The highs are high and the lows are low

Back to give you all an update on my life here. How yuh do’in? Me, Im fine.

You know, there are many things that set a Peace Corps volunteers experience apart from other international programs but the biggest that I have remarked is that we live with the people. We’re not just visiting. For most Peace Corps countries and especially Benin we’re not given a posh apartment with all the luxuries of home to the point that we don’t realize we’re in a foreign country until we step foot outside. Through living with our communities we learn their beliefs; we adapt to and sometimes adopt their culture. I've now been in this country for 10 months. I’m amazed by how much I've been able to become habituated to and then still at times I’m amazed by how many other things I’m still not used to.

Things I am used to:

-Fetching water out of well and carrying it on my head to my home everyday

-Hand washing clothes in buckets

-Washing dishes in buckets

-Bucket baths; outside rain showers

-Pooping in a hole

-Riding a motorcycle/moped as my main form of transport

-Goat poop on my front stairs

-Spiders hanging out in my home, I realize that they’re there to protect me

-Being disconnected, I use internet once a month whereas when I was in the states I used it once a day

-Recognizing social cues

-Wearing skirts everyday

-Riding a bike everyday
-Communicating in French

-Having worms, it really is the best diet plan

-Daily power outages

-Riding in a 5 person car with 8 people and a goat

-Waiting

-Disputing prices “You want 2,000cfa for that shirt? That’s expensive. I’ll give you 1000cfa. No? OK bye. I’ll go to the next 10 shirt ladies”

-The food. Care for a spaghetti and rice sandwich anyone? Yeah.

-Taking fat as a compliment. “Tu as bein grossi” You have well fattened. Thanks… -_-

Things I am not used to:

-Being called outside of my name
-Communicating in local language

-Lack of customer service

-Fatalist frame of thinking, ou bien “I have six children if my seventh is sick and ready to die I’m not going to worry or go buy him medicine because at least I’ll have six still living”

-Working with people who think they have no control over their future

I’m sure I’m missing some things but for now that’s it. Well hey, would you look at that. The list of things I’m not used to is shorter than the list of things I am used to. That must mean something good. Sometimes I hate this country; other days I love it so much I think I’ll never leave. But hey, it was the same when I was in America.