Feel Free To Send Things! haha.

WE HAVE AN ADDRESS! It's the churches address :D!

Église Baptiste Du Vodje

021BP47 Cotonou, Benin, West Africa

Attention: Jamie Arseneau (DRIME)

Just smile and nod, smile and nod.

So the past couple of days have been interesting attempting to communicate with others. It’s quite hilarious actually. It’s funny how many times I have just smiled and nodded already. I’m still in the getting used to their dialect phase of the trip. It’s getting way better, but sometimes I still find myself not understanding anything someone is saying, and it’s French. Who would have thought French could have been spoken so different than what I’m used to! Saturday, one of many stories, when we were talking to our landlord, and she was showing us how to properly wash clothes, we had about a 2 hour-conversation, consisting of little talks of like 3 minutes, and then us parting ways for 15 minutes, then talking again for 3 minutes because of a miss communication, and that process repeated for awhile! The first time we talked, she mentioned something about someone who can wash our clothes, which is a total normal conversation. But then we started to not understand each other. When she came back, I swear she was talking about someone who was going to wash our floors, so I was like cool! But then I heard the word clothes, and I asked for prices, then she had a blank look on her face, then she mentioned an iron, and then I was confused, and it just went on from then. It was hilarious, because now that I look back on it, I’m pretty sure the whole time she was talking about the clothes washer person, but I went from understanding that there was a floor washer, to something about an iron, to something about someone who will take our bed sheets, then back to someone who will wash our clothes. At that point, I wasn’t even sure of prices and I remembered her asking something about a specific day...wow was that confusing! Anyway, at night time we ended going back to try and get a real understanding, because we weren’t sure if we like accidentally signed up for something haha! Again, I kept understanding ‘floor washer’. In the end, we now have someone who is going to wash our clothes, which we kind of are ‘iffy’ about, but we will tackle that subject once it comes up again! Haha.

I am so glad we have had someone from Benin with us every time we want to go out and buy something, because I’m pretty sure we would basically fail to the tenth power! Every time we have been buying something at a street market, I just end up looking at our contact and the street vendor go back and forth, back and forth, not understanding one single word. We end up with like 9 onions in our hands, when we only wanted 2! Haha. I’m pretty sure if it were up to me, I would accidentally have given them like 100$ for a half a pineapple, no lie! So glad we have our contacts!

So for now at least, to those I can’t understand, I’m going to stick to my smile and nod technique! Seems to be working so far, haha!

Traveler’s Log #21, Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Today was the day I was dreading. I hoped that it would never come. I guess I tried ignoring it, blocking it from my mind, pretending that somehow, someway, it would disappear...ya, right. To my dismay, I woke up facing my giant, my Everest, the day had come...laundry day. I grabbed my pile of laundry and off I went. The weight, and stench, of my clothes made the walk to the roof longer than ever before. It’s almost as if they, my clothes, were ridiculing me, taunting me, making me delirious, and making me think that I would never succeed, that I would never be able to come out of this. I finally saw the bright light at the top of the staircase, I had made it, but I celebrated a little too early. I threw them down, filled the bucket with water, chucked some soap in, rolled up my sleeves, and started the climb. Everest wasn’t that bad, I thought I must have been way passed half done by then. I turned around and all my courage was instantly flung off the mountain. How could my pile have gotten bigger? How can a mountain grow? But I was not going to give up, this is what the pile wanted to happen, it wanted to get to me, but I was not going to let it get to me! Lather-Rinse-Repeat-Lather-Rinse-Repeat. I never fully understood the word ‘repeat’ till that day, its meaning is so often overlooked, but now I understand; now I understand. My wrists started to tire and hurt. Was Everest too steep? I wouldn’t let it beat me, not this time. I stirred up just enough courage to crawl across the roof with my clothes pin in one hand, and the last piece of clothing in the other. I pinned it up...I won, I reached the summit! Tears of joy ran down my face. I finally had conquered it; my Everest was now no more than a bunny hill, at last...at last.

Sunday Numéro Deux!

