So I’ve finally made it to my post and started to settle in! The last couple weeks I’ve had plenty on my hands largely thanks to the task of swearing in and getting ready to finally depart on my own as a volunteer.
The last months have been solely occupied by training and I’d been with this one family of nine in the tropical maritime region. I have nothing but good things to say about them. They really took me in as one of their own. Hopefully at some point i can get a picture up of them.
It’s been about one week at post now and I’m just about as far north as you can go in the Savannah region of Togo (whole new climate with a whole new language and culture). I’m exhausted from biking all over the place! I’d say for the past week I’ve been averaging 15 km a day. It’s amazing how much these people bike. In village, bikes are like cars. Most people have them, there are a couple mechanic shops and people depend on them to get things done. There really are no cars and only select people own motorcycles.
Hands are full right now trying to set up house. It’s a pretty exciting feeling having my own place to customize just the way I want it. Thus far my priority has been getting a bed made. To help with staying cool when the hot months of February, March and April come a lot of people make what are called “leplieco’s” (not sure how to spell it but it kind of means “pull tight”). These are easily portable beds that stay cool. What they do is sauder an iron frame together, like a bed frame, except that one end is hinged to either lie flat or at an angle (for sleeping or resting/reading) like a beach chair. Then they tightly weave plastic string across to make a sort of very tight hammock. You set the angle how you want and as you pull it flat the bed firms up nicely. I was able to have someone in village make one custom for me to almost the size of a queen bed and extra long. I even picked out the color string. It should work out fine and in the meantime I’m debating having a hay mattress made to put on top. I’m also waiting on an Adirondack type chair that is made from branches that I asked someone else to make for me.
Last time I mentioned that “harmattan” was starting up down south. Well it’s just about in full swing up here. I actually find it quite refreshing. It basically feels like fall, except that instead of leading into winter it leads into “challeur” (hot season). It still gets hot during the day but there is a frequent breeze and even gets chilly during the night. At 6 am when I come out of my house my fleece comes in handy until the sun’s high enough to warm things up. It’s a funny sight seeing some of the locals walking around with winter jackets on because they think it’s so cold!
28 December 2009
28 November 2009
sweet shirts and ice cream
Rainy season is coming to an end. It hasn’t rained for probably a couple of weeks. Here in the south there is two rainy seasons. Where it’s drier up north there is only one, but here they benefit from a fair amount of rain. As we would think of it back home the rainy seasons come during our spring and fall. Then there is a short dry stretch that lasts for a month or two during July and August. Obviously things work a little different up north (I’ll figure it out soon enough), but throughout the country work is generally a function of the rainy seasons that bring crops and most people’s livelihoods.
Nonetheless, the end of rainy season signals the approach of what they call the “Harmattan” winds here. Basically as autumn back home comes to a close winds coming off of the Sahara start to make their way off the desert and reach countries like Togo. This kicks up a lot of dust, cools things off and dries things out. The Harmattan winds have not yet fully reached us here in the south, but when we were up north you could already start to see the effect. Up there the whole countryside is fully vegetated (a scattering of trees, but grass basically everywhere), yet as you look out across the rolling landscape you can see the dust that’s getting picked up. In another week I’ll be up in the thick of it again and likely will be able to tell about it in more detail. For now, it just means that although it’s still quite hot during the day, by the time morning rolls around it can be relatively chilly following the night. A couple of times I’ve even been tempted to put on a long sleeve shirt.
Normally, the thought of a long sleeve shirt is preposterous! Im constantly thinking of ways to stay cool. I’ve been assembling a wardrobe of the most lightweight clothes possible and although I usually feel obliged to wear pants, all my chemises are short sleeved. Unfortunately, most of the clothes I brought from home are just too hot. Most of all the clothes here are made from thin, cotton fabric that dries extremely quickly, especially if left in the sun during repos (which is the universal 2 ½ hr break in the middle of the day…basically because it’s too hot to do anything while the sun is high, plus lunch is the biggest meal of the day). Essentially, you set out in the market and hunt down a piece of fabric that sports a design that you like and buy sections of a couple meters or so depending on how much you need for your chemise or complet (pants + chemise in the same fabric). After you’ve found a fabric you like and bargained a decent price (usually no more than 1500 CFA) you take the fabric to any of the many tailors/couturiers that are found basically anywhere in the country. Then you can either draw them a picture or bring a sample to demonstrate the style and he or she will have your stuff custom made within the week (sometimes the next day even). So by now I’ve already got a handful of shirts that help keep me cool.
While I’m in town for the day I’ll no doubt be taking advantage of my new life saver, “FanMilk”. My sweet tooth hasn’t gotten any better here in Africa. There’s not too much for ice cream here in Togo but there is this one company that does their best to fill the void. Most all of the large towns have a FanMilk distributor. Although there is usually a store you can buy the ice cream from, you usually buy FanMilk from men who ride around with portable coolers attached to their bikes and sell along the roads. The ice cream comes in little sacs the size of a Reese’s packs and flavors like vanilla (when it’s melting quick in the heat it tastes just like a milk shake), chocolate, punch and pineapple. On a hot day when your thirst is dying for something cold to quench it, the sound of a FanMilk man’s noisemaker (basically like a horn a clown might use) can make your day if you have 100 CFA to spare.
