I am officially a [homeless] volunteer!

First thing- Yes, I am remaining healthy besides my daily intake of exhaust ;-)
Things are interesting for me at the moment one could say. I am well but have a little problem- I am without a house. I:m going to leave you hanging for a moment and back up since the last blog. Our swear-in
ceremony was our graduation after finishing training, and included the new US ambassador and other important speakers. Everything went very nicely. We took our oath and then partied all day.
Two days later I am at post but my house was not and is still not today ready because of complications with the city government. So for two weeks I stayed with a host family I had already known. Things were fine but PC decided, and I, that it is getting ridiculous and I need my privacy. They are working really swiftly to get this resolved asap and since yesterday I am staying in a hotel in Cotonou. Those first two weeks in Avrankou were good though - I studied lots of French with my host brothers, met people in the community, did a few things with my NGO, and ate really well.
Now here in Cotonou I am hanging out with other volunteers (here for various reasons), running errands, meeting new people, and buying small things for the future house. I have also been spending time also with my facilitators André and Emilie, and have seen where they teach here in the city.

While in Avrankou, I will be coaching basketball and handball teams additionally. So that is exciting news for me. I am replacing a volunteer who finished three months ago and am receiving some of her projects- which is great of course. I love my NGO and the staff, as well as some volunteers from Japan whom I met recently. Had a great conversation with office on polygamy that produced a few laughs. Everyone is really pretty open-minded and enjoy hearing my crazy ideas and opinions in my French. You cannot imagine how funny it is, and I just laugh at myself along with them and it makes for a good time.

I have already spoken in French at a ceremony for young graduates of a class that eventually I may be teaching. I introduced myself, congratulated the students, and then ended up (just about) MCing the rest of the ceremony in French in front of 50-60 parents
and guests - if that isnt good practice, what is? I also met with a women,s groupement in a small, nearby village whom I will do some work with and hopefully gain some additional grant money for them as my predecessor did. I will try to write again soon. Hope everything is great! Love, Sara