An important conversation between Tig, Ashley and myself delayed my departure for Avassikpe this morning. The conversation helped me to understand a little better where they are coming from as they tackle the Peace Corps Togo experience. As I thought about my happiness in contrast to their ups and downs, I realized that although we are all here in this experience together, we have very different backgrounds and goals for the future. Tig left a life that she was settled in to come here and she misses her friends, her family, her independence, her mobility and being in a place where she feels comfortable. Ashley left behind a serious relationship that she is working hard to maintain.
I feel as though it is easier for me to be happy here because I am at a completely different moment in my life than Tig (she is 33 and a veterinarian who after working for a few years realized that being a vet doesn’t make her happy. She then started working at a bakery – a job she loved and left to come here. She had a car, and apartment, a life. I admire her a lot and find it a very courageous leap to leave everything and join the Peace Corps at that point in life’s journey). To be perfectly honest, Peace Corps was, to a certain extent, the easy out for me. I just finished college and I am terrified of trying to get a job and entering the “Real World.” Peace Corps provides me with a way of postponing that inevitable reality. That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to be here, I do, more than almost anywhere else, but it does mean that I didn’t sacrifice as much as they did to come here. Sure, I would love to be in Uruguay hanging out with Jorge and I miss him like crazy. I ache with missing him, but realistically, if I weren’t here, I wouldn’t be in Uruguay either because I would have no means of supporting myself there. That leaves the alternative of most likely a mundane job in the United States that I wouldn’t find very stimulating. I didn’t give up anything to come here except high-speed internet (and the ability to communicate with Jorge frequently and easily – don’t get me wrong, that is hard, but not compared to what they feel they have “left behind”) and frequent contact with my family.
Another difference between us is that I know that the Peace Corps will further my career and I am content to let it be a step in the process and not an end in and of itself. That does not mean that I am not going to put all my effort towards making a difference, but it does mean that I won’t beat myself up because of failed projects, especially if I am able to learn something from those attempts and failures that will serve me in the future. Even though I don’t know exactly what I want to do career wise, I know that it will be in the international arena and therefore Peace Corps will be a gold star on my resume. Ashley is a Masters International student at Tulane and so her Peace Corps experience is also directly related to her career goals, but I feel that Tig’s reasons for being here or idea of what she will ultimately get out of the experience are a little more vague or difficult to pinpoint and I think you need to know what you’re getting out of this experience to stick it out – it isn’t all altruism.
I also think that I had more realistic expectations coming into the experience and therefore have not been quite as disappointed or unsatisfied with Peace Corps thus far. I read a lot of Peace Corps Togo blogs before coming here and Dad gave me a healthy dose of “it is not going to be easy.” I also think the application of the advice someone gave me before I went to Bolivia – “try not to have expectations” helped here as well. I think Tig and Ashley expected to come and start getting things done right away and so this period of adjustment is more taxing on their psyches.
The fact that I have little science and health background, allowed me to feel as though I learned something during training whereas both Ashley and Tig are highly health/science educated and flet that training was essentially a waste of time except for the friendships formed.
I have also been better prepared, over the course of my life, for this experience. The fact that a chunk of my childhood took place in Niger allows me to identify pieces of Togo that have a place in my memory and make me feel more at home. My French skills coming in were more developed than theirs, which makes it easier (although it doesn’t help me too much in Avassikpe). My experience in Bolivia gave me a good idea of what it is like to be thrown into a culture and language that are unfamiliar (a sense of humor and ability to laugh at oneself is key) and anthropology helps me to find all Togo’s idiosyncrasies interesting rather than annoying. I am also right now living the fulfillment of a dream I have had for years.
Finally, I am very happy with my village and my homologue. Neither Ashley nor Tig are as happy with their placement. Ashely is in Notse – a big, dirty, commercial city, with a fou – when she had hoped and imagined herself in a village. Tig is in a tiny village that is quite inaccessible with a somewhat deadbeat homologue.
