Saturday, July 23, 2005 Whew, it's about 1am and I just got back from our first official Peace Corps trainee party. Contrary to the state of just about everyone else, I'm not drunk. I don't know exactly what it is, but I've been really reluctant to drink much here. I think maybe it's because we go all go to the buvette every night after class is over, and just about everyone gets a beer or two. I'm just reluctant to get into a habit like that... It's not that I'm anti-drinking, it's just I've known people for whom alcohol is a problem and I don't think that I want to have to struggle with that obstacle. There are enough challenges here without adding another to the pile. In any case everyone seemed to have a lot of fun.

There are a few particular items of interest though. First and foremost is the appearance and existence of sodabe ('soda-bee'). I knew before I came that palm wine existed, but I didn't know about it's more potent distilled form. It's quite an interesting experience. It's quite clear, but fairly thick. It's all moonshine, so I've been told the quality varies greatly. In fact so much so that I've been told in Togo volunteers have been strongly warned to not partake because of batches high in methanol (which I guess destroys your brain or something). Quite a few people here enjoy it quite a bit, and I'll admit it isn't as biting as other hard alcohols. Supposedly though there are sodabes with a proof of 151 or higher. Yikes.

Also, I think I should explain a little bit about the entire process that's going on here. While I have "volunteered" I'm not technically yet a Volunteer. My currennt status is Trainee. After completing my 11 weeks here I'll be officially sworn in by the ambassador (whom we've already met) and taken to my post where I'll have all rights, priveleges and responsibilities of a full fledged volunteer, including a bit higher pay. What they're giving us now is more than we need, since our main expense is beer, soda and snacks. All of the food is provided by the familes, who of course are compensated for their troubles rather generously.

In any case tonight was fun, and included a rather interesting late-night ride through parts of Azove I've never been to yet. I was escorting a few trainees who weren't quite as sober back to their respective homes, and ended up in a place I'd never been. It was actually interesting though. We saw some sort of crazy midnight shipment, several meetings (church, voodoo? who knows...) and the normal plethora of farm animals. I got back okay, obviously so it's all good in the hood. Well, I have to get up relatively early tomorrow. We're all going to the market for our French lesson tomorrow. It should be fun, although I'm pretty much all out of money. Good thing we get paid on Monday!