Sunday, July 29, 2007 I'm leaving for Japan 1 week from today. That means I've been home from Benin for exactly 3 weeks. It's scary how quickly the time has passed. It's also astonishing how little I've accomplished. It's been great!

Now that isn't to say that I haven't been busy. Visiting friends, getting accounts and affairs in order all takes time. So actually when I say I haven't accomplished anything, it's not really true. It's a strange process simultaneously adjusting to life back in the US while preparing to leave it again.

People have been asking me if I'm ready to go, and my canned response has been "I still can't believe it's happening, it's weird to think that the next plane I get on isn't going to take me back to Benin". That still rings true, although the signs of my imminent depart are all about me. I bought a suitcase today, tomorrow I'm going to buy suits. I had to go through all my shoes and find the ones to take with me. I bought socks.

I bought socks.

It's funny how out of every preparation I've made thus far to head off, it's the act of buying socks that is the most relevant and jarring. Throughout college I had an off again, on again relationship with shoes. Most of the time I wore sandals, and there was a period of several months where I didn't wear shoes at all (that poor, poor dorm room carpet). In Benin I don't think I ever wore shoes. I might have one time to one of our GAD fund raisers, and possibly on the plane home at Christmas. I honestly cannot remember the last time I bought, or had need to buy socks.

Do I miss Benin? There are certainly things that I miss about Benin. The Beninese would probably be high on the list. The last few weeks I spent in Parakou were amazing. I thought the culture was warm and hospitable before. Saying goodbye really drove the point home. I miss chicken from my chicken man, eating said chicken with my post mates, and $1 beers. I really miss zemidjans.

But, in any case it's time to say that I'm no longer lost in Benin. It's time to be JET-7*.




* JET-7 is actually a pun... in French. 7, while pronounced 'seven' in English is 'sept' in French. JET Sept... jet set. So the proper way to read the URL would be 'jet sept dot net'. Don't worry, I won't get mad if you say 'jet dash seven dot net'.

Monday, July 16, 2007 I finally have some information about my posting in Japan!

I'm going to be in a small town near Takasaki, called Kurabuchi. Technically it's a part of Takasaki, but it's about a 45 minutes to city center. It looks like it's up in the mountains, population of 4,500. Yeah... small.

Still, it seems nice. I'll probably have a car which will be cool.

That is all.

Friday, July 06, 2007 ... and just like that I'm no longer a Peace Corps Volunteer. It was sort of anti-climactic really. My final appointment was at 10am today, by 10:15 I was done. Now all that is left is to wait until this evening when I fly out. Crazy.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007 "What's going to happen to lostinbenin when you're done?"

Well, since I'll no longer be lost in benin, I'll be moving. That's right! When I get back to the States (plus or minus a day or so) I'll be jet-7.net For those that don't speak French, the website name is actually a pun... in French. Yeah, I know... I'm going to Japan and have a French pun URL. Live with it. Or, as has been noted it is the year 2007. So take the significance of the 7 in that.

In any case, watch here for the official launch announcement!

Out of Parakou. Crazy that after 2 years it's all coming to an end.

The countdown timer should now correctly reflect my exact time of departure (plus or minus a few minutes). Scary how close it's coming...

So I'm in Cotonou now, essentially playing the waiting game. There are lots of meetings to be had, blood to be drawn, stool samples to give. All that fun stuff that we all love doing. Beyond that it's lots of free time.

Itinerary:

6 July 2007
Air France AF813 COO->CDG
Departs: 2310 Arrives: 0615
Duration: 6:05

7 July 2007
American Airlines AA49 CDG->DFW
Departs: 1140 Arrives: 1520
Duration: 10:40

American Airlines AA3493 DFW->SBA
Departs: 1840 Arrives: 1950
Duration: 3:10