When she requested that post, she was led to believe that she would be working with orphans, but there are no orphans to be found, just an NGO in the middle of nowhere that funds orphans elsewhere. At one point during the selection process, her post was my number one choice and I can’t help but wonder and doubt that I would have been as happy there as I am in Avassikpe.
All the discussion just helps me to better understand where they are coming from and hopefully they also understand better that my happiness is not necessarily something that I have created and that they should or even can imitate. I don’t want them to feel that they should judge themselves against the standard of my happiness here because we are all coming from very different places and experiences. I think to a certain extent I have to accept and certainly not judge their unhappiness at the same time that I have to accept that perhaps I can’t help them to be happy here (in any other way than offering friendship and support). On the other hand, I hope they can accept and not fee threatened or uncomfortable with my happiness.
I think that both of them are going to give the Peace Corps a year and if they are still unhappy and feeling unfulfilled at that point then perhaps they will leave. I think a year is a long-enough trial period, but I can’t help but wonder if we might not just then be getting to the productive and most rewarding part of our service; but I guess you cannot ask someone to be unhappy for two years . . .
My ride to Avassikpe (I left around 10:00) was much more pleasant than last week as my load was much lighter. I arrived without incident, said hello to Lili and came home, unpacked, took a shower and ate lunch. I made myself a guacamole sandwich for lunch and it was yummy. I like guacamole (avocado, onion, garlic, salt, lime juice, piment and chopped tomato), but I can’t stand plain avocado.
I am just noticing that I got a bit burned on my bike-ride. I guess sunscreen would have been in order.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I talked with my APCD – Good and bad news. The bad first: I have to stay in my village during StandFast (from the 8th until the 22 of October). That will be a little scary (food-wise), but hopefully the elections will go smoothly and StandFast will get cut short. The good: my APCD said that I could do whatever I thought best with my paillote and then get reimbursed by Peace Corps for it so I think I will start working on getting a big round one made.
I went to the dispensaire. Lili was working in the field behind the dispensaire with the two little girls that live with her. At least one day this week I want tot help – they were hoeing the field. They have beans and ignams and corn and peanuts. Tomorrow I think they will fertilize the corn – she said they would put something that will make it grow faster and on Wednesday she will weed again. Then Lili washed her clothes, all the while a woman and her daughter were waiting to be attended to. They didn’t seem to mind waiting, though, I guess they are used to waiting. The girl had an open sore on her ankle and it was all swollen. I heard the word tetanus thrown around. After Lili finished with her laundry, she cleaned out the wound. She works really hard . . .
I also saw one of the two little girls that live with Lili with a big insect in her hand. When I asked what she was going to do with it, she said eat it. Yucky. I wonder if they were joking, but I don’t think so.
9/12/07
I woke up this morning already feeling exhausted from my dreams.
Tsevi did not come by – it is 8:45. I will go to the dispensaire soon. I am feeling a little queasy because I made oatmeal wit ha too rotten banana and I had to eat it all because I couldn’t throw it away and didn’t really feel comfortable giving it away. . .
There are a million zillion mosquitoes in my latrine all fo a sudden. I wonder why. I hope my idea for burning mosquito coils in there (once I get my hands on some) works because otherewise I don’t know what I am going to do. Going to the bathroom while trying to evade swarms of mosquitoes is rather challenging.
I don’t feel like eating beans today and yet I have already boiled the lentils once. Hmm. I guess I will just suck it up.
It is really hot out today and at 3:00 I am supposed to help weed Lili’s field. Yikes.
Today I sat through several prenatal consultations. Sometimes the husband accompanies the wife, sometimes two women come together and sometimes the woman comes alone.
Next week or the week after, I will start doing coseries (informative talks) with the moms every Wednesday. We will do the same topic for a month and then change because the women are supposed to come at monthly intervals. Lili will translate of course, but perhaps after hearing it enough in Ewe I will be able to do it in Ewe. Maybe that is wishful thinking. Maybe I will audio record it and then practice it.
