But barely...we have yet to get internet. Yes, for those who know, we have in fact lived in our new apartment for a month and a half tomorrow and have yet to even call. haha who says we're grown up? So I apologize on both of our behalfs that we have not been writing...the rest of you bitches aside from T, Nora and Maura have no excuse!
Well, I'm writing from a suite in a hotel in Denver right now. I'm on my first big girl business trip! Belize (the country) is one of our clients and I am here because they filmed part of a movie there and the premiere is tomorrow. Glamorous and amazing right...fly fishing movie. and I'm at a fly fishing convention...jealous?? I know you are. However, Denver is my favorite city so I will deal. oh and the bell boy who brought up my stuff...HOT! On a scale of 1-10 how trashy would banging the bell boy be? 1 being classy and 10 being hooker level. I decided 7...thus...acceptable.
Other than work I honestly dont have much of a life. I went to the Springsteen concert a couple weekends ago when he was here for harley fest and I TOUCHED HIM! 3 fingers, on his sweaty back...i havent washed my right hand in weeks. haha and now that you all just threw up a little bit in your mouths...
I dont have too much else going on. no, gresky and i are not having a love affair...that seems to be the most common question people ask me from school. sadly i just havent managed to get that sexy beast of a man yet...ew...now i just threw up a little bit in my mouth
Alright, I'm going to go get ready, gotta look good for those fly fishermen, I have a meeting with a group of people to discuss how we're going to capitalize on this even to improve tourism to belize...i feel like such a fucking grown up its sick! haha but i hope everyone is doing well! miss you all terribly, and we need to have a girls weekend sometime soon! chicago or milwaukee. oh and T we need to hang out soon! sorry, life's been crazy!
Love you freaks!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
bitches
hey bs
its me im writing you from prefecting a computer lab. im in the basement lab and no one ever comes down here so my 8th hour of the day is pretty much useless. i facebook and check e-mail most of the time. although i am lonely i am serenaded by the sweet sounds of the marquette high boys choir.
how is everybody? i feel like i know more about noras life than anyone elses and she lives all the way accross the world.
not too much new here except for we started school. i teach two classes everyday and teaching is so much harder than i thought it was going to be. i have a new found respect for all of my old teachers bc it is a TON of work. and kids can be shits. i had a kid try to make himself throw up today in my class. literally stuck his finger down his throat and gaged himself... the kids a fucktard and i hate him but i would only tell you all that. for the most part the kids are adorable and so good but i have a few bad seeds. ew i hate that i am old and just said that.
probably the hardest part is i have to like erase everything i know and try to think about it from the kids perspective which is knowing nothing. its a lot harder than it seems.
otherwise nothing new. elizabeth got a promotion at work which was pretty awesome and drewbie is back hitting the streets of milwaukee with a bang. tim got him in to murphys the other night and i have never really seen him think he was so cool. it was awesome.
alright well i gotta peace the bell just rang and i have to lock up. love you all and i cant wait to see you soon. allie get a job in mil fast so we can smoke cigs together and raid 914 every night.
o i did go back to the house last weekend and it looks so good. i am so pissed we spent so much time cleaning that damn floor bc he just replaced it. jimmy what an asshole
tt
its me im writing you from prefecting a computer lab. im in the basement lab and no one ever comes down here so my 8th hour of the day is pretty much useless. i facebook and check e-mail most of the time. although i am lonely i am serenaded by the sweet sounds of the marquette high boys choir.
how is everybody? i feel like i know more about noras life than anyone elses and she lives all the way accross the world.
not too much new here except for we started school. i teach two classes everyday and teaching is so much harder than i thought it was going to be. i have a new found respect for all of my old teachers bc it is a TON of work. and kids can be shits. i had a kid try to make himself throw up today in my class. literally stuck his finger down his throat and gaged himself... the kids a fucktard and i hate him but i would only tell you all that. for the most part the kids are adorable and so good but i have a few bad seeds. ew i hate that i am old and just said that.
probably the hardest part is i have to like erase everything i know and try to think about it from the kids perspective which is knowing nothing. its a lot harder than it seems.
otherwise nothing new. elizabeth got a promotion at work which was pretty awesome and drewbie is back hitting the streets of milwaukee with a bang. tim got him in to murphys the other night and i have never really seen him think he was so cool. it was awesome.
alright well i gotta peace the bell just rang and i have to lock up. love you all and i cant wait to see you soon. allie get a job in mil fast so we can smoke cigs together and raid 914 every night.
o i did go back to the house last weekend and it looks so good. i am so pissed we spent so much time cleaning that damn floor bc he just replaced it. jimmy what an asshole
tt
Hello from Afrique
ZUMA? Let it be known that I just screamed GWEN STEFANI NAMED HER SON ZUMA?! In an internet cafe and all my Peace Corps friends dont care and Im all alone. hahaha not, Ive found some girly girls like myself to converse about celeb gossip but I just embarrassed the hell of out myself! hahahah Im also on a French keyboard so bear with me.
