December flew by! It kicked off with World AIDS Day on December 1, which was more like World AIDS Week. Then, all the volunteers in my stage allow with our Togolese counterparts spent a week at training in southern/mid Togo. Finally, I began my English club, had a few visitors, went to Carla's amazing Cultural Center Benefit, and of course celebrated the big "fete" of Christmas!
World AIDS Day (and week)
December 1 marked World AIDS day, which meant there were tons of activities, and I was super busy! I helped at the hospital, where they were giving HIV tests and counseling, at the schools, where they were having discussions, debates and activities, and at the library, where there was a grand celebration/sensibilization. I really enjoyed this week, although it was somewhat emotionally difficult at times; at one point I was in the consultation/counseling room when an 18 year old found out that he was HIV+. There was also a very bad bus accident that occurred on the mountain near my town, and the injured crowded the small hospital. But, since it was a day/week to remember and promote actions against HIV/AIDS, I would like to talk a little about how HIV/AIDS is in Togo, and how the system works for those who are HIV+. Officially, here in Togo, the HIV rate is 3%, although many people believe the statistic to be much higher. Once a person has the HIV, they must be monitored and if their CD4+ level falls below a certain level, they qualify for free ARVs (anti-retrovirals aka the HIV medicine). However, these ARVs, although they can be very good at slowing the progression of AIDS, do not really help if an AIDS patient gets sick from another infection. So, an AIDS patient who gets sick, can be faced with huge (relatively speaking) medical bills that cannot be paid. Many infections like this make it financially impossible to manage the disease. So, there are a few NGOs that pay for medications, health consultations, hospital stays, and nutritional kits for these patients. I work at one of these NGOs, called AED, and as long as they pay dues, equivalent to $1/month, patients are taken care of. Dues are a problem though. People don’t like to pay dues and then they get sick. Anyway, that is one of the frustrating things about it. Another frustrating thing is that people don’t get tested. So, although patients who are HIV+ have resources, people don't want to take the test because they think that it isn't confidential, they are scared, they don't think they could have it, and probably many other reasons.
CULTURAL CENTER BENEFIT
My site-mate (the other Peace corps volunteer living here), is very involved in music and dance with kids. Every Saturday, she has a cultural morning, in which kids come and learn English, learn to play the recorder, the drums, and to dance. It's a great (although exhausting) time. They meet in this dilapidated "cultural center" that has definitely seen better days and for some reason has a big hole in the middle of the room. I was trying to think of what to hole's purpose is, but I have no idea. Maybe it was someone's dream to swim in a tub of spaghetti noodles like in that movie with Robin Williams and they built this hole in preparation for a place for the spaghetti noodles. But actually, that is probably not the reason; the hole is made out of cement and large and looks more like a hole for a mass grave than a hole for swimming in spaghetti. Just around the corner from this place is a butcher place...I didn't realize this until one time is was riding my bike, turned the corner, and almost ran into two dead pigs, hanging from something that reminded me of a swing set, with blood dripping from their bodies onto the dusty ground. Anyway, point of the story is: the cultural center building is crap. So, Carla has been working on fundraising for a new cultural center building that would be in a nice location and be a good spot for kids to come and not have a random big cement hole that people are always scared to fall into. As part of this fundraising, she, and the kids, and some other dancers and singers and storytellers from nearby, put on a huge benefit concert! And it was wonderful! There is usually not much of a nightlife here, especially compared to the US, and having everyone in one place for a big concert just brightened my day/night. For more information on Carla’s cultural center project, check out:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projdetail&projdesc=693-355
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Espoir-Cultural-Center/112389832150384
ENGLISH CLUB
Finally my English club is up and running! And it is so much fun. There are about 10 students who show up regularly, and they are so smart. We have discussions about the US and Togo and the world, all the while learning and improving English. Last time, I gave them an assignment to write a paragraph about a magazine article or picture (I had brought in various magazines that all you lovely family/friends have been sending) and the results were hilarious/serious/good discussion-starters. One person chose a picture of a dog licking a man's face, and the student said "By seeing this picture I am very happy. I didn't think that white men liked to play with dogs as I do." Another student chose a picture of barns in south-central Pennsylvania and said that "the buildings in the picture look like mosques". Someone else described a picture of people in Washington, D.C., saying that everyone was well-dressed, fat, and the girls are beautiful. There were also some discussion-inducing articles, including one about a student shooting spree (they asked me why the student chose to shoot other students) and China's one-child policy (I was interested to see what they thought of it, being from Togo where it is not uncommon to have women with 6-7-8 kids.) The students also wrote me a poem:
Miss Mafisa, (that's my Lamba name, which means I am laid back/relaxed/at ease)
Our English club wishes you 12 months of peace, 52 weeks of joy, 365 days of love, 87600 minutes of happyness [sic], 525600 seconds of success in the kingdom of health for the year 2011. We also wish you Merry Christmas holiday and happy new year.
Anyway, so I like my English club a lot and I want to use it, not only to teach English, but to introduce them to different topics and debates that they might never have encountered.
FIRES IN THE SKY
So, fires are everywhere. Harvest is over, so people burn their fields. It is not very good for the environment (or for my constant sore throat and stuffy nose), but it helps them to clear the fields, prevent uncontrolled fires, and find animals to eat. It is also gorgeous. At night, you can see fires on the mountains all over the area, and it look like they are just floating in the sky because the darkness prevents you from seeing where mountain meets sky. There's a rooftop bar here also, and from the rooftop you can see fires off in the distance.
CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS
Enter into the season of fetes. Everyone has finished the big harvest and people want to feast and celebrate. People crowd the markets, buy little toys for kids, and make huge meals. I was not aware of the insanity of the market and so, like every Friday, I decided to go to the market on market day to buy some supplies, not thinking that it was Christmas Eve and not realizing and that the Christmas market is equivalent to Black Friday at Target. It was impossible to walk, talk, and even think. Needless to say, I had the song "God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy" in my head for a long long time. So, once I got over the magnitude and density of all the people, it was a pretty interesting time and I even saw a monkey! But, I soon left, walked around town for a bit, and then met Carla for Christmas eve dinner. We ate delicious pizza that she made and a weird concoction of dessert-type things that I made. Then, we played and sang Christmas songs! After listening and trying to remember all those things that my true love gave to me during the 12 days of Christmas, it honestly felt just like Christmas! I was ready to grab my warm coat before heading out into the winter wonderland before I realized that I was in Togo. Anyway, I left Carla's house on a moto, re-hung my stocking on my bulletin board with care (there aren't many places to hang stockings), and went to sleep. Next day: Christmas! I woke up early as usual (cough cough, Caity and Rachael, I cant believe you slept in till like 7something), had my oatmeal and green tea and sat down to open presents! After some chill time (I was able to talk to my family on skype!), the feasting began. And Oh My, soo much food! Meal 1: salad with pasta from the neighbors; meal 2: pasta and rice and pintade from the other neighbors; meal 3: beef and salad and ginger sauce at Akanto's garden with the prefet; meal 4: beef and rice and sauce and wine at Akanto's garden with all the students there; meal 5: pasta with chicken, cabbage and apple compote, sweet potatoes and gravy, mango/coconut/banana dessert, eggnog with Carla. Afterwards, I could not move at all. I couldn't even think. I went home and slept. And that was my Christmas.
OTHER RANDOM THINGS:
I went with the peer educators one day to another village for a full day of idea-exchanging, and on the way back, there was an overturned truck on the mountain (which is on the only national highway, the paved road that goes from south to north). So, we walked down the mountain. It was so much fun, there were like 30 students and me, all singing and dancing in the middle of the national highway walking down a mountain.
TASTE CHANGES
In the US, before parting for Togo, I had a fairly healthy diet. I would rarely/never eat fatty meats, and stayed away from red meats in general. All dairy products were the reduced or low fat version, and, save for my one Achilles heel of gummy bears, I would not really eat candy or candy bars. I never craved any of these things that I excluded; I just ate the things I wanted to eat, and didn't eat the things I didn't want to eat. Here, though, I find myself craving things that I would never ever want to eat in the US. For example, beef, and meat in general. I crave meat soooo much. If I could press a button and be back in the US and be able to eat whatever I wanted, I would eat lots of half-rare steak with sour cream, lots of big juicy cheeseburgers with all the fat dripping onto your hands. I would eat pizzas with every single topping and extra cheese. I would drink sodas and root beer floats. I would eat 5 egg omeletes with ham and bacon and sausage and super rich cheddar cheese. I would get the most calorically-rich bagel and put an inch of full fat flavored cream cheese. Shepherds pie, meatloaf, beef enchiladas covered in grease and cheese, eggs on everything, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, deviled eggs, real butter, real mayonnaise, ranch dip, potato chips, real sour cream, ham, Sliced turkey, gravy, pork chops, lasagna, veal parmesan. cheese meat cheese meat eggs. I don't really know why this is; I didn't have these cravings while I was in the US, when I had these options available. I don't know if I will still want to eat all these things once I return. I think maybe it is here, in Togo, when meat and eggs are difficult to find and prepare, and dairy (except for the powdered milk) is almost unheard of, that I have cravings for these things. I hope the cravings go away when I return to the US, or else I might double in size!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
dusty dusty harmitan... and sickness
NOVEMBER
November's been a little crazy. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, depending on how you look at it), I haven't been "doing" a whole lot; I've been sick for about the past month, so have spent a lot of time just hanging out at places that are never too far from a toilet. Besides this, I ran out of gas, got a cat, and of course all the other random "Togo" things associated with being here.
SCHOOL CLUBS
So, I have been trying to start clubs at the high school here, particularly a soccer club for girls and an English club. It has proven to be much more challenging than I thought. In typical Mary fashion, full of optimism, I showed up at the lycee, asked who wanted to join my club, and got a list of 50+ names. We set dates and times for meetings/practices, an d then went home, super excited for the first reunion. So, of course, first girls soccer practice, I show up, and there are a bunch of older men at the field and no girl in sight. "hmm...must be a misunderstanding," I think. So i leave and plan to bring the issue up at the english club. So, first english club, I show up with a bag full of english newspapers and magazines, all ready to be the stereotypical inspirational english teacher that transforms kids lives for the better. But, the only people in the room are just a few guys hanging out-not interested in learning english. "where is the english club?" i ask. "they are in the other room," one of the boys says. I prepare to go to this other room when another boy says that they are not going to meet for english club because there is a soccer game. He says he can walk with me to the match, so we head over to the match and find all the teachers and principal in benches watching the game. they invite me over and i plop down in the front row and watch the game and get a complimentary cup of lemonade, since i am sitting with the important people. (side note: i looove juice here, but am always crossing my fingers that it was prepared well, and not laced with giardia or other disease-causing microbes....ill talk about this more later) The game is great. Everything about it reminds me of high school football games. There were the groups of students, cheering in packs, some guys even wore wigs, like some guys do in the states. A couple students just walked around the field the whole game and talking (this was me in high school). there were all the older men sitting together and (i imagine) talking about how soccer was played in the good ole days. And of course there were the players. Some of the players were all decked out and had nice soccer cleats and shin guards, while others ran and played barefoot. Regardless, they all played soccer better than i will ever be able to play in my life, even if i had super fancy gear and a personal coach..haha. When the game was over. the fans of the winning team, rushed the field and jumped onto the players. they had random pots and pans and were making a lot of celebratory noise. it was really fun to watch.
SICKNESS! - don't read if you get queasy
Almost the first thing you hear as a volunteer arriving in Togo is to pay extra attention to sanitation and be wary of things that could give you gastrointestinal diseases. In my "stage", we were all made aware of the seven "levels" of poop and educated about situations that necessitate a call to the med unit. We were also told by other older volunteers that it would be a "feat to go through the two years without shitting your pants" literally. Our group, upon hearing this, added a "level 10" to the poop spectrum (mentioned earlier) which corresponded to pooping your pants. Now, we have a "level ten club" which is rapidly growing in numbers. So anyway, that brings me to now, or actually to this whole past month. I eat street food pretty much whenever I travel or don't feel like cooking or on market days. One of the risks you take eating street food is GI disease. So, one day, I started to get sick. Nausea, extreme bloated-ness, gas, diarrhea, abdominal pain, stuff like that.... Sometimes it wasn't that disruptive. I would just have it in the morning, as if my body was saying "Ok Mary, get all the crap out from yesterday, it's a new day!" But,, after this started to make me a hermit and stay inside all day, and after referring to my SHIT book (Staying Healthy In Togo), I realized that i should call the med unit and was instructed to do a "MIF kit". MIF kits are one of those things that every peace corps togo volunteer knows about but no one else has heard of. The term often flows in and out of conversations nonchalantly, and I always need to remind myself that the rest of the world doesn't think of MIF kits on a daily or weekly basis. So anyway, the theory of a MIF kit is that, in order to compensate for the lack of good diagnostic labs in country, someone sick can send a sample of their poop in the mail to Lome where a lab in the med unit will analyze it and give you a diagnosis. Unfortunately, sometimes, the lab can't find the parasite-or whatever- in a single MIF kit. So, some people need to send in a billion MIF kits before anything is detected. Right now, I am in this process.... hopefully they will find something before i reach the billion mark. On another note, I can't imagine how Togolese who have no or limited access to medical care deal with sickness... they just live with it... or die. I had realized this before.... but, being sick now, makes me extra thankful that I have medical care...and makes me think of those Togolese who don't have it.
HARMITAN
Harmitan began! For awhile after the rains stopped, the sun was out all the time and it was soooo hot I don't know the temperature; i have no thermometer, but I know that it was hotter than it ever was before. I would lay down with the fan pointed at me and sweat. And the thing is that its not even hot season. But after a couple weeks of no rain, the collective dust from the many motos and people moving over dirt roads sort of sticks in the air. It makes me think of western films when a horse with a cowboy would ride out, with dust and dirt (..and maybe static since its an old film.. ) filling the screen. Actually i don't think I've ever seen a western film, but if i did, this is what i would expect. Anyway, the dust is good, because it blocks out the sun and cools the earth. But is bad, because you can *feel* the dust everywhere. in your hair in your eyes, in your throat. Creases of dirt appear where my elbow bends, and if i scratch my arm, i collect dust under my fingernail. This happens even while showering multiple times a day! The dryness also takes its toll. My skin is so dry, creating cracks all over my feet, hands, and lips. Dust coats everything in the house. But, besides the dust, I quite like harmitan. I was reading under a big baobab tree one day, and the shade and the breeze just put me right to sleep. It was so nice.
GAS: its really important for life
I have a gas stove, that I rely on for everything. Practically every meal must be cooked in order to kill any microbes that might be hiding on/in the food. So, basically, having a working cooking apparatus is more imperative here than in the US, where you could just eat uncooked food or hop on over to Paneras or Chipotle (mmmmm....*sigh*) Anyway, I had my first experience running out of gas, which meant that I couldn't cook until my gas could be refilled. Gas-refilling is an interesting experience that makes the most sense to me if thought of in terms of math. There are 3 different variables that will tell you when/if your gas tank will be refilled. First variable: when is the gas person coming to town. Second variable: Is your gas tank at the gas station when the gas man comes through town. Third variable: who do you know who can ensure/expedite this process. Of course there are probably a billion other variables. But, luckily for me, I was certain of the third variable, and that sort of canceled out all the other variables... so my gas got filled within a reasonable time. I don't know if that made sense to anyone else, but it made sense to me. So anyway, luckily (or perhaps unluckily-depending on how you look at it), I had no appetite that week because I was in the midst of whatever GI sickness I had/have (see above), so I didn't really need to cook anyway. But, it was a harsh reminder of how imperative gas -and cooking- are for daily life here.
POPPY AND BUSTER
So, I now have both a dog and cat. Poppy has a ton of energy and is a complete trouble-maker. He loves antagonizing Buster and the two are hilarious to watch. Poppy runs and jumps-sometimes practically landing on Buster. Buster, on the other hand, does not like the dog, preferring to hiss and scratch than to play with the dog. sometimes, they bring their fight to me... the cat will jump on my lap and the dog will run to my feet. I imagine both of them saying "Look cat/dog, mary is my buddy, so she will take my side", the dog trying to jump the cat away and the cat trying to stick to me like glue. Like usual, I try to avoid the conflict and push them both away to take their conflict somewhere else.
