On-line again

I have finally been able to get on-line agqin so I will try to get you all caught up. I arrived in Benin on July 8. My first impression of the country is "It's hot!" That is still the overall impression as well. I am told that I will adapt to the weather but I have been here for two weeks now and it hasn't happened yet. It is also very noisy here at all times of the day. The two conditions combined don't make for good sleeping, and I am not sleeping well. I get a fair nights sleep only every three or four days because I am very tired by then. I have not had a good nights sleep here yet. Maybe someday when I adapt to the weather.
There were 47 of us in the group. One quit in Philadelphia, not a good start, so we are down to 46. We all stayed in a convent for a few days in Cotonou. We were then split up into separate groups qccording to our work area and sent off to four different cities to live with our host families. I am in Azove with the Natabou family. We have been told to refer to our host family members as if they were our own. My fathers name is Epiphane, my mothers name is Henriette. I have two sisters, Leia(11) and Rosine(9), and two brothers, Pacoum (6) and Serge(4). My father works in the office of the mayor of the neighboring town, Applohouye. My mother works part-time as an accountant. They are all very nice and helpful with my trying to learn French. The food is different from what I am used to but very good. Much of the food is the same but it is prepared differently.
I have my own room with an attached shower. The shower is actually only a stall with a drain in the floor as we do not have running water. I have to wash by the dip-and-pour method. Dip into a large vat of water and pour it onto me to get wet, soap up, then dip and pour again to rinse. Thereis electricity in the house but not in my room, so if I want to do anything in my room early or late I have to use a kerosene lantern for light. Epiphane says that he will be putting a light fixture in my room soon.
Our daily schedule is classes in the morning form 8:00 to 12:30. We then have lunch until 3:00 with more classes afterward until 6:00. The long lunch is necessary because there is no air conditioning. Like I said it gets hot here. Even if there were air conditioning it wouldn't be very effective because the electricity goes off every once in a while. We have classes on Saturday morning also but then the rest of the weekend is free. Free time is usually spent on trying to learn French, getting together for dinner or walking through the Marche.
That's about all for now. The routine is fairly boring for now until we get posted. We are told we will know where we are to be posted during the fifth week (It is now week two). I will try to get back and let everybody know what is happening by then.