We enjoyed yet another Sunday at our Beninese church. Fun as always! After the service we chilled for a bit until the DRIME practice started at 2pm. This was our very first practice we got to be at! We were so excited to see how the team works and be able to watch them to a few dramas. We told Olivier and Fidel (the current leaders) that we just wanted to observe the whole practice, just so we got a better idea of how things worked. It was really cool! During the practice, we were able to meet with most of the members 1 on 1 to just talk, a bit about themselves and how they got involved with this DRIME team. It was very encouraging, because they all have such great hearts for ministry and evangelism, which is what DRIME is all about, so that was very encouraging to see the passion already stirred up in the team for evangelism!

ALSO, I finally enjoyed and indulged in my very first CHOCOLATE CROISSANT/BREAD THING here in Benin. Oh man, SO DELICIOUS. I’m pretty sure that chocolate was actually made to be in bread, and to be in bread only, THAT’S HOW GOOD IT IS! Haha.

Jam Packed Saturday...Mmmm, Jam!

We got a lot of things done on Saturday! We started off by tackling problemo numero uno...laundry! We were all starting to run a little low on clothes, because we change like 4 times a day because of the weather...literally! Of course, without access to a washing machine, we became the washing machines! Haha. We went on to the roof of our apartment, because that’s where all of the clothes lines are, which is so cool! We ended up creating a little system, one person washes, one rinses, then one hangs, which worked out fairly well for all of us! Our landlord was on the roof during most of our escapade, because she was cleaning the upstairs apartment for someone to move in. Anyway, she ended up helping us, clearly seeing us in all our struggles! haha. She said “let me do it, it is too much work for white people!” I wasn’t too sure how to interpret that, but either way, she was very kind! We didn’t let her do it though, because that would have been ridiculous, making her wash our laundry! After over an hour and a half, after all the ringing out of clothes, our wrists were killing us, because you have to like ring out each piece of clothing with all your force before hanging it, a little intense in my opinion haha.

After our clothing adventure, we had some lunch, baguette sandwiches of course. Since we have been here, all we have eaten for lunch is basically bread and jam, which I love so I’m not complaining! I’m pretty sure jam now constitutes of 50% of my blood stream though (biology students, feel free to send your complaints to my email...hahah!)

Anyway, we finally decided to finish up the home vibe, by putting up our friends & family wall, Canadian flag, and map of the world! Our living room looks sweet now, home sweet home.

Having the afternoon free, Carleigh and I randomly stumbled upon this game on her computer called Jewel Quest Solitaire. It’s not really played like solitaire, but it was a really fun game. There was a quest mode that we decided to play. It started with this lady telling us about how she and her husband live in an African country, and they are both archaeologists who teach at a university. Anyways it goes on that her husband went missing, and she was going to find him. Every time you beat a level of the solitaire game, another piece of the story was unlocked. Carleigh and I got so into it! Definitely the highlight of my day! Haha. We played for a good couple hours, because the story was epic. Janna had to force us to stop playing, or else we would still be playing, so we closed it. A couple hours later, we went to play again, BUT WE COULDN’T! Apparently it was like a free trial, and this time we had to pay for it...SO SAD!!!! We were so bummed, now we will never know what happened to her husband!!!...haha. Just thought I would share that story with you guys! Haha.

FINALLY FOUND INTERNET!

Hey everyone, sorry it has taken this long for me to update the blog, we finally found an internet cafe, I almost had to use a pigeon to fly my updates to you! I just added a whole bunch of blog entries!

So I’m going to be updating my blog in chunks probably, so stay tuned! Here are some prayer requests for the next while.

- Wisdom as we look for leaders

- Ability to share vision, that will spark passion and interest here in Benin

- Communication

- Janna would pick up French quickly

- Carleigh and Jamie would grow more confident in their French

- Understanding accents

- Proper words to translate

- Patience as we learn the ropes around Benin

- Understanding how our electricity/other bills work

- How to store food, without infesting ants

- Finding our way around

- Continued health and safety

- Wisdom as we figure out the balance between developing leaders and working with an already established team

God Bless everyone! Thank you for the continual prayer!

P.S. We brought a guitar so we can have some form of musical instrument here, but since I don’t know how to play the guitar, I have been learning, and my fingers are finally starting to form calices! Yay! I have never been so happy to be in pain before! Haha.