Buster has gone through a lot already, so I'm surprised he trusts me. The process of taking him home was a three-four hour process involving bush taxis, motos, and near death experiences (from the cat's point of view). At one point, I was on a moto with the moto driver, carrying two other bags, and hanging onto the moto, and holding onto the cat. I am so glad the cat is alive after a trip like that.
Also, I have come to the realization that I like my pets more than I like children. I don’t really want to advertise this fact, and feel a bit like the stereotypical mean old cat lady neighbor who yells at kids. And, obviously, I understand that children are more important than animals, and if push came to shove and I had to choose whether I wanted to save my animals or the children, I would definitely save children. But, it all began one day. I was sick (as I described earlier) and had gotten into one of those Togolese situations where you go out, just planning to stay out for one errand, and one thing leads to another and before you know it, you’re away from your house for 5 hours. Anyway, I generally like those kinds of days, but not when I’m sick. I finally got home after dark that day, and was watching a little kid, while their parents were busy. At first, everything was fine, but they little things caused the kid to get upset. Like, I offered a type of juice that wasn’t red in color, and I gave one type of food when the kid wanted another. At this point I just wanted to rest and have me-time. So, I gave the kid some watermelon, which finally calmed the kid down. Unfortunately, at this moment, the cat decided to stop by and say hi. The kid did not like the cat and started kicking and screaming and then started to throw the watermelon at the cat! I was so upset and grabbed the cat to save him from the watermelon-throwing-angry kid and then told the kid that was not nice and that the cat will eat you if you are not nice. Then, I just occupied the kid with coloring until the parents arrived. The night turned out well once I was on my own after that long day, but it made me realize that I definitely like my pets more than kids.
BUSH TAXI stories
Recently i took bush taxi to Kara. There was a cow in the trunk. Whenever the cow moved and tried to escape the whole taxi would move. This added to the rollercoaster effect of the bush taxi experience.
Also, recently, I was taking a bush taxi with a couple friends on the way back from thanksgiving. We were coming from south to north, and, as expected, once we entered the kara region, we began to see lots of mountains. soon we were speeding up the mountain, passing trucks and slower moving mopeds. but, as we were nearing the top, our speed-demon van started to slow to a crawl, and soon stopped. we had broken down on the side of a mountain. Like typical Togolese roads on mountains, this was not a lined road with safety railings. so, all the passengers got out, and the driver let the van rolled backwards down the hill. he stopped the van,, got out, and started flagging down any drivers who could potentially help our situation. We, the passengers, found a spot a safe distance away from the road and watched our driver trying to get help from the giant trucks barreling downhill. i henceforth commenced searching for monkeys (i had been told that monkeys live in the mountains, but had yet to see any). i didn't find any monkeys, but our driver found help, and within half an hour, we were on our way up the mountain again.
HILLING FETE
So, my friend Kristine's village had a traditional African "fete" (party/ceremony thing) of the Kabye people called Hilling and I decided to go see it! In this fete, men dress up as women to varying degrees ranging from just wearing a skirt to wearing skirts, stuffing bras, wearing makeup and piercing ears. They run through the streets and then begin whipping each other. At first, the whipping/fighting was very organized, with the crowd making a large clearing and two men entering the clearing at a time to commence fighting. The fight was composed of two guys, both dressed up and both carrying whips. Then, they would start whipping each other. At some point (we never figured out how), the fight would stop. The main goal of each participant was not to cry or show emotion upon being whipped. after each fight, the men would crowd around the two fighters, dancing and seeing and yelling in celebration. After a few minutes of organized fighting, (as your may expect with boys/men), the organization disappeared as the boys all wanted to join in on the whipping fight. It was crazy, chaotic, but funny and fun and full of energy. It seemed like everyone was having a good time. Although, the whips were real; they broke real skin and created real wounds. I wasn't quite sure how I thought of this. It was an interesting traditional fete, and part of the culture. But at the same time, there is blood, potential infections, and tons of people all in close proximity to each other. But regardless, it was an interesting experience.
THE HOSPITAL
I’ve still been spending a lot of time at the hospital and I still love it there. There are so many women who are helped by the hospital. Although, I’m starting to realize how expensive it can be for people. I’ve been looking through people’s medical cards, which includes information on any analyses or medications or diagnoses and costs. Some of the things add up so quickly! Patients must pay for things like gloves and syringes. Also, Theres a lot of vitamin B and C being precscribed, which gave me the idea of maybe doing a nutrition sensibilization of some sort. Either with the staff or with patients. Because why should they buy vitamin B and C tablets when they may just need to make a few diet changes that may not cost much. Anyway, just ideas for now. I have a lot of ideas, and need to organize them and organize people before I do anything. I saw the most malnourished baby I've ever seen in my life. I have no idea how its still alive. It was 5 months old, but under 2kg. I am glad the mother took her to the hospital. It was Friday, the day when all mothers being their babies to the hospital to be weighed (monitored for healthy growth) and vaccinated. There are sooo many women and babies. So, usually I see about one or two malnourished babies each Friday.
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY
One of my peace corps volunteer-mates gave me the movie When Harry Met Sally for my computer. So, having this as the only movie at my disposal, I have watched it countless times. I've probably watched the first half at least ten times, but I've only seen the end maybe three times. (I tend to fall asleep during movies). Anyway, I now love this movie and know all the words (at least for the first hour-ish of the movie)
THANKSGIVING
About 50 peace corps volunteers all got together at a hotel in the Central region for thanksgiving. We had 4 turkeys, tons of mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, and tons of different pies and desserts. Oh my, it was one of my favorite meals of all time. Everyone made something and I was assigned green bean casserole. I had never made it before, but decided i would give it a shot. It looked completely awful; i did not even try it. It reminded me of the cat's throw-up from earlier in the week. So, needless to say, I did not taste any and upon arrival, I very discreetly placed it on the communal table, so no one would know that the cat-throw-up-green bean casserole was mine. But, by the end of the night it was gone! So, either people were drunk when they chose to eat it, or it was actually good! Anyway, I don't think I will make green bean casserole again.
November's been a little crazy. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, depending on how you look at it), I haven't been "doing" a whole lot; I've been sick for about the past month, so have spent a lot of time just hanging out at places that are never too far from a toilet. Besides this, I ran out of gas, got a cat, and of course all the other random "Togo" things associated with being here.
SCHOOL CLUBS
So, I have been trying to start clubs at the high school here, particularly a soccer club for girls and an English club. It has proven to be much more challenging than I thought. In typical Mary fashion, full of optimism, I showed up at the lycee, asked who wanted to join my club, and got a list of 50+ names. We set dates and times for meetings/practices, an d then went home, super excited for the first reunion. So, of course, first girls soccer practice, I show up, and there are a bunch of older men at the field and no girl in sight. "hmm...must be a misunderstanding," I think. So i leave and plan to bring the issue up at the english club. So, first english club, I show up with a bag full of english newspapers and magazines, all ready to be the stereotypical inspirational english teacher that transforms kids lives for the better. But, the only people in the room are just a few guys hanging out-not interested in learning english. "where is the english club?" i ask. "they are in the other room," one of the boys says. I prepare to go to this other room when another boy says that they are not going to meet for english club because there is a soccer game. He says he can walk with me to the match, so we head over to the match and find all the teachers and principal in benches watching the game. they invite me over and i plop down in the front row and watch the game and get a complimentary cup of lemonade, since i am sitting with the important people. (side note: i looove juice here, but am always crossing my fingers that it was prepared well, and not laced with giardia or other disease-causing microbes....ill talk about this more later) The game is great. Everything about it reminds me of high school football games. There were the groups of students, cheering in packs, some guys even wore wigs, like some guys do in the states. A couple students just walked around the field the whole game and talking (this was me in high school). there were all the older men sitting together and (i imagine) talking about how soccer was played in the good ole days. And of course there were the players. Some of the players were all decked out and had nice soccer cleats and shin guards, while others ran and played barefoot. Regardless, they all played soccer better than i will ever be able to play in my life, even if i had super fancy gear and a personal coach..haha. When the game was over. the fans of the winning team, rushed the field and jumped onto the players. they had random pots and pans and were making a lot of celebratory noise. it was really fun to watch.
SICKNESS! - don't read if you get queasy
Almost the first thing you hear as a volunteer arriving in Togo is to pay extra attention to sanitation and be wary of things that could give you gastrointestinal diseases. In my "stage", we were all made aware of the seven "levels" of poop and educated about situations that necessitate a call to the med unit. We were also told by other older volunteers that it would be a "feat to go through the two years without shitting your pants" literally. Our group, upon hearing this, added a "level 10" to the poop spectrum (mentioned earlier) which corresponded to pooping your pants. Now, we have a "level ten club" which is rapidly growing in numbers. So anyway, that brings me to now, or actually to this whole past month. I eat street food pretty much whenever I travel or don't feel like cooking or on market days. One of the risks you take eating street food is GI disease. So, one day, I started to get sick. Nausea, extreme bloated-ness, gas, diarrhea, abdominal pain, stuff like that.... Sometimes it wasn't that disruptive. I would just have it in the morning, as if my body was saying "Ok Mary, get all the crap out from yesterday, it's a new day!" But,, after this started to make me a hermit and stay inside all day, and after referring to my SHIT book (Staying Healthy In Togo), I realized that i should call the med unit and was instructed to do a "MIF kit". MIF kits are one of those things that every peace corps togo volunteer knows about but no one else has heard of. The term often flows in and out of conversations nonchalantly, and I always need to remind myself that the rest of the world doesn't think of MIF kits on a daily or weekly basis. So anyway, the theory of a MIF kit is that, in order to compensate for the lack of good diagnostic labs in country, someone sick can send a sample of their poop in the mail to Lome where a lab in the med unit will analyze it and give you a diagnosis. Unfortunately, sometimes, the lab can't find the parasite-or whatever- in a single MIF kit. So, some people need to send in a billion MIF kits before anything is detected. Right now, I am in this process.... hopefully they will find something before i reach the billion mark. On another note, I can't imagine how Togolese who have no or limited access to medical care deal with sickness... they just live with it... or die. I had realized this before.... but, being sick now, makes me extra thankful that I have medical care...and makes me think of those Togolese who don't have it.
HARMITAN
Harmitan began! For awhile after the rains stopped, the sun was out all the time and it was soooo hot I don't know the temperature; i have no thermometer, but I know that it was hotter than it ever was before. I would lay down with the fan pointed at me and sweat. And the thing is that its not even hot season. But after a couple weeks of no rain, the collective dust from the many motos and people moving over dirt roads sort of sticks in the air. It makes me think of western films when a horse with a cowboy would ride out, with dust and dirt (..and maybe static since its an old film.. ) filling the screen. Actually i don't think I've ever seen a western film, but if i did, this is what i would expect. Anyway, the dust is good, because it blocks out the sun and cools the earth. But is bad, because you can *feel* the dust everywhere. in your hair in your eyes, in your throat. Creases of dirt appear where my elbow bends, and if i scratch my arm, i collect dust under my fingernail. This happens even while showering multiple times a day! The dryness also takes its toll. My skin is so dry, creating cracks all over my feet, hands, and lips. Dust coats everything in the house. But, besides the dust, I quite like harmitan. I was reading under a big baobab tree one day, and the shade and the breeze just put me right to sleep. It was so nice.
GAS: its really important for life
I have a gas stove, that I rely on for everything. Practically every meal must be cooked in order to kill any microbes that might be hiding on/in the food. So, basically, having a working cooking apparatus is more imperative here than in the US, where you could just eat uncooked food or hop on over to Paneras or Chipotle (mmmmm....*sigh*) Anyway, I had my first experience running out of gas, which meant that I couldn't cook until my gas could be refilled. Gas-refilling is an interesting experience that makes the most sense to me if thought of in terms of math. There are 3 different variables that will tell you when/if your gas tank will be refilled. First variable: when is the gas person coming to town. Second variable: Is your gas tank at the gas station when the gas man comes through town. Third variable: who do you know who can ensure/expedite this process. Of course there are probably a billion other variables. But, luckily for me, I was certain of the third variable, and that sort of canceled out all the other variables... so my gas got filled within a reasonable time. I don't know if that made sense to anyone else, but it made sense to me. So anyway, luckily (or perhaps unluckily-depending on how you look at it), I had no appetite that week because I was in the midst of whatever GI sickness I had/have (see above), so I didn't really need to cook anyway. But, it was a harsh reminder of how imperative gas -and cooking- are for daily life here.
POPPY AND BUSTER
So, I now have both a dog and cat. Poppy has a ton of energy and is a complete trouble-maker. He loves antagonizing Buster and the two are hilarious to watch. Poppy runs and jumps-sometimes practically landing on Buster. Buster, on the other hand, does not like the dog, preferring to hiss and scratch than to play with the dog. sometimes, they bring their fight to me... the cat will jump on my lap and the dog will run to my feet. I imagine both of them saying "Look cat/dog, mary is my buddy, so she will take my side", the dog trying to jump the cat away and the cat trying to stick to me like glue. Like usual, I try to avoid the conflict and push them both away to take their conflict somewhere else.
Buster has gone through a lot already, so I'm surprised he trusts me. The process of taking him home was a three-four hour process involving bush taxis, motos, and near death experiences (from the cat's point of view). At one point, I was on a moto with the moto driver, carrying two other bags, and hanging onto the moto, and holding onto the cat. I am so glad the cat is alive after a trip like that.
Also, I have come to the realization that I like my pets more than I like children. I don’t really want to advertise this fact, and feel a bit like the stereotypical mean old cat lady neighbor who yells at kids. And, obviously, I understand that children are more important than animals, and if push came to shove and I had to choose whether I wanted to save my animals or the children, I would definitely save children. But, it all began one day. I was sick (as I described earlier) and had gotten into one of those Togolese situations where you go out, just planning to stay out for one errand, and one thing leads to another and before you know it, you’re away from your house for 5 hours. Anyway, I generally like those kinds of days, but not when I’m sick. I finally got home after dark that day, and was watching a little kid, while their parents were busy. At first, everything was fine, but they little things caused the kid to get upset. Like, I offered a type of juice that wasn’t red in color, and I gave one type of food when the kid wanted another. At this point I just wanted to rest and have me-time. So, I gave the kid some watermelon, which finally calmed the kid down. Unfortunately, at this moment, the cat decided to stop by and say hi. The kid did not like the cat and started kicking and screaming and then started to throw the watermelon at the cat! I was so upset and grabbed the cat to save him from the watermelon-throwing-angry kid and then told the kid that was not nice and that the cat will eat you if you are not nice. Then, I just occupied the kid with coloring until the parents arrived. The night turned out well once I was on my own after that long day, but it made me realize that I definitely like my pets more than kids.
BUSH TAXI stories
Recently i took bush taxi to Kara. There was a cow in the trunk. Whenever the cow moved and tried to escape the whole taxi would move. This added to the rollercoaster effect of the bush taxi experience.
Also, recently, I was taking a bush taxi with a couple friends on the way back from thanksgiving. We were coming from south to north, and, as expected, once we entered the kara region, we began to see lots of mountains. soon we were speeding up the mountain, passing trucks and slower moving mopeds. but, as we were nearing the top, our speed-demon van started to slow to a crawl, and soon stopped. we had broken down on the side of a mountain. Like typical Togolese roads on mountains, this was not a lined road with safety railings. so, all the passengers got out, and the driver let the van rolled backwards down the hill. he stopped the van,, got out, and started flagging down any drivers who could potentially help our situation. We, the passengers, found a spot a safe distance away from the road and watched our driver trying to get help from the giant trucks barreling downhill. i henceforth commenced searching for monkeys (i had been told that monkeys live in the mountains, but had yet to see any). i didn't find any monkeys, but our driver found help, and within half an hour, we were on our way up the mountain again.
