Hey Everyone,



So I am in a Cyber in Porto Novo and excited to finally have some time to write. pardon spelling errors please because it is a french keyboard and hard to type. it is really gret to read all of your comments so thank you so much=they are keeping me going! training is ridiculously busy and taxing==emotionally and physically...but thats okay. My host family here is very nice-- i have 4 brothers ages 3, 11, 12, and 15 and a 4 year old sister. They are really cute and help me avec ma français which is slowly but steadily improving. One of my brothers has traditional facial scarring and the family also speaks goon and fon. We are living with pretty well off families in porto novo so i think that getting to post might be a bit of a shock. For example right now i have a toilet which i am pretty sure will change soon when training is over.

A note about my phone. My number is 98 47 71 21. To Dial OUTSIDE of the US with a housephone, cell, etc you have to dial 011. that a lot of time doesnt apply if you r using a phone card because its already included to make an international call. the 229 number is Benins country code. So if you arent getting through that ,ight be why. you cant leave messages on them but i will leave it on every night pretty much from 6 till 1am here or so. Phones here are cool...you buy the phone and you dont have plans but you just pay as you go with recharge cards so they are really easy to use.

So today I went to village to do some baby-weighing training. The babies are really cute (Lynn, you would love them) though it is really difficult to actually be seeing malnourished children. I had this ,o,ent today zhen i was putting the harness on one of the babies of "I am in a village in Africa weighing babies in a tiny village" and it was overwhelming. I am looking forward to being culturally integratred and can now better understand why they want you here for 2 years...it takes about the first year to adjust and find your place before you can be effective in projects. It is strange how people handle babies here. THey will sometimes swing them up by one arm and they arent so fragile here. I saw one brother hit his little sister hard in the face because she was underweight but it wasnt our place to do anything...we dont even speak the language. There have been a few ti,es of vigilante justice and corporal punishment so far. I havent experienced it in my family at all, Dieu merci. My family is pretty excited that i am from new york because they know it from movies. And they LOVE george bush here so so far this is one of the last few places where saying you worked for the Bush administration still elicits some excitement.

Another few people have early terminated and its always a small slap to morale, i've discovered. But so far I am liking it here. I have moments when i am really homesick but it comes and goes and i am mostly happy--especially since finding the bbc on my shortwave. at least now i dont feel so detached. The things we are learning about nutrition, breast feeding, health so far are all really interesting and I still mostly can't believe that i am here doing what I am doing. If someone zould tell g-ma I got her letter I'd be much obliged. So there is hardly any time to write letters in training but i pro,ise that i will write to you a tone when training is over. And i promise you'll get a letter post-marked from Africa SOME time but i have to space it out because we have very little money and we can send them for cheaper through the Peace Corps Headquarters. What else what else. There is so much that i can't even remember what i wanted to say. Ah...Really amazing fruit here. The pineapples and mangoes are great and i get a lot of fish for now since we r on the water (Not the kind of fish in NYC restaurants or anything but still yummy). You begin to understand the difference here far more between what you want and what you need here in terms of housing, food, etc. Its also a terrble feeling to be called YOVO (White person) everywhere you go. It is so culturally inappropriate to do that at home and it just gets to you after awhile with a parade of kids follozing you everywhere you go calling "yovo yovo, what did you bring me?"

Doing laundry is definitely something I will appreciate when i get home. I have a metal bucket, water and a bar of detergent. It is hard work but satisfying to do as well. It takes long to dry in the humidity. Boiling and filtering water is also a time consuming process...if anyone wants to send me crystal light I will love you forever. OK well I should wrap it up for now. I will write more soon I hope...maybe next weekend I will come to the cyber again. Hope you are all well. I miss you more than you know. Thanks again for your comments.