Today I found an internet cafe right next to the school where we have training. I bought a bunch of time in bulk so I got a good deal. It came out to about 20 cents per hour, which is pretty good here. Usually the going rate is about 60 cents an hour. So since it looks like I'll have the luxury of going on the internet more often, it also means I'll be able to post smaller and less significant posts about being here in Benin.
Today I am happy to announce that I found a fan for my room. I haven't been sleeping too well since I got here since I've been waking up several times each night because I'm just too uncomfortably hot (and other times because of obnoxious roosters). I hypothesized that this was because I have not been keeping my window open since that would invite all of gods creatures big and small (but mostly the biggest of the smallest) to enter my room. In fact, immediately after I opened my window for the first time, a very sizable cockroach darted onto the window sill from the outside wall. I was able to get it to leave, but window hasn't been opened since, and my sleep has been suffering from it.
I decided yesterday that enough was enough, and that I would set up mosquito netting over the window (this will all make a lot more sense once I get some pictures and/or video up). I rigged a slip and pulley system so that the window panes can swing outward and back closed without me ever undoing the mosquito netting. However, when my host family saw me finishing up the project, they offered me a fan, which ended up working out great. I slept all through the night, and even slept with my shirt on since the temperature was so tolerable. Consequentially, today was a very happy-go-lucky day for me.
Weather Report
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
A taste of culture shock
I'm constantly amazed by all the little differences between the U.S. and Benin. For example, in America our roosters say "cock-a-doodle-doo!" to the rising sun as a signal for all to begin a new day, probably as a majestic looking silhouette atop a white picket fence. In Benin however, the roosters will actually sneak up to right outside your window and start screaming bloody murder at 4:45 in the freaking morning and will continue sporadically throughout the day. Its facinating, just facinating.
So this previous Sunday, my host mom came to check on me while I was eating, as she usually does. In Benin, guests eat before everyone else, and they eat alone. Most of my meals have been served in this fashion, although since I keep asking when everyone else eats, the father has begun to eat dinner with me. I am beginning to regret my decision since the only conversation between us is actually him just giggling at me between handfuls of food. Anyway, as I was eating my lunch on Sunday, the mom came to me and told me to prepare an American meal for dinner that evening. They had invited her sister and nephew over, and were going to show off having an actual white person, nay, an AMERICAN staying with them by having said American prepare an American meal. Since the ingredients one can find at the market are pretty limited to a few vegetables, live seafood, and live chicken, I racked my brain trying to figure out something I could cook for 5 people that I wouldn't likely mess up in a Beninese kitchen (a room with stools, cutlery, and a kerosene stove). I thought chicken fajitas would do the trick. The guacamole would be easy. There are plenty of tomatoes, onions, and garlic. The avocados are a little bit bigger than a softball. My plan was to caramelize some onions, mix in some peppers and chicken strips, top it off with some guacamole, use some laughing cow cheese. And for tortilla I could just use the loaves of french bread that are sold on every street corner and smash them down a bit. It would work...I found everything at the market and the stuff I didn't, my host brother told me we already had at the house, including garlic and chicken. Later that day, when I started cooking, I asked the mom where the chicken was for me to start cutting up. Turns out the chicken are kept on the side yard (coincidentally, about 4 feet away from my window). There was a rooster and a hen running out in the open. The mom told me to pick one for dinner, and you can bet on which one I chose.
The rooster was delicious. The fajitas turned out great, and the guacamole was probably the best I've ever made. The guests and family seemed to like it, although I'm not sure if they were just being sensitive to my feelings. Either way, I'm not losing any sleep over it.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
The First 24 Hours
The Flight:
So yesterday evening we finally arrived in Benin. The flight from Paris to Benin was quite different than what I expected. I won't go in to what I expected...but the plane was a normal sized continental plane. Each seat had a tv monitor on the back, so that people could watch a movie or play a video game of their choosing. Everyone on the plane spoke French. The African people on the plane were all dressed very formaly in western clothes, i.e. polished shoes, slacks, jacket, tie, blazer, and sometimes a hat. Even the African children wore this for the flight. The white/European people, on the other hand, all seemed to be dressed very casually. One French group seemed to be whole-heartedly embracing the African experience by dressing entirely in what appeared to be fly-fishing vests, 3/4 length khakis, and safari hats. Through all the random conversations around me, I have been able to understand a good majority of what they're saying. My French lessons from years ago are coming back to me.
