Togo: where everyone's second language is French

whovever said everything is bigger in Texas has never been to Africa. this keyboard is different and really hard to type on...excuse the typos.

first of all; i have had to redefine so many things here. the whole concept of a "household" has been completely thrown out the window. i have people walking through my compound who i have never seen before and my host brother tries to tell me that theyre related to him somehow. i would love to describe my living conditions vividly but alas; this keyboard is killing me.

the biggest adjustment is definitely the language. i'm used to learning things pretty quickly but it feels like i've been here forever already, which makes it feel like i'm learning very slowly. i have good days and bad days. some mornings i wake up and dont feel like going to class, but after i get there, my mood flips right around and i feel great. other days the opposite is true. peaks and valleys. that's what i keep telling myself. today is a valley, but tomorrow will be a peak.

another adjustment is the time. it moves so differently here. some weeks creep by and others are gone before i know it. also, the days feel longer than the weeks sometimes. it's hard to explain.

2 of the GEE volunteers have ETed already. it was kind of a downer as far as the morale of the group goes but weve bounced back since then. one of the two who left was sanjay who was one of my favorite people here, it was great having him around and he will be missed.

please take some time out of your day and send some mail. you have no idea how much one little letter can make my day. send a newspaper or a newsweek or something because is sparse out here. were lucky if we can find a radio station in english with the news.

and i officially know where i will be living for the next two years. the "city" is called Tchamba. it is described as a big village or a very small city. apparently my house is really nice too. the week after next is our post visit so i will be living in Tchamba for that week. if there is internet there, which i heard there is, maybe my next post will be from my there.

some personal shout-outs:

Nicole: i get your skype texts so keep sending them, i reply but i'm assuming im wasting my money and youre not getting them.

Rich: the computers in the internet cafe use ubuntu

sean and nicole: i have been thinking about the sapir-wharf hypothesis a lot lately. how about this, in French, "again", "still", and "yet" are the same word - "encore" which is very frustrating.