Excuse me as I make myself into a liar...

Well, a surprise meeting in Nattitangou (the nearest big "city") has led me to the world wide net so....hello again!

Post is....amazing! Normal day:

Wake up at 7 am (or earlier if I hear the call to prayer around 6), boil water for drinking and for oatmeal, eat and get dressed.
Around 9 or 10 I leave the house (after having done some housekeeping such as washing dishes or doing laundry by hand...) and I start walking around and "saluating."

This is an elaborate process: number one, it's in Lokpa a pretty hard, local language that is really only in this small corner of Benin. Also if I happen to be saying hello to an older person, especially an older man, I am required to crouch down/remain bowing for the entire time which could include such questions as: did you sleep well? did you wake up well? how is the morning/afternoon/evening/night? how are the children? how is your house? how is your work? how is your husband?

This last, when posed to me, is responded with "I do not have a husband." This, without fail, is met with peals of laughter and then wild pointing at the nearest man, or the speaker if he is male (thus indicating that I should marry him). At this I emphatically say "no!" and wag my finger in their face which we both laugh hysterically at for a number of minutes. We then look around at other people, passing animals, baobab trees, and then I say "ok, I'll see you later!" and I move on to the next person to start the entire process over again. This is so incredibly fun!

Life's little essentials:

Water-->I pay a minimal amount for some neighboring girls to bring me pump water which I then have to filter and boil for three minutes before I can drink a glass. Like I said earlier I do laundry by hand once a week, and I take fairly regular bucket showers (i.e. I pour freezing water over my head with a bucket).

Food-->I desperately try to cook edible meals for lunch with varying degrees of success but for dinner I always eat over at some welcoming neighbors' house. The food: something called yam pile (pee-lay) which is DELICIOUS! I'm not sure how to describe it...think of mashed potatoes but the consistency of something akin to clay accompanied with sauces/meats/or cheeses, sooo good!

Buying things-->Market! The big market at a town called Kassua is every Tuesday and it's amazing! Just about everything you could want (ok, no spices really, or vegetables to speak of...and some fruits..but this will change depending on the seasons..) and its chaotic and loud with vibrantly dressed women who want to bargain with you in Lokpa. Fabulous.

Ramadan will end soon and there's going to be a huge party in my village that everyone's going to, but before that I've promised my neighbor that I will "do the fast" with him for one day--no food or water from sunup to sundown, plus praying five times a day....this will be interesting....

End consensus: this is going to be fun.

Two Years Left

Well, stage is winding down just as Ramadan begins--everyone here for the most part has passed their French language exams (myself included) and on Friday we all swear-in as real, live Peace Corps Volunteers!

Looking back, these past nine weeks have flown by, even if it feels like we havent really done all that much (this according to my 'normal' coneption of what constitutes work...but let me just say that holding intelligent conversations in a second or third language is incredibly hard work, thank you very much). On Sunday I leave for post and for the next three months we are all mandated to remain there as a sort of lock-down, hard core integration, sink-or-swim sort of deal. This is both exciting and terrifying but in reality its sort of like a 24 hour hang-out bonanza. This will also mean that I wont have internet access until basically December so if youd like to know whats up, call my parents (also if you would like to call me directly, get the info from my parents: 269.651.3833).

Post visit was really fun--the area is *gorgeous,* I met a few of the people who work at the health center and I had a long conversation about development, poverty, and slavery with one of my neighbors who also happens to be a zemidjan (motocycle taxi driver person). So that was pretty great. Also I have some fantastic post mates, just an excruciating bike ride away, and a fairly decent cement house given that it has no electricity or running water.

Im about to run out of time here so I guess I'll write again in December as an actual volunteer!

p.s. Sending me stuff: please do:) apparently that first address I posted is the final one so use that...also if you want to add some religious warnings on the package to discourage theft that can never hurt (write: 'Dieu vous regarde' which means 'God is watching you'). Ang, about sending me money probs not a good idea just because it could get lost and I dont want to deal with exchanging it and I get enough cheese as it is, but thanks for the thought!

p.p.s. visiting me: if you are so inclined and have the extra cash please do:)!!! Just talk to me about it so we can plan way ahead of time. I would love to see any one of you out here, let me know!