While my other 2 counterparts seemed less than impressed with the airline food, I welcomed as much as i could get before the mystery of Beninese cuisine would be revealed. It was interesting flying over the Sahara, despite its monotamy. I only saw two very small towns through the entire desert between Paris and Benin. But other than the ocasional surveyance of signs of civilization, I mostly just slept on the plane. Arriving into Cotonou, the city looked very flat. Its shaped similarly to San Francisco, with an inlet and a huge bay that surrounds it with water on three sides. Many of the buildings seemed to still be under construction in some way, and some of the structures were partially or entirely in the bay. It was interesting to fly in after the sun set because I noticed very few lights were on despite it being the biggest city in Benin. There were scattered street lights, and an occasional building illuminated, but that was it.
Arriving:
Everything since getting off the plane has been very easy for us. Abnormally easy. Since the rest of our staging group has moved on to Porto Novo for training, the three of us have the Cotonou staff's full attention. We were greeted at the airport and led into a VIP room (too small to accomidate the other volunteers when they were here) in the airport with air conditioning and couches. There, we talked with a couple of the staff members we would be working with and we were given bottles of water and bread to snack on. Meanwhile, another staff member braved the mass surrounding the luggage carousel and hunted down our baggage for us. We took a Peace Corps jeep back to the Peace Corps Headquarters, but stopped to pick up a couple pizzas along the way. The hq is located in the wealthier part of town, adjacent to all the various embassy buildings and such. When we pulled in, a guard opened the gate for us, but before could drive any further than the gate, the guard did an inspection for bombs all around the undercarriage of the car and under the hood. We did a quick orientation of where everything is as we ate our pizza.
The Peace Corps Office:
The peace corps office/hq is a three story building surrounded by walls with spikes on the top. The entrances are guarded by one or two guards at all times. The architecture will take some getting used to. There are random steps in hallways or in doorways. Because they want the air conditioning to escape into the hallways, the doors mostly remain shut, which makes it somewhat of a maze to get around. One wing of the second floor and the third floor are all administration and medical offices. The other wing of the second floor is a lounge, bathrooms and showers for volunteers. The first floor is the volunteer computer room (where I am currently sitting), and the volunteer library and sleep-room (about 6 bunkbeds, and a shelf full of clean sheets and towels). Unfortunately I am not allowed to post pictures online, as it is a security risk. I'm not really supposed to take pictures of Cotonou either, since the people believe it will steal their soul. Apparently I will be able to take pictures when I arrive at post (my assigned village), because the people will know me and be able to see the pictures instead of in the city where they think I'm a tourist stealing their soul and immediately flying back to the U.S. to do god knows what with it. So, I will have to describe it instead:
A view of the city from the Peace Corps office:
In the City:
The deveoping world cannot be more literal. Many of the buildings seem to still be under construction. The most of them, I have not seen any lights on inside which makes me think they're abandoned. Not all the roads are paved but even some of the paved roads will have enormous dips in them, probably from when the rainy season compacted the dirt beneath it. Sometimes chunks of the pavement will be missing entirely. Today, I saw a small boulder in the middle of an intersection. Not sure what that's about. The roads are mostly filled with motorcycles/electric scooters. This is how everyone gets around in Benin. They're the taxis. Today, we were issued a motorcycle helmet and were orientated on how to hail one and heckle the price. In front of what seems to be every other building, there are piles of dirt, cement, bricks, fruit. Anything. The scaffolding for the buildings are just long, straight branches.