Ill write a proper email soon, I finish training next Friday and I officially become a Peace Corps volunteer!
You can send me packages, the address is on facebook. Here it is-
Nora Kaitis, PCV
BP 971
Cotonou, Benin
Afrique de l'Ouest
May I suggest sending bubble wrap enevelopes? They come alot faster than boxes and the small ones are like 8 dollars to send. If you go to a post office, they will let you know what to do.
I will seriosuly love you forever if you send me stuff! The kids would love stickers and non meltable candy like Starburst or Skittles. And for me, hahahah any white girl hair product would make me cry of happiness. hahaah mousse, gel, texturizer or white girl makeup like mascara you can be sure NOT to find here.
Love you guys.
Nora K
Ill write a proper email soon, I finish training next Friday and I officially become a Peace Corps volunteer!
You can send me packages, the address is on facebook. Here it is-
Nora Kaitis, PCV
BP 971
Cotonou, Benin
Afrique de l'Ouest
May I suggest sending bubble wrap enevelopes? They come alot faster than boxes and the small ones are like 8 dollars to send. If you go to a post office, they will let you know what to do.
I will seriosuly love you forever if you send me stuff! The kids would love stickers and non meltable candy like Starburst or Skittles. And for me, hahahah any white girl hair product would make me cry of happiness. hahaah mousse, gel, texturizer or white girl makeup like mascara you can be sure NOT to find here.
Love you guys.
Nora K
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Hello my name is Madame Nora
A more pressing question- why the fuck am i only one posting on this blog? Im in Africa people, give me something so I can remember my former life!
T, if you think its weird to be known as “Miss Kaczmarek”, well over here I’m “Madame Nora”! Totally odd. At any given day, I have about 50 children charging at me screaming; “Madame Nora! Madame Nora! Ca va?” and then they try to carry my book bag for me. They also pick me flowers and bring them to me or if I drop a pencil or something, I have five little boys diving for it! It’s so freaking cute and my kids are so adorable and smart I just love them!
I’ve already started teaching. Peace Corps just throws you fucking in- its unbelievable. We do in nine weeks what people do in two years of school. It’s also incredible. You would never believe that some of the volunteers just started teaching two weeks ago. This week, I have to plan to teach for two hours a day, 4 times a week- really hard when my days usually go from 7-7 and then I have to go home and lesson plan. We’re teaching free summer school right now- basically Peace Corps advertises free English lessons taught by Yovos, and the children just show up. The kids are amazing. Amazing! They’re so freaking cute and so good. They say the cutest things like; “I want to eat my family.” And you have to not laugh and say; “You mean you want to eat WITH your family?”. When we grade tests, we literally spend two hours just hysterically laughing at their English mistakes. They’re so cute! Hahaha I’m teaching my kids how to sing “Umbrella”- which they just love. Ella-ella-ey-ey-ey. I videotaped it and I’ll put it up as soon as I get a good internet connection! It’s adorable! Plus you’ll get to see an African classroom- my kids have no books, two notebooks and a pencil. That’s it.
Actually Teresa, I do think the urban poor in Africa is comparable to the urban poor in the US. I mean, poverty is poverty. I mean, its still Africa- the “very poor” are on a completely different level. I went to my first African slum the other day and it was just awful. So sad. But there are rich people here and there are poor people here, and poor people all over the world feel the exact same way. I just think the US is a lot more dangerous- although it gets kind of spooky at night, I rarely feel unsafe here.
Africa is still great, although the food is kind of wearing on me. One more day of millet porridge and I may shoot myself. And the worst part about it is my family is so excited to give it to me, so I have to pretend to like it. Also they serve super spicy dishes that makes my nose run and my eyes water. Luckily we’ve all discovered peanut butter, pineapples and fried turkey- which is all amazing. Hahaha there is an upside- we’re all dropping weight like mad. The guys especially- two have lost about 20 lbs! I’m pissed b/c my boobs are getting smaller.
