Bienvenue a Benin! July 20, 2007

A view of our compound from the car as we leave for town. It's lush and sandy.

And this is our petite chambre for now. Basically what we have are 2 twin beds with mosquito nets above, a bathroom with a sink, a shower (sans curtain) and a toilet (sans seat). Also, we don't have a light in the bathroom so we have to keep the door open so we expose everything that's going on in the bathrooom to one another. Ah, the joys of married life!






Here is the view from the top of the Peace Corps offices -- a pretty good representation of what we've seen so far.
















More to come soon...

Philadelphia-Schwartz Family Visit & PC Training--July 13-19, 2007

We arrived in Philadelphia excited to see the Schwartz family Friday evening. We traveled all day (along with Annie on the first leg of our journey to Chicago) and finally landing in Philly. We made it to the hotel just in time for a quick nap while the Schwartz's were stuck in traffic. Surprised?

We all said our hellos quickly because hungry tummies needed to be fed. We were off for a fine Chinese meal at Wok. While at dinner, we called Aaron. Sometime during in the conversation, we mentioned to Aaron to fly to Philly for the weekend. Two minutes later, we got a call back from Aaron saying he'll be at our hotel at 11am tomorrow.

Saturday, we had breakfast in the hotel while waiting for Aaron. Before we knew it, there he was standing aimlessly in the hotel lobby. We quickly pointed him in the right direction to the rest of the Schwartz family and finally we unloaded his stuff.

Then, it was off to the Historical District of Philadelphia


LEFT: Independence hall. CENTER: Liberty Bell. RIGHT: The First Supreme Court office



After a quick tour of American history, it was lunch time. How about Philly cheesesteaks? What better place in the US to have a cheesesteak than the maker of the monstrosity, PATS. So it was off to South Philly for the original! It was well worth the 30 minute wait that's for sure (even for Steve).

After a snooze back at the hotel and a tummy rest, we walked to the Philadelphia Art Museum to re-enact the Rocky film..."Playing Rocky's theme music here" ..we climbed the stairs to the top. "Yo, Rocky".


LEFT: View from the top. CENTER: The Rocky Statue at the base of the museum. RIGHT: Steve and Jennifer at the top.



Sunday, we went to the Philly zoo where we saw an array of animals, some of which will be found in our new home, Africa.

LEFT: Rhino. CENTER: Zebra. RIGHT: Penguins (just for you Jads).


There was turtle procreation going on at the zoo...


Oh, the circle of life!

After our teary goodbyes with Bob, Barb and Jennifer, we took a nap before heading out to dinner. The three of us went to a sports bar in search of chicken wings and beers for one last time before leaving the country. (Hint: send Frank's Hot Sauce)

Monday, we slept in and roamed around the streets running last minute errands before stumbling on a great lunch meal: $6 for a lager and cheesesteak. How could we refuse.

Then is was time for another goodbye. So long Aaron! A la prochain!

Tuesday, we packed up our stuff all morning before heading to training. We registered (of course after a long line and extra forms to fill out) before starting our "staging" or orientation. Throughout the course of our first meeting, we played some ice breakers, learned valuable information and participated in group activities.

Wednesday was a continuation of Tuesday except we went to a local Federal clinic to get immunized. Ouch!

Thursday was our wrap up before boarding our plane to Paris and after a 6 hour layover, it's off to Cotonou, Benin!

Next time you hear from us, we'll be in Benin.

So long and farewell! A toute a l'heure!

The Return

You're long internet nightmare is over -- we're back.

We're sorry, we really are. It's not personal and we assure you we still love you as much today as we always have . But we know it's been a long time since we've posted and for that we're sorry.

The hiatus (as we will call it) was the product of more than a few monumental moves in our lives. We bid a teary goodbye to Switzerland, leaving behind a city we loved and new friends to embark on new adventures.

Oh yeah, we got married too. In Colorado. On a mountain. Dancing ensued.