This would be a pretty depressing sight, if not for the trees, and vivid colors of the street life. Down most of the busy streets, there are people selling things on the side of the road. Clothes and african fabrics are hung up along the sidewalks. Electric keyboards, cell phones, fruit, belts, pictures, are all being sold on the side of the streets, but most of the vendors are in designated markets. The volunteer who is orientating us said it best: "anything you want you can find on someone's head." It was funny for me to be shown around the market by a current peace corps volunteer. Every once in a while she'll point to a person sitting in a corner selling stuff, and she'll say "oh and over there is where we usually get our peanut butter." etc, etc. There are stores here, but sometimes the person on the side of the road is just more convenient.
The People:
Hopefully that paints a picture well enough. The people here are all very friendly. Suspiciously more so in the markets...There, you are a rock star if you're white. People do favors for you hoping to get some cash from you. One guy stopped traffic on a very busy street for us so we could cross. Regardless, I still see them all being nice to each other too, so I dont think they're just sucking up to us so we buy their stuff. Here, its rude to be not nice. As weird as that sounds, if you do not say hello to people and ask them how their day is going or how their family is (this is for anyone, your taxi driver, a food vendor, anyone), then they think you are rude.
My job:
So today I was fitted for a bike, given a 10 week supply of antimalarial pills, given the meningitis vaccine, interviewed by my boss for what type of assignment and village fits me best, and interviewed in French to know what level of French comprehension I am at right now. I'm pretty sure I am being placed in intermediate, which is able to understand, talk and ask questions, talk about yourself, hobbies, family, etc. Advanced level is if you can debate whether the death penalty is morally wrong, or give a presentation on the role of government in a society - more philosophical, advanced stuff. I'm not really stressing about it; throughout training there are so many french teachers that our class size is 2-3 volunteers per teacher, and we have class up to 4 hours a day I think. My boss who's in charge of all the health volunteers is pretty cool. We chatted about job skills related to health, as well as totally un-related. He seemed particularly excited about how I play soccer. Apparently every tuesday for the rest of training, the volunteers and staff meet up together in the middle of the city for a soccer brawl. He was also interested that I was a Boy Scout. I think this inevitably means I will be assigned to one of the rougher parts of the country to live in. But yeah, he was very fun to talk to and I think I made a really good impression.
Future:
Tomorrow, we are leaving at 7:30 in the morning to drive over to Porto Novo, which is 45 minutes away. It is there where we be for the duration of training. Tomorrow the three of us tardy volunteers will finally meet up with the rest of our staging group. We will start training a day or two behind the rest of the trainees, and we will stay our first night at our host family's house, which will be sure to be an awkward experience. Stay tuned.
So yesterday evening we finally arrived in Benin. The flight from Paris to Benin was quite different than what I expected. I won't go in to what I expected...but the plane was a normal sized continental plane. Each seat had a tv monitor on the back, so that people could watch a movie or play a video game of their choosing. Everyone on the plane spoke French. The African people on the plane were all dressed very formaly in western clothes, i.e. polished shoes, slacks, jacket, tie, blazer, and sometimes a hat. Even the African children wore this for the flight. The white/European people, on the other hand, all seemed to be dressed very casually. One French group seemed to be whole-heartedly embracing the African experience by dressing entirely in what appeared to be fly-fishing vests, 3/4 length khakis, and safari hats. Through all the random conversations around me, I have been able to understand a good majority of what they're saying. My French lessons from years ago are coming back to me.
While my other 2 counterparts seemed less than impressed with the airline food, I welcomed as much as i could get before the mystery of Beninese cuisine would be revealed. It was interesting flying over the Sahara, despite its monotamy. I only saw two very small towns through the entire desert between Paris and Benin. But other than the ocasional surveyance of signs of civilization, I mostly just slept on the plane. Arriving into Cotonou, the city looked very flat. Its shaped similarly to San Francisco, with an inlet and a huge bay that surrounds it with water on three sides. Many of the buildings seemed to still be under construction in some way, and some of the structures were partially or entirely in the bay. It was interesting to fly in after the sun set because I noticed very few lights were on despite it being the biggest city in Benin. There were scattered street lights, and an occasional building illuminated, but that was it.
