A Day in the Life

A day in the life of one PCV’s training:

6 AM - Wake up to:

a.       A rooster

b.      The morning call to prayer

c.       Small children crying

d.      Your neighbor’s operatic singing, heralding the new morning

Although none of the other options are out of the question, option “D” usually applies to me as might be guessed from the specificity. Observe that “alarm clock” is conspicuously missing from the list.

7 AM – Eat breakfast (omelet and instant coffee) while studying French.

7:45 – Ride bicycle to class with friendly neighbor- co-volunteer.

8 – 12:30 AM -  French class. Organized based upon comprehension level and composed of no more than 4 trainees. Try to tell jokes in French to Beninese teachers, only to be met by blank stares and long explanations for why what you are saying is not reasonable. 

Example: When talking about the freedom Beninese people have in taking livestock and domesticated animals on public transportation, one trainee suggests that perhaps a camel might also be usefully transported in a taxi. (Attempts at jokes are often this pathetic when crossing language divides.). Language trainer, frowning, says, “No, that’s impossible”, and quickly tries to draw attention away from the apparent stupidity of the trainee. Move on.

12:30 – 1:30 – Lunch! Mad rush to the local, trusted rice-and-beans lady. Sum total for lunch = $0.60.

1:30 - 2:30 – Technical Session. May include: building more efficient mud-stoves (reduce wood consumption); gardening techniques; information session on moringa trees; teaching a sixth grade class about deforestation; bicycle maintenance; natural insecticides.

3-4:30  - Visit a local village and teach the gardeners how to make a compost pile. Imagine a group of over-zealous and excitable trainees talking to a group of rural farmers in painful French. Now, remember that none of the villagers speak French, but are receiving the information through a translator.  Successfully compose organic matter into a pile to make “compost”. 

4:30 – Ride bicycle back home to a chorus of “Yovo!”. Yovo is the “mzungu”, or “white-person” call of Benin. Here, it is even accompanied by a song which seems to be taught to all young children. Dodge motorcycles en route. 

4:45 – Study French or read. 

6:30 – Hang out with my host sister while she makes dinner.

8:30 – Eat dinner while watching “El Diablo”, the most popular soap-opera on television. It is a rejected Spanish show dubbed into French which takes place in New York City. As might be guessed, it’s my life in America in a nutshell.

9:00 – Play cards or mancala with my little brother and our neighbor. Lose miserably every time. 

10 - Read and sleep. 

Repeat the following day.