November 2007
Thanksgiving was the most unique one yet. I suppose being in Africa doesn’t hurt, but I spent Thursday morning hiking Mt. Agou with 3 other friends. What do you know…I was late meeting up with them. We came back to the Tech House to a feast of all kinds of yummy food. I think the hike kicked my but because I didn’t feel so hot afterwards. I went home, showered, rested and returned to play a game of Asshole.
Christmas is scheduled to be in Mango.
There are lots of butterflies here.
Sometimes I get a whiff of flowers in the air. Sweet smells are a bit foreign here so when I do get to enjoy it, it hurts so good.
There is an impending black hole before me, and I find myself wanting to run back into the arms of a gluttonous life. Sadness.
Tout le monde me regarde et je n’aime pas ca. Je deviens genee, stressee. Je ne suis pas un spectacle.
My favorite color is rainbow.
A 16-year old boy just hit on me.
Termite mounds remind me of Gaudi.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Tikoyi
11/21/2007
Writing makes me feel so good and so does picking the scabs off my wrist (a symptom of laundry). I don’t do it enough here – writing and laundry. It’s true – I go through ¾ of a bar of BF soap when I do laundry. Not sure how that last sentence relates to anything. Being clean makes me happy. I might be a little neurotic, but like Bubbles said, “It’s better to be neurotic about being clean than some of the alternatives.”
So I have a new name – a recent souvenir from a trip to my new post. Tikoyi, (rhymes with Sequoia). Bubbles calls me Pocahontas instead and Assibi gave me a Pocahontas bandana. My name means “for everyone” or “for us all.” Kinda slutty. But, I love it. I think it fits me well. Draw whatever conclusions you like from that. I got really sick on my visit to post. Fever, headache, vomiting and diarrhea… The fever, headache and diarrhea came back, but it was the diarrhea and intestinal cramps that decided to stick around for a while. I think some weight loss resulted too. I don’t recommend intestinal cramps; they’re no fun. I have no idea how I got sick – it could have been dehydration, exhaustion, stress, bad water, street food… who knows. All I do know is that I prefer being healthy in Togo thank you very much.
Pre-service training is almost over. Yikes! I don’t feel prepared enough to start off on my own yet, but I am also ready to be on my own again. I really don’t like depending on others for my own basic needs (i.e. shelter, food, water, etc…). The end of training does mark something exciting for me in terms of communication. I will be getting a phone. Before coming to Togo, I was not keen on the idea of getting a cell phone. But like any good development worker will tell you, telecommunications is part of having a solid infrastructure. It’s basically set up here so that you almost have to get one, if only for convenience sake. There are people who don’t have phones and seem to manage, but I don’t know who those people are – probably because I can’t call them. I’m sure they exist somewhere. Anyhoo, cell phones are just handy to have for emergencies if nothing else. And even for people like me who will live in villages with little or no cell phone reception, reception is not that far away and there are plenty of times I will be out of village. The alternative for me is to get a Ghana SIM card, which supposedly does have reception in my village. Blah, blah, blah… I should be working for the cell phone companies, not Peace Corps.
Writing makes me feel so good and so does picking the scabs off my wrist (a symptom of laundry). I don’t do it enough here – writing and laundry. It’s true – I go through ¾ of a bar of BF soap when I do laundry. Not sure how that last sentence relates to anything. Being clean makes me happy. I might be a little neurotic, but like Bubbles said, “It’s better to be neurotic about being clean than some of the alternatives.”
So I have a new name – a recent souvenir from a trip to my new post. Tikoyi, (rhymes with Sequoia). Bubbles calls me Pocahontas instead and Assibi gave me a Pocahontas bandana. My name means “for everyone” or “for us all.” Kinda slutty. But, I love it. I think it fits me well. Draw whatever conclusions you like from that. I got really sick on my visit to post. Fever, headache, vomiting and diarrhea… The fever, headache and diarrhea came back, but it was the diarrhea and intestinal cramps that decided to stick around for a while. I think some weight loss resulted too. I don’t recommend intestinal cramps; they’re no fun. I have no idea how I got sick – it could have been dehydration, exhaustion, stress, bad water, street food… who knows. All I do know is that I prefer being healthy in Togo thank you very much.
