Friday, September 30, 2005 Whew. Last night was the first time I took my antimalarial medication in the evening, and wow is all I have to say. I thought I had mefloquin dreams before, last night was just crazy. I only half remember most of them, but I remember very specifically talking to my Grandmother after a play at a gas-station and being asked if I hadn't earlier said "I detest theatre!" in Hungarian. Is Hungarian even a language? What do they speak in Hungary? All in all it was a very interesting night. I had at the very least 7 seperate dreams, including one where I dreamed a male volunteer came to the workstation and took a bunk in the room I've been lodging in. Turns out, when I got up this morning... no such thing had happened. Although a male volunteer did arrive later this morning... ooh, creepy.

Gallery updates are continuing, especially in the PSL-18 section. I ought to be finished with all of my photos today. That means starting Monday I can upload choice selections of OTHER peoples photos (with my clever and witty comments, of course). Actually, before that I'll be posting a gallery for the pistol pants. Haha, I can hardly wait.

So, remember how I keep saying "I should be moving in soon". I've given up on that. Evidently the conflict is resolved between the property owner and the mairie (mayor's office)... but the two people required to sign the contract; the premiere adjoint and the financier are both sick. Where's that leave me? Still living at the workstation. It's actually been a little bit fun, I've had visitors the past couple of nights. Last night there were 3 and we made curry and rice, which turned out pretty good considering I've never actually made curry before. I'm expecting a few more tonight as there are meetings at the workstation all weekend.

All in all the first week has been incredibly easy, but at the same time incredibly challenging. I feel absolutely worthless. The laptop that I told them had a bum keyboard? They had the contracted computer repair guy come and look at it. He took it apart (the wrong way) and did exactly what I did, and surprise... same results! I suppose it's true, I look and am young, so obviously I can't know anything. It's just hard to go from an environment back home where you were viewed as technically comptent, to here where you're viewed as a white guy who doesn't understand how things work here. I mean, it's true I don't understand how things work here, but I understand how computers work! Oh well, little by little the bird builds his nest. (That's a French proverb for all y'all)

For a rapid and sudden change of subject, let's talk about music. When I got here, I pretty much thought it was crappy and hated it all. I'm sad to say that now I sort of like it. Some of the lyrics are actually pretty funny. Now I'll have to rely on the translation of my 14 year old host brother to relay some of them, so I can't vouch for the accuracy. One song he said was about a guy who picked up a beautiful girl at a bar, but she distracted him and stole his cell-phone. Cleverly, she hid it in her underwear so her treachery would go undetected. Unfotunately for her, as dinner was finishing and they were getting up to go the man realized his phone was missing. He accused her, and at that moment he recieved a call. Naturally the phone was on vibrate. Well, I guess I don't really have to finish the story. Another one of my favorites is funny in a sad way. It's about a guy who finds a job and is singing because he's happy he can eat now. It's so horrible, but at the same time...
In general music here is catchy and upbeat. A large part of it is also from the Ivory Coast. One particularly popular song is a tribute to the life of Jonathan by his brother. Jonathan was a very popular and famous Ivoirian performer. I believe he died in a car crash recently, but I forgot what my brother told me. In any case, this songs main phrase has found its way into many, many, many songs as a sort of tribute to the tribute. Mainly the lyric "Jump around like a baby goat" (which is pretty much the most hillarious lyric in the entire world) you'll hear a lot. The hand motion in the original music video is also classic. He mimes two goat feet with his elbows bent and arms pressed against his chest. Whew, everytime I see it I crack up.

Well, that's life in Africa on Friday!

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 Well, this is my third official day on the job. I haven't done anything yet. Okay, so that's not entirely true. I did work on a couple of laptops on day 1, and I did help a guy today learning how to copy files to and from his flash drive. All in all though I feel really useless. I think I wrote before about how they started paying a company to do my project for me (before I even got here). Well, we're still waiting on getting the code from them... and I'm not even sure if they will give it up. We'll see.

On a much happier note, I'm in love with the marche here. I don't really like the random "battoure" (the "yovo" equivalent of the north), or the marche mamas calling me over to buy potatoes... especially when I've been called over by 10 other on my way to look at potatoes. However, this marche really does rock. The variety, the quality, and just everything. It really, really rocks.

