J'ai appris beaucoup.

J'ai appris beaucoup = I learned a lot.

I have this list of things in my journal that I learned while in Togo that I'm scared I am going to forget with time in America. I thought I'd share a couple:

1) Be grateful for the rain - every time it rains & especially when people complain about the rainy weather, I am hoping the universe might let some raindrops fall in Togo so that my host family and friends will have a good enough yam harvest to be able to eat at least one (but hopefully two) meals a day. I also know how unbearably hot it gets when it doesn't rain for months on end, so my hair getting wet or having to wear a jacket/gloves isn't that difficult for me.

2) Enjoy Chicago public transportation - yes, sometimes it is frustrating when the train stops unexpectedly or there is nowhere to sit... but at least it is a fixed price (no need to barter or have to pay extra for being white), a goat will definitely not be sitting on my lap, I will not get any marriage proposals from strangers and it will never again take me over two hours to get only 40 kilometers.

In other news, I saw snow this week for the first time I've seen snow since 2009. 
Snow and rollercoasters were probably the top two most difficult things to explain (in French) to my Togolese friends who had never seen/heard of either.

#deardiary #ramble #grateful #culture #amurika

^ Togolese photographers are the best for several reasons: they print their photos on these awesome flowery designs, they capture pictures when nobody knows they're there, and they give them as thank you gifts. #oxfordcomma    *   This is me "dancing" at the celebration of the very generous donation of Rotary Club (Chicago, Fort Wayne + Lomé Lumières) of almost 1,000 school textbooks for three schools in my area.

For those of you I am not friends with on Facebook here are public photos of my second year in Togo: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2120025437311.2111382.1146030016&type=1&l=854ec7911b


Happy holidays & bonne année! (happy new year!)