I officially become a volunteer on September 5. We’re having a huge party for our swear-in ceremony and the President of Benin is coming! Yay! It may seriously be the proudest day of my life. Then I leave for my village, Biro, on September 7 and start my two years of service. During the first three months, we’re on what we like to call “lockdown”. We cannot leave the village for more than a day for three months, until Thanksgiving. Hahaha so don’t expect to really hear form me- I’ll be lost in the African bush!
I’m so glad I did Peace Corps. I can’t say enough good things about the organization. I can honestly and genuinely say we do good things over here, I promise. We’re not just wasting tax dollars! Plus, I really like Africa! I’m also becoming really close with my fellow volunteers, they’re really amazing. Keep the updates coming, I have absolutely no idea what the hell is happening on the other side of the Atlantic. Send me letters and packages and come visit!
Love, Nora
T, if you think its weird to be known as “Miss Kaczmarek”, well over here I’m “Madame Nora”! Totally odd. At any given day, I have about 50 children charging at me screaming; “Madame Nora! Madame Nora! Ca va?” and then they try to carry my book bag for me. They also pick me flowers and bring them to me or if I drop a pencil or something, I have five little boys diving for it! It’s so freaking cute and my kids are so adorable and smart I just love them!
I’ve already started teaching. Peace Corps just throws you fucking in- its unbelievable. We do in nine weeks what people do in two years of school. It’s also incredible. You would never believe that some of the volunteers just started teaching two weeks ago. This week, I have to plan to teach for two hours a day, 4 times a week- really hard when my days usually go from 7-7 and then I have to go home and lesson plan. We’re teaching free summer school right now- basically Peace Corps advertises free English lessons taught by Yovos, and the children just show up. The kids are amazing. Amazing! They’re so freaking cute and so good. They say the cutest things like; “I want to eat my family.” And you have to not laugh and say; “You mean you want to eat WITH your family?”. When we grade tests, we literally spend two hours just hysterically laughing at their English mistakes. They’re so cute! Hahaha I’m teaching my kids how to sing “Umbrella”- which they just love. Ella-ella-ey-ey-ey. I videotaped it and I’ll put it up as soon as I get a good internet connection! It’s adorable! Plus you’ll get to see an African classroom- my kids have no books, two notebooks and a pencil. That’s it.
Actually Teresa, I do think the urban poor in Africa is comparable to the urban poor in the US. I mean, poverty is poverty. I mean, its still Africa- the “very poor” are on a completely different level. I went to my first African slum the other day and it was just awful. So sad. But there are rich people here and there are poor people here, and poor people all over the world feel the exact same way. I just think the US is a lot more dangerous- although it gets kind of spooky at night, I rarely feel unsafe here.
Africa is still great, although the food is kind of wearing on me. One more day of millet porridge and I may shoot myself. And the worst part about it is my family is so excited to give it to me, so I have to pretend to like it. Also they serve super spicy dishes that makes my nose run and my eyes water. Luckily we’ve all discovered peanut butter, pineapples and fried turkey- which is all amazing. Hahaha there is an upside- we’re all dropping weight like mad. The guys especially- two have lost about 20 lbs! I’m pissed b/c my boobs are getting smaller.
I officially become a volunteer on September 5. We’re having a huge party for our swear-in ceremony and the President of Benin is coming! Yay! It may seriously be the proudest day of my life. Then I leave for my village, Biro, on September 7 and start my two years of service. During the first three months, we’re on what we like to call “lockdown”. We cannot leave the village for more than a day for three months, until Thanksgiving. Hahaha so don’t expect to really hear form me- I’ll be lost in the African bush!
I’m so glad I did Peace Corps. I can’t say enough good things about the organization. I can honestly and genuinely say we do good things over here, I promise. We’re not just wasting tax dollars! Plus, I really like Africa! I’m also becoming really close with my fellow volunteers, they’re really amazing. Keep the updates coming, I have absolutely no idea what the hell is happening on the other side of the Atlantic. Send me letters and packages and come visit!
