Progress Reports.

I've been told that we're approaching the "three month" mark of life in Togo, and I must say, sometimes it feels like a lot more, but most of the time, it feels like a lot less time has gone by. Getting through training and moving to post was stressful and fun and exciting and so many other random emotions that you weren't even sure you had the capability to express in a 24 hour period. All in all, one of the most rewarding things has simply been learning how to accept life's little success. For example, I now keep daily track of my health including mental/emotional status, vital signs, and number of bowel movements. That's right, having 1-2 healthy (key word being healthy) bowel movements a day is considered an accomplishment, at least it is in my opinion.

A large part of my time these first few weeks at post has been spent wandering around my city trying to figure out where everything is. Along with this come the trials and tribulations of learning about any new city. Most people are very nice and the ritual of greeting someone in local language can sometimes be a give and take that lasts a good minute.  So far, I've found two ladies in the market from which I buy fruits and vegetables. I've found a nice fish lady (for the cat, I haven't quite yet developed the stomach for smoked fish), and today I even had coffee ice cream. Other volunteers have mentioned a bakery of sorts and the "jean guy" carries the most random assortment of jeans this side of the Atlantic, but he offers many different styles of designer American jeans. I also ride my bike often around the city and to neighboring villages and biking has probably become one of my favorite past times. I live in the central region of the country so it's very green and only moderately hilly. I'm definitely going to invest in a bike when I get back to the states.

Though I haven't started working much yet, I spend quite a bit of time travelling around with my homologue and meeting with various "important" individuals. My homologue works for the Red Cross so he's been able to introduce me to a bunch of Togolese people that I can potentially do work with in the future. Last week I met an official who works for a "Prevention of Child Trafficking" NGO in my city and I am very much looking forward to doing projects with him. I'm taking advantage of this period in my life to read as many books as I can get my hands on. I just finished The Hunger Games series and I've just finished the first book in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. So far I really like it, and I'm open to suggestions for new books!!

I miss all of you very much and just know that I think about my friends and family at home all the time. I know I have their love and support and I think that above all, that is the most important thing to me.

Love love.

Playing In The Sun.

Greetings everyone!! Sorry for the lack of posts, the internet can be hard to come by at times.  In case you're busy at the moment (or perhaps you experience massive digestive issues the minute you sit in front of a computer like me) I'll give you a few quick updates followed by a longer version if you care to read along.

Tomorrow marks my first full week at post. I am in a large city in the central region of Togo called Sokode. It's the second largest city in the country and it is predominately Muslim. So far I really like it a lot, the people are really nice and I can see many possible avenues for me to do work. I have what may be the largest house of any volunteer in the country, but it's not without its drawbacks. The lack of a neighborhood Ikea and Home Depot makes home repair and furnishing quite difficult. I ordered a few pieces of furniture already, but they won't be ready for a few more weeks. Until then, the cat and I (Oh, did I mention I adopted a cat? Yes, her name is Eunice and I won her in a dance contest – naturally. Okay, that's a bit of a stretch, it wasn't as much of a dance contest as it was a silent auction, but there was dancing happening during it, thus, dance contest.)  are sitting on the ground and sleeping on a mattress. It's not all that bad, I'm one of the lucky volunteers with electricity and running water. I also have a really awesome bike which I LOVE riding around. Seriously, biking is so much more fun than walking or driving; I don't know why I didn't do it more in the states. Anyway, I digress. This week I've been hanging out with the other two volunteers that are posted in Sokode with me. Katy is a Girl's Education volunteer and she's finishing up her two years at post but she is an AMAZING person who just happens to also be a UT alum (I'm not saying the two are mutually exclusive, but I mean come on, most people who go to UT are awesome – fact of life.) and we've been working on her World Map project at the school she built in Sokode. Oh yeah, the girl built a school, no big deal. Ha ha, but really, this girl is awesome in every sense of the word and I feel so lucky for having gotten to know her. For dinner tonight we made an awesome 'hash a la The Kerby Scramble or 24 Diner 'hash. I definitely miss American breakfast the most, maybe even more than my own brother (just kidding Rumin, kinda…) but luckily it's easy to replicate. If you want to send things my way, breakfast items would be nice. :D

So that pretty much sums up life at post, a lot of sitting around thinking "What the f**k am I doing here, what was I thinking, how can I live here for two years, etc." Somehow, amidst all those thoughts, I manage to thinking of all my loved ones back and home and all the people that I care about so much and look up to and somehow it all seems okay.  I feel incredibly lucky to be here and I am hopeful that the next 23 months will be productive and illuminating. The best thing about this experience so far though, (and again, it's food related, sorry…) is this thing called FanYogo. It's like fro-yo in a bag and it's heaven…especially on a blazing hot African afternoon where you've sweat through every article of clothing including your shoelaces. Other things I like about Togo: Getting called "Yovo/Anasara" by African kids while riding on my bike and then slamming on the breaks in front of them and watching them scatter in terror/laughter; having more time to read books than I've ever had in my entire life (again, I'm open to recommendations.); riding my bike around through the jungle and having numerous "I can't believe I'm in Africa" moments. I think about all my family and friends constantly though, and a phone call from anyone, no matter how long, is a welcome escape into a world that seems oddly distant now. I'm not sure what I miss the most about home (other than breakfast) but if I had to make a list I think my friends and family would occupy the top slots. Also, as I mentioned before, I miss Ikea…like a lot. You don't really realize how hard it is to furnish a home until the idea of a furniture store or Target no longer exists. Lessons are being learned my friends…

In other news, I was officially sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer last week in a wonderful ceremony that was broadcast on Togolese television. Coming to post and being stopped by people on the road was a very surreal experience, I'm sure that's what it must be like for vrai celebrities. All the volunteers gave a speech in a local language (written for us by our language instructors of course) and at the end we had what was quite possibly the most fun party I've ever attended. I don't remember the last time I danced for so long without stopping. I also performed the Single Ladies dance by Beyonce (I know my mother must be so proud of all the things I'm doing to change the world – one choreographed dance at a time.) and there is now photographic evidence of it on facebook…some things never change I guess. The 9 weeks of training flew by, and now that I think of it, I can't really believe that I've been here for almost 11 weeks. In those 9 weeks of training, I achieved numerous things:  thanks to the plethora of vaccinations, I'm quite confident I've achieved immunity to everything possible short of biological warfare. I can now confidently converse in French – It's not perfect, but seeing as I started learning in January, I'd say I'm doing pretty well. I am also trained in a variety of community health topics as well as how to be an effective development worker. For the first three months at post, I'm to learn about my community and their needs in order to better serve them. In the meantime, I'm also learning how to navigate Togolese culture, one awkward encounter at a time. In all honesty, the people here are so nice and friendly, it's rather refreshing and humbling to see people with so little willing to give so much. I think if anything, that is one thing I will take away from this experience already – no matter how much you have or think you need in life, the most any of us could ever hope for is the ability to give to another (that's my opinion at least, as ineloquently as I stated it.)

I miss you all and love you very much!! Thanks CG, CP, and AP for sending me letters, your responses are on the way I promise!! Check out the tab on the left for my new mailing address!!

Love love.

P.S. – Being cut off from current events is extremely hard. Newspaper clippings and magazines would be great things to send me and the relative low cost is easily outweighed by the abundance of information, at least in my opinion. Any major advances in technology, culture, and politics are my topics of highest interest.