26 November 2010

Happy Thanksgiving! 44 volunteers came together for Thanksgiving in a village called Agengre. They were like 10 turkeys, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy, stuffed tomatoes, apple pies, pumpkin pies, brownies, and more! Plus, local drinks: sodabi, tchouk, local beer, and water sachets. It was delicious, and we all ate so much we felt sick until it turned into a dance party. This morning, we woek up and ate all the leftovers – yum!
It’s been a really fun couple of weeks! For my birthday, I had a little party/going away party for another volunteer. We made greek food, homemade pitas, hummus, cucumber sauce, and even canned chicken! Whoa. Then on my actual birthday, I just spent it with another volunteer and we had velveeta cheese day. The silly things that make my days in Togo. A couple days later, I went down to Lome to see the new volunteers swear in. The hotel I stayed in was SO nice, running water with HOT SHOWERS! No air conditioner, but I was not complaining. The swear-in ceremony was at the ambassador’s house which is absolutely lovely. I ate hamburgers, eggrolls, and more American food. I just realized this entire blogpost is about food.
After Lome, I spent some time in another volunteer’s village. There was a big vaccination campaign going on so we spent two days filling out forms and giving kids vaccinations. It was so much fun and I want to start doing that in my village. All vaccinations in Togo are free, I think they’re provided by Unicef.
Next week is PDM/IST (Product Design Management/In Service Training) in Pagala. Our homologues come with us which means it will all be in French. Ugh. The week after that, the health volunteers will be in Pagala for their PDM/IST, so I’ll get to hang out with them too! For Christmas, we plan on heading up to the Northern part of Togo to stay in hotels in a city called Kara. Then for New Years, a few of us plan on ringing in the New Year in Accra, Ghana. Busy few months, but not with work. After the holidays, I definitely plan to buckle down to get some work done.