Back to the Grind

I arrived back in Benin last night. Going through the airport alone versus 60 people en mass is definately the way to go. Although the airport was still just the same stressful mob of people trying to get to their luggage at the same time on a tiny tiny conveyor belt. Everyone was pushing and shoving if I was ever to go back to Benin (fly into it) I would definately remember to carry-on. But I'm getting ahead of myself my story begins in small town Vermont. I woke up with 3 little dogs in my bed (my parents are currently dog sitting for my aunt) and went downstairs and had anice breakfast of french toast made with my mothers homemade bread complete with real maple syrup. That fake stuff is not allowed in my house, ever. We did dishes, I frantically packed my stuff. I have begun to put togehter a quilt of all African faberic which was just starting to really take shape (it's one of the cooler quilts I've ever seen, but then again i'm bias). I was really sad to put it away, but it'll be there all ready to go next year. I feel like this maybe a good way to say goodbye to Benin when I do finally leave. I then took a shower. The dogs were all nervous when I left, Woody (my dog), and I had a little talk about me not coming home and that he was going to have to pick on my parents and annoy them a little extra while I was gone. I have the feeling he understood, call my crazy. I then said goodbye to my house for another year. We drove up to the airport I took a nap in the car, I must have been really tired/ stressed I rarely sleep in the car. I then had an ice cream with my parents before I left. It was easier this time to say goodbye than it was the last time. Not that I won't miss my parents, but a vareity of reasons made it easier. When I left orginally I thought I was not going to be able to see them again for 2 years. But now it's only 1 year. 12 months, I've already done that. Another reason is that I knew what I was getting into. Latrines, bucket showers, and speaking french no longer scared me. I had lived through the heat, eaten the food, and had proven to myself that I was strong and capable enough to pull it off again. I also have a support system in Benin, when I left the first time I knew absolutely nobody. My expectations of Peace Corps and what it means to be a PCV were extreamly vague. But now that I've been living here for year, and had t wade through the Peace Corps system it was much less daunting. Another big reason why it was easier to come back to Benin is I think of it as home. This was a huge revelation for me when I was back in the states. Of course my home will always be Vermont, but now I have a home in Benin as well. People will ask me what I was doing with myself and I would say 'I've been living in West Africa' it took me awhile to be comfortable saying that I had been living in Benin, but I came to decide that if you stay somewhere at least year, are independent, than yes you can actually count that as living somewhere. I would also catch myself saying 'when I go back home' in reference to my town in Benin. I wan't ever sure if I was going to get to the point of calling Benin home, but I have and that was the most comforting thought to leave home with, that I was just going to my other home.