I also met the ASC of one of the nearby villages. The ASCs have the new malaria tests (which apparently don’t work for children under 5 years of age) and they administer them for a small fee – 100 cFA I think, and if the results are positive they sell the patient Coartem. But if the patient has a fever of above 38 degrees Celsius, Lili says that the person is evacuated.
I learned that since market day has changed from Friday to Thursday, Lili is worried about the vaccination/baby-weighing turnout because the only reason people came was that they were already in town for the market. Apparently, women don’t understand the importance of baby-weighing in and of itself. Before at baby-weighings, people handed out food, so now, when they realize that there aren’t any material hand-outs, they stop coming. Hmm. We are going to have to do something about that. I wonder why baby weighing couldn’t rotate? Why couldn’t I go to them with the scale and have an ASC help weigh babies in each little village. Shouldn’t the scale be able to be hung from a tree?
I also learned that they recently had a case of yellow fever near by . . .
The mosquitoes have created an apartment complex in my latrine. Really, I don’t know what the deal is.
I weeded ignams wit ha hoe. The yare a tuber that is planted in big mounds of dirt and the plant is a vine – it twists around everything within reach, making weeding a little challenging at times. It was hard, sweaty work, but satisfying. I’m not sure how grea of a job I was doing, though, because the little girls would “clean-up” after me every once in a while. My weeding time was limited to an hour thanks to an impending thunderstorm. I cam home and took a shower in the rain. I don’t know how people work like that for a whole day, though, day after day, none-the-less. I guess that is why everyone is so buff. For an hour it wasn’t too bad, but who knows how much longer I could have kept up.
9/13/07
I am feeling a little nervous again. I really have no reason to be so nervous. I am supposed to be presented to my village this morning, but again I didn’t hear them gongonne. Perhaps I went to bed too early. I guess I will just get ready and wait for them to come get me if and when they want me. I feel a little silly sitting in my house all decked out in my nicest complet.
My back hurts this morning from hoeing. I wonder if a lot of people have back problems or if their muscles just adapt to bear the strain.
Every week we are supposed to receive the international Newsweek and I am going to try to read them all – every single page – every week. If I do that and I get my radio and it works, then I might end up being more informed on world events here than ever before. That would be ironic – at Middlebury with tons of resources at my fingertips, I was uniformed and here . . . it is a question of time, though. Maybe I can try to find a French news station and that way maybe I can work on improving my French a bit. There is also apparently a library in Notse, so maybe I can become a member and get French reading material that way. It would be easier that relying on a source in Lome. They might even have Ewe reading material . . . that would be cool. Anything other than the Bible would be great. Not that the Bible wouldn’t be good, I mean, even that would help me learn . . .
It is not almost 8:00. Tsevi stopped by . . . I guess I am being introduced to the village if people show up, but a lot of people have apparently gone to Notse for a funeral.
I can’t tell if my neighbor – the single mother next door, daughter of the chief, likes my complet or not, but she is talking about it and laughing.
So, no one showed except some elders, but I guess that is a first step. Apparently there are now two funerals going on so many people are not around. It wasn’t that big a deal, I just introduced myself and then the talked amongst themselves for about an hour about other issues. They said I could go, but I chose to sit there and just listen.
Then I went home and with my three ripe bananas I mad banana doughnut holes. They were actually pretty good.
I was going to take some to Tsevi and the rest to Lili, but Tsevi wasn’t home. I sat through a consultation for an infant with malaria in which I learned that it is a custom here that if a child’s mother dies during childbirth, the child is taken and left somewhere in the road or on a garbage pile. At first I was a little taken aback, but then they explained that all the relatives know when and where the child will be left and then one of them goes and retrieves it. It is just a way of conducting the “adoption” and in the process the spirits are fooled and won’t come after the child, or at least that is what I understood.
