Life with a host family is easier and harder than I thought. I have never lived in a shared space this long. Even with my previous adventures, I had some uncomfortable living conditions but it has only been for a short time.
My living conditions here are not bad at all, in fact, it's much better than half of the hostels I have stayed in. My house is spacious and my family gives me space when I need it. My sisters love playing Uno and watching youtube.
First observation, I watched my mom touch literal fire today to grab something and she didn't make a noise. Her hand was right in the fire that we cooked. Yes, there is a gas stove, but it is cheaper to use charcoal. Doing meals usually takes a few hours of tedious work. Adding charcoal, lighting fires, switching pots and pans over one fire that does not heat up fast. I am amazed by how people do it here. Watching my mom cook makes me tired.
Second observation, animals are free to do whatever they want. Goats roam the streets and apparently know their way home. I saw a freshly born goat eating corn in the trash. I see scraggly dogs jogging on the road and cows on the path to the hotel. Now don't get it in your mind that these animals are living with us. It's very much that when you are walking around you see some animals walking too, not just around the house and next to you in a restaurant. The animals never look super taken care of, they just fend for themselves and eat on the street or in the field. I think it's interesting how the goats cross the road perfectly fine and don't get hit by cars or motorcycles but I feel in danger.
Third observation, you can go to a restaurant with no other patrons and your food still takes one hour. It's so interesting how time works here. With peace corps staff there is no tardiness. But when I leave that center it's harder. I will be at a store and talking to a shopkeeper and suddenly they talk forever and I have no more lunch break anymore. Or today, I went to a fancier place for lunch (by fancy I mean my food cost 5,000 CFA instead of 500 CFA so around $7-10) for a pizza. I really wanted pizza, and this place had no other tables, first, they asked us if this and that was okay, then they said they were out of this. I swear our pizza didn't start for 30 min. It took so long that we were 30 minutes late for our language lesson by 30 minutes and that's really late here. With peace corps staff I was so nervous, we had a slight talking to but I wasn't going to just leave the food I paid for. We are so hungry every day since our protein is low and we are in the sun baking from 8-7 pm.
Fourth observation, washing clothes by hand sucks so much. The day after I labor over these clothes I sweat in my clothes and need to wash them again, it's heartbreaking. The second I get to my site I am hiring some one to do my laundry. It takes so long and I'm skimping out, I'm sure a Beninois person takes double the amount of time I do.
Fifth observation, I feel like a tourist attraction and a tourist at the same time. Everyone calls out to me, people ask for your number, people call you in rude ways or yell “yovo” or white person at you. Most of it is innocent but also having constant attention is so difficult.
NEW UPDATES
I have received my site yesterday. This is where I will he spending the next two years! I still have 9 weeks of training but it feels so real now. I am excited to take part in the life here. My village is located In the Oueme region somewhere north of Porto Novo and it does not show up on the map so don't even try. More info to come later.