Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays

Hey there everybody. Well, it is currently 2 o'clock in the afternoon on Christmas Day and I am sitting in the Peace Corps Bureau using the super-fast internet connection before taking a taxi to the airport where I will board a plane to Paris to see my mommy and daddy for the first time in almost 7 months!! Wow, that was a really long sentence, but I am too excited to think grammatically at the moment. I have been counting down the days for months and now that it is actually happening there are so many things about it that are just impossible to believe. I cant believe I have been away for so long. I cant believe I have completed nearly a fourth of my service. I cant believe its Christmas (which has a lot to do with it being 100 degrees outside). I cant believe how freakin cold I'm gonna be in about 15 hours. I cant even imagine what the food is going to taste like, how clean it is going to be, and how many white people I'm going to see. I spent last night at my friend Becka's house in Vogan; she threw a very lovely Christmas party for a group of PCVs and a few friends who are visiting from the States. We did Secret Santa, sang Christmas Carols and watched from Becka's balcony as the Togolese people below lit fires in the street and then proceeded to jump through them...you know, all the usual Christmas-y stuff. In typical Peace Corps Volunteer fashion we were all sound asleep by 10pm. This morning we had breakfast together and opened our Christmas presents. For most of us this was our first Christmas away from our families, and while they were definitely missed, I think we all had fun and enjoyed each other's company. While I am ready for a vacation, I am really starting to enjoy being here and everyday I feel more comfortable and more at home in my community. The "work" is coming along, but I am realizing that most of being here is just about being here and learning about a different culture and learning about myself. Whatever else I can do along the way is a bonus. OK, on that note, I'm gonna write a few emails, find some food, find a car, and go to the airport!!!!!!! Happy Christmahaunikwaanzica! Love and miss you all!!

AIDS Ride

Let me start by saying I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post new info. Hope you all weren't too worried. The elections went as well as they could have gone, nothing eventful to report, and hopefully this will mean the return of NGOs and other aid organizations to Togo. I have been fairly busy since the end of standfast. I have had several community meetings with various groups including a women's organization, the director of the local school, and a group of community health agents. So far we are just getting to know each other and brainstorming about possible projects. My most exciting adventure of the past several weeks, however, has to have been AIDS Ride. AIDS Ride is sponsored by Peace Corps and Public Service International (PSI). Volunteers from each region in Togo get together with their Togolese counterparts, map out a route, choose sleeping locations and spend 5 days biking around doing educational presentations about HIV/AIDS prevention. In the Kara region we had 8 PCVs and 4 Togolese counterparts. We divided into 2 groups and each group did 2 or 3 presentations a day. Danielle, Kate, Aimee, and I made up one group while Fan, Alia, David and Peter made up the other. Fan and Alia did AIDS Ride last year, but the rest of us were all new. We all me up in Guerin-Kouka and started our route at 6am on the 5th. The first day was pretty easy in terms of the amount of biking we were doing, but the girls and I were nervous since we had never done a sensibilization before. For our first time I would say it went pretty well; people were responsive and asked good questions. We performed a short sketch about a young woman who tests positive, but tries to keep her status a secret and ends up infecting someone else. Afterwards we asked the audience questions about what they saw in the sketch and what they thought the characters could/should have done differently. The idea is to get people talking about stigmatization, testing, prevention and treatment. We went over the ABCDs of prevention (Abstinence, Be faithful, Condoms and the french word for testing, which is Depistage), did a condom demonstration and answered questions. In each village we had to greet the chief and at the end of each session we would thank him and present him with a T-shirt. On the way out of the first village Kate fell off her bike and scraped up her leg pretty badly - fortunately that was the only accident we had throughout the trip. We got Kate cleaned up and patched up and moved on to the next village where we met up with the other team for lunch. None of the education sessions that day were particularly eventful, but by the time we reached the last village we were all ready for a good night's sleep...that didn't really work out. We were shown to our rooms - two adjoining concrete boxes with one window and no circulation. It was incredibly hot We were all so tired, however, the heat probably would not have kept us from sleeping. As we were getting ready for bed Kate was stretching and felt something run across her leg. It was dark by this time, so we were shining our flashlights around but couldn't see anything. We lay down to go to sleep and Danielle and I both felt something scurry by our heads. At this point, of course, we have all started squealing like 13-year-old girls and are thoroughly annoying the other team in the adjoining room. A few minutes later, we are settling down and we hear David yell from the other room. He tells us a mouse fell from the ceiling and landed in his hand and he threw it across the room. The three girls and I jump up and start shaking out our stuff, shining flashlights, shrieking and laughing and preventing anyone within a 5 mile radius from sleeping. I would like to tell you that was the end of it; David succeeded in throwing the mouse out the door and we all settled down for a relaxing night's sleep, but I would be lying. Just as I was finally drifting off to sleep I hear Aimee scream and suddenly there is something flapping its wings on my face! I sit up, throw it off of me, causing Danielle to scream and roll over and wrap her arms around Kate's legs. This is when I decided I would not be sleeping inside, took my pillow and blanket and spent the rest of the night outside on a 6-inch-wide wooden bench. The next morning I kindly asked Aimee is she wouldn't mind NOT throwing any bats in my face tonight. On the second day we had three sensibilizations and due to the combined forces of exhaustion and much hillier roads, the biking part was a little rough. We made in through though and decided that tonight we weren't even going to try sleeping inside. Aimee and Danielle managed to rig up a mosquito net under a tree, but since it would only fit 2 people Kate and I slept on a mat outside the net and lit mosquito coils. I got a call from America as we were all getting ready to sleep so I wandered off to talk of the phone and when I got back Aimee and Danielle were laughing hysterically. Apparently someone had been eating peanuts earlier and there were a bunch of shells in a pile outside of the mosquito net right next to Danielle's head. As they were both falling asleep they heard a strange noise; Danielle turned on her flashlight to find she was staring into the eyes of a large pig about 3 inches from her face. They managed to remove the shells and the pig wandered away. Again, I would like to tell you that the night's adventures were over at this point, but again I would be lying. As a result of a combination of dehydration, sleep deprivation, travel and Togolese cooking, I woke up in the middle of the night with some serious stomach issues. I grabbed a roll of TP and the closest head-lamp I could find and made a run for the bushes. I was followed. By 4 pigs. In case you were wondering, is extremely difficult to squat and swing a stick at 4 ravenous pigs at the same time. Somehow I managed, however and ran out of the bushes as quickly as possible. My stomach issues persisted for the next 24 hours, making the third leg of the trip extremely difficult. Thankfully the next night I was actually able to get some sleep and we all made it through the rest of the trip in one piece. We biked a total of 80K and between the 2 groups we did 22 AIDS sensibilizations. Despite the bugs, the bats, the mice, the mud, the pigs, and the runs, it was a rewarding experience and Im glad I did it...I'm not sure I would do it again though, I'll let you know in a year :) Of course those aren't all the stories and there is always more to tell, but I have run out of internet time and will have to leave it at that for now. More fun tales from Africa to come. Love and miss you all!

