Hey Yovo, donne-moi a banana...

The EA volunteers went on a botanical gardens field trip so we could learn a little about park management...i guess. But guess what we saw....a roving band of monkeys. I think a group of monkeys is called a troop, and I don't know what kind of monkeys these were but I'll post pictures this weekend. One of the small ones was angry that we weren't giving him any food, so he ran round the tree limbs about us, shaking the branches. The bike ride plans are coming along. Getting final routes approved, med kits assembled, tee-shirts designed. I hope everything works out. I was put on the list to go to the Park Penjari for chirstmas with a bunch of TEFLers so that should be fun. It is soo weird over here for the holidays....even though people say FLA has no real seasons it does have the 'not soo hot time'. Not here. Can't wait to get out of the south and head back up north for that dry air. Go Gators...I have a steep bet riding on the game. And Kelli, tell me if you ever get the letter I sent in grandma's mailbox (it will be the one with Benin stamps)...i think i sent it over 3 weeks ago, so it should be getting close. Anyway, everyone stay tuned for monkey pix on my flickr site this weekend! I should be out of internet contact from the 23rd of December to the beginning of Feb...everyone will have to wait until then to find out how my bike tour fared and have to wait that long to find out how the Gators did!

So what is it, would you say, you do here...exactly

So I'm stuck in the south doing some trainings for another week and I'm trying to get to Park Penjari for x-mas, and the 2nd year volunteer who I am planning the bike ride in Jan has lost her phone in the capital of Niger. Suffice it to say, I'm a tad bit busy. PC has us schedualed from 7:30 to 5ish every day and I have to stay in Cotonou until the 23. Travel up north takes 13 hours...so that is another day...I have to do some planning with the other volunteer before i head for the park...it is going to be tight. but most of the bike tour is planned out but its all those details that could come up to bite us if rushed. Everything is going well here in Benin. A very merry holiday season at 86 degrees and humid in the south. hope everyone has a great holiday and the Gators gain another crystal football for the mantle-piece

Busy busy...

Right now I'm writing up a report on my current post. Unfortunately I've only been installed in my new post since nov. 16. Also, during the interval between then and now I have been very busy and in surrounding villages. I also have not met my new work partner as of yet, so the work partner conference Monday should be interesting. Other than the above mentioned issues everything is going along swimmingly. I sent Kelli's gifted class a note with an example of Beninese money as well as a sample of my English club's work from a 20 year old student (who is in our equivalent to sophomore year). I had to send it to my grandmothers house because that was the only Bradenton address I knew by heart and I figured Aunt Jill would be collecting the mail while grandma was away, that way Kellie can just bring it to her class. That of course is assuming the letter makes it to the States...I mailed it from Kandi. I also tried to knit something so I could teach women how to knit little change purses from old plastic bags...but failed completely. I'll try again after I get back to post. I put some new pictures up on flickr of my AIDS awareness formation at a high school and my recent bike ride through the north with Tom.

Greetings from the great brown north...

My new post is going well. I have been very busy. I just finished a 4 day bike tour along the Niger river and near park W scouting out villages and road conditions for a large enviroment-themed bike ride that I'm planning/coordinating. This going to be a pretty large project (10 volunteers, translators, places to stay and eat for all participants, and chase vehicles) so it will be nice to write it up on my first quarterly. On my ride I went with another volunteer from my stage named Tom. I am soo glad I did because the education system in the north is even simpler than that of the south so VERY few people speak french and Tom can at the very least say hi in Dendi and explain who we were and where we could find translators at the villages we came across. I also talked to some guards from the park W about working for the park taking a consensus of the animal population there. I have to go now, but I'll be online later.