Update from me being here

 

Since I’m going to be in Lome for the next few hours and actually have good internet, I’ve decided to let you all know what I’ve been up to here.

On June 3^rd I left Tampa for Washington DC. Me and 28 future volunteers stayed at a Holiday Inn in Arlington, Virginia for a basic orientation known as ‘Staging’ in the PC world. It was full of ice breakers and learning about a bunch of PC policies. That first night was spent at PF Changs, and was delicious. The next day was spent driving on a bus through DC to a federal building to get our first of many vaccinations. I believe it was yellow fever that day. We got some more health tips, then we headed to the airport.

The flight went from DC to Paris. I saw ‘Law Abiding Citizen’ which was a really cool movie and another one but I forget it already. That seems sooo long ago. I’ve been in Togo less than a month but being in the US feels like years ago!

Our flight in Paris was delayed by two hours so I think we were there for about 8 hours. I saw some cool sites, and myself and a few others were up for over 24 hours due to not sleeping on the flight over. I actually didn’t fall asleep until on the flight from Paris to Togo. I did watch ‘A Serious Man” though before I passed out. It wasn’t one favorite movies from the Coen brothers. It was really interesting, but I still don’t really understand the beginning.

I was really pumped when I got off the plane in Lome and there were two ladies holding a sign that said Peace Corps. I had finally made it! We grouped up in a room in the airport and met the country director and the security officer. Then we made it off to a hostel that we stayed at until the 9^th. Those couple days in Lome were spent getting vaccinations, learning about how not to get sick in Togo, a bunch of discussions about all parts of life in Togo, and getting to know all the different people in my training group.

On the 9^th we split for our training villages. The health volunteers(including me) went to a village called Gbatope, and the business volunteers went to a town called Tsevie. I was really nervous and excited as the van pulled into the village. We pulled up to this one place called the Tech House and there were a bunch of people all sitting under what looks like a giant tiki hut. As we got out of the car drums started to be played and everyone was singing. I just remember having a huge smile on my face as I walked under the tiki hut. I had been given the name of the host family I was going to be staying with. Their name is Aholou. I met the dad and the mom, and took a seat in between them. When we were all seated a man started a cool little ritual to welcome us to the village that involved dumping some kind of white liquid on the group. He said that we came in peace and hope we have a peacefully stay in the village. Then the drums started playing again, and everybody got up and was dancing, so of course I got up and started dancing. We danced for a couple minutes. And I have to warn you than when I say I dance I mean I just kinda flail my body around because I don’t have any rhythm But they seemed cool with it.

After that and a couple more speeches we all headed home with our own new families. My first night there was spent trying to eat a gigantic plate of spaghetti and sauce with some kind of meat. There was so much spaghetti! It was like they had cooked 3 packets of spaghetti, and it was all for me! I was sitting there eating it on the porch, with about 10 people watching me. I actually got through a good portion of it but had to throw in the towel. The rest of the night was spent trying to explain were I was from, showing pictures, and pointing out Florida on a world map.

So I’ve been with my host family since then. It is hard to tell who exactly is part of my family since everyone calls each other a brother or a sister here. I live with my host mom and dad, my little sister, and next door is an older sister, a brother and my sister’s baby. There are other people who come over who are some how related too. The distinction here between how people are related is a lot more relaxed here in the village than how we’re use to it in the states.

My family here is awesome. My host mom brought me to the tailor the other day and made me a really cool shirt. It’s made out of a material they call pagne here. It is a long sleeve blue button up shirt and when I wear it I feel like a character out of the 70s Show.

I’ve spent a few nights playing my practice pad(a little plastic circle for me to hit with drum sticks). The kids freakin love this thing. We all take turns playing it. Someone will play a beat, and everyone will get up and dance, including me. They love teaching me dance. One time they asked me to teach them an American dance. Remember I have no idea how to dance. I told them I don’t know any but they insisted, so I might of made up a bit of American culture for them. I put something together that is kinda like salsa, but really bad and doesn’t look like it goes to any rhythm. Now I’ll have the little kids randomly start doing that sometimes as I walking by.

Everyday but Sundays are spent doing language and technical training. The classes start at 7:30am and end at 5pm with a few hours for lunch and break in between. My bed time here is around 9pm. When I can, I try to get up to go running at 5:30am, and so far this hasn’t been too many times.

I saw my host mom kill a chicken the other week. It was a little wild. I was freaked out by it, but I don’t think it had any lasting impact because it was delicious when I ate it for dinner. I don’t know if I could kill my own dinner yet.

I’ve had one guy named John-Paul give me tours around the village. It’s really helped me out as we walk around and he points out everything and tells me what it is in French. French is the official language here, but you only learn it if you got to school. Ewe is the big language in Togo, and then there are a bunch of other local languages within the country.

My french has been getting way better, and I got my permanent post. Its a city in the central region of the country. I’m suppose to have training until mid August, then I’ll be sworn in and head off to post. Due to what I mentioned in the previous post, I’m going to be missing a lot of training, and not too sure when I’ll get back into it. But I’ll see.