I have to say that I did miss everyone back home on Thanksgiving. I hope it went well for everyone!
Nonetheless, the end of rainy season signals the approach of what they call the “Harmattan” winds here. Basically as autumn back home comes to a close winds coming off of the Sahara start to make their way off the desert and reach countries like Togo. This kicks up a lot of dust, cools things off and dries things out. The Harmattan winds have not yet fully reached us here in the south, but when we were up north you could already start to see the effect. Up there the whole countryside is fully vegetated (a scattering of trees, but grass basically everywhere), yet as you look out across the rolling landscape you can see the dust that’s getting picked up. In another week I’ll be up in the thick of it again and likely will be able to tell about it in more detail. For now, it just means that although it’s still quite hot during the day, by the time morning rolls around it can be relatively chilly following the night. A couple of times I’ve even been tempted to put on a long sleeve shirt.
Normally, the thought of a long sleeve shirt is preposterous! Im constantly thinking of ways to stay cool. I’ve been assembling a wardrobe of the most lightweight clothes possible and although I usually feel obliged to wear pants, all my chemises are short sleeved. Unfortunately, most of the clothes I brought from home are just too hot. Most of all the clothes here are made from thin, cotton fabric that dries extremely quickly, especially if left in the sun during repos (which is the universal 2 ½ hr break in the middle of the day…basically because it’s too hot to do anything while the sun is high, plus lunch is the biggest meal of the day). Essentially, you set out in the market and hunt down a piece of fabric that sports a design that you like and buy sections of a couple meters or so depending on how much you need for your chemise or complet (pants + chemise in the same fabric). After you’ve found a fabric you like and bargained a decent price (usually no more than 1500 CFA) you take the fabric to any of the many tailors/couturiers that are found basically anywhere in the country. Then you can either draw them a picture or bring a sample to demonstrate the style and he or she will have your stuff custom made within the week (sometimes the next day even). So by now I’ve already got a handful of shirts that help keep me cool.
While I’m in town for the day I’ll no doubt be taking advantage of my new life saver, “FanMilk”. My sweet tooth hasn’t gotten any better here in Africa. There’s not too much for ice cream here in Togo but there is this one company that does their best to fill the void. Most all of the large towns have a FanMilk distributor. Although there is usually a store you can buy the ice cream from, you usually buy FanMilk from men who ride around with portable coolers attached to their bikes and sell along the roads. The ice cream comes in little sacs the size of a Reese’s packs and flavors like vanilla (when it’s melting quick in the heat it tastes just like a milk shake), chocolate, punch and pineapple. On a hot day when your thirst is dying for something cold to quench it, the sound of a FanMilk man’s noisemaker (basically like a horn a clown might use) can make your day if you have 100 CFA to spare.
I have to say that I did miss everyone back home on Thanksgiving. I hope it went well for everyone!
14 November 2009
Back from the north
Sorry it’s been a little while since I’ve been on. But as my mom reiterated in her last letter I guess it’s just par for the course that these posts stay intermittent. Spent the last week or so traveling the country. The transformation of the landscape as you go north in the country is astounding. Up north it’s a completely different setting. Through the course of an 11+ hour bush taxi ride the climate goes from tropic to savannah where the sun is hotter, the humidity is less, the trees are fewer and the farm animals multiply. I made it all the way up to the northern limits of the country. I basically made it into the upper left hand corner of Togo next to Ghana and Burkina Faso. In fact, I was so close to the border with Ghana that virtually everyone in the area, although fluent in the local language of Moba and sometimes French, regularly used to the words “buh-bye” to send people off. Lots to tell about the area and the trip up but I plan to describe it better later on when I make my next trip up. I think there could be some quite interesting bush taxi stories to come so don’t feel like you’re missing out now.
I have to start off by giving my dad something to be proud about. I was as shocked as anyone else when this happened, but one day as I was eating my lunch I happened to notice a collared shirt turned inside out that was hanging off the kitchen hut across from where I was eating. It was old and worn but the style was definitely American. Nonetheless, what caught my eye was the label on the collar. Wouldn’t you believe it but it read “L.L. Bean, Freeport, Maine”. Who would have thought I’d be in the middle of Africa and catch my African brother wearing a shirt made by the American company my dad works for! Maybe dad can get to the bottom of how that could have possibly wound up in the middle of Togo, West Africa. Cheers to globalization I guess.
