8/30/08 through 9/8/08

Lately, I have absolutely no desire to chronicle. It isn't that I am particularly busy, just that when the time comes to sit down and write, I feel a complete lack of motivation. In the last week I only wrote one day, but today I am in Notse and have an opportunity to use internet and so I ought to catch myself up so that I have something to show for the last week of living.
8/30/08
We checked ourselves into the Hotel Kara around 3:00 in the afternoon. The Hotel offers a special discount for Peace Corps volunteers and so we stayed, four to a room, for only 3,500 cFA and got full use of the pool and hotel disco. We spent the afternoon swimming and then went out to dinner. Tig, Nacho and Alicia had gotten me a small bottle of amarulla while in Ghana because it is one of the only types of alcohol that I will drink and so I had some with dinner: pizza and pasta that I split with Helen. After dinner we went back to the hotel, swam, went to the disco to do 80s power hour and dance, and then swam again. 80s power hour is a sort of drinking game or activity, excerpts of songs from the 80s that change every minute. You are supposed to take a swig of alcohol with every beep that signals a change in song. I didn't play; I lay on the couch in the disco (which was empty except for us) and played with the glow sticks Lauren had provided and watched Ashley and Tig burn up the dance floor. I couldn't help but envy their capacity to dance and have a blast while doing it; to completely let go and just have fun; neither was at all inebriated. I wish I liked to dance and didn't feel so self conscious doing it, because it the girls looked like they were having so much fun. Unfortunately, dancing isn't fun for me.
The party was fun, but a little bittersweet because we were missing Nacho – she got sick on her way up to Kara and had to go back to Lome – and because on the back of everyone's mind was the knowledge that Lauren planned to ET in the week following our party.
Sleeping four to a bed was a little crowded. We did a four way spoon and practiced rotating sides of our body all at the same time like rotisserie chickens on a stick.
8/31/08
After getting a lazy start, we went in search of breakfast, went swimming, and took group pictures with our Stage T-Shirts on - they are green with yellow writing: BAMAZE on the front (our APCD's last name), CHAP 07-09 on the back and "suck it like a FanMilk" on the sleeve.
At noon (funny how we always choose the hottest part of the day to be out and about) we walked back to the maison, tracked down street food for lunch and, while the bulk of the girls sat down to watch Sweeny Todd (some sort of murder musical), I went to the internet. I chatted with Jorge which was lovely because I got the play-by-play of his last hours as prisoner to his thesis and, after about a month of not talking about much in the way of future plans besides his thesis, we were able to discuss our plan to meet in Italy for Christmas and how we are going to realize it: (timing, visas, money, etc). It seems like every time one obstacle is overcome (thesis down) another obstacle takes its place and makes me wary of getting too excited about a December reunion in Italy. Jorge still has 300 hours of internship to complete, his last requirement before he will be entitled to his degree in International Studies and he also needs a visa to Italy which has become more difficult since his last trip to visit his mother in 2005.
Just as I was leaving the internet café, I got a call from my parents – that was a particularly special treat; it had been a while since I had spoken with them on the phone and as great as email is, it doesn't come close to actually having a conversation with a loved one.
The rest of the day was spent hanging out; nothing too exciting.
9/1/08
Monday we endured a seemingly endless ride to Atakpame where we had decided to spend the night in response to the news that another of our friends from the SED Stage that arrived in Togo with us was planning to "abandon ship." The ride was bad because the driver kept stopping, but fortunately we weren't squished in the car like we usually are. For a while there I even had a whole seat to myself.
In Atakpame we just watched movies, hung out, baked a cake, and used internet.
Ashley Tig and I left early Tuesday morning for Notse. It was one of the fastest rides to Notse ever – under an hour.
9/2/08
After a trip to the market in Notse to stock up on certain supplies, we ate a lunch of Doritos and Oreos (from a care package from the States) and watched The Little Mermaid (yay! That movie makes me so happy!) before I loaded up my bike and, after picking up Jerome's money from Western Union (a RPCV – Returned Peace Corps Volunteer – in the States sent him money to help with his childrens' school fees), biked home to Avassikpe.