Love, Nora
Friday, August 15, 2008
hello my name is miss kaczmarek
hey biotches!
so just got back in milwuakee this week... friday to be exact and have been getting situated with the whole working at a boys high-school/ living with boys thing. now nora i dont know if your sense of humor has changed at all and if it has you might find this offensive but know im kidding... kinda. so my life and noras are somewhat similar. i feel as though living on 35th and michigan i have a constant looking glass in to the day to day of nora e. kaitis. there are people everywhere, all over the streets. babies are constantly crying. weird dogs also roam the streets and people stare at me everywhere i go like they have never seen a white person before. besides having electricity and running water i would say we are on even levels. so basically nora you could have just volunteered with me and it would have been like you moved to africa without really moving so far away. (again im kidding i dont actually think 35th and mich is the same as africa... but its pretty damn close)
we had our first meeting on monday- basic orientation. i got a tour of the school and it is massive. georgie calls about 4 times a day which for those of you who know georgeann know thats pretty standard. tim has been awesome and has been helping me a lot with moving and stuff and especially bc i have been having some panic attacks. you may ask what am i panicking about. i will tell you- almost everything (i fell like im turning in the georgie). so i was told we could move in to the house anytime last week. i get there friday along with thomas and georgeann bc heaven forbid i do something by myself. go to the house and it turns out all of the volunteers from last year are still living here meaning there is no room to move in to. so we move my stuff in to the front living room. so they still havent moved out by monday and administration finds out and gets pissed. well they tell them all to leave so they move out of their rooms but are currently living on our couches. so there is shit everywhere. boys shit and it smells and is gross. ladies i thought our house was bad- this is a whole new bad. i have never appreciated 914 more. so that house was old but at least was kinda cleaned when we moved in... you know there were blinds on the windows and they didnt have cob webs on them. well this house is old and is gross. the windows are like gray from god knows what and there are no blinds so i have to have to hide in the corners of my room to change. the good thing about the house is it is huge and its free. my room is gigantic but i think i may be moving to a different one.
so they clearly have no idea what to do with a girl. this whole us living together thing is really freaking out the administration since it is a catholic school but there are only two bathrooms and there now are going to be 4 of us so they are really up the creek. class starts next week so hopefully they will have everything figured out by then but thats a whole new level of things for me to freak out about. the kids im living with are superfreak geniuses and i have never felt dumber in my life. we kind of al tip toe around eachother bc its so awkward to be here but its getting better. i found out one of the kids also quit smoking at graduation so he and i have daily cigs on one of our porches (we have like 4). he likes to say he is lighting up a prayer candle and i think its a great way to think about it. so andy (he is my cig buddy) and i have bonded over our love for nicotine, tar, and cancer. ill let all you chicas know how class goes. i basically almost shit my pants thinking about it every night.
o so... the whole madden and bridget thing is crazzzzyyyyy. when i was in chitown two weekends ago for lolla i saw him and was talking to him and asked him how his life was. he responded not good. my drunk dumb ass forgetting about all that had happened asked him why. well he proceeded to tell me he was jobless and living with his parents. so i responded o thats not so bad so am i. well he countered with a big fat o did you also have your girlfriend go to europe and fall in love with a teenager and leave you? and i felt like the biggest idiot in the world. he was saracastic and seemed pretty ok about it but you could tell he was just pissed and hurt. that is nutso.
al im pissed we didnt see eachother last weekend. sorry about friday i got real drunk and went home real early and then monday everything ran late. call me and let me know the next time you are coming to this fair city.
mil girls- im baaack so if you read this today call me about tonight or i will call you. my smoking buddy (andy) has a friend whos dad apparently owns wolskis so he is going there tonight. i would be up for a little wolskis if anyone else is... o and tim and i were talking about how we need to go to bryants soon which is my friends, a must! and you must come over here some night to see the shithole i call home and drink and play. the house is huge so everyone will fit.
love you bitches and write some fun gossip on here... i miss you all so much and it makes me sad living in this house bc it makes me think of college.