HILLING FETE
So, my friend Kristine's village had a traditional African "fete" (party/ceremony thing) of the Kabye people called Hilling and I decided to go see it! In this fete, men dress up as women to varying degrees ranging from just wearing a skirt to wearing skirts, stuffing bras, wearing makeup and piercing ears. They run through the streets and then begin whipping each other. At first, the whipping/fighting was very organized, with the crowd making a large clearing and two men entering the clearing at a time to commence fighting. The fight was composed of two guys, both dressed up and both carrying whips. Then, they would start whipping each other. At some point (we never figured out how), the fight would stop. The main goal of each participant was not to cry or show emotion upon being whipped. after each fight, the men would crowd around the two fighters, dancing and seeing and yelling in celebration. After a few minutes of organized fighting, (as your may expect with boys/men), the organization disappeared as the boys all wanted to join in on the whipping fight. It was crazy, chaotic, but funny and fun and full of energy. It seemed like everyone was having a good time. Although, the whips were real; they broke real skin and created real wounds. I wasn't quite sure how I thought of this. It was an interesting traditional fete, and part of the culture. But at the same time, there is blood, potential infections, and tons of people all in close proximity to each other. But regardless, it was an interesting experience.
THE HOSPITAL
I’ve still been spending a lot of time at the hospital and I still love it there. There are so many women who are helped by the hospital. Although, I’m starting to realize how expensive it can be for people. I’ve been looking through people’s medical cards, which includes information on any analyses or medications or diagnoses and costs. Some of the things add up so quickly! Patients must pay for things like gloves and syringes. Also, Theres a lot of vitamin B and C being precscribed, which gave me the idea of maybe doing a nutrition sensibilization of some sort. Either with the staff or with patients. Because why should they buy vitamin B and C tablets when they may just need to make a few diet changes that may not cost much. Anyway, just ideas for now. I have a lot of ideas, and need to organize them and organize people before I do anything. I saw the most malnourished baby I've ever seen in my life. I have no idea how its still alive. It was 5 months old, but under 2kg. I am glad the mother took her to the hospital. It was Friday, the day when all mothers being their babies to the hospital to be weighed (monitored for healthy growth) and vaccinated. There are sooo many women and babies. So, usually I see about one or two malnourished babies each Friday.
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY
One of my peace corps volunteer-mates gave me the movie When Harry Met Sally for my computer. So, having this as the only movie at my disposal, I have watched it countless times. I've probably watched the first half at least ten times, but I've only seen the end maybe three times. (I tend to fall asleep during movies). Anyway, I now love this movie and know all the words (at least for the first hour-ish of the movie)
THANKSGIVING
About 50 peace corps volunteers all got together at a hotel in the Central region for thanksgiving. We had 4 turkeys, tons of mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, and tons of different pies and desserts. Oh my, it was one of my favorite meals of all time. Everyone made something and I was assigned green bean casserole. I had never made it before, but decided i would give it a shot. It looked completely awful; i did not even try it. It reminded me of the cat's throw-up from earlier in the week. So, needless to say, I did not taste any and upon arrival, I very discreetly placed it on the communal table, so no one would know that the cat-throw-up-green bean casserole was mine. But, by the end of the night it was gone! So, either people were drunk when they chose to eat it, or it was actually good! Anyway, I don't think I will make green bean casserole again.
Monday, October 18, 2010
in-between-ish
SO,....October... long known as the month when the leaves are starting to change and the wind is getting a bit nippy and the frost comes to greet you every morning...
But, not here! It's not getting colder! It's getting hotter!! Here, October is the month when the torrential rains of rainy season begin to die out, leaving more sunny days and hotter weather, waiting for Harmatan’s winds to arrive. October is an in-between month. Not super rainy, but not dry. Hotter than rainy season, but not as hot as hot season.
And like the weather, my time has been in-between-ish. Not super new and exciting like the first months here, but not super knowledgeable about the community and health needs yet. Just, in-between, a work in progress, little by little. That's October. But, as always, while there are no extremely exciting happenings of October, there are the standard little things, and I have listed them below.
BUSH TAXIS:
Oh my. So, transport in Togo is completely different from Transport in any other place I've been to. There are a few buses roughly similar to the greyhound, in that there is a time schedule and a schedule of certain stops. But, usually, traveling is by moto or bush taxi. I love motos around Kante. I know a few good moto drivers, so I always call them when I need a moto around Kante. It is so much fun riding in a moto. Like an rollercoaster ride...(not one of the upside down rollercoaster's). Outside of Kante, they can be a bit annoying because you don't know the price or they want to overcharge you, which happens a lot in Kara. But, when you're not going within a town or between nearby villages, the best way (actually, pretty much the only way) to travel is bush taxi. Every peace corps person has many interesting bush taxi stories, some good ones and many bad ones (bad experience, but good story). The organization of the bush taxi realm is: there are many "gares' or "stations" around. generally, there is at least one in every fairly large town. This is where bush taxis hang out. They hang out here, advertising their destination, and wait till there are enough people to have a full car, and then they go. Now, one stipulation is that a car is considered full when there are four passengers in the back seat and 2 passengers in the front seat. (also in the front are the driver of course, and sometimes an apprentice driver. who's learning the bush taxi way). So, it's a super full car. each person pays a set price for their place in the car . And, that's how it works. A driver can have any destination that he wants. It's not regulated. like there's no 'boss" who assigns "routes". Also, since this is pretty much the only means of transportation, these cars take everything that someone may need to transport to another place (think: goats, cows, chickens, other animals, babies, baggage's, food, furniture, anything). So, often, you will see a bush taxi car (or van) carrying a load on its roof that is twice the cars size! It's pretty ridiculous. Bush taxis are often informal post office/delivery boys too. If you know a bush taxi that is going to pass through a small village where your buddy lives on its way to its destination, you can give the driver a package and hell find the buddy. Last time, I was in a bush taxi and we were driving along, and there were some guys along the side of the road. we stopped and the driver said something to them, and then they pointed us farther up the road. We then went a bit further, and stopped on the side of the road, and, a guy who was doing work in the fields, just came to the side of the road and we gave him a package and then drove away. To me, it seemed like the most random thing ever! Random bush taxi, random side of the road, random man, random package.. haha. Also, inherent in the theory of bush taxis, is the waiting period. If you want to go somewhere and you are the first person to arrive at the bush taxi, you need to wait until 5 other people show up who want to go to the same place. So yea, there is a lot of waiting. The longest I've had to wait so far is 2.5 hours. although I've heard much worse horror stories.
TRIP TO KARA:
So, about every month, I go to Kara. Kara is the capitol of the region (the region is also called Kara) and is the big city. The president hails from Kara so he's pumped a lot of money into the city, making it pretty and a fairly large central spot for businesses and stuff. I always have a good time in Kara; it is a central place for all the volunteers in the region to meet up and also has other Americans and other "yovo's" (the name for foreigners). But, my last time in Kara was super amazing. Why? There was a trampoline. And, I jumped on it. Haha. Like I mentioned, Kara is a hub of businesses and stuff in the north. This also includes missionaries. Peace Corps people in general have been buddies with the missionaries in Kara. Some of them work with the same AIDS/HIV organization that I work with. Anyway, a missionary couple invited a couple of us peace corps ppl over for dinner one night. And it was totally amazing. We had taco salad, and lemonade. and smores!!!!! real smores!!!! with real Hershey's chocolate!!!! AND, they have a trampoline in their yard! so Stacey and I saw it and got super excited and started jumping on it and just kept on laughing from the whole ridiculousness of the situation. Here we were, in Togo, with a church across the street, in the night, listening to the thunder in the distance, and just jumping on a trampoline. It was sooo much fun.
BUGS:
i've become an expert at killing bugs while reading i slap the book closed when a bug is in smooshing range. however, now all the books i read have flattened dead bugs on every page. i was happy to notice that some books already have the trade make flattened bugs and that means someone who read the book before me decided to flatten a bug the same way i did. peace corps comradery. also, i think i've developed my mom's talent for killing flies with a fly swatter.
HOT SEASON WORRIES:
So, right now, it is the end of rainy season. Next season on the list is Harmitan, and then hot season. But, since rainy season is on its way out, there has been more sun. And, to me, it feels super hot, even though it is not "hot season". this makes me a little worried about "hot season". I asked another volunteer if the past couple super sunny days are comparable to hot season and she laughed. Then she said that during hot season she would just lay on her mat, doing nothing, completely covered in sweat. Then, she tried to go into her water storage container to cool off, but she was too tall. So, that's what I know of hot season. Last night i swatted what i thought was a mosquito on my leg, only to realize it was sweat dripping down from the crease in my knee. at least during hot season i wont have to worry about mosquitoes!
FUFU:
September recently finished (obviously, seeing that it is october now), and September is Fufu season, so I'm worried that the fufu will finish soon. I love fufu. one week i somehow arranged it so i ate fufu everyday (people usually share whenever they make it, so you just need to know someone who's making it each day). It is a play dough type texture and you eat it with your hands and with spicy sauce. soooo gooood. The ignames that it is made from look like furry animals. They remind me of that cartoon, when the forest burns down, and there is a beaver with his family who are trying to escape the fire. Anyway, point of the story is: ignames, and therefore fufu reminds me of beavers.
FARTS:
when you fart, no one laughs or blames other people. they just continue on their normal day. My theory regarding this is that Gastrointestinal problems are more common here than in the states probably due a lot to sanitation (or lack there of). So, Farting here is far more common and therefore not something to be singled out as unusual and funny. But that's just my theory.
MICE:
there was a mouse in my house. the first mouse i saw in my house. I had been out with some people and when I got back, it was late and I was super tired, and went to check on the dog's food status, and saw something move out of the corner of my eye. The lighting was dim, so I thought there was a frog, jumping in one of my kitchen buckets. Then I started looking more closely and thought it was a strange frog. Maybe the frogs in Togo are different; i mean, i have not seen a frog up close yet here in Togo. Maybe the frogs had narrow heads and noses... and whiskers? NO! It's a mouse! There's a mouse in my house! I quickly threw something on top of the bucket to trap it in there, and did a quick run around the house to make sure there were no more mice hiding around the house, and then was so exhausted i went to bed. The next day, I mentioned it to the kids. however, i mispronounced mouse in French and they thought i said there was laughter in the bucket in the kitchen instead of a mouse in the bucket in the kitchen. but once that was cleared up with the help of some charades, they offered non-chalantly to take the mouse out of the house for me. They henceforth brought the bucket outside, threw the mouse on the ground, grabbed rocks and started chasing the mouse and throwing rocks at it. eventually the mouse was stoned to death and we all went back inside to continue making cookies.
SPIDER:
in other critter news, i saw a giant spider, that i will classify as a critter instead of an insect (although, are spiders classified as insects?. anyway, that's beside the point). but, i saw it running across the floor. I had been doing something completely different, and then once i saw that spotted super fast spider, my whole life's purpose became to find and kill this giant spider before it found and killed me. (realistically, it probably wasn't giant, but it was really big. like bigger than my palm- and spotted. i did not like it) so, i decided on a strategy and set to work. put on my flip-flops (flip-flops make you feel much more invincible and powerful than being barefoot) and i grabbed my Nigerian bug insecticide stuff that probably gives you cancer, jumped on a chair to get a good overall view of the room. aimed, and fired (aka sprayed the insecticide spray). unfortunately, the spider ran away into a corner. out of reach. then, right at that moment, Poppy (the dog) arrived.. I pushed him up to the spider until he saw it move. at first i thought this was going to be the solution and Poppy was going to save me. But, Poppy decided he was not interested in the spider and ran away outside. So, it was just the two of us: me and the spider. At this point, i think the spider gave up. It came out from its hiding place and stopped running so quickly, and i pointed and sprayed ..probably much more than was necessary. and the spider stopped, curled its legs under and turned a different color. then, just for good measure, i smashed it with a shoe. also today, and also in critter news, i caught a mouse. Travis had said that he saw a mouse when he was visiting, so the next day, i set up the mouse trap and sure enough, by the end of the day, there was a dead mouse! I went outside to toss it somewhere, and Papa saw me and ordered one of his sons to take care of it for me. i went back and set up the mouse trap again and soon afterward, heard a loud yelp and saw Poppy sprint out the door.
SCORPION:
So, One day, I was having a conversation with my friend Clementine, who works at AED. We were talking about snakes and scorpions. I mentioned in passing that I had never seen a scorpion (although actually I had seen one...one of my earliest memories as a kid in Hawaii). She said they come inside during hot season to escape the sun and they are not good, and that was about the end of the conversation. Anyway, about a month after this conversation, Clementine stops by my house with a guy who I had never seen before. She's holding sugar cane and a small cup, and i just assume she was chewing the sugar cane and just stopped by to say hi. So, I invite her in and offer her some water, but she just stands there and holds out a cup towards me. I look in and threes a scorpion! She had ran into a guy who had found a scorpion and brought him (and the scorpion) to me so I could see it! Its a pretty nasty looking bug about the size of a two of my thumbs (i have small hands). Another thing to look forward to during hot season.
FRUIT:
I made homemade grapefruit juice. Harvest time is just about now. And orange and grapefruit season is now, so you can get like a billion grapefruit and oranges for just a small amount. I bought 5 grapefruit for 100CFA, the equivalent of 20 cents. So, yea, I made juice with the grapefruit, citron, and citronella (you can boil the leaves in water). And it was soooo good. Also, in other fruit news. there are no berries here. No strawberries, no blueberries, no blackberries...you get the point. and no cherries either (for some reason I personally always classify cherries as a berry. even though i don't think they are)
OTHER VILLAGES:
i've been visiting other volunteers in the area. Betsy, who will be leaving soon lives out in Atalote, and Travis lives in Tchore. Both are small villages about 10/12 km away from Kante. It's amazing what you can learn from visit other peace corps volunteers, see what ingenuities they've come up with. After visiting people I now, add margarine to my oatmeal, Make popcorn as a snack, make nacho cheese dip (oh my god amazing), and other random things that just make life good.
TEXT MESSAGES:
Random Text messages i've received from Travis:
“Is it ok to eat moldy bread?”
“Wild monkeys!”
But, not here! It's not getting colder! It's getting hotter!! Here, October is the month when the torrential rains of rainy season begin to die out, leaving more sunny days and hotter weather, waiting for Harmatan’s winds to arrive. October is an in-between month. Not super rainy, but not dry. Hotter than rainy season, but not as hot as hot season.
And like the weather, my time has been in-between-ish. Not super new and exciting like the first months here, but not super knowledgeable about the community and health needs yet. Just, in-between, a work in progress, little by little. That's October. But, as always, while there are no extremely exciting happenings of October, there are the standard little things, and I have listed them below.
BUSH TAXIS:
Oh my. So, transport in Togo is completely different from Transport in any other place I've been to. There are a few buses roughly similar to the greyhound, in that there is a time schedule and a schedule of certain stops. But, usually, traveling is by moto or bush taxi. I love motos around Kante. I know a few good moto drivers, so I always call them when I need a moto around Kante. It is so much fun riding in a moto. Like an rollercoaster ride...(not one of the upside down rollercoaster's). Outside of Kante, they can be a bit annoying because you don't know the price or they want to overcharge you, which happens a lot in Kara. But, when you're not going within a town or between nearby villages, the best way (actually, pretty much the only way) to travel is bush taxi. Every peace corps person has many interesting bush taxi stories, some good ones and many bad ones (bad experience, but good story). The organization of the bush taxi realm is: there are many "gares' or "stations" around. generally, there is at least one in every fairly large town. This is where bush taxis hang out. They hang out here, advertising their destination, and wait till there are enough people to have a full car, and then they go. Now, one stipulation is that a car is considered full when there are four passengers in the back seat and 2 passengers in the front seat. (also in the front are the driver of course, and sometimes an apprentice driver. who's learning the bush taxi way). So, it's a super full car. each person pays a set price for their place in the car . And, that's how it works. A driver can have any destination that he wants. It's not regulated. like there's no 'boss" who assigns "routes". Also, since this is pretty much the only means of transportation, these cars take everything that someone may need to transport to another place (think: goats, cows, chickens, other animals, babies, baggage's, food, furniture, anything). So, often, you will see a bush taxi car (or van) carrying a load on its roof that is twice the cars size! It's pretty ridiculous. Bush taxis are often informal post office/delivery boys too. If you know a bush taxi that is going to pass through a small village where your buddy lives on its way to its destination, you can give the driver a package and hell find the buddy. Last time, I was in a bush taxi and we were driving along, and there were some guys along the side of the road. we stopped and the driver said something to them, and then they pointed us farther up the road. We then went a bit further, and stopped on the side of the road, and, a guy who was doing work in the fields, just came to the side of the road and we gave him a package and then drove away. To me, it seemed like the most random thing ever! Random bush taxi, random side of the road, random man, random package.. haha. Also, inherent in the theory of bush taxis, is the waiting period. If you want to go somewhere and you are the first person to arrive at the bush taxi, you need to wait until 5 other people show up who want to go to the same place. So yea, there is a lot of waiting. The longest I've had to wait so far is 2.5 hours. although I've heard much worse horror stories.