Standfast

Hey all. So the elections are coming up in Togo, they are supposed to take place on October 14th, but the date has been known to change so we will see how it goes. These are the first major elections since the presidential elections that went so badly a few years ago. However, it seems that the country is going about things much more systematically than they did the last time. Also, this is not a presidential election, so hopes are high that everything will go smoothly. Just in case though, all Peace Corps Volunteers will be on what is called "Standfast" for the week leading up to the election and the week after. This means that we are not allowed to leave our villages for anything other than buying food. There is are several contact volunteers in every region and should there be some kind of emergency we would all be contacted and moved to our various consolidation points (in my case the maison de passage in Kara), and if things were to get really out of hand we would be evacuated, most likely to Benin or Ghana. No one is anticipating anything of the kind, but it is good to know that precautions are being taken. We are all hopeful that these elections will go well, not only for safety sake, but also because it would mean a lot of the aid organizations that pulled out after the last elections coming back into the country. In any case it is an exciting time to be here, and we could see a lot of change throughout the remainder of our service as a a result. Because I live so close to Kara, I am allowed to come in to buy food and recharge my phone. I do not, however, think Peace Corps would be thrilled to find me in an internet cafe. Therefore it may be a couple of weeks before you hear from me, so for the moment, no news is good news. If you would like my phone number you can contact either of my parents or Erin and they will explain the phone situation to you (after which you may well decide its not worth it). Thank you all again for all the care packages, emails, letters and support. I love you all very much. Happy Standfast!