Lili liked my doughnut holes, except perhaps they had a little too much sugar. We checked on my moringa and all but a few have sprouted. Since I planted three seeds in each spot maybe we can transplant from the places where all three sprouted to the places where none at all sprouted.
I came home around 11:00, cleaned up a bit and made lunch, but didn’t eat (I had eaten too many doughnuts to be hungry). Instead I washed my laundry with the neighbor kids surrounding me. We were whistling – they are very quick at picking up tunes. Mostly I was whistling Christmas songs because those are what come to mind. After washing, I brought out the rest of the doughnuts for the kids.
Felicité (the two year old) crammed two into her mouth (big doughnut holes).
Now I am eating and writing (with little kids pounding at my door) and soon I am going to go to the market. At three I am going to go hoe again. Yay. I don’t think I can make a habit out of this, but hopefully I will have a garden behind my house and then I can work there.
I went to the market and bought bread for breakfast tomorrow and fired soy for lunch (Yay! Something other than beans!). A woman came up to me and said, what are you going to buy for me? My answer to those sort of requests (like, what did you bring me back from Notse?) is always “if I guy something for you, I have to buy something for everyone in the village and I can’t do that, so . . .” It usually works and we laugh off the awkwardness and walk away.
I saw Mana (Lili’s seamstress friend) at the Tchouk stand and we walked together to the dispensair. Lili wasn’t there, so we went to her house. We sat there for a while and then I wnet home. I thought we weren’t going to work in the field because it was already 3:30 and Lili’s girls were preparing fufu, so I showered and sorted beans for a while. Then I decided to go to the dispensaire and arrived just in time to attend a meeting with the COGES – Village Health Committee – to go over the books (money matters) for the month at the dispensair.
I didn’t understand much – it was all in Ewe, but Lili informed me that they are 15,000 cFA in debt for the month of August because people received treatment and didn’t pay. It seems, though, that she has started a new policy of not treating unless paid. Ideally you want to treat everyone, but the money has to come from somewhere . . .
I just had an interesting visit from the kid I blew off the other day. I was nervous at first, but he seemed pretty business-y. He is interested in starting a club to work for children’s rights and we talked about getting all kids to go to school and sensibilizing on the topic of child trafficking. I actually think it is a good idea and I hope he can get other young people involved. I think the idea is good and I will work on it myself at the school perhaps – this kid is in Notse most of the time for school. He also wanted to work on the treatment of children here (children are at the very bottom of the social hierarchy). We talked about how the social structure here is the inverse of that in the U.S. In the U.S. children are given the primary place of importance and old people are often overlooked. Here, old people are important and children can be overlooked. That is obviously a simplifying things a great deal, but it is interesting.
9/14/07
Good morning Love. Yesterday I meant to mention with respect to the Calendar of Love, that I am not in a Muslim area and so I probably won’t feel the effects of Ramadan at all.
I made myself French toast for breakfast. It is yummy. I just wish I had butter instead of margarine. Margarine is so chemically tasting and smelling, especially when it evaporates due to contact with heat.
I slept well last night for the first time in days except that I imagined our wedding – it was themed “The Little Mermaid” – it was the silliest thing ever and only my mom and brother showed up. Your mom showed up when it was all over. Every time the invisible DJ played the Little Mermaid song “You Want to Kiss the Girl,” we had to kiss. Maybe my Beauty and the Beast sheets are going to my head. The best part, though, was that I slept through the night without waking up to pee. Usually, I get up at least twice. It is all that pineapple, but I haven’t been eating as much pineapple as I would like to this week because for some reason my pineapples got ripe really quickly and fermented.
I am going to fill my water filter, do the dishes and study Ewe and then I am going to bike to some neighboring villages in hopes of finding the ASCs. Yeah right. Actually, I’m just going for the ride because they are probably in their fields.
I am tired out. Hopefully, though, if I sit down and write, the little kids standing at my door will go away. It is raining out. At the advice of Mana, I came home just in time to bring my clothes in off the line.