To catch up on our lives, here are the links to the following new posts:

Paris in the Springtime

Peace Corps Assignment

Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz

Schwartz's on the West Coast

Schwartz's on the West Coast--June 26-July 5, 2007

The Schwartz siblings had never been to the PNW (Pacific Northwest), so we figured why not show them a good time on this side of the country before we leave for the Peace Corps.

We picked up Jennifer in Seattle on Tuesday, where we proceeded to take her on a tour of down town Seattle including the Pike Place Market, the original Starbucks and the waterfront. From there, it was off to Happy Hour around Green Lake with some of Jaren's college friends.

Wednesday, we spent at Safeco field watching the Seattle Mariners vs. the Boston Red Sox. We started the day off with a quick drink from Pyramid Brewery followed by stadium food (garlic fries, Irchirolls) and lots of beers. Before the game started we watch Dice K warm up and Jason Vaitek catch! That was the highlight of the game.

It was a close game into 11 innings, but the Mariners pulled out ahead. For highlights click here.

After the game, we met up with Annie and Greg at "A Very Tacky Tiki Bar" in Edmonds for dinner. Aunt Julie and Uncle Rick (owners of the restaurant) came for dinner too. There's nothing like Hawaiian food on a hot Seattle night.

For more pictures of the day, click HERE


Thursday, we took Jennifer for a half day hike up to 22 Lakes, on the north side of Mt. Pilchuck. It was a great hike traversing through various terrains and we also enjoyed watching Jennifer see the Cascades from within. (She should move to Seattle for her residency).

Then, we went to the University District in Seattle where we watched the NBA draft at the RAM (Big happenings in the PNW this year with Portland and Seattle picking 1-2), drank some beers and later went shopping at Crate and Barrel where we bought a dinning room table ?!?!? Dinner was much needed at that point and Jennifer said she could not leave Seattle without eating Sushi, so we went to the Blue C Sushi restaurant for a tasty meal.

Friday, we woke up ealry to pick Aaron up at the airport. We gave him a quick tour of downtown before heading to the Space Needle and the EMP (Experience Music Project).

Hungry bellies called our names as we headed to Ivars, the famous Seattle seafood restaurant, on the pier for lunch. Then, it was up to the Thompson family farm in Everson.

At the farm, it was a Thompson (Jaren's Mom's family) family gathering. There we fought the rain and dined on fresh burgers, oysters and much more. The party lasted til the wee early hours of the mornin'.

Greg woke us the next morning with a traditional farm breakfast on the table: bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, eggs. And after a meal like that, it was impossible not to want to fall asleep on the couch.

We had to hop in the car and head back to Seattle for the evening. The four of us were meeting up with Jessamyn and Scott to see the Flight of the Conchords--Awesome show and we met them both at the dive bar/diner Cafe Mecca after the show!
Here's us all in the lobby during our "drinking break"!

And our fellow friends: Bret and Jemaine (aka: Flight of the Conchords) with Ced


For more pics and details click HERE

Sunday, we drove across the state to Liberty lake where we were in dire need of the swim. The middle of the state hit a record high that day in the low 100's...hot tamales!

Monday, we woke up and took Jennifer and Aaron skiing. Aaron seemed to know what he was doing, but this was Jennifer's first try.



By late afternoon, we needed a cold refreshing beer, so we took the golf pro, Aaron, to Meadowood golf course to hit a bucket of balls to show off. Man can he hit a golf ball far! He cleared the range, which is a pond/lake. See.

Tuesday, besides the morning we hit the lake. That morning Aaron had an interview in Pullman, WA about an 1 1/2 South of Spokane, which Jaren took him too and Steve had an emergency filling done. But, that night we hit up Trivia Tuesday at the Blue Spark. We figured we had a descent shot of winning with an engineer, medical student, 2 history majors, 2 international buffs, 1 teacher and 1 principal. Well, we were 100 percent other than the "Independence Day" film section as one of the categories. We still ended up in 4th place though.

Wednesday was the good ol' 4th of July, Liberty Lake Style with the parade at noon, followed by an afternoon of drinking, dancing and finally the fireworks.


And sadly, we bid the Schwartz siblings farewell on Thursday (after not nearly as much recovery was needed from the night before).