Sorry for the delay

Sorry it has been so long since my last post, there have been a combination of factors: firstly, the Internet is often out to get me here and makes frequent and successful attempts to thwart my blogging. Also, these first few weeks have been a big adjustment and I found myself in a not-so-good mood many times and did not want to blog in said state. It was difficult saying goodbye to the group of women with whom I had become so close and rather daunting to be moving into a house on my own (for the first time in my life) with no electricity, running water, or furniture. While I am a bikeable distance from Kara my house feels very isolates, and since it gets dark by 7 o'clock here, the evening hours proved hard to handle and I was often sad and lonely. However, my furniture was delivered yesterday - one does not realize how much one misses elevated surfaces until one is forced to live without them for three weeks - and it has made my house feel more like a home. I have been trying to get to know my neighbors and have had several meetings with community members. Outside my house there is a nice little area where I can sit and read and people passing by will stop and sit down and talk with me. I have decided to start making lists of things I want to do each week, which has proved helpful in motivating me and has made me a happier person.
I have decided to devote this blog to terminology that is a regular part of my vocabulary here in Togo but which might mean very little to you if mentioned in passing on a blog:
Bush Taxis: The most common form of transportation throughout Togo. Usually these "Taxis" and broken down Toyotas being held together with duct tape and string. They are standard five-passenger cars, however in Togo, five means ten plus a chicken or two and maybe a goat. You think Im kidding. Many PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers for any of you who may be new to my blog) hate bush taxis, and I can understand why, they are hot, smelly, crowded to say the least, they never leave on time, the drivers can be (insert profanity here), and you never know if you are actually going to make it to your destination before the engine starts smoking. Maybe its because I am new, but I actually quite enjoy the bush taxi experience; granted its no London cab, but it is always an adventure. You never know who or what you are going to meet - the other day I was traveling with a few friends and sharing the cab with two Togolese men, a Togolese woman, her baby and her two live chickens in a bag on the floor. Togolese children always have interesting reactions to us (and by us I mean white people, which is probably politically incorrect, but lets try to move past that shall we?), and many of the younger children will look at us, their faces contorted in terror and begin screaming, crying, and clinging to their mothers with all their might. The first time this happened to me I nearly started crying myself; of course I am aware its not personal, but while I may not be a supermodel, no one has ever mistaken me for a monster before. But back to the bush taxi...the baby in the taxi had a reverse reaction, instead of screaming in terror, this kid could not stop laughing every time he looked at us. And what a laugh he had, high pitched giggles followed by low gurgles. Just as the crying reaction nearly provoked me to tears, this baby's reaction had all of us rolling on the floor (figuratively, seeing as we were crammed into a bush taxi and there was no room to move let alone roll). Despite the heat, the smell, the crowd, the men and the growling engine, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride and laughed until my abs burned.
Fufu: A dietary staple in Togo, Fufu is made by pounding large yams with a huge pestle until they become the consistency of cookie dough. Fufu is served in large balls and eaten with the fingers. Generally fufu is accompanied by a sauce - my favorite being sauce de rachide (peanut sauce). If you can get past the texture, which is a bit slimey, its actually quite good - unless served with gumbo sauce.
Gumbo Sauce: Fondly referred to as "snot sauce" by all PCVs, gumbo sauce is generally flavored with smoked fish (gross) and has the consistency of, well, snot. For some reason this is a staple dish here in Togo, but no matter how well integrated I become (or how hungry), I dont think I will ever be able to bring myself to eat it.
Tatas: Round houses with thatched roofs made of mud and clay. The Tatas are found in the north of Togo and I had my first visit to one last week. The people who live in Tatas are mainly of the Animist religion (voodoo) and therefore the houses are surrounded on the outside with fetishes to represent the ancestors on which sacrifices are performed in their honor. Inside the Tatas there are several rooms, some for grain storage, some for animal storage, a room for cooking, and a room devoted to animism where theyre are more fetishes as well as various animal bones and skulls. Because of the way they are built the Tatas actually remain quite cool. Those who live in the Tatas sleep in, what my friend Kate refers to as "pods," These are very small rooms which have to be entered backwards. In some of the markets they sell small miniatures of the Tatas, which I will buy and bring home to show you.
Markets: Every village has a designated market day and in each region you can find different things. The staples at every market in Togo are onions, tomatoes and yams for making fufu. In the south there is a lot more variety in terms of fruits and vegetables. In most markets you can find oranges and bananas and if you are lucky avocados and mangoes depending on the season. we are in the rainy season now so there is an abundance of fruits and vegetables, we will see what harmattan and the hot season bring.
Harmattan: This is the dusty season which is about to begin, when the winds blow the dust south from the Sahara turning everything brown. I have been told that it is miserably hot during the day, but cool at night. There was also a rumor, and I have no idea if this was made up to scare the new volunteers or not, that every 6 or 7 years the winds also blow in locusts, you know, like the plague in the Bible. Needless to say, I am hoping for the made-up-to-scare-me option...someone google that for me will ya?