TRIP TO KARA:
So, about every month, I go to Kara. Kara is the capitol of the region (the region is also called Kara) and is the big city. The president hails from Kara so he's pumped a lot of money into the city, making it pretty and a fairly large central spot for businesses and stuff. I always have a good time in Kara; it is a central place for all the volunteers in the region to meet up and also has other Americans and other "yovo's" (the name for foreigners). But, my last time in Kara was super amazing. Why? There was a trampoline. And, I jumped on it. Haha. Like I mentioned, Kara is a hub of businesses and stuff in the north. This also includes missionaries. Peace Corps people in general have been buddies with the missionaries in Kara. Some of them work with the same AIDS/HIV organization that I work with. Anyway, a missionary couple invited a couple of us peace corps ppl over for dinner one night. And it was totally amazing. We had taco salad, and lemonade. and smores!!!!! real smores!!!! with real Hershey's chocolate!!!! AND, they have a trampoline in their yard! so Stacey and I saw it and got super excited and started jumping on it and just kept on laughing from the whole ridiculousness of the situation. Here we were, in Togo, with a church across the street, in the night, listening to the thunder in the distance, and just jumping on a trampoline. It was sooo much fun.
BUGS:
i've become an expert at killing bugs while reading i slap the book closed when a bug is in smooshing range. however, now all the books i read have flattened dead bugs on every page. i was happy to notice that some books already have the trade make flattened bugs and that means someone who read the book before me decided to flatten a bug the same way i did. peace corps comradery. also, i think i've developed my mom's talent for killing flies with a fly swatter.
HOT SEASON WORRIES:
So, right now, it is the end of rainy season. Next season on the list is Harmitan, and then hot season. But, since rainy season is on its way out, there has been more sun. And, to me, it feels super hot, even though it is not "hot season". this makes me a little worried about "hot season". I asked another volunteer if the past couple super sunny days are comparable to hot season and she laughed. Then she said that during hot season she would just lay on her mat, doing nothing, completely covered in sweat. Then, she tried to go into her water storage container to cool off, but she was too tall. So, that's what I know of hot season. Last night i swatted what i thought was a mosquito on my leg, only to realize it was sweat dripping down from the crease in my knee. at least during hot season i wont have to worry about mosquitoes!
FUFU:
September recently finished (obviously, seeing that it is october now), and September is Fufu season, so I'm worried that the fufu will finish soon. I love fufu. one week i somehow arranged it so i ate fufu everyday (people usually share whenever they make it, so you just need to know someone who's making it each day). It is a play dough type texture and you eat it with your hands and with spicy sauce. soooo gooood. The ignames that it is made from look like furry animals. They remind me of that cartoon, when the forest burns down, and there is a beaver with his family who are trying to escape the fire. Anyway, point of the story is: ignames, and therefore fufu reminds me of beavers.
FARTS:
when you fart, no one laughs or blames other people. they just continue on their normal day. My theory regarding this is that Gastrointestinal problems are more common here than in the states probably due a lot to sanitation (or lack there of). So, Farting here is far more common and therefore not something to be singled out as unusual and funny. But that's just my theory.
MICE:
there was a mouse in my house. the first mouse i saw in my house. I had been out with some people and when I got back, it was late and I was super tired, and went to check on the dog's food status, and saw something move out of the corner of my eye. The lighting was dim, so I thought there was a frog, jumping in one of my kitchen buckets. Then I started looking more closely and thought it was a strange frog. Maybe the frogs in Togo are different; i mean, i have not seen a frog up close yet here in Togo. Maybe the frogs had narrow heads and noses... and whiskers? NO! It's a mouse! There's a mouse in my house! I quickly threw something on top of the bucket to trap it in there, and did a quick run around the house to make sure there were no more mice hiding around the house, and then was so exhausted i went to bed. The next day, I mentioned it to the kids. however, i mispronounced mouse in French and they thought i said there was laughter in the bucket in the kitchen instead of a mouse in the bucket in the kitchen. but once that was cleared up with the help of some charades, they offered non-chalantly to take the mouse out of the house for me. They henceforth brought the bucket outside, threw the mouse on the ground, grabbed rocks and started chasing the mouse and throwing rocks at it. eventually the mouse was stoned to death and we all went back inside to continue making cookies.
SPIDER:
in other critter news, i saw a giant spider, that i will classify as a critter instead of an insect (although, are spiders classified as insects?. anyway, that's beside the point). but, i saw it running across the floor. I had been doing something completely different, and then once i saw that spotted super fast spider, my whole life's purpose became to find and kill this giant spider before it found and killed me. (realistically, it probably wasn't giant, but it was really big. like bigger than my palm- and spotted. i did not like it) so, i decided on a strategy and set to work. put on my flip-flops (flip-flops make you feel much more invincible and powerful than being barefoot) and i grabbed my Nigerian bug insecticide stuff that probably gives you cancer, jumped on a chair to get a good overall view of the room. aimed, and fired (aka sprayed the insecticide spray). unfortunately, the spider ran away into a corner. out of reach. then, right at that moment, Poppy (the dog) arrived.. I pushed him up to the spider until he saw it move. at first i thought this was going to be the solution and Poppy was going to save me. But, Poppy decided he was not interested in the spider and ran away outside. So, it was just the two of us: me and the spider. At this point, i think the spider gave up. It came out from its hiding place and stopped running so quickly, and i pointed and sprayed ..probably much more than was necessary. and the spider stopped, curled its legs under and turned a different color. then, just for good measure, i smashed it with a shoe. also today, and also in critter news, i caught a mouse. Travis had said that he saw a mouse when he was visiting, so the next day, i set up the mouse trap and sure enough, by the end of the day, there was a dead mouse! I went outside to toss it somewhere, and Papa saw me and ordered one of his sons to take care of it for me. i went back and set up the mouse trap again and soon afterward, heard a loud yelp and saw Poppy sprint out the door.
SCORPION:
So, One day, I was having a conversation with my friend Clementine, who works at AED. We were talking about snakes and scorpions. I mentioned in passing that I had never seen a scorpion (although actually I had seen one...one of my earliest memories as a kid in Hawaii). She said they come inside during hot season to escape the sun and they are not good, and that was about the end of the conversation. Anyway, about a month after this conversation, Clementine stops by my house with a guy who I had never seen before. She's holding sugar cane and a small cup, and i just assume she was chewing the sugar cane and just stopped by to say hi. So, I invite her in and offer her some water, but she just stands there and holds out a cup towards me. I look in and threes a scorpion! She had ran into a guy who had found a scorpion and brought him (and the scorpion) to me so I could see it! Its a pretty nasty looking bug about the size of a two of my thumbs (i have small hands). Another thing to look forward to during hot season.
FRUIT:
I made homemade grapefruit juice. Harvest time is just about now. And orange and grapefruit season is now, so you can get like a billion grapefruit and oranges for just a small amount. I bought 5 grapefruit for 100CFA, the equivalent of 20 cents. So, yea, I made juice with the grapefruit, citron, and citronella (you can boil the leaves in water). And it was soooo good. Also, in other fruit news. there are no berries here. No strawberries, no blueberries, no blackberries...you get the point. and no cherries either (for some reason I personally always classify cherries as a berry. even though i don't think they are)
OTHER VILLAGES:
i've been visiting other volunteers in the area. Betsy, who will be leaving soon lives out in Atalote, and Travis lives in Tchore. Both are small villages about 10/12 km away from Kante. It's amazing what you can learn from visit other peace corps volunteers, see what ingenuities they've come up with. After visiting people I now, add margarine to my oatmeal, Make popcorn as a snack, make nacho cheese dip (oh my god amazing), and other random things that just make life good.
TEXT MESSAGES:
Random Text messages i've received from Travis:
“Is it ok to eat moldy bread?”
“Wild monkeys!”
Friday, September 24, 2010
4 husbands and counting....
****This blog was written over the course of the month of mid-August to mid-September.****
So tonight I am lying in bed, with the strong smell of insect repellent imported from Nigeria (which is probably giving me cancer and destroying the enviro) and little cuts all over my fingers so it hurts to type. but, besides all these random little things (or maybe because of them), its been a good day. And, tomorrow is my one month anniversary of being in kante. I washed lots of clothes today, including some in boiling water (which I will remember to let cool before touching next time), and somehow I think that's how I got all these cuts on my hand. And, I washed my new puppy! Which was completely a riot! The kids came over to help, so there was a wet dog, and the Maxime, one of the kids, decided to “take a shower” too, with the dog.. ahha... There was so much water and soap, I just ended up washing the whole porch. Anyway, good day.
I have been at post for about a month now and am in the process of familiarizing myself with Kante, the hospital, AED, the people, all that stuff. The broad plan for the future is: the first three months that I am here, I will get to know Kante and the people and identify the needs and the resources here. Then, I can start planning and carrying out effective (hopefully) projects. This plan leaves me with a lot of liberty in how/when I go about discovering this town. So, in this blogpost, I hope to introduce you to my town through some of my initial stories and experiences here through my time spent at home, time spent at work, time spent between home and work, and finally random things.
So, Time at home: My home a house in a shared family compound. And within this compound, there is Papa, Clarisse, who takes care of Papa and is also a tailor, and a family with small kids. Now, there is also some of Papa's sons who recently returned from summer vaca, and there is (obviously) me, and my new puppy!!!! There is a pump in our compound in the yard, which is good. I have huge garbage-can-size storage containers for water in my kitchen and I use this water for everything (dishes, toilet, bath, laundry, food, drink...etc). So, every couple days, I use the water pump to fill up buckets of water and carry these into my kitchen to fill up the garbage can things. Doing this in addition to laundry-by-hand
I spend a good amount of time reading and writing. The girl I replaced left a wonderful shelf full of wonderful books! Even an immunology text book! So, I finished a couple books already, including Harry potter (except book number 5) and I'm currently reading 4 books, a history or AIDS type book, an intro to philosophy book (for when I'm in a deep-thinking mood), a David Sedaris book (a new fav author of mine...super funny), and the MCAT review book (because I miss biology). So basically, this shelf of books, in combination with a cup of tea and a fan pointed in my direction, is pretty much Barnes and Nobles and I love it.
But when I am at home and not working or reading, I am playing with the neighbors kids. There are three kids right next door: Maxime, a 4 yo boy, Blaise, a maybe 10 year old?. Solange, an 11/12-ish yo girl, and the baby, a <1yo baby. The kids come over whenever I am home, and either run around and create chaos with the puppy, or color. But anyway, Maxime, in particular, loves to play, and one day, in particular, was the playtime of all playtimes. I had just gotten home from a day-long outing helping the Sage-Femme (midwife) treat and give birth control implants to some people in a more remote village. And once I got home, Maxime and Solange came over to play and Maxime started jumping around while I was unloading and organizing my stuff. And the next thing I know, Maxime falls and is screaming, and when I turn around and look at him, there's blood running down his face. And if you cut your head, there's a ton of blood available, all ready to just gush out...and it always looks super serious. So Maxime is freaking out and screaming, but luckily, with Solange's help, the bleeding stopped and I made a bandage that made him look like a ninja. And of course, regardless of his injury, once he realized he looked like a ninja, he wanted to play again. I, on the other hand, put on some chill music to unwind (a full day with the sage femme + a injured maxime = need to unwind). But then, the next song was a happy song, and Maxime started dancing in a way that reminded me of Michael jackson, and that just cracked me up, so Solange and I started dancing too, and we had a mini-dance party until their parents came home. It was a good day.
So, next: time spent at work. Work is either at the hospital, AED (the organization that supports PLWHA) or "the gardens". In each place I have a completely different experience. I absolutely love the hospital. I could spend everyday there and be happy. I usually spend time in the maternity ward, helping with prenatal consultations and baby weighing. I feel like one of the family with the nurses there, and I learn something new every day I'm there. I'm thinking eventually I will start a project involving these women, maybe nutrition and/or family planning..or maybe a women's club.. Sometimes its really crowded and sometimes there's only like 2 women. I like the slow days because I can help out more and learn more, but I like the busy days because there are so many different people and its just ridiculous, but everything works out. During one of the baby weighing mornings, there were 160 women (with babies)! Crazy! In an area the size of ... probably two high school classrooms put together. Some of the babies are so nice and chubby and healthy, but some, especially if they are twins or if they have other young kids in the fam, are pretty scrawny. One new twin, was soooo tiny! It looked like a baby doll and the scale said 1.7 kg! There is also a laboratory at the hospital! Which I was super excited about, and I always stop by and talk about science things and science/school in US/Togo... And, I help out in the lab sometimes! I saw Plasmodium falciparum (which causes malaria) and giardia (which is the cause of a nasty gastrointestinal illness) in the microscope. The also invested in a spectrophotometer, and they can do analyses like glucose and triglycerides and cholesterol and urea, and other things that we are familiar with in the states. The lab chief is like a grandfather. He's older and really kind, and always smiles when he sees me and tells me about any exciting things they see in the lab. Also, the hospital has a pediatric unit, which isn't always common in hospitals here. I saw a little kid with kwashiorkor, with the edema that I only read about in books. And then I saw a kid who was on the last stages of recovery from kwashiorkor. Right now, in the midst of rainy season, there are a ton of malaria cases. Most of the kids there now have malaria. Sometimes, I shadow/hang out with the medical assistants, which is always exciting, but sometimes I think I am in the way (they are the busiest, but see the widest range of people). With them, There was a motto accident person, a couple palu cases, a couple AIDS cases, a girl who was completely out of it and couldn't talk or walk well suddenly, a snake bite (don't get bit by a snake), a guy with a really bad liver, and a couple other random things.. Also, once in awhile, a group of about 8 travel to a more remote village where we give Norplant-type implants (birth control) and gynecological exams to women who cant really make it into the hospital. For some women, this is the first and maybe the only time they've ever had a gyno exam. These days are tiring (I've only been involved in four so far), but I really like them. The last time there was about 75 women!! Everyone is always tired and hungry afterwards, so we usually stop and eat together before returning to Kante. It reminds me of happy hour - Togo style. Then, I get dropped off by the ambulance, which Mazime is always excited to see (He loves when cars drive up to our compound).
The work experience at AED is something completely different. It is much more chill because its a smaller close knit group of people. AED is a org for people living with HIV/AIDS. It provides medical and psychosocial consultations, and provides people a cheaper option for meds for opportunistic infections and improved nutrition for members. Also, there's a group of kids "peer educators" who go out into the community and do educational things to increase knowledge and decrease rumors about HIV/AIDS. So, my time at AED has been spent helping with the pharmacy and budget, sitting in on meetings with the peer educators, and meeting everyone who comes in. So its really chill, almost like a family because people bring their kids and sometimes share meals. It's a good break as opposed to the super energized hospital.
Finally, the gardens. The gardens were started by a man named Akanto. And Akanto is like a super-man person. There is nothing he can't do. He started these gardens to help orphans and continues to build up the garden area, adding a oven (so they can make and sell things to generate more income, and a pond, to help with the water in the gardens, and housing and a small library. There are formations here once in awhile and I've been attending them. They are basically like cultural presentations, or presentations on how to mobilize the community or make community projects.. Akanto was also working on a project in which schools in the US could exchange with schools here, and at the same time provide for mosquito nets. Most recently, Akanto mentioned that he may want to open a school. So, like I said, this man can do anything. So anyway, that is work for me. I'm sure as time goes on, and I become more familiar with the community and with these individual work places, I will be able to have some good projects going.