love,
miss kaczmarek (thats my teaching name... how weird is that)
so just got back in milwuakee this week... friday to be exact and have been getting situated with the whole working at a boys high-school/ living with boys thing. now nora i dont know if your sense of humor has changed at all and if it has you might find this offensive but know im kidding... kinda. so my life and noras are somewhat similar. i feel as though living on 35th and michigan i have a constant looking glass in to the day to day of nora e. kaitis. there are people everywhere, all over the streets. babies are constantly crying. weird dogs also roam the streets and people stare at me everywhere i go like they have never seen a white person before. besides having electricity and running water i would say we are on even levels. so basically nora you could have just volunteered with me and it would have been like you moved to africa without really moving so far away. (again im kidding i dont actually think 35th and mich is the same as africa... but its pretty damn close)
we had our first meeting on monday- basic orientation. i got a tour of the school and it is massive. georgie calls about 4 times a day which for those of you who know georgeann know thats pretty standard. tim has been awesome and has been helping me a lot with moving and stuff and especially bc i have been having some panic attacks. you may ask what am i panicking about. i will tell you- almost everything (i fell like im turning in the georgie). so i was told we could move in to the house anytime last week. i get there friday along with thomas and georgeann bc heaven forbid i do something by myself. go to the house and it turns out all of the volunteers from last year are still living here meaning there is no room to move in to. so we move my stuff in to the front living room. so they still havent moved out by monday and administration finds out and gets pissed. well they tell them all to leave so they move out of their rooms but are currently living on our couches. so there is shit everywhere. boys shit and it smells and is gross. ladies i thought our house was bad- this is a whole new bad. i have never appreciated 914 more. so that house was old but at least was kinda cleaned when we moved in... you know there were blinds on the windows and they didnt have cob webs on them. well this house is old and is gross. the windows are like gray from god knows what and there are no blinds so i have to have to hide in the corners of my room to change. the good thing about the house is it is huge and its free. my room is gigantic but i think i may be moving to a different one.
so they clearly have no idea what to do with a girl. this whole us living together thing is really freaking out the administration since it is a catholic school but there are only two bathrooms and there now are going to be 4 of us so they are really up the creek. class starts next week so hopefully they will have everything figured out by then but thats a whole new level of things for me to freak out about. the kids im living with are superfreak geniuses and i have never felt dumber in my life. we kind of al tip toe around eachother bc its so awkward to be here but its getting better. i found out one of the kids also quit smoking at graduation so he and i have daily cigs on one of our porches (we have like 4). he likes to say he is lighting up a prayer candle and i think its a great way to think about it. so andy (he is my cig buddy) and i have bonded over our love for nicotine, tar, and cancer. ill let all you chicas know how class goes. i basically almost shit my pants thinking about it every night.
o so... the whole madden and bridget thing is crazzzzyyyyy. when i was in chitown two weekends ago for lolla i saw him and was talking to him and asked him how his life was. he responded not good. my drunk dumb ass forgetting about all that had happened asked him why. well he proceeded to tell me he was jobless and living with his parents. so i responded o thats not so bad so am i. well he countered with a big fat o did you also have your girlfriend go to europe and fall in love with a teenager and leave you? and i felt like the biggest idiot in the world. he was saracastic and seemed pretty ok about it but you could tell he was just pissed and hurt. that is nutso.
al im pissed we didnt see eachother last weekend. sorry about friday i got real drunk and went home real early and then monday everything ran late. call me and let me know the next time you are coming to this fair city.
mil girls- im baaack so if you read this today call me about tonight or i will call you. my smoking buddy (andy) has a friend whos dad apparently owns wolskis so he is going there tonight. i would be up for a little wolskis if anyone else is... o and tim and i were talking about how we need to go to bryants soon which is my friends, a must! and you must come over here some night to see the shithole i call home and drink and play. the house is huge so everyone will fit.
love you bitches and write some fun gossip on here... i miss you all so much and it makes me sad living in this house bc it makes me think of college.
love,
miss kaczmarek (thats my teaching name... how weird is that)
Saturday, August 2, 2008
The Life of a Yovo
REE!!!! How the fuck is everyone?! Ugh I miss everyone and our college days when we used to run wild and be drunk all the time hahahaa. My life here is ridiculous, you're literally a two-year old baby all over again. You don't know how to feed yourself, how to wash your own clothes, how to use a latrine. I'm pretty sure any African I've come in contact with thinks I'm the world's biggest ditz, which I totally am! Peace Corps is a blast, and I'm very happy here. Basically Peace Corps is like a small college, all over again.
So right now I’m hanging out at the Peace Corps workstation in Parakou, a big city in the middle of Benin. There are three workstations in Benin, and basically they’re hostels for volunteers with 25 beds, TV room, library, kitchen, SHOWERS, and very slow and unreliable internet access. It’s awesome! Basically a college dorm all over again and we can stay here whenever we want. It’s also where we have Thanksgiving and things like that.