The same day I happened across the L.L. Bean shirt we had a fairly serious game of soccer. We lined up a match of locals versus our group of volunteers and put Coke’s for the winning team on the line (though we all knew one way or the other it was going to be us buying the Cokes). Though it got fairly serious at points, smiles prevailed in the end (we lost pretty badly, 6-2). I guess I will attribute the loss to the heat. It’s amazing that these kids have no problem playing through such heat without breaks or a water bottle. Not too mention they’re footwear. Generally it’s hit or miss whether kids have shoes to play in or not. Often they play in bare feet, but sometimes you get a couple players with spikes (spikes worn down to modest nubs that is). So even though I felt hindered by my inability to move sharply without my cleats, I couldn’t complain seeing what some of the other kids were working with. The field was something else too. It’s the end of rainy season so the grass is very long and green. Lumps and ruts in the field are everywhere and needless to say it’s difficult to maintain any kind of ball control. Usually there is some sort of referee keeping things under control and some assortment of spectators watching from the sidelines (figuratively speaking anways). Goals are made of a wooden frame (not cut wood though, the beams are made from smaller sized trees) that is normal regulation size, but has no net. And then, if there are fewer kids they just take a brick, prop it up and mark goals by hitting it with the ball. Anyway, although you may see a basketball hoop here or there, soccer is clearly the dominant sport and most kids will take part if given the opportunity. In fact, it does get fairly competitive and organized. At the same time we were playing there was a serious match down the road between two local towns.
In case you’re concerned I shaved the moustache and my “deforested head” (as my mom referred to it) is starting to reestablish itself. Think I might leave the picture up anyway though. I like the thought of people picturing me cruising Africa with a bald head and a moustache.
Make sure everyone keeps sending me updates on what they’re doing. You know my email and you can always just post something here.
Comme toujours, a la prochaine!
I have to start off by giving my dad something to be proud about. I was as shocked as anyone else when this happened, but one day as I was eating my lunch I happened to notice a collared shirt turned inside out that was hanging off the kitchen hut across from where I was eating. It was old and worn but the style was definitely American. Nonetheless, what caught my eye was the label on the collar. Wouldn’t you believe it but it read “L.L. Bean, Freeport, Maine”. Who would have thought I’d be in the middle of Africa and catch my African brother wearing a shirt made by the American company my dad works for! Maybe dad can get to the bottom of how that could have possibly wound up in the middle of Togo, West Africa. Cheers to globalization I guess.
The same day I happened across the L.L. Bean shirt we had a fairly serious game of soccer. We lined up a match of locals versus our group of volunteers and put Coke’s for the winning team on the line (though we all knew one way or the other it was going to be us buying the Cokes). Though it got fairly serious at points, smiles prevailed in the end (we lost pretty badly, 6-2). I guess I will attribute the loss to the heat. It’s amazing that these kids have no problem playing through such heat without breaks or a water bottle. Not too mention they’re footwear. Generally it’s hit or miss whether kids have shoes to play in or not. Often they play in bare feet, but sometimes you get a couple players with spikes (spikes worn down to modest nubs that is). So even though I felt hindered by my inability to move sharply without my cleats, I couldn’t complain seeing what some of the other kids were working with. The field was something else too. It’s the end of rainy season so the grass is very long and green. Lumps and ruts in the field are everywhere and needless to say it’s difficult to maintain any kind of ball control. Usually there is some sort of referee keeping things under control and some assortment of spectators watching from the sidelines (figuratively speaking anways). Goals are made of a wooden frame (not cut wood though, the beams are made from smaller sized trees) that is normal regulation size, but has no net. And then, if there are fewer kids they just take a brick, prop it up and mark goals by hitting it with the ball. Anyway, although you may see a basketball hoop here or there, soccer is clearly the dominant sport and most kids will take part if given the opportunity. In fact, it does get fairly competitive and organized. At the same time we were playing there was a serious match down the road between two local towns.
In case you’re concerned I shaved the moustache and my “deforested head” (as my mom referred to it) is starting to reestablish itself. Think I might leave the picture up anyway though. I like the thought of people picturing me cruising Africa with a bald head and a moustache.
Make sure everyone keeps sending me updates on what they’re doing. You know my email and you can always just post something here.
Comme toujours, a la prochaine!
29 October 2009
Ants in my pants
As everyone should know by now I decided to go ahead with my first head shave. Never done it before in my life and figured now was the best opportunity to try it out. What do you think? It could be my look for the next year or two. Makes hair cuts less complicated, less shampoo, less water to lug to the shower, cooler…I just have to keep it from too much sun.
My family cuts their hair by taking a fine blade and placing it together with a comb. The blade edge rides close to the tip of the comb’s bristles so it’s not a direct shave, but just as close as electric clippers might get it. Long story short I got curious how they cut their hair and thirty minutes later there was nothing left. However, the blade technique didn’t work too well on my hair so the buzz was achieved with a sole pair of scissors. I figure it was a good bonding experience with my family (of course they were delighted as they watched) but needless to say I had to go back over it with someone’s clippers to even things out a couple of days later.
Had my first go riding passenger of a motor bike today! I know I’ve already mentioned this but motorbikes are the most common mode of transportation here. They’ll whip around at quick speeds and at times really load them with people. The other day I saw 4 grown men on one motorcycle heading out the dirt road to the fields for work. My spin was short today but enjoyable nonetheless. No doubt it will be something I become quite accustomed to.
