Lomé

I arrived in Lomé on Saturday after an extremely long and sleepless travel.  I've spent the last 4 days with the my training group from 7AM until 10 to 12PM.  I keep joking that I feel like I've joined a cult.  In Philly, our facilitator kept saying that we are now with "our people" and the first thing we did when we arrived at the hotel was take a pill and pass it on.  The pill is doxy, and its to prevent malaria, but it was still a bit un-medical in presentation.  We met with the nurse practitioners the following day to receive our next month supply of malaria prophylaxis.  I am now taking Mefloquine.  I will also be continuing doxy until that medicine kicks in.  No crazy dreams for me yet, but others in the group have had some wild ones.  Coupled with the six vaccinations over the last couple days and severe lack of sleep, I am feeling quite loopy. 

Training has been very interesting.  We have learned all about Malaria, diarrhea, and general advise for staying healthy.  The most entertaining thing is our book Staying Healthy in Togo, or more commonly referred to as the SHIT book.  I have been assured that bowel movements will be a constant conversation for the next two years of my life and I need to have a sense of humor about it.  I'm pretty sure I already know more about the bathroom habits of the people in my group than I do anyone else I've ever met over the age of 2.

No one has gotten sick yet, but I feel like it will start to happen this week.  We leave Lomé for our training sites this afternoon.  I will be stationed in Tsévié with fellow Girls Education and Empowerment volunteers.  The natural resource volunteers with whom we arrived will be in the village of Gbatope.  I will be staying with a Togolese family for the next several weeks and I'm really excited for this.  The families have been instructed to not use any English (if they know any) and to help us integrate into Togolese culture.  This however means that we will be eating the food that they cook and some of us may not take favorably to it right away. 

I really like all the people in my group and the staff and our trainers have been really welcoming.  I could not be happier to be in Togo right now.  I'm actually shocked at how little culture shock I have had so far, but I also know that I have been shielded from a lot so far.  The upcoming weeks of my home stay and my subsequent arrival in my post village shall prove to be a very interesting cross cultural experience.  Right now I just feel like I am on vacation in Central America. 

So much has happened in the last few days that it is hard to know how to describe where I am and what I have seen.  Lomé  is on the beach and the climate is quite similar to Costa Rica.  It is very humid and very hot.  We have been consuming liter upon liter of water each day and I never really feel like it is enough.  No one really goes to the beach except for fishermen, but it is still pretty.  The roads are mostly dirt and with the rain it is quite an adventure to be driven even three blocks away.  Motorcycles are the most prominent vehicles on the road and it is quite common to see a family of three riding one together.  Trying to avoid the puddles when walking around is even more of a challenge, some roads cannot be crossed after it has rained.  I haven't taken as many pictures here as I would have liked, but hopefully I'll be able to attach a link to a blog of another volunteer that has done a better job.  I will have electricity in Tsévié, so hopefully I will be able to blog again soon.  I miss you all!