Hello, legions of devoted fans! A lot has happened in the past two months. I kicked off 2011 by going to Privilege, a nightclub in Lome. This was not only my first time going to a club in Togo, but my first time ever going to a club. It did not disappoint. While the half hour dance contest, set to the same 30-second clip of Sean Paul’s “Temperature” played 100 times in a row, was less then thrilling, the 200 person ensemble dance that followed more than compensated. Imagine the Electric Slide, but happening in a Togolese club at four in the morning.
The biggest development by far was that I moved to a new village. The village I was in before was a great place, but the road leading to it is in really bad shape, and it was going to get worse once the rainy season started. Everyone in village was really understanding about the move and made me feel a whole lot better about it. Work on the road is scheduled to begin at some point this year, and Peace Corps is still really optimistic about working in the region, so the hope is that after a couple of years and one new road we can make a triumphant return to the region.
In the meantime, my new village is fantastic. Despite moving seven hours away from my first spot, I’m still speaking Kotokoli just like before. Local language is tough; I’m more than a little relieved that I don’t have to start all over again learning the seemingly hundreds of ways you can greet someone depending on if it’s morning, it’s hot out, or if they just came back from getting water. (Na buwa!) My new homologue is an awesome guy. I ate incredible fufu at his house for my first week in village. The breakfast you can buy on the street (literally the only street) is really good too. Rice and beans with spaghetti is the mainstay, but I usually go with beans and garee, which is basically bread crumbs made of cassava, or one of the many fried balls available here. There are sweet fried balls and spicy bean balls; the bean balls taste like chicken fingers. The village is right up against the mountains that separate the Centrale region from the Kara region. It’s pretty small, with two neighborhoods, each with an elementary school. The first volunteer here set a really high standard by getting a middle school built. Show off.
As far as work goes, I’ve been giving people a little advice here and there on why they should clean their turkeys’ living area and other things like that. Goats and sheep are the bane of my existence; they roam freely here, destroying anything green the moment it sprouts. I am not sure if advocating that all animals be put to death is in line with my project goals though.
We’re also entering the hot season here. It was 95 inside my house yesterday, and it’s just going to get hotter. On the plus side, if it’s colder than 75 degrees I can rest comfortably wearing a cashmere sweater and jeans. I’m not quite at the level where I can wear a knit beanie and gloves on chilly, 70 degree mornings, but I’m getting there, petit a petit.
