10/23/07 through 11/3/07

10/23/07

I think I am going to make myself sick on pineapple tonight. I was so hungry when I got home to Avassikpe that I ate three big bananas and then, after showering I chopped up a huge pineapple. And I sort of have to eat it all or find someone to give it to. We will see . . .


I am happy to be back in village. I received a nice welcome from the kids on the road (I think they were filling in the pot holes as a community service activity for school) and from the women in front – my adopted host family. By the way, I just solved my excess pineapple problem and created a new problem by making two small pineapple upside-down cakes. Now I have to wait for them both to bake and I still have four really really ripe (black) plantains that I have to try to do something with. Hmm.

Anyway, I had a good, productive day today. I woke up around 5:00, organized my things, made pancakes, ate pancakes and left. I rode in the opposite direction from Avasskpe to buy pineapples, oranges and bananas and then turned around and by 8:00 I was wheeling into Jerome's compound in Azitou for my Ewe lesson. The lesson today was quite frustrating. Jerome couldn't seem to explain certain elements of the language to my satisfaction or in a way in which I could understand how they are employed. I guess I should have just let it go from the beginning and accepted that I won't understand right now, but eventually I will piece the usage together if I tune into it. But I wanted a neat explanation, a rule, something and I got a bit frustrated. We went around in circles and finally I gave up and requested that we just move on. The rest of the lesson was a bit the same with somewhat shabby explanations for the usage of connecting words. I was relieved when we finished and also happy to be served a meal of pâte with two different sauces – an okra and ademan (grean leafy vegetable) sauce and a sauce made from the leaves of bean plants. I had never had the bean leaf sauce before and it was very good and in it were whole little fishies that I ate without realizing it. They weren't bad at all – they were actually sort of yummy, so maybe I will get over my fear of the smoked fish here. I can hardly believe that I ate a whole little fish – brains, eyeballs, tail, scales, bones and all and didn't die. And it is even more difficult to believe that it didn't taste bad, but it didn't – just salty and smoked. We talked for a while about the atmosphere of Notse versus villages and then we went to visit a palm wine distillery out away from the village in the middle of the fields and that was really neat. [Before I write all about it, I just want to say that I am beating myself up a bit because one of the women in front (the one I first went to the fields with) just called me over and invited me to eat with them and I refused. I am not hungry, but I should have stayed and eaten with them because perhaps now she will be reluctant to invite me again and sharing a meal provides an opportunity to fortify relationships. Grr. Kick in the butt, kick in the butt . . Also, if I had shared a meal with them I would have a good destination for one of the pineapple upside-down cakes I am making. Shoot. I hate it when I stupidly close the door in the face of good opportunity.]

Sigh. Ok. Enough self-berating – other opportunities will arise – it is only a minor set-back. Ok, so about the palm wine processing – even though I don't drink any of the derivatives of the process, it was still really neat to see how it is done. First they uproot a palm tree, tip it on its side and cut all the fronds off (I wonder why they can't tap it like we do maple trees – it seems almost wasteful). Then they cut a square hole in the trunk, but not quite all the way through to the other side. They drill a hole and put a hollow reed in it through which the sap drains into a hollowed out gourd. I drank some of the pure sap juice, fresh from the tree and let's just say that while I wouldn't drink a whole glass of it, it was better than the slightly fermented stuff. The taste is a little difficult to describe – sort of tangy and sweet. Each evening and each morning, they make the rectangular box of a hole a little longer by shaving more off one end of the rectangle. They also burn it a bit to kill insects. Apparently they collect about 2 ½ liters of liquid each day and each palm tree is tapped for about a total of 25 days I think they said. Then they take the juice, the sappy liquid, and put it in huge metal barrels and let it ferment (I don't know for how long). Then they pour the fermented liquid (palm wine) into a special metal barrel set atop a big three stone stove fueled by wood. Coming out of the top of the barrel is a metal tube that snakes its way through three more barrels and eventually ends above a big glass container topped with a cotton filled funnel. The palm wine is heated and what evaporates into the tube and cools as it moves progressively through the tube and the three metal barrels full of murky water and then drips into the funnel where it filters through the cotton and into the receptacle becomes sodabe. Then you can take a shot the Togolese gin. What isn't evaporated through the tube is a by-product and it is drained into a pit in the ground while still steaming hot. It was all very interesting.

We sat there for a while and talked with the man who makes the sodabe. The conversation turned to why we have so few children in the States – only two or three per couple. I like answering questions about how and why we do things the way we do because it provides and opportunity for cultural exchange and for discovering insights into both my own and Togolese culture. Jerome said that here you get married at a young age so that you have someone to prepare meals for you when you're working in the field and you have children to supplement and/or replace your wife's labor if she falls sick. As the children successively reach school age more children are needed to fill the void.

When we got back to hi house, I ate a piece of boiled manioc and scheduled the next class and took my leave. It was just starting to rain as I pedaled off, but Jerome said it wasn't really going to rain, that nature is "gate" – ruined. I don't know why he said that – perhaps because the dry season is almost here. Anyway, it rained enough to get me quite wet, but at the same time it was a nice ride because the rain cooled off the air substantially and it was eerily beautiful with the steam rising off the road and the cloud coverage making it seem later that 3:00 in the afternoon.

