I love hearing from you!!

Thank you so much for all of the encouragement and emails you sent me about my blog.  Please subscribe and comment so all can share in the conversation.  I LOVE questions so if your comment is really a question that the blog raised or you just want to note something you saw that impacted you, please jot down a few words.  I'd love for this to be an interactive experience not just with me but with one another too:)  Let's give it a try?  My dear friends Maggie and Harrel asked fab questions by email I'd like to answer for all just in case others had the same questions:

1) You mentioned staying home because you're not allowed to ride the motorcycle taxis, but didn't your car get shipped to Benin? Yup! This answers Maggie's question too.  I shipped my car the week I flew out to Benin.  It should arrive with the majority of my household stuff in a few weeks.  I will be braving Cotonou traffic in a few short weeks.

2) Does bleach affect the flavor of the food? I never realized that you could safely bleach food. The fact that you need to is scary. It's amazing how resilient fruits and veggies are.  The solution is the perfect balance: strong enough to kill the vermin but not destroy the food.

3) Would the wedding be here, New York, or Benin?  ;) God will provide the perfect place.  I could dig a multi-site celebration, though.

Both Dwayne and Maggie asked if I started working.  Ha!  It does sound like I have a lot of free time on my hands but it's after work:)  I went to work the day after I arrived, on Friday May 4th. I think it was the 4th:)  It was all a blur.  It was a day full of introductions and briefings on security, communications, health, getting an id, etc.  I've been working ever since.  Most of my time is still spent in meetings, organizing information and meeting more Embassy folk and local partners.  More on my job in another post.

Tomorrow is a local holiday so I will hit the markets of Benin with Svetlana and her daughter. I will be armed with my camera so I hope to come back with some more pics of life around town.

A demain!