So I have been trying to update this silly little thing for months and months now but everything keeps not working for me, so I’m sitting in a maison in Kara typing on an American keyboard and saving this junk on my jump disk and then I shall update when I am able to actually use the internet. So in theory this shall be a legit update.

HELLO ALL!
I have officially been in Togo for 231 days now (that’s right I have a lot of free time so I have figured this all out...576 days to go). I am madly in love with my dog. He is absolutely perfect and I wish that you could all see him and hug him. He’s a great snuggler too, which is great except that it’s about 12354 degrees here now. But rainy season is coming, and with it cooler weather and the fact that I wont have to go to the well every day to get water. Many things to look forward to.
In the mean time I am incredibly thankful for a small battery operated fan that my neighbor Casey gave me. About 50% of my income is going towards batteries (considering the batteries here last for about 4 hours max). But I’m not complaining. And work is SLOWLY starting to pick up. I have an English Club and a girls soccer team and in a few weeks I’m going to forming some peer educators so I will have some kids that I can work with when I want to get stuff done. If there is one thing that I am learning here its patients…and to appreciate alone time. I’m def becoming a good reader, especially now that I have my hammock. I just re read all of the Harry Potter’s which I was going to try to hold off on until July so that I could read 7 right after but the temptation was too strong. C’est la vie. I’m about to start reading my first French book (ok so its really just Me Talk Pretty One Day in French by David Sedaris…but it counts n’est pas?)….In case you couldn’t tell my French still needs some help but we are trying. And if you have any good book recommendations let me know. I’m always interested in new books.
Oh and my house was recently painted and I just got some furniture (that I ordered in December) but it means that for the first time since last May I am no longer living out of a suitcase. YAY! And it means that I actually have something resembling a home now. I have a fence up and I sewed myself some curtains and I put up lots of pics and I’m in the process of getting some nice authentic African art work for the walls so it doesn’t look like a 9 year old lives here. Basically its like a whole new place. When I first came I had a mattress on the floor and was eating out of a box of food on the ground. My house was basically a cement box with windows and a straw mat ceiling. But now…its got blue walls and I have two tables, 4 chairs, a bed, an armoire and a guarde manger aka a cabninet for my food. And I have rugs on the floor and everything. One day you’ll see pictures.
We had a big fete in my village the other week and at the end everyone was dancing so I chose to dance with a bunch of little kids because they don’t judge the fact that you don’t have any rhythm and in the process made about 20 friends all under the age of 5. Granted none of them speak French but then again neither do I.
For now I am on a mini tourney of Togo, and I am proud to announce that today was the first time that I have been in a bush taxi that has broken down…but it was just a flat tire and it was fixed quickly so it doesn’t really count. I’m in Kara for a few days with my Susie “helping” her out the best I can with a teacher’s formation and then I’ll head down to Atakpame and then Lome. A few weeks ago we had an all volunteer conference and I signed up for some committee’s. I am proud to be the new co-training of trainers-er for the Gender and Development committee, and I’m helping to plan our next training session and I’m in charge of the girls bike tourney for next year for the Central region. So basically I’m getting busy again which rules because as those of you who knew me in college know I enjoy being busy. So I’ll be traveling the country going to meetings for my many new found appointments.
Lets see….what else is new. My PCV neighbor just had a traditional voodoo wedding ceremony in her village with another PCV. It was really interesting. They had to sacrifice a goat and drink a lot of different alcohols and stuff. I have some pictures. Speaking of pictures I sent my parents some discs with some pics on them so hopefully they can get those up on a website or something so we can share. I can try to add some up here too on my blog but no one knows if the internet with cooperate with that.
I’ll be near the internet for a few days (two weeks?) so if you have anything that you want me to write about holler and I’ll try to update. And e-mail. And call. And send letters. I promise I will always write back.
I miss and love you.
AND
I’LL BE BACK IN THE US ON AUGUST 31 IN MARYLAND THEN COLORADO SO SAVE THE DATE AND WE MUST REUNITE AND CELEBRATE!

ps im going to try to email out some pics so check it