Maybe it is okay to go off the path...sometimes..

Well, I made it back from safari! We left Sunday morning and got to Nati but 5pm. It was a long, hot trip on the bus. I slept some, but the roads get the better of me. After we got to Nati, I was able to meet up with the other volunteers who were going on safari with Sylvain and I at the workstation. We decided on going to eat smooshed yams and wagashi cheese/meat for dinner. During that time, I was able to purchase a handmade airplane and yam bowl and smoosher….that is the best I can describe it to you…haha. There was a man who was selling them as he walked by; he made them himself, I am sure. And we only paid 2 dollars! Can you imagine working so hard and only making 2 dollars? Man, I start thinking..how did he eat today? Was he able to take a shower with soap? He didn’t smell bad, but really if we have to choose between eating or bathing, I would choose eating. The following morning at 5:30am I was up and ready for our trip for safari! We brought plantains, apples, peanut butter, bread, peanuts, crackers, and lots of water. We were set, but probably going to be a little hungry during the trip. We heard that the meals were going to be 12 bucks a meal! Are you serious? I guess that is how they make their big bucks! I mean, the people who do not bring anything to eat are forced to either go hungry or buy some food. The drink prices were outrageous as well. So, we were on our way in the back of a truck. We had a cushion seat with a roof in the back with no seat belts of course. Who needs those, right? We were on the road for a couple hours bumping all the way to a town called Batia. We saw village life at its best with mud huts, people building mud huts, and lots of people, children and adults, waving with a smile on their faces. Some didn’t have any teeth, but the smile was beautiful! I am telling you we take too much for granted in the states. I have a new respect for beauty and kindness. We went from pavement to red, dirt roads. My body was not too happy with me traveling in the back of the truck, but I made it just fine despite the semi trucks and skeletons of vehicles that were on the side of the road from previous accidents. We made it to the entrance to the park after 75km of dirt road. The foreigners had to pay 10,000cfa (20$) and Sylvain got to pay 5,000cfa because he was a host country national; from Benin. We took pictures and got a trash bag from the front desk. There was to be NO littering in the park! Thank goodness. It was a rare scene to see no trash in the park though. I was not used to it because everywhere else in Benin was dirty with trash. The first animal we saw was a huge baboon! Sylvain spotted it right away. He had eagle eyes. I think that is why I brought him along-haha-just kidding! The rest of the morning we saw lions, wart hogs, antelope, gazelle, some birds, and more baboons. Most of these animals were at a watering hole with lots of crocoldiles. They were just peeking their heads out of the water because of the heat, but don’t put your toe in-it will get chopped off along with your leg! It was amazing being that close to the animals. I took some video and lots of pictures. The videos take forever to load here in Benin, so I will show them when I get back, but enjoy the pictures on facebook. After the morning session, we had “repo” from 1pm-4pm. I saw so many WHITE people! I saw so many people wearing short shorts, tanks with no straps, and speaking French that I am not used to. The proper French, you know. Everyone slept except for me. I was just super excited and sweaty. Yes, we were in the north and in the dry season. It was HOT! No other words about it. Right after “repo” we came across two elephants, so we thought! They were really close to a watering hole and we heard a HUGE SPLASH! So, of course, having the great driver and guide, we went off the path on foot. We walked to the watering hole and took pictures of 5, yes 5 elephants. They were huge! Their tusks were outstanding and there might have been a lion watching me from behind. Who knows? I took that chance and am okay today. No worries. For the rest of the afternoon, the sun was shining and the storms were rolling in. We had the option to get down from the back of the truck and get into some shelter, but I waited until the last minute and enjoyed every minute of the wind and tiny drops of rain. But when the rain started (which is rare for Feb. in the north) it STARTED! It was muddy in the snap of a finger. We were driving on “ice.” Thank goodness we had a good driver. We didn’t get stuck on the first day. Mission accomplished. He was used to the weather after many years of driving foreigners around to see the animals. He knew all the spots where we could see the animals. What times the animals would pass through and all. It was great. We were lucky we saw the things we did. There are groups who see absolutely nothing. After the adventure, we took showers in the outside areas (there were doors) and ate a nice meal of pig and potatoes. I splurged on one meal! ;) Sylvain had some noodles and chicken for dinner. We drank some boxed wine (one glass) mixed with fizzy cocktail and went to bed in our bungalow. It was so hot in there. I tried not to drink so much water before I went to sleep because I didn’t want to have to go outside in the dark to urinate. Yes, I said urinate. You know there are baboons plus out there. Let your imagination wonder…I didn’t want to get tasted or eaten by the curious WILD animals. Okay, so on to the next day! Woke up at 5:45am to wash, brush my teeth, put on some clothes and go looking for LIONS! I ate some bread with cheese spread and a plantain. I was set to go. We didn’t see any lions, but we saw water buffalo. It was scary because the sun was not up yet, and all we saw big black things in the distance. What is that? Oh my..we need a picture!” is what we were saying! It was great! The sun didn’t shine very much on the second day because of the rainy skies and there were a lot of clouds. I can actually say I was kind of chilly even though it was probably 65 degrees. I stuck it out though. There was no time to think about the cold. The girls (Jenny, Claire, Sam, and Lissa) were drinking some boxed wine during the safari. The talking gradually got louder and louder! The driver dropped them off at the hotel at 11:15am and Sylvain and I continued on after a pit stop at the toilets. We went to a hippo watering hole and Burkina Faso for a minute without a visa. We saw monkeys who were very shy by the way! Again, we got off the path and I toughed it out. I am a changed person. Haha. After “repo” we saw some more antelope and wart hogs. There were so many antelopes! Too many! The lions eat well, I am sure. Probably to make sure that they do not eat us humans! The girls wanted to go in the “log” to see the hippos up close today, but the guide forgot! So, they did it on Wednesday (day three). Sylvain and I stayed on land and got really close to them (three hippos) who kept popping their heads up from the water. We got some good pictures and videos. I was not too fond of the idea, but Sylvain was the adventurous one and the guide kept telling me that the hippos will not come on land until nighttime. Let’s just say I had a lot of confidence for some reason. Maybe an error on my part, but I am here-safe and sound!