This morning I rode out and visited four villages. Unfortunately, I think I washed the paper that had the names on it =0( Hmm – I wanted to keep that paper. Anyway, Lili more or less pointed me in the right direction and told me to keep going straight and as I got to each village, to ask for the ASC (Agent de Sante Communautaire). Luckily, I asked her to write their names down because it was easier to ask for a person by name rather than by position. The first village was Kodjeviekope (sp?) and I didn’t really stop there because that is the village Mana and I walked to the other day. There is another village called Mesuokope (sp?) right next to it and they shar an ASC. A couple kilometers later comes Hake where a young man led me to the ASC.
I just introduced myself – he was very welcoming and jovial. Then I continued on to Kpegbadja (or something like that). There it took a while for me to find the ASC’s house and then he wasn’t there. They brought out a chair for me to sit on while they went to fetch him in the field. I felt badly for interrupting his work, but he didn’t seem at all put out. He was also very nice and friendly. Then I continued to Djakpata. The ASC wasn’t there – he had gone to the market. They brought out a bench for me to sit on under a tree and offered me some cooked ignam and water. I waited for a while, I don’t know how long, but I wanted to get back to Avassikpe before it got really, REALLY hot. I left, but luckily, I met the ASC of Djakpata en route, so that was nice. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming and as I was riding I just kept thinking how lucky I am to be in such a beautiful place – flat, huge expanses of blue sky with puffy white clouds and green fields dotted with trees. The road got pretty rough at times – a couple of times I had to get off and push my bike through deep sand and once I tried to go through ha little impromptu stream that was deeper than I though (about a food deep). It was fun, though, I like riding my bike around here – it is ideal for bike-riding because it is flat and beautiful.
I hope to go out to these villages relatively often. As of now, baby-weighing only takes place in Avassikpe for all these villages, but I would like to train the ASCs to do it and then go out to each of the villages once a month and do it with them.
We will see what Lili thinks of the idea.
When I got back to Avassikpe, it was already noon. I stopped by to let Lili know that I was back and then I went home and made lunch – Thai Peanut Pasta with soy, it was yummy. Then I swept out my house in preparation for leaving tomorrow and I burned my garbage and then took a shower (this time after the garbage had finished smoking and stinking). Then I went to pay the road toll that I hadn’t paid before because I didn’t have any money. Often people will take the initiative to fix the road and then ask for some money for the work. I think that is a good thing. At least it shows that they are doing something. I met up with Mana at the market and went to her house for about half an hour and afterwards is when she told me to go home and take in my laundry because it was about to rain. Oh, I forgot, I did laundry after taking a shower and got all hot and sweaty again.
After bringing in my laundry, I helped the little boy next door bring the corn that was outside drying in because his mother wasn’t home – she thanked me afterwards.
It only rained for about twenty minutes – when it stopped, I went to the dispensary. Lili was in her office, but she was talking to someone and the door was closed – I didn’t want to interrupt.
I waited outside. Then the President of the CVD came out – he doesn’t speak French, but Lili said that he and Tsevi wanted to see me so I went. He dropped me off at my house and supposedly went to get Tsevi, but he didn’t come back for ages. I got impatient and went over there. They were all eating, it was awkward. I made some excuse about needing to see Lili and left. I went to the dispensaire, but she wasn’t there, so now I am back home.
I paced out my paillote and drew it in the sand and now I am sitting outside writing. For some reason the kids think it is hilariously funny when I whistle, but I don’t think it is only the whistling. I guess they think everything I do is hilariously funny. The cloud formations here are fabulous. Perhaps because it is so flat . . .
I was just wondering what day of the week you were born so I can figure out what your name here will be =0).
I am out of cell phone credit – none to be found in village – which is going to make my life more difficult than it would otherwise have to be tomorrow as I try to meet up with Ashley. Maybe she will call me.
I have a bit of a headache. I think I got too much sun.