I rode to Agbatitoe and a young boy took me to the priest's house. He had requested to see me some time ago and I hadn't gotten my act together. It was awkward. He was in lounging apparel – shorts and a T-shirt. He invited me in and we got right down to business for which I was thankful because I found the whole situation a little creepy. He had several ideas he wanted to talk to me about in hopes of eliciting my help, namely a public latrines project, a daycare (for under school-aged children) and building churches. I am not sure any of those things will be projects I will work on. I nixed the building churches idea right away by saying that I can't be affiliated with only a certain church – something that will only benefit a certain group of people. As for the others – they are project ideas for Agbatitoe. I will have to think about how thin I want to spread myself. I can help with ideas for the daycare, but I am not going to construct them a building (which is what he seemed to be asking) especially when they have a huge church that could easily double as a daycare when not in use as a church (but I doubt they would like that idea). As for the latrines – that is another big money project and I sort of feel that if I try to do a big money project, it should be in Avassikpe and not Agbatitoe. However, it was good to hear his ideas and continue spinning the wheel of my mind.

I biked home and showered and now I am waiting for my second pineapple-upside down cake to bake and still berating myself for not having accepted the woman's invitation to eat with them. A missed opportunity. Echoue. Failed.


10/24/07

I'm not sure why I wandered around all day as if I had nothing to do and now it is 8:00, already past my bed-time and I am just starting to write. Nevertheless it was a productive day. This morning I used my terribly rotting plantains to make a peanut butter, banana, oatmeal thing. The recipe I sort of followed was for a cookie, but it turned out a little more like a cake. It isn't bad, but after eating a whole pineapple upside-down cake, I wasn't much in the mood for more sweets. Tomorrow morning I will give it to the women in front. I took half a pineapple upside-down cake to Mana and the other half I gave to Tsevi later in the day. I have to give it away, otherwise I will eat it all in one day or it will go bad and I can't have that. Mana was going to work on an outfit for someone today so I thought I'd watch. I went home, called the driver to confirm again for Saturday and Sunday, received a surprise call from my Dad and picked up some scissors, paper and pens to work on my number system for the vaccination day that is coming up on Monday while I watched Mana make the complet. It was fun. We also talked about food for Saturday. Mana is going to help me cook. I am going to try to keep by budget under 5,000 cFA ($10.00) but perhaps that won't be enough . . . Today I was thinking that the chauffer my Dad hires can bring the girls (the other PCVs from my stage who are coming to Notse for my birthday) to Avassikpe and then back to Notse in the evening. If it works, it would be great, but I am still a little worried about the food issue. Maybe I should make something else to complement the fufu – some of the girls don't like fufu anyway, so I could make beans for beans and gari or beans and rice. Hm. I'll mull it over.

I stayed at Mana's until around 2:30 and then I was heading home to do laundry when I got intercepted by some women who called me over and offered me boiled ignam. Remembering how I kicked myself for refusing yesterday, I accepted. I sat with them, ate some ignam and then pushed corn off the cob and gave myself a blister on my thum. Man! Am I ever delicate! =0) I eventually made my way home and did laundry – just a couple of really dirty outfits that I had biked in. I was finishing up when I received a surprise visit from the PCMO. I knew she was coming to Notse today, but I didn't know that she would come out to Avassikpe too. The first thing she said was that Avassikpe was the most Peace Corps looking village that she has seen yet. I am not completely sure what that means, but she said it like it was a good thing. It was nice to have a visitor – she just asked me general questions about my health and security. All is well in Avassikpe, but she did say that if I ever have difficulty getting water I should call her and she will make sure that I get some so that is a bit of a relief.

She offered to give me a ride to Notse which I would have gladly accepted, but the DPS is coming tomorrow and I really should be present considering I haven't even met him yet. After the PCMO left, I sat with one of the women in front Yolke (or something like that) and we tried to have a conversation. I learned that she is twenty-seven (not too much older than me) and that her son is seven. Then Mana came by because I had told her that we would make more pineapple upside-down cakes – so we did. Only after that did I start doing what I should have done all day – cleaning the house a bit, finishing my number system, making lists for what I need in Notse, etc. I didn't do a very good job of cleaning, but I will finish up tomorrow morning before the DPS arrives. Maybe, just maybe, I can hitch a ride into Notse with him if he comes in his own vehicle. I plan to give him one of the pineapple upside-down cakes to win him over . . .

I stink, but I am not going to shower until morning. I am changing the sheets anyway for Dad, so . . . I gues it doesn't matter I will wash them soon.

Oh and I just wanted to mention that the moon has been so fantastically bright the last couple of days that you can walk anywhere after dark without a flashlight.


10/25/07 and 10/26/07

It is around 5:30 on the morning of the 26th and like last night I am feeling anxious, sad, and a little sick. Upon arriving in Notse yesterday afternoon, I was bouncing with excitement, but then things began to deteriorate piece by piece. First I found out that there was a mix up with some of my friends who were going to come for my birthday, but it just isn't going to work out travel and time wise because they are in Kara for another friend's birthday on the 26 th and because I am planning the bulk of my celebration in my village (and villages are more difficult to access and require extra time and planning to reach) it just doesn't make sense for them to try to make it. Then it seemed as though there was sort of a domino effect and now most of the people I thought were coming aren't going to be there. It is ok, because my two closest friends – Tig and Ashley – are already here, but then I received a text message from Dad saying that his flight (I am not sure from where to where) was delayed three hours and that he thinks he will miss his flight to Accra. And so the most important person and the reason for my excitement might not be there either. =0( I am trying to convince myself that it could still work out for him to come, but I hadn't realized that he would be coming from India to Ghana and then almost immediately to Togo. For some reason I was under the impression that he was already in Ghana when he called me on Wednesday morning. So, that is how my plans have been falling apart over the last 24 hours and I don't care about any of it if only my Dad can make it. And I am not sure if I am having diarrhea and feeling queasy as a result of my anxiety or if I ate something that didn't sit well with my stomach, but either way, physically I am not feeling great either. So . . .

