My past two months - August and September
Okay....I'm doing updates, see my post before to catch where I have been in July. ALSO, I have figured out how to post pictures. So, get excited or scared, depending if you are in them or not. 
August 1st - 5th - My last week at post
To be honest, I was not looking forward to this week at post. I was invisioning boring times, packing 24 hours a day, you get the idea. Well, it turned out to pass so quickly with lots of surprise twists. First off, my fellow teachers decided to throw a little part for me. We ate well, drank merrily - including cheap champaign, and they even left me with a few mementos to remember them buy. It was an anticlamatic goodbye knowing I'd see them again. However, I was strangly content realizing the work I'd finished. Then, on my moving day the old mayor had his wedding ceremony. The way it works here is that couples will often wait to have the party until they have enough money to celebrate fully, so that was the case with the lovely couple. Ben, my post mate, and I went but I had to leave early. This ended up being good cause I kindof sneaked off before having to share any tearful goodbyes.
August 7th - September 10th - Saying goodbye with no lack of work
So, now we have the workstation. My weekly responsabilities are like running pretty much any office.
- Picking up mail from the Post office
- Overseeing and paying our four guard and one janitor
- Paying the bills; doing the shopping - workstation food supplies, electrics, etc.
- Repairing and Updating the workstation
- Taking volunteer phone calls and visits; helping them manage their projects
- Being the eyes, voice, and free labor for Peace Corps in the north of Benin
It doesn't sound like much, but it has its hectic moments. On top of all my normal responsabilities I also have done a clean sweep of the workstation = basically taking out everything and only putting in the stuff we really use back in. Also, my management pet peeve is unused speace or areas that aren't living up to their potential. So, I've been refurnishing the rooms with items we had in storage and redoing the storage shed and outdoor sitting area. Why? And all in one month, because when October comes around, I want to be spending as much time as possible with the ministry of education.
September 12th - 15th Time in Cotonou and Bohicon
In collaboration with another volunteer - Anne, we are the A team. She and I are trying to organize a teacher training for a primary school in her area. We had an amazing meeting in Cotonou followed by an awful meeting in Bohicon followed by a tolerable free lunch meeting the day after that. It was just proof to me again the roller costers that can happen with projects. Also, more than anything the hoops development workers need to go through. Oh well, if worse comes to worse a very willing community with a very needy primary school will receive chalk boards, books, and hopefully have teachers with a bit more training and better documents to teach their students. Wish us luck
Okay....that brings us back to Doe!
Enjoy the photos. I have 24 hour internet access now, so be expecting an update at least every two weeks, if not more often. Also, I will have a photo tour of the workstation and my house coming soon.
Photo 1: My neighbors and I on my last day in Badjoude.
Photo 2: The mayor and his wife at their ceremony.
Photo 3: All my fellow teachers for my going away party.
Photo 4: The entire area celebrates Benin's Independence Day - August 1st, 2006
