So, I have been an elusive PCV the last three months, but never fear…I have the longest update in the history of updates coming and I guess I will try and do it around Chronological Order. End of vacation – Last week of September Mali was just too amazingly beautiful to comprehend. The roads were not paved and the taxis very run down so the traveling was slow and painful. It is funny how much seven to eight hours in a car squished to the brim doesn’t even effect me anymore. However...
GO WHITE SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why do they finally have a winning team when I leave. I guess I am the Chicago curse, forget the Billy Goat! Things are well here. School has started. Construction too! My teacher training formation went as good as it could have. Yep, nothing could be better, well except that it could be snowing outside and I could be eating a Mig Mac and fries, but look at everything I would have to give up!
HAPPY WEDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippeee Heidi and Matt are getting married in Indiana as we speak and please everyone think of them on this special day. As for me, I am just passing through, but have not fotgot about Mali. Update to come! I am busy with school starting, my English Teacher formation is this upcoming week, and Construction is about to be underway! Love you all!!!
Hello again. Your favorite PCV is back in Benin. My three week vacation was good, a little long, but on the whole a very enjoyable trip. I now have visited five countries other than Benin. My passport is almost full and I consider that an accomplishment. In general, I found it so interesting how each country had its own little nuances; own quarks, own hassles, and own charm. However, there was something still connecting each place. I still cannot put my finger on what exactly that coul...
Vacation is underway! Al and Abby are great and Niamey is hot and sandy, but a lot of fun. It has just been good to chill with good people, exactly what vacation is for I supose. Alrighty, I will be here till Friday morning and then it is on to Burkina Faso.
Well.....as everyone state side is going back to school, I am celebrating Labor Week by heading out on a three week vacation. School does not begin officially till the 3rd of October and my classes will not start till the 17th, so I am excited to get away. I leave tomorrow first for a week in Niger. Abby and Allison, two of my freinds from DPU are PCVs there and I am excited with the opportunity of seeing them! Then, on to Burkina Faso for some chill time in the capital. The last leg w...
Well... I only have two stomach parasites at my mid-service check-in. I consider that a major accomplishment. Officially my weight is 162 down from 204. My teeth have been cleaned and my eyes checked. So, a toast to my good health is perhaps in order. I have been comming and going from village. After the tragic accident, things were very normal. The parents of the girls I took seemed almost to be apologizing more to me for my loss. SDeath here is just taken in a completely diff...
I am about to write terrible news. The last day of our camp, three volunteers and ten adult women took our 34 girls to a local waterfall. Later that day only 32 girls came back as we lost two to a freak drowning accident. Thankfully, all of my girls arrived back safely. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, I was not there to do somthing, anything to help. The last few days have been playing the What If game. One of the girls who died - Aimee was from Djo...
Well.... I have been here for a week now taking two of my students to a week long girls camp. There are eleven communities, thirteen volunteers, ten professional women, and several not for profit organizations participating. The goal is to educate, motivate, and then inspire this girls to be able to accomplish their dreams. Yes, no small task, but on the whole I think they are having a good time. LIttle things have gone wrong and honestly I have basically been a helper and not a le...
Hello all! My grant is finally on line. Tell one and all to check it out. http://peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.volproj Love ya, Annie
First things first!!!!! Congrats Laura.....I wish you nothing but the best health and happiness. I am writting right now with a little deja vu as I am using the same internet cafe as when I was a trainee. Things are going well and we have an extremely bright and fun group of new trainees. They ask intellegent questions, well for the part, and are very attentive even when I go on my soap box. I have given two model lessons already and yesterday we had a day trip to the beach at GrandPo...
Family and Friends.... Drum Roll Please, I got approved from my Benin boss for a Peace Corps Partnership Grant to finish construction on my school's two classroom buildings. So, this could really become a reality, I just need Washington's approval, and then to find the money from outside donors. This is where you come in. Please tell everyone you see, pass in the street, or who owns a really big office that makes charitable donations to check out this site. http://www.peacecorps.g...
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back, This song was not greeting me upon arrival back into Benin, but instead a straight faced custom agent who wanted to stamp my passport to go back into Togo and not return. Oh well, I couldn't really tell if it was my inability to speak French after two weeks or her lack of want to do anything in under twenty minutes, perhaps a combination of the two. BUT, here I am and alive and well to tell the story...which I think would be done best in segmenti...
So, they have come into country. It was a bit weird to think I will swap stories, laugh, cry, and fight with these people in the same way as I do with my volunteer friends now. It just was such am overpowerfulling comcrete example of how far I have come. They arrived from the airport in our PC cars. There were about thirty of us who greeted then with cheers and then helped unload bags. They were clean, young looking - in experience only, and just generally nervous and excited. My fa...
Howdy, I have realized that I need to start putting the year in the headline title because it has been a year now that I have been posting on this site. I guess this is the first time I have really sat down and thought, wow, time has flown by. To make the realization even worse the new batch of volunteers is on a plan as I am writting this post. Back here in Benin I am resting up after my procedure on my toes. They ended up removing both the nails on my big toe and adjusted the roo...