This weekend I left Porto-Novo for site visits to the village I’ll be living at for the next two years! My village is called Biro, and it’s a tiny village in the countryside. I’ll be teaching at the school in Biro. So, we met our school directors or our bosses, and he took us up to our villages. OMG you guys. Hahahah what the fuck to say about Biro.
The road leading to Biro is not paved, all dirt road!
It is an itty-bitty village right in the middle of the countryside
I don’t have a postmate! I’m the only white person in the village!
Its in the middle of the goddamn jungle. I am not kidding. Lush, green forest as far as the eye can see, hills, and mist!
It’s so freaking beautiful it would seriously move you to tears!
Anyway, so literally imagine ME, Nora E. Kaitis, in an African village. With no running water, that means bucket showers (which really isn’t that bad) and barely any electricity. Hahahah can you imagine how retarded I am there? Luckily there’s a Catholic Mission across the street from me so I’m hoping to become friends with them and use their electricity and showers hahahah.
So I stayed in the village with my neighbors, who is this really cute young couple and their adorable baby daughter. This is roughing it people! Latrine, no running water, minimal electricity, bucket showers! My host dad in the village, Soule, is apparently a big deal in the region, and he took me to his cow farm that he owns. Um the strangest experience of my life. He takes me to his cow farm deep in the jungle on his motorcycle where I’m greeted by about 25 Africans, wildly talking in Bariba, the native language. They grab a seat for me and I sit down, and basically I had about 25 Africans staring at me and screaming in a foreign language while I’m sitting at this cow farm in the middle of Africa. Hahahaha so fucking weird! Two babies immediately burst into tears at the sight of me, because I am one of the only white people that have ever seen, if not the only white person. As the people are wildly speaking Bariba and smiling at me, a little girl gets pushed to the front by her mom. She must have gone to school so she was able to say a few words to me in French, but she was mortified. Hahaha It was truly the strangest experience of my life.
Anyway, my village though is so freaking beautiful I can’t even describe it. We’re talking lush, green jungle and hills with mist! The are millions of trails of red dirt, so I can’t wait to take my mountain bike out and go around! There’s also goats, chickens and anorexic cows everywhere. Naked black babies run through the streets and there are girls selling stuff piled on their heads. At night, every star in the sky is out and it’s so cool! The people are really sweet. They stop and stare at you but if you smile at a kid, I swear you’ve made them the happiest in the world.
I don’t have a postmate (I am the only white person in my village), but my closest volunteer is about 16 miles away in the bigger city of Nikki. I’ve met him once, his name is Ryan and he’s this total hippy from Colorado. He has long blond hair and a shaggy beard. He works in the business sector, helping the women’s groups produce shea butter. Do you guys know shea butter? It’s a really good lotion used in a lot of cosmetics, and they produce it here. However, like most things in Africa, its too time-consuming to produce to actually be profitable. Anyway, there are a lot of companies, like L’Oreal, that will use shea butter from West Africa for their philanthropic products. So anyway, he works with the women and the shea butter, and I can’t wait to get involved with that!
There’s also another American near me- he was a volunteer ten years ago that decided never to leave. He adopted two orphans and fluently speaks Bariba. Anyway, apparently he’s a great guy to know and I’ll definitely be doing projects with him.
In case you’re worried for my safety, the Akandes called me three times and texted me twice. Hahaha I know if I’m ever in trouble, Papa Akande would be on the first bus up here to raise hell! My sister, Diana, who is drop-dead gorgeous, was in a beauty pageant this weekend! I’m so upset I couldn’t go because I was on post visit! Anyway, she won second place!
Hope all is well with everyone. I hear pics of the Messiah twins come out on Sunday! Ree! Keep me updated!
-Nora
So right now I’m hanging out at the Peace Corps workstation in Parakou, a big city in the middle of Benin. There are three workstations in Benin, and basically they’re hostels for volunteers with 25 beds, TV room, library, kitchen, SHOWERS, and very slow and unreliable internet access. It’s awesome! Basically a college dorm all over again and we can stay here whenever we want. It’s also where we have Thanksgiving and things like that.
This weekend I left Porto-Novo for site visits to the village I’ll be living at for the next two years! My village is called Biro, and it’s a tiny village in the countryside. I’ll be teaching at the school in Biro. So, we met our school directors or our bosses, and he took us up to our villages. OMG you guys. Hahahah what the fuck to say about Biro.
The road leading to Biro is not paved, all dirt road!
