On-The-Job” Interval.. Which is a silly name. We haven't received any technical training and are not actually supposed to be “on the job.” Our task for the these two weeks is to meet the members of the community, introduce ourselves to our neighbors, the tailor and the boutiques closest to our house, meet the local school directors (who btw are on summer vacation- good thinking PC), and visit the local market and see what is and isn't available. I am spending these two weeks living with my supervisors family.

I am replacing a third year volunteer, she started the project here in Misserete. Which is really great, but CeRPA (who I work for), doesn't have experience receiving a new volunteer. And the Peace Corps has seemed to have forgotten this – hence total confusion. Right now the current volunteer lives in the village of Vakon, between central Misserete and Porto Novo - - and every one assumed that I would be living there too... but Peace Corps had wanted to find me a house closer to the office (and then forgot), which is a good thing, but it means that I don't know what village I will be living in... so much for getting to know my neighbors and local boutique.

Instead, I have been doing my little neighborhood assignments in Vakon where the current volunteer lives, and spending most of my time shadowing her at meetings and when she goes to work with the groupments (groups of people who grow crops and then sell them to the markets). This is what I am going to be doing, both with the groupments she is currently working with and also with some new ones. SO working with her has been very helpful and a lot of fun. A good alternative to getting to know my neighborhood... since I don't know my neighborhood. I even got to plant some trees the other day!!! I am probably learning more about where I live on a greater scale since I am spending a lot of time in neighboring areas where I won't actually be living. AND we made taco salad for lunch the other day with another volunteer who will be leaving at the end of the month. So yes... Things are looking up.

Send me taco seasoning packets :)

Love
Z

A fɔn ganji ya!

This week I tested out of French and into Goun... Which is the local language of my village, and is also the language that my current host family speaks.

Most of the week this week was preparing for the post visit (that starts tomorrow), So I only had one lesson. Most of it was things that I already was taught by my host family (ie salutations)... but I still can't pronounce any of it. The interesting part of the whole language learning process here, is that they are teaching us Goun in French, which is really bizarre, since I barely speak french functionally. I guess its their way of continuing to work on our french.

Anyway:

Un nɔn yin Zoe.

Un tron Amelica.

Un yin Amelicanu.

Un nɔn nɔn Hɔgbonu din.

Un nɔn nɔn New Jersey dayi.

Djelo?

In the mean time...

Z

A New Dress

Today I got a new dress... We had our first language placement interviews today (since we started out language classes) and my host Mama had a new dress made for me to wear. And.. like all of the clothes here... It is pretty awesome.

Photo Courtesy of Sarah A. 

The couturier came over on Wednesday to take my measurements... which was really exciting because I have been wanting to go get clothes made, and I was starting to think it wouldn't happen until I got to post (since I NEVER go anywhere here). I wasn't expecting to have something made for me and it was a very very nice gift.

On Thursday, my class went to the Grande Marche and picked out fabric so the four of us could get class outfits made. (I know that sounds super geeky but one of the other classes did it and it was really adorable). We picked out a green and blue tissue and we are having outfits made to wear on Friday when we get our Post Assignments. (I went from zero.. to TWO new outfits like magic)...

The tissue here (that is what the fabric is called) is absolutely fabulous.

Otherwise nothing exciting to tell this week. Like I said we had our LPIs today... so it was a lot of studying and being exhausted and being very very sick of speaking french all the time. Very excited to get my post assignment on the 27^th and I can't wait to let everyone know about where I will be living for the next two years!!!

Love

Z

Later Notes: I tested Intermediate-Low for my first Language interview (not sure how I feel about that)... but considering I was not able to explain that I needed my new outfit for the 27^th (I thought I made that clear) I guess that's a fair language assessment. Then again everyone here speaks a different language than their neighbor, so you never know who is going to understand french.

The First Week

Still Surviving in Benin. 

This week has had a lot of Ups and Downs. Mostly downs to be completely honest, but I think that is almost expected for a PCT's fist week of intense language training and host family immersion. 

I know everyone's biggest question is how is my host family? So I will start there. Luckily my host family, while obviously a  big adjustment, is not one of the downs. They are tres gentil. I have my own little apartment area in the back of the house, with a bedroom, a small bathroom, a little living room, and a small kitchen where I can boil my drinking water. There are a lot of communication difficulties, which I was really overwhelmed by earlier in the week (I think Mama was too).. but we are working through it. We get along well, it is usually just me and Mama around, and while we can't really speak very easily to each other we have enjoyed our attempts... and have done a lot of looking at photo albums.