Pre-service training is almost over. Yikes! I don’t feel prepared enough to start off on my own yet, but I am also ready to be on my own again. I really don’t like depending on others for my own basic needs (i.e. shelter, food, water, etc…). The end of training does mark something exciting for me in terms of communication. I will be getting a phone. Before coming to Togo, I was not keen on the idea of getting a cell phone. But like any good development worker will tell you, telecommunications is part of having a solid infrastructure. It’s basically set up here so that you almost have to get one, if only for convenience sake. There are people who don’t have phones and seem to manage, but I don’t know who those people are – probably because I can’t call them. I’m sure they exist somewhere. Anyhoo, cell phones are just handy to have for emergencies if nothing else. And even for people like me who will live in villages with little or no cell phone reception, reception is not that far away and there are plenty of times I will be out of village. The alternative for me is to get a Ghana SIM card, which supposedly does have reception in my village. Blah, blah, blah… I should be working for the cell phone companies, not Peace Corps.
Les Affaires Quotidiennes
This blog was written during Stage (Pre-Service Training) sometime in October or November 2007. Much of this is no longer relevant to me now.
I am pleased to report that I have been able to successfully wake up at 6:30 every morning since my arrival to Togo. I have only seriously overslept once. I ride my bike to and from school in the morning, then back for lunch, then back to school and finally home again. Another surprising facet of Togolese life is that they take 3 showers a day as opposed to the once-a-week shower I was expecting. I still shave too, although, I don’t know if that will continue. I pull my own water out of a well in my family’s compound for all my showers and shower out of bucket. I have only taken one hot shower since I have been here, but I love the cold showers, especially my afternoon shower when it’s really hot out. My family actually has a bathroom with a roof and 2 latrines and 1 douche (shower). Apparently, most people have open-air bathrooms. I have been really fortunate with the latrine situation regarding my encounters with the local wildlife. No incidents of cockroaches, mice or rats jumping out of the toilet. One of my fellow stagemates had a rat come running out of the latrine as she was about to squat down. Out of all the things I brought that I absolutely love (and there is a lot) is my Whiz Freedom, or pee funnel. I use it every time I go to the bathroom, even to the latrine at home, the exceptions being the flush toilets at the tech/training house. It just keeps all the fluids from splashing about as I am squatting. I have gotten up in the middle of the night and used the latrine and survived no problem. The key to a tidy latrine is to cover it. I also hand wash all my own laundry every Sunday. It usually takes me about half the day because for each load you wash each piece of clothing twice and rinse once. By the end, my back hurts from bending over and my hands are cut up and pruney, but the Togolese love to see me do chores the way they do them. I also wash my own dishes; the only thing I don’t do yet is cooking my own food and boiling my own water. Speaking of water, we have the choice of boiling and filtering or filtering and bleaching our water. The bleach is diluted but still makes the water taste like a swimming pool, so I prefer boiling and filtering. Much to my disappointment, my UV pen (Steripen) won’t work for some reason. I am super upset over this, as it was a gift and not a cheap one either. On the other hand, I am really glad I brought a lot of toiletries. Everyone said, “Oh, you can buy everything once you get in-country.” But, while that is true, it’s really difficult at first if you 1) have no time due to your rigorous, structured schedule, 2) don’t know the language very well, 3) don’t know where anything is, 4) don’t know the culture or how things operate, 5) no transportation anywhere (at first), and 6) don’t know how to bargain or haggle for prices. So yes, you can buy just about anything you need here, however, it’s a lot easier to do that after you’ve been here a little while. I have successfully managed to find a tailor that’s really nice and does good work. I have already had 1 dress, 1 skirt, 1 complet (ensemble outfit with a top and bottom) made, 3 pants hemmed and I am in the process of having another dress made. In Togo, the fabric used to make clothes is called pagne (pan-ya). There is very little prêt-a-porter here unless you like goodwill clothes, so most of the clothes here are tailor made. I can get an entire outfit made here including the fabric, construction, labor and alterations for about $10 USD. The marche (market) at the training site is every Friday and it is a site to behold. It’s a bit chaotic for the novice with lots of bargaining, people yelling for your attention, my watchful eyes for pickpockets and bandits and the lovely smell of fish baking in the sun. Yum!
