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
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
Happy New Year Jonathan! Glad to hear you had a Merry Christmas with friends, we all missed you here but happy that you had good friends to share the holiday with. Hoping for better cell phone reception, trying today to get through but cannot. "Your" tree has been aglow this season with lights, ice and snow, I think of you each and every time I look out at it! Looking forward to hearing stories of your life in your village as you start the new year. Pictures, too, I hope! Hope the bed arrives soon!!
ReplyDeleteGreat to read your updates, Jonathan. The man at the Homewood Post Office told me that he now has Togo's country code memorized. Apparently, there has been a large increase in letters being sent there. :-)
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