The first boring weekend

Hi everyone!

I think I made this for going to Kenya last summer, and then never used it...  But I will use it now! 

So I'm officially half way through my first weekend here.  Sadly, it turns out that yesterday (Saturday) was this national holiday Toussainte, which is where all saints are honoured and everyone goes back to their family cemeteries to put stuff on graves (or something), so there's no work on Monday.  While I would normally love a long weekend, I still don't quite know what to do with myself in Cotonou so time is going veeerryyyyy slowly.  Oh well.

I had been hoping that the guide book lied when it said Cotonou was horribly boring and ugly, but it didn't.  I'm currently staying in la Haie Vie, which is in the west end of the city and is where all of the international people work.  There are a few restaurants and shops around, and it's fairly relaxed and pleasant.  Downtown is about a 10 minute moto-taxi ride away, and it's very flat, hot, dusty, and confusing.  Apparently most streets aren't named, and when they are named they usually don't have signs.  And while the ocean would generally be a good indication of direction, it's entirely obscured by a giant port and lots of port-related buildings.  I find it very confusing...

And hot.  I don't think I've ever been this hot in my life!!  It's hard to do anything during the daytime because it's always sunny, humid, and about 33 degrees.  I hope I can get used to it, otherwise I'll be doing laundry daily because my clothes get so sweaty...  Gross.

Hmm, I'm not sure I have too much else to report right now.  Work people are very nice and I think I'll be doing interesting things (HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence, and income-generating activities), although I think it'll take me a while to get into things because I find it hard to understand the accent and so spend most of my time trying to figure out what people are saying.  I haven't really made any friends yet, other than a number of men who reeeeally want to be my friend (and who I've been somewhat avoiding), but I'm moving from my somewhat-seedy hotel to a German 'Maison de Passage' on Wednesday so hopefully I'll meet some other people there who are doing what I'm doing.

I hope everyone is doing well at home!  I miss you all bunches.  Please send emails, as they give me something to look forward to (and I should have email at work on Tuesday).

love Katie