October 30 - From Africa, To Alaska, and Points In Between
Many times during my last months as a Peace Corps volunteer, my mother encouraged me to post one last “Goodbye to Benin” blog post. Most other volunteers did on their blogs. I didn't, and to be honest that's partly because leaving was difficult, in many different ways, and sitting down to write a blog post about how I'm feeling always makes me feel it more acutely. But I've had some time, so here you go. I had a good departure from Peonga, all in all. I was emotional at times (pretty often actually) during my last two weeks at post, and learned to give myself long walks or bike rides outside of village almost every day, time to think. Work continued right up to the end, something I was pretty proud of. In fact, two days before I left I was out in a rice field, transplanting seedlings with the farmer I've been helping. I also had the opportunity to meet my replacement, which made leaving easier. She came for her two-week post visit, and we overlapped f