Stiltwalkers

I come back from the states and manage to catch a stiltwalking festival in my regional capital. Enjoy the photos.

Overall, my trip home to the states was great. Seeing friends and family from all over was fantastic. I dreaded answering the same questions over and over about my service, but seeing how interested you all were, it really wasn't that bad. I enjoyed all the questions and telling you about life as a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa. The one thing I forgot about the United States is that people generally don't like talking about diarrhea (which is contrary to Peace Corps Volunteers), so I had to stop my stories short a few times. Also it appears all most of you wanted to know is how I could have possibly eaten dog, which is something I still struggle to answer myself.

I hope everyone doesn't think Africa has "changed" me too much (unless it was for the better). At times I felt indifferent about things at home; what movie to see, what restaurant to eat at, what bar to drink at. But by then of my American sojourn I remembered one of those many truths Peace Corps makes you realize: We don't love the places we go and the things we do as much as we appreciate the people that are a part of those things. It was a sincere pleasure seeing everyone.

Things to look forward to in my second year of service:

Togolese Presidential elections in February. Emergency plans are in place in case of any kind of unrest occurs. Things should be suspenseful. I personally don't follow politics here and am not able to opine on anything. But I hope things go as smoothly as possible.

My parents visit in June.

I help complete the school in my village. More info on this to come in the next month.

I eat more weird stuff. This is pretty much inevitable.

Video Problems

Hey Everyone. I have been having trouble uploading some videos of my service on this blog, so instead I posted them over on facebook. If you have a facebook account, log on and find them under my profile. They are pretty entertaining.

Around the Village

Some neighbor kids. This looks out into the courtyard in front of my house. Chicken coop and small lumber pile on left, clothes line for laundry on the right. and a typical mud brick home straight ahead in the background. A typical picture of a compound in Togo.
A spider I found in my shower. The biggest I have ever seen, notice it compared to the other spiders to the left of the pencil. Enormous (leg span about the size of my hand)! This sits directly above my head while I bathe myself, which is a comforting thought.
My village market on a non-market day. Every Tuesday, this is filled with hundreds of people selling goods out of the little grass huts.
A child wanders through the empty market.
The village mosque. While predominantly Christian, there is a good size Muslim population in my village, mostly people who come from Northern Togo, where most of the Muslim people of Togo live.
Village dispensary/medical clinic. Where villagers go for minor medical problems. For serious medical problems, one must go to a city hospital which is a few hours drive from my village. Unfortunately, some people can't afford the city hospitals or the travel away from home.
My next door neighbors, Mathias and Marie-Claire. A school teacher and a seamstress. The coolest Togolese people I know and I eat most of my meals with them.
The dog, Suru. My neighbors bought her a few months ago. (This one isn't for eating, this is for petting)
Felix, the man in the middle, and his family. A man I work with in village and helps me out a lot. His daughter Marina, the one holding the radio, is one of my favorite kids in village. Very adorable.
The Catholic church. Probably the nicest building in village, it was built by Italian missionaries a number of years ago.
The inside of the church.
My neighbor Grace. She is terrified of me.
I'm getting a little closer, she's getting a little nervous.
I get to close and she freaks out and cries.
Some kids at a village funeral. Funerals here are not somber affairs, but rather weekend long celebrations with music and dancing.
An old man banging the drums at the funeral.
Some old women at the funeral who were ecstatic to have their pictures taken, despite their solemn expressions. The fact that they can see the little picture in the camera just moments after I take it blows their minds.