Life

**** I wrote this entry and then didn’t get a chance to finish/post because our regional capitol from now on, will be turning off the electricity during the daytime for the duration of the hot season.  So in other words, my battery life ran out.  ****

24^thFebruary, 2013

I’m heading to Pagala tomorrow for a Peace Corps formation, known as PDM (a training where each volunteer also brings a “counterpart”/ work partner).  I’m pretty excited to see all my PCV friends that live south of Mango (i.e. that don’t live in Savanes)! I’m not so excited for the long week of a crammed schedule of all kinds of activities and sessions.  Although some sessions, with moderation, aren’t half bad; trainings are usually an overload, for me personally. 

Random Choses:

I’ve found myself buying more lentils (so ecstatic that I found some in the Dapaong market!) lately in order to make this recipe every so often (when I tire of spaghetti and pasta):

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Easy Dahl(makes 2 cups)

1 cup lentils	5-8 garlic cloves, minced
Up to 1 T curry powder	1 medium Onion
3 “maggi” cubes	Salt to taste

*I also add a few small diced tomatoes & a dash of chili powder

Directions:

In a saucepan, combine lentils, onion, garlic, and maggi.  Cover with several inches of water.  Cover pan and simmer until lentils are mushy (roughly 30-40 minutes).  Stir in curry powder & salt to taste, adding more water if necessary to achieve a thick, liquid consistency.  Serve over rice.

(I have to learn to halve this recipe because it’s way too much for one person to eat!)

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My hair has given me much attention from both genders… I have had people stop me in the street to tell me how “jolie” (pretty) or “belle” (beautiful) me and/or my hair is.  It’s nice but I’m not one for taking compliments well, so it’s just awkward (like my life in general, so it’s cool). 

The power’s been out all day in Dapaong.  Rumor is that during the hot season, they are going to cut the power in the city duringthe day.  So, my chances of being productive in the city to help my workload have just diminished… Especially considering how I work at the school all week, unlike other types of PCVs, so I can’t come here during the week to work and use the Internet.  The power comes back on around 6pm, so I was able to charge my laptop last night so that I could use it to type this study packet for my students today (because I will be gone in Pagala all this week).  And this morning I woke up early enough to download a few images from the interwebto use in the packet (to make it more appealing and fun) before the power went out again. 

Since in Togo, some of my views/habits/tastes have changed slightly already.  Some things I didn’t [prefer to] eat before: papaya, beets, sardines, and sweet potatoes.  One can make a decent lunch/snack if you make a sardine sandwich with some VQR, garlic salt, and crushed red pepper.  Some of my fears/anxieties were: public speaking (now I have a class of 125 people, and I also have to present often during PC and teacher trainings), large groups (I think my class alone fixes this problem), and tight spaces (bush taxi anyone?). 

Books:

“Freedom Writers” by the Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell.

This book isn’t for the light of hearts.  I must have teared up more than a dozen times reading through these students diary entries.  The cover looked a bit corny but I decided to look past that initial judgment; and I’m glad that I did.

“Siddartha” translated by Henry Hesse.

The quest of Siddartha for enlightenment is a classic in Buddhist literatureand I enjoyed the mindful journey of this book.  I especially appreciate his (siddharta’s) “wanderer” tendencies.

2 March 2013

I left Pagala Training Center at 7am and got into Dapaong at 4pm… LONG day! But this past week breezed by! I got into the PCV house and passed out, face first, into the couch for at least an hour, before I could function.  I’m not sure if I’ve said this enough, or at all, but HOT season has started and it wipes one out more than usual.  I feel more lethargic in general here.  If I don’t start my run before the sun rises, then my chances of exercising that day are slim. 

PDM (the training in Pagala) went really well! I was able to reconnect with PCV friends, bond more with my Togolese counter-part, and learn with him as well.  I felt the sessions were all relevant and useful, but yet still tiring as usual! My “homologue” (counter-part) MrLare, seemed to really enjoy the week as well.  The very last night I treated him to a beer with some of my PCV friends and a few other homologues, and we were all able to wind down, enjoy, and dance! Yes, of course dancing was involved, you all know me ;)

Class update:

The students can be little rambunctious, talkative punks, but I love them anyhow.  I was so proud of them because the tests scores for everyone on this past exam were all higher than the last! And the day I went to go over the test answers with them, a few students reminded me that we also had homework the night before… “Tee-cha, tee-cha, homework, homework!” And then of course, the next class I had to kick two kids out because the kids were all behaving poorly.  One of those kids was the class “major,” or lead kid, and there was a debate why I was sending him out.  I let ‘em know that I don’t care what sex or title you have, if you behave poorly and interrupt my class constantly, you can leave.  And so goes the ups and downs of being a teacher.   

