More new pictures!

Two days at post and I was bored. So I came back to Lome and now there are new pictures on Flickr. Enjoy!

Swearing In

I am writing this a few days after swearing in, because this is the first moment of peace I've gotten since I came to Lome. The volunteers know how to have fun and I am exhausted. Good thing I'll have 2 years at post to catch up on sleep.

Our swearing in ceremony (see new pictures!) was really nice. It was held at our PC director's house and a lot of host families, embassy staff and Togo TV were there. I have no been seen by fives of tens of people on national Togolese television! There was a speech by our Country Director, then one by our training manager, "Queen" Blandine, the most assertive, toughest Togolese woman I've met so far. We each had to give a short speech in whatever local language our village speaks, so I had to speak Ewe in front of everyone, which was actually kind of nervewracking, surprisingly enough (I wrote mine on my hand, see below). We took our oath, given by the ambassador, and then we were done. All in all, a pretty short and sweet ceremony. We all were wearing clothes made from pagne, the fabric that everyone buys here and gets tailored. There is very little "pret-a-porter" clothing here. So we look pretty fashionable and colorful, as you can see in the pictures. My complet (outfit) was given to me by my host Mama, who did a great job picking it out for me.

After swear in, we partied. And I mean partied. We headed to a popular yovo bar for a little while, then headed to a dance club where about 30 of us took over the dance floor. We met more people from the embassy (aka Marines) and I was amazed to realize they're not allowed to leave Lome. What a different experience from the PCVs. But I wouldn't mind giong to a few embassy parties....

Lome has been quite the culture shock for me. After 3 months in a tiny village, the Western conveniences of Lome really threw me for a loop. There are lots of expats living lives here with a lot of the same comforts of home. We even got a ride in some guy's Lexus yesterday...complete with ipod dock. We have running water at our hotel and real butter with our bread, which is utterly fantastic. The last time we stayed here was on our way from America, and I remember not really liking the food. Now I'm eating my face off at every opportunity. I had 3 full plates of macaroni and cheese the other night. I've lost 10 pounds in country, but I think I've gained at least 5 back in the last 4 days.

There are also supermarches here. I walked into one and my jaw dropped. I had to stop myself from buying a 9 dollar box of Special K (Kate, I thought of Kim, let her know!). I was so excited. After shopping in a bustling outdoor market made up solely of tomatoes, onions and dried fish for 3 months, seeing cheese was incredible. I bought a big block of cheddar and shamelessly gnawed on it as soon as I got out on the street.

Now it's our last day together as a stage. Tomorrow we all head to post. I'm not nervous, I think mostly because I love my house and I know David and Martha will be there. But I will miss the comforts of Lome and my friends from stage. It's amazing how quickly we adapt to our surroundings. I adapted well to Agou-Nyogbo when we were in training, and I fell right back into a more Western culture in Lome. I think Vogan will be a mix of the two. I am really looking forward to getting there and destressing. I feel like I could sleep for 3 days straight.

My Ewe speech

Ashley and me hitting the kegVogan, prefecture VO. Represent.
Look! There are BOYS in our stage!Partying it up

Stage

As I sit down to write a blog post, I find it very difficult because I don't know where to begin. How can I possibly start to describe the differences in culture, environment, everyday life? I think this is, besides having spotty internet, the reason I haven't blogged much.
I am coming up on my last week of training before I swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I have been here for 2 months. Sometimes it seems like it has flown by, other times it feels like an eternity. I think about the last time I took a hot shower (in DC) and it feels like a year ago. But I also remember looking at the training schedule and crying, thinking there was no way I could survive 11 weeks, let alone 2 years. But here I am. We lost two girls along the way, but the remaining 13 of us are pretty proud, as we should be. Training has been a whole lot of sitting and listening to lectures (sometimes interesting, usually not), living with a host family, eating unknown food, crapping our pants (not me, thankfully), being eaten by mosquitos (at one point, I had 62 bites below my knees. Take a moment to imagine that), learning French AND the local language, and living in close quarters with 12 other stressed, emotionally charged women. All in all, it's been a challenging 2 months. I will be extremely sad to say goodbye to my host family, especially my mom and my little brother, but I am excited to get to Vogan and begin my work.
What is my work? you ask. Fabulous question. I don't really know in what capacity I will be of use yet. I will be working with a small NGO called CASIEJ, an organization dedicated to educating youth about HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases. Michel, my Togolese counterpart, seems motivated and interesting. He has worked with PCVs before (I am a replacement) and seems really excited to have me.
As you can see from my pictures, my house.is.amazing. I live on the 2nd floor (2 story houses are a rarity here) with a white-tiled terrace that's as big as the rest of my apartment put together. Vogan is a town of about 9,000 people. It has a huge market on Fridays but is small enough the rest of the time to be managable. David, a small enterprise development volunteer, will be placed there as well, so collaboration on projects (and movie nights!) is a possibility.
I have dealth with more homesickness here than I ever could have expected. In addition to wicked culture shock, it's hard to realize that, although I know I am loved and missed at home, I am on my own. I had to do the same in Italy, but it was not compounded with culture shock the way it is here. As a white person in West Africa, it is ALWAYS apparent that I am a foreigner. Things in the culture continue to surprise me every day, and we volunteers are grappling with all this without the constant reassurance of our support system, our safety nets. Which can be pretty scary. But then something will happen, like I'll notice the clouds rolling in over Mt Agou, or a singing, drumming, colorful funeral procession will march by. Then I'm reminded that even though sometimes I feel like I'm falling, I'm having quite the adventure.
So I guess that's training. Thanks so much to those of you that have sent letters. Although emails are deeply appreciated, mail day is by far the highlight of our weeks here. Keep it coming. I miss you all!