-After the hippos, we left the park and traveled to the waterfalls in Tangueita. They were beautiful. I jumped in the water in my jeans and shirt. I was soaked, but if I didn’t do it, I would have regretted it for sure. I changed my clothes and we headed back to Nati and got a hotel for the night. I was so worn out from the sun and lack of nutritional foods. I was tired of bread, but thank goodness we had fruit and peanuts! You can never go wrong with bringing food along. It is better for the budget and health. Now, we made it back to Lokossa and I got the pictures up yesterday. I spent around 4 hours putting them up and I hope everyone enjoys them! It was a great experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Now, I have to give Kea and Timone a bath and clean the house. Hope all is well at home. I will be there within the next 7 months or so. Take care. Love you all! Xoxox BISOU!!!

to be continued....

So, safari is coming up pretty soon. Less than a week! We are going to spend about 75,000cfa-80,000cfa plus transportation to Nati which is about…well I will have to get back to you on that because gas is super high because of Nigeria and their problems. We get our gas from Nigeria. Sylvain and I are going to ride his motorcycle to Bohicon and leave it with a friend and then we are going to take a bus to Nati because busses leave at 10-10:30am in the morning for Nati. We will not be able to make it on time if we take two-three taxis to Bohicon. Plus, it is cheaper, but my bum will be a little sore from the motorcycle. But, it is okay-I do not mind suffering a little for the sake of seeing lions and elephants and maybe a giraffe! Priceless. Anyways, I am getting super excited. Sylvain and I are going together with Jenny, Lissa, Claire and Sam, our PCVL in Cotonou. It should be so much fun! Hopefully, we can see the lions, some elephants, monkeys, etc! I am not going to see hippos-I think I might pass. You know they can eat our little boat that has little holes in it—we will have people pouring the water out with plates….I have heard stories. I think I will just take pictures of the “brave” ones as they leave on their journey of hippo hunting. I did it once and almost peed in my pants and didn’t see a single one but if I actually see one or three I might lure them in to bite my boat in half and have a good meal. You know animals can sense fear! So, no hard feelings, I am going to live another day hippo free. Anyways, I am super pumped. This is the one thing I have wanted to do since day one. I went to Cotonou last weekend to see if I had any packages with goodies in them and do some paperwork for Peace Corps. I got the paperwork done, watched the “Poop in a Hole” YouTube video with slow internet in the bureau (it was a funny, yet sadly true video), and ate out at an Indian restaurant. I also spent probably too much on a couple shirts and some things made out of fabric (2 purses, 2 oven mitts, a wallet, and 2 bracelets). We call it the “pink store” because it is a small store on a side road that was painted PINK! There is also another little boutique where artwork is sold. It is called “Hakuna Matata!” Go figure! I didn’t get any packages; actually hardly anyone did! The mail system is not working so well here again. I mean it is never good, but now it is terrible. I hope it shapes up because I have books coming from the states to give to the orphanage. You see I signed up for the “Books On Board” thing for PCV’s who have a need for books during their service. I was one of the lucky ones who were sent books. They should come within 2 weeks until 2 months! Cross your fingers for me pretty please. I know the kids will love the books! I am sitting in bed because I have been sick for a day or so. Hopefully, it is just a 24 hour bug. More like a million bugs in 24 hours, but hey who is counting? The dogs, Kea and Timone, are playing and being goofy. They get so riled up sometimes, they run through the house like crazy dogs. I have a single bed in the living room and a big bed in the bedroom. They run from bed to bed! The floors are slippery, so it is quite the show! Let’s just say it keeps my spirits up on days like today. Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, but I do not think anything major is going to happen. Here in Lokossa, there are not any flower stores, heart candy boxes, etc. But, we shall see. Maybe I will get rid of this bug. That would be a great relief! Ok, hold on I will be right back, thank God for a toilet…..:S ugh. Okay, I am back. I just don’t understand, I ate nothing last night from about 3pm-this morning at 8:30 am. I had porridge (Bouille-bwee) and some bread. You think there would be nothing else inside of me?! I guess I just start pooping out my brains. Sorry, I said pooping-it is normal word around here and I use it quite often. Well, I have nothing else to say at the moment…I will write some more this week to let you know how I am feeling/how the strike is going (too long) and my packing list for safari! You know I bought some cool shades and going to get LOTS and LOTS of batteries because I don’t want to miss a beat! Okay byes going to play family feud and some yahtzee on the computer! My life consists of Skip-Bo, UNO, computer games and KINDLE reading in my spare time. RIP Whitney Houston! <3
Well, one more full day at post and then I am off to travel to safari! I am super excited and am getting my packing done now! I will write after the trip…..xoxo

It's been awhile...life goes on. Period.

