First post from training!!!

Written October 1st, 2010
It’s hard to know where to start this post since it feels like so much has happened since I posted from a hotel room in Lome a couple weeks ago. The past 2 weeks have felt so long and I feel like I’ve been in Togo for months, rather than weeks. I’ve been staying in the village of Gbatope with the family Maglo Koffi. I live with my host “mom”, who is actually only one year older than me, my host dad, and my little host sister, Esther, who is two. Although it is only the four of us who officially live at the house, there have been several guests staying over since I’ve been here. The first weekend there was a Ghanaian family staying for a funeral taking place in the village. A women from the village who lived in Ghana passed away and after burying her in Ghana, they brought her hair to be buried in her home village. Her relatives from Ghana were staying in my house during the funeral. This funeral was a 3 day event with lots of music and dancing that I was able to take part in one evening. The dancing involves this jerky arm motion that looks a bit like a cooler and hyped up version of the chicken dance. Tonight, there is another funeral preparation underway for a man in the village who passed away this week. The event is being set up near my house, which means I will probably have trouble sleeping tonight through the music and the new wave of friends and relatives that will be staying in my house.
My house here in Gbatope is definitely one of the nicer ones in the village. My family is related to the chief, so I live in the chief’s compound a few houses away from the main chief’s house (there are multiple chiefs in the village, but the head one is my neighbor). I have my own room and have slept quite well since the first night when I was convinced a bat was flying around my room. As it turns out, lizards running on a tin roof sound an awful lot like bat wings. There is no electricity, which has definitely been an adjustment, but I’m getting used to using my kerosene lantern and I’m definitely appreciating how beautiful the sky looks at night. Bucket showers are actually very nice and I’m fortunate to have a cockroach-free latrine. I’m also really lucky to have pretty good cell phone reception in my room, so I have been able to talk to people from home when I’m feeling lonely! If you want to give me a call, it works best from skype and I believe it costs about 40 cents a minute...I put my number up on facebook and would love for friends to call!!!
Training has been pretty intense. We have classes from 730am to 530pm with a 2.5 hour lunch break. Classes are on health, language, bike maintenance, policy, and technical skills and everyday seems very long because it is so full from start to finish and because I’m waking up at 6am every morning, something I don’t think I’ve ever done before… Today, I learned how to compost and plant tree seedlings…so I’m learning some useful skills! This week, we heard where all the posts will be and we gave our post preferences, but we don’t find out until next week where we are placed. There are posts in all five regions and there were many that sounded really great and interesting. We’re all anxious to find out where we will be, but we have to wait just a little longer!!!
Overall, the adjustment over these past 2 weeks has definitely been difficult and I’ve thought a lot about home and the people I miss. However, as I’m becoming closer with the other trainees and feeling more comfortable at my homestay, things are getting easier and time is beginning to pick up speed a bit. I can’t wait to find out where my post is and to begin making a life for myself in my village!! I hope everyone is doing well at home and with your new jobs!!!
Emily