OK well I am out of internet time and out of vocab for the moment. As always I miss and love all of you dearly and and always thrilled to read you comments and questions. I would also like to thank all of you who have sent me birthday packages, those I have received have been wonderful. Take care and until next time.

Birthday and more

Well, believe it or not, I made it to 23! This was my first birthday outside of the United States, one of very few birthdays outside Ohio, and I believe the only birthday I have celebrated without my family. On the 23rd we swore in and became official Peace Corps Volunteer; we recited the same oath the President takes when swearing into office. Swear in was held in Lome at the country director, Brownie Lee's house. The American Ambassador to Togo was also present. It was all very formal and official and all of the volunteers were dressed in traditional Togolese fashion, it was really quite beautiful. That night we went out dancing to celebrate and at midnight Aimee and Nori (my two closest friends in Togo) got the DJ to wish me a happy birthday. The next morning we slept in, did some shopping, slept a bit more, and got ready to go out to dinner at a nice Chinese restaurant. Because Lome used to be quite a tourist destination, there are many things you can find here that you can find very few other places in-country (including Chinese food). The atmosphere was very nice, the food was delicious, and all thirteen of the CHAP girls were there. We had a nice long dinner and as we were finishing up they turned off the lights in the restaurant; being a server myself I got a bit indignant, "are they trying to tell us we have to leave?? Its not even that late! There are still other people in here! That's a little ridiculous." In the midst of my ranting I looked up to see that a cake (or the closest you get to it in Togo), baked by Natasha and Danielle, was being carried over to the table ablaze with 23 candles. Now those of you who know me are aware that I am not easily surprised, but this caught me completely off-guard and was so sweet I started to cry. Everybody sang happy birthday as I tearfully blew out the candles.

When I was getting ready to come to Togo there were many things I was anxious about. My main worry was that I wouldn't find really good friends (especially since my friends at home are so wonderful and therefore I have high expectations). However, I couldn't have asked for a better group. I really feel a bond with all the women of CHAP and will be very sad to be separated from them tomorrow. Having a training group made up entirely of women was a bit unsettling at first, but as the weeks went by I found that I could count on each and every one of them for absolutely anything. Having a birthday away from friends and family is hard, but my girls made it great and it is definitely one for the books.

Now it is probably going to be a while before I will be able to post more pictures on my blog. The computers at the PC bureau are ridiculously fast (in Togo time) and therefore I am able to do this, but it is still a process. So here are some pics just to give you an idea of where I am and what I am doing and to remind you what I look like in case you have forgotten.

Pictures from our climb up Mount Agou and the view from the top

My host sister, Essie, who does not enjoy having her picture taken, and my little nephew Rodrigue who absolutely loves it.

My unfinished house (well hopefully its finished by now since I'm supposed to move in tomorrow) and the beautiful surrounding area.

You know those African bugs they talk about on the Discovery Channel? Yeah...they're not kidding.

The view from my back door as Rodrigue prepares to take a bath.

The three mukateers, Aimee, Nori and me (left), and the beautiful ladies of CHAP

(from left; Nori, me, Ashley, Aimee, Kate, Linda, Becca,

Alicia, Tig, Danielle, Natasha, Helen, and Steph)

My host sister and host mother came down to Lome for swear in (left). Nori, Aimee, and me with our French teacher Francine.

After all the hard work it took to get here, we enjoyed our well-deserved day at the beach.

I love this pic!

This is the sign we saw in the airport minutes before we took off on our Togo adventure. On the days when I feel as if time is creeping by and am asking myself if I can make it, it helps to remember that time always passes faster than we expect.

I miss you all terribly and think about you often, but I am also loving it here and doing my best to savor every minute. Tomorrow I will leave Lome to begin my life at post. I am sure I will be fumbling my way through the first few months and will have amusing tales to tell so stay tuned.

Until next time!

Post Visit

Hello again all and greetings from Togo. It has been some time since my last entry due to the fight I have been having with local internet. But never fear, I have emerged victorios - those juijitsu lessons must be paying off. Speaking of Juijitsu, I must begin this entry with a dedication and a fond farewell to our good friend Shannon the Cannon. Our close companion and butt-kicking colleague has decided that Peace Corps is not her true calling and has returned to the land of air conditioning and kraft macaroni and cheese to pursue her true love (juijitsu of course). While we are all sad to see her go and will of course miss her dearly, we are happy to see her happy and wish her only the best. If you are reading this Shannon, be sure to keep in touch. You will be missed, but our lives are now linked and we will see each other again.