Funny thing happened today with a friend of mine. We had been forewarned about the ants here and how they can become very abundant and unfriendly at the same time, though we had not yet experienced it. Sometimes you can walk along the road and see a fine line of large ants marching across the road, but I always just step over them and continue on my way. Well today as we walked through a path we had the misfortune of happening upon an infestation of red ants. At first I was curiously interested by the millions of ants that I just realized I was standing on, but as my friend (who was in front) shrieked and bolted past me I felt the first couple bites! Man! Those things swarmed our legs in a hurry and we spent a good five minutes trying to rid ourselves of them all!
I’ve been feeling sorry for my house mom. She’s been suffering from a terrible toothache the past couple of days. She’s gone to get medicine but I’m not sure if she has any intention of making a trip to a dentist of any sort. Their pastor came by tonight to see how she was doing, but you can still tell she’s having a hard time of it. I wish there was something I could do besides offering a cheer for “du courage”. From the sounds of it she needs to have a tooth pulled. Reminds me too of the Nigerian soccer player I met back in Lome. The poor guy made his living playing soccer, but had hurt his knee. Neither he nor his team had the money to get him a good doctor and the fate of his career and livelihood was basically left to chance that things would heal up for him. It’s another reminder of comforts most of us back home are privilege to.
Time to wrap up again. I’ll be up early for exercise with Jera and I know he won’t let me out of it. 5:15 we’ll be at it. Push-ups on bricks, pull ups in an orange tree and a jog to the tall Capocier tree every other day (Shimmying one of the Papaya trees, optional). Hope everyone’s doing well! A plus!
My family cuts their hair by taking a fine blade and placing it together with a comb. The blade edge rides close to the tip of the comb’s bristles so it’s not a direct shave, but just as close as electric clippers might get it. Long story short I got curious how they cut their hair and thirty minutes later there was nothing left. However, the blade technique didn’t work too well on my hair so the buzz was achieved with a sole pair of scissors. I figure it was a good bonding experience with my family (of course they were delighted as they watched) but needless to say I had to go back over it with someone’s clippers to even things out a couple of days later.
Had my first go riding passenger of a motor bike today! I know I’ve already mentioned this but motorbikes are the most common mode of transportation here. They’ll whip around at quick speeds and at times really load them with people. The other day I saw 4 grown men on one motorcycle heading out the dirt road to the fields for work. My spin was short today but enjoyable nonetheless. No doubt it will be something I become quite accustomed to.
Funny thing happened today with a friend of mine. We had been forewarned about the ants here and how they can become very abundant and unfriendly at the same time, though we had not yet experienced it. Sometimes you can walk along the road and see a fine line of large ants marching across the road, but I always just step over them and continue on my way. Well today as we walked through a path we had the misfortune of happening upon an infestation of red ants. At first I was curiously interested by the millions of ants that I just realized I was standing on, but as my friend (who was in front) shrieked and bolted past me I felt the first couple bites! Man! Those things swarmed our legs in a hurry and we spent a good five minutes trying to rid ourselves of them all!
I’ve been feeling sorry for my house mom. She’s been suffering from a terrible toothache the past couple of days. She’s gone to get medicine but I’m not sure if she has any intention of making a trip to a dentist of any sort. Their pastor came by tonight to see how she was doing, but you can still tell she’s having a hard time of it. I wish there was something I could do besides offering a cheer for “du courage”. From the sounds of it she needs to have a tooth pulled. Reminds me too of the Nigerian soccer player I met back in Lome. The poor guy made his living playing soccer, but had hurt his knee. Neither he nor his team had the money to get him a good doctor and the fate of his career and livelihood was basically left to chance that things would heal up for him. It’s another reminder of comforts most of us back home are privilege to.
Time to wrap up again. I’ll be up early for exercise with Jera and I know he won’t let me out of it. 5:15 we’ll be at it. Push-ups on bricks, pull ups in an orange tree and a jog to the tall Capocier tree every other day (Shimmying one of the Papaya trees, optional). Hope everyone’s doing well! A plus!
22 October 2009
Town at Night
It’s about bed time for me right now as I right, but I want to get an entry ready for when I go to town either tomorrow or the next day. As I contemplate what to write I’m stroking the fine bristles of my very distinguished African moustache. Facial hair is a rare thing to see with the locals here, so I wear mine proudly. I figure why not? The peepers are chirping outside my window just like they do at home and while my computer is on (freshly charged off the generator last night) I’m able to indulge in some French music in the light of my lantern.
Doing things by lantern light has become second nature already. Being as I never really minded power outages, I’m still getting a kick out of using that and a couple handy flashlights for getting about at night. I ran out of oil yesterday but tonight my lantern is full. I just got back not long ago from buying the lamp oil. It cost 475 CFA for a liter and two small boxes of matches. That comes out to about $1 U.S. (depending on the generosity of the exchange rate, if one has larger bills one might get 500 CFA/ U.S. dollar). I bought it from a corner boutique where a mother has her son measure out a liter according to an old glass bottle. He uses a funnel to pour the pre-measured oil into my plastic Voltic bottle (Voltic is one of the reliable bottled water producers in Togo). Here bottles are precious and you have to bring your own bottle to put your oil into. And if you buy a soda you better make good on your promise to return the bottle if you plan on taking it with you. Otherwise, you’re probably not welcome back. They may not have a bottle deposit here but I can tell you already that these people do a much better job of recycling bottles than we do in the states.