Arriving:
Everything since getting off the plane has been very easy for us. Abnormally easy. Since the rest of our staging group has moved on to Porto Novo for training, the three of us have the Cotonou staff's full attention. We were greeted at the airport and led into a VIP room (too small to accomidate the other volunteers when they were here) in the airport with air conditioning and couches. There, we talked with a couple of the staff members we would be working with and we were given bottles of water and bread to snack on. Meanwhile, another staff member braved the mass surrounding the luggage carousel and hunted down our baggage for us. We took a Peace Corps jeep back to the Peace Corps Headquarters, but stopped to pick up a couple pizzas along the way. The hq is located in the wealthier part of town, adjacent to all the various embassy buildings and such. When we pulled in, a guard opened the gate for us, but before could drive any further than the gate, the guard did an inspection for bombs all around the undercarriage of the car and under the hood. We did a quick orientation of where everything is as we ate our pizza.
The Peace Corps Office:
The peace corps office/hq is a three story building surrounded by walls with spikes on the top. The entrances are guarded by one or two guards at all times. The architecture will take some getting used to. There are random steps in hallways or in doorways. Because they want the air conditioning to escape into the hallways, the doors mostly remain shut, which makes it somewhat of a maze to get around. One wing of the second floor and the third floor are all administration and medical offices. The other wing of the second floor is a lounge, bathrooms and showers for volunteers. The first floor is the volunteer computer room (where I am currently sitting), and the volunteer library and sleep-room (about 6 bunkbeds, and a shelf full of clean sheets and towels). Unfortunately I am not allowed to post pictures online, as it is a security risk. I'm not really supposed to take pictures of Cotonou either, since the people believe it will steal their soul. Apparently I will be able to take pictures when I arrive at post (my assigned village), because the people will know me and be able to see the pictures instead of in the city where they think I'm a tourist stealing their soul and immediately flying back to the U.S. to do god knows what with it. So, I will have to describe it instead:
A view of the city from the Peace Corps office:
In the City:
The deveoping world cannot be more literal. Many of the buildings seem to still be under construction. The most of them, I have not seen any lights on inside which makes me think they're abandoned. Not all the roads are paved but even some of the paved roads will have enormous dips in them, probably from when the rainy season compacted the dirt beneath it. Sometimes chunks of the pavement will be missing entirely. Today, I saw a small boulder in the middle of an intersection. Not sure what that's about. The roads are mostly filled with motorcycles/electric scooters. This is how everyone gets around in Benin. They're the taxis. Today, we were issued a motorcycle helmet and were orientated on how to hail one and heckle the price. In front of what seems to be every other building, there are piles of dirt, cement, bricks, fruit. Anything. The scaffolding for the buildings are just long, straight branches.
This would be a pretty depressing sight, if not for the trees, and vivid colors of the street life. Down most of the busy streets, there are people selling things on the side of the road. Clothes and african fabrics are hung up along the sidewalks. Electric keyboards, cell phones, fruit, belts, pictures, are all being sold on the side of the streets, but most of the vendors are in designated markets. The volunteer who is orientating us said it best: "anything you want you can find on someone's head." It was funny for me to be shown around the market by a current peace corps volunteer. Every once in a while she'll point to a person sitting in a corner selling stuff, and she'll say "oh and over there is where we usually get our peanut butter." etc, etc. There are stores here, but sometimes the person on the side of the road is just more convenient.
The People:
Hopefully that paints a picture well enough. The people here are all very friendly. Suspiciously more so in the markets...There, you are a rock star if you're white. People do favors for you hoping to get some cash from you. One guy stopped traffic on a very busy street for us so we could cross. Regardless, I still see them all being nice to each other too, so I dont think they're just sucking up to us so we buy their stuff. Here, its rude to be not nice. As weird as that sounds, if you do not say hello to people and ask them how their day is going or how their family is (this is for anyone, your taxi driver, a food vendor, anyone), then they think you are rude.