And finally: time between work and home. This is a huge chunk of time. Whenever I leave my house to go somewhere, I try to say hi to everyone and have the basic conversation in local language Lamba of "how's the house, "how's work", "how are the kids"...... And the people of Kante (generally) get a kick out of it. There are certain people along the way who always try to teach me new phrases or words in Lamba, which I really like. Every outing is a different experience. The type of people I come across are: kids, people working at carpenter, welder, or small stores, (who generally sit outside and watch the world go by when there's no work), people going to the fields (everyone basically works in the fields during rainy season), women working at the house, cooking, women selling things (they walk around with baskets or buckets of things on their heads, drivers taking a break (there's a truck stop in kante, where a lot of drivers can rest and eat and drink and get things repaired), people going for random walks. So, yea, people are generally very nice and friendly. However, there are also a lot of guys who ask to marry me (jokingly). But, I've come up with a good response, that they seem to find funny (and I find really funny). I just say " I already have 4 husbands! One to do the sweeping, one to do the dishes, one to make the food, one for security! you can be a husband too and you can be the one for washing the dishes!" ...or something like that. and then they don't know how to respond so i get my chance to say goodbye and leave. that's worked so far. Another, uncomfortable/annoying encounter is with certain children. Once in awhile, I get a child following me, who I think is just curious about me, which most children are. But, eventually, after some chit chat, they ask for money, or a present, and then I realize that they were not genuinely interested in me as a person, but in my white skin and the money that they believe is attached to me. Right now, my strategy has been to say that I don't have money to give, and if they don't get the point, then I ask them for money and that usually throws them off guard. A couple volunteers yell at the kids who do this repetitively, saying "I am going to hit you" and I think if I continue to get the same kids doing this constantly, I may resort to yelling also. (It will be weird to yell, I'm not used to yelling at people). But generally, I've had always positive and very friendly encounters with people. It takes a long time to walk anyplace because of this, so sometimes if I actually have to be somewhere at a certain time, I will ride my bike or moto ride.
Also, some random things:
There is a store which I am super excited about in Kara (the main big city) that has mac and cheese, and Snickers! and Nutella!!! mmmmm. so excited. although its expensive :(. And, regarding prices. Here's a taste of what prices are like here: We get paid about $7-$8 per day, which is the average pay of a school director here. My rent is $40/month, bread (about the size of an American loaf, 60cents, a couple tomatoes (about equivalent to 4-5 large tomatoes), 20 cents; stamps to send a letter to the US, $1.30; an hour at an internet cafe, 90 cents; Oats (enough for 1.5 weeks of oatmeal), $1.40; Moto ride across town (instead of the hour walk), 20 cents; Bush taxi to Kara (the big city an hour away), $2.40, a cold beer at a bar, $1.20, a shot of alcohol at a bar, 10 cents; fabric and having a tailor make a dress, $10-$12 , a prenatal exam ($0.20), a medical card (required for anything done at the hospital...sicknesses, prenatal stuff, prescriptions, lab tests... $1), a mosquito net ($1), .Dues for AED (allows AIDS patients to get complete medications for any illness or malnourishment that comes along, $1/month)
Also, Markets. Markets are ridiculous! Almost every town and even small village will have a "marche day". Some markets are bigger than others, and the market in Kante is fairly large. In town, there is a location, about the size of a soccer field/football field, that is reserved just for the stands and mud huts that fill with vendors every friday. People come from all over the place to buy and sell things. When you walk through, you inevitably run into other people, smell lots of different smells, and see fruits, veggies, animals (I saw a monkey last time), street food, people selling plastics and household items, and tons of taxis and motos transporting everyone. It reminds me a bit of a fair in the US, but super condensed, as if you would take everyone and everything at a fair and put it in a space half the size of its original space.....if that makes sense. Also, one important spot at the marche is the tchiuk (spelling?) stands. Tchiuk is a local alcoholic drink that tastes like a mixture of beer and wine and is very thick, like syrup. Every day (not just market day) Women walk around carrying huge buckets of tchiuk on their head for sale. And, on market day, lots of tchiuk vendors arrive and a section of the marche becomes the drinking section. Apparently, if you stay out at the marche until late, then you'll run into plenty of drunkards. (I've been advised by other female volunteers to avoid this. So, I think I will take this advice unless I'm with other people).
Also, the rain. No one does anything in the rain; people just stay in. And, it has been raining so freakin hard all the time. (This is rainy season) And it is amazing. One day, I was in the kitchen and i heard a weird noise outside. It sounded like static from a TV off in the distance. And then, I figured out that it was Rain!! on the Tin roofs! And then suddenly it reached my house! And my tin roof! And it was so incredibly loud! It sounded like we were experiencing a tsunami crashing on my little house! It was crazy! so Maxime and I just sat and watched it. Then, as it died down, Maxime stripped and ran outside, saying he was taking a shower..haha. It was a good day.
Also, now, whenever I see an American magazine, or TV show (another volunteer was my hero and sent my a USB with 2 seasons of the office.....amazing), I notice all the food product placements... like, I was watching part of a movie on Akanto's computer, and the character went to burger kind and ordered a burger, and even though i haven't had a burger from burger king since, probably 2003, I just started salivating and craving a burger from burger king. This happens with any kind of American food picture or video. Also, on one of the office episodes, they eat ice cream cake. And omg i have never craved ice cream cake so badly.
Also, food. I freakin love Togolese food. And, love eating it with my hands. Right now, September, is "Fufu season" which I love. Fufu is a ball of mashed igname/yams (a starchy veggie similar to potatoes) that is mashed in such a way that it has almost a play dough-gelatin consistency. It takes a LOT of work (upper arm strength) to make, using a pillon and mortar. The pillon wooden and heavy and you have to put pieces of the igname in mortar bowl and smash it repetitively with the pillon. So you get a ball of Fufu, and pour sauce over it. And Sauce is always really amazing. It always spicy and is either peanut based or tomato based and sometimes has meat. You eat it with your right hand, and is probably as messy as it sounds. But soooo good.
So tonight I am lying in bed, with the strong smell of insect repellent imported from Nigeria (which is probably giving me cancer and destroying the enviro) and little cuts all over my fingers so it hurts to type. but, besides all these random little things (or maybe because of them), its been a good day. And, tomorrow is my one month anniversary of being in kante. I washed lots of clothes today, including some in boiling water (which I will remember to let cool before touching next time), and somehow I think that's how I got all these cuts on my hand. And, I washed my new puppy! Which was completely a riot! The kids came over to help, so there was a wet dog, and the Maxime, one of the kids, decided to “take a shower” too, with the dog.. ahha... There was so much water and soap, I just ended up washing the whole porch. Anyway, good day.
I have been at post for about a month now and am in the process of familiarizing myself with Kante, the hospital, AED, the people, all that stuff. The broad plan for the future is: the first three months that I am here, I will get to know Kante and the people and identify the needs and the resources here. Then, I can start planning and carrying out effective (hopefully) projects. This plan leaves me with a lot of liberty in how/when I go about discovering this town. So, in this blogpost, I hope to introduce you to my town through some of my initial stories and experiences here through my time spent at home, time spent at work, time spent between home and work, and finally random things.
So, Time at home: My home a house in a shared family compound. And within this compound, there is Papa, Clarisse, who takes care of Papa and is also a tailor, and a family with small kids. Now, there is also some of Papa's sons who recently returned from summer vaca, and there is (obviously) me, and my new puppy!!!! There is a pump in our compound in the yard, which is good. I have huge garbage-can-size storage containers for water in my kitchen and I use this water for everything (dishes, toilet, bath, laundry, food, drink...etc). So, every couple days, I use the water pump to fill up buckets of water and carry these into my kitchen to fill up the garbage can things. Doing this in addition to laundry-by-hand
I spend a good amount of time reading and writing. The girl I replaced left a wonderful shelf full of wonderful books! Even an immunology text book! So, I finished a couple books already, including Harry potter (except book number 5) and I'm currently reading 4 books, a history or AIDS type book, an intro to philosophy book (for when I'm in a deep-thinking mood), a David Sedaris book (a new fav author of mine...super funny), and the MCAT review book (because I miss biology). So basically, this shelf of books, in combination with a cup of tea and a fan pointed in my direction, is pretty much Barnes and Nobles and I love it.
But when I am at home and not working or reading, I am playing with the neighbors kids. There are three kids right next door: Maxime, a 4 yo boy, Blaise, a maybe 10 year old?. Solange, an 11/12-ish yo girl, and the baby, a <1yo baby. The kids come over whenever I am home, and either run around and create chaos with the puppy, or color. But anyway, Maxime, in particular, loves to play, and one day, in particular, was the playtime of all playtimes. I had just gotten home from a day-long outing helping the Sage-Femme (midwife) treat and give birth control implants to some people in a more remote village. And once I got home, Maxime and Solange came over to play and Maxime started jumping around while I was unloading and organizing my stuff. And the next thing I know, Maxime falls and is screaming, and when I turn around and look at him, there's blood running down his face. And if you cut your head, there's a ton of blood available, all ready to just gush out...and it always looks super serious. So Maxime is freaking out and screaming, but luckily, with Solange's help, the bleeding stopped and I made a bandage that made him look like a ninja. And of course, regardless of his injury, once he realized he looked like a ninja, he wanted to play again. I, on the other hand, put on some chill music to unwind (a full day with the sage femme + a injured maxime = need to unwind). But then, the next song was a happy song, and Maxime started dancing in a way that reminded me of Michael jackson, and that just cracked me up, so Solange and I started dancing too, and we had a mini-dance party until their parents came home. It was a good day.
So, next: time spent at work. Work is either at the hospital, AED (the organization that supports PLWHA) or "the gardens". In each place I have a completely different experience. I absolutely love the hospital. I could spend everyday there and be happy. I usually spend time in the maternity ward, helping with prenatal consultations and baby weighing. I feel like one of the family with the nurses there, and I learn something new every day I'm there. I'm thinking eventually I will start a project involving these women, maybe nutrition and/or family planning..or maybe a women's club.. Sometimes its really crowded and sometimes there's only like 2 women. I like the slow days because I can help out more and learn more, but I like the busy days because there are so many different people and its just ridiculous, but everything works out. During one of the baby weighing mornings, there were 160 women (with babies)! Crazy! In an area the size of ... probably two high school classrooms put together. Some of the babies are so nice and chubby and healthy, but some, especially if they are twins or if they have other young kids in the fam, are pretty scrawny. One new twin, was soooo tiny! It looked like a baby doll and the scale said 1.7 kg! There is also a laboratory at the hospital! Which I was super excited about, and I always stop by and talk about science things and science/school in US/Togo... And, I help out in the lab sometimes! I saw Plasmodium falciparum (which causes malaria) and giardia (which is the cause of a nasty gastrointestinal illness) in the microscope. The also invested in a spectrophotometer, and they can do analyses like glucose and triglycerides and cholesterol and urea, and other things that we are familiar with in the states. The lab chief is like a grandfather. He's older and really kind, and always smiles when he sees me and tells me about any exciting things they see in the lab. Also, the hospital has a pediatric unit, which isn't always common in hospitals here. I saw a little kid with kwashiorkor, with the edema that I only read about in books. And then I saw a kid who was on the last stages of recovery from kwashiorkor. Right now, in the midst of rainy season, there are a ton of malaria cases. Most of the kids there now have malaria. Sometimes, I shadow/hang out with the medical assistants, which is always exciting, but sometimes I think I am in the way (they are the busiest, but see the widest range of people). With them, There was a motto accident person, a couple palu cases, a couple AIDS cases, a girl who was completely out of it and couldn't talk or walk well suddenly, a snake bite (don't get bit by a snake), a guy with a really bad liver, and a couple other random things.. Also, once in awhile, a group of about 8 travel to a more remote village where we give Norplant-type implants (birth control) and gynecological exams to women who cant really make it into the hospital. For some women, this is the first and maybe the only time they've ever had a gyno exam. These days are tiring (I've only been involved in four so far), but I really like them. The last time there was about 75 women!! Everyone is always tired and hungry afterwards, so we usually stop and eat together before returning to Kante. It reminds me of happy hour - Togo style. Then, I get dropped off by the ambulance, which Mazime is always excited to see (He loves when cars drive up to our compound).
The work experience at AED is something completely different. It is much more chill because its a smaller close knit group of people. AED is a org for people living with HIV/AIDS. It provides medical and psychosocial consultations, and provides people a cheaper option for meds for opportunistic infections and improved nutrition for members. Also, there's a group of kids "peer educators" who go out into the community and do educational things to increase knowledge and decrease rumors about HIV/AIDS. So, my time at AED has been spent helping with the pharmacy and budget, sitting in on meetings with the peer educators, and meeting everyone who comes in. So its really chill, almost like a family because people bring their kids and sometimes share meals. It's a good break as opposed to the super energized hospital.
Finally, the gardens. The gardens were started by a man named Akanto. And Akanto is like a super-man person. There is nothing he can't do. He started these gardens to help orphans and continues to build up the garden area, adding a oven (so they can make and sell things to generate more income, and a pond, to help with the water in the gardens, and housing and a small library. There are formations here once in awhile and I've been attending them. They are basically like cultural presentations, or presentations on how to mobilize the community or make community projects.. Akanto was also working on a project in which schools in the US could exchange with schools here, and at the same time provide for mosquito nets. Most recently, Akanto mentioned that he may want to open a school. So, like I said, this man can do anything. So anyway, that is work for me. I'm sure as time goes on, and I become more familiar with the community and with these individual work places, I will be able to have some good projects going.
And finally: time between work and home. This is a huge chunk of time. Whenever I leave my house to go somewhere, I try to say hi to everyone and have the basic conversation in local language Lamba of "how's the house, "how's work", "how are the kids"...... And the people of Kante (generally) get a kick out of it. There are certain people along the way who always try to teach me new phrases or words in Lamba, which I really like. Every outing is a different experience. The type of people I come across are: kids, people working at carpenter, welder, or small stores, (who generally sit outside and watch the world go by when there's no work), people going to the fields (everyone basically works in the fields during rainy season), women working at the house, cooking, women selling things (they walk around with baskets or buckets of things on their heads, drivers taking a break (there's a truck stop in kante, where a lot of drivers can rest and eat and drink and get things repaired), people going for random walks. So, yea, people are generally very nice and friendly. However, there are also a lot of guys who ask to marry me (jokingly). But, I've come up with a good response, that they seem to find funny (and I find really funny). I just say " I already have 4 husbands! One to do the sweeping, one to do the dishes, one to make the food, one for security! you can be a husband too and you can be the one for washing the dishes!" ...or something like that. and then they don't know how to respond so i get my chance to say goodbye and leave. that's worked so far. Another, uncomfortable/annoying encounter is with certain children. Once in awhile, I get a child following me, who I think is just curious about me, which most children are. But, eventually, after some chit chat, they ask for money, or a present, and then I realize that they were not genuinely interested in me as a person, but in my white skin and the money that they believe is attached to me. Right now, my strategy has been to say that I don't have money to give, and if they don't get the point, then I ask them for money and that usually throws them off guard. A couple volunteers yell at the kids who do this repetitively, saying "I am going to hit you" and I think if I continue to get the same kids doing this constantly, I may resort to yelling also. (It will be weird to yell, I'm not used to yelling at people). But generally, I've had always positive and very friendly encounters with people. It takes a long time to walk anyplace because of this, so sometimes if I actually have to be somewhere at a certain time, I will ride my bike or moto ride.