I am pleased to report that I have been able to successfully wake up at 6:30 every morning since my arrival to Togo. I have only seriously overslept once. I ride my bike to and from school in the morning, then back for lunch, then back to school and finally home again. Another surprising facet of Togolese life is that they take 3 showers a day as opposed to the once-a-week shower I was expecting. I still shave too, although, I don’t know if that will continue. I pull my own water out of a well in my family’s compound for all my showers and shower out of bucket. I have only taken one hot shower since I have been here, but I love the cold showers, especially my afternoon shower when it’s really hot out. My family actually has a bathroom with a roof and 2 latrines and 1 douche (shower). Apparently, most people have open-air bathrooms. I have been really fortunate with the latrine situation regarding my encounters with the local wildlife. No incidents of cockroaches, mice or rats jumping out of the toilet. One of my fellow stagemates had a rat come running out of the latrine as she was about to squat down. Out of all the things I brought that I absolutely love (and there is a lot) is my Whiz Freedom, or pee funnel. I use it every time I go to the bathroom, even to the latrine at home, the exceptions being the flush toilets at the tech/training house. It just keeps all the fluids from splashing about as I am squatting. I have gotten up in the middle of the night and used the latrine and survived no problem. The key to a tidy latrine is to cover it. I also hand wash all my own laundry every Sunday. It usually takes me about half the day because for each load you wash each piece of clothing twice and rinse once. By the end, my back hurts from bending over and my hands are cut up and pruney, but the Togolese love to see me do chores the way they do them. I also wash my own dishes; the only thing I don’t do yet is cooking my own food and boiling my own water. Speaking of water, we have the choice of boiling and filtering or filtering and bleaching our water. The bleach is diluted but still makes the water taste like a swimming pool, so I prefer boiling and filtering. Much to my disappointment, my UV pen (Steripen) won’t work for some reason. I am super upset over this, as it was a gift and not a cheap one either. On the other hand, I am really glad I brought a lot of toiletries. Everyone said, “Oh, you can buy everything once you get in-country.” But, while that is true, it’s really difficult at first if you 1) have no time due to your rigorous, structured schedule, 2) don’t know the language very well, 3) don’t know where anything is, 4) don’t know the culture or how things operate, 5) no transportation anywhere (at first), and 6) don’t know how to bargain or haggle for prices. So yes, you can buy just about anything you need here, however, it’s a lot easier to do that after you’ve been here a little while. I have successfully managed to find a tailor that’s really nice and does good work. I have already had 1 dress, 1 skirt, 1 complet (ensemble outfit with a top and bottom) made, 3 pants hemmed and I am in the process of having another dress made. In Togo, the fabric used to make clothes is called pagne (pan-ya). There is very little prêt-a-porter here unless you like goodwill clothes, so most of the clothes here are tailor made. I can get an entire outfit made here including the fabric, construction, labor and alterations for about $10 USD. The marche (market) at the training site is every Friday and it is a site to behold. It’s a bit chaotic for the novice with lots of bargaining, people yelling for your attention, my watchful eyes for pickpockets and bandits and the lovely smell of fish baking in the sun. Yum!
Monday, February 4, 2008
80 Beats Per Minute
I'm touching you through electrical impulses. She's alive. She breaths the static air with relief to tell you she's liberated herself. Flipped on the switch of communication and aches to read your voices.
4 weeks at post and I think I'm some kind of poet. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not done. I'm back logged on 10 plus blog postings, so I'll be around for a while getting my technological fix and hopefully giving you something to laugh at. Simultaneous stimulation. Never said I wasn't a giver.
I miss you more than I could ever say.
4 weeks at post and I think I'm some kind of poet. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not done. I'm back logged on 10 plus blog postings, so I'll be around for a while getting my technological fix and hopefully giving you something to laugh at. Simultaneous stimulation. Never said I wasn't a giver.
I miss you more than I could ever say.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Row, Row, Row your Boat...Life is but a Dream
I'm not on Mefloquine, thank god (I refused!). However, I have been having some fantastic dreams since I have been in Togo... usually with famous people. One of the first ones was that I was the BFF of Tom Selleck. Yes, that's right, I was like that 80's sidekick on Magnum P.I. But wait! It gets better. Another dream I was cruising in a speedboat with the Hoff in what looked like the Florida everglades. One of my favorites happened the night before Thanksgiving. I was freestyle walking/dancing my way across the streets of NYC. I was doing ariels and flips and kicks and busting moves you've never seen amidst colorfully lit skyscrapers. At one point, Tommy The Clown appeared and busted a move with me. U2 was also there, and for some reason, I stopped in In-N-Out. Basically, I was unstoppable; I was the real MFing dancing queen. You would think that nothing could top this, but just recently I traveled to Oakland made over as Black Rock City. It was part carnival-circus-neon playground-utopia. I thought I had found heaven, so I checked into a hotel. It's hard for me to convey my excitement and joy at the discovery of such a city. The citizens were in stereotypical Burning Man attire but better and more outrageous. And, the architecture resembled rides at an amusement park with conveyor belts everywhere. The only sad thing is that I will miss the next real Burning Man. So I need you to tell me all about it so I can dream about it.
