October 2012

30

Went to Kara for a Halloween party and to stock up on some good food.

28

Had a meeting with the women’s grouppement and had club with the village kids today! The kids are adorable and so much fun! We talked about what they did with Maggie, what they liked, and what they want to do in the future. Then we played games! Meeting with the women went well – they are all busy right now with harvest, so we are going to wait until January to start having regular meetings. They are an awesome group and a lot of fun to be with.

25

Worked in the field today for the bean harvest. Seriously I think this may be one of the hardest workouts I have ever had. Sorry Alan. I thought I was going to die. There were 60+ women singing and picking beans, talking and laughing – In my head I kept thinking a pattern of  phrases - “shut up”, “it is too hot to be doing this”, “my back is going to break in 5, 4, 3, 2…” meanwhile they are making circles around me – it would be an understantement to say that they harvested double of what I did. After 6 hours I took a break until they all finished an hour later. Then! after they were all done, they took the bags of beans, hefted them up on their heads, and carried them the mile walk back to the village.  I couldn’t even lift a bag with my arms – I am honestly incapable of carrying one, even not after working for 7 hours harvesting beans. I did manage, however, to carry my water bottle, my legs shaking the whole way back from all my strenuous labor. They kept telling me that I had worked so hard and that I did such a good job =] Hopefully after 2 years I’ll be able to keep up a little better.

24

Second day of packages – thank you Aunt Anne!! Never have I been so excited about deodarant haha Love you guys & miss you tons!

Had another meeting at the school today. Talked to a group of interested students about the environmental club – I think our first official meeting will hopefully be 2 weeks.

23

Visited Richard today! His petit village of 6,000? people feels like a booming city to me haha… it was so exciting to see stores & a LIBRARY!!  the library has kids books in French, so maybe I’ll go there to build up some vocabulary =]

22

Made a sack garden with some peppers and other veggies – I hope they grow!!

21

The surveys are done!!!! So exciting. Also went to a meeting for the community development committee – they had elections & my counterpart got elected vice president, so that was exciting.

19

Went to Kara, used the free internet and GOT MAIL!!!! Thanks Aunt Kaci and Joyce for the packages… made my day =] Also, today a guy told me that my French was really good for only having studied it for 2 months, which is a total lie, but he couldn’t have told me anything better. I felt like a 5 year old when someone tells you that you’re so grown up… “I would have guessed you were 7!”… you can just imagine the proud grin that spread across my face.

18

Maggie, I made white bread, used a ranch packet (with mayonnaise and vinegar =] ), some canned tuna and cucumber and made a sandwich!!! Thought you’d be proud. Thanks again for the groceries you left behind J

17

Had another meeting at the school to decide who is going to be in the environmental club.

16

Maggie left – everyone is so sad! Me included.

14

Going-away fete for Maggie – I can’t believe she leaves in a couple days! We went to church, then the community came down the mountain and we ate and danced and sang. We had uniforms made, so there was a group of us wearing Togolese outfits made out of a blue, yellow and red spider web print.

11

Had a cluster going-away party for Maggie – Austin made enchiladas, sweet potato pie, banana bread – so good =]

9

Had my first meeting at the school – went well! We are going to work on starting up an environmental club.

7

Had a community meeting – we mapped out the community in separate groups of men, women, and students. They identified resources and needs within the community and shared them with each other. Also continued working on my surveys.

6

Host sister, Vivianne, came today from Atakpamé today.

3

Went shopping – best buys of the day – processed cheese and a trash can. Also got proposed to, got stuck with a crazy person for a half an hour, had him follow me into the post office and then watched him get chased out by an angry postman who had a bat (made me a little unsure who was crazier), mailed Mandy’s bday card, watched a moth fly into a flame and burn up, and ate a salad for supper.

2

Spent all day decorating – looks a lot homier now =]