The walk back at night time along the main road reminds me of the old trucks that constantly rumble through town. There’s a cement factory further down the road from town. The cement is made and shipped out all over the country of Togo and even into neighboring Ghana and Benin. They’re loaded into what are basically semi’s, except none of them look any newer than 20 years old, each one clearly overused and under maintained.
I am accustomed to them by now, but I still think about the risk they bring to the safety of the people who happen to be along this road. Even at night the trucks come through town at a good clip and it’s a wonder that more accidents don’t happen involving these trucks or even the other bush taxis and motor bikes that cruise through town at all times.
Two weeks ago there was an accident involving one truck maybe 1 kilometer outside of town. The truck had gone off the side of a bridge and crashed into the river bank. As far as anyone could figure there were multiple casualties including a pedestrian, the driver and several of his passengers who no doubt were merely riding in the open back of the truck. But there was no telling what caused the accident. There was only speculation. It could have been that the driver fell asleep (truck drivers here must drive through the night without proper rest) or it could have just as easily been a loss of breaks at the wrong time. Regardless, it took about a week for the truck to finally be removed from the river. These kind of things are always unsettling but I was somewhat surprised by the lack of concern that people had for what had happened. It seems to me that these things are somewhat commonplace and that people are almost just used to it.
But this isn’t to give the impression that all’s gloomy here! Walking through town at night is in fact quite a neat thing. It’s probably the time the street is the busiest thanks to the night vendors who come out to sell the goods that they didn’t have time to sell during the day. Although you can’t always see the vendors themselves, the things they sell are all lit on roadside tables by innumerable oil lamps. You might also happen to hear music playing if one of the town’s two bars is playing music that night with electricity from their generators.
Tonight I my eye was caught by a type of peanut snack that one woman was selling. Peanuts are pretty common here in Togo so apart from being used in sauces they also make homemade candy from them. They remind me of the center of a butterfinger in a way with that hard texture but nutty flavor. Urged by my sweet tooth I bought two, one for myself and one for my brother who had helped me find the oil stand and who was carrying my oil for me. He’s a very helpful kid. Always willing and cheerful. Tomorrow he’ll be making the walk along the same road 6 kilometers and back just to visit his older brother who works in the bigger town with a grinder called a “moulin” (the thing that grinds the maize into a powder). I tell him to be careful and think how horrified my mom would have been by the thought of me walking alone for 6 km along such a road at the age of 15 with no cell phone she could call to check up on me with. But that’s the way here. He’s not doing anything abnormal.
Doing things by lantern light has become second nature already. Being as I never really minded power outages, I’m still getting a kick out of using that and a couple handy flashlights for getting about at night. I ran out of oil yesterday but tonight my lantern is full. I just got back not long ago from buying the lamp oil. It cost 475 CFA for a liter and two small boxes of matches. That comes out to about $1 U.S. (depending on the generosity of the exchange rate, if one has larger bills one might get 500 CFA/ U.S. dollar). I bought it from a corner boutique where a mother has her son measure out a liter according to an old glass bottle. He uses a funnel to pour the pre-measured oil into my plastic Voltic bottle (Voltic is one of the reliable bottled water producers in Togo). Here bottles are precious and you have to bring your own bottle to put your oil into. And if you buy a soda you better make good on your promise to return the bottle if you plan on taking it with you. Otherwise, you’re probably not welcome back. They may not have a bottle deposit here but I can tell you already that these people do a much better job of recycling bottles than we do in the states.
The walk back at night time along the main road reminds me of the old trucks that constantly rumble through town. There’s a cement factory further down the road from town. The cement is made and shipped out all over the country of Togo and even into neighboring Ghana and Benin. They’re loaded into what are basically semi’s, except none of them look any newer than 20 years old, each one clearly overused and under maintained.
I am accustomed to them by now, but I still think about the risk they bring to the safety of the people who happen to be along this road. Even at night the trucks come through town at a good clip and it’s a wonder that more accidents don’t happen involving these trucks or even the other bush taxis and motor bikes that cruise through town at all times.
Two weeks ago there was an accident involving one truck maybe 1 kilometer outside of town. The truck had gone off the side of a bridge and crashed into the river bank. As far as anyone could figure there were multiple casualties including a pedestrian, the driver and several of his passengers who no doubt were merely riding in the open back of the truck. But there was no telling what caused the accident. There was only speculation. It could have been that the driver fell asleep (truck drivers here must drive through the night without proper rest) or it could have just as easily been a loss of breaks at the wrong time. Regardless, it took about a week for the truck to finally be removed from the river. These kind of things are always unsettling but I was somewhat surprised by the lack of concern that people had for what had happened. It seems to me that these things are somewhat commonplace and that people are almost just used to it.