I'll warn you now, we're entering food territory. It might be more interesting though than MIGHT be more interesting than my usual rant about how delicous it was. So, I made a salami sandwich today for lunch. It was delicious and satisfying. I went to the marche again today to pick up some lettuce, tomatoes, garlic and oranges. I got a good price on everything but the oranges. I even got a cadeau from the lady I bought the lettuce from. It was $0.20 for 2 hearts (not sure what it's called, but it sort of looks like a cross between butter-leaf and romaine) and she gave me an extra. I don't remember exactly how much the tomatoes were, but I think I got 4 small ones for $0.10 or so. Garlic was $.05 for a small bag with about 10 cloves in it. Like I said oranges were a rip off. I got 4 average looking oranges for $0.20... and no cadeau. That MIGHT be the right price though, I do know fruit is generally expensive. Oh, I got a loaf of bread for $.25 as well, but that's just the price it is.

After my marche trip I went back to my temporary house for imminent sandwich construction by bike. Whew, one thing about Parakou is that there are hills. My legs are use to relatively flat Azove, so I've gotta get used to this... especially considering I will have a huge hill to climb right off the bat when I move into my new house. So, back at the workstation I washed and iodined my lettuce and tomatoes and realized I had a crap load of lettuce. Good for dinner salad tonight, so I thought I'd make a vinagerette for that and to put on my sandwich. Oil, vinegar, garlic, pepper, salt and oregano... and it was pretty good too! Lettuce and tomatoes done, I broke out my delicious salami and cheddar I bought yesterday at one of the supermarches. Very expensive, but super good. Cheddar here is more than $10/lb, and salami is a comparable price. Thankfully I don't have to buy by the pound (or the kilo as it is here). So yesterday I bought 100g of salami (enough for 2 sandwiches) and 200g of cheddar (enough for a lot of things). Worth every penny. So the sandwich came together, and it was good.

I really, really, really like cooking for myself. I can't even describe to you how much. It may get old soon, but for now it's the greatest novelty in the world. The fact that I have a 3 hour lunch break also helps. I have all the time necessary to prepare a meal from scratch. Hehe, actually now that I think about it... I probably will get tired of going through all the steps and crave the ease of McDonalds, but not yet! The fun is really only beginning. Peace Corps has given us an absolutely incredible cookbook. It's basically a compilation of recipes from past volunteers, so practically everything in it calls for local ingredients (or at least things that aren't too terribly difficult to find). And man, there is everything in there, from tortillas, to curries, to salads, to dressings. There is even a recepie for ginger beer. I will be trying that one out as soon as I get my own place. It's going to rock.

In administrative news, I've been uploading pictures like a mad man. It's slow going on dial-up, but it's impossible like it was in Azove. So go check out the gallery!

Monday, September 26, 2005 Well, we've done it. Stage is officially over. I am now a full fledged 100% real-life volunteer. You can officially send things to PCV Lyle Kozloff. Actually, that's Reverend PCV Lyle Kozloff if you recall my instant online ordination. Man, if I can just buy a title of royalty and get my doctorate I could be Baron Doctor Reverend PCV Lyle Kozloff. Take that blue bloods!

In any case, let's start the recounting with what the exciting parts of the week. Actually I'll just leaving the boring Monday and Tuesday out of it, since all we did was take tests. Haha, actually I changed my mind let me talk about the medical test. Then we'll get to Cotonou.

So as one probably can realize, knowing a little bit about things that can happen to you here in Benin is pretty important. We are in a 3rd world country, and there are lots of bizarre things that can afflict you. The most common of course being the big D, the "chose-la", the "runs", the "hershey-squirts", "mud-butt" (need I go on?), and malaria. There are lots of other things too, but if you know what to do and how to prevent and detect those two you're in pretty good standing. In any case, I was in a bizarre mood the day of our medical test... so rather than leaving blank the spaces for answers I did not know, I decided to have fun. Let it forever be known that "eating your vegetables" and "play nice with others" are not acceptable responses to the question "List 7 ways to help prevent malaria". Let it also be known that "Contract a menusier to build a coffin, write your will and make sure your affairs are in order; you're pretty much screwed" is also not the correct answer for what do when a boil reaches ping-pong ball size. I didn't get in trouble for my answers, and I like to think SOMEONE appreciated them... well, okay I know Ly (our token Asian) did.

