Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Happy Holidays everyone! I’m in Lome to celebrate Thanksgiving with some of my fellow volunteers and wanted to give you an update on life in Togo. I thought for this post I would take some time to answer your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

FAQ #1: Have you had any more snake incidents?

Answer: Yes. Thank you for asking. As you may recall, I found a snakeskin in my shower room my first week at post. Since then, I have had two snake incidents, one involving a dead snake at the end of my “driveway” (someone had apparently gotten there before me with a stick). The other was a live snake found on my property.

I may be 25 years old, however, in that panicked moment I did the only thing I could think of. (Hint: it did not involve a stick.) I called my mother, of course. Between my sobs, my mother asked if I had a big stick around. “Could you SOUND anymore Togolese right now???” I wailed then quickly added “…could you Google it and see if it’s poisonous?”

I’ll tell you what; my mom did me one better by sending me an identification book for snakes of West Africa. I have since identified my neighbor to be a non-venomous West African sand snake (of the green headed variety).

It was during this same conversation that my mother gently pointed out that perhaps the abundance of mice chez moi was attracting all the snakes in my village to the available food source. Although still burned from her stick comment, I agreed. In addition to her sound logic, I was tired of cleaning up mouse droppings every morning. Thus, I went in search of a cat.

Due to the lack of Petcos around, I started my search by asking people I passed on the road if they had any cats for sale. After a week of “nos” and confused looks, I found a woman who had cats but asked me to clarify, “is it for eating?”

“No.”

“I have some cats that are ready for eating...”

“Thank you, but I am just looking for a baby cat that will catch mice.”

After thinking for a moment, the woman agreed to meet me by the road the next day and added a parting thought. “You know…after it catches your mice you should eat it.”

“Got it.”

And this, my friends, is my fierce hunter and best companion, Wrigley:

(Nicknames/Aliases: Lizard Breath, Wriggle-butt, and, my personal favorite, Rigatoni.)

When I called my parents to tell them about the new addition to our family, my mom was full of questions: “What does it eat? Where does it sleep? What color is it?” My father, worried for his Persians (rugs, not cats), had only one question: “It’s staying in Togo, right?”

There are two roles parents play in this world: The Bad Guy and The Softie. If you ever want to know which one you are, get a kitten. I always pictured myself in the bad guy role until I woke up with a kitten on my head and kitty drool on my face. Apparently, in this life, I have been cast as a softie.

I am happy to report that Wrigley now sleeps outside and guards me from mice and lizards. Here is a picture of his first capture. (I’m such a proud momma.)


He hasn’t caught any mice, but he hasn’t had to. Sensing his fierce hunting capabilities, the mice left as soon as I got him.

FAQ #2: What does your house look like?

Answer: Like this:

FAQ #3: How hot is it?

Answer: Hot enough that Wrigley sleeps like this:

It's hot. After spending a night in a shared bed with my friend Kristina, I mentioned the next morning that our movements throughout the night made me feel like a rotisserie chicken. Due to the extreme heat and lack of circulation we had to constantly keep turning to help keep cool. We're not even in the hottest season yet, folks.

FAQ #4: What kind of work are you doing?

Answer: I have a lot of projects started and lots more ideas, but I’ll give you some of the more major ones for now:

A) Aids Ride: Volunteers in all regions (and some of our Togolese counterparts) of Togo spent a week in October biking through remote villages (about 50K a day) doing presentations and skits on HIV/AIDS. Everywhere we went, we created quite a commotion (and hopefully educated some people along the way). Here are some pictures:

B) University Club/English Club: I have been participating with the local English Club of the Lycee (High School) in my village. When I speak in English, the class erupts into laughter because they are not used to hearing American English.

I am also starting my own club at the Lycee with students that are interested in applying to universities in the United States. Our club will practice English, study for the SAT and TOFEL, save for the exams and eventually (hopefully) practice for visa interviews!

C) Red Cross: There’s a group of women in my village that are affiliated with the Red Cross and meet once a week. They help the community by doing small health talks within Pagala and urge mothers to get their babies vaccinated. I have been going to their meetings every week and will help with their organization and execution of their village outreach. They’ve also asked if I can do some business talks with them outside of our meetings which I’m looking forward to.

D) Village Savings & Loans: As start-up costs associated with bank accounts (or even microfinance accounts) are too expensive for most Togolese to open, I am looking to form groups of women to collectively save their money. I would also like the groups to become a source of support and encouragement for expanding businesses. [Side note: in order to meet more women to form these groups I have been going to my village’s baby weighing each week which has been a lot of fun!]

