Hot Season

Hot season is now in full force. It’s definitely not as hot as it was in Niamey, but it’s still really hot and this time I don’t have a ceiling fan to sleep under at night. Lots of volunteers choose to sleep outside during hot season, and that’s what Togolese people do, but I’m still holding out and sleeping inside. Although it would be cooler outside, I don’t want to. Because of the way my house is set up, if I sleep outside I would be sleeping right alongside my host family and I like my privacy. Also, my host family goes to bed after me and wakes up before me, so if I slept outside, it would mean many hours where people could stare at the white girl sleeping, and that just makes me uncomfortable. Also, sleeping outside means wearing clothes. Inside I can wear nothing, which helps fight the heat. Overall, a bucket with a washcloth to constantly put water on myself with and a battery powered fan, courtesy of my Uncle Geoff, have allowed me to keep sleeping inside.

Hot season leads to a different pace of life here. There is no work out in the fields, so people either hang out at home, fix-up their compounds (my host dad has added a new mud house to our compound), or work in the gardens. This means that people have had more free time to meet with me and I’ve been able to fit in morning meetings with different groups on things like Oral Rehydration Therapy, a well project, and more tree nurseries. However, I always try to finish before 10am, because that’s when the sun starts to get really strong. Because most activity is over by 10am, there is lots of napping in Magna during the middle of the day. It seems like almost every mango tree in my village has someone lying underneath it and resting. Around 2pm in my compound, I’m usually napping in my newly set-up hammock, Jeeves is passed out on my porch, and the rest of my family is sleeping on various mats around the compound. It’s nice to not feel lazy taking a nap, because everyone else is doing it too! Due to the heat, my running schedule has dwindled away to basically nothing, but I’ll get back at it when the rains come. However, I still need to bike into Mango, so I try to bike in early, but I still often end up biking back in the heat of the day. Recently, as I’ve been biking with sweat dripping down my face and the sun forcing me to squint even with sunglasses on, I’ve been muttering France continually under my breath to remind myself that in a few short weeks I will be basking in the glory of Paris!!! This has helped a lot.

To my surprise, despite the heat, these past few weeks have actually gone really well. I’m starting to find more people to work with and projects to start. The big ones I have and will be working on are a career development camp in Mango for female students (I’m doing this one with 2 other volunteers) and a well project in my village. Look out for future blogs where I will be asking for online donations to these two wonderful causes! I also just celebrated my 23rd birthday. I went to Dapaong and some friends came in. We baked cake, ate good food, and went to the new swimming pool at a hotel!! The pool is tiny and the water only comes up to your shoulders (so no jumping or cannonballs), but it’s still a large quantity of cool water to submerge yourself in, so it was awesome!! Of course, the knowledge that I will be escaping some of hot season in France has definitely helped to keep up my morale, but it still hasn’t been as bad as I expected.

Soon, I’ll be heading down south to catch my flight to Paris. In case you couldn’t already tell, I can’t wait!!! My mom will be there and so will my cousin Sean (whose studying abroad in France) and my family friends Mark and Aline. It’s going to be great. It’s funny because travelling to France from the States, France is the new, exotic, unfamiliar place, but after almost 7 months in Togo, going to France feels like going to somewhere that will be familiar and comfortable. I’m excited for so many things, including the following:
1. For a week, no one will stare at me or care who I am, where I’m going, or what I’m doing! I appreciate anonymity so much right now!
2. Food!!!! Good cheese, chocolate, French bread, crepes, and more wonderful things.
3. Drinks!! Wine that comes from a bottle and not a box, cappuccinos, and lots of cold beverages.
4. Drinking cold tap water!
5. Temperature controlled overhead showers in a temperature controlled room. Basically, things that are temperature controlled for maximum comfort and enjoyment.
6. Efficient public transportation and just efficiency in general
7. Spending time with people I love from home…I really miss everyone so much and getting to be with a few of the people I miss will be great! (this might be last on the list, but it actually is what I’m most excited about).
8. Many other things that I can’t think of at the moment…

So, I hope everyone at home is doing well. I love hearing from all of you and thanks for the cards and goodies that some of you sent for my birthday!!