Gizmo was happy to see me and I him, but I wasn't happy to note that the chickens have destroyed my garden by digging in it for worms.
I spent the evening pushing dried corn off the cob with Tseviato at her older sisters' house until my thumbs hurt and then I tried pâte made with red (as opposed to white) corn. It was good. I had started by helping the little boys push red kernels of corn off the cob, but then Tseviato arrived with a big basin full of white corn. Apparently when you go pick corn at someone else's field, all the corn that is not fit to be stored in a grenouille (one of those platform paillote structures for storing dried corn) because it is not fully sealed, is yours to keep. So Tseviato came home with a whole basin of corn, the profits of which were hers. I bought the corn from her – 3 bowls for 1050 cFA; not too shabby a profit for a day's work for a twelve year old.
9/3/08
It has been so long since I have been in village, followed my normal routine and written regularly that I almost forgot that that is what I do every night.
I ate the first fruits of my garden tonight with the exception of Moringa. It was a huge yellow squash that I doused with Italian salad dressing – delicious. Who knew vegetables could be such a treat. I don't think Togolese people – I tried it out on Patrovi – will like my squash, so . . . more for me.
The chickens have really done a number on my garden and so I am going to try to re-do it, make the beds lower to the ground and replant. I also spoke to DaMarie this morning and she said she will shut the chickens in their cages at night. I think most of the damage is done during the day, but we will see how it goes. If that doesn't work, maybe Jerome can speak to her on Friday about clipping their wings.
This morning I made pâte rouge and roasted soy beans to take to the Moulin. I was just finishing the soy beans when Jerome arrived around 9:30. Our lesson was unremarkable.
The rest of my day was spent dealing with my garden. I flattened one bed and transplanted tomato plants, one head of lettuce, one basil plant and my marigolds. I did such a good job turning over the soil the first time that it is still pretty easy to work, so that is nice. Tomorrow I will do the second bed and maybe try replanting some things.
I am writing by candlelight because something is wrong with both my lamps.
Effoh took my bike to Notse.
I brought some pants that I got from the grab bin to Mana to take in. She wanted to give me 1000 cFA from the money for the stage pagnes (in thanks, I guess, for helping so much), but I asked her to fix my pants for me instead.
Having to stay awake until a decent hour (or indecent – when I can no longer expect visitors) is annoying. I just want to go to bed, read and go to sleep, but I am afraid someone will come knocking.
9/4/08
Thursday I worked all day in my garden, transplanting tomato plants, ademan, gboma and okra to the first bed that I had flattened out the day before and flattening the other beds in preparation for reseeding. I think I killed some of the plants, especially the tomato plants in the process, but luckily tomato plants are one thing I don't have trouble getting to grow. I just have to throw the seeds on the ground and little tomato plants will sprout.
I weeded the rows of squash and piment with Tseviato's help and then cut three Moringa trees to start drying the leaves and to use their lovely straight stalks as supports for my sweet peas.
In the evening, I replanted the whole garden, placing a small Moringa twig to mark each spot that I planted a seed. That way I will know exactly where to look for sprouts and I will know if and where the chickens have been digging because the sticks will be displaced. I really hope my garden succeeds this time. Is it the second or third time that is the charm? Second I hope, because I don't have enough seeds for a third time.
9/5/08
Friday morning I spent doing laundry. I was going to cook, but decided against it and instead went to the market to see what sort of food was available. I bought some soja and bean beignets. Not the healthiest lunch in the world, but that is part of the problem of not having gas; you have to take what you can get.
