Almost every day after work, I tromp up the uneven dirt incline back to the goudron, the paved road, and take a right. I cross the street. I keep walking to the right just until I reach what my friends and I call the blue restaurant, although, unlike many restaurants, this restaurant actually does have a name. What’s more, the inside of the restaurant isn’t blue, it’s pink.
The restaurant sinks into the decline of the land, concrete giving way to tile stairs and white pleather couches with equally boxy little blue ottomans. Glass coffee tables to hold our equally fragile cups and bottles. Someone orders fries or plantains, still damp and hot with oil, a humble accompaniment of ketchup resting nearby, and we kick back, comparing notes about our day.
Was class hard? How is language learning going? Can you believe how little time there is remaining in pre-service training? Questions float through the air as the days keep flying by. I’ll only be staying in the room I’m writing in right now for 10 more days. I’ve practically made this space my home.
I can’t wait to go to site and settle into the work I’ll be doing, but it would be a lie to say I don’t love this space as well. It’s so nice to see my fellow trainees every day, swapping stories and advice. We’re about to be spread all over the country (although not north of Parakou, as that is Peace Corps’s line of demarcation to keep us safe from political conflict).
I’m excited to have my own place again, but I’d be lying if I said I’m not going to miss the little taps on my door, the quick rounds of reminders that I’m here and I have a family holding space for me. I’ll miss the walks home where everyone knows my name and greets me as I pass.
There are two weeks left of training. One last week of model school, which has been such a great experience so far! It’s not without challenges, as you read last week, but I’m improving and understanding more as I go. After that, the next week is essentially dedicated to debriefing the PST experience. We’ll move out of our host family’s houses and back into the training center, preparing for our moves to site.
Language was, again, tricky to balance as I practiced my French in tandem with studying English grammar rules to be prepared for class. Fortunately, I have a great language culture facilitator who took time out of his own schedule to help me prepared for our final language proficiency interview last Saturday. I think the interview went quite well! I relayed everything I wanted to get across (with dozens of errors) (but I believe I managed to correct at least half of them in the moment, so there’s that). We’ll see if I managed to bridge up to advanced high.
I am happy and engaged in this phase. I’m extremely tired, but I am continuously astonished by the growth I witness in myself and others all around me.
With Love,
Lena
The content of this blog post is mine alone and does not reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or the Benin Government.
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