Tuesday 18 Sept 2012
Yet again, its been a while since I’ve written anything, but
the last few weeks since returning from post visit have been incredibly busy.
From finishing up language and technical classes, to preparing for the swearing
in ceremony, to packing and moving to village, I’ve found little time to sit
down and dump my thoughts onto paper (or more appropriately-computer).
But now I’m in village and life has finally
slowed to a more manageable pace. So the last three weeks… where do I begin? I
passed my language test shortly after returning from post visit, which would
have meant I could move onto learning local language, but there wasn’t a
professor to teach my local language, so I just continued with French.
On
Thursday, Sept 6 my entire stage and the formateurs and staff traveled to Lomé for our swearing in party- the time when we move from
being trainees to full-blown volunteers! This year marked to 50th
anniversary of Peace Corps Togo, so the fête was much bigger than normal. It was held at
the Palais du Congres in Lome which is a beautiful building! All the host
families, teachers, staff as well as VIPs from Peace Corps and the Togolese
Govt were in attendance.
In years past the
event has been held at the house of the country director, but this year being
the anniversary, Peace Corps went all out! Dance performances, cake, speeches,
the whole shebang! Not gonna lie, it was a little overwhelming but was
enjoyable nonetheless. My host family and I all wore matching pagne outfits,
even my two little sisters! I love my Togolese family :D
After the fete,
we spent a few days in Lome getting things we might need for post and enjoying
a weekend together and free from the structure of training. I even got to see
the ocean!
Then we returned
to our training sites for one last week of classes before moving to village.
Typically volunteers leave for post the day after swear-in, but this was a
peculiar year. My birthday was during the following week and I was very lucky
to have it fall on the day where we shared cultural events with the host
families. The EAFS did a little sampling of the Super Bowl that garnished a
good number of laughs from the crowd, especially with only one person playing
football with himself (and tackling himself). We also did a little Bad Romance
halftime show with yours-truly as Lady Gaga. What better way to spend my first
birthday in Togo?!?!
The following day
was our last day at the training sites. For me this was a whole mix of
emotions. I was forlorn to be parting with my host family who I had come to love
dearly during the past two months, but was also incredibly eager to get back to
Sola! I packed up my room yet again, something I feel I’ve gotten very used to
doing over the past few years and stared one last time at the blue walls before
walking one last time to the tech house and loading into the bushtaxi up north.
The trip ended up
taking longer than expected and I chose to spend the night in the prefectural
capital with a volunteer there instead of arriving to post late at night,
especially since it was raining and I didn’t want to risk getting stuck on the
road in the dark. But then early the next morning we drove out to Sola, I
unpacked my things and now my new life begins!
I’ve spent the
last few days just hanging out a lot with my neighbors, practicing my
salutations in local language and discussing differences between my life in the
US and my first impressions of life here. I went to a Pentecostal church
session with my neighbors on Sunday, which was full of dancing! I’m going to
try to attend sessions at each of the churches to get a feel for the different
religions practiced here and to meet more people in my village.
Today I think I’m
going to start putting together a compost pile or gather some supplies to start
making some furniture (the one downside to having a new post- there’s almost
nothing in my house). Petit a petit, le oiseau fait son nid (little by little,
the bird makes his nest- a popular saying here that I find myself quoting
nearly everyday). The village market is also this afternoon, so I’ll go greet
some marche mamas and get some things to make a tasty eggplant wagash (local
cheese made my the Fulani people) for dinner. Gourmet dining, village style!
-21 Sept 2012: Didn’t end up making eggplant wagash because there wasn’t
any wagash at the market. I can’t
remember what I ended up making instead… but I went to Kara two days ago
to do
some business and meet up with a volunteer who lives there (Kara is my
regional
capital where there are good markets etc). I'm incredibly happy with my
post since its out in the peaceful countryside yet the city and all its
amentities are very accessible. I can't imagine a better situation
