Who passed their French oral exam (yeah, Janet, I said it)?! This girl did...amaaaaaaaazingly!! I don't know how because I am most definitely NOT fluent in French but I came in at Novice/Mid and after 2 more tests have officially been bumped up to Advanced/Mid. So now I can officially swear in as a volunteer next friday, the 5th.

So to answer your question A. Loretta, we came in with 64 and now have 55 in my training class because another person left. It's so funny that you mention Elliot's blog. He's a health volunteer like me so we train together every day. Plus...he has a friend in Cape Verde with the Peace Corps who knows my friend Cathryn who's in Cape Verde with Peace Corps now too...small world, even in Africa. I'm excited for pictures! Though I have to be honest, I haven't gotten any packages yet though I heard that that is more because Peace Corps mail delivery is unreliable during training and gets better afterward (like they might have just not gotten to the post office to pick up packages because it isn't just me not getting mail, really they drop off some letters like once a week.) Plus I actually have a post office in Dogbo, so I might consider opening a boite postale when i get to Dogbo if I hear that other people are having luck with it--at least for getting letters.

This week we've been doing a lot of HIV/AIDS work which I am happy about because I will be working with HIV and AIDS a lot with my ONG (NGO in french, and HIV is VIH, and AIDS is SIDA). It is really interesting to talk about the topic here and when I say interesting what I man is extremely frustrating at times. Even our trainers--some of the most educated people in Venin who operate in the upper echelons of the health ministries here just don't know some things that we take for granted, or are operating under the myths that perpetuate the terrible stigma surrounding AIDS in Africa. For example, yesterday we were talking about HIV, and the head of our health training explained to us how she was invited to go swimmng with a man she knew who was HIV positive. She wouldn't go because he knew that she knew he was HIV positive and so she thought it was innappropriate that he would ask her to go with him, and she didn't understand what he was up to. We at first thought she meant that she said she wouldn't go and he took it offensively in the wrong way, but she clarified for us that indeed, she didn't go with him because he was HIV positive and we need to be careful around HIV positive people and not trust them because they can act erratically. Sometimes they are so angry that they are sick that they want to infect everyone she said, but she didn't quite seem to get that you can't get AIDS from swimming with an HIV positive person. It was, needless to say, a really awkward moment in training. And clearly some of the other trainers didn't agree with her but also kept mute because of social heirarchy here, since she was the superior. Some other things that our trainers didn't know was the concept of what defined body fluids--semen, vaginal, blood, and breast milk--and some didn't know that breastfeeding was a means of transmission of HIV from mother to child. So I can't help but wonder how this will be out au village when we are seeing this in the capital.

Actually, today we went to a secondary school to do sensibilizations with the classes there. We split up into 3 groups about transmission, prevention, and myths and realities. I was in the class talking about prevention and doing condom demonstrations. So we have these wooden penises in bulk...and i have to say, I am really happy that my ONG in Dogbo already ahs them too because I would imagine that getting to village and having to go request the fashioning of a wooden falice would be an awkward means of introduction to the local menusier (furniture maker/carver). Even hearing what kids already knew or didn't in the class was eye-opening. Some thought having sex with a virgin was a cure, that you could get HIV from a mosquito bite, and even that White people can't get AIDS. But the kids here are pretty composed because I think that condom demonstrations in the U.S. would be extremely awkward. I worked with about 7 children and when I asked for a boy and a girl to both try to put the condom on after me at first nop one wanted to and everyone was really reserved, but by the end, everyone in my group had done it properly, listed the steps along the way, and had a ton of questions. They asked why there was no cure for AIDS, why do you have to pinch the tip when putting it on, why do you have to tie it up when you are done, why are they so greasy (they don't understand the concept of the body's natural lubrication and there is a myth that the lubricant on condoms is in fact HIV in a ploy to disseminate the disease), and also why it is necessary to thow it away in the latrine or dig a hole and bury it (if you're wondering it is because little kids here play in garbage and will see them as fun things to blow in like balloons, amongst other sanitation reasons).

So a few nights ago we were invited to dinner with the mayor of Porto Noco which was fabulous and included an amawing show of local dance and music by local artisan troupes of Porto Novo. Also, I got to go to a great fete in Cotonou last sunday with my family in celebrating the death anniversary of a family member. Birthdays here really aren't a big deal--yesterday was my host brother's b-day and I was the only one who did anything for him. But dying...well dying here is pretty fantastic for everyone except the concerned party. There is a huge fete for the death itself and the important anniversaries. Also there is a show for the dead here every night to commemorate anniversaries of death to religious music for an hour. At the fete though I was annoyed because the DJ found out my name and spent the afternoon asking me over the microphone for money and telling me he would take my bag and wallet. Finally when he said to me in English "Catherine...i need CFA" i turned around and shouted "MOI AUSSI" (me too) because I am not a freaking bank and I just wanted to enjoy my fizzy pamplemousse in peace. It was just one of those days when the harrassement was getting old.

Tomorrow I get to to go Grand Popo for a relaxing day with the trainees, and I am excited for that. I am anxious about going to post though because Porto Novo and my host family are definitely my comfort zone in Benin now. They want to louer a taxi and take me up to Dogbo to settle me in which is pretty awesome..like moving into college...except not really.

Off the top of my head, those are the highlights. I've retyped this entire thing because the internet died on the first computer i was using so i am sufficiently annoyed maintenant.

Wishlist: A french press for coffee (i have a teeny one that make only 1 small cup) and actual non instant coffee since they really don't have it here and instant is trés chère.
cheapo ipod speakers from like a wallmart that can just plug into the ipod
secret clinical strength deoderant, shampoo and conditioner (there is NO conditioner here)

PS to anyone having trouble calling, i really have heard AMAZING things from other trainees whose families are using www.keepcalling.com. It is 12 cents a minute for Benin and you can use your CELL OR HOUSE phone because you are given a pin code to type in that they just charges the call. It is supposed to be working really well and a lot of peoples' families are using it...cheaper than phone cards too? i think...and skype.

Anywhoo...thanks for all the comments and support. It is definitely amazing to get to a computer and read what everyone says, and receiving letters is great--i read them over and over. ANd that occasional phone call really keeps me smiling for hours if not days afterwards...just ask my host maman. I definitely couldn't keep sane here without your support, so really, thank you!! Bonne chance for an amazing semester to everyone starting up again at the Cross and everywhere else!