Yesterday morning I woke up early with excitement and energy. I cleaned up my house, preparing it for my Dad's arrival (I even changed the sheets on the bed for the first time since I have been here!), showered and headed over to the dispensaire. The DPS (Prefectural Director of Health) was a little late in arriving, but eventually he showed. He seemed very nice and down to earth, not too pretentious like some people become when they are in positions of importance. They came as a team of three – the DPS, the head midwife, and the accountant – plus the chauffer. They spent a lot of time going over the books, looking around the dispensaire, talking to Lili. I left them to their work and didn't have much involvement, but I did gain a better understanding of the problem of staffing a dispensaire. Avassikpe has a birth attendant (Lili) because her salary can be supported by the dispensaire itself – what people pay for consultations, but in order to have a nurse, the Government has to pick up the cost because the dispensaire itself could never cover a nurse's salary. And, of course, the government doesn't have enough money to put a nurse in every dispensaire. I just sat around all morning observing their observations and waiting for a good opportunity to ask if I could hitch a ride back to Notse with them. Like I said, I buttered them up first with the pineapple upside down cakes that I had made (that turned out perfectly) and made my request and they said it wasn't a problem. We ate a very yummy lunch of fufu with a chicken sauce that Mana had prepared and as I was heading to my house to pick up my bag who did I see but the FanMilk man on his bicycle!!! Apparently he comes through Avassikpe on Friday. I told him to come find me at my house when he passes through, but afterwards, when I couldn't bring myself to buy a FanMilk because of the children surrounding me, I realized that if he comes to my house, the children will inevitably be present and so perhaps I should continue to consider FanMilk a delight reserved to "la grande ville."

I got a comfy cosy ride to Notse in a beautiful four door pick-up truck and then walked from the hospital to Ashley's house. She wasn't there, but through the wonderful miracle of cell phones and text messages, I tracked her down in under five minutes. She was at the hotel behind her house drinking a bottle of wine with Tig, Heather and the PCMO. I joined them and we stayed there for several hours until a meeting pulled Ashley away and prompted Tig and I to go to internet. It was working a little slower than the last time, but still incredibly well for Togo. I wrote to my Mom and Dad and Jorge and then saw some of Tig's pictures online. In the evening we went to Heather's to make pancakes.

This morning (the 26th) Tig and I wandered around the market. I wasn't very successful in finding the things that I need because it isn't market day and anyway I was a bit unfocused. I am nervous about whether my Dad is coming or not, whether I should cancel the driver or not . . . I feel a little anxious to know how everything is going to work out. Three more girls just arrived, so we are going to go over to Heather's to make lunch.

So aside from my anxiety at whether or not Dad was going to make his flight to Accra and whether or not to cancel the chauffer (which I am sure is absolutely NOTHING compared to his anxiety and exhaustion) I had a good day. I was feeling quite nervous because I hadn't heard from him, but around 7:00 he called and told me that he had arrived in Accra and would be heading to Lome. The poor man must be absolutely exhausted, but I was so excited and relieved to know that he will still be coming. My bag didn't make the connection, but at least Dad did.

For lunch we made fried rice and in the afternoon we talked and watched a movie while Tig made me a pound cake. For dinner we made tortillas, guacamole and had real cheese that Ashley's mom had sent her in a package. It was fabulous, but I think we all ate to the point of being sickly full and then we ate some more – cake, fufu style (as in we put the cake in the middle of where we were sitting and dug in with our right hands =0). I saved Dad a piece, but I am not sure he is going to want it – the presentation isn't super lovely, but it tastes great. I am feeling a little nervous about Dad coming because I know he is going to be dreadfully tired and I want everything to run smoothly, but that is unlikely.

10/27/07 and 10/27/07

I am sitting here on the eve of the 28th typing on my computer in my little house in Avassikpe for the first time since I have been here. No, Avassikpe didn't get electricity as a happy birthday to me present, but since I have my computer here with me I thought I would take advantage of the opportunity to type my email for as long as my computer battery will allow. I brought my computer with me from Notse (where I usually leave it), so that I can bring it to Atakpame and type up my emails the weekend before and the weekend after AIDS Ride which is taking place next week (starting Sunday the 5 th).

The past two days have been good and busy and at moments a little crazy. The night before my birthday I didn't sleep at all. I was awake almost every hour throughout the night. I was partially at fault for stuffing myself with rich foods including cheese and cake (foods my stomach is no longer used to digesting) and making myself uncomfortably full, but the other part of my insomnia was just nervous excitement for my Dad's arrival. Nervous because of how utterly exhausted I feared my Dad would be after the long journey, nervous that everything would go smoothly with the chauffer, just nervous. Excitement for the obvious reason that I would be seeing my Dad and my Dad would be able to experience my village and meet my friends.

I officially got up at four in the morning, but like I said I had been up pretty much every hour before that. I got up, emptied my bowels of some of the excess consumption of the night before and showered. I didn't know what to do with myself until it was a decent hour to be out and about and so I sat on Ashley's porch and read Newsweek. It was difficult to concentrate, but it was an effort to speed up the passage of time. I ventured out once before six and still no venders were out, so I came back. I was having severe stomach cramps (whether caused by the food or the nervousness I am not quite sure) and so not in the mood for breakfast, but around six thirty I went out again to look for the ingredients Mana had instructed me to buy for the fufu sauce: tomatoes, onions, garlic, hot peppers, and white eggplants. I couldn't find any of them except the tomatoes and so after I had called the coordinator of the car that was scheduled to pick Dad up (to make sure that they had found each other), I went to the market. I was relieved to know that they were on there way and very relieved that the driver had been punctual. It would just have been too frustrating to have wasted precious time. With about an hour and a half to kill before Dad would arrive in Notse, I went to the market and bought my ingredients and also bargained a woman selling used sheets down 3000 cFA. I bought six huge sheets to sew together to make a shady place for the women to sit on vaccination day. It cost me a total of $12, which I don't think is bad considering what I acquired, but none-the-less it seems like a lot of money to me. Anyway, I was happy to have gotten them at what I considered was a fair price.