My way back to Benin!
Hung out with my parents for a few hours, sat down after a worked said, “would you like to rest your weary bones?” haha priceless! I went through security, a full body x-ray and made it through fine even though there was a lady worker yelling orders left and right. I guess you have to in order to keep the order. Get it? Ha ha anyways, I went to my gate and of course no one let me know that they changed the gate to one down and around the corner. Good thing another lady went and asked about it. I was super confused. It all worked out though. I got some burnt chicken fingers and ranch sauce and ate up. I got on my small plane; two seats on each side. I was ready to go. I flew Cleveland to Detroit which was only 25 minutes long and got to see a nice sunset. I took a picture and the guy I was sitting next to me had no idea. He was sleeping by the window. There was not much turbulence on the way but a little on the descending –got my stomach pretty good! Yikes! I got off the plane and the Detroit airport is huge! There is a train and escalators everywhere. I had to walk a long way to gate A60 and I saw that my flight is on-time, so I went and bought a cherry pepsi. I have no idea why a pepsi, but it sounded good. I tried internet, but I would have to pay out “the you know what” for just a couple hours. So, I am going to sit here and watch tv on the big screen and get on my plane when the time comes. It is going to be a long flight. Hopefully, everything goes as planned and on-time!
So, today is my 24th birthday and I feel good. I have been to the states, had our second round of testing for the school year, already have a strike going on in the school systems, and am actually used to sweating my booty off in Benin, West Africa. It is kind of a relief to be able to say, I am doing okay for all that has happened. Let me start off right before I left for the states in December. Thanksgiving was coming up and I was ready to kill a rooster, cook some sweet potatoes and have a good meal. I did all of that, no problem. It was the second Thanksgiving away from home and that meant the last. I will be able to have an ALL AMERICAN Thanksgiving from now on; unless you know I travel again…haha. Anyways, that was all good and dandy, then there was about two weeks left in my countdown for The United States of America! I was dreaming of pizza, chicken wings, cream sticks, and some 1% milk. Yes, MILK! I was planning on having a Worlds AIDS Day at my school as well. I had everything planned-female and male condoms, posters, translators, teachers and students combined. It was going to be a great day! Then, the unexpected happened. My grandmother passed away. I went to Cotonou and stayed with my PCVL for a couple of days and I had to change my ticket and get a flight home a little earlier. Peace Corps was very understanding and helpful throughout the whole process. The doctors were great as well. I really have to send a special thanks to Sam! She was with me through it all! Thanks Dione as well! You were there when I needed to talk! Love you girls! Good thing we are so close and live in the same STATE! O-H-I-O! I say this because I am very lucky to be a part of Peace Corps Benin as we are like a family! Seriously, every time I am in the office, I stop and greet as many people as I can. I love to see their smiling faces. They are very grateful of us, the volunteers. Anyways, I got a flight home and went from 100 degrees to about 10 or below degrees. I was freezing getting off the plane. I almost can’t explain how cold I was getting off the plane! I mean, seriously, Frosty the Snowman was playing in the airport! Can you believe it? No lies. Then, I saw Papa and Dad. It was such a relief to be able to hug them! Papa had a cream stick donut for me! It was perfect! Got all my luggage successfully once again. I have had the best luck with luggage, but I won’t say that too too loud. I don’t want to jinx anything. So, I got to the van shivering, brain was going to explode and put on some sneakers, a sweatshirt and cranked up that heat! We were on our way to Ashtabula! It was just a little rainy and organized highway systems. I haven’t seen one of those in 16 months. It kind of made me nervous though as everyone was using their turn signals, going to speed limit, and had all their lights working in their vehicles. We made it home and Mom had an American flag and Peace Corps Flag up on the house! It was great! So festive for my homecoming! Thank you!  