amigos!

I wrote this at the end of september but just got around to putting it up.

Below I made a helpful guide for anyone interested in doing a marathon over in this part of the world.

Steps to running a marathon is Sub-Saharan Africa

Step 1: Don’t do it.

Just kidding, maybe this is a little too harsh. I’m really glad I did it and it is an awesome feeling of accomplishment! Yet, I have never been so tired in my life or hot or maybe even dehydrated. I’m sure later on I’ll be looking back and be like ‘hell yeah, I was so badass.’ I was feeling really happy the rest of the day after the race. It was probably the endorphins. The next couple days I was just sore. But seriously, if anyone wants to run in Ghana the Accra International Marathon will be happening again next year, and if I can do it so can you!

Two days before the race I took the GMAT which is a standardized test for people wanting to go do certain graduate school. I did really well on it! Both the race and test were over in Ghana. I ate so well over there! They have fast food!

Now I’m back over here in Togo. Life is back to normal. There is a fete happening for yams. The harvest just happened so the whole town is singing, dancing, and eating all weekend long. There are so many yams right now that the price is so cheap. You can make so much foufou for next to nothing!

There is less than one year left for me in this place. It is so weird to be counting down my time here since I just spent the past year counting up. Many fun times, hard times, and all sorts of other times with even more times to come. Does that make sense… don’t try to think about it too hard. I have many close volunteer friends who will be leaving and it is kinda sad. They did their two years so now it’s time to peace out of Peace Corps. More newbies are in Togo going through training down south. They’ll be coming up in late November so I’ll have some new volunteer friends. Speaking of friends, I really like some people here in Sotouboua. It has taken some time to find real friends, but I have people who I really like hanging out with. It takes a while to differentiate who is there to be friends because of who you are and who wants to be friends just because of the color of your skin.

I have Attisso who is a major part of this trash collection project. His is one of the most motivated guys I have ever met, an uber hard worker. He works at the hospital and really cares about the well-being of the community. We have spent so much time doing baby weighing, home visits in town, and everything with trash collection. Plus after a hard day’s work he’s always down for a beer.

Another guy is Chris. He is a local singer and we share a sense of adventure. He just got back from logging over in northern Ghana. Next month he’ll be heading over to Nigeria for six months for some other type of work. I asked him why he travels all over to work, when he can just as easily stay in Sotouboua, and he responded with because he needs to see what’s out there. I can totally understand that.

Daniel the bee farmer. If you want the best honey in Togo, you go to this guy. He also happens to be one of the nicest guys in Togo. He has a place to stay here in Sotouboua, but is really from a small village just outside of here. We have spent so much time just hanging out, talking about honey and everything else you can do with bees. It is awesome seeing a guy who is so into what he does. And he’s the guy who taught me the small bit of Kabiye I know and is always willing to explain bizarre cultural stuff to me.

Atcha is my official homolog. He has been with me from the start. We have done so much together and I know I can count on him for anything. He is always really busy, but will make sure to take some time to stop by every couple weeks just to see how I am. He has a wife over in another town, Sokode, and has just recently become a dad, so this has brought him to a whole other level of responsibility. He really gets me and understands that it isn’t always easy living in a totally different culture.

This isn’t a list of everyone, just a few who are at the top.