Anyhow, Cotonou was much the same as it was the week before when we visited. Just more insane since there were 43 more of us in the same areas. It was strange to come back with everyone and to stay again at Centre Paul VI. It's only been 3 months, but what a change in everyone. When we first arrived we were pretty much all overwhelmed. This time everyone was old hat at calling a zemi, negotiating prices... and talking French! The city is a LOT less intimidating when you understand what is going on half the time. Being as I'm posted in Parakou, there wasn't really too much shopping for me to do. I spent most of my time tailing those going to villages not quite as big as my own, namely our own Karimama. She was a heck of a lot better prepared than I was, so it was a good choice of a person to follow... she had lists and prices and whew. Someday maybe I'll be that organized. Ha, actually not. It was good though. Since you're probably tired of hearing what I've eaten, I'll keep it short. I had GOD'S SHWARMA again, a real life, honest to God double cheeseburger, and Chinese food. It was all freakin' delicious, and confirms that Cotonou is the currently the best place on Earth.

Actually, if you'll pardon a break (by the way, this entry is going to be long. I'm on the workstation computer and have infinite time... there is also no one here so I have nothing better to do than to write a novel) I'd actually like to talk about a conversation Sara and I had while we were shopping. We were both fairly amazed at the way our perceptions of the city changed. When I say when we first arrived we were all pretty much overwhelmed, it's not an understatement by any means. I remember one particular incident trying to find the elusive Festival de Glace with Theresa. We couldn't find it, it was the middle of the day, but we were in a weird country, we just got our zemi training. Everything was new. I don't know about for T, but for me it was pretty damn stressful. Now, it's not like that. Cotonou is where the good stuff is, cheese, salad, pizza and shwarma. Teflon pans, blenders, electronics. I mean, you can find anything in Cotonou for a price. But it's more than that too... Sara and I were talking about how it was going to be taking our parents through Cotonou and being so sad that they'll never quite appreciate it in the same way we do. It's not that Cotonou is really all that great of a city. It's not that the shwarma there really is the best in the world. It is the best we've got in country though, and I don't know... even after 3 months I can't help but feel a little bit proud of it.

After our triumphant return from Cotonou, we had merely the evening to ourselves before leaving for Lokossa for swear-in. Swear in was fine, nothing really much to say about it. Important people made speeches that essentially said the same thing. It was hot and sunny. The food was okay after, and we had a huge party afterwards. All in all satisfying, but none too special. The one highlight was the ambassador's speech. He delivered it on the fly, not reading it off a paper like all the other speakers and made several jabs towards Beninese ceremony styles that were un-caught by the non-Americans.

Saturday, the day after swear-in (and my Mom's birthday! Happy Birthday Mom!) was pretty much cleaning up my odds and ends in Azove. I had to pick up my order from the carpenter, an outfit and a shirt from the tailor, and gather up everything. Of course it decided to rain that day, which made many things annoying... but it all got worked out. In the end all that rested was to know when I was leaving and who I was going with, which in typical bureaucratic style was not communicated until the last minute, and even then incorrectly. One of our facilitators came by in the evening to say that I would be going with Lisa at 7a. Okay, no problem. He also said that the taxi would be by "a little later" to pick up my things. Also no problem, since I was already packed by that time. Turns out though they neglected to mention that the word for "a little later" in French also can mean "an hour before it's scheduled to arrive to take you to Parakou (but 10 hours after you thought it might come), which will wake you up suddenly causing you to run around in a flurry trying to simultaneously pack the last few things, make sure your guitar doesn't get broken and make sure bowels and bladder are empty for the long ride ahead". Sometimes you've got to admire the efficiency of some foreign languages. Imagine! The same word meaning those two things!! In any case, it did all work out. We dropped Lisa off at her post an hour south of mine with only a little drama (her key to her house had traveled an hour north). And off I went.

Now, I don't want to you know come out and SAY that communication can sometimes be, oh, non-existent... but, well. Let's take this next situation. Arrival was planned for Sunday. One would think that most homologues would probably be contacted, and probably meetings would be arranged for the picking up of keys, and you know, things like that that would really help the move-in process. Well, that didn't really happen. It was communicated that we'd be coming on Sunday, I'll give that. My homologue had no idea though where I would show up, or when. He's a really sweet guy, and even though he was sick showed up at the office on his day off to make sure that he didn't miss me. Even if when we did meet (which went off without a hitch) it was only to tell me that my house isn't ready yet and that they'd put me up in a hotel. That's the suxor, but it isn't actually all that bad. That's why I'm here in the workstation now writing a novel.

Supposedly the situation with my house is that the proprietor wants a years worth of rent up front, with no chance for a refund. Obviously that's freakin' ridiculous, although what's more is that he's doing it to the city! I mean, maybe he wants his water pipes dug up? Or maybe his electricity isn't valued by him... but I mean, mess with the city like that? I think he'll come around pretty soon.

