A Feeling of Belonging

Whether I'm reuniting with some of my best friends for the weekend in an unfamiliar city, or whether I'm meeting new people in a familiar place, there's something indescribable about the feeling of belonging somewhere. While this would probably go in the category of “Feelings You Won't Experience” when arriving in a new country, Benin reminds me a lot of my childhood in Africa, especially the ten years I spent in Cote d'Ivoire, so I've been incredibly happy. The moment I stepped off the plane onto the tarmac and felt the thick, warm, salty wind at 5am, I knew I was home. My homecoming was especially confirmed when I got to customs, where after realizing that I had forgotten my immunization card, I was ushered into the “Health Office”, where I paid $20, wrote down my name and the year I had gotten my yellow fever shot, and went off to wait for my suitcase. I'm not sure what the going rate for a yellow fever shot is these days, or how the government of Benin is going to confirm that I really did get a yellow fever shot in the year I said I did, but if it's cool with them, it's cool with me.
After I was warmly greeted at the airport by Jules, the exchange manager, and Gaurav, the other volunteer, we all stuffed ourselves into a taxi for the 45 minute ride home. After drifting in and out of sleep for a few hours, my day then started the way any good day in West Africa might- with a baguette and a cup of Nescafe. Here's how the rest of my day went (commuting between all these things involved dodging potholes at swift speeds on the back of Jules's motorcycle):
Stop 1: Cybercafe, where the connection is so slow that I decide to use the most efficient method I can think of to notify people that I'm alive and well: update my facebook status. I left the cybercafe hoping that the news of me arriving alive and well would make it to my parents, since I wasn't able to email them.
Stop 2: Buy a pagne (a piece of material that you wrap around as a skirt) at the market so I can fit in with all the cool girls and stop scandalizing the city by wearing pants.
Stop 3: Visit the orphanage where I might be working for the next two months. The kids are great, their sanitation situation is not.
Stop 4: Buy a cheap cellphone, also for the purpose of fitting in, but also so that I don't find myself stranded anywhere due to my terrible sense of direction.
Stop 5: Back home for a brainstorming session with Jules and Gaurav on the best ways to help the orphanage.
Stop 6: Dinner at an Ivoirian restaurant, where I'm happily reunited with some of my favorite childhood dishes: attieke and alloco (Jules is Ivoirian, so he's been spoiling me by taking me to all the good restaurants in town).
Back at home I try to sleep, but give up after realizing that jet lag has finally caught up to me after I've managed to elude it over the weekend in England. So I type up my blog post, and as I'm finishing it's almost midnight, I'm covered in a light sweat because of the humidity, and I'm slightly concerned that my computer is going to overheat.
Number of white people sited today: 2.
End of day 1.

Picture 1: I was excited to find these products at my new home, since I had them growing up.
Pictures 2 & 3: The view from my balcony