I just learned that all the schools in Togo (which were supposed to begin on Monday) have been delayed a month due to the flooding in the North that destroyed several schools. Interesting. The kid from yesterday stopped by to tell me this; the info is interesting, but to discourage him from coming around too often, I wasn’t friendly at all. He left after 5 minutes or so.
9/15/07
This morning I woke up early and got ready. I got a text message from Ashley around 6:15, but I couldn’t respond. Eventually I figured out that it wasn’t that I didn’t have any credit left, but rather that my cell phone server was acting funny. Anyway, I finished getting ready and cleaning up my house and I just remembered that I forgot to close my windows . . . wooden shutters to the outside. Oops. Oh well, hopefully it won’t rain too much and no one will try to break in. Hm. Anyway, then I spoke to Tsevi (I know I have been spelling his name all sorts of ways, but I think this is the correct spelling) about my paillote and drew it out in the sand for him to give him an idea of the dimensions that I want, but I asked them not to build it when I am not there.
I want to make sure that I am happy with the end result.
Lili was at home, but she was sleeping – she probably got called out in the middle of the night. She works so hard; she is essentially on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Anyway, I told the little girls that live with her that I was leaving for Atakpame and then I started walking. It is six kilometers to Agbatitoe. I decided to walk it because I like to walk and I didn’t feel like paying the 500 cFA ($1.00) for a moto ride or really riding on a moto to begin with. I thought it would take me about an hour and a half to walk it and so I managed to get a text message through to Ashley asking her to meet me at Agbatitoe around 9:00. On the way, I picked and pressed wild flowers. My plan is to recycle paper press wildflowers into the recycled paper to make cards. We will see how it goes. I was just amusing myself and the other passers-by who watched me pick the flowers, stick them between folded pieces of paper and stuff them into a ziplock. They probably think I am going to use them for some voodoo purposes. Hehe. =0) TE AMO!
The road to my village is horribly gutted because they brought in huge trucks yesterday to transport out the corn that the village produces (they told me that they take it and sell it in Lome), but it rained and so the trucks really tore up the road.
It is a mess.
It ended up only taking me an hour to walk to Agbatitoe. I was walking rather fast, because I was worried that Ashley and Natasha (another friend from Training who is coming up to Atakpame with us to celebrate Alicia’s birthday – all Stagemates) would get to Agbatitoe before me and that it would be difficult for them to have the taxi wait, but still, I made good time. It was a nice walk and I got to say hi to people along the way and stop and chat a tiny little bit and laugh off people’s requests to bring them things. People here always ask “where are you going?” “Neyi fika?” It isn’t considered rude to ask people where they are going and then to ask them, a complete stranger, a completely white (ok, a little red) complete stranger, to bring them back something, usually bread.
I ended up waiting about an hour in Agbatitoe because I was a little early and Ashley and Natasha were a little late, but it all worked out in the end and I stuffed myself into a five-person taxi that already had seven people in it. I hardly felt the pain, though, of my numb, cramped leg because I was so content to hear about my friends’ weeks at post.
We arrived in Atakpame and were walking towards the maison (Peace Corps Volunteer house in Regional Capital) when Ashley realized that she had lost her cell phone in the taxi. We called it and the driver answered and, amazingly, agreed to bring it back. We eventually were reunited with the beloved object and made our way to the maison.
There were perhaps five volunteers in the house when we arrived. It is the first time that I have been back to the house since the infamous welcome party and the atmosphere at the house is a little strained. I feel as though some of the older volunteers blame us for the fact that three people from our region were sent home. I understand feeling bummed-out and frustrated at losing three friends, but we are not directly to blame. The situation sucked for everyone involved and if they are going to hold a grudge against us, that seems rather childish. Then again, perhaps I am projecting awkwardness as well. I think perhaps it isn’t that they don’t want to befriend us, but that they feel a little awkward around us and we feel awkward around them, so it is awkwardness all around. What happened at the party made us all get off on the wrong foot and so now it just seems a little forced.