My big story this week however is not my host family, it is my bicycle. Mon Velo.

I have a funny story to share, at least funny to anyone who knows me.. and how timid I am with a bike. There is this major road that runs through Porto Novo where I am currently living. On Tuesday we were given our bikes... and expected to ride them home.. through a city I don't know... down a road that I never imagined biking on in my worst nightmares... in the heat.. with impending downpours. I can do this right?

So I call papa... and he comes with the Moto... (The plan being for those who don't know the way home yet to follow someone home). Now I am doing pretty good over all considering there are giant ditches.. I am barely breathing.. sweating up a storm.. can't figure out how to switch gears on this bike (that I have never ridden before), and on the verge of tears because I am absolutely terrified. In fact at this point I have made it more than half way home with out dieing. Only stopping to walk the bike once for a little bit (because I thought I was going to pass out from fright). I get back on the bike.. excited because I am almost home.. and next thing a I know I have to swerve out of the way of a Zemi. I lose control of the bike and fall off. YES I FELL OFF THE BIKE ON DAY 1. 

So I know how to fall of a bike, I landed on my feet, didn't get hurt, am bareing the fact that there are many people laughing and yelling YOVO the local word for “look its a white person” and trying to decide my next move.. When all I see is Rachel running towards me. Why on earth is Rachel running towards me?? Oh. The Peace Corps bus full of health trainees going back to Dangbo saw me fall and pulled over to come save me. So now my slight misfortune has become a spectacle. Lots of Yovos... and me sobbing out of fright and embarresment and just everything from the week coming out all at once.. and Papa looking absolutely ?terrified?. They collective decision was to load my bike onto the roof of the bus, and have Papa take me home on the Moto, the bus followed us back to drop off my bike... and everyone got off the bus to give me hugs one by one and wish me a happy belated birthday (another spectacle... although much appreciated). And now... I am not allowed to ride my bicycle (says Papa). So glad I took those classes. 

While at the time I was absolutely horrified and embarresed I am actually really glad this happened. After about three straight days of wanting to give up and come home (between home sickness and actual sickness and just feeling lost) I realized that the worst that has really happened thus far... is I fell off my bike. And really, that isn't that bad. I also realized how supportive everyone is in my training class, and within just a few moments, I went from feeling like I had nobody to feeling (as Mama put it later that evening) that I have “many many brothers and sisters.” 

If I had written this post before the bike incident.. my outlook would have been very bleak.. but I am optimistic now. I have a lot to learn, and while I am not the best with my French or my bike riding and yes I am also afraid of the Motos... I have come to realize I also have a lot of positives... experience in my field, the desire to learn, and the endurance to go through with what is probably going to be the most difficult (and rewarding) two years of my life. 

As we say here at Peace Corps Training..

Du Courage! 

Z 

When 4 Days Can Feel Like a Month

Hi Everyone!!

So Since the 24^th and staging and Philadelphia my life has been a whirlwind of change and information overload... and I don't think that is going to stop for awhile. 

Staging in Philadelphia was very overwhelming LOTS of new faces.. Information... and the weirdest part was for me, that I hadn't really even left home yet. Even just walking to dinner with some of my fellow stagees I ran into Erik. Which made me very happy.. but also a little sad. 

On Monday morning we left the hotel early in the morning the PC stage facilitators loaded us onto our buses for JFK and thus commenced the many hours of travel. Our flight from NYC left a whole hour late (after we had already boarded).. the flight out of Brussels was right on time, but I did not like the Brussels airport at all. We arrived here in Benin in the evening on the 26^th collected all of our bags (with I believe 67 of us.. there are a lot of bags) and then loaded up on to buses to head to St. Jean-Eudes where we stayed until today. I wasn't able to get to my camera at the time... but I really wish I had been able to take a picture of what I mean by “loaded up on the buses.” Very crammed. 

Once at St. Jean-Eudes we ate dinner and found our rooms and went to sleep. The 27^th was full of information sessions literally all day long. Really just lots of information, on everything. Thursday was interviews, we were at the PC Headquarters in Cotonou and met with our doctor, our sector manager, had a language level interview, a bike session, and had time to connect to the work station WIFI to check emails and send some messages home :)

Last night was our last night at SJE which means starting tonight we are living on our own (with our new host family) away from all of the other volunteers/ our support network from the last few days. We meet our host families later this afternoon... I am not at all prepared for this. My family has 3 people in it Mama, Papa and a Sister who looks to be in her teens. Wish me luck!!

Z