I've gotten a lot of questions regarding my daily life here, so I've decided to describe some aspects of life here:

Money: We use the CFA (“say-faa”), 500 CFA equals one USD. To put that into perspective a text message to to US costs 150 CFA, a beer is 500, lunch (with pineapple or papaya!) is 600 and my dress was 3,200 CFA. Much like the euro the bills are all various sizes and colors.

Climate: The weather here is pretty tropical feeling to me, generally humid and warm. Often enough it cools off and is great; it rains from time to time although I believe that the rainy season is nearly over. The last few nights its been raining really intensely which is annoying because its SO loud on our metal roof that its hard to sleep!

Transportation: The main means of transportation, if you're not walking, is a moto. These motorcycles are everywhere and I always forget to walk towards the side of the road so as to not get runover! You just start walking and can hail one as they pass, tell them where you're going and negotiate a price. I've been told (since I am une blanche) that I should figure out the price before taking a ride or else I'll end up paying more than the normal rate. The ride and the breeze are fun, although I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon! I've also been issued a bike, although I am not sure how practical this will be in the mud or the mountains- but for now its nice to bike to training!

Clothing: This varies region to region but generally you can buy pagne which is printed fabric and then take that to a tailor to have clothing made. I bought some colorful pagne last weekend and went to the tailor Wednesday to have a long skirt, top and a dress made- I can't wait to pick it up next week! Getting clothing made is a fun process! Here in the Central region the women aren't as conservative as I had imagined, pants, skirts, tank tops are everywhere.

Food: This is a big topic that varies between the regions so I am not quite sure what will be available at my post. But for the most part the food so far has been good. Cous cous (which is NOT to be confused with the popular pasta-like dish of the same name) is a staple. It is ground corn that is boiled into a porridge-ish consistency; it isn't bad, just bland and an awkard texture. Cous cous or the other staple of baton de manioc (an even more awkwardly textured boiled puree of cassava roots) is often served with a sauce of manioc leaves, fish, peanuts, tomatoes, okra or some combination of available ingredients. Fish, in this region, is very prevalent and smoked fish is used in many dishes. So far my favorite dinner has been fried plaintains with eggs, tomatoes, onions and hot pepper sauce—yum! The avocados here are soooo buttery delicious! Last Sunday I made guacamole and fries with Old Bay for my family- it was a big hit. Next up my friends and I are hoping to do a mexican dinner soon! Also, the fruits are ABSOLUTELY AMAZING here!! I am constantly given gifts of oranges, bananas, grapefuit and casamangas from my grandmother; its great to have a stash of fruit in my room! Casamangas are these sweet fruit that are smaller than mangoes but similar in texture and taste a bit like pineapple. I also love “prunes” which are a fruit that must be grilled or steamed (sometimes with salt) and have a tangy flavor. The other evening I was given some corrasolles (I have no idea if that is the correct spelling, I couldn't find this word in my dictionary), this fruit is large and ugly with a peel resembling a puffer fish or a pineapple. The white, milky pulp is so delicious, a bit like a coconut, and I literally giggled while eating it!
Sunday before church I went into the forest that Papa owns behind our house with my two brothers to get some oranges. Olivier scaled a tree to shake down the fruit while my tiny six year old brother showed me how to properly use a machete to peel an orange! After the oranges we picked some casamangas, mandarines and guavas- that was the first time I'd ever had fresh guava; its yummy and a gorgeous blend of green and pink! It was a really cool expperience to hang out in this incredibly beautiful rainforest-esque place and eat the freshest food I've ever had!