E) Clubs for Kids: Once a month I go to my regional capital of Atakpame and work with an established NGO that supports families infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Peace Corps Volunteers affiliated with the NGO come to Atakpame to work with the kids on different life skills (income generating activities, nutrition, decision making, etc.). We play games, do some lessons and have a great time.

I have expanded on this idea in my village as well as there is an NGO that supports orphans by sending them to school. One of my cluster mates and are going to start holding a monthly club based on the NGO in Atakpame and work with these kids as well.

F) Honey & Bees: The Peace Corps Center where our annual meetings are held (in-service trainings, camps, etc.) has a bunch of bee hives that are used to show the Natural Resource Management volunteers (and their counterparts) how to keep bees for honey (and sometimes wax). I will be collaborating with some Togolese counterparts already producing honey and some other volunteers to see if we can get production up on the hives enough to create a small business for the village.

That's all the news I have for now. Hope everyone has a healthy and happy holiday season!

Which Comes First: The Rooster Or The Call To Prayer?

Hey Everyone,

I’m getting into the swing of things in Pagala. I spent my first couple of weeks settling into my new house, cleaning and unpacking. After living in Agou with my host family (see below), I was looking forward to having my own space that was private and quiet.

Well, I was right about the privacy part but VERY wrong about the quiet part. As I mentioned before, sleep in Agou (even with earplugs) was very difficult due to the church bells, roosters, goats, crickets, frogs, etc. (There is even one early morning bird here that sounds like an alarm clock.) The fact that my host mother never slept (day or night) also didn’t help. My host father always kept the radio on at full volume (throughout the night) and, ironically, slept the most out of anyone in our house.

Funny side story: One night I got up at 2 AM to use the latrine and due to the total darkness, my host mother and I, both wandering across the courtyard, scared the crap out of each other. (For me, fortunately, not literally.)

“What are you doing?” She asked.

I wanted to say, in only the tone a child can use with her mother, “well, MOM, due to my fast pace toward the latrine at 2 AM, I’m about to go get sick!!!” …But, sadly, French is not my strength when I’m about to be violently ill. Instead, I repeated what she said. “What are YOU doing?”

My host mother shook her head, laughed, and responded, simply, “Oh, Emily…” What I can infer from that interaction is that I was supposed to know she didn’t sleep…EVER. I wanted to tell her she might have better luck if she broke my host father’s radio but my aforementioned problem prevented me from discussing this further with her.

Here's a picture of my host parents and two of my host sisters:

But, I digress. As I was saying, Agou was a noisy place. As you may recall, I had a mouse friend living in my ceiling in Agou. Well, I must have made a good impression on him because he called all his friends in Pagala to welcome me. I found, after a few days of pulling my hair out, that the only way to keep food safe was to put anything edibe (including crayons) in a metal casserole and put a brick on the lid. Thankfully, these formerly well-fed mice are quieter than their Agou pals.

One noise that has been added to the mix, however, is the call to prayer. My house in Pagala is flanked by two mosques. In general, I think Muslims pray five times a day. To announce prayer time at the mosque, they broadcast a message.

You know when you were little you would take the empty wrapping paper tube and put on a deep voice and make a pretend announcement? Well, that’s what call to prayer in Pagala sounds like. It sounds like a five year old is calling all the Muslims of Pagala to payer, in Arabic, through a wrapping paper tube. One time, I swear I heard him say “Mommmmma, what’s for dinner?” Either that or he said “Allllllllah, what’s for dinner?” I couldn’t be too sure.

Now, the interesting thing is that these two mosques have their call to prayer about fifteen minutes apart. My theory on why they do this is because there’s only one guy in Pagala who speaks Arabic and he has to run from one mosque to the other. Due to the fact that call to prayer can start as early as 2 AM (we’re in Ramadan right now), I’m often finding myself cursing under my mosquito net secretly hoping this guy will get lost on his way to the next mosque, providing me with enough time to fall back asleep before the next round at 5 AM.

Now as we all know from cartoons (or maybe just cornflake commercials), roosters crow at sunrise, right? Au contraire, mon frère. My very scientific roo-search proves otherwise.

FACT: Roosters crow throughout the day, often prompting me to yell, out loud, “You’re a little LATE!”