But this isn’t to give the impression that all’s gloomy here! Walking through town at night is in fact quite a neat thing. It’s probably the time the street is the busiest thanks to the night vendors who come out to sell the goods that they didn’t have time to sell during the day. Although you can’t always see the vendors themselves, the things they sell are all lit on roadside tables by innumerable oil lamps. You might also happen to hear music playing if one of the town’s two bars is playing music that night with electricity from their generators.
Tonight I my eye was caught by a type of peanut snack that one woman was selling. Peanuts are pretty common here in Togo so apart from being used in sauces they also make homemade candy from them. They remind me of the center of a butterfinger in a way with that hard texture but nutty flavor. Urged by my sweet tooth I bought two, one for myself and one for my brother who had helped me find the oil stand and who was carrying my oil for me. He’s a very helpful kid. Always willing and cheerful. Tomorrow he’ll be making the walk along the same road 6 kilometers and back just to visit his older brother who works in the bigger town with a grinder called a “moulin” (the thing that grinds the maize into a powder). I tell him to be careful and think how horrified my mom would have been by the thought of me walking alone for 6 km along such a road at the age of 15 with no cell phone she could call to check up on me with. But that’s the way here. He’s not doing anything abnormal.
10 October 2009
Out of Lomé
So it’s been about 2 weeks now since I left the capital city of Lome and I’ve been living in a smaller village since. It’s a village of about 6,000 people and is only 4 kilometers from a larger town where a sizable market, electricity and internet can be found (hence why I’m able to get this message out). I pretyped the majority of this message so I could be quick in the internet cafe where I am now (it costs 300 CFA for 1 hour and it's better to avoid having to type with a different keyboard).
I only just got my first letters from home 2 days ago. They all came at once but they were welcome reminders of home. Despite my displacement, I am becoming quite comfortable here. From day one I’ve been the recipient of much warm welcome from other volunteers, the community and especially the family I’m living with (which is 9 people). It’s a modest but quaint and pleasant living arrangement. Four rooms, a trellised area out front, a kitchen in an outdoor hut, a latrine and two shower compartments all surrounded by a variety of plant life including maize, pineapples, papaya trees, palm trees and more.
Mention of the fruit reminds of how well I’ve been eating thus far. I have been treated to some excellent food. It’s very much the norm to have fresh fruit with my meal, which beyond what was mentioned above also includes oranges and bananas (which are especially sweet here). I have so many oranges! Instead of pealing the oranges here they cut out the top and squeeze the juice into their mouths. Because I don’t get much else beyond bad tasting water (needless to say i've all but quit coffee drinking for the time being) I’m always looking forward to my next hand squeezed orange juice.
These people are also sauce extraordinaires too. While they subsist off a couple of normally bland stable crops, they are able to turn out some amazing dishes by having a variety of sauces that is usually kicked with a healthy dose of hot pepper. In case you were curious they mainly eat fingerfood dishes called “pat” or “pot” (ground maize), “fufu” (pounded manioc or yam that becomes a kind of sticky mashed potato), couscous, macaroni or rice. Sometimes they will supplement it with chicken, goat, fish or even guinea pig!
There’s been a lot of adjustments so far and there is no doubt that there will be many more to come. Nonetheless, I manage to do just fine and in fact it’s very easy to maintain a good spirit despite inconveniences (such as the norm of wearing pants in humid 80-90 degrees to be polite or the need to purify every drink of water you take). Somehow the spirit of these people make you forget about some of these things that I would instinctively be unsettled by. But in fact, some of the inconveniences are becoming pleasures. I can’t take a faucet shower but every night I do get to take a bucket bath while gazing up at a million sparkling stars. Try and tell me that’s not cool!
Il faut que j'y aille! A la prochaine!
I only just got my first letters from home 2 days ago. They all came at once but they were welcome reminders of home. Despite my displacement, I am becoming quite comfortable here. From day one I’ve been the recipient of much warm welcome from other volunteers, the community and especially the family I’m living with (which is 9 people). It’s a modest but quaint and pleasant living arrangement. Four rooms, a trellised area out front, a kitchen in an outdoor hut, a latrine and two shower compartments all surrounded by a variety of plant life including maize, pineapples, papaya trees, palm trees and more.
Mention of the fruit reminds of how well I’ve been eating thus far. I have been treated to some excellent food. It’s very much the norm to have fresh fruit with my meal, which beyond what was mentioned above also includes oranges and bananas (which are especially sweet here). I have so many oranges! Instead of pealing the oranges here they cut out the top and squeeze the juice into their mouths. Because I don’t get much else beyond bad tasting water (needless to say i've all but quit coffee drinking for the time being) I’m always looking forward to my next hand squeezed orange juice.
These people are also sauce extraordinaires too. While they subsist off a couple of normally bland stable crops, they are able to turn out some amazing dishes by having a variety of sauces that is usually kicked with a healthy dose of hot pepper. In case you were curious they mainly eat fingerfood dishes called “pat” or “pot” (ground maize), “fufu” (pounded manioc or yam that becomes a kind of sticky mashed potato), couscous, macaroni or rice. Sometimes they will supplement it with chicken, goat, fish or even guinea pig!