We left to go to the bank, before it closed, and by the time we got back, most of the old volunteers had cleared out (which sort of
confirms suspicions that they don’t want to have much to do with us. I find that a little sad, but I have my friends from my Stage, so it is ok and anyway, we will spend more time in Notse than in Atakpame). At the bank there was a huge line and we waited for over an hour, but it was air-conditioned and Tig arrived from Agou and joined us so we caught each other up on our week apart (five days to be precise =0). Tig also found a 5,000 cFA bill on the ground ($10.00!) so that bought us the supplies to make lunch – pasta with olive oil, onions, tomatoes, garlic, basil and oregano – simple but tasty.
After lunch, I finally met Emmanuelle and blanked on all the things I had wanted to ask her (she is the volunteer who was in Avassikpe before me). I knew I would forget all my questions when I had her there in front of me, but I didn’t write them down . . . I will have more opportunities, though, because she is thinking of coming down to Avassikpe at least twice before leaving in October. She seems very nice and down to earth. She did say that the mice come into the house which isn’t a pleasant thought. I was at peace with them as long as I thought they would stay between the ceiling and the roof. I don’t want mice in my house . . . I also paid her for all the things she left me. I’m trying to think what information I gleaned from her . . . apparently the middle-school (CEG) in Agbatitoe would be interested in starting a health club, health classes, whatever I want and would perhaps be a more fruitful workplace, than the primary school (EEP) in Avassikpe because of the students respective French levels.
She also said that she really liked Lili as well, which makes me really happy because I didn’t want to be disappointed with my homologue. I have liked her and everything about her so much so far that I was afraid I might eventually discover that she is not what she seems, but if Emmanuelle has only good things to say about her than I can feel confident that I have lucked out with an exceptional homologue. She also said that my next door neighbor lady seems nice, although she didn’t exactly cultivate a relationship with her because of language barriers, and that more children attend school that I might guess at first glance, which is good. I think that is all I learned, but I will definitely start writing my questions down. It was probably good that I didn’t pelt her with a million questions at the first meeting anyway.
The afternoon was spent chatting with a volunteer who is at her year mark; interesting conversations about homosexuality in general and homosexuality in Togo and other parts of the world. Then I tried to rouse my friends for a trip to the market, but Ashley pleaded the 6th (after the 5th Amendment, come’s the 6th – the right to abstain from activities due to angry bowels) and Tig opted for cleaning up the kitchen instead, so Natasha and I braved the market in search of brownie ingredients for Alicia’s birthday cake. We were successful on our mission and I even bought another little metal pot to complement my first little metal pot – although I was getting good at the one pot meals.
9/16/07
Yesterday I spent the whole day trying to bake a cake for Alicia’s birthday – a brownie cake – but we were making it with a dutch oven and so we had to make it in pieces and I burned one and then I tried to use water in the bottom as insulation and that piece of the cake took around five hours to bake . . . So all day I was babysitting the cake – from around 8 in the morning until around 8 at night. I did leave for a large block in the morning to walk around the market and then I sat with Tig and Natasha and had a drink. I didn’t find too much in the market except pencils (with erasers!), but it was a Sunday, so the market wasn’t really hopping. In the afternoon, I baked more cake (little by little) and typed up my emails to you for the week. I was getting a little frustrated with the cake because I was hungry and tired, but eventually I got myself some street food – bean beignets, boiled peanuts and I tried a beef brochette (beef on a stick) – it was a little too tough . . . In the evening I stayed around babysitting more baking of pieces of cake (I ended up with four little loaves that I put side by side and we will ice). I also watched the movie “Little Miss Sunshine” which was quirky, but funny, and then when the girls got home from the bar they went to we ate care-package food (food from the States) and watched episodes of “Sex In The City.” Even though I went to bed around midnight (about four hours past my bed-time), I still woke up at six.
Bladder calls!