I went back to Ashley's house and then out again on a search for frozen chickens and had just met up with Tig, Allison and Natasha who were on there way to Ashley's house when a taxi with a white guy in the back seat pulled up alongside us. Boy was I excited! I can't even express the relief/excitement/happiness that I felt when my Dad got out of the car and gave me a big hug. It was also a relief that he seemed in good spirits and still energetic – I had been a little worried that he would be too tired to enjoy his visit, but he did a good job of hiding his exhaustion from several days of travel. I introduced him to some of my friends in the street and the rest back at Ashley's house and then we went off together on a search for frozen chicken (Lili later said that she could tell that it was frozen and not fresh by the taste, but I think she was lying =0). We bought several huge chicken thighs and legs (much meatier than most of the chickens you can get here) and wandered back to Ashley's house, enjoying each others company after so much time apart and in these new and special surroundings. We piled into the taxi – Dad and two of my friends, with all my stuff and drove out to Avassikpe. After dropping us off the driver went to get the other girls. Of course our grand entrance (in a car!) into the village did not go un-noticed and many of my favorite people (and plenty of others) came to greet my Dad and my friends. Tsevi was a little miffed at the way that I had left the village (abruptly with the DPS) on Thursday, but I explained the situation and he was appeased. I told him that we were awaiting more of my friends and that after they had arrived we would go greet the chief. Of course the girls and my Dad brought out their cameras (something I have yet to do in village really) and generated an even larger crowd. We waited for the others who took about an hour to arrive. Just after they got here, when we were comfortably installed under my paillote and Tsevi had gone off to see if the chief could receive us, a storm blew in bringing really cold gusts of wind and driving rain. I handed out pretty much all the warm clothes I have – two long-sleeve shirts, my Middlebury sweatshirt, my raincoat – but eventually we were chased inside by little rivers running through my paillote which was problematic because Dad and I were sitting on a grass mat on the ground. When I get my act together I will build a moat around my paillote to deflect the runoff, but it is almost dry season anyway.

We moved inside – the upside being it was dryer, warmer and we could eat popcorn and peanuts; the downside being that it was very crowded. I offered the popcorn and peanuts because I figured that at this rate it would be a very long time before we were sitting down eating a yummy meal of doughy fufu (and I was right). It rained for about an hour (and at times I wondered if it would ever let up). When it finally slowed to a drizzle, I found Tsevi and we paraded over to a house that had been set up with chairs to receive us indoors. We greeted the chief, I introduced my Dad and my friends introduced themselves and their posts and then we were presented with a bottle of Coke and a bottle of sodabe. I am so glad I remembered how Emmanuelle had shared the bottle of sodabe with the chief and his entourage rather than taking it with her and so I asked that we do the same and drink it together. Constant (the coordinator of the car, who I will talk more about later) took a drink and Allison "took one for the team," but the other girls deferred (as did I). Dad took a shot (and later told me that it was stronger than the vodka they drank on their trip to Russia) and everyone abstained from a second round. The Coke was a very nice gesture of consideration towards me and the fact that I don't drink and ended up being more popular than the sodabe. We were all served a demi-glass off coke and then we thanked the chief and took our leave.

We walked over to the dispensaire to see Lili and went through the introductions again. Then we walked to Mana's house to get the ignams. She said that she would bring them to my house in a few minutes (I think we disturbed her nap and she definitely wanted to prepare herself (make-up and clothing wise) for the occasion). I asked if she needed help to carry the ignams and she said that she would get some children to help her. We then paraded (and paraded is the perfect word because we were not alone, but rather had a tail of more than twenty children following us) to Lili's house to borrow the mortar and pestles and back to my house. After a little while, Mana arrived with eight or so ignams in a bowl on her head (that must have hurt, but I guess she is used to it and not a wimp like I am).

For some reason I had thought that Mana would just guide and direct the preparation, but that I would be directly involved. Yeah right. Mana took charge and enlisted the help of several other woman including Efo's older sister (whose name I have finally learned is Julie) and another of Mana's friends named Nana (I think). Part of the reason other women became involved is that I didn't have adequate cooking utensils (such as a HUGE pot for boiling the chunks of ignam) or a hot wood fire so that they didn't take an eternity to cook serving pots or enough glasses or chairs. It was a good thing that these wonderful women took charge like they did because I would never have successfully fed so many people. While they did all the peeling, chopping, washing, boiling etc., I watched and gave them things that they asked for. The preparation took quite a while. First they peeled the ignams and cut them into chunks and then washed them and put them in a huge pot to boil. They didn't even cut up all the ignams, though, because they couldn't fit in the pot. I wanted to use the stove Dad brought me from Ghana (yay!) but I asked Locke (Yolke? – the nice woman who lives in front who had told me the other day that she had charcoal) and she and a bunch of women told me that there was no charcoal to be bought at the moment. We tried putting the huge pot on my gas stove (it is a wonder it didn't break or bend it), but it just didn't do the trick – the flame wasn't powerful enough and so Julie put the steaming pot in a big metal bowl and put the whole thing on her head and brought it over to her house to heat over her wood fire. I helped her lift the bowl onto her head and I was terrified of dumping hot water on her. Luckily, there were no mishaps.