On more than one occasion when I have woken up to the early morning call to payer, roosters are already crowing. Which leads me to my next research topic: Which comes first- the rooster or the call to prayer? In a world with no alarm clocks do the roosters wake up the call to prayer guy or vice versa? Discuss.

Since we’re on the topic of sleep, (one of my favorite subjects), or lack thereof, it’s only fitting to share the story of how my new mattress came to be. When I was in Lome, I bought a mattress as there are none for sale in my village. The bed frame was left for me for the previous volunteer. By the time I made it to my post from Lome via bush taxi I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep chez moi. As we arrived at dusk, I took to setting up my new bed (#1 priority) right away in anticipation of the sweet dreams I was sure to have. As I unwrapped my mattress I discovered another problem (other than the mattress’ weight due to the absorption of water): the mattress was too big not only width-wise but length-wise as well. I made-do for the night but vowed to get the mattress fixed the next day. I rose early (thank you Mr. Wrapping paper tube) and rode my bike over to see my Togolese counterpart, Emmanuel.

After many salutations, I asked him if he knew someone who could cut my mattress. As it turns out, that happens to be Emmanuel’s trade. A few days later he sent an apprentice to measure the frame and take my mattress (via moto) to his shop. As most Togolese don’t sleep on mattresses, I was very clear with the apprentice (as I had already taken the measurements myself) that I needed a little room on all sides for my sheets and mosquito net. I showed the apprentice the measurements I had taken. He scoffed and took my mattress to the shop.
Two days later (after sleeping vrai Togoloese on the cement floor) my mattress returned. When I tried to place the mattress in its frame, it fit like a pair of skinny jeans does after a weekend of too many indulgences. It wasn’t pretty and, worse, it was still too big.

I sat down, feeling defeated. I cursed the gods. As I lay back for my one man pity party, I hit my head on something decidedly not a mattress part and yet decidedly something in my mattress. I decided to put my new Leatherman knife to use. I cut my mattress open to find...a MACHETE! After freaking out for a few minutes about the absurdity of the situation, I realized the gods had been on my side the whole time. I removed the rest of the mattress cover and proceeded to trim the mattress myself with said machete. Bon Travail, if I do say so myself.

After I was finished I did what any of you would do with a machete and a free afternoon. I whacked some weeds and then practiced my ninja moves.

I seem to have a knack for finding “surprises” inside things here. One time in Agou, I went to boil drinking water and as I began to fan the charcoal, something told me to open the lid. Inside was a fish swimming around.

“Mom! I called, “there’s a fish in here!”

“Hmmm…Your sister must have gotten the water from the river!”

I pulled the fish out with a cup and showed it to her and could see what was on her mind: Dinner.
It’s an animal, isn’t it?

Here’s a picture during my post visit to Pagala with the chief of my village.

If showing up at your assigned post for the next two years to be greeted by an OSU sweatshirt is not a good sign, I don’t know what is. I tried explaining to the chief that he was wearing a sweatshirt for my university in the United States but it was clear we wouldn’t be singing Hang On Sloopy together anytime soon.

You know all those clothes that you donate to Africa? Well those clothes are popular fashion here (think puffy sleeves, jellies and “Vote for Pedro” shirts). You can find “Dead Yovo” clothes, as they’re called, for sale on the street on every corner in Togo. The clothes are called “Dead Yovo” because Togolese can’t believe people that are alive would give away their clothes.

On my next visit to the chief, he wasn’t wearing an OSU sweatshirt, but he also wasn’t wearing a Michigan sweatshirt so I consider that a good sign. I greeted the chief, through his representative, in Ewe, the local language. As my chief speaks through a representative, the representative informed me we would be blessing my arrival and secure a healthy two years in Pagala. Then, out came a bottle of whiskey, enclosed in a box. Also enclosed in the box? A giant cockroach. I tried to keep in my laughs as I continued to move my eyes between the rep and the floor. (You’re not allowed to look the chief in the eye.) After we blessed my arrival with an 8 AM shot of whiskey, my chief asked (through his representative) if I knew any other Ewe words. I point at the ground and said the Ewe word for cockroach. After the chief stopped laughing, he reached out his hand and said directly: "Welcome to Pagala."

One word I don’t know in local language? Snake. Based on recent events, I have decided it is necessary to learn this word in ALL 10+ local languages. As I’m sure you can see where this is going, I will say this only once: If you are not interested to hear of my first snake encounter in Togo, I suggest you stop reading.