It is an itty-bitty village right in the middle of the countryside
I don’t have a postmate! I’m the only white person in the village!
Its in the middle of the goddamn jungle. I am not kidding. Lush, green forest as far as the eye can see, hills, and mist!
It’s so freaking beautiful it would seriously move you to tears!
Anyway, so literally imagine ME, Nora E. Kaitis, in an African village. With no running water, that means bucket showers (which really isn’t that bad) and barely any electricity. Hahahah can you imagine how retarded I am there? Luckily there’s a Catholic Mission across the street from me so I’m hoping to become friends with them and use their electricity and showers hahahah.
So I stayed in the village with my neighbors, who is this really cute young couple and their adorable baby daughter. This is roughing it people! Latrine, no running water, minimal electricity, bucket showers! My host dad in the village, Soule, is apparently a big deal in the region, and he took me to his cow farm that he owns. Um the strangest experience of my life. He takes me to his cow farm deep in the jungle on his motorcycle where I’m greeted by about 25 Africans, wildly talking in Bariba, the native language. They grab a seat for me and I sit down, and basically I had about 25 Africans staring at me and screaming in a foreign language while I’m sitting at this cow farm in the middle of Africa. Hahahaha so fucking weird! Two babies immediately burst into tears at the sight of me, because I am one of the only white people that have ever seen, if not the only white person. As the people are wildly speaking Bariba and smiling at me, a little girl gets pushed to the front by her mom. She must have gone to school so she was able to say a few words to me in French, but she was mortified. Hahaha It was truly the strangest experience of my life.
Anyway, my village though is so freaking beautiful I can’t even describe it. We’re talking lush, green jungle and hills with mist! The are millions of trails of red dirt, so I can’t wait to take my mountain bike out and go around! There’s also goats, chickens and anorexic cows everywhere. Naked black babies run through the streets and there are girls selling stuff piled on their heads. At night, every star in the sky is out and it’s so cool! The people are really sweet. They stop and stare at you but if you smile at a kid, I swear you’ve made them the happiest in the world.
I don’t have a postmate (I am the only white person in my village), but my closest volunteer is about 16 miles away in the bigger city of Nikki. I’ve met him once, his name is Ryan and he’s this total hippy from Colorado. He has long blond hair and a shaggy beard. He works in the business sector, helping the women’s groups produce shea butter. Do you guys know shea butter? It’s a really good lotion used in a lot of cosmetics, and they produce it here. However, like most things in Africa, its too time-consuming to produce to actually be profitable. Anyway, there are a lot of companies, like L’Oreal, that will use shea butter from West Africa for their philanthropic products. So anyway, he works with the women and the shea butter, and I can’t wait to get involved with that!
There’s also another American near me- he was a volunteer ten years ago that decided never to leave. He adopted two orphans and fluently speaks Bariba. Anyway, apparently he’s a great guy to know and I’ll definitely be doing projects with him.
In case you’re worried for my safety, the Akandes called me three times and texted me twice. Hahaha I know if I’m ever in trouble, Papa Akande would be on the first bus up here to raise hell! My sister, Diana, who is drop-dead gorgeous, was in a beauty pageant this weekend! I’m so upset I couldn’t go because I was on post visit! Anyway, she won second place!
Hope all is well with everyone. I hear pics of the Messiah twins come out on Sunday! Ree! Keep me updated!
-Nora
Friday, July 18, 2008
Ok half of my last post never posted b/c duh, I live in West Africa where the internet is horrid. I'm going to continue my latest blog.
I’ve seriously lived five lives since arriving in Africa. The other day I had a feast straight out of Fear Factor! Todd’s family and my family took us out to lunch for traditional African food. Dear Jesus. Third-world madness! But you have to grin and bear it. I looked away from the flies everywhere and the spiders on the wall and dug in. I had zero clue what I was eating. One was a weird brown stew, the other was a weird red stew and then fried cheese in red sauce. The meat was unidentifiable, although I did hear “mouton” which means either “goat” or “sheep” here. The goats run around here and eat the garbage, so I did not want to know anything of the mystery meat in this stew. Well, I ate it. The Beninese eat with their hands which is crazy. So anyway, the cheese was really good and me and Todd had our Fear Factor moment haha. I posted pictures and if you can identify anything in this food, be my guest!
