I'm the worst blogger ever...

My apologies for another belated update – though I would not have thought it possible, this past month has been even more of a whirlwind than my first few weeks here! Model school – the Peace Corps’ Cours de Vacances, which offered free English classes to students in Porto Novo – has occupied nearly all of my time, and French and local language classes and other cultural activities (and laundry!) took up all the rest. TEFL volunteers (the teachers) have what is generally acknowledged to be the most rigorous stage (training) of the four Peace Corps sectors in Benin because our training is essentially the same as our job – teaching Beninese students English in a Beninese school – whereas the other sectors (Rural Community Health, Environmental Action, and Small Enterprise Development) can only roughly approximate the work they will do at post in their training sessions. For TEFLers, the busy stage is both good and bad – good because we learn a lot and (hopefully) go to post feeling better prepared for what lies ahead, but bad because we are absolutely exhausted by the end of it!

Although I’m definitely ready for a bit more free time, I have to admit that I’m very grateful that our training is so comprehensive. I can’t imagine going to post to start teaching for real without having taught model school first. The thought of walking into a class on the first day with no idea what to expect and no experience is absolutely terrifying! Now, even though I know that teaching will be tough and I’m sure that my first day(s) will still be nerve-wracking, I feel like I have a much better sense of what to expect and I’m more confident that I can handle it.

Teaching has been a lot of fun so far. The kids are really cute and eager to learn English, especially from young American teachers, and it’s pretty exciting to hear them speak or see them write and realize that I’ve taught them something. I was relieved to discover that I actually do enjoy teaching since that’s what I’ll be doing for the next two years…and it would have been pretty unfortunate if I’d gotten all the way here and found out that I hated it! Hahaha. That said, Beninese classrooms are very different from American classrooms, and they’re definitely going to take some getting used to. First of all, the kids don’t have books, so they copy down what the teacher writes on the board as their text – so whatever you want the kids to know had better be on the board! Beninese students are generally better behaved than American students, as respect for elders is an important tradition and the punishments for disrespecting a teacher or another student are relatively more serious than they would be in the U.S. However, with class sizes usually upwards of 60 kids, things can sometimes get a little crazy. I haven’t yet perfected my “firm teacher voice,” and I still need to work on speaking slowly and clearly…but I’m learning. And when a class goes well, I get to do fun things like teach, “Head, shoulders, knees and toes,” to ten-year-olds… so, all in all, it’s not a bad job.

Outside of model school, our limited free time (before dark, that is) is usually spent at our local buvette drinking Beninoise (the Beninese answer to Budweiser) and eating beignets (sweet fried dough balls, our favorite treat) or maybe browsing the market for tissue and other amenities. (I now have several Beninese outfits which are quite stylish if I do say so myself.) On the weekends, we have cooking classes where we learn how to cook Beninese dishes like pate rouge, rice, beans, fish, and braised chicken. Although I didn’t kill the chicken (my friend Claire had that honor), I did learn how to gut it and clean out its gooey insides! (I have to admit, it reminded me a little of doing dissections in Mrs. Banks’ 10th grade biology class, which I guess just goes to show how much cooking I’ve been doing in the past few years haha.) Two weeks ago we had an Iron Chef competition to test our new skills, and my group made turkey, mashed potatoes, sautéed vegetables, and a banana-pineapple cake which was by far the most delicious meal I have had in Benin. We didn’t win, but we ate very well! And then, this past weekend we were treated to a trip to Grand Popo where we sipped overpriced cocktails at a grand auberge on the beach that felt worlds away from the rest of Benin.

But now, stage is coming to an end: model school is over, I’ve passed my language exam, I swear-in as a volunteer on Friday, and exactly one week from today I will make the long journey up to Penessoulou to start my real Peace Corps service! I alternate between being excited, relieved, and terrified – excited to go to post, relieved to have survived training, but at the same time (mildly) terrified to be out on my own. Up to this point, the Peace Corps experience, while challenging, has been a familiar one for me – a summer away from home with a group of other young American college graduates, being shuttled from activity to activity by a host organization and cared for by a host family…I’ve done this before. Once we go to post, we will be truly on our own – setting our own agenda, cooking our own food, drawing our own water, communicating entirely in French or local language (in my case, in Ani or Nagot), and teaching classes in a real Beninese school – and that, I imagine, will be an entirely new experience for me. It’s a little scary, but I’m looking forward to it!

Alright, I think that’s all I have time for right now. If you made it all the way through this blog post, felicitations! I hope all is well with you in the States, and I hope to hear from all of you soon.

Lots and lots of love,
Naima