Jerome and a man from an NGO in Notse that works with handicapped people, "Belle Porte," were supposed to arrive at 2:00 to do a sensiblization in my market on how to treat (both socially and medically) handicapped people. They arrived, drenched from a sudden rainstorm, around 2:30. The next couple of hours were stressful because I was paying 5,000 cFA for this dude to do a sensibilization and couldn't afford to reschedule, but the rain refused to let up. Finally, the rain let up enough for us to do the sensibilization and I think it was a success (we had a good audience of children and adults – perhaps forty to sixty people, which, for Avassikpe, is a huge crowd), but the timing was such that, by the time we were finished, it was already getting dark and there was no way I could bike to Notse before being blinded by darkness. To Ashley's disappointment (an my own – we had been planning a dinner of pasta primavera with squash from my garden), I decided to stay the night in Avassikpe and bike into Notse early the next morning.
In the end, I was glad I stayed because I got a surprise phone call from Jorge and that made me especially happy and then I went to bed early and hardly noticed the booming music of the "balle" that continued 'til dawn.
9/6/08
Saturday was Agbobozan, the traditional fête of the Ewe people and a sort of ignam fest. From what I understand, some of the ceremonies surrounding Agbobozan include offering the first ignams to the fetish. Before these ceremonies, animists won't eat the ignams from their fields for fear of angering their fetishes.
Apparently the ceremonies started on Thursday in Notse, but I didn't really notice anything special in Avassikpe. In Notse, on the days leading up to Agbobozan, people have to keep their animals carefully guarded because packs of men apparently run around killing any stray animals and carting them off to the ceremonial grounds as offerings to the fetishes. Normally Agbobozan is a huge fête. Last year the president and many ministers came and there were speeches and dancing at the Cultural Center. This year, because of the broken bridges and the corresponding expenditures (although the bridges aren't getting fixed very quickly so I'm not sure what real expenditures are being made) the bigwigs from Lome can't afford to support Agbobozan. When we went in search of a party Saturday morning, we found the Cultural Center empty; the only noticeable celebration was taking place at the king's house where many chiefs and a dance troupe of women painted white were in attendance. We stopped by briefly, feeling like intruders in a private fête, to greet the King and the chiefs.
The rest of the day was spent making a delicious pasta primavera for lunch, watching movies and sleeping. I was a little bummed that the fête hadn't been more interesting, but ultimately my goal had been to escape my village. Fête days in village inevitably translate into me spending a lot of money on food, a lot of energy on preparing and serving that food to people who feel that it is their right to come eat at my home, and the resulting feeling of frustration that something I do because I want to is turned sour by people who feel entitled to my generosity. My village was distressed to learn that I planned to fête in Notse. I told several people that if the village men promised to prepare the meals (fêtes are days of constant preparing and eating) that I would stay in village. They laughed and said that if the men prepared the food the women would be "gêne-ed" because men don't know how to prepare. Then the men should learn how to cook so that they can relieve the women of their duties the day of the fête. I think I will refuse to spend any more fêtes in village until the men agree to cook and, as that will never happen, it will get me out of village fêtes.
9/7/08
Sunday felt more like a fête than Saturday. Jerome had invited Ashley and I to his village and, as usual, had rolled out the red carpet of hospitality. We enjoyed delicious fufu and sauce and later rice and sauce (Jerome had killed a chicken for us), toured the village, visited the sodabe distillery and drank fresh palm juice, and enjoyed good conversation. It was a nice day and I was glad that Ashley finally got a chance to really meet Jerome, spend some time with him, and realize what a cool guy he is. She wants to bring her friend (who is arriving in a week from the States for a visit) to his village, so we will have another Zitsou experience in a couple of weeks. Jerome is a born host. He loves hosting people and is wonderful at it. You can also ask him anything and everything and he is accustomed enough to Americans never to be offended by our questions.
9/8/08
Today I plan to go to internet, do some work on my section of the Moringa manual, stock up on food and bike back to Avassikpe in the evening. I was going to go to Lome next weekend with Ashley to pick up her friend, but have decided to stay in village instead. It will be my longest stay (a week!) in village in recent months (maybe just the last month, when I was in and out of village every couple of days).