When I hear my family talking loudly to each other in Yoruba in the next room or I see naked African babies running around, it’s such a trip to be like; “Oh my God. I am in goddamn Africa!”. But I genuinely like it here. It makes me sad to think that Americans have horrible stereotypes of Africans as sex-crazed AIDS patients running around stabbing each other in squalor. It’s totally not true. There’s so much more to this place and pictures really do not do it justice. Hahaha I’m turning into a Peace Corps hippie.
As I’m typing this, I totally realize I’m losing my English skills as well! I spend so much of my day speaking French that I’m really becoming fluent. Hahaha but West African French has such a different accent it makes me laugh! My language school in Paris would literally weep. Sometimes, when I get mad at my language teacher I whip out my best Parisian French just to spite her hahaha.
So what’s happening in the US? I’m a little worried because the BANK OF AFRICA just stopped accepting American dollars, which if that isn’t an indicator your economy is going to shit, I don’t know what is. Also, the Beninese are obsessed with Barack Obama because he’s half-African and they love Michelle as well. When I met my family, the first thing they did was ask me about Barack and show me pictures of Michelle! I think it would be a really great thing for Africa to see an African in power of the richest country of world. He has to win!
Love the gossip- Kaye and Jacobs- totally weird, and are we sure Moser hasn't killed them both? Allie I can't wait to share a bed with you again and kick you into the wall. Oh and by the way, sorry if it takes me a long time to respond to questions, I have to type my emails out the night before and just send them off when I get to internet, otherwise the stupid computers freeze or whatnot.
-Nora
PS- Teresa this country is calling your name. A) the biggest celebrity here is Celine Dion, singing her stupid heart out in French and B) Guess what they watch over here via satellite TV from Nigeria? MEXICAN SOAP OPERAS DUBBED IN ENGLISH! I’m in heaven! Hahahaha and they’re just as stupid as you think they would be.
I’ve seriously lived five lives since arriving in Africa. The other day I had a feast straight out of Fear Factor! Todd’s family and my family took us out to lunch for traditional African food. Dear Jesus. Third-world madness! But you have to grin and bear it. I looked away from the flies everywhere and the spiders on the wall and dug in. I had zero clue what I was eating. One was a weird brown stew, the other was a weird red stew and then fried cheese in red sauce. The meat was unidentifiable, although I did hear “mouton” which means either “goat” or “sheep” here. The goats run around here and eat the garbage, so I did not want to know anything of the mystery meat in this stew. Well, I ate it. The Beninese eat with their hands which is crazy. So anyway, the cheese was really good and me and Todd had our Fear Factor moment haha. I posted pictures and if you can identify anything in this food, be my guest!
When I hear my family talking loudly to each other in Yoruba in the next room or I see naked African babies running around, it’s such a trip to be like; “Oh my God. I am in goddamn Africa!”. But I genuinely like it here. It makes me sad to think that Americans have horrible stereotypes of Africans as sex-crazed AIDS patients running around stabbing each other in squalor. It’s totally not true. There’s so much more to this place and pictures really do not do it justice. Hahaha I’m turning into a Peace Corps hippie.
As I’m typing this, I totally realize I’m losing my English skills as well! I spend so much of my day speaking French that I’m really becoming fluent. Hahaha but West African French has such a different accent it makes me laugh! My language school in Paris would literally weep. Sometimes, when I get mad at my language teacher I whip out my best Parisian French just to spite her hahaha.
So what’s happening in the US? I’m a little worried because the BANK OF AFRICA just stopped accepting American dollars, which if that isn’t an indicator your economy is going to shit, I don’t know what is. Also, the Beninese are obsessed with Barack Obama because he’s half-African and they love Michelle as well. When I met my family, the first thing they did was ask me about Barack and show me pictures of Michelle! I think it would be a really great thing for Africa to see an African in power of the richest country of world. He has to win!
Love the gossip- Kaye and Jacobs- totally weird, and are we sure Moser hasn't killed them both? Allie I can't wait to share a bed with you again and kick you into the wall. Oh and by the way, sorry if it takes me a long time to respond to questions, I have to type my emails out the night before and just send them off when I get to internet, otherwise the stupid computers freeze or whatnot.
-Nora
PS- Teresa this country is calling your name. A) the biggest celebrity here is Celine Dion, singing her stupid heart out in French and B) Guess what they watch over here via satellite TV from Nigeria? MEXICAN SOAP OPERAS DUBBED IN ENGLISH! I’m in heaven! Hahahaha and they’re just as stupid as you think they would be.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