So I am sure you are all curious to hear about my visit to post and if you're not, too bad I'm gonna tell you anyway. The ride up to Kara took about seven hours, we started outwith eleven people (five voluneers, all of our togolese counterparts and the driver) crammed into a mini-bus with our stuff (bikes, stoves, gas tanks, luggage, bathing buckests etc.) piled on top. It was the type of tight squeeze you become accustomed to in Togolese travel, in fact comparatively, it was rather roomy. We dropped off one passenger along the route before I was deposed at the Maison de Passage in Kara. The Maisons are designed specifically for Peace Corps volunteers as a place to stay if you are passing through, as well a a means to get away within region to work or relax. Since my house was not yet ready I would be staying at the Maison for the week. It is really quite a nice house, however, due to the fact that the majority of the Peace Corps volunteers in the Kara region in recent years have been men, it has taken on a bit of a "fratuesque" and is clearly in need of a bit of tidying. The drains in the bathroom dont so much drain as not, and there seems to be a slight philm covering many various serfaces, but since I have been used to living in a small room with no electricity or running water, this place looked like a five star hotel...whats a few cockroaches here and there when you can take an almost-hot shower?!

Kara itself is very nice and I was able to do a bit more exploring this time than when we were up there for our field trip. One such exploration led me down a little dirt road at the end of which was an internet cafe and a...what!?...Patisserie. Now I saw the sign, and I read the sign, and I speak french so I knew when the sign meant...but I didnt believe it. Pastries? In Togo? Dont hold your breath. I walked slowly toward the entrance, closed my eyes and stepped through the doorway. There are no words to describe my awe; I thought I had crossed into a foreign land, as if when I stepped through the door I had crossed out of Togo and into a little Parisian boutique. I couldnt believe it when I saw actual croissants and pain au chocolat (for those of you who have not had the pleasure, this is a butter, flakey, croissant-like pastery with a small bit of delicious chocolate in the middle, also a main factor in my signifigant weight gain while living in France). The internet cafe next door was the fastest I have used in Togo...I was in heaven.
We arrived in Kara Saturday afternoon and I had that evening and all of Sunday to myself. Monday morning my Togolese counterpart, Komla, who works at the disposaire (I guess the American equivalent would be a clinic) in my village, came to fetch me on his bike from the Maison. The ride out to my village is entirely uphill, however, since I clearly have legs of steal this prooved absolutely no problem for me whatsoever. Lama-Kpedah is only 5k outside of the city of Kara, but it is an entirely different world. There is no electricity, no running water, people for the most part and very poor. The houses are scattered throughout large fields at the base of a beautiful range of mountains. The area of Lama is made up of 8 small villages that share one school and one diposaire, both with very few resources at their disposal. The woman who runs the disposaire is extremely nice and I think I will be working a lot with her in the future; most of what she handles is family planning, pregnancies and births. If there are serious illnesses it is usually arranged for people to travel to the larger hospital in Kara. I had seen a disposaire befor my visit, so the lack of resources was not a shock and I was pleased to see that it was very clean and well maintained and there are good people working there.

For the next few days I biked into Lama twice a day (like I said...legs of steal), and spent my time there traveling around meeting various important people including 5 of the eight cheifs (the other 3 live in the mountains). Meeting cheifs is always and interesting experience, they generally speak in the local language and offered me Tchouk which is the local brew, it sort of tastes like warm apple juice, and since that was my favorite beverage as a child I like it and find it mildly comforting. It is, however, quite strong and I was careful not to have too much since I was traveling by bike and am mildly uncoordinated as it is. I also met the head of a local women's group who is very interested in having me join in their meetings which I am exited about. I was able to visit my house, but at the time I saw it it was far from ready so there was very little to see. I think it will be nice when it is finished; it is very small and makes up one side of a square of houses occupied by other families. It is back in the woods so it is very quiet and fairly isolated. I think it might be a bit intimidating at first, but that is to be expected; I only hope to be sharing my house with the bare minimum of other creatures and creepy-crawleys.

On friday night the volunteers in the Kara region through us a party...the food was the best I have had in country and it made me realize what a difference cooking for myself will make; that is after I teach myself to cook. On Saturday we shared all shared a taxi back to Agou.

We are now nearing the end of training and I think we are all ready to be finished. While we have learned a lot of useful information and have truly bonded as a group, it is time to move on and start the "doing" part of this experiance. Once I am in Kara my internet access should be fairly regular and therefore I should be able to post often. Thank you all for your question and comments, they always brighten my day. I love you all and miss you dearly.