Also, some random things:
There is a store which I am super excited about in Kara (the main big city) that has mac and cheese, and Snickers! and Nutella!!! mmmmm. so excited. although its expensive :(. And, regarding prices. Here's a taste of what prices are like here: We get paid about $7-$8 per day, which is the average pay of a school director here. My rent is $40/month, bread (about the size of an American loaf, 60cents, a couple tomatoes (about equivalent to 4-5 large tomatoes), 20 cents; stamps to send a letter to the US, $1.30; an hour at an internet cafe, 90 cents; Oats (enough for 1.5 weeks of oatmeal), $1.40; Moto ride across town (instead of the hour walk), 20 cents; Bush taxi to Kara (the big city an hour away), $2.40, a cold beer at a bar, $1.20, a shot of alcohol at a bar, 10 cents; fabric and having a tailor make a dress, $10-$12 , a prenatal exam ($0.20), a medical card (required for anything done at the hospital...sicknesses, prenatal stuff, prescriptions, lab tests... $1), a mosquito net ($1), .Dues for AED (allows AIDS patients to get complete medications for any illness or malnourishment that comes along, $1/month)
Also, Markets. Markets are ridiculous! Almost every town and even small village will have a "marche day". Some markets are bigger than others, and the market in Kante is fairly large. In town, there is a location, about the size of a soccer field/football field, that is reserved just for the stands and mud huts that fill with vendors every friday. People come from all over the place to buy and sell things. When you walk through, you inevitably run into other people, smell lots of different smells, and see fruits, veggies, animals (I saw a monkey last time), street food, people selling plastics and household items, and tons of taxis and motos transporting everyone. It reminds me a bit of a fair in the US, but super condensed, as if you would take everyone and everything at a fair and put it in a space half the size of its original space.....if that makes sense. Also, one important spot at the marche is the tchiuk (spelling?) stands. Tchiuk is a local alcoholic drink that tastes like a mixture of beer and wine and is very thick, like syrup. Every day (not just market day) Women walk around carrying huge buckets of tchiuk on their head for sale. And, on market day, lots of tchiuk vendors arrive and a section of the marche becomes the drinking section. Apparently, if you stay out at the marche until late, then you'll run into plenty of drunkards. (I've been advised by other female volunteers to avoid this. So, I think I will take this advice unless I'm with other people).
Also, the rain. No one does anything in the rain; people just stay in. And, it has been raining so freakin hard all the time. (This is rainy season) And it is amazing. One day, I was in the kitchen and i heard a weird noise outside. It sounded like static from a TV off in the distance. And then, I figured out that it was Rain!! on the Tin roofs! And then suddenly it reached my house! And my tin roof! And it was so incredibly loud! It sounded like we were experiencing a tsunami crashing on my little house! It was crazy! so Maxime and I just sat and watched it. Then, as it died down, Maxime stripped and ran outside, saying he was taking a shower..haha. It was a good day.
Also, now, whenever I see an American magazine, or TV show (another volunteer was my hero and sent my a USB with 2 seasons of the office.....amazing), I notice all the food product placements... like, I was watching part of a movie on Akanto's computer, and the character went to burger kind and ordered a burger, and even though i haven't had a burger from burger king since, probably 2003, I just started salivating and craving a burger from burger king. This happens with any kind of American food picture or video. Also, on one of the office episodes, they eat ice cream cake. And omg i have never craved ice cream cake so badly.
Also, food. I freakin love Togolese food. And, love eating it with my hands. Right now, September, is "Fufu season" which I love. Fufu is a ball of mashed igname/yams (a starchy veggie similar to potatoes) that is mashed in such a way that it has almost a play dough-gelatin consistency. It takes a LOT of work (upper arm strength) to make, using a pillon and mortar. The pillon wooden and heavy and you have to put pieces of the igname in mortar bowl and smash it repetitively with the pillon. So you get a ball of Fufu, and pour sauce over it. And Sauce is always really amazing. It always spicy and is either peanut based or tomato based and sometimes has meat. You eat it with your right hand, and is probably as messy as it sounds. But soooo good.
Friday, August 20, 2010
the funeral, the rainstorm, and a goat....and the cricket named bob.
*****************************This blog was written at the beginning of August, but I didn't get a chance to post it until now****************************
August 5
So, this second month here in togo has passed by incredibly fast. I have just left the small training town, and am about to set off for the town of Kante, where I'll live for two years. Last night I could not sleep at all. First there was a funeral going on, and then there was a super huge rainstorm, and then just when i thought i would fall asleep a goat started making noise outside my room. finally i fell asleep, only to be woken up every hour by a cricket that found its way into my room. Oh well. Regardless, I will miss my old room and I'm going to miss my host fam and all the other volunteers who I have grown close to, but I am super excited to explore and begin the two years of service.
So, in this blog post, Ill go over: (1) about my post visit, which is the week I visited Kante, (2) some things I'm looking forward to and some things I'm nervous about regarding my move to Kante, (3) some recent happenings (aka: snake bite), and (4) a list of random occurances and interesting info I have learned about Togo that don't really fit into any other category.
So, what about Kante. Kante is a town, as opposed to a village, and is populated with about 12000 (maybe? although the last census was in 1981?...). Kante straddles the route national (the one road that goes from the south to the north of togo) and is set in the mountains of the Kara region.
So, to backtrack a bit, during our two months of training, we were given the opportunity to visit our "post", the place where we will be living and working. This week long visit was a sneak peak into what life will be like for the next two years and for that week, I lived in my future house, met people I will be working with, went to the market, and explored the town. And, long story short: I loved my post, and am super excited to spend two years there. The next couple points are just short descriptions of what I learned.
People: The main ethnic group of Kante is the Lamba people (they speak Lamba). But, Kante and the surrounding areas, (in general the whole northern part of togo) is a super crazy mixture of TONS of different people. And by "different people", I mean completely different: completely different languages, different looks, different cultures and beliefs. It totally blew my mind when we traveled to another nearby village, and my homologue, who is already multilingual, needed a translator to talk to some patients. People who have lived in the area their whole lives cannot communicate to some people about 30-50 kilometers away! I had no idea a place like this existed! And for those of you interested in how/why this is like this, wiki it (long story short (really short), colonialization + indigenious ethnic groups + some time with some conflict = Togo now).
Climate: 3 seasons. Rainy Season is now, and is not too hot (relatively speaking) and is incredibly gorgeous with green everywhere, but is humid. Harmitan (no idea how to spell that) is the season when the Sahara decides to move in (aka wind dust wind dust dry dry dry....but "cold"). Hot season is pretty self explanatory. The girl I'm replacing in Kante said that while she was here, the hottest she ever saw recorded was 126F. I can't wait to have a bucket shower after a day in hot season; I'm sure it will feel amazing.
Land: Mountains mountains mountains, and valleys too of course. AKA gorgeous. And the mountains are sooo strange. So unlike any other mountains I've seen before. When you look at them, there is an obvious division between mountain and valley.. It is like they are gumdrops that were just plopped down. But then, when we were driving, the mountains just seemed to disappear and I realized it was because we had slowly increased out elevation... I think. Also, in this area are the tata's in the Tamberma (not sure how to spell that) Valley, which are mud fortresses built by the Tamberma ppl. Apparently, this tatas fortress thing dates back to the 17th centrury when these people were at risk for being enslaved by the slave trade. When a man reaches a certain age, he shoots an arrow from his family's mud fortress, and where the arrow lands becomes the location of his own mud fortress. Also in this area are Baobab trees, of which I am a fan. I looooove baobab trees. They have a different look with every season, which i think is so cool, and they are just soooo huge! Their trunks remind me of dinosaur legs, which just makes everything exciting. Even during boring excursions, like buying toilet paper, I can pretend I'm in the movie jurrasic park just because of the dinosaur-legged baobab trees.
Animals: Monkeys! (aka food for some ppl), dogs (aka also food for some people), "football birds" (birds that are vagually shaped like footballs, and are therefore very tempting to kick like a football), your set of normal togolese animals running around: goats/chickens/lizards/etc.
My house: I live in a compound area with other families. I have electricity! Which completely surprised me! I was all set to live in a mud hut and cook outside on a fire. And, I have a refrigerator, which is just crazy talk. I am also hoping to get this thing called "internet"..haha. It's not like in the states where you have internet 24/7, it is like a pay by the hour internet thing. But (hopefully), I will be able to get it directly on my computer in my house, which is super cool.
So, some things I'm looking forward to and some things I'm nervous about. Well, I am sooo looking forward to just walking and running and biking all around the Kara (the Region where Kante is located) because it is just breathtaking. Looking forward to experimenting with cooking. There is a cookbook made by volunteers who have come through Togo called "Where there is no Whopper" (get it?....like the book "where there is no doctor?"). And, you can even make cookies here! In a frying pan! Super excited.... I'm looking forward to working in the hospital. My main job will be working with two groups: AED, a group that works with people living with HIV/AIDS, and the hospital. I love the people I've met at AED already. The girl I'm replacing did a ton of work getting them up and running, so I'll continue that. And, I think I'll love the hospital. It is a pretty large hospital, and I already saw quite a bit during my short tour there. Its interesting though, being at the hospital makes life and death seem much more ...objective... less emotional... more like death is a part of life and is just something that happens. I can't find the words right now but I hope that sortof gives you an idea. I'm sure its similar to a perspective that a medical professional has. Especially in Togo, where money is always an issue. If a family doesn't have the money for medicine, for a doctor, for a taxi o the doctor, the people just die. Sometimes, families will decide to spend money on a funeral rather than all the money it will take to save the life. So, its just different I guess. And I'm sure I'll be morphing my perspective constantly while I'm here.
Most of the things that I'm nervous about are just the normal things associated with any change: will I meet people? will i be overwhelmed? will i feel completely isolated? will i be ineffective? will i screw up something horribly? And, most of these just go along with the answer "c'est la vie; it will all turn out ok". So, I will just keep that in my mind all the time (which is pretty easy here because a lot of ppl say c'est la vie or la vie est toujours comme ca).
So anyway, moving on to point 3: recent happenings
Martin is back! He returned to Togo! So, we were all so happy to see him. When we first saw him, we gave him a HUGE group hug in the middle of the road. All the Togolese looked as us strangely (I think I mentioned before that Togolese don't really hug people a lot/ at all) Later, Martin received a similar group hug from tons of Togolese kids. So, now they probably think that all americans give super huge group hugs...haha.
Also, someone was bitten by a snake. It was really scary because most of the snakes here are poisonous and some of them dont have antivenoms and even if there is an antivenom, damage can be done if it isn't given in time. So, basically, one night, someone stepped on a snake (a baby black mamba), and it bit her. Once you're bit, you're not supposed to walk or to freak out (both will cause the venom to reach your heart faster). So, luckily, someone called out and a group of Togolese men came and carried her to the main peace corps center in the area and from there, a driver drove her to the hospital where there happened to be only one antivenom available. So within half an hour from the time she was bitten, she had the antivenom and even within that time she was in and out of consciousness a bit and her foot was pretty bad. So yea, scary. She is able to walk now (this happened 5 days ago) although it is still swollen and hurts. But man, you do not want to be bitten by a snake. moral of the story: do not step on snakes.
Finally, Here is a list of random things:
I went to a pool! There is a pool here! I was soooo incredibly super excited! I've never been so happy to be in a pool!
I went to the post office in Kante and they didn't have stamps available at that time
I saw a lizard fight
Pythons: in a southern region of togo, pythons are respected and are believed to hold the spirit of ancestors. So, killing pythons is a "no-no". If a python is found dead, then a funeral celebration is held (which cost a lot of money), as if the relative had just died. So, instead of killing pythons, you must get a stick, put the stick up to the python, and since the python a one of the kill-bye-strangulation snakes, it will wrap itself around the stick. Then, you can safely guide the python away from your room...or other place of safety. but, you must be careful that this is in fact a python; if you get your snake identifications mixed up, and it is a mamba instead of a python, then that stick will aggravate it, and then you will end up needed to make funeral preparations anyway-for yourself! my strategy will be: scream. then, someone else will come and know whether its ok to kill or not.
I cut my hair super short and I look like my mom now (that's a compliment to myself).
I learned how to make french toast with ingredients here.
funerals take all night here.... there's music alllll night....
Ok, that's all for now folks!
August 5
So, this second month here in togo has passed by incredibly fast. I have just left the small training town, and am about to set off for the town of Kante, where I'll live for two years. Last night I could not sleep at all. First there was a funeral going on, and then there was a super huge rainstorm, and then just when i thought i would fall asleep a goat started making noise outside my room. finally i fell asleep, only to be woken up every hour by a cricket that found its way into my room. Oh well. Regardless, I will miss my old room and I'm going to miss my host fam and all the other volunteers who I have grown close to, but I am super excited to explore and begin the two years of service.
So, in this blog post, Ill go over: (1) about my post visit, which is the week I visited Kante, (2) some things I'm looking forward to and some things I'm nervous about regarding my move to Kante, (3) some recent happenings (aka: snake bite), and (4) a list of random occurances and interesting info I have learned about Togo that don't really fit into any other category.
So, what about Kante. Kante is a town, as opposed to a village, and is populated with about 12000 (maybe? although the last census was in 1981?...). Kante straddles the route national (the one road that goes from the south to the north of togo) and is set in the mountains of the Kara region.
So, to backtrack a bit, during our two months of training, we were given the opportunity to visit our "post", the place where we will be living and working. This week long visit was a sneak peak into what life will be like for the next two years and for that week, I lived in my future house, met people I will be working with, went to the market, and explored the town. And, long story short: I loved my post, and am super excited to spend two years there. The next couple points are just short descriptions of what I learned.
People: The main ethnic group of Kante is the Lamba people (they speak Lamba). But, Kante and the surrounding areas, (in general the whole northern part of togo) is a super crazy mixture of TONS of different people. And by "different people", I mean completely different: completely different languages, different looks, different cultures and beliefs. It totally blew my mind when we traveled to another nearby village, and my homologue, who is already multilingual, needed a translator to talk to some patients. People who have lived in the area their whole lives cannot communicate to some people about 30-50 kilometers away! I had no idea a place like this existed! And for those of you interested in how/why this is like this, wiki it (long story short (really short), colonialization + indigenious ethnic groups + some time with some conflict = Togo now).
Climate: 3 seasons. Rainy Season is now, and is not too hot (relatively speaking) and is incredibly gorgeous with green everywhere, but is humid. Harmitan (no idea how to spell that) is the season when the Sahara decides to move in (aka wind dust wind dust dry dry dry....but "cold"). Hot season is pretty self explanatory. The girl I'm replacing in Kante said that while she was here, the hottest she ever saw recorded was 126F. I can't wait to have a bucket shower after a day in hot season; I'm sure it will feel amazing.
Land: Mountains mountains mountains, and valleys too of course. AKA gorgeous. And the mountains are sooo strange. So unlike any other mountains I've seen before. When you look at them, there is an obvious division between mountain and valley.. It is like they are gumdrops that were just plopped down. But then, when we were driving, the mountains just seemed to disappear and I realized it was because we had slowly increased out elevation... I think. Also, in this area are the tata's in the Tamberma (not sure how to spell that) Valley, which are mud fortresses built by the Tamberma ppl. Apparently, this tatas fortress thing dates back to the 17th centrury when these people were at risk for being enslaved by the slave trade. When a man reaches a certain age, he shoots an arrow from his family's mud fortress, and where the arrow lands becomes the location of his own mud fortress. Also in this area are Baobab trees, of which I am a fan. I looooove baobab trees. They have a different look with every season, which i think is so cool, and they are just soooo huge! Their trunks remind me of dinosaur legs, which just makes everything exciting. Even during boring excursions, like buying toilet paper, I can pretend I'm in the movie jurrasic park just because of the dinosaur-legged baobab trees.
Animals: Monkeys! (aka food for some ppl), dogs (aka also food for some people), "football birds" (birds that are vagually shaped like footballs, and are therefore very tempting to kick like a football), your set of normal togolese animals running around: goats/chickens/lizards/etc.
My house: I live in a compound area with other families. I have electricity! Which completely surprised me! I was all set to live in a mud hut and cook outside on a fire. And, I have a refrigerator, which is just crazy talk. I am also hoping to get this thing called "internet"..haha. It's not like in the states where you have internet 24/7, it is like a pay by the hour internet thing. But (hopefully), I will be able to get it directly on my computer in my house, which is super cool.
