When all else fails....pass out

Well lets see where to begin....The orientation in Philly was awesome got to meet all the volunteers in my group, it was exciting to see that we all had the same thoughts, questions, and fears! During the flight to Paris I talked to Lauren, an Environmental volunteer from Reno, NV who is really cool. Unfortunately we talked pretty much the entire flight (wonder where I get that from :)) so I was absolutely exhausted! Our flight was delayed coming into Paris so we were hustled from our plane through to security on to the next flight to Cotonou....once I was on board I immediately passed out. I slept for about 5 hours of that 6 hour flight so it was awesome to wake up and be preparing for landing!!

We arrived in Cotonou, Benin around 8pm to a large group of PC Volunteers cheering for us! It was such a relief to finally get here and feel accepted!! The past 4 days have been filled with meetings on safety, health, language, project overview and cultural adaptation. I have learned so much in the last four days....we learned how to successfully ride a Zemidjan aka taxi-moto; probably one of the funniest experiences so far! I am apparently a Novice-High level of french (whatever that means), and saw a glimpse into Beninese culture with a walk through the marche. So far everything has been going along smoothly without much deviation from our intense schedule until this morning!!

Yesterday we received pictures of our new host families...our Mama and Papa, and I am so freaking excited to meet mine they look AMAZING! Apparently they both are English Professors and they have older children who live away but often come visit. Today we had to gather all our luggage (I am still amazed that I made it here with exactly 80lbs of luggage and technically 4 carry ones) and go through another meeting about safety and reporting incidents. Immediately after that we were to receive Typhoid shots....I have received many shots in my life so I wasn't worried but our first day here we received a meningitis shot and my arm was killing me and got bruised really bad so I asked the doctor if I could get the shot in my other arm. She started to tell me how bad it was going to hurt and I needed to get it in the other arm so both arms wouldn't hurt just one then I started to get nervous and my feet were sweating (along with every other part of my body) and I got my shot and it DIDN'T hurt but I was already worked up so I went to go sit down at my seat and I started feeling dizzy and knew it was already too late....I went down to sit Indian style on the floor and some other volunteers came to see if I was ok and I leaned over on one then the next thing I know I am passed out on the ground with the doctor in my face about to give me oxygen and 60 volunteers like WTF?!?!?! Seriously I am so lame......

After trying to explain that I have a habit of passing out during medicinal situations the doctor said that I have to stay in Cotonou at the Peace Corps Office in the sick room tonight to make sure that it wasn't a reaction to the shot. So recapping I don't get to go meet my host family like the rest of the volunteers but I do get Internet and AC for the night! I guess the bright side is the Peace corps do care about my medical condition and want to make sure that I am 100% healthy...even if there is nothing to be done about my mental issues :)

When I met with the doctor an hour ago she told me whenever I get another shot I have to remind them I am the "girl who passes out" so they can lay me down and monitor me.....oh joy!