Random events since my last post:

My buddy/work partner, Emanuel from Naki-Ouest, brought me to Cinkasse on a Sunday, and my other friend, the Vet Mohamed, met us there for a beer.  And I found jalapeno PRINGLES there! They also have tons of great meat (known for their sheep/goat meat), a great variety of electronic items, and lots of produce/goods from both Ghana and Burkina-Faso (as it is the meeting point of the 3 countries). 

I had the chance to aid ELF (English Language Fellow) Phil Dierking, with a Regional English Teacher Training in Dapaong.  He was expecting 40 teachers, as the inspector had told him, and 144 showed up! So my help was more than welcome.  I even led one of his activities on student-centered learning.  Afterwards, I went with him and Ambassador Rep Brenda, to lunch.  Brenda and I went to the Savanes Museum while Phil had another meeting/training, and then we met up with other PCVs for Tchakpa. 

With my science club, we were able to make “SavonLiquide” (liquid soap) and I did a hand washing/cleanliness sensibilisation.  With English Club, we played a bunch of interative/educational Enlgish games and even had “debate” time.  The topics of the debates were: Is Obama a good President, and should girls go to school? I also printed up the lyrics to “Here Comes The Sun”, by the Beatles, and put blanks in some spots for them to fill in as we listened.  I didn’t think it would be so hard for them, but they seemed to enjoy the challenge. 

My “Savamily” (Savannes Family… my friends in my region) made Valentines cards for every PCV in our “stage” with the help of Kara PCV Maria.  We drew some crafty characteratures and wrote in some catchy/corny lines, and then EMS’ed them to everyone. 

This month, I wasn’t only able to make my own “devoirs” test, but with the help of Lare, I was able to make a proof for the regional “compos” exam (which happens the week after the next).  Apparently, every trimester, the inspector picks a few schools for the teachers to submit a complete exam, and then the inspectors take it and combine the questions and distribute them to all the schools in time for exam week. 

Emanuel came to Tami to have a meeting with the women’s group while I was surveying testing day.He did a sensibilisation on tooth brushing, using the prototype that Dr Stephanie gave him.  Afterwards we went to have a meeting with the chef and explain our project to him.  He had heard that we were having meetings at my house and wanted to make sure it was for development purposes and not politically driven.  The chief was reassured and I was even invited to a development meeting that following Monday.  That development meeting turned out to be a meeting of 32 village chiefs and sous-chiefs.  It was a little intimidating but I got through it.

The weekend before the last, was Matt H’s birthday weekend and the Vday party! Sam made egg drop soup, sweet and sour tofu, and cake.  At some point that weekend, we all sat to watch this movie called, “Silver Lining’s Playbook”.  The movie in general made me a bit anxious (with the main characters being bipolar and yelling all the time) but I absolutely loved the ending!

Last Sunday, I got back from Dapaong and when I went to cook dinner, I realized that my gas tank was empty.  I called ZedmanMousa to bring me a new tank and take the old away and then started to boil some water outside on mama Rachel’s firepit.  Just as I put the water in some instant mashed potatoes, I noticed a bright light outside.  My neighbor’s (counterpart, Lare) backyard was on fire.  One of the small kids took a stick from his wife’s cooking fire and accientily set fire to all the small houses/buildings that shelter the animals (one of which he just completed for his chickens).  All of the surrounding neighbors, including myself, gave water to help diminish it, and eventually it went out.  And the next day, Mousa was able to get a new tank to me (and rip me off--- ). 

Someone’s building a new house right behind ours… As in their front porch not only looks at the where my windows are, but it’s only a few feet away.  So much for privacy.

To get to Dapaong, last weekend, was ridiculous.  The tires on my bike were low on air and I changed them because I don’t think my bike friend did a great job on my air valves when he changed them.  So after I changed them, I couldn’t get them to inflate properly.  Apparently my bike pump is broken.  I had intentions of biking to Dapaong but that failed.  And then the next day, I was waiting for my zedman Harvey to come get me and he shot me a text that he couldn’t—gas was out in Dapaong (as in the Regional Capitol ran out of gasoline).  So, my host dad, Francois, said that I could hitch a ride with him.  After about a dozen stops along the way, including meeting his parents in Nanergou, and crashing a wedding, I made it to Dapaong!

And my little sister, Marie, has been so attached to me lately! I bet she’s going to go wild when she sees me tomorrow, since I’ve been gone a whole week.  I’ve been trying to teach her French and English words intermittently, and she loves to jump on my back (“doh-doh”) and fall asleep while I sing and dance. 

In summary, life here is up and down but overall it going all right.  I’ve been productive, made (and continue to make) new friends, and I’m learning a lot about life and myself (and I even get time to read, as my sister jealously likes to point out often).

Until the next post!