So, some things I'm looking forward to and some things I'm nervous about. Well, I am sooo looking forward to just walking and running and biking all around the Kara (the Region where Kante is located) because it is just breathtaking. Looking forward to experimenting with cooking. There is a cookbook made by volunteers who have come through Togo called "Where there is no Whopper" (get it?....like the book "where there is no doctor?"). And, you can even make cookies here! In a frying pan! Super excited.... I'm looking forward to working in the hospital. My main job will be working with two groups: AED, a group that works with people living with HIV/AIDS, and the hospital. I love the people I've met at AED already. The girl I'm replacing did a ton of work getting them up and running, so I'll continue that. And, I think I'll love the hospital. It is a pretty large hospital, and I already saw quite a bit during my short tour there. Its interesting though, being at the hospital makes life and death seem much more ...objective... less emotional... more like death is a part of life and is just something that happens. I can't find the words right now but I hope that sortof gives you an idea. I'm sure its similar to a perspective that a medical professional has. Especially in Togo, where money is always an issue. If a family doesn't have the money for medicine, for a doctor, for a taxi o the doctor, the people just die. Sometimes, families will decide to spend money on a funeral rather than all the money it will take to save the life. So, its just different I guess. And I'm sure I'll be morphing my perspective constantly while I'm here.
Most of the things that I'm nervous about are just the normal things associated with any change: will I meet people? will i be overwhelmed? will i feel completely isolated? will i be ineffective? will i screw up something horribly? And, most of these just go along with the answer "c'est la vie; it will all turn out ok". So, I will just keep that in my mind all the time (which is pretty easy here because a lot of ppl say c'est la vie or la vie est toujours comme ca).
So anyway, moving on to point 3: recent happenings
Martin is back! He returned to Togo! So, we were all so happy to see him. When we first saw him, we gave him a HUGE group hug in the middle of the road. All the Togolese looked as us strangely (I think I mentioned before that Togolese don't really hug people a lot/ at all) Later, Martin received a similar group hug from tons of Togolese kids. So, now they probably think that all americans give super huge group hugs...haha.
Also, someone was bitten by a snake. It was really scary because most of the snakes here are poisonous and some of them dont have antivenoms and even if there is an antivenom, damage can be done if it isn't given in time. So, basically, one night, someone stepped on a snake (a baby black mamba), and it bit her. Once you're bit, you're not supposed to walk or to freak out (both will cause the venom to reach your heart faster). So, luckily, someone called out and a group of Togolese men came and carried her to the main peace corps center in the area and from there, a driver drove her to the hospital where there happened to be only one antivenom available. So within half an hour from the time she was bitten, she had the antivenom and even within that time she was in and out of consciousness a bit and her foot was pretty bad. So yea, scary. She is able to walk now (this happened 5 days ago) although it is still swollen and hurts. But man, you do not want to be bitten by a snake. moral of the story: do not step on snakes.
Finally, Here is a list of random things:
I went to a pool! There is a pool here! I was soooo incredibly super excited! I've never been so happy to be in a pool!
I went to the post office in Kante and they didn't have stamps available at that time
I saw a lizard fight
Pythons: in a southern region of togo, pythons are respected and are believed to hold the spirit of ancestors. So, killing pythons is a "no-no". If a python is found dead, then a funeral celebration is held (which cost a lot of money), as if the relative had just died. So, instead of killing pythons, you must get a stick, put the stick up to the python, and since the python a one of the kill-bye-strangulation snakes, it will wrap itself around the stick. Then, you can safely guide the python away from your room...or other place of safety. but, you must be careful that this is in fact a python; if you get your snake identifications mixed up, and it is a mamba instead of a python, then that stick will aggravate it, and then you will end up needed to make funeral preparations anyway-for yourself! my strategy will be: scream. then, someone else will come and know whether its ok to kill or not.
I cut my hair super short and I look like my mom now (that's a compliment to myself).
I learned how to make french toast with ingredients here.
funerals take all night here.... there's music alllll night....
Ok, that's all for now folks!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Togo Togo!!
Togo Togo! Thats what we say as "cheers" whenever we are sharing a warm beer (because there are no cold beers in town).
So, I am in Togo now! I have been here for awhile, but internet is hard to come by. Hence, the infrequency of these blog updates. Right now I am in a small town without electricity or potable water. I live with a wonderful host family, made up of a host mom, many brothers and a few sisters…and some babies, who are all super cute. Actually, Rolande, the youngest, just started to walk for the first time about a week ago! She walks sideways, like a crab..haha. Alex, who’s about three, is a little trouble maker, and has recently discovered that I can pick him up spin him around. I think I got him in trouble with his mom the other day because he was so dizzy from spinning, that he fell in the sand and got everything dirty. I’m closest with my brother Eugene, and when I’m not at class or playing with my the toddlers of the fam, I’m usually hanging out with Eugene playing cards or talking (aka: trying to speak French). EWWW…. I just looked beside me and there is one of those super big cockroaches! p.s. im in bed now, but luckily the cockroach is outside my mosquito net. AND, speaking of bugs, there is was a super huge spider in my room last night. I happened to notice it when I turned on my headlamp. And, I tried to kill it, but it jumped (yes…jumped) away and into this crevice in the wall really high where I couldn’t reach or see….so there is a giant spider in my room somewhere…. I just make sure my mosquito net is tucked in allll the time. I don’t mind the bugs…. I just don’t like the thought of them crawling on me while im sleeping. I'm still a little paranoid right now because we just had a 3 hour lecture about all the different "stings and bites" we may possibly/probably encounter here, in Togo. This included the fly that can grow inside your skin and eventually burst through and fly away. That's the one I want least. Although, actually, as long as it doesn't do any real damage to you (which apparently it doesn't), and as long as you can get over the gross-factor (which I think I can), it would be ok. So, I wont freak out if I get it, but my goal is to prevent it (aka be wary of damp clothes....hhahaah thats a joke.. everything is damp here). So, if I get it I'll let you know!
Ok, sorry for the tangent about bugs. I think in this blog post I’ll talk about (1) lifestyle changes that I’ve noticed, (2) my post!!! (3) people I’ve met and (4) recent things...some sad news and some happy news and (4) how much I miss all of you.
So, regarding living. Well, it is very hot here. The heat and humidity is just something I get used to. It is like DC in the summer all the time (without AC). I am constantly sweating when I move and when there is no wind, but that is something I’ve gotten used to already. However, because of this, I had heat rash for a steady 3 weeks my torso and I get some type or fungal growth where my elbow bends (which a good chunk of athletes foot medicine seems to take care of). Also, because there's no electricity or plumbing, we get water from a well, I use a latrine, take cold bucket showers (which feel AMAZING after running in the morning), sterilize all water, use a kerosene lamp….. its basically like car-camping. On a normal day, I wake up, go to the latrine (after making sure there are no giant cockroaches close enough to touch my butt), go running with one or two other peace corps (PC) ppl, take a bucket shower, eat breakfast (coffee and bread…or if my host mom is in a great mood homemade banana donuts!!!!...and my host mom just got hot chocolate mix from ghana!!!) and then go to class (French, nutrition, safety, culture, peace corps policy, hiv/aids, reproductive health, malaria,……). The "going" to class is an experience in and of itself; I say bye to everyone at home, the toddlers high-five me, then say bonjour to everyone i meet on the way to class (like 30ish ppl). I come home for lunch, (rice and beans or tomato spicy sauce or fried plantains or fufu or pate rouge or fish; I’ve been taking pics of the different foods, and whenever I can I will post them to facebook or here) and then go back to class, then come home for dinner and hang out with my family, usually playing cards. I am in bed by 9 (though I read or journal or do homework for awhile afterwards) and wake up at 5 (its impossible to sleep in till 6….). Also, whenever I go anywhere, I say Bonjour to EVERYONE. Haha.. if you don’t they think something is wrong. So, I pretend that I am belle from beauty and the beast and say Bonjour Bonjour Bonjour Bonjour Bonjour (like in the first song in the movie….). Some other random life things: there are bugs everywhere, there are animals everywhere, when it rains it pours all of a sudden, a lizard fell on my friend (really funny), the town is always alive; its never quiet, i went to the "dancing church" (they sing...so amazingly...and dance! all the women dance in front of everyone and then the men, and then the little kids!), the stars are super bright, funerals last allllll night (the whole town can hear the singing of a funeral allllll night), I saw (and pet) a hedgehog!, you know who's winning the soccer match by the noise that comes from the far far bar, my friend had a green mamba in his bedroom during first week (thats actually an uncommon thing here, so no worries...apparently all the neighbors ran over and machete'd it and continued to hit the snake body with a rock-thing for awhile after it was dead.), everyone laughs (i think a lot of times at me and my cultural faux pas..haha).
So, my post!!!!!!! OK, first I will explain a little about the timeline for Peace Corps. First, 29 of us-encompassing the business (SED) and health (CHAP) volunteers, went to Togo. We stayed for about a week in Lome, the capital, where we had shots, basic health info, and super basic language. Then, all the CHAP ppl went to a small village to live with host families and the SED ppl went to a big town to live with host families. In these towns, we attend classes and get trained-culturally and technically, for nine weeks. Then, we each move to a separate village or city where we will spend the next two years working. Every village/city has different needs and has requested a PCV for certain reasons. So, your “post” placement depends on interviews and your background: technical, language, religion, health……lots of things. But, they basically try to match the village/ville’s needs with your abilities. So, for awhile we were held in suspense, waiting to find out our posts. And we did! And mine is a city in the Kara region, which I’m super excited about. Since it’s a city, it’s a site for AIDS/HIV goings-on and since its in the north, they have crazy dry seasons, so that food is an issue…. So basically, it can potentially combine both HIV/AIDS and nutrition work, which is exactly what I wanted. Also a plus, is that I get to work with a hospital and a doctor! (both of which are pretty rare in togo), There is an up-and-coming AIDS/HIV group, a couple schools, a midwife who is the head midwife for the whole region (so….projects with reproductive health) and I think also has a moringa plantation-thing… and just a ton of other things. Oh, and a Red Cross that has requested some PCV help. It sounds like a dream come true. I can have so much to do! Also, I am close to a good number of other PCVs, including both Travis and Lizzie, both of whom i spent the last month with. Also, apparently there is a GEE (girls education and empowerment) PCV right in Kante too…and some NRM (natural resource management) PCVS nearby too, which means: (1) instant friends and (2) collaborating on projects! So, that’s my post! I am super excited, if you couldn’t tell already. In about a week, I'll be doing "post visit" (a week living at post), so I'm super excited about that.
Anyway, next on the list: people! So, like I mentioned above, there were 29 of us who came to Togo together. Since then, we’ve split into SED (business) and CHAP (health…community health and hiv aids prevention). So, there are 16 CHAP-ers, 8 girls, 8 boys (a first, usually CHAP-ers are women), and we’ve been spending the greater portion of every waking hour together since we’ve been here, which is pretty cool, because it feels like I’ve known them for years. We all have gone through good days and bad ones…. Actually, for most of us, its like good hours and bad hours. Peace Corps really is like an emotional roller coaster, and I knew I was getting on that ride, but still, some hours are harder than others. Most of the hard parts just stem from language frustrations and sometimes feeling unsure/unstable in this different culture. Its so important, at least for me, to maintain a broad perspective and just laugh at myself a lot. Anyway, the other volunteers are a super support network. We are all from such different backgrounds too…from all over the US and with travels all over the world. It will be a little sad when we go to post, because some volunteers will be like a 10hour bush taxi drive away from me. Oh well. Such is life. A couple volunteers were interested in doing the Ghana marathon with me next year! I’m super excited. I didn’t realize that running was “ok” here, and was all set to give it up, but now that I know its do-able, I’m going to start training for the Ghana marathon! (p.s. about Ghana. Apparaently, Ghana is the land of plenty… and I believe it! They have sushi and shopping malls and movie theaters and milkshakes…and they speak English..its just like America! Some PCVs went on vaca there and when they crossed back into togo, the border ppl were so confused as to why they chose to live in togo,, instead of Ghana. Look…even my auto spell check recognizes that Ghana deserves a capital letter, but has forgotten togo. Poor togo. I still love you! Togo!!! There’s your capital letter!)
So, regarding recent news: I mentioned there was both good news :) and bad news :(. We'll do good news first. My french has been coming along marvelously, which I am super excited about. Although, there is still so much work to be done. Some days feel like I'm swimming upstream in terms of french, but, today I had a bit of a pat on the back. I had to give a presentation-all in french- about my background, my post, what the PC is, what type of work I am hoping to do...that kind of stuff. And it went really well! I was super nervous, but the trainers were so proud of us. Afterwards, we went to celebrate at the "far far bar" (the bar that's farther away that the bar that's far away) and on the way we saw a hedgehog, which just made my good day even better. And, I started to learn another language called Lamba....which is a super cool language...im really excited about it. Its a little difficult because there are new characters and sounds that I've never used before...but it sounds so fascinating. I wish i was fluent. Alafia! So yea, that's the good news. Now the bad news. (wow....so weird, right when I typed that, the sound of rain on my roof just increased exponentially; at least I wont hear any potential sounds that potential cockroaches are making in my room). So, Lisa broke her leg...really badly. Less than a week ago, we were playing soccer, and she got hit and fell and was in a ton of pain. Luckily, the van was nearby and she went to the city (where they have ice) and was able to RICE (rest,ice,compression,elevation-thats for you caity!...although she didnt do the C bc it hurt her too much), until she could get to Lome. She's back in the US now and we miss her a lot! Hopefully she will come back in 4-6 months when she is all better! Then, just yesterday Martin left. His father..in the US..passed away suddenly. A group of us were sitting together, talking, when we heard the news. We were all shocked...and sad. All of us are away from home now, and that is probably our greatest fear.... And knowing that it happened to one of us, just shook us all. We miss Martin, and hope he can come back soon. Our group is close, and we're here to support him. A lot of people tried to call home afterwards. We all missed our fathers.. and families.. suddenly.
And, now for the final thing! I miss you all! So much! I swear, I dream of home ..Cashtown home and Rockville home.. and you guys almost every night. Although some of my dreams are SUPER weird…the malaria medicine that I’m taking has weird dream side effects. It’s funny talking to the other PCVs about dreams. One girl had a dream that we had been here for 4 years and hadn’t eaten chocolate for 4 years, and Andy exposed the fact that I was really made out of chocolate, so everyone was fighting over who got to eat my pinky first. Hahah… that’s a mefloquine dream for you. And a few nights ago, I somehow got completely flipped and disorientated in my bed and when I went to get out in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, stepped out of bed (after pulling the mosquito net out), and hit a wall... i was so confused.. i had gotten out on the wrong side of my bed. But really, I hope you all are enjoying the summer. I hope you are hiking and camping and cookout-ing, and beach-ing. I would love to hear from you all. Letters are really slow. The ones ive received were postmarked 3 weeks before I received it. I’ve written some too and unfortunately, there is no post office in my town, so I wait until the weekends to mail them (although I couldn’t mail any last weekend, because I went on Sunday and forgot they close on Sunday). But, communication, in all forms, should improve once I am at post, which will be August5 - or 6 i think? Well, I’m going to save this on my USB, and hopefully be able to get to an internet café and connect and upload this blog post this weekend. Internet is such an ordeal…it took me 40-ish minutes to figure out how to read and send gmail last time. LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! and I MISS YOU ALL SOOO MUCH!!!!!!!
p.s. happy fourth of july!
So, I am in Togo now! I have been here for awhile, but internet is hard to come by. Hence, the infrequency of these blog updates. Right now I am in a small town without electricity or potable water. I live with a wonderful host family, made up of a host mom, many brothers and a few sisters…and some babies, who are all super cute. Actually, Rolande, the youngest, just started to walk for the first time about a week ago! She walks sideways, like a crab..haha. Alex, who’s about three, is a little trouble maker, and has recently discovered that I can pick him up spin him around. I think I got him in trouble with his mom the other day because he was so dizzy from spinning, that he fell in the sand and got everything dirty. I’m closest with my brother Eugene, and when I’m not at class or playing with my the toddlers of the fam, I’m usually hanging out with Eugene playing cards or talking (aka: trying to speak French). EWWW…. I just looked beside me and there is one of those super big cockroaches! p.s. im in bed now, but luckily the cockroach is outside my mosquito net. AND, speaking of bugs, there is was a super huge spider in my room last night. I happened to notice it when I turned on my headlamp. And, I tried to kill it, but it jumped (yes…jumped) away and into this crevice in the wall really high where I couldn’t reach or see….so there is a giant spider in my room somewhere…. I just make sure my mosquito net is tucked in allll the time. I don’t mind the bugs…. I just don’t like the thought of them crawling on me while im sleeping. I'm still a little paranoid right now because we just had a 3 hour lecture about all the different "stings and bites" we may possibly/probably encounter here, in Togo. This included the fly that can grow inside your skin and eventually burst through and fly away. That's the one I want least. Although, actually, as long as it doesn't do any real damage to you (which apparently it doesn't), and as long as you can get over the gross-factor (which I think I can), it would be ok. So, I wont freak out if I get it, but my goal is to prevent it (aka be wary of damp clothes....hhahaah thats a joke.. everything is damp here). So, if I get it I'll let you know!