For the sauce, Julie and Mana (who are cousins I think) hacked up the chicken into small pieces (so that everyone would get some – but it was a lot), washed it and then made the sauce with all the ingredients I had bought plus some spices (anise, black pepper, a little seed like thing) that the other woman, Nana, furnished. Mana also put chicken stock and a can of tomato paste in the sauce. I am so glad I decided to go with chicken rather than fish. It smelled heavenly. When the ignam chunks were cooked, Julie brought the pot over and really hard labor of pounding began. They didn't allow us to pound much – only Tig and I took a turn at it, but pretty much they just allowed us to pound a bit to humor us. Other than that, many women, including my neighbor lady and one of her sisters, Yocke, Julie, Mana and Nana pounded the fufu into beautiful delicious balls. I am so glad Mana was there as well because she knew how to divvy up the food so that everyone (well, not EVERYONE, I can't possibly feed the whole village), but all the people that I really wanted to share the meal with, got some. While they were pounding the fufu, I received three surprise phone calls that left me delighted. Jorge's phone call was the first and I had all but given up on getting to talk to him. It made me so very happy to hear his voice! No matter how nice a birthday it was, had I not heard from him I would not have been able to help feeling sad. I loved hearing his voice and getting that chance at contact between us especially considering we hadn't connected at all through internet. It was absolutely heavenly and made my day perfect (within the realm of the possible of course, absolutely perfect would have been having Jorge and my other family members at my side).

Right after Jorge's phone call, I received a phone call from his mother. That was also a huge surprise, but I was so embarrassed because I couldn't talk to her!! The only thing that would come out of my mouth was French. After about four minutes, we got cut off, but it was so wonderful and special to know that she was thinking of me and that she had actually called me and gotten through!

And then, as if just for that half an hour the telephone lines cleared up and everyone could connect, Grandmama called. Another lovely surprise. The only thing that put a tiny damper on things was that I knew my mom was probably trying to call me but that she couldn't get through. I knew she would be frustrated and sad and that made me sad, but between the two of us Dad and I tried to keep my cell phone in a place with service (which means moving around trying to make the little bars appear and moving again when they disappear). My mom never got through to me, but the next day, when Dad had the driver buy me a 5,000 cFA phone card, I called her and learned she had tried calling up until midnight. I used up the whole phone card, but we got to talk for a good ten minutes and it was wonderful to hear her voice.

Around 4:30 or 5:00 we ate a fabulous meal of fufu and a deliciously spicy chicken sauce. I ate and ate and ate. It was lovely and worked out nicely. I was so glad to have Mana there because she made sure that everyone got some food. I don't know how she did it – how everyone seemed content afterwards – but she did and they even did all the dishes and cleaned up my house afterwards. And then next day, THEY thanked ME!?!?!? (I of course also thanked them, but I wasn't too sure why they were thanking me. I mean, I know they got a free meal, but they definitely earned it and all the people who helped were people I wanted to share the meal with anyway.)

After eating, my friends had to leave rather suddenly so as to beat the darkness. It was fine, though, because their departure sort of served as the cue for everyone to clear out and Dad and I got some quiet time. He showed me the video from their trip to Russia and then photos until his computer's battery died. It was very nice to see the video and particularly exciting to catch glimpses of Mom and Mimi here and there. At 7:30 we decided that it was an acceptable hour to go to bed and so we did. It is a good thing we went to bed early too because we were woken up around 3:30 in the morning by chanting, singing, drumming and clapping that circled around the house. It was eerie and even seemed a little menacing. I could make out a couple words (with the tiny little bit of Ewe that I know) and they were yovo (which, as you all know, is what they call white people) and God and something that I thought sounded like "go away". We listened until dawn (5:30-ish) when the happenings ended abruptly. Later in the day we questioned Tsevi about it and he said that they were prayers (Christian and not Voudou prayers) asking God to chase away some birds that were pestering the villagers, but he seemed a little unsettled by the question. It is possible that they were chasing away birds – that would explain the "go away" and it is semi possible that it was Christian and not Voudou because the chanting alternated with hymn-like songs, but it is still very strange that the word "yovo" was so involved in the chants and that they circled the house. Hmm. I taped some of it with my minidisc recorder, but have yet to listen to it to see if it is audible. Perhaps I will ask my Ewe teacher to listen to it and tell me what they were saying.

We ate pancakes for breakfast – Dad made me shapes to rival the shapes Etienne supposedly makes when he makes pancakes =0). At my request, he made me an elephant, a dolphin and a butterfly. Then we both showered and went out to make the thank-you rounds as is custom the morning after a gift or service rendered. We thanked them and they thanked us. We went to see the soccer field and the Catholic Church and happened upon a few other important people in the village like members of the COGES (village health committee) and of the CVD. And that was it. There wasn't much else to do or see and we were just hanging out until Mana came to invite us to the Catholic church service. I was assured it would only last an hour (and not four like the Assemblea de Dieu service) and so we went. It was nice, but very few people were in attendance and it was probably the most subdued Church service ever to take place on the African continent. That is an obvious exaggeration, but there were no accompanying musical instruments except for a maraca. True to their word, it was over in a painless hour and we went back home to sit under my paillote until it was time for me to start preparing lunch. I then left Dad to converse with Constant (who had accompanied us through the walk around the village and the church service. It seems as though he just organized the driver and makes sure he is on time, etc. He is an artist who lives in Lome and he is a wonderful find because he made my Dad's trip run unbelievably smoothly and that meant a lot to me considering that time was so precious. I am sure all my friends will want his number for when their visitors come. He also seems very nice, wholesome and well-educated and not at all a nuisance to have around).