Il Faut Manger
I should touch on Togolese food as it is a very hot topic. Allow me to start by saying that my host mother can really cook. The food in Togo is already quite good by West African standards, but my host mother tends to exceed standard Togolese cuisine. I am very lucky. =) The Togolese diet is a carbohydrate one; they eat A LOT of yams, rice, spaghetti, couscous, corn - all starchy foods. Most locals usually eat pound up corn/mais called Pate or pound up Yams called Foufou. Both are served with various types of sauces; typically, pate is eaten with a vegetable sauce and foufou/fufu with meat/fish sauce. My problem is that because I am a guest and treated as such, I am given meals that could feed 3-4 people. For example, for lunch I will get an entire plate full of rice plus sauce plus meat. The sauces are usually tomato-based or a peanut sauce and the meat is usually chicken or goat (occasionally sheep or rat - I tried rate, I don't care for it). After all this, I will get some fruit like 2 oranges or 3 bananas or even a pineapple, and if I am lucky there may be an entire loaf of bread on the side. At the end of most (actually all) my stomach hurts. The reason I don't stop eating the moment I am full is because to the Togolese people, it is somewhat insulting and it looks bad on the family when their guest (that's me) doesn't gain weight. Gaining weight is a sign of good health, so as a result, I am probably about 10 pounds heavier than when I left the US. It doesn't help that I don't get up early enough to go running, however, I am a heck-of-a-lot more active here than sitting behind a desk all day. I do ride my bike to and from school twice a day. Back to food for a moment... If you ever come to Togo, you had better like tomatoes and onions because they are in just about every single dish. Other common food here is peanuts (they make great peanut butter and peanut sauce) oranges, bananas, plantains, pineapples, mangoes, peppers (they like their food spicy!), cabbage, beans, soy, etc... I never used to eat bananas or plantains, but I have learned to like them here because 1) they are better (all the fruit is!) and 2) they keep me solid! I do prefer plantains to bananas though, especially, fried plantains! Tres doux! In addition to all the carbohydrates, they used a fair amount of oil (not as bad as some of the other West African countries), but a lot of food is either fried or oil based. I am very excited to learn to cook for myself; I have managed a few sessions with my host mother, but not nearly enough yet. Next, FanMilk deserves special mention here. All the volunteers go CRAZY over FanMilk. It is the closest thing to ice cream we have readily available, and it is usually sold by some guy riding around on a bike with a cooler attached. The FanMilk guy makes a killing off the Peace Corps Volunteers. There are all kinds of FanMilk which range in price from 50 CFA to 350 CFA, which equates to all well under $1 USD. Actually, all the food here is relatively cheap, which is a good thing for us.
This posting was originally written in October. Not much has changed except that the food here can also be rather salty, which I guess is good since we sweat so much, and instead of gaining 10 lbs, I have lost 10 lbs due to my Giardia.
This posting was originally written in October. Not much has changed except that the food here can also be rather salty, which I guess is good since we sweat so much, and instead of gaining 10 lbs, I have lost 10 lbs due to my Giardia.
Friday, December 7, 2007
I just found out today that I have had Giardia for the past month (since post visit). My anus hurts. Fortunately, the treatment is really easy: just 4 pills all at once and I am good to go.
Last night I offically swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. It was good. Time to take a deep breath. Two more years to go. I go to my village on Sunday, so I am shopping like mad right now to stock up on stuff for my new home.
International calls to/from a Togo cell phone are more expensive than a Ghana cell phone. And what do you know, I have Ghana reception in my village but no Togo reception.
I can't stop sweating.
I will write more tonight. My hour is almost up.
Last night I offically swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. It was good. Time to take a deep breath. Two more years to go. I go to my village on Sunday, so I am shopping like mad right now to stock up on stuff for my new home.
International calls to/from a Togo cell phone are more expensive than a Ghana cell phone. And what do you know, I have Ghana reception in my village but no Togo reception.
I can't stop sweating.
I will write more tonight. My hour is almost up.
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