My first day of work was today, and we'll see how things work out. During the last month, they hired a company in Cotonou to start things out on the Parakou website. They did a good job honestly, and to me it looks nearly complete. There is quite a bit that could be done... but I'm a little bit at a loss of where to start. I guess I can't really do anything until I see the code. It's all in PHP, so hopefully in the next couple of days I'll see what I can plan on doing. It's sort of annoying that my one and only project has been practically done for me... oh well, we'll deal. I have lots of ideas for other projects as well here in Parakou, and there is a lot more to learn about the city yet.

Today marked my first trip to the market, and the sudden realization that Parakou is a crap-load bigger than I had thought it was. I mean, I knew it was big, but damn. The market here is pretty cool, it reminds me a little bit of the indoor markets in Oaxaca... but less geared to touristy crap and more geared to things you need to survive. Damn though, I'm really lucky to be here. The selection of fruits and vegetables, spices and just food is amazing. I saw green beans, avocados, carrots, papayas, pineapples, oranges and the most beautiful lettuce I've seen in my life. The market in Azove was pretty big on marche day, but here on a totally not marche day (marche is Saturdays here) it dwarfed Azove in size and selection. I'm stoked. What's crazier though is that is only one of 3 markets here. Oh, and I saw some awesome fabrics today that are going to make the coolest clothes this side of the planet. Just wait and see.

Ah, one thing I neglected to mention in Cotonou was the infamous story of the pistol pants. When I first arrived in Azove I was riding my bike and saw the most awesome jeans ever. They looked like normal jeans, but all over the legs are leather cut-outs of guns. I knew that I had to have them someday, but since at that point my French consisted of "Bon jour" it wasn't time. They disappeared shortly after, but I knew that we would meet again. On our way back from Cotonou I got a SMS from Ben saying "I'm standing in front of a pile of pistol pants, what do I do?". I texted back, "I wear a 36". So the pistol pants came back to Azove. They are even more awesome than I remember. The guns are different types of pleather embroidered onto the jeans (which are bleached to really bring out the guns). Those in themselves are hilarious, but what gets me the most is the phrase "Welcome to the hood" embroidered vertically down the left leg. The right leg has a large "50 CENT". If he supports pants as hilarious as these, I might have to give his music a chance. Now, if that weren't enough... the back part (the leather piece that say Levi Strauss on Levis) is absolutely awesome. It reads:
This garment has been designed to withstand the tests put forth by wearers who embody the five elements needed to succeed on the path to truth: Courage, Strength, Wisdom, Honor and Leadership Oh man, I almost lost it typing that. These pants rock.

In more administrative news, which always the best to put at the end of a horrendously long blog post. I'm working on getting pictures up. They are resized, and just need to be uploaded. I think I know what my task will be tomorrow at work! I'll do my best to have it all done by the end of the week. I'm also going to start working on my wish list for items, and am contemplating changing the format of blogging. I'm finding that while I enjoy recounting daily activities, sometimes I want to recount one thing in particular detail or even just talk a lot about one subject. I MAY be putting up a section that deals with blogging more like Az does from "I am a Japanese school teacher". Not to replace my blog, but merely to augment. We'll see... there is a lot of work to do outside of my own personal projects. In any case, hope you're not asleep yet!

Sunday, September 18, 2005 Language test complete! And with that, stage is pretty much over. 7 days from now at this time, I will be at my house in Parakou... alone. That's bizzare. In any case, I tested in at Advanced-Low, which I'm pretty happy with. I'm feeling much more confident with my communication skills now... although I can't write worth a damn. The one thing about language immersion, is you concentrate so much on learning to communicate, you neglect completely the written aspects. Or at least I did.

Things have been very busy indeed in the last week as one might imagine with the impending language test. Surprisingly to me we didn't go over any verb forms, or redo almost any of the old material. All week during language class we had discussions. We told stories, talked about poverty, and all manner of things that weren't related at all to grammar. It was a nice change of pace, but had me frightened for a little bit.

Yesterday, when we'd all finished we had a very American party. We made hamburgers... sort of. So ground beef doesn't really exist here, and come to think of it I have no idea how a steak turns into ground beef... so I'll have to think about that. Theresa and others went out to the market though and found a guy with a big knife who hacked apart the meat they bought until is sort of resembled ground beef. It worked well... the burgers were the most delicious thing in the world. Okay, I say that about everything I eat that isn't the ordinary, but they were good! Well, with the exception of the fact that bones weren't removed prior to chopping, so every so often one got a little sliver of bone in their burger. The taste more than made up for that small convenience. We also made french fries. Also awesome.