There’s been a lot of adjustments so far and there is no doubt that there will be many more to come. Nonetheless, I manage to do just fine and in fact it’s very easy to maintain a good spirit despite inconveniences (such as the norm of wearing pants in humid 80-90 degrees to be polite or the need to purify every drink of water you take). Somehow the spirit of these people make you forget about some of these things that I would instinctively be unsettled by. But in fact, some of the inconveniences are becoming pleasures. I can’t take a faucet shower but every night I do get to take a bucket bath while gazing up at a million sparkling stars. Try and tell me that’s not cool!
Il faut que j'y aille! A la prochaine!
22 September 2009
Back in the resto quick
Back at the same restaurant/hotel and it's night time. It's around 8 here even though my computer still says 4. No lizard yet tonight, but instead there are these small, hard, green, almost coconut like fruits falling from the tree above about every 5 minutes. They make a hard snap as they hit the cement or crash through a plant. Sitting next to me is a man from Amsterdam doing business with local cocoa growers. He calls the fruits les couilles de singe, but I know he has no idea. He says the cocoa he buys here is good but business can be a pain because the locals like their money up front and that is not how he is used to doing business.
I already feel like I've been here for a long time. Hard to imagine that the other Americans I'm here with I've only known for less than a week. I've been in Togo 3 full days now and it feels like much longer (in a good way). I think my body is starting to get on Togo time. 6 a.m. (when I've been waking up), hardly seems as early as it usually does. And fortunately I've been sleeping fine. And ya know I don't think the bathroom's are bad at all by general standards. Each stall has crammed into it a shower, sink, toilet and bucket (can't flush the tp here so guess what it's for!). Plus, the power's only gone out twice!
Whether you believe it or not, we already have cell phones here. Didn't picture myself walking around Africa with a Blackberry in my pocket, but in fact phones are very much the norm.
We've picked up juggling as a free time activity. When we have some time we take to the sandy street and juggle, 4 or 5 of us, in a circle, taking care to keep an eye and an ear out for the next motorcycle or passerby.
Could be a bit before I get another post up, but I have to go. A German student has a test to take on the internet and the fewer the people using the connection the better it will work. He's nervous but polite, so I'm not going to push it!
I already feel like I've been here for a long time. Hard to imagine that the other Americans I'm here with I've only known for less than a week. I've been in Togo 3 full days now and it feels like much longer (in a good way). I think my body is starting to get on Togo time. 6 a.m. (when I've been waking up), hardly seems as early as it usually does. And fortunately I've been sleeping fine. And ya know I don't think the bathroom's are bad at all by general standards. Each stall has crammed into it a shower, sink, toilet and bucket (can't flush the tp here so guess what it's for!). Plus, the power's only gone out twice!
Whether you believe it or not, we already have cell phones here. Didn't picture myself walking around Africa with a Blackberry in my pocket, but in fact phones are very much the norm.
We've picked up juggling as a free time activity. When we have some time we take to the sandy street and juggle, 4 or 5 of us, in a circle, taking care to keep an eye and an ear out for the next motorcycle or passerby.
Could be a bit before I get another post up, but I have to go. A German student has a test to take on the internet and the fewer the people using the connection the better it will work. He's nervous but polite, so I'm not going to push it!
21 September 2009
togo!
Made it!
As it turns out one of the hotels that we're in has a decent internet connection (even though it's not the one I'm staying at). The weather is hot and the humidity high, but it is nothing unbearable at all. As I'm writing I sit in the resataurant portion of the hotel, under an ubrella with three other trainees, keeping an eye out for a very quick lizard which is darting around the table. My connection is vey slow but I have about ten minutes to write a quick note before we have lunch.
It's tough to know what to talk about! A million different things have hit home about all things different here. Thus far it's nothing but good impressions, despite a variety of initial discomforts. I've been loading my journal with numerous things as I take in and adjust to all of the things about where I am.
If the reality of what I'm doing hadn't sunk in before, things are really starting to hit home now: when I stepped off the plance at 6:30 (it was already dark, no daylight savings time) and was blasted immediately by the sticky humidity, as locals loaded our baggage into a canvass covered truck, as I rode in the bucket seat of the back of an SUV and looked at all what was happening around me (motorcycles, venders, plenty of commotion and nothing that I'd ever come close to seeing before), when I heard the African French and local languages swarming around me and then as I let it all sink in, trying to fall asleep on my little mattress inside of a mosquito net.
I have a good feeling about things here. It's going to be wild! There's plenty more to tell, but I can't tell it all now!
A bientot!
As it turns out one of the hotels that we're in has a decent internet connection (even though it's not the one I'm staying at). The weather is hot and the humidity high, but it is nothing unbearable at all. As I'm writing I sit in the resataurant portion of the hotel, under an ubrella with three other trainees, keeping an eye out for a very quick lizard which is darting around the table. My connection is vey slow but I have about ten minutes to write a quick note before we have lunch.
