Living the Ex-pat life

A large group of volunteers all came to the main office in Cotonou for the weekend for a program and since there was so many of us, PC Staff organized with Expatriates to find us all places to stay. Myself and two others stayed with the Director of the American Cultural Center in Benin, which is the branch of the U.S. Embassy in charge of public diplomancy. They commonly do programs in Benin, support Beninese initiatives, pretty much do anything that provides a positive image of Americans in Benin.

We got off the mototaxi in a neighborhood that I didnt know existed in Benin. I guess there are wealthy people in every country, no matter how poor the country is, but this neighborhood could have been pulled out of Long Island, except for guards and barbed wire. Our host has been working for the US State Department for many years and has thus traveled and lived all over this world. Her house is gorgeous and filled with artisan goods from every corner of the world. But, we only were able to get in after four different sets of keys opened up four different doors. Her place is beautiful and is not only a small fortress but is outfitted with just about anything one could need and a generator the size of some houses in my village, in case the power goes out.

Going up to the second floor there is also a industructable metal baracade, just in case a small army storms the house. In Benin it is not exactly important but in other countries it could come in handy. It would be a lonely life though. She must move every couple of years and few people would be willing to tolerate not also having a job and following their spouse everywhere. Not to mention living so far away. She has a huge house of amazing things, but no one to really share it with. One of the reasons she was so nice to us. She made us amazing food, stuff I have not had since I left. I am for sure going to visit when I am back in Cotonou.

I had an interesting weekend. We went out to a club in Benin, and yes, this was actually a real club with good music and dancing. I probably looked like a moron because the only dancing I have done in the past 7-months is Beninese traditional dancing (the Beninese in village just laugh at me when I try that also), which resembles a more intense version of the chicken dance. Anyways, we had a really good time; it got interesting when we were trying to leave.

A friend of a volunteer, who lives and works in Benin gave us a ride, so we climbed in his car to leave. On the way out we were stopped by the police, keep in mind this is at 4 in the morning, for absolutely no reason other than they just wanted to bother us. They made us all get out of the car and then they asked to see our papers. PCVs never travel with our passport, but we have a PC ID card that is supposed to be sufficient. The cops were not happy and it became clear that they were not going to let us go until we bribed them. The guy who was driving said this is pretty common after midnight. Well, we all speak enough French and probably have developed an unfair confidence since we live alone in rural villages so each volunteer took a different cop and basically 5 different small arguments commenced. We refused to pay them and they refused to let us go, so we needed something to do right. After pretending to arrest the driver, pretending to take his car and drive away (the only moved it down the street), and arguing with us they eventually just let us leave. We were never in any danger and no one ever became threatening, except the guy I was talking to. I think I just pissed him off more than the other PCVs pissed of their officer. They bank on people not being willing to wait out the cops, since if you pay you get to leave right away. They just got sick of arguing with us and they were not prepared to deal with PCVs who really have nothing else to do.

We could have paid the bribe. It would only have been about $10 (the running rate for bribes here) but it is the fact of the matter and we won! One point for stubborn volunteers, zero for jerk corrupt cops.