After several attempts to get online...

I am alive, but Facebook security will not let me log in...

I have been journaling like crazy and typing some stuff on my flashdrive once a week but there isn’t a reliable internet connection in this town.  I’m in Tsevie which is close distance-wise from Lome but takes about an hour or so.

I let the other trainees (stagaiares in French; pronounced stah jare) chop off all my hair while we were in Lome (the capital) for those first few days. The next morning I went and got it buzzed off at a barber. It was a nice ease in. We stayed at a hotel called Galion and I had internet connection every night. Before I knew it, I was in a van on the way to Tsevie (Chev-ee-ay) for our welcome ceremony and to meet my mama.

As I walked in to the ceremony under a giant hut-like tent-y thing, there were a bunch of Togolese people dancing and singing to welcome us. It was literally one of the most overwhelming experiences of my life. I never cried happy tears until this day.  As I was trying to stop the water flowing from my eyes as I had this large cheesy smile on my face, I stood up and introduced myself to the crowd for my family to “claim me”. I said “J’mapelle Jessica” and my mama popped up so fast, ran towards me and kissed me so much she basically licked my face.  Everyone was laughing and my mama, “Big Mama”, was the life of the party.  She danced and shouted during the songs.  A few of us thought she was the chief’s wife because she seemed really important.  Nope, she’s just loud. She held me close the whole time and everyone got a kick out of it.  We’re a perfect match.  If you’ve heard my Lil Jon, you know what I mean.

What else? Hmm… In order to receive packages I have to pay 1000 CFA ahead of time.  I left 7000 CFA at the office so I can get 7 packages.  Make them good… hah, but really, there’s absolutely nothing I want or need right now (except for a lifetime supply of toilet paper, which I get here for cheap)

I got my medical kit. I got a phone. Call me via Skype, noblecom.com or whatever international phone thing you can get.  It costs me big bucks to make calls, but it is like 20 something cents a minute for you to call me.  It’s free for me to check voicemail so I’d love for any random messages.  My days are freaking long.  My number is 011-228-991-9023.  I’m 5 hours ahead of Chicago.  I’m out of bed around 6am but awake around 5ish (12-1am Chicago) and go to bed around 20:00 here (3pm Chicago)

Oh, it is definitely worth noting that I put on the movie Date Night on the flight from Paris to Togo and fell asleep right away.  It was my last American attachment but I had no energy for it.  Dang.

The food. It is an experience.  I haven’t tried fou-fou yet, but the cous-cous is alright.  I’m mostly having “eggs”, onions and tomatoes for breakfast, some sort of rice, chicken with a sauce-y thing for lunch, and “noodles” or something for dinner with a bunch of veggies.  I’m also served a banana and like 3 oranges and pineapple with every meal.  My mama thinks I hate the food, but I’m just so full and it is SO HOT. One of the few French phrases I use a lot is “Je suis rasasie” (sp?) meaning I’m full.  Jah swee rah sahz ee ay!! I’m pretty sure my mama called me a liar a few times.

There’s so much to say but it is so hard to put into words.  I’m learning French quickly and going to class all day long.  A typical day is class from 7:30-9:30, break, class 10:00-12:00, lunch, class 2:30-5 or 6.  I have French every day, bike classes and technical classes about girls’ education.  I’ve learned so much about a bike already.  I can unhook the brakes, change a flat tire, remove a whole tire and probably something else.  Our toolkit is intense.

Our tech house/salle tech/where we have our sessions

There are lots of cultural things to note.  One we were told early on is “what are you doing at night that you can’t do during the day?” which means I better get my ass home before it is dark out or my family will be out looking for me (experienced this the first night)

After school or going to the market (marche, pronounced mar-shay) we go to a bar. I’ve tried some local alcohol (chuk (sp?), sodabe (sp?) and some beers like Castel, but mostly just vin rouge- red wine)  It is 800 CFA for a litre of boxed wine and it tastes just like Franzia; I’m still as classy as ever.

What else do you want to know?  I have a book of quotes already going which includes “You have permission now to play with your poo” – Lyn, the PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) and “Every fart’s a gamble” – the stage trainers in Philly.

My French teacher, Rolande, is so pretty and hilarious.  Every time I use some form of Spanish instead of French she makes me do the Togo version of the chicken dance or tells me I owe her a Guinness.

The PC bureau in Lome looks like the Dharma Initiative on the island in Lost.

Some man wiped out on his moto (motorcycle) because he was watching all of us white people ride our bikes.

The kids sing the Yovo song just about every time I walk past them.  Yovo means white person.  It goes something like “Yovo, yovo, bon sois, ca va, merci” which is just like the only words I know in French.  It’s annoying because it’s so repetitive and even when I tell them that my name is Jessica and not Yovo, they don’t quite understand.  A lot of the kids also don’t speak French, but their local language- mostly Ewe (pronounced Ev-ay) here.

I was taught how to do my laundry, I’m sure I’ll be sharing details/bitching about that process soon enough.

I got my post today for the next two years. I’ll be in Kpategan. It’s a small village in the Plateaux region. I have some details but I really have no idea what to expect. It is a new post. They want a PC volunteer so bad they built a house especially for me.  It is 1 bedroom/1 main room.  I haven’t seen it yet. I’ll have to travel to get some water from a well outside my compound but current volunteers told me I can find a girl in town who needs help paying for her schooling and pay her to get my water for me.  There are a couple kids there who have gone to the Peace Corps national summer camps here that I can continue to work with.  I’ll probably be doing some MAP training (Men As Partners) and just overall promoting girls to go to/stay in school.  There is a SED volunteer like 12 or 13 kilometers away who is doing some current work that I’m excited to collaborate with.  (SED = Small Enterprise Development…. I think)

Alright, enough rambling.  It’s time for me to pour freezing water over my head and climb into my mosquito net (I LOVE it, seriously) because I have to wake up extra early.  I’m going to observe another classroom tomorrow morning at 6am.