It's tough to know what to talk about! A million different things have hit home about all things different here. Thus far it's nothing but good impressions, despite a variety of initial discomforts. I've been loading my journal with numerous things as I take in and adjust to all of the things about where I am.
If the reality of what I'm doing hadn't sunk in before, things are really starting to hit home now: when I stepped off the plance at 6:30 (it was already dark, no daylight savings time) and was blasted immediately by the sticky humidity, as locals loaded our baggage into a canvass covered truck, as I rode in the bucket seat of the back of an SUV and looked at all what was happening around me (motorcycles, venders, plenty of commotion and nothing that I'd ever come close to seeing before), when I heard the African French and local languages swarming around me and then as I let it all sink in, trying to fall asleep on my little mattress inside of a mosquito net.
I have a good feeling about things here. It's going to be wild! There's plenty more to tell, but I can't tell it all now!
A bientot!
18 September 2009
Long day today and tomorrow could be even longer! I've got some major traveling coming up in the next 2 days. I get to make a stop in Paris and it's going to kill me to know I can't get out and explore it any! Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to getting back into the realm of the French language. The trip to Phili went just fine, pretty painless besides lugging some large bags around before I found the shuttle vans.
Orientation today went well. I got to meet some of the other people that will be heading out with me. Even though they come from all over everyone is very nice and shares plenty in common.
And Nicole, just because I know you're curious, I will inform you that Donny Twilight is currently packed and will be heading to Africa.
Orientation today went well. I got to meet some of the other people that will be heading out with me. Even though they come from all over everyone is very nice and shares plenty in common.
And Nicole, just because I know you're curious, I will inform you that Donny Twilight is currently packed and will be heading to Africa.
17 September 2009
All ready to go
So I can already feel the whirlwind brewing. Tomorrow my travel starts as I fly out of Portland at 9:18 a.m. for Philadelphia where the two-day orientation in the U.S. takes place.
As I say my goodbye's I'm doing my best to keep from looking back, but it's a tough thing to do. It's odd because I never say a goodbye and really feel like I've done it justice. I usually leave feeling like there's more to be said, especially for the people closest to me. I hope everyone understands that I will be thinking of them and will only look forward to the next time paths cross again. I figure any goodbye worth saying is only temporary and that helps. Meanwhile, the excitement of the unknown that is to come pushes me forward.
As I say my goodbye's I'm doing my best to keep from looking back, but it's a tough thing to do. It's odd because I never say a goodbye and really feel like I've done it justice. I usually leave feeling like there's more to be said, especially for the people closest to me. I hope everyone understands that I will be thinking of them and will only look forward to the next time paths cross again. I figure any goodbye worth saying is only temporary and that helps. Meanwhile, the excitement of the unknown that is to come pushes me forward.
01 September 2009
Set-up
Hey everyone!
If I haven't already told you I am on the verge of joining the Peace Corps. In just over two weeks I will be heading out and will likely not be seeing any of you for 27 months. My date of departure is Sept. 17 and I will be in Togo (a small French-speaking country in West Africa) on Sept. 19.
I have created this blog for a number of reasons. Most of all I don't want to lose touch with all of you that I consider my friends. I want to stay connected as best as I can and I think this is the best way for me to streamline my communication with everyone. Please feel free to leave comments throughout this page and if you do wish to contact me personally, please use email (ChristianLDonaldson@gmail.com).
Another motivation for this blog is my wish that everyone be able to take away from my experience in the Peace Corps. I really believe that time spent abroad can only enrich one's life and I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to undertake such an adventure. I want to share as much of what I experience, witness and learn with everyone back home who is interested.
I will be making a strong effort to maintain this blog. My situation will likely dictate the frequency and quality of my entries, but this is something that I do hope to stick to so long as I am able. If I ever fall behind don't hesitate to give me friendly reminders to stay on the ball! And feel free to pass this blog link on to anyone you think may like to follow!
If I haven't already told you I am on the verge of joining the Peace Corps. In just over two weeks I will be heading out and will likely not be seeing any of you for 27 months. My date of departure is Sept. 17 and I will be in Togo (a small French-speaking country in West Africa) on Sept. 19.
I have created this blog for a number of reasons. Most of all I don't want to lose touch with all of you that I consider my friends. I want to stay connected as best as I can and I think this is the best way for me to streamline my communication with everyone. Please feel free to leave comments throughout this page and if you do wish to contact me personally, please use email (ChristianLDonaldson@gmail.com).
Another motivation for this blog is my wish that everyone be able to take away from my experience in the Peace Corps. I really believe that time spent abroad can only enrich one's life and I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to undertake such an adventure. I want to share as much of what I experience, witness and learn with everyone back home who is interested.
I will be making a strong effort to maintain this blog. My situation will likely dictate the frequency and quality of my entries, but this is something that I do hope to stick to so long as I am able. If I ever fall behind don't hesitate to give me friendly reminders to stay on the ball! And feel free to pass this blog link on to anyone you think may like to follow!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
