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Sunday, August 15, 2010

One week down...103 to go!

Hello again and welcome back! I have been living at my beach post for a whole week, and let me tell you that life is a little bit different than it used to be.


The wall of children welcome you, too

To get my laptop more acclimated to the environment, I dropped it face down in the sand. The keyboard is just like a Togolese Cyber Cafe keyboard now, meaning it is no longer working as expected.

I am now in a good routine in the mornings. I wake up and immediately pull water from the well for a shower, the kitchen and my toilet. This makes sure that my day can zoom right along uninterrupted. I tend to spill my well water, so I like to get all that out of the way right off the bat. I then shower, sweep my house and do laundry or dishes if need be. I then check my email (cloud cover permitting...cellular Internet is a bit finicky sometimes) and write responses, then finish my previous day's journal entry.

By this time I need a nap, but I push forward with the drive and ambition of a Peace Corps Volunteer and begin to make something to eat. It still amazes me how long simple tasks take here. Back in the USA I would have all this slapped out in an hour, but here it takes me three or more.

The afternoon always has a bike ride along the beach and tasks with my counterpart. I try to talk to people whereever I go so they will get used to me being around. As night falls I have dinner in town at a little restaurant and buy my bread and fruit for the next day. Eating out is an interesting experience. Generally you can get a plentiful pasta or rice dish with a big drink (be it beer or soda) for $2. That's affordable!

I generally go to bed at a very reasonable hour. Not having a TV, radio or refrigerator really changes your routines, but I have no complaints. The people are generally very nice, the food is good, I have the things I need and life is continuing on.

A quick shout-out to all the Volunteers who left this month. Congrats on your service completion and enjoy the crazy variety of things available back home. Don't forget us back here in Togo. You wanted packages, so do we. : )

A note about packages: Please see the updated request list to the right.

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