As I wrote before, we did make our trip to Cotonou... and I was not prepared at all for how much perceptions of it have changed. Cotonou rocks! We were there and I kept looking around going "man, everything is so nice here". I was saying this mostly because the roads are mostly paved, there were occasionally sidewalks, and I even saw a traffic light. It was surreal. Oh, and we had shwarma. Not any shwarma though.... GOD'S SHWARMA. Okay, I have no idea how to spell "shwarma", but I trust most of you know I'm talking about meat and veggies wrapped in pita with sauce. Oh man, it was so good. Almost better than the pork in Kandi. Oh man. We're going back to Cotonou on Weds. I think it's clear that I'll be going back there.

What's more, I found Dr. Pepper. Oh yes, real live Dr. Pepper. And what's more, it seems the UK has got it going on... their Dr. Pepper is made with real live sugar. Oh man, I still have a can in my room waiting. I also bought salami and cheddar and made the best sandwich known to man (Theresa can attest to this, as she also partook). And, what's even more exciting to me... Cotonou has parmesean cheese! Real life, off the block type. I was a fool to give Tim my amazing grater.

So, all in all life is good. Scary, but good.

When I get to Parakou I'll be posting the official "wish I had list". Look forward to it! Oh, and call me! I love talking to people from the States!

Thursday, September 08, 2005 Internet has been behaving somewhat better lately in Azove. It's still somewhat difficult to get everything done that I want to... but Portable Thunderbird continues to rock my socks off. It makes life a LOT easier. The only thing that could be better is if my laptop would work. Thanks to Shane who caled Apple for me it seems that Apple's "world-wide" support doesn't cover, you know, the WORLD. They'll ship a box to a US address, where I can then magically teleport my computer to that location and then, well... the details weren't very clear after that.

Things are going here in Azove. It's scary to think that stage is really almost over. Our final language test is one week from tomorrow. That should be probably more frightening than it is, but I feel fairly confident that I'll pass. We've been speaking only French amongst ourselves... which is actually really fun. It's like a bizzare club. Especially when you interject American culture. Ly called me a "lucky duck" which we decided translated as "mallard du bonne chance". We subsequently decided that the French should rhyme as well, so it became "mallard-ance du bonne chance". Trust me, it's funnier here when you haven't had contact with any other Americans for 2 months.

Speaking of two months, today is our 2 month anniversary of being in country. Scary!

Today I got my birthday card from my Mommy, and a package of candy (and drink mix) from my aunt. Thank you both! The M&Ms were exactly what the doctor ordered. Additionally someone got Oreos today. Oh man, I don't think I've ever enjoyed a cookie so much!

Ah, one other notable item is that Benin's numbers are changing. We're going to an 8 digit system, so after Sept. 17th you'll need to add a 97 to the front of my number. This means you'll now dial 011-229-97-60-27-11.

Last night was Theresa's birthday, which was awesome. The theme was "breakfast for dinner", so we had pancakes, french-toast, grits, coffee (a la Beninoise) and eggs. Since Garret's mom reads this blog I'll go ahead and mention that your son is awesome at making pancake batter, and an excellent pancake side chef as well.

Tomorrow ICT is going to Cotonou, which will be my first time back since we got here. It should be interesting to see how my perceptions of the city change after getting a little bit more used to how things are here.

Please forgive the relative crappiness of posts lately... when I have a computer I can access for free in a couple of weeks things will improve! Promise!

Sunday, September 04, 2005 Well, I'm alive. Internet was pretty much unusable last week here in Azove so I didn't get a chance to even say that. I could barely download my email, let alone do anything like blog. It also doesn't help that my computer is still defunct... and I can't quite get through to Apple through any means known to man. I'll figure out something eventually... maybe.

In any case, the big news is that I got a cell phone! Everyone who signed up knows this already, because I sent a big e-mail... but now the world can call me. Since calls to Benin are fairly expensive from most parts of the world, I don't have any problem at all posting my number. So, if you're dying to get into contact with me... give me a call at +229-60-27-11. After Sept. 17th Benin is changing it's dialing plan to 8 digit numbers, so it will be +229-97-60-27-11. That's it. I can receive international texts if your service provider supports it, and I can respond fairly cheaply. I haven't actually received replies to any texts I've sent out yet, but I know they have been received... so you might want to talk to your provider to see how exactly to do it. It is possible though, another stagiare here has been trading text messages for some weeks now.

That's pretty much it for now. Running out of internet time!