My adventures serving in the Peace Corps

Monday, July 7, 2008

Cotonou






Hello again! I figured that I would write another blog, since I have free time and free internet access at the Peace Corps Headquarters!
Yesterday, we had lunch at the country director's gorgeous mansion in Cotonou. The ambassador cam and spoke with us, which was nice. We then had our first language class. I was put in the highest level language group, so that is good! Hopefully I can start learning a local language soon. After that, we played with the local children for hours while there parents were at church. They are so precious! They loved getting their picture taken and then looking at it right afterwards.
Unfortunately, last night one of the volunteers in my group broke his ankle and has to get flown to either Senegal or South Africa for treatment. He is determined to come back and finish training though!
We just had our zemidjan taxi training (mopeds), and rode around the town a bit. People started because not only are we white, but we were the only people wearing helmets :)
The water has been out for a while now, so we have all been taking bucket showers! I am used to all the lizards now, and bugs, but last night there was a spider that was almost as big as a tarantula in the wall by my bed! I made a current volunteer come kill it- it was like killing a small animal!
Anyways, that is what we have been up to. We move in with our host families on Wednesday, and training will then be in full force! We are moving to Porto Novo for training, which is supposedly a nicer city. I'll hopefully write again soon!

2 comments:

Brenda said...

Okay Angelina, I was feeling pretty good about your experience right up until I saw the pic of the *spider* (the size of Texas)!

The children look delightful and you look terrific!

Can't wait to read more!!

-Brenda

Unknown said...

Way to go - being put in the highest language group! Of course, I'm not at all surprised. :-)

I'm impressed that you say you've adjusted to the lizards and bugs. I imagine that would take some getting used to!

Things are good here at church although I'm missing seeing your smiling face around the place. Know that you are in our thoughts and prayers often.

May God bless you with wonderful encounters!
Pastor Lori