In general, I bathe twice a day here- once in the morning and once at night before I go to bed. My shower in Agou had no ceiling, providing beautiful views of Mount Agou at sunrise and many spotting of shooting stars at night. My shower in Pagala, however, had a roof. When I was visiting Pagala during my post visit, I thought to myself “this would be a good place for a snake to hide. It’s cool, damp and dark”. Because of this fear, my first week here I asked my counterpart if he could help me find a mason to take off the roof. Every time I brought this chore up, I got the reassuring, “sure, next time…” (This is a common response in Togo.)

My first week at post, I took an evening bucket bath (by candlelight) and went to sleep. I woke up and began my morning routine with a trip to the shower room. I was surprised to find evidence of a snake in the form of a snake skin. It was then that I decided the following:

1) A shower was not necessary that morning.

2) The roof needed to come off immediately.

I rushed over to Emmanuel’s on my bike and as soon as I said the word “snake” we took off on our bikes together to find a mason. Within two hours my ceiling was off all for the price of two US dollars. As Emmanuel was leaving, he handed me a giant stick and said, in a serious tone, “You should keep this in the shower room. If the snake comes back, just hit it with the stick.”

“hmmm…” I said, “If I see a snake again, maybe I could call you to help me?”

“Sure!” he replied. “Then we can eat snake together for dinner!”

“I’ll tell you what, Emmanuel, if you kill a snake in my house, consider it a gift.”

That night before bed, I went on snake patrol (as I have continued to do every night since). Now, if you ever feel the need to do snake patrol chez vous, I recommend the following course of action:

1) Carry a lantern AND a headlamp just in case one happens to go out midsearch.

2) Carry a bottle of insecticide (you never know what other creepy crawlies you may encounter).
3) Carry a big stick. (I'm not really sure what you would do with the stick but the Togolese seem to think big sticks are necessary.)

After checking for the potentially real monsters under my bed that evening, I tucked and re-tucked my mosquito net many times. As I lay in bed the jaws theme music began playing in my head. I was over-thinking every noise and every shadow provided by my lit candles. As I lay there, my final thought of the evening: We’re going to need a bigger stick.

Tales From Agou

Hey Everyone,

Hard to believe I've been here over two months! A lot has happened since I last posted but I'll do my best to catch you up. The first few weeks here were a bit of a rollercoaster. A lot of things that I thought would be difficult (such as getting really sick) turned out not to be so hard and things that I didn't think would bother me (like people staring or yelling at me) can upset me enough to make me cry. By now I've found ways to cope with the things I found hard and am settling well into life here.

I’m in Lome (the capital of Togo) right now being “sworn in” as a new volunteer with the rest of my stage (all the American trainees I came here with). We’ve been having a lot of fun enjoying the showers (albeit it cold ones), electricity and ice cream! On Monday we will all depart for our respective posts throughout Togo. (Below is a picture of my friend Kristina and me at our swearing-in ceremony.)

My post is in a village named Pagala in the center of the country not too far from the Ghanian border. My house is really great! I have three big rooms and the previous volunteer made the place very homey. There’s no electricity or running water, however, I found during my post visit that dining by candlelight (even by yourself) adds a certain je ne sais quoi. I don’t have any specific jobs that I will be taking over; however, I have some ideas for projects based on my post visit and discussions with the previous volunteer. I’ll keep you posted on my work as it progresses.

As I mentioned in my last post, I had been living with a host family in a village in the town of Agou. Agou is about an hour northwest of Lome and close to the highest point in the country. There are beautiful views of Mount Agou and the weather is (thankfully) sometimes cooler due to the higher altitude (and the fact that it's rainy season). The roads are beautiful red clay and the scenery is really green and overgrown.

My host family in Agou was terrific! I am going to miss them a lot. We had a lot of fun together and laughed...A LOT. Mostly we laughed at my incompetence with using latrines, washing clothes by hand, pounding fufu, etc. Of course, as you would suspect, I have some funny stories to share about my family…

The first story I want to share will be most amusing to my friends at Seyfarth (who thought it was funny that I had never had a hot dog my whole life) and my family in Arizona (who I was with when I ate my first hot dog--one month before leaving for Togo). One night I came home from class and my host mom called me over with a mischievous look in her eye. She told me that my brother brought me a special present from Lome. I could tell she was really excited to show me what it was. She opened it up a black sachet, and, sure enough, it was hot dogs. I laughed so hard I think she thought that hot dogs were my favorite food. Since that day I received hot dogs at least once a day (sometimes twice). She cut them up in small pieces and fried them, put them in sauces, omlettes...you name it. Never did I imagine that I would go my whole life without eating hot dogs and then have all I could eat in Togo.

