Hello family and friends–

I hope you are all doing really well. I am doing wonderful but the last couple weeks have been full of ups and downs. I have been in Gbatope for three weeks now with three weeks of classes and living with a host family. The village is really small: no electricity, no internet cafes, no cold sodas! It’s pretty though. I live in a house with a host dad, mom, two sisters, and a grandchild (he’s a year and a half old). They are all really nice but I don’t interact with them as much as would be beneficial. They all speak some French, the dad speaks a little English, and they all speak Ewe (local language) primarily. I bucket shower twice a day (it is really hot unless it rains – then it’s bearable). I wash my laundry by hand. I am really bad at it and it takes me forever. Then I hang it on a line to dry in the sun. (I have to hang the underwear inside). It’s definitely a different lifestyle. I think the most difficult thing in regards to the electricity is that when I came back in the evenings after class, I need light to do homework. Often I am hunched next to my kerosene lamp trying to read.
So here is my general daily schedule:
M-SAT
4:30 – wake up and can’t sleep anymore
5:15 – run with a couple other stagiares (we are called stagiares because this part of the program is called stage=training)
6:00 – bucket shower, brush teeth, eat – I have bread and tea for breakfast everyday
7:30/9:30 – Class: classes consist of French language training (I’m in a class of two),
technical training, learning about Togolese society and the health care system, health training for personal safety and health, bike lessons (I have to learn how to fix my bike – and know the parts in French), Peace Corps Administrative policies and more.
9:30/10 – break
10/12 – more classes
12/2:30 – Lunch break. My host family makes me lunch and I usually take a nap after.
2:30-4:30 – more class
4:30/5:30 – extra language tutoring (2-3 times a week)

So my room: I have a room to myself in the house with my host family. We live in the corn fields near the Peace Corps facility. It is like a three minute walk which is convenient except when I have language class down the hill at another stagiare’s house.
It came with a bed. I made my twin extra long sheets fit a double bed. It’s quite a stretch. The bed came with a frame so that I could hang up the mosquito net around my bed. Malaria is a huge concern here. I sleep under the net, use bug spray everyday, and take mephlaquin once a week (an anti-malaria drug). I also have a desk, chair, and side table. It’s roomy enough but I have to keep my bike inside too which takes up some space. I have a roommate – a lizard – and I haven’t named him yet. I found him twice at my door outside and shooed him away but the next day I found him in my room. He eats the crickets though, so it’s ok. Plus he’s small. I don’t think he is even here all the time. He is much more welcome than the giant spider I had to kill my first day here. It was larger than a 50 cent piece and vaguely reminds me of a crab in its shape and the way the legs are positioned.

All the other stagiares are nice and we come from all over the place. There are 29 of us in total for the two groups – Health (16) and Business (13). Four of us had a birthday this week: June 21, 22, 25, and 26. Kind of crazy!

The town of Gbatope: It’s only about 500 people. Some speak French while most speak a local dialect called Ewe although there are a couple other groups: Kobye and Ausa (not sure how to spell or say correctly). There’s only one main road into the town. I live off of a dirt road that is off the main road. The house is a little secluded which is nice but my door is at the front of the house facing outward to the road and when the kids see me outside they wait and stare until I say something to them. Then they laugh and run away. They have a song for us: Yovo, yovo, bonsoir, ca va bien, bien, merci. It’s the typical greeting us white folks “yovo” have with our neighbors = hello, how are you, good, thanks. Sometimes it bothers me when all they do is call me yovo, but I do get a lot of kids that ask for my name too. And you can play with saying: where’s a yovo? Surely you don’t mean me? It’s fun. The town is amongst the fields as most people are farmers here. My host dad is and there are also goats, chickens, and guinea pigs running around. All the goats in town just run around free and I guess everyone just knows which ones are theirs. I have also seen the biggest snails ever here. And the lizards are everywhere. They hide in my latrine so when I get up late at night to go the bathroom I find them crawling on the walls. As long as they don’t move I am good. Hahaha. I have been going running in the morning with a group which has been really beneficial for my mental health – getting into a routine. Early in the morning there is a mist that hangs in the fields that makes the town seem very serene. You would not believe the amount of things the women carry on their heads. We are talking giant water jugs, bundles of wood, buckets of food, tin slates for roofing. I get a headache just looking. My host family giggled a little because I just carried the water jug in my arms. How unusual?!

Health wise: I am doing pretty great. I only had trouble just today – a little lightheadedness and nausea from not staying hydrated enough and it being so hot. My skin is broken out everywhere with heat rashes and sweat. So that’s fun. No one here has gotten seriously sick so far, so that’s good. I am making a very conscious effort not to gain weight. Most people during stage gain 10 lbs +. One girl I talked to said she gained 16!! The food here is mainly carbs and starches. I have bread and tea for breakfast (but soon I plan to incorporate some oatmeal for my digestion’s sake – I need fiber). Lunch and dinner are either couscous, rice, spaghetti, beans, or pate (corn meal) with a fish sauce. Sometimes I get corn on the cob, pineapple or bananas. So as you can imagine, it is all heavy foods that just kind of sit in my stomach. The food is really good though. A little spicy but there really isn’t anything I don’t like. Pate is not my favorite but my host mom also makes pate rouge which has other things mixed into the cornmeal like tomatoes, onions, peppers and stuff. I like the pate rouge more. I haven’t had foufou yet which is crushed manioc (cassava) which I don’t think I’ve ever had before. It will be interesting I am sure. I want to help make it. My host mom makes le gari which is the manioc powder. She makes a ton and sells it.

I’ve gone to a Catholic church here a couple times since my whole host family goes, but I don’t like it too much. Last week it was four hours long!! Next week I think I am going to go to a different church with other stagiares. There is one where they dance for like an hour. I want to see and get the whole cultural experience.

It’s technically rainy season here but I don’t feel like it rains that often. Just once a week or so I think.

The US Ambassador is supposed to come to morrow to meet with us. But the roads have been closed out of the capital – Lome. There is a strike by professional drivers and they have barricaded the main roads in and out of Lome. The price of gas went up like 15 percent and they are very upset. It isn’t really a problem. Just that none of the administrators we are supposed to meet with lately are coming out to see us because they are all located in Lome.

I know this letter is very all over the place, but I can’t seem to think in coherent thoughts. Again, I hope you are all doing well and I would love to hear from you. Snail mail letters are always awesome and I’d love to hear what is going on. If you send packages, it is best if they are in the padded envelope kinds instead of boxes. The envelopes tend to not get opened as frequently and I am less likely to have to pay a customs fee for.
Love you all,

Nikki

PS: If you decide to send me anything I have a wishlist:

-hard copy photos of you (past or present) – I miss seeing your faces
-mixed cd’s with music you think I should hear
-American goodies that you think I wouldn’t be able to find in Africa, because let me tell you – I can’t in Togo. (lol)
-magazines with clothing styles I can have copied and for just general news
-books you think I should read
- markers and color pencils for creating posters
-love and warm wishes – I miss you all so very much!