I made beans and rice for lunch – a concoction with whatever I had around the house. As I was preparing, we received an unexpected visit from the Catholic priest at Agbatitoe and a very welcome gift of pineapples (which sustained me throughout the week considering I had been distracted while in Notse and hadn't stocked up on fruits). We ate lunch and then Dad said good-bye to Tsevi and Lili and after giving me a series of hugs from the family members he left me in a cloud of dust. Dramatic flair. Corny, I know. I was sad when he left, but I immersed myself directly in the next thing on my to-do list which was getting Mana to sew the six huge sheets I bought in Notse into a pavilion. I spent several hours at her house watching her sew and then I went home. Lili and Mana were thinking of coming over to learn how to make pineapple-upside down cake, but it started to rain for which I was thankful because I was tired and in need of a little down time.

10/29/07

I am feeling lazy about writing today – perhaps because I am sleepy and I have a belly full of fufu. Today was a good, productive day even if it didn't go as planned. After a breakfast of fried plantains and a fried egg, I headed over to the dispensaire prepared for a strenuous day of vaccinations only to have Lili tell me that it wouldn't take place because the hospital in Notse has run out of the DT Coq vaccine. For my purposes it is probably just as well because it gives me a little extra time to get organized and get supports for my makeshift pavilion. I need to bully someone into doing that for me because it is something the community can and should provide.

With an unexpectedly free day, I decided to weed my garden which I did until the sun got too hot aournd 10:00. While I was weeding, I made some new acquaintances – several men who speak relatively good French – one is a cook and I thought that he and Jason might be able to write and exchange recipes or tricks or something, but I forgot to ask ir he reads and writes in English. Small matter . . .

Afterwards I went to the dispensaire and fashioned some outdoor brooms out of a certain kind of shrub. I hope to use them to sweep the goat and sheep poop out from under my paillote. Afterwards I came home, did laundry for a long while and then made a lunch of boiled ignam and a peanut butter, tomato paste, and red lentil sauce. After eating, I showered, plastered more duct tape on the soccer ball and played two games of UNO with the children before they had to go to school at 2:30. Then I started working on my boite d'images for my causeries because Dad brought me a perfect sketch book in which I can arrange my drawings. I made some more drawings and started to think about how I will organize my book and my presentations.

Around 4:00 I headed over to the dispensaire where I got caught in a discussion about the need for a jardin d'enfants (preschool/day care) in Avassikpe. Perhaps if a volunteer is really posted in Avassikpe, we could collaborate and do some sort of formation for whoever will teach in this day-care. Then I went with Lili to her house where she said Mana was waiting to do her hair and I was unpleasantly surprised by the presence of Nicolas, Lili's sketchy husband. I couldn't think of a way to take my leave politely and so I stayed through the fufu pounding and chicken killing and plucking process – hence the reason my tummy is full of fufu. It wasn't too uncomfortable because Nicolas didn't say anything awkward this time, but either way his presence makes me withdraw into myself and of course Lili notices. I excused myself by saying that I am tired, which is true, and Kassim (who arrived as we were preparing dinner with yet another brother that I hadn't met) walked me home. Bed time!

Tomorrow perhaps I will go to the field with Yolke or perhaps I will weed my garden some more and work on finding someone to put stakes in at the dispensaire. I have decided not to go to Atakpame for the Halloween party – I will be out of village all week next week for AIDS Ride and so I think I should stay this week. In addition, I would really like to fence in my garden . . . hm . . . we will see. . .

10/30/07


I am exhausted. Wowee. I spent the whole day working in the field – first in my little field, from seven until 9:00 and then I went to the field with Yolke. I didn't know what I was getting myself into – eight hours of picking beans. My body is angry with me now, but it is going to hate me tomorrow. Eight hours bent over at the waist – it reminds me of when mom and I went strawberry picking except there was no juicy sweet reward every once in a while to keep up moral – just the dry rattle of black-eyed peas in the pod. I went through phases as I was picking – first focusing on the idyllic side of subsistence farming – a whole family working together to secure the next year's food supply. Grandfather, husband, two wives, each of whom dote over the eight month old baby girl. . . After a while, though, I started comparing the work to my stint at Proctor and Gamble – monotonous, repetitive and endless. And then I reached my "I am going to break down and cry if I have to pick one more row of beans" phase. Of course my pride didn't let me cry, but that is how tired I was. In true P&G fashion, we took two little breaks – one for some roasted peanuts and roasted corn and one for some pâte. Unfortunately, I had only brought one liter of water and so was a bit parched – but that eliminated the problem of having to figure out where to pee . . . As we were getting ready to come back to village, Yolke's husband dug up six ignams. I carried them back in a metal basin on my head and Yolke told me to take them home. I protested, said it was too much (1,000 cFA worth of ignams) and ended up taking three home. It is funny, in the States, I would never work eight hours for $2.00 in pay and here I protest. Then again, I didn't go for the pay but for the bonding and the experience. All in all a rewarding day, but I haven't seen Lili at all. I hope she isn't worried. And Julie (Efo's older sister) just brought me a little dish of fufu. How perfectly wonderful! I wonder what the occasion is because the sauce has chicken in it. Chicken here usually signifies something special. I adore fufu. I can't wait until I have my own mortar and pestle and can make fufu whenever I please.

