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.