My job:
So today I was fitted for a bike, given a 10 week supply of antimalarial pills, given the meningitis vaccine, interviewed by my boss for what type of assignment and village fits me best, and interviewed in French to know what level of French comprehension I am at right now. I'm pretty sure I am being placed in intermediate, which is able to understand, talk and ask questions, talk about yourself, hobbies, family, etc. Advanced level is if you can debate whether the death penalty is morally wrong, or give a presentation on the role of government in a society - more philosophical, advanced stuff. I'm not really stressing about it; throughout training there are so many french teachers that our class size is 2-3 volunteers per teacher, and we have class up to 4 hours a day I think. My boss who's in charge of all the health volunteers is pretty cool. We chatted about job skills related to health, as well as totally un-related. He seemed particularly excited about how I play soccer. Apparently every tuesday for the rest of training, the volunteers and staff meet up together in the middle of the city for a soccer brawl. He was also interested that I was a Boy Scout. I think this inevitably means I will be assigned to one of the rougher parts of the country to live in. But yeah, he was very fun to talk to and I think I made a really good impression.
Future:
Tomorrow, we are leaving at 7:30 in the morning to drive over to Porto Novo, which is 45 minutes away. It is there where we be for the duration of training. Tomorrow the three of us tardy volunteers will finally meet up with the rest of our staging group. We will start training a day or two behind the rest of the trainees, and we will stay our first night at our host family's house, which will be sure to be an awkward experience. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
leaving
It is almost time Togo. I will be Ghana this evening, which is good because Ive Benin the states for almost a week longer than I should have. Next time you see me, I'll probably be sunburned, but hopefully also Mauritania.
Ok enough of that. So it looks like we're finally leaving. I am currently sitting in the hotel lobby, having already checked out of my room at 11am this morning. Since then I have ventured downtown to pick up our passports from the PC headquarters, and got to mingle with the Madagascar staging group here in the lobby while they were waiting for their charter bus to take them to the airport. One of the Madagascar trainees approached me and asked me if I was Eric Newton. After some talking, it turns out he also went to UCLA, was roommates with my former boss when I worked the Hedrick Front Desk, and his girlfriend is in my staging group in Benin! Small world. He also entrusted me with a letter for his girlfriend for when I meet back up with the rest of the group in Benin, so I feel very important as the carrier of this guy's parting words. I'm also carrying a mystery package from another trainee's mother, which arrived at the hotel in Philadelphia too late for to get before she left. So hopefully as the bearer of a significant other's parting words and a mother's last minute-delivery, my arrival to Benin will be met with more excitement than otherwise.
Our shuttle is picking us up from the hotel in about 30 minutes, and our flight leaves at 10 tonight out of D.C. (instead of New York, as I had previously thought). We are still stopping-over in Paris to refuel and then heading south for another 6 hour flight to Benin. I'm crossing my fingers that no volcanoes are about to erupt...
Ok enough of that. So it looks like we're finally leaving. I am currently sitting in the hotel lobby, having already checked out of my room at 11am this morning. Since then I have ventured downtown to pick up our passports from the PC headquarters, and got to mingle with the Madagascar staging group here in the lobby while they were waiting for their charter bus to take them to the airport. One of the Madagascar trainees approached me and asked me if I was Eric Newton. After some talking, it turns out he also went to UCLA, was roommates with my former boss when I worked the Hedrick Front Desk, and his girlfriend is in my staging group in Benin! Small world. He also entrusted me with a letter for his girlfriend for when I meet back up with the rest of the group in Benin, so I feel very important as the carrier of this guy's parting words. I'm also carrying a mystery package from another trainee's mother, which arrived at the hotel in Philadelphia too late for to get before she left. So hopefully as the bearer of a significant other's parting words and a mother's last minute-delivery, my arrival to Benin will be met with more excitement than otherwise.