Traveler's Log #17, The Effects of Time Change

The days are starting to melt together....I don’t know what day it is, what time it is, or even where I am. Am I awake? Am I asleep? Who knows...who knows. I seem to be in this constant daze, making the days and/or nights seem much longer than they already feel like. My roommates try to communicate, at least I think they’re my roommates, but my mind is elsewhere, where you ask? I wish I knew, I wish I knew. Waking up to the sounds of nightfall, falling asleep under the tormenting glare of the sun, my un-patterned sleep has me becoming one with the nocturnal. Who knew sleep could do this to a guy? It rewards me when I give in to its satisfying nature, but crushes everything I thought I knew when I leave it behind. At this point, it doesn’t seem like I am leaving sleep behind, it seems like it is leaving me behind in its dust, taking a lead that I cannot regain. 3PM, and I’m already falling asleep, but I can’t, I can’t give in if I am going to overcome this! Don’t give in, don’t give in...

P.S. HAHAHAA! Just if you are wondering, that was definitely an exaggeration, I am perfectly sane and know where I am haha! Even though my sleeping patterns are not the best right now because of the time change, I am adjusting very well, praise God!

Grueling route with a paradise of a destination.

So basically, THIS CITY BURNS WITH THE FURY OF THE SUN!!!!!! Hahaha! I’ll explain to you guys why I think that way, lol! So, we were talking with two of the DRIME leaders here, and Janna really, REALLY, likes the beach, so she asked them if there was a beach close by. To our surprise, he said there was the ocean beach front like only 2 kilometres away from our house! So Janna jumps up in excitement, telling us that we are now going to go to the beach every single day...since it’s so “close”.

So we decided to walk to the beach, thinking it would be a nice refreshing relaxing outing... THAT’S A LAUGH!.....lol

It ended up taking a whole hour to walk to the beach. I mean, to some of you, it might not seem that long, but with the heat and humidity, it felt like forever, and you honestly are like lucky to live! Bahahah. We finally had reached the ocean, and it was so nice! The cool breeze from the water, the crashing waves, incredible! I’ve never seen anything like it before, even though I live close to the ocean back home, it looks nothing like what it does here in Benin, so incredible! No nothing in the water, just a huge long beach with perfect sand, and water as far as you can see! Spectacular!

After all that, we remembered that we now had to walk home....Ugh! We all came home to insane sun burns (luckily mine turned into a tan woot! Hahaha), and these like intense heat rashes on our arms, almost looked like our skin was boiling on our arms haha! Was definitely interesting bahaah! But were all good now, and are probably not ever going to the beach again, unless we get a ride there hahah! So basically, I wish for a giant ice comet to come to earth and collapse on our house, and for someone to destroy the sun! Hahah! Jk. We are slowly getting used to the heat though; it’s to the point where sometimes it feels nice!

Through thick and thin, it was still a really neat experience. Walking across the town, getting more familiarized with our area, being a part of their culture, buying stuff from street vendors...suffering through the heat with them haha. More and more each day I feel a part of the Beninese culture.

I had something really honouring happen to me today! The thing with this culture is that physical interactions are seen in a different light. Here, when someone holds your hand, or hugs you, it’s a sign on respect or friendship, communicating to that person that they are respected or considered a good friend. Today, Olivier, one of the DRIME leaders held my hand! Which was really weird because of my Western upbringing, but at the same time really cool because of what it means here in Benin!...but still a little awkward in my mind, haha!

Praise Report: My allergies have not bothered me at all! Like at all, at all! Even though it’s hazy and dusty during the day, my allergies have not acted up at all, and I haven’t had to use my puffers yet either! Praise God!

First Sunday!

Our first Sunday had finally come, and we went to the church where our contacts go, and the entire, up till now, DRIME team. The whole service was in French and Fong (both their main languages here). I’m still trying to get used to the French here, I find it hard most times to understand, but I can usually get the gist of the conversation. It was really cool hearing a sermon in French, I didn’t catch all of it, but many parts I could get. The worship was awesome, everyone doing their own thing, dancing away, it was really fun! I’m definitely going to enjoy that! Everyone was super nice too, and were super impressed that I can speak French, even though our different French styles clash, I’ll learn to communicate better! Haha.

