Sunday 24 August 2008

Last Blog Before Post

So the day is finally here. Tomorrow we will all be departing Lome for our various posts. Our time here in Lome has been relaxing. Training has been a stressful time for most, especially if you have been sick as much as I have. Being sick is something that you just need to deal with while living in Africa. It is nearly impossible to avoid it because there are severe sanitation problems throughout the country. Anyway I'm just going to put some notes down of random thoughts that are running through my head before I depart for post:

Togolese people do not follow the rules of "waiting lines", This is the one thing hat drives me nuts and it happens more in Lome than any other place. People will see you in line and then jump in front of you and the cashier does not call them out on it. -my number one pet peeve here

Living in Africa will definitely change your personal definition of poverty.

I'm going to miss our language teachers. Having them speak in a slow and deliberate manner has made me confident in speaking french, however, out in the real world not everyone can speak french like that.

I'm going to miss my host family and the surrounding families. My new compound has a much different feel. Since there are half as many children at my new site and no farm animals, life will be a lot less chaotic there.

I'm not looking forward to the dry season (feb-may) where temperatures reach well into the 100s each day and the power gets cut frequently. Also the surrounding landscape turns from green to an ugly brown. -will probably look a lot like kansas

For my first two months it will be crucial for me to study and practice my French with the community. I'm planning on getting a radio soon to help my French come along. Right now I have enough to survive out in the community but not work effectively with others.

Well that's it for right now. Training was a great experience but now comes the hard part: Living and working on my own for 2 years. Being in the most remote post(distance wise) in country definitely has its obstacles. Living in a larger more transit town will not provide me with the same level of emotional security as a small village would. I am not living in a place where I will be recognized by everyone. But this is the site I wanted and I am motivated to integrate myself in the community as best as possible.

A quote from my counterpart at my site when he was late addressing a crowd:

"In America you have that quote time is money.....but here in Africa time really isn't money"

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