I have noticed here that Togolese who know one “yovo” (as we are called) think they know them all. Apparently one of the other yovos my family came in contact with somehow expressed their love for ketchup (which is not readily available in Togo). Somehow, my host mother got a hold of a bottle for me and presented it to me in the same fashion as the hot dogs. I expressed some enthusiasm although I wasn’t quite sure how I was supposed to eat it (as the hot dogs were usually in a sauce of some kind already). The bottle of ketchup showed up for every single meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner). When my host mother realized I wasn’t eating it, she asked me what I wanted to eat it with. I explained I would eat it with French fries or plantain chips. From that day forward I received French fries and/or plantain chips with lunch and dinner. As my post visit was approaching and the bottle of ketchup was dwindling, my host mother insisted I take the bottle with me to for my week long post visit. “I know you can’t live without it…” she said. I tried explaining that I was taking all of my luggage and traveling in a bush taxi and was worried about the bottle breaking, but to no avail. And hence, I schlepped the bottle of ketchup halfway up the country (and back) and didn’t open it once. (Below is a picture of me and my friend Kristina--a fellow Bostonian--on our way up to our posts for post visit. Note the ketchup bottle.)

The first day I got to Agou my host mom took me by the hand through our village and walked me to a boutique so I could show her some of the food I liked. I felt like she was parading me through our village and I could almost imagine her saying “look at our yovo! Isn’t she tall and…WHITE? She’s not quite as fat as we were hoping but we’ll get her nice and plump before she leaves here.” That same day we had a fete with our host families and broke bread (ou bien fufu) for the first time . I went up to the buffet to get some food with my family. My mom stood behind me and, after pinching my sides, declared, “Il faut manger! Il faut prendre encore!” (This translates, literally, to mean, “It’s necessary to eat! It’s necessary to take more!” Little did I know that these phrases would be repeated at every meal I sat down for with for the duration of my stay with my host family. Needless to say, I left Agou a little bigger than when I got there. My host mom was quite pleased with her good work. When I said goodbye to my host family, my host mother’s parting words were “Don’t forget to eat! You have to eat a lot, ok? Don’t forget!” I won’t forget to eat while I am here but I certainly won’t be eating any more hot dogs.

Another amusing story is related to being sick. (It's helpful if I can laugh about being sick here). Almost every time I went to the latrine (which is on the opposite end of the compound as my room), when I'd walk back through the courtyard my mom would yell “Emily, tu fais le caca?”. Which, can literally be translated as “did you make the poop?”. Keep in mind there are always assured to be many people around (and within hearing range) that all look at me in anticipation of my answer. Before I answered I always tried to give her my best “mom, you're EMBARASSING me” look but it didn’t stop her from asking.

I have to tell you, however, my host mom was really concerned about my comfort, health and happiness. In the room where I took my bucket baths, there were GIANT cockroaches. I didn't say anything about it for the first few weeks I was there (although I admit I showered with one eye open for a while). When I finally asked her about the cockroaches, she said “oh, no problem. If they're in there, you just tell your mom and I will come take care of it.” So, sure enough, one night when I went to go bucket bathe, there were two cockroaches. “Mom?” I said, “There are two cockroaches in here”. No problem, she said. She grabs a little broom, smacked them off the wall and crushed them with her bare feet. Let me tell you, friends, you have not lived until you have seen your African momma kill cockroaches the size of your first with her bare feet. “There you go” she said, “You don't have to be scared anymore”.

My host mom thought I was scared of a lot of things here (and, in reality, it has taken a little bit of time to adjust to some of the spiders, bugs and rodents). In Agou, I had a mouse that lived in my ceiling that made A LOT of noise at night. I slept with earplugs in anyway (the goats and roosters always woke me up otherwise) but the mouse was so loud that it woke me up regardless. At first, I kept a battery of shoes next to my bed and would just chuck them at the ceiling when he would make noise. I told my mom about the problem and she just kind of laughed and asked me if I was scared. “Don't worry,” she said, “they're not in YOUR room, they're in the room next to yours.” Oh, ok then. At any rate, it continued to be a problem for me (despite getting better with the aim of my shoes). One night my mom came to my room and said she had a present for me. She had solved my mouse problem (since our cats had yet to catch my mouse). She hands me a big stick and says “this will work better than your shoes, I think”. Good call, mom.