After the service, we met with all of the DRIME team there, and were shocked, there were so many more than we had thought there were, I think that there was 5 new members than when the DRIME team came to Benin in May. So that is definitely a bonus, having people super interested in drama. We got to sit down, talk a little about ourselves, let them talk about themselves, and meet each other, it was super cool. We also got to kind of share the kind of skeleton of what being a part of this DRIME ministry is going to involve. Doing that just made sure that they would want to be a part of DRIME, because so far, they have just been practicing. So we basically are stepping in to help them because a self-sustaining DRIME base, which includes regular practices, local city ministry, missions trips, hosting workshops, etc. They all seemed super excited so that was an encouragement! This first while, we are basically going to try just to observe their practices, and try to spot potential leaders, that we can train to become the Base leaders. We already have our first meeting with the 2 already temporary leaders on Tuesday, and on Sunday, the whole team will meet. We are so excited that this is already happening so quickly! Praise God!

OH YA! Another insanely cool thing is the lizards! Lizards are everywhere! When we were meeting with the DRIME team, they were just scurrying around everywhere, on walls, they are so cool! I actually saw one right outside my window on the wall next to our house, while I was showering! It was so incredible!

That night we had finally gotten everything in the kitchen working, so we finally were able to eat a real meal, which was DELICIOUS! Yay for food! Haha.

Traveler's Log #13, Cockroach battle, day 3

Our enemy has been hiding for three days now. I enter the battleground to find myself looking him straight in the eyes. It became a good ol’ western standoff. We took a couple paces away from each other, when my ears caught a sound. I turned around to find him fleeing. That coward, he was running away, trying to make this a four-day showdown, but I was not going to stand for it. I ended up trapping him in my closet, and had him cornered. I called in reinforcements so that there was no chance of my enemy’s survival. After an epic thirty minute battle, he slowly collapsed to the ground, defeated after all. Victory was ours...or so we thought!

P.S. I thought I would make a little “segment” and have fun with this blog. So every time you guys see the title ‘Traveler’s Log #...’ I will be exaggerating/dramatising random things that have happened, and putting a fun writer’s twist on things! Enjoy! (It’s really cool if you read it with a like mysterious/dramatic/Indiana Jones-ish type voice in your head, makes it more fun!)

Life as a 'Yovo'

Apparently I caught up on sleep my second night, because I slept for 14 hours! Waking up to those pesky roosters! There are some roosters in our neck of the woods, that just like run around the streets, and do their cock-a-doodle-doo’s in the morning! I think one of them is going through puberty though...haha! It keeps attempting to make the sound, and ends up failing! Poor rooster...

Anyway, we finally got to unpacking and making our house feel homey. We finally had settled in and decided to go for a walk around our area. We had quickly learnt the name for white person in Benin, it’s “Yovo”! Every time we would pass a child or a group of children they would point and be like Yovo! Yovo! They also apparently have been taught a little song (since every child was singing it repeatedly haha!) It goes a little like this:

“Yovo, Yovo, bonjour, comment vas-tu? Je vas bien, merci!”

Which translates into, White person, White person, hello, how are you, I’m doing well, thank you.....?!?! Not too sure what that song means, but it’s hilarious! The kids like us though, and people are generally nice, saying “Hi, how are you?” when we pass by and such. So we don’t feel like total outsiders, but I don’t think the area we are in, they are totally used to white people, so it will just take a lot of walking around and getting to know people, and we will warm up to them, so that we can be a part of their culture! Stoked for that time!

I also think word has spread of where the ‘Yovo’s’ live...hahah! When we were on our way back from walking, this kid passed by us and then turned around and then like directed us to our house... interesting...haha!

First Day Out on the Town

We all got up for our first day of shopping and getting random things we needed. Our contact had told us that he would pick us up at 10am. A little side note to those who are unaware, African time is a little different than what us Westerners are used to haha! Olivier had joined us at our house at 11am I think, and our contact had finally arrived at 1pm. It was alright in my books, because I ended up falling asleep till he arrived! Yay for sleep. We went out for lunch, bought cell phones, bought some random stuff from street vendors, like power bars and such. We learnt very quickly to get the street vendors to test electronics they sell you, because one of our power bars was dysfunctionalL. Then we were off to the market.

