Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année!

Happy Holidays Everyone! I know this a little late for Christmas but I wanted to both thank everyone for the wonderful messages and gifts (!) and let everyone know that I’m doing well and have been having a delightful Togolese holiday season so far.

I spent Christmas with American friends, and after I leave the internet café I’m heading back to village where I am hopefully going to partake in a pig slaughter and feast (hopefully more feast than slaughter for me) if my quartier can find one for sale.

I have missed you all over the last week or so (and always do, of course), but I have great people around me that help to keep me company—and again, the mail I’ve been getting has been incredible.


Now, a few brief notes on my first few weeks at post:

-The first few days of life on my new village were basically occupied by trying to find the basic things for furnishing my small, yet near empty (I’m borrowing a table and two chairs) space. I have a carpenter up in a town that is about 15 minutes away by car/moto that I’ve ordered a bed and bookshelf from. Now, I should have probably gotten both by now, but of course that hasn’t really panned out…my carpenter did buy me some grilled pig back fat on market day, though, which smothered in hot piment and onions is delicious.

-Speaking of cooking, the transition to living by myself has meant that I have been able to start cooking for myself once again. I have been meaning to write something long on the food here in Togo, but to give you just a taste, everything usually revolves around yams, manioc, corn, rice and beans. That means that during my training I ate either some combination of that or something like pasta that your host family thinks you like but that tastes nothing like pasta you grew up with. Also, things like potatoes and other tubers (which there are a lot of) aren’t prepared like we might be accustomed to. Yet now that I am on my own with my own cooking setup and ingredients I can basically recreate most things I want. Cheese, though, is sorely missed by everyone here…there is laughing cow processed cheese but I miss the real thing more than any other food from home.

-As far as work is concerned we are generally discouraged from starting any serious projects the first three months, and rather focus on finding out what major issues there are affecting the community. I have been able to help out some around the garden (not mine yet, but that will be cleared soon), showing a man I know how to terrace garden beds in relation to a slope to help conserve top soil/slow erosion. Also I attended a groupement meeting, toured some more fish ponds I’ll be working with and went to an HIV/AIDS sensibilisation. Soon enough Id like to start on some soy milk demonstrations and other smaller jobs—yet for now, I’m just focusing on settling in…

Happy Holidays again!!!

J

The Internet is Overrated Anyway...

Ok that is a boldface lie...I'm sitting here in the volunteer lounge using internet that actually works and I'm in awe that I once had access to this splendid creation anytime I wanted.

Sorry I havent been on for a while (you're going to hear that a lot by the way). A mixture of blackouts, broken connections and a busy training schedule have made it near imposible.

Im here in Lome, after having officially sworn in as a volunteer last night, running around the town buying things at the market for the new house that I'll be permanently moving into tomorrow. What a change a few months have brought in my perspective on Togo...When I first arrived here Lome felt foreboding and dark, the nighttime drive across town from the airport was a culture shock in and of itself. I was thrown, it felt, into a crumbling city in an underdeveloped country in a region that we as westerners perceive to be at the heart of the third world.

Now, though, Lome seems downright cosmopolitan. The sandy streets of the kodjoviakope district, where the Peace Corps bureau is, seems as sophisticated as Lincoln Park, The Pearl or Dupont Circle. I can buy (and did just yesterday) heinz ketchup, kikoman(sp?) soy sauce, Aunt Jemima syrup, Bush's baked beans and Belgian beer.

It feels much more like home than what I could have imagined 11 weeks ago.

At 7:00 tomorrow morning I head off to post for good, and I'm thrilled after what I discovered during my weeklong visit some weeks back. On top of the great work oppurtunities with groupements for fishfarming, coffee and cacao, rice and reforestation my village is lovely and everyone is incredibly nice.

My house is small but has electricity, a water tap outside and a running toilet in my bathroom (which isnt connected to my house, but still great). As soon as I hire a carpenter for some furniture and settle in properly I'm sure the place will rival any studio apt I could have imagined back home!


Take care, I'll do my best to write again soon(ish)!

J