Also, I should mention that the odds of my mouse being caught would have been better if my family hadn’t eaten some of our cats while I was there. When I arrived, we had five “pet” cats. By pets I mean that we let them poop in our courtyard and eat our mice (except for the one in my ceiling, apparently). I noticed after a month or so that there were only two cats around. “What happened to the other cats?” I asked my mom. “Oh, we ate them…” I didn’t have the nerve to ask if I had eaten one but chances are, if I did, I probably mistook it for a hot dog. Apparently I wasn’t very good at disguising my look of horror because my mom asked if we ate cats in America. “No” I meekly replied. “Well, it’s an animal, isn’t it?” She has a point, I guess.

Hope you have enjoyed these stories. There are so many wonderful and humorous things I would like to share but I’ll have to save them for a future blog post! Closest internet from my post is a 3 hour bush taxi ride so I can’t promise very regular blog updates. I will keep in touch as best I can! My address is noted on my first blog post should you want to write me a letter (I will get mail more frequently than I can check email). I also have a cell phone which seems to work fairly well. My Togo cell # is 938.52.29. To call (or text me) just dial 011228 and then the phone number. I don't have voicemail but if you would like to set up a time to talk feel free to text me!

I'll keep you posted! Miss you guys! Eat some pizza and think of me!!!!

I have also posted a picture below of my host mom helping me get dressed in a traditional togolese complet (my sister is in the background).

Emily

Bienvenue a Togo!

Well Friends,

I wanted to send you all a quick hello to let you know that I have arrived in Togo safely. We traveled to Lome (Togo's capital) after a few days of training in Philly. The Peace Corps has been taking AMAZING care of us-- even going as far as changing money for us and picking up some items we may need. The food has been great and no one has gotten sick...so far.

On Wednesday we travel to Agou where we will be staying with host families while receiving training on language and culture from the Peace Corps staff. After some information today about how to take bucket showers and pee in a latrine (or worse), we're ready to go! In case you were wondering, the proper way to pee in a latrine is to tap the lid first to scare away any creatures that may be living in there (lizards, roaches, etc.).

I'm really looking forward to meeting my host family and working on my french with them at home. I had a french language placement test the other day and though my french is somewhat rusty, I think I did alright. The instructor began by asking me questions about my family. He didn't believe me when I said I was an only child. He said, "surely many must have died in infancy". Unfortunately my french was not good enough to explain that one but I figure there will be more opportunity in the future.

That's all for now. I'll write when I can!

Emily

Au Revoir, Mes Amis!

Friends and Family,

Welcome to my blog!

As you know, I have been working towards my Peace Corps placement for over a year now. In the past year I have gotten a lot of questions from all of you. A lot of the discussions went like this:

Friend: Peace Corps! That's cool. Will you live in a city?
Me: I won't really know until I get there and get my placement. It's likely that I'll be living in some sort of simple hut.

Friend: ...Will you have electricity or running water?
Me: I won't really know until I get there, but...probably not...

Friend: What will you eat?
Me: Mostly vegetables...
Friend: That's cool.
Me: ...That I grow myself...
Friend: ...Oh...

Friend: So...exactly how crazy are you???

There was a time when I may have defended myself, however, as I start packing my mosquito encased hammock (which I will be sleeping in), my SPF 75 sunblock and my field guides to poisonous snakes, I'm wondering if I didn't give you guys enough credit.

Another popular question (which I am also unable to answer) is how much I will be able to stay in touch with everyone. I should have email access, however, I'm not sure how often that will be. I also have an address that you can send mail to.

Here is the address, should you be in the neighborhood (visitors are encouraged!):

Emily Lagasse, PCV
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 3194
Lomé, Togo
West Africa

I will post to this blog as often as I can (which will probably not be that often) to update you on my life in Togo. I will send everyone an email letting you know when I have posted something new.

I hope we are able to keep in touch over the next two years although I know it will be more difficult than usual. I wish I could be with you for all of the weddings, new jobs and exciting changes everyone is going through. Although I may not be able to call or write often please know that I will be thinking of you. Of course, when I get back, I look forward to catching up with you on all of your adventures (preferably with a glass of ice water in an air conditioned building).

Until my next post... A Bientot!

Emily

PS: If you do decide to visit, let me know far enough in advance so that I can grow enough food for both of us!