Saturday, March 20, 2010

Crazy Chaleur Weather

A couple days ago the weather here in the Alibori really started acting strange. Temps reached upper the 90's...which is normal, the temps should have kept rising until we reached mid 100's. Then the wind picked up for two days and kicked up a lot of dust. Finally two days ago it actually RAINED for about 4-5 mins. Yesterday and today we had about 150m of visability...the dust was so thick in the air that you could taste it breathing. I caught one of the large lizards running aroung the workstation only to find out they have unproportionaly large teeth for such a small animal. He caught me in the thumb and left two long teeth marks.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Computer online

I finally got the workstation computer operational again! It was been a couple weeks since we have had reliable internet up here in the north. The summer heat (chaleur) is coming and now the mercury never dips below 90 degrees. Even the water coming for the faucet is hot! It will keep climbing into the 100's until April/May. I plan to make strategic vacations to the south over the next couple months to minimize my exposure and heat rash. Currently chugging along on assisting Project Play to put on a soccer formation for C.E.G. students in a couple weeks (projectplayafrica.org). I received permission to us the stadium, got funding for a nearby team to travel for the match, and also helped organize a girl’s team to join in the activities. The end of service is fast approaching. Applications for upp0er level positions for PCVs have gone out and everyone is planning their next steps. The FSOT was interesting. My essay question asked for what I believed should be the U.S. policy position on illegal immigrants...I was luckier than those who got the question about the special appropriations committee! I am still harried right now by many admin issues but I will try and get a couple Mali photos up by the end of the week. Health update: My left hand is still bothering me. The docs decided to get me a CT scan but all doctors in Benin are on strike (and have been for 3 months)...we don't know when I will finally get the CT scan...maybe next week. This just means more trips to Cotonou, which I have been anxious to avoid. I have noticed that I have a higher sensitivity to the insane driving we all encounter here as PCVs.

Monday, March 8, 2010

FSOT and b-day wishes

Happy late-birthday to everyone who had February birthdays and my mother (her birthday was yesterday). I took the Foreign Service Officer Test a couple days ago and feel that I did pretty well on it. After returning to post I found out the the power regulator and fridge and computer and security lights were blown from a power surge...that is why I have been out of contact for a while. I will try and get photos of the Mali trip up as soon as a new computer gets up to the workstation.