A Bientot!

Just a quick reminder

I know, two blog posts in one week! Crazy! But I am getting ready to head up to post visit and Im not sure when my next internet access will be. I just wanted to remind you all that my birthday is coming up in a little over a month (August 24th) and mail takes at least two weeks to get here. Now I am going to be blunt about this: I expect presents. When I am living at home and have access to all of my favorite things you can feel free to ignore my birthday entirely, however, while I am living in darkest africa, alone in the bush, I expect to be spoiled. Some ideas for things to send are: candy/chocolate, DVDs, PROTIEN (ie nuts, beef jerkey, starkist bags of tuna), silly gag gifts that will make me laugh, clean tank tops(someone got a new shirt in the mail today and we all passed it around and smelled it...seriously), magazines (the trashy celebrity ones as well as news, we are completely media deprived over here), stickers and other little bulk items that I can give to the poor, deprived, African childen, chewing gum (Im a big fan of orbit), your favorite books you think I would enjoy, deodorant, tampons, those weird foot scrubby thingys that might help to get the dirt off my feet, and if you feel you have enough money for the postage, just mail yourself. On the opposite end of that spectrum, if you have very little money to spare on postage, just a card would be nice.

Thank you for your attention. All my love
-L-

Field Trip

So I finally found internet that lets me get on my blog!!! Amazing! Well, I'm still in Togo and things are going well. Time is passing faster than I though it would, but I am ready to be finished with training. It is a bit draining to sit in classes all day and some of our lectures are brutally boring. We did have a break in the routine finally this past week and we got to see a bit more of the country. We left Nyogbo on Thursday morning and drove to Sokode for lunch and a tour of the Red Cross, then we drove on to Bassar. Bassar is in the Kara region which will be my region for the next two years. We spent the night in Bassar and the next morning we went to one of the volunteers houses and he and three other volunteers from the region cooked us "American" breakfast. We had hashbrowns and "sausage" which was more or less Spam (but still absolutely delicious) and we also had crépes with nutella (SOOO yummy!). We were like kids in a candy store, it was the best food we have had since we got here. My friend Nori put it best when describing our diet in Togo, she said, "most of what I eat is either starch or fried...but most of the time its fried starch." It will be so nice to get to post and be able to cook for ourselves. We were given a cook book put together by former PCVs called "Where There is No Whopper" it has pretty much everything in it, and since we usually have 3 hours of time in the middle of the day for lunch, I really have no excuse as to why I cant become a master chef while in Togo (as well as mastering jujitsu and training to be a stunt double)!

Anyway...back to the field trip. After our delicious breakfast we went to the Association of People Living with AIDS where Amy, a current PCV works. We heard a lot of heart-wrenching stories, but in general it was wonderful to see how strong these people were and how the organization had really given them a sense of hope and solidarity. The kids who came sang us songs and we arranged to set up a soccer game later in the afternoon. Then we went back to the hotel for lunch.

Sometimes it feels as though our hands are being held through this experience. Our days seem so planned out and it is hard to feel like you have any independence. So when we found out we had the rest of the afternoon off during our field trip - needless to say we were pretty excited. Most of us took naps, I am currently reading The Neverending Story so I did a bit of reading and listened to music. At 3 o'clock we met up with the kids for a soccer game. My thought about soccer in Togo is that it is genetically built into every child here that he or she is a master of "football." Now I would like to tell you that we held our own, that we gave them a run for their money, that we didn't embarrass ourselves completely, but then I would be lying. We played hard, we played with a lot of heart, we gave it all we had, we got our asses kicked. Oh yeah...did I mention we were playing middle schoolers who were quite obviously taking it easy on us? We sure had fun though, and now soccer is another thing on my list of things to master before leaving this country.

That night we hung out and talked, played cards and drank beer. In the morning we drove to Kara, my future regional capital and also only 4k from my new post in Lama-Kpedah. Kara is beautiful!!! It is a big city for Togo and it is also where the President lives, which I think contributes a lot to how clean and well-maintained the area seems to be. Each regional capital has a Maison de Passage for PCVs. It is basically like a private hostel where PCVs can stay if they are traveling the country, or where they can go just to get away from post for a bit. The Maison in Kara is a bit of a frat house, since a lot of people living up there are guys, so Aimee (my friend who is also moving to the Kara region) and I have declared cleaning it up our first at-post mission. Its really not too bad, it just needs a little work, and it is in its own compound with round-the-clock guards. It also has a great library and a Maison dog who is really cute! Since my village is only 4k away I tried to convince them to drive me there to see it, unfortunately we didn't have time and the driver didn't really know where my house was. But I will only have to wait a week to see it, because this Saturday we all leave for our one-week post visit. I can't wait to see where I am going to be spending the next 2 years. I was OK with not visiting as soon as I found out we were having pizza for lunch!!! PIZZA?!?!!? You have never seen a group of 15 women put away that much food...I promise! Full to the brim and euphorically happy, we headed back to Nyogbo.