10/31/07

I am sore all over and I can hardly bend down. All those muscles were so over-used yesterday. This morning I made fried plantains for Julie to thank her for the fufu from last night. Then I made pancakes for myself and ate until I was stuffed. Then I went to see Lili. She missed me yesterday – I didn't know I would be gone all day or I would have informed her. After saying good-morning, I took my bike out and headed off with my machete trying to cut some trees from the enclosure to my garden. People laugh at me and ask why I don't get someone to cut them down for me (easier said than done) but they respect me mor for trying to do things myself. On my way out of village on my bike, I met up with the Catholic catechist – a very nice man who slurs his words and seems to take the directive "be humble" to an extreme. When I explained my mission, he told me that he didn't have time to help me today as he was headed to the field, but that he would point out a good place to cut wood. I was relieved a that because I was a little nervous at cutting down something I wasn't supposed to. Anyway, he ended up cutting down several trees for me (small trees, but trees none the less) and all I did was hack off the extraneous branches. Even so, I quickly realized that my coup-coup is in dire need of being sharpened. Another man came along and told me to use his and the difference was amazing. The two men (and others who had stopped on the road to observe the spectacle) helped me load the wood onto my bike and strap it down and then I wheeled it back to my house. I now have a bruise on my side from where I supported a good bulk of the weight in an attempt to keep my bike from falling over. Most of the work was done for me, but even so I was tired and left it at that for the day.

Today was another one of those days when I have had food coming at me from all sides, but for some reason I have had the munchies all day – an unquenchable appetite. I ate pancakes (a whole batch – seven big pancakes) between six and four in the afternoon and on top of that I ate some pâte and sauce with a nice lady who always greets me on my way to and from the dispensaire, then I ate pâte with Lili (both times with a green leaf and fish sauce) and then I came home, made two pineapple upside-down cakes with Lili, played UNO with the kids while they baked and then went back to the dispensaire and ate boiled peanuts and boiled corn and for some reason I still felt hungry and so I came home and ate more peanuts and a fermented pineapple. Today revolved around food. I was planning on eating beans and gari for lunch, but considering I had already eaten pâte twice over, I made the beans to give to the woman who fed me the first time (I will give them to her tomorrow morning). So after eating some pineapple, I went to sit outside and the girl next door (the younger sister of my neighbor lady) gave me a boiled sweet potatoe and boiled peanuts (some of which I gave to Yawovi who very surprisingly gave them to another little boy). And just now, as I was writing the beginning of this paragraph, Tsevi came to invite me over for fufu (an invitation I couldn't refuse). He said he needed someone to eat with so that he could eat more. That is a very interesting concept, but it really sums up Togolese hospitality – even when there seems to be very little food, everyone is invited to partake and somehow the food stretches to fit the number of people.

And so, yet again, I have a happy tummy full of fufu – yay Buddha belly, here you come. It was a nice dinner and I actually ate some fish and it was good. I think I will ask Mana to teach me how to choose fish at the market and how to prepare them because I have unwittingly eaten big fish and little fish and they are all surprisingly tasty. Lots of piment fixes everything and speaking of piment, it is quite a unique sensation to have your right hand (your eating hand) tingle (for some time after the meal) from being dipped repeatedly in spicy sauce. For example, my hand is still burning (tingling sounds more pleasant) as is my esophagus, but how my carbohydrate loving self adores fufu. Yum. Contentment for my belly (I think I might be turning into a Togolese person and my stomach doesn't think it has eaten until it is heavy with fufu. Uh-oh. That doesn't bode well for my waist-line.)

11/1/07

November already. All Saints Day. Day of the Dead. When I realized yesterday that today was the day of the dead, I thought perhaps that there would be some interesting goings on, but Tsevi informed me that it is just a Catholic celebration (even though it is a holiday from school) and as far as I could tell, the day was just like any other.

I am trying to prepare myself and my house for my week long absence. The fact that I have an Ewe lesson tomorrow complicates matters a bit, but I will work it out. I am also a little disappointed that I won't be here for the vaccination day which will take place sometime next week. I can't decide whether I don't want them to implement my number system at all or whether I want them to give it a try without me. It is the control freak in me showing through. I don't think it will work well without me and so perhaps I will "forget" to leave the numbers. I am doubtful as to whether they will get the posts in the ground for the make-shift pavilion anyway. Grr. I am afraid that I am of the mindset that they won't get it right without my supervision and so the whole thing should be put off a month. Grr. . .

About my day, I think it was productive . . .

Early this morning, I went to give some beans and gari to the woman who fed me pâte yesterday and then I tried to bring a pineapple upside-down cake to the man who helped me cut down the trees (and by helped I mean did it for me), but he wasn't home. I went back to the dispensaire and joined a group of women I know in ooh-ing and ah-ing over a newborn baby (by the way, Dad, if you could get that picture of Lili and the newborn developed and send it to me, I am sure Lili would be tickled to death). It was nice to be in the recovery room with women I know and who know me because before I have always been to timid to venture in – unsure whether or not my presence would be welcome. Today I was definitely welcome and as it was a young girl from Avassikpe who had given birth, many people I know filtered in and out to see the baby and congratulate the mother.

After spending some time basking in womanly bonding that I could neither understand nor really partake in, but nonetheless enjoyed, I went home to put my fence posts in the gournd. I was unconsciously smart in my choice of day (a holiday from school) because I had a little helper and I was very grateful for it. I already have a painful blister on my hand from the little bit of chopping I did yesterday (I am beginning to understand why they think I am so fragile) and the little boy (no older than ten) chopped the tops off all the posts to make thme even to please my perfectionist self (can't have uneven posts!). Every once in a while he would hand me the machete and let me take a couple of wacks just to humor me, but I didn't even make a dent compared to the way he quickly finished the job each time. I was glad for the help, but reluctant to admit that I just couldn't do the job. After he evened up my posts, he dug holes in the ground for me. I could have done that part but he, and then two older boys, insisted. One asked for food in exchange – a request I ignored and the other two asked for nothing. I gave the little one (the boy who had helped me from the very beginning) a pen as thanks. He seemed pleased.