Patrice had taken us to what I guess would be the higher class part of Benin, outside the city. He took us to this place called the hypermarket, which is like a supermarket from the UK I think, so there were a lot of stuff in there that were familiar, but also a lot of stuff we were not, but that’s the fun of being in another culture :D. We saw a lot of other white people in there. It was surprising to see other white people haha. (Never thought I would say that haha!)

It ended up being really stressful shopping haha! We were never sure if the prices were good or anything because of the currency and the exchange rate, and never knew if what we were buying was any good to begin with haha! We ended up doing alright though, tried getting all the food groups. Getting meat was stressful oh boy! Carleigh and I ended up standing there for like 15 mins just staring at the meat selection. We had no idea what to get because there were not any like familiar names haha! So we just bought some random meat and it was really good! We had some good laughs in there though, including a particular situation with the apples! When we bought our fruit, this lady took it and put a receipt on the bag, so the cashier knew how much it is. When we bagged 6 apples, we had thought we just spent 60 euros on 6 apples...which is approx. 80-90$ Canadian...OOPS! We were like freaking out, but we had already picked them out, and the receipt was confusing. So the whole time, we were going around the store laughing/freaking out about our 85$ apples! (thinking we accidentally purchased specialty imported gold plated ones or something). Little side note, we had also purchased 6 pears, which were almost the same price, but we weren’t freaking out about the pears, only the apples...?!?!...I guess pears cost that much...?! haha! They ended up being normal priced apples, which was a huge relief!

We came home to relax, and ended up having another battle with that pesky cockroach! ROUND 2! After a worthy battle, that sneaky cockroach was just too sly and fast (I swear that thing has a cloak or something!)

Our Beninese Debut

Once we had left the airport, Patrice took us to our apartment, OUR APARTMENT! Driving to our apartment, seeing the surroundings, was very eye opening to see the living conditions of the Beninese people. Some lived in little shacks right on the street, some live in these small complex areas that are fenced off (fenced off as in heavy duty metal gates). The complexes though are only comprised of like 1 or 2 long houses, with several rooms for many families. The apartments, like the one we are living in, is also fenced off for security, and has 3 floors. The landlord lives on the first floor, we along with another family live on the second floor, and the third floor is the roof of the apartment which is really, really cool!

Anyway, back to the apartment. When we arrived, we were all shocked. I’m pretty sure we had prepared ourselves mentally for the worst to dampen the blow, but our apartment is amazing, fully furnished and all, kitchen fully supplied, and big beds (yay for not being cramped in a little bed for 5 months :D). My room has a bathroom in it, and the girls have a bathroom that connects their rooms. It was a huge, HUGE blessing to get this place, we actually got it for less than our original apartment, which was not furnished at all, no beds, no couches, no dishes, no nothing, so God definitely blessed us with this amazing apartment.

When we first arrived, it was night time, and we had no electricity at that point, so we spent our first night under the glow of candles (which did not help the heat! Haha) and flashlights. Once we decided to pack it in for the night, I entered my room to be greeted by our very first visitor, a huge cockroach! It ended up scurrying away somewhere, but this war is not over cockroach, IT’S NOT OVER! Those things are sneaky and definitely worthy opponents haha! Anyway, I just let it be wherever it went because I knew there would be more where that came from, so I might as well get used to it!

It was about 3am (12pm in CND) at that point and I tried going to bed (hahah ya right!) I ended up laying there for 3 hours, desperately trying to fall asleep...nope! Didn’t work. So I ended up playing good ol’ solitaire on my ipod till the sun rose. I wasn’t tired though, mainly because of excitement.

OUR FIRST DAY HAD ARRIVED!

The Never Ending Travel!

WE ARRIVED SAFE AND SOUND, and are having an awesome time. We are still in the settling in process, which also means the getting used to the time change process. Before I go any further, I’ll tell you guys how my flight and time has been until now!