Our shuttle is picking us up from the hotel in about 30 minutes, and our flight leaves at 10 tonight out of D.C. (instead of New York, as I had previously thought). We are still stopping-over in Paris to refuel and then heading south for another 6 hour flight to Benin. I'm crossing my fingers that no volcanoes are about to erupt...
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Patience is a Virtue
So, to stay true to my peace corps experience thus far, i have encountered more delays. My passport situation is still up in the air, despite the flight to Benin by way of Paris departing in a mere 6 hours. This means, of course, that I am not going.
yet...
Apparently upon arriving and officially registering for the Peace Corps yesterday, about 10 or so people still did not have their passport/visa ready to go. Peace Corps staff worked hard to get all of the passports and visas ready by today, but unfortunately they could not get all of them done in time. me and three other fellow trainees were the unlucky. At this moment we are on a train to D.C. to be near the embassy and Peace Corps headquarters and the diplomatic passport office and all of that good stuff. We have each recieved a per diem through Tuesday totalling $160, plus free hotel accomodations in Georgetown. The Peace Corps staff who are heading back to D.C. on the same train as us has informed us its a pretty happenin' part of town. They're hoping to recieve news about our passports/visas by tomorrow, but realistially they're shooting for Monday (nothing happens over the weekend so we get to sight-see).
Meanwhile, the rest of my staging unit whom I met in Philadelphia are currently bussing to JRK, where they will fly to Paris and arrive in Cotonou, Benin by tomorrow. Their weekend will consist of a big welcome, introductions to the Peace Corps staff and volunteers already in Benin, and chilling out around town, presumably bonding and having fun without us. However, the three of us in D.C. will be savouring our last moments of luxury (pool, internet, beds, etc) and laughing all the way to the bank (literally, to pick up our $160 per diem). we should be in Benin by early next week in time for the skill/language evaluations.
I think in general, despite deep sympathy from the rest of our staging group, the three of us are pretty psyched to hang out around our nation's capital, and we realize that with an impending 27 month program in Africa ahead of us, a few days in a comped hotel room is definitely a glass half full.
yet...
Apparently upon arriving and officially registering for the Peace Corps yesterday, about 10 or so people still did not have their passport/visa ready to go. Peace Corps staff worked hard to get all of the passports and visas ready by today, but unfortunately they could not get all of them done in time. me and three other fellow trainees were the unlucky. At this moment we are on a train to D.C. to be near the embassy and Peace Corps headquarters and the diplomatic passport office and all of that good stuff. We have each recieved a per diem through Tuesday totalling $160, plus free hotel accomodations in Georgetown. The Peace Corps staff who are heading back to D.C. on the same train as us has informed us its a pretty happenin' part of town. They're hoping to recieve news about our passports/visas by tomorrow, but realistially they're shooting for Monday (nothing happens over the weekend so we get to sight-see).
Meanwhile, the rest of my staging unit whom I met in Philadelphia are currently bussing to JRK, where they will fly to Paris and arrive in Cotonou, Benin by tomorrow. Their weekend will consist of a big welcome, introductions to the Peace Corps staff and volunteers already in Benin, and chilling out around town, presumably bonding and having fun without us. However, the three of us in D.C. will be savouring our last moments of luxury (pool, internet, beds, etc) and laughing all the way to the bank (literally, to pick up our $160 per diem). we should be in Benin by early next week in time for the skill/language evaluations.
I think in general, despite deep sympathy from the rest of our staging group, the three of us are pretty psyched to hang out around our nation's capital, and we realize that with an impending 27 month program in Africa ahead of us, a few days in a comped hotel room is definitely a glass half full.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Guest Entry: Anne Schier
Hey guys. So, apparently some of you are clamoring for an update. Since he’s busy doing important Peace Corps stuff, Eric has given me (Anne) the honor of a guest update. Complaints may be directed towards Eric. None will be accepted from Victor.