I showered, returned to the dispensaire and had a run-in with the coordinator of the vaccination program in Notse that I handled badly. He made some remark about me finding the funds to fix the wear and tear in the dispensaire and rather than making light of it or saying that I would help brainstorm for ways to come up with the funds, I went off about how it isn't my job to find money to fix the dispensaire. I don't know why I reacted that way. Perhaps because I am a little ambivalent about my purchase of 6,000 cFA worth of sheets for the vaccination day. I am not sure that was smart – like everything that is given free of effort, it will be less valued as a result. If it works well, perhaps I will request reimbursement from the community health committee and if not, I will find some other use for my very large patchwork sheet. Tomorrow I have to make meeting with the "responsables" a priority to emphasize the importance of them doing their part to match me doing mine. They have to at least meet me half way and provide the posts which they could easily do at no cost to themselves except a little time and sweat.

I made beans and rice for lunch and after eating (and while dripping with sweat) I worked on my boite d'images and completed the food groups pages. I think/hope it will be worth the effort and will work well. In any case, I am improving my skills as an artist.

I had told the children (mostly to get them to leave so I could make and eat lunch) that we would play cards at 2:00. It is amazing how punctual they can be when it serves their interests. I played UNO for a while and eventually stopped to wash some clothes. I only washed what I absolutely need for my trip because the blisters on my hands were hurting too much.

In the late afternoon I visited Lili at the dispensaire, accompanied the woman who fed me yesterday to the field to pick up some vegetables she had left out in the sun to dry and showed Yolke and company my photos. Then I tried to start neatening/packing and now I will go to bed and read. I have a lot to do tomorrow and I am tired so I will probably sleep soon.

Oh. Brushing my teeth reminded me that I chewed on a piece of the stick they use to clean their teeth today and perhaps it works, but I bet it is difficult to get children to use it because it tastes nasty – very bitter.

11/2/07

Today Jerome, my Ewe teacher, didn't show until around 11:00 and so I had plenty of time to clean the house, burn garbage, take a shower, do some laundry, wash dishes and in other ways prepare for my departure. I wasn't sure whether or not he would come at all because my cell phone battery was dead and had been for a couple of days and so even if he had tried to contact me he would have been unable to reach me. As it turned out, he had had a flat tire en route and had had to wheel his moto back to Agbatitoe and get it fixed by the mechanic. It is lucky that I asked about the cause of the delay before letting my annoyance show through as it wasn't the poor man's fault at all. Dad left him a really nice briefcase, but I have decided that it is still too early for such a nice gift. We had a nice Ewe lesson and only went off on a couple of tangents. They were good tangents, though, about Dad starting a project in Togo (stoves, water filters, hint, hint, wink, wink) and I can't remember what else. Anyway, in comparison to the last lesson it was relatively painless. I had made popcorn and two types of peanuts – boiled and roasted – to muffle the growling of our stomachs and just as we were finishing, the Catholic catechist to be (the one who cut the posts for me) conveniently arrived so that I could thank him in person (I had left the cake with his wife early in the morning). Apparently Jerome is going to take advantage of his weekly trips to Avassikpe to give the catechist lessons in reading and writing in Ewe and he would also like to plan an alphabetization program for January, February and March (the months with the least amount of field work) so we started making plans for that as well.

After Jerome left, I finished closing up my house and made one last attempt to pester the members of COGES into getting posts for the dispensaire, but they weren't anywhere to be found. I then biked to Agbatitoe and only had a little difficulty finding a taxi. The trip to Atakpame was uneventful and the rain luckily held off until my bike was safely stowed away at the maison. It is a little awkward to be here without anyone from my stage, but there are only a few people here and they are all friendly. I got to see Emmanuelle again, so that was nice. Lili was planning on coming up to Atakpame this afternoon as well, but apparently her meeting lasted longer than she expected. Perhaps she will come tomorrow and she, Emmanuelle and I will do something together. That would be nice.

11/3/07

I have just spent hours writing emails to Jorge and so I am going to make this short, sweet and to the point. This morning I woke up early, took a shower, read emails on my computer, went to eat an egg sandwich with another volunteer and then went to the market. After going to the bank and buying a few necessities, I tried to look into getting a new cell phone number (one that doesn't start with zero). Apparently (as I found out after almost an hour of back-and-forth) with the cell phone people, all the numbers of both cell phone service providers now start with zero. My only option now is to try to get a COS-ing volunteer to sell me their number or perhaps Ashley will sell me her Togocell number.

I then came back to the maison and made roasted peanuts and sugar covered peanuts "en quantité" as snacks for AIDS Ride. In the afternoon I went out briefly with Emmanuelle to meet up with Lili for about an hour and have a drink. It was a strange reunion and seemed a little forced, but it was still a really nice gesture on her part to come all the way up to Atakpame to say a final farewell. I think the whole process of saying good-bye after two years really sucks, no two ways about it, and I am not looking forward to it, but lucky for me it is a long way off.

In the evening, after getting some rice and wagashi (something between tofu and cheese) for dinner I have been writing emails until the present moment (it is now midnight – way way way past my bedtime and resurrecting unpleasant memories of all-nighters in college).

Tomorrow three of us will make our way up to Sotouboua and on Monday the AIDS Ride adventure will start.