faire-ing la conaissance de ma famille hôte

Getting to meet my host famille was amazing. When we got to Agou Akoumawou, we were greeted with music and dancing, and food. During the dancing part, there was a young man who was super animated and all over the dancing. He turned out to be my host brother in an extended kind of way which has been way cool. His name is George (funny thing… I thought his name was Josh until pretty recently when I saw his name written. I feel bad for calling him a name not his own, but in my defense, he looks way more like a Josh than a George, plus even now it still sounds like people call him Josh) He’s 23 years old. I saw George and Francoise (my host sister who is 16) a lot at the beginning but now I just see them every once in a while which is too bad. It took me a little bit (as in just a few days ago) to figure out the family situation because I initially thought that they were my host mom and dad’s kids but it turns out George is their nephew and Francoise is just a family friend who both live in different houses. Figuring out family relations has been somewhat difficult for a lot of us. In my compound is my host mom and dad with their two little boys (7 and 4yrs old) and a little girl (3 months), as well as a Peace Corps secretary named Monsieur Jean. My family has been tres super. They have been very patient with me as I try to practice my French and have been great about teaching my a little of the local language, ewe. Anyone I try to speak ewe with around here gets a kick out of me trying. I am going to start learning it in a more formal setting next week since I will be using ewe at my post (more about this later).

lomé-tion orienta-tion

Orientation in Lome was fabulous for the most part. It was a little tiring at times and I definitely did not like living out of suit cases, especially since me and personal organization don’t get along too well sometimes, but I was able to sneak in a few naps and did not end up losing anything. At least not anything I’ve noticed so far. Lome is a very beautiful city although, similar to Mexico, it has its fair share of crazy drivers and pollution. Other notable differences from the US are that the houses are cement based and there aren’t many paved streets. I wish I could upload des photos, but I think that’s going to have to wait till later. Lome has a fairly active night life. We arrived on a Saturday night and the streets were hoppin’ with people. I went out twice with PCVs and other PCTs to a couple different bars. It was fun. The best part was getting to talk to and getting to know some great people.

and don’t call me shirley!

The airplane rides were wonderful considering we got here safe and sound. Sleeping was a little bit of a challenge, especially on the first plane, but in retrospect, it was great getting to talk to fellow PCTs (PC Trainees) and playing around with the monitor each seat had. The monitors had games, movies, TV shows, news casts, cartoons, music, etc. Another really chouette chose that happened was that on our flight from NY to Paris, there was a lady sitting a few seats away from me who had been a PCV in the 70s. Get this—in Togo! She was as excited and surprised that she was in a plane full of future Togo PCVs as we were to meet her. It was a good sign.
I feel like I should make a quick note about the actual planes we were on since I know some of you ;) really like planes. Ummm… they were big and amazing. Who wouldn’t be amazed by a huge chunk of metal that can fly, right?! I wish I could say more about them, but that’s really all I know.

finally updating

Hello! It’s been amazing getting to experience the culture here in Togo, I feel like I’ve already learned so much in the short amount of time I’ve been here. I’m really looking forward to the next two years. This whole Girl’s Education and Empowerment thing is pretty sweet.

Getting connected to the internet is harder than I thought it was going to be so I’ve been in Togo for almost a month and I’m just now able to post an update. Alors, there’s a whole lot I would love to share with everyone. The last (and first) time I was able to get online about a week ago, I wasn’t able to figure out how to post what I had written before my time on the computer was up. I have been using a friend’s computer to type updates which means I have a lot to post, so for the sake of organization I am going to break it up and do a series of posts.

togo or bust!

i can't believe i've only been in philly for the past two two and a half(ish) days. i've done so much, learned so much, met so many people, it feels like it's been way longer. alas, here i am, on the the eve of my departure, feeling surprisingly calm.