Well my internet time is about to run out. Love you all and miss you. Thanks for all your messages and emails and letters and packages. Keep 'em coming!

Love from Togo
-L-

Jiujitsu

It has come to our attention that we have a Jiujitsu master in our company on female health volunteers. Shanon, a petite young woman with an extremely ourgoing personality was training in Brazil right up until the point where she got on a plane for Togo. As we have found ourselves in a developing country and in the company of very few men, we felt self defence might be a handy skill. This past wednesday we had the afternoon off. Shanon organized a class for a few of the volunteers, myself included. We walked out to this open soccer field less than a mile from our village. When we got there it seemed to be fairly secluded and there werent many other people around besides a few members of Shanon's family who wanted to see her in action. Shanon shared with us that she finds that women think themselves most vulnerable once they are on the ground. It is at that point that many women think the fight is over...according the Shanon it has only just begun. So basically we paired up, one person acting as the victim the other as the attacker and we learned some stealth moves for how to get out of an on-the-ground holding situations. Before we knew it, as we were so intent on practicing our new skills, a crowd had gathered around us. We were surrounded by adults and young kids wondering what these crazy Yovo women were doing! People began to get involved as if they were watching a sporting event, cheering us on and yelling encouragement when we were able to escape a hold. A few of the teenage boys watching asked if they could learn too. The gender dynamics here in Togo are a bit different from in the states, and I wondered how the young men would respond to being taught how to fight by a woman half their size. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they resonded with respect...kindof hard not to when this self-described "peanut" has you in a choke hold, asking, "are you gonna tap out yet?" After an hour we were hot, sweaty and happy and ready to retire. One of the young men however, decided he really wanted to see what Shanon was made of. They began to fight and it was clear who was the stronger among the two - Shanon very quickly found herself on the ground. Fortunately, that's where Shanon likes to be. She was able to wrestle her way into the offensive position and the young man tapped the ground, indicating he had had enough. As I was in the experience I was unsure how it was going to pan out- whether the cultural differences would prove to vast for us to be able to continue in such a public place - but in the end it was one of the best experiences I have had so far.

Just a side note - I have gotten a letter from Helen - she wins by the way for being my first piece of Togo mail - and also a package from the Halls. Thank you all so much for thinking of me, getting mail is such a treat here. If you are thinking of sending packages (which you should be) padded envelopes are best because I dont have to pay the delvery fee, and writing "God Bless" and drawing crosses is a good way to assure a safe delivery(and yes I find that as amusind as you do). My internet access here is quite unreliable so I am doing the best I can to post as often as possible. Please leave me messages I love reading them and feel free to ask questions. Love you all and miss you every day.

Yovo!

So we have arrived in Agou-Nyogbo and begun the homestay protion of our staging and training. It is so beautiful here, the streets are red dirt, it is in the foothills of a small mountain range and there are mango, coconut, banana, orange, and grapefruit trees everywhere. I live in a small compound with the Ahavi family. My mama and papa are both older and retired and actually my papa is a retired piano teacher and has decided to teach me. I know Oma will be thrilled, he is pretty strict and has instructed that I must practice at least a half hour a day minimum. I have a little nephew who is five and I taught him to throw a frisbee and took his picture with a poloroid. He was scared of me when I first arrived, but after that he has been following me around yelling Yovo! Yovo! Which is the word for white person in the local language. My family is actively trying to teach me Eve, the local language, but sometimes their idea of teaching me is to have me repeat words, laugh at my attempts and not really tell me what I am saying. It is really fun when I do catch on to something though because they think it is sooo wonderful to hear the Yovo speak Eve. For the fact that I have only been in village 3 days, I think I am doing quite well. The children are facinated by us and some of them just stare, some hide, and some just run up and hug us and pinch our arms. They really help to keep us up beat and positive.