I saw Mom and she just hugged and hugged me! No crying allowed. Yea right!?! I showed the parents the things I brought back from Benin and jumped in the bath! It was amazing! I was so tired. I went to bed around 8pm that night and woke up at 5am. Jet lag really stinks. But, I got used to the time change pretty quickly because I was super busy helping out the family and getting things organized. We celebrated Christmas and New Years and a little of bit of snow came while I was home. I was able to go visit a 2nd grade class and talk to the children about Beninese students and their schools. They were so interested and had great questions. I enjoyed my day with the kids. They asked, “why do the students have to shave their heads? Why isn’t your head shaved? What do they do for fun? What animals do you see in Africa? Do you miss your Mommy and Daddy? “ I could go on and on. Being with the 2nd graders made me realize how much fun it is to teach about new cultures and how much we, as Americans, are well-off compared to Benin. I have chalk and a chalkboard offered to me and then that is all for the teaching tools. It is up to me to supply visual aids, colored chalk, etc for teaching the students. That is one of my responsibilities in Benin; I help the teachers to use visual aids, more Student Talking Time, etc because every student learns differently. I train teachers to see the options and use them instead of just talking at the students and writing lots of words on the board. My Mom also organized a get-together for family and friends to come and see “me” and talk about Benin as well as see artwork, listen to music, and view pictures and videos. It was a great time. Everyone who came brought a toy for the orphanage. I had a suitcase FULL of toys for the orphans. Thank you everyone once again. You have no idea how happy the kids are to have those toys. Some of them just stared at the toys, not even knowing how to use them. It was a very special day for them and I appreciate everyone who helped out from the bottom of my heart. At the get-together I wanted to show everyone my dance moves I learned in Benin, but time flew by. After all the business of the vacation, I was able to decorate the Christmas tree with my sister. It was a good time and great to be able to decorate a little for the holiday because it is my favorite holiday of the year. We enjoyed cinnamon rolls Christmas morning made by me this year of course and opened some presents. YAY! Now, 2012 has come around and I am ready for a new year! Out with the old, in with the new they say! I made it back to Benin all right! Super jet lagged of course. I had a lot of luck as I was able to travel from Paris to Benin with another volunteer so we were able to get our luggage in a taxi and drive over to the office for the night. Lucky lucky! I made it back to post the next day and my house was a mess. For anyone who knows me, I HAD to clean it right then and there. I had to, but you know what I did? I went and ate some PATE and passed out in my bed with a hard mattress and not so comfy pillows and woke up the next morning and cleaned the whole house. Not that it is big, it is just not easy getting on your hands and knees and scrubbing, killing bugs, chasing after my puppies, and getting used to the HEAT once again. But, you know I would prefer the heat over being cold any day and Mom would agree. ;) After all the cleaning, I went back to school the following Monday. I was able to enjoy the herds of goats that would run through the school fields and lizards coming from every which was chasing bugs and bat droppings all over the place. I was happy to be back. The kids were so surprised I was back. They thought I was never coming back. Maybe because I told them when I was mad that if they didn’t shape up, I was going back to the states. They take things to heart you know. Everyone was happy to see me as I was them. I graded tests for hours and hours and finally got on a little bit of a normal schedule. But then, the strike started. It has been going on for a couple of weeks now. The teachers work Monday and Friday. That is all. They are not getting the correct pay or something. It is not fair for the students or the teachers. I wish they would figure something out and soon because I am going to be ahead in my classes while the others are going to be behind. How are we going to have a 3rd test when everyone is everywhere in the books? Ugh. Anyways, things will work themselves out eventually; they always do. I just think about when the school year will end. Are we going to go until July or August? Oh Lord, I hope not! Oh before I forget! When volunteers go back to the states, they usually gain a lot of weight and come back a little heavier to Benin. Well, I guess I lost weight because everyone here tells me that I have lost a lot. It is like I am the neighborhood talk, all the zems, mama’s, and even students are like “Madame, you’ve lost weight!? Are you eating? You need to eat!” I have been working out more, getting up earlier in the mornings, and have been really busy these last couple of weeks! Who knows?! Can’t please them all, right? Sometimes, friends come over and cook for me! I am so full after those days! I am super spoiled sometimes! Okay, so today I am not having a really huge thing for my birthday. I am getting old, I know it! Haha. I think I am just going to watch a soccer match at a friend’s house and drink a Sprite. I have no school today, so it all works out for the best. Thanks again for all of the support and wish everyone a happy new year. I will be going to the COS conference in May and will find out the exact date I will be coming home for sure (August/September). See you then. Love you all. Until then, enjoy the famous photo shoots that happen in Benin. I will keep the pictures posted! xoxo