highlights of the past two days:
9.19.07
-saw the liberty bell, betsy ross' house, independence hall, along with more cool historical stuff, i'm sure. philadelphia is a cool place in general i decided.
-had a philly cheesesteak sandwich for the first time. can't get much more authentic than that.
-met some more wonderful people. i've almost got all the names down now. there are about 30 people in the togo group altogether-- 16 in the girls' education and empowerment (gee) program and 14 in the natural resource management (nrm) program.
-talked about anxieties and aspirations as we anticipate leaving.
-had dinner at an indian restaurant. it was buffet style, which was fabulous since i got to try several dishes i hadn't tried before. i wonder if they'll have indian food in togo...
-stopped by an irish pub before heading back to the hotel. it was a good ambiance, although the music they were playing sounded like someone was singing karaoke, but there wasn't any karaoke anything around. kinda confused me for a little bit.
9.20.07
-talked about how to cope with getting unwanted attention in togo. it's hard to tell what that's going to be like.
-had a chinese lunch with a great group of people.
-talked about what tomorrow is going to be like-- it sounds like it's going to be a lot of sitting. we take a bus to the clinic to get some shots, take a bus to the airport, take a 7 hour plane ride to france, and a 6 hour plane ride to togo. fortunately i brought plenty of stuff to keep me occupied, not to mention a group of 30 people to talk with.
-when we were walking to dinner, we asked a guy on the street for suggestions of where to go and as he was leading us to bucca di beppo (mmm...), he randomly took us into a kinko's because there was a guy in there he knew who is from ghana. he was telling us how great ghana is, so i'm definitely going to be visiting some time in the next two years. anyone who wants to come along is more than welcome to join me.
-had an amazing dinner
-saw a ton of bats (we all decided they were bats) when we were walking back. normally i wouldn't be happy that flying rats (i'm not a big fan of bats) were all over the place, but they were just doing their own thing relatively far away from me and it was actually kind of neat to see it.
-saw a march/demonstration go by of people who want the boys of the jena six case to be let go(to read more about the case: http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003244.shtml).
- saw about a million and one motorcycles go by all at once.

all in all, it's been a pretty eventful last couple days. i'm so glad i've gotten to spend some time here, i'm for sure going to come back some day. i'm super excited to take the bus up to new york. i hope i get to see a lot on the way. i'll just tell the bus driver that i'm feeling nauseous so that he will pull over and i can sneak some pictures along the way. pictures never work as well when the bus is moving.

i'm all packed and ready to get poked tomorrow. please pray for safe flights.

good flights. settling in to hotel. making new friends.

after getting only 2 hours of sleep last night (2 more than i had planned on getting) i got to the airport on time and was out for most of my time on the planes. it made the day go by quick. even spending almost 3 hours in the dallas airport went by fast. i got to the airport and didn't know what i was supposed to do. i didn't know if i was supposed to look for someone or get a shuttle. i was half expecting someone to be there holding a sign that said peace corps or my last name but that wasn't the case. and getting on a shuttle wasn't really an option since i didn't know what hotel i was going to be staying at. luckily i had written down the name and number of someone i could contact. so after getting my luggage i took a cab to the hampton inn. the person i had talked to said that a cab wouldn't be too expensive since the hotel was fairly close to the airport. this cab driver apparently didn't know it isn't supposed to cost too much to drive someone to the hampton because he charged me $26. but on the bright side, i really enjoyed the drive there. from what i've seen, i decided i like it here. i'll see how i feel by the end of the week.

i checked in and by the time i got to my room, i had met 4 other girls that are here and going to togo. introductions out of the way, i told them i was hungry and was going to find some food before it got too much later. i brought some soup back and ate it while we chatted for a good 2 hours or so. i like them all. i'm looking forward to getting to know them better. it's really nice to be able to talk to people who have many of the same questions i've had for the past couple months but are just as excited for the experience. i think we're all equally unsure of what to expect.

one of the girls has a friend who lives in philly and is going to show her around the city tomorrow morning. i have to get up at 9am ... which is 6 am in normal oregon time. i'm not feeling super tired right now since i slept a decent amount on the planes, but i know i'll regret staying up tomorrow if i don't try to go to sleep soon. with that said, bonsoir!

africa's women: a journey of hope

http://www.theotherjournal.com/article.php?id=86

here is an article that i recently came across. it makes me sad when i hear about economic disparities that exists throughout the world, but it's important to recognize that when we speak of poverty, we shouldn't limit it to economic hardship. here is an excerpt from the article:

"Materially, America may be very developed, but in other aspects of life, Africa has significant contributions to offer. In Africa, the elderly don’t die alone. If an extended family member is in need, others in the family with their own meager resources make sure the need is met. In the African context, there is no such concept as “inconvenience.” Unexpected visitors are blessings, and there’s always room at the table for one or two more. Older siblings help with school fees for the younger ones. Here people know how to celebrate, to dance, to sing, without spending a fortune to do so. Yes, life is hard, but people know how to find and express joy in the midst of what they have, with each other. People greet each other with “God is good…” to which is replied, “…all the time, and all the time…” “God is good!” concludes the first. Is this simplistic optimism…or is it a view of reality which addresses life from the perspective of eternal priorities?"

this is a description of the african culture that i've heard from a number of sources and i feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be going to a place that has a reputation of richness in the realm of community. i am going to "serve" this community, but know they will inevitably serve me more than i could hope to serve them.