We needed some positivity yesterday because one of the girls from our group of only 15 health trainees decided to go home. It really took a toll on everybody and brought all of our personal worries to a head. But we got together last night and watched Mean Girls on my tiny little dvd player screen - a great morral booster. Everyone in the group takes good care of each other, and that makes it a lot easier to get through the down periods. But I have to say I am having more ups than downs and am even begining to get used to the "night life" in my latrine and bathing areas. This is the Peace Corps after all - the toughest job youll ever love!

Le Voyageur Sans Baggage

So, for those of you who dont speak French, the title means, the traveller without luggage and it is also the title of a french book i substitute taught when i was subbing for Madame. It is pertinent because my first adventure in togo was that i am the only person out of a group of 35 missing a piece of luggage! sweet! so when we got to the airport they had brought all the PC luggage to one place, everyone was getting their bags, i found my big duffle with the clothes in it, but not my bag with all my "stuff." So this guy - not really sure who he was - starts taking me into different places in the airport (speaking only french so i am kinda glad it was me and not another PCV with limited french ability) asking about my bag. It was clear it wasnt there and for some reason I had to pass through a security check to leave the baggage area again. Here is where it got fun, because i brought poloroid film which cannot go through Xray and i am trying to explain this to the men in the airport, but to them, i am a scared little girl. So they grab the film, sort of pull me away, but i am, as daddy told me to be "being persistant" and the man escorting me throught the airport took back my film before it went through, put his arm around me and guided me through security. Of course I was overly tired so when i got out of the airport and into the PC car i started to cry, and i was with the two women in carge of PC Togo so I just kept saying "I dont know why Im crying Im really OK! And of course, those of you who know me can imagine, I was most deffnitely laughing through my tears.

The bag is in Paris at this point, trying to find a flight to Lome. I know we will be reunited soon. Right now I am out of time in the internet cafe so this is all Ive got for now. Sorry for the terrible spelling! love you all!

Last Day

So here I sit in my lovely hotel room in Washington D.C. (well actually it is the hotel room of one of my new-found friends and she is being kind enough to let me bum the use of her computer) on my last day in the United States. It occurred to me yesterday that I had been so stressed out by the last two weeks of saying goodbye that I had forgotten how excited I actually am about this whole experience. My entire Peace Corps training group is AMAZING! They are sooo much fun and we have all bonded far more than I could have ever expected in the last two days. So after two days of being given the nuts and bolts of what to expect and how to prepare, they have told us that we are now ready to get on a plane and fly to Togo - after spending over five hours hanging out in the D.C. airport that is. My bags are packed and I just took the longest and hottest shower I think I have ever taken, enjoying what could be my last bathing experience that doesn't involve the word "bucket." Tomorrow we will get up at 6am and I will go to Starbucks for one last Grande non-fat latte before heading off to the clinic for my shots and malaria meds. Hoping I will be able to fight for the malaria pills with the least amount of side-affects, but of course those are the most expensive and I will probably end up taking the ones that make me hallucinate, overly-prone to sunburn and I'll vomit the whole plane ride - but hey, its all about the experience. We leave the hotel at 3pm even though our plane doesn't take off until 1030pm so there will be a good long time for me to make final phone calls and continue to bond with the group. We fly to Paris and will be there for about an hour and a half as long as we don't miss our plane. However, we were told that the flight from Paris is guaranteed and if we do happen to miss it the airline will pay to put us up in a hotel for a night - tempting, I know. It is about another 5 hours from Paris to Lome, the capital city, where we will begin our Togo adventure. I will be giving the Peace Corps mom's email address to send the "safe arrival" email and she can either post on the blog or send out a mass email to forward the news to you. I feel like this has been a long post especially since I haven't even gotten to Togo yet, but I wanted you all to know that I am truly happy and loving this so far. Thanks for all the emails and posts you have sent so far. Keep it up! I will post again asap, but I'm not sure when that will be, so remember: no news is good news.
Gros Bisous!!

The Beginning

I consider myself pretty much illiterate when it comes to the world of computers. Nevertheless, I think a "blog" is my best bet for staying in touch with all of you while I am away on this great adventure of mine. I can make no assurances at this point because I have no idea what to expect in terms of technological access, but I promise to post as much as I can whenever I can. My hope is that all of you will respond and leave me things to look forward to when I am able to access the site. Post whatever you want - pictures, your own updates, words of wisdom, jokes, updates on Brangelina - whatever you feel inspired to post. I have a feeling this will be my main form of communication throughout this experience and I know I will be missing all of you almost as much as I'll miss my non-fat lattes and Harry Potter movies. I love you all very much and were it not for the people in my life who have loved and supported me I would never have the courage to journey to the other side of the world.