Ok, sorry for the tangent about bugs. I think in this blog post I’ll talk about (1) lifestyle changes that I’ve noticed, (2) my post!!! (3) people I’ve met and (4) recent things...some sad news and some happy news and (4) how much I miss all of you.
So, regarding living. Well, it is very hot here. The heat and humidity is just something I get used to. It is like DC in the summer all the time (without AC). I am constantly sweating when I move and when there is no wind, but that is something I’ve gotten used to already. However, because of this, I had heat rash for a steady 3 weeks my torso and I get some type or fungal growth where my elbow bends (which a good chunk of athletes foot medicine seems to take care of). Also, because there's no electricity or plumbing, we get water from a well, I use a latrine, take cold bucket showers (which feel AMAZING after running in the morning), sterilize all water, use a kerosene lamp….. its basically like car-camping. On a normal day, I wake up, go to the latrine (after making sure there are no giant cockroaches close enough to touch my butt), go running with one or two other peace corps (PC) ppl, take a bucket shower, eat breakfast (coffee and bread…or if my host mom is in a great mood homemade banana donuts!!!!...and my host mom just got hot chocolate mix from ghana!!!) and then go to class (French, nutrition, safety, culture, peace corps policy, hiv/aids, reproductive health, malaria,……). The "going" to class is an experience in and of itself; I say bye to everyone at home, the toddlers high-five me, then say bonjour to everyone i meet on the way to class (like 30ish ppl). I come home for lunch, (rice and beans or tomato spicy sauce or fried plantains or fufu or pate rouge or fish; I’ve been taking pics of the different foods, and whenever I can I will post them to facebook or here) and then go back to class, then come home for dinner and hang out with my family, usually playing cards. I am in bed by 9 (though I read or journal or do homework for awhile afterwards) and wake up at 5 (its impossible to sleep in till 6….). Also, whenever I go anywhere, I say Bonjour to EVERYONE. Haha.. if you don’t they think something is wrong. So, I pretend that I am belle from beauty and the beast and say Bonjour Bonjour Bonjour Bonjour Bonjour (like in the first song in the movie….). Some other random life things: there are bugs everywhere, there are animals everywhere, when it rains it pours all of a sudden, a lizard fell on my friend (really funny), the town is always alive; its never quiet, i went to the "dancing church" (they sing...so amazingly...and dance! all the women dance in front of everyone and then the men, and then the little kids!), the stars are super bright, funerals last allllll night (the whole town can hear the singing of a funeral allllll night), I saw (and pet) a hedgehog!, you know who's winning the soccer match by the noise that comes from the far far bar, my friend had a green mamba in his bedroom during first week (thats actually an uncommon thing here, so no worries...apparently all the neighbors ran over and machete'd it and continued to hit the snake body with a rock-thing for awhile after it was dead.), everyone laughs (i think a lot of times at me and my cultural faux pas..haha).
So, my post!!!!!!! OK, first I will explain a little about the timeline for Peace Corps. First, 29 of us-encompassing the business (SED) and health (CHAP) volunteers, went to Togo. We stayed for about a week in Lome, the capital, where we had shots, basic health info, and super basic language. Then, all the CHAP ppl went to a small village to live with host families and the SED ppl went to a big town to live with host families. In these towns, we attend classes and get trained-culturally and technically, for nine weeks. Then, we each move to a separate village or city where we will spend the next two years working. Every village/city has different needs and has requested a PCV for certain reasons. So, your “post” placement depends on interviews and your background: technical, language, religion, health……lots of things. But, they basically try to match the village/ville’s needs with your abilities. So, for awhile we were held in suspense, waiting to find out our posts. And we did! And mine is a city in the Kara region, which I’m super excited about. Since it’s a city, it’s a site for AIDS/HIV goings-on and since its in the north, they have crazy dry seasons, so that food is an issue…. So basically, it can potentially combine both HIV/AIDS and nutrition work, which is exactly what I wanted. Also a plus, is that I get to work with a hospital and a doctor! (both of which are pretty rare in togo), There is an up-and-coming AIDS/HIV group, a couple schools, a midwife who is the head midwife for the whole region (so….projects with reproductive health) and I think also has a moringa plantation-thing… and just a ton of other things. Oh, and a Red Cross that has requested some PCV help. It sounds like a dream come true. I can have so much to do! Also, I am close to a good number of other PCVs, including both Travis and Lizzie, both of whom i spent the last month with. Also, apparently there is a GEE (girls education and empowerment) PCV right in Kante too…and some NRM (natural resource management) PCVS nearby too, which means: (1) instant friends and (2) collaborating on projects! So, that’s my post! I am super excited, if you couldn’t tell already. In about a week, I'll be doing "post visit" (a week living at post), so I'm super excited about that.
Anyway, next on the list: people! So, like I mentioned above, there were 29 of us who came to Togo together. Since then, we’ve split into SED (business) and CHAP (health…community health and hiv aids prevention). So, there are 16 CHAP-ers, 8 girls, 8 boys (a first, usually CHAP-ers are women), and we’ve been spending the greater portion of every waking hour together since we’ve been here, which is pretty cool, because it feels like I’ve known them for years. We all have gone through good days and bad ones…. Actually, for most of us, its like good hours and bad hours. Peace Corps really is like an emotional roller coaster, and I knew I was getting on that ride, but still, some hours are harder than others. Most of the hard parts just stem from language frustrations and sometimes feeling unsure/unstable in this different culture. Its so important, at least for me, to maintain a broad perspective and just laugh at myself a lot. Anyway, the other volunteers are a super support network. We are all from such different backgrounds too…from all over the US and with travels all over the world. It will be a little sad when we go to post, because some volunteers will be like a 10hour bush taxi drive away from me. Oh well. Such is life. A couple volunteers were interested in doing the Ghana marathon with me next year! I’m super excited. I didn’t realize that running was “ok” here, and was all set to give it up, but now that I know its do-able, I’m going to start training for the Ghana marathon! (p.s. about Ghana. Apparaently, Ghana is the land of plenty… and I believe it! They have sushi and shopping malls and movie theaters and milkshakes…and they speak English..its just like America! Some PCVs went on vaca there and when they crossed back into togo, the border ppl were so confused as to why they chose to live in togo,, instead of Ghana. Look…even my auto spell check recognizes that Ghana deserves a capital letter, but has forgotten togo. Poor togo. I still love you! Togo!!! There’s your capital letter!)
So, regarding recent news: I mentioned there was both good news :) and bad news :(. We'll do good news first. My french has been coming along marvelously, which I am super excited about. Although, there is still so much work to be done. Some days feel like I'm swimming upstream in terms of french, but, today I had a bit of a pat on the back. I had to give a presentation-all in french- about my background, my post, what the PC is, what type of work I am hoping to do...that kind of stuff. And it went really well! I was super nervous, but the trainers were so proud of us. Afterwards, we went to celebrate at the "far far bar" (the bar that's farther away that the bar that's far away) and on the way we saw a hedgehog, which just made my good day even better. And, I started to learn another language called Lamba....which is a super cool language...im really excited about it. Its a little difficult because there are new characters and sounds that I've never used before...but it sounds so fascinating. I wish i was fluent. Alafia! So yea, that's the good news. Now the bad news. (wow....so weird, right when I typed that, the sound of rain on my roof just increased exponentially; at least I wont hear any potential sounds that potential cockroaches are making in my room). So, Lisa broke her leg...really badly. Less than a week ago, we were playing soccer, and she got hit and fell and was in a ton of pain. Luckily, the van was nearby and she went to the city (where they have ice) and was able to RICE (rest,ice,compression,elevation-thats for you caity!...although she didnt do the C bc it hurt her too much), until she could get to Lome. She's back in the US now and we miss her a lot! Hopefully she will come back in 4-6 months when she is all better! Then, just yesterday Martin left. His father..in the US..passed away suddenly. A group of us were sitting together, talking, when we heard the news. We were all shocked...and sad. All of us are away from home now, and that is probably our greatest fear.... And knowing that it happened to one of us, just shook us all. We miss Martin, and hope he can come back soon. Our group is close, and we're here to support him. A lot of people tried to call home afterwards. We all missed our fathers.. and families.. suddenly.
And, now for the final thing! I miss you all! So much! I swear, I dream of home ..Cashtown home and Rockville home.. and you guys almost every night. Although some of my dreams are SUPER weird…the malaria medicine that I’m taking has weird dream side effects. It’s funny talking to the other PCVs about dreams. One girl had a dream that we had been here for 4 years and hadn’t eaten chocolate for 4 years, and Andy exposed the fact that I was really made out of chocolate, so everyone was fighting over who got to eat my pinky first. Hahah… that’s a mefloquine dream for you. And a few nights ago, I somehow got completely flipped and disorientated in my bed and when I went to get out in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, stepped out of bed (after pulling the mosquito net out), and hit a wall... i was so confused.. i had gotten out on the wrong side of my bed. But really, I hope you all are enjoying the summer. I hope you are hiking and camping and cookout-ing, and beach-ing. I would love to hear from you all. Letters are really slow. The ones ive received were postmarked 3 weeks before I received it. I’ve written some too and unfortunately, there is no post office in my town, so I wait until the weekends to mail them (although I couldn’t mail any last weekend, because I went on Sunday and forgot they close on Sunday). But, communication, in all forms, should improve once I am at post, which will be August5 - or 6 i think? Well, I’m going to save this on my USB, and hopefully be able to get to an internet café and connect and upload this blog post this weekend. Internet is such an ordeal…it took me 40-ish minutes to figure out how to read and send gmail last time. LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! and I MISS YOU ALL SOOO MUCH!!!!!!!
p.s. happy fourth of july!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Jump off the plane!
With just one month left to go before Staging, I'm beginning to feel those hits of nervousness a little more often. But, they are still surrounded by mountains of excitement! I have a huge list of things to do; Though, most of the important things like prescriptions and student loans are well underway, so I think I have little to worry about. I just need to remember that everything I need is in Togo! (its ok if i forget anything.. i can just be creative or figure out how to get it there) I just need to go to Togo! (haha..i still crack up everytime i say "to go to Togo").
I am so excited, happy, and relieved. Ever since I found out about the peace corps, I've wanted to go and now it is finally happening! And beyond that, it seems like I have the exact position that I was hoping for! I'll be working for Community Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention (CHAP) program, which works a lot with education in terms of (obviously) health and HIV/AIDS, and (not-so-obviously) nutrition (yay!), diarrheal disease, malaria, and possibly this most interesting parasite called the guinea worm. My official title is "Public Health and HIV/AIDS Education Technical Advisor" (i thought it was a super long title too..haha) Of course, so I hear, this description is very vague and my position will be whatever I make of it. So, right now, I'm straddling this uncomfortable fence; I want to have expectations, but at the same time don't. I instinctively want to prepare myself so that I can know whatever I need to know to be most beneficial and easily adaptable and fit into the community.. haha which sounds funny saying because there is no way i am going to fit into the community; I'm white, blond hair, blue eyes, freckles. But regardless, I want to "culturally" fit in, make friends, etc.. it will be an interesting experience :)
I'm excited to be in a completely new life; it's that thrill-type of excitement, almost the feeling I had jumping out of an airplane..now who wouldn't love that?! Of course I'm going to miss everyone sooo much, and the only reason why I hesitated in my response to the Peace Corps invitation was for that reason. But, that's what this blog is for! and the many letters that I plan to write (and receive...cough cough..that's where you come in).
so, i suppose I will make a list, since I am a list-maker, and this is the list:
things I'm nervous about: not knowing french well and being unable to learn french fast enough, not being "good" enough, like in terms of my job there, not knowing enough or not knowing how to do things, not being what my community wants me to be... also, I'm not necessarily *nervous* about missing my fam/friends, but i am nervous that the specific feeling of missing them will make me do something irrational, like go home.
things I'm super excited for: the unexpected, all these new things (bucket showers, learning languages, learning what Togolese care about, learning what they think of health, what normal life is for them, learning what they think of Americans), starting fun activities (i talked to a peace corps person who started a yoga class in her town that continued even after she left...and a PC person organized a marathon...which seems like it might be a little hot to do in Togo...), meeting other Americans who are crazy enough who want to go to Togo (haha), working with other ppl in Togo, meeting Togolese ppl, meeting ppl in general, overcoming super challenges (like superantigens!..sorry.. science humor)
So, anyway, this is my first blog post ever; I hope it was entertaining. Actually, not really, I am just procrastinating on the last immunology final paper that I need to write and watching the office. I had a long day at work, a long day after work doing peace corps things, and the immunology paper is just looming over my head. I am just ready to go... I feel like I am running through mud (haha...I actually just had a race through the mud) trying to finish everything before I go. It is funny to think of myself in Togo. I am sure, if I read this blog entry in Togo, the whole immunology/the office situation will seem so surreal to me (oh, I will miss the office...and immunology).
So, here it goes! Let's jump off this plane! Off to Togo!!
I am so excited, happy, and relieved. Ever since I found out about the peace corps, I've wanted to go and now it is finally happening! And beyond that, it seems like I have the exact position that I was hoping for! I'll be working for Community Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention (CHAP) program, which works a lot with education in terms of (obviously) health and HIV/AIDS, and (not-so-obviously) nutrition (yay!), diarrheal disease, malaria, and possibly this most interesting parasite called the guinea worm. My official title is "Public Health and HIV/AIDS Education Technical Advisor" (i thought it was a super long title too..haha) Of course, so I hear, this description is very vague and my position will be whatever I make of it. So, right now, I'm straddling this uncomfortable fence; I want to have expectations, but at the same time don't. I instinctively want to prepare myself so that I can know whatever I need to know to be most beneficial and easily adaptable and fit into the community.. haha which sounds funny saying because there is no way i am going to fit into the community; I'm white, blond hair, blue eyes, freckles. But regardless, I want to "culturally" fit in, make friends, etc.. it will be an interesting experience :)
I'm excited to be in a completely new life; it's that thrill-type of excitement, almost the feeling I had jumping out of an airplane..now who wouldn't love that?! Of course I'm going to miss everyone sooo much, and the only reason why I hesitated in my response to the Peace Corps invitation was for that reason. But, that's what this blog is for! and the many letters that I plan to write (and receive...cough cough..that's where you come in).
so, i suppose I will make a list, since I am a list-maker, and this is the list:
things I'm nervous about: not knowing french well and being unable to learn french fast enough, not being "good" enough, like in terms of my job there, not knowing enough or not knowing how to do things, not being what my community wants me to be... also, I'm not necessarily *nervous* about missing my fam/friends, but i am nervous that the specific feeling of missing them will make me do something irrational, like go home.
things I'm super excited for: the unexpected, all these new things (bucket showers, learning languages, learning what Togolese care about, learning what they think of health, what normal life is for them, learning what they think of Americans), starting fun activities (i talked to a peace corps person who started a yoga class in her town that continued even after she left...and a PC person organized a marathon...which seems like it might be a little hot to do in Togo...), meeting other Americans who are crazy enough who want to go to Togo (haha), working with other ppl in Togo, meeting Togolese ppl, meeting ppl in general, overcoming super challenges (like superantigens!..sorry.. science humor)
So, anyway, this is my first blog post ever; I hope it was entertaining. Actually, not really, I am just procrastinating on the last immunology final paper that I need to write and watching the office. I had a long day at work, a long day after work doing peace corps things, and the immunology paper is just looming over my head. I am just ready to go... I feel like I am running through mud (haha...I actually just had a race through the mud) trying to finish everything before I go. It is funny to think of myself in Togo. I am sure, if I read this blog entry in Togo, the whole immunology/the office situation will seem so surreal to me (oh, I will miss the office...and immunology).
So, here it goes! Let's jump off this plane! Off to Togo!!
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