A(nother) new home

So I've finally found a permanent home! A German woman has an apartement with an extra room, and she's willing to rent it out to me! It's not too expensive, and not too far from work either. The two not-so-great things are that a) she'll be in Germany for December and January so I'll be there by myself, and b) to get to the second bedroom you have to walk through the first. She seems very quiet and serious, so I think I'll try to take the first bedroom so that I don't bother her too much. Not that there's really anything to do at night in Cotonou, so I probably won't be out late very often, but I'm the one imposing myself on her...

What other news do I have? Last week was a pretty good week. On Thursday I went to one of the two refugee camps here (Agamé) to try to start up my support group for people living with HIV. Unfortunately my boss was sick so I had to go alone (I wasn't so worried about this but the other UNHCR people thought I wouldn't be very well received, and they were probably right). The meeting went ok but I found it a little frustrating because it seems that what people want most is money, and I don't think I can help them with that. I was thinking more along the lines of dealing with stigma/discrimination and education, but they seem to want to keep the group a secret and just be given a little extra money. I guess we'll see how it goes!

I also had a really good weekend! An Italian girl was staying at the German house (she works in Abomey and comes here for the weekend sometimes) so I spent a lot of time with her, and I went to church twice! On Saturday I had to go with work people to Djeffe, which is a town outside of Cotonou, to go to a mass that was in celebration of the 50th birthday of one of our partner organisations. It was long and hot, but definitely much more interesting than church in Canada! On Sunday my Italian friend was going to church with a Beninois girl she knows, so I decided to tag along (I wanted to meet this Beninois friend since I don't actually really know anyone from here yet). It was again long and hot :) But the friend was really nice, and I've been invited to go travelling with them in January! I'll have to see if I can get a couple of weeks off work, but it would be really fun. They're planning on going to Burkina Faso and Niger. I'd love to go to Mali too, but we'll have to see. I'm super happy I met both of them - I can go visit the Italian in Abomey, and I have a friend in Cotonou now!

Also, I promise I won't come back Catholic. There really is nothing else to do on Sundays, though...

This week of work looks like it's going to be pretty dull... I had worked out a work-plan with my boss which was to be submitted to the Regional Rep, and she decided that there was too much in it! So now I have even less to do! I asked if it could stay the same, since I much prefer to be busy as opposed to bored, but apparently what the Regional Rep says goes. Urgh. Maybe I'll see if I can go talk to her and explain that I have nothing to do? Otherwise I think I'll go crazy!! I think I already am going crazy... Our internet at the office stopped working for a while this morning and I nearly died.

Anyway, things here are essentially good. I'm very happy about the house, although a little nervous, but frustrated with work. The project that got cancelled was the one where I actually had scope to be creative and do my own thing! I might see if I can talk to the Rep and convince her that I work better when busy...

One last thing - I have a mailing address! So if you want to send me things, please do. It is:

UNHCR Cotonou
08 BP 1066
Patte d'Oie
Cotonou, Bénin

Apparently mail is pretty reliable, so I'll most likely get whatever you send.

I hope you're all doing well! I've gotten a number of requests for pictures, but so far I think I've taken two... I"ll work on that this week and hopefully post them this weekend.

love Katie