Moving to Sola

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 50^th 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