Waiting for our first flight, meant, to us, that we were almost in Benin, little did we know that it would feel like forever until we arrived! The travel plan, as some of you may know, was intense! It honestly felt like we had traveled for at least a week and a half, even though it was only a 32-hour flight plan.

Right off the bat, we had troubles did not falter, since we had troubles with putting the guitar through, and names being wrong on tickets, or bags or I don’t even know, but it all worked out! Our first flight was to Salt Lake City, which was only 1.5h, so it was quick! Still, we all managed to catch some shut eye. The layover until our next flight was 6 hours, and felt much, much longer because I fell asleep at random times, so I never knew what time it was haha! We moved around a lot too, went adventuring, and ate, so it felt like we had spent a whole day or two in that airport! WE ALSO SAW THE RUSSIAN OLYMPIC TEAM IN THE AIRPORT! They were chilling there with all their gear on and everything, it was awesome!

Our plane had finally come to the terminal and we were all waiting, until we had gotten a message that something on the plane was broken and being fixed...that was a little concerning, but we are alive and well, so it’s all good! The Paris flight was a little over 10.5 hours, and I was exhausted and ready to sleep, but also starving, so I stayed awake for an hour or 2 watching this weird movie till the food came, then conked out. I actually managed to sleep for like more than half of the flight, which was awesome!

On était finalement atterris à Paris! We had reached Paris!!! I was so excited to be in Paris again, because I love it there! The whole time I was like smiling and really excited to order food in French and just be in that environment! Yay for France!

Our flight to Benin had been delayed because they had to change the plane...again, a little concerning, but it all worked out. We waited another 2 hours or longer for that, and we ended up being shuttled to our flight. It was FREEZING outside, like freezing freezing = snowing! At that point, I kind of regretted being in shorts and a t-shirt, but knew that on the other side of the flight (Benin), I would be so happy that I was wearing what I was wearing! That flight went smoothly, as all the others, and we were finally on our way to Benin! When we got off the plane, you immediately felt the African weather, it was like instant humidity and heat! I instantly started sweating, and basically haven’t stopped since then haha, but I’m getting used to it. We immediately got quite the experience, only being in the airport. It was crazy, jam packed with people (sweaty people hahaha!), all going through customs and getting our yellow fever vaccines checked out. If you did not have your yellow fever paper, they immediately took you aside and gave you the vaccine! It was intense, but gladly we had prepared our papers in advance. :D When we were all crowded together, attempting to grab luggage through like a million people, the power went out in the airport! It was really exciting though haha, we got to experience a lot right away, not even out of the airport! On the other side of baggage claims, Patrice and Olivier were waiting for us in this huge crowd of people (HUGE), so we pushed our way through and made it to the car, packed our stuff in, and we we’re off!

WE HAD FINALLY ARRIVED! :D

P.S. Patrice is our contact here in Benin, he works for GAiN, and Olivier is one of the DRIME members here, that the DRIME team that came here in May for 2 weeks helped start and train, and when the DRIME team left, they totally took it into their own hands and have still been practicing since May, which is very exciting!

3 Days Till Lift-Off!

Bonjour et Bienvenue!

Welcome to my blog!

This will probably be the best way for all of you guys to keep up to date on my adventures and stories in Benin!

So bookmark this address (http://jamieisinbenin.blogspot.com) because I will be updating it as often as possible!

I can't believe we are leaving in 3 days! So far, I've spent my day weighing all of my clothes and things I am bringing (hahaha). I definitely do not want to go over the bag weight limit because there is a huge expense to that! Eeek!

Wednesday morning is departure day, and then the long journey starts right off the bat!

We have the privilege (ya right!) of embarking on a 2-day travel plan till we arrive in Benin! We go from here through salt lake city, through paris, then in to Benin. Although it's going to be a long journey, I know we will have a blast, laughing constantly due to lack of sleep! Haha

I am so excited to get there, start experiencing this faith adventure and see what God unveils in Benin!

Please pray as we take flight and for:

- Safety

- Travel

- All to work once we arrive, so we can settle in quickly

- Smooth adapting to the culture

- Peace for us and our families

- All the financial elements to fall in place

Thank you so much for your prayers! Stay tuned for an update on the start of our adventure!

Good-Bye for now!

Au Revoir!

-Jamie