We’re in Philadelphia for Eric’s staging, which actually officially started ten minutes ago. Getting to Philly was quite an adventure – we both flew out from Sacramento Monday morning, but on different flights – mine had a layover in Vegas, and his was non-stop, so he was meant to get to the East Coast 2 hours before me. However. As my plane approached Philadelphia, the captain informed us that there was a holding pattern over the airport, and we didn’t have enough fuel to fly for another 30 minutes – so we were diverted to Baltimore, which was supposed to be another ten or fifteen minutes in the air. Fifteen minutes later, we learn that we are being diverted again, this time to Norfolk, Virginia, which is much further away. So some of you may be aware that I am not a huge fan of flying. At this point, I’m mentally calculating how much fuel we have left, and staring out the window thinking: “Descend! Descend! Why aren’t we descending?!?” At last, on our (I’m positive) last few drops of fuel, we land. So all this time I’m worrying about Eric waiting in the airport, doing a crossword or killing aliens on his iPod and impatiently checking his fancy new Peace Corps-appropriate watch and thinking that I am just not worth the trouble. I call him. “Hey, I’m in Virginia, so you might as well head to the hotel… wait, what? You’re where?” Yep, Eric was in Pittsburgh, and had been for the past 3 hours. Not happy. Turns out bad weather over Philly had resulted in a huge backup of planes at the airport, a “gridlock” as our kindly airport employee told us. In fact, he felt the need to define “gridlock” multiple times. Such as: “Think of cars going through the tunnels here during rush hour. When they’re all stopped. That’s gridlock.” And a few minutes later: “Think of New York City during rush hour. When there’s lots of traffic. And nobody can move. That’s what’s going on over in Philly.” I gave the guy what may have been an unintentional death stare and muttered “I know what gridlock is, I live in LA,” under my breath, and the people around me laughed. Anyway, to make an already long story a bit shorter, we took off two hours later to much cheering and applause. Never has the phrase “This might be a rough flight, folks, so keep your seatbelts buckled” sounded so sweet. Eric and I ended up arriving ten minutes apart, ironically extremely convenient.
So, Philly. I like it here. We both like it. It feels very European, especially since I’m used to LA, and have no real previous experience of the East Coast. There are some awesome public squares, you know, the good old-fashioned green kind with a fountain or statue in the middle, plenty of benches, frolicking children and squirrels, etc. Not something you find in Los Angeles. Eric says the city gives him a good vibe, and that he likes the historical significance of the place, and I agree. We did some classic Philly things – ate some great sandwiches (hoagies?) including a cheesesteak, saw the Liberty Bell, and the oldest residential street in America. Pretty cool. We also sweated a lot in the humidity, which is another classic summer Philly experience, but it’s OK – it’s a great excuse to take multiple showers per day. One exchange: “So is this what the humidity will be like in Africa? “No, it’ll be this hot, but with twice the humidity” “Ah.” Bon chance, Monsieur Newton.
I’m sitting in the hotel now, having sized up his new Peace Corps companions, the ones he will be getting to know verrrry well over the next three months of training. I’m not quite sure what I expected to see, but most of them look… pretty normal. Did I expect bell-bottoms and peace sign t-shirts? Nahh, I couldn’t possibly be that shallow. Or maybe it’s just the “business casual” dress code that’s keeping them hidden. Maybe I was expecting to see a lot more zip-off pants – the ones that were really popular in middle school, remember? No offense to any of you who wear them still, I am sure they are very convenient in unpredictable weather or for the indecisive among us. Anyway, the point is, they look cool (the people, not the pants), and pretty attractive as well for the most part. I wonder what they think of me, if they’ve thought anything at all. I’m guessing it would be something like “Who’s that girl sitting next to that super hot guy? When is she gonna leave so I can introduce myself? And is that the girl who just threw up in the bathroom? Gross.” Patience, girls and guys. You get him all to yourself very soon. And yes, that was me.
Aaaaand now, back to your regularly scheduled program (Eric). Enjoy.
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