Hello hello! Well it seems the fall is upon us which is so hard for me to believe! I have been keeping busy as usual, but I have been lucky enough in the past few months to see a few friends who don’t live in Togo. As I mentioned before, I took a vacation to Lisbon, Portugal in August with several of my best friends from home. It was far better than I could have ever imagined. I first realized this when I got on the plane in Lome and was welcomed by my airline breakfast. Now I know what you’re thinking…”airline meals should not even call themselves food.” Well, you would normally be correct unless you have been living in Togo for the past year of your life. This was the greatest breakfast I have eaten in months. Seriously. So, I knew this trip was going to be awesome.

After seven hours of travel to Lome, eight hours of waiting in Lome for my flight to leave, four hours to Morocco, two hours wandering the duty-free shops in the airport, and a one hour flight complete with anticipation that made it seem like twelve hours, I arrived in Lisbon. Obviously these people knew I would be so excited to see my friends, so they kindly took about forty minutes to send our bags to the baggage claim. Finally, I get my bags and make a bee-line for customs and breeze right through. The rush of excitement I felt when I saw five screaming girls jump up amongst the large crowd in the middle of the arrival terminal was indescribable. This was absolutely the happiest I had been in a very long time. Thank you guys so much.

So after a long tearful welcome in the airport, we checked in to the hostel and began the vacation. I’m not exactly sure what all we did while in Lisbon. I was pretty focused on hanging out with my friends and eating the entire time, and I know that happened. I’m sure I saw some interesting things in Lisbon, too, but it’s all kind of a blurry euphoric haze. Every five minutes there was something new that amazed me; hot showers that don’t come from a bucket, real coffee, hundreds of restaurants to choose from, paved streets, night life?! (I forgot that people all over the world don’t go to bed at nine), clothing stores, air conditioning, good wine, ice cream, highways, etc. All in all, I had a fantastic week. I was pretty sad to go home, but knowing that I will be home for Christmas really helped.

A week after getting back to Togo, all of the volunteers from my training group and the training group that arrived in June of 2009 had our Mid-Service Conference. Attending this conference really put into perspective the time that I have spent here and the time that I have left in Togo. We spent several days evaluating the work we have already done, and forming goals for our second year of service. It was a really great feeling to be able to write goals and feel comfortable that I know what I am capable of here in Togo. I am hoping to accomplish a lot in my second year, but it’s great to have confidence in what I am doing and in what I have learned in the past year.

After this conference was over, I stayed at the training center for a couple more days to attend the Karren Waid conference. Karren Waid was a Togo volunteer in the ‘90’s who was killed in a bush taxi accident. After her death, her parents started a scholarship fund for girls in Togo. So, there are two scholarship recipients in Sokode for whom I act as a liaison. I have to say, these girls are incredible. The obstacles they have overcome in order to break out of the life laid out for them is really amazing.

School started a week later, and so the activities that have been on hold for the summer vacation have restarted. I am back doing my two student clubs, working with two women’s groups, and hanging around the schools. I am not teaching again this semester, but instead, I am trying to plan a teacher training. Since I cannot live in Togo forever, it’s much more sustainable for me to teach the teachers in the middle schools how to teach the Life Skills classes themselves. That way, the students will always benefit from this class long after I am gone.

So then September was almost finished, and my good friend Thommy came to visit. My first visitor! Thommy and I met when he was studying abroad for a semester at UT, and have stayed in contact ever since. Being the world traveler that he is, he decided to take the opportunity to come visit my little corner of West Africa. It was really great to be able to see Togo through fresh eyes. On the one hand, it kind of showed me the ways I have become a little jaded by life here, but on the other, it showed me all the ways that I have matured and the things that are no longer difficult for me. We did a couple of days in Lome, about five days in Sokode, and one night in the tiny village of Wassarabo where my good friend Emily lives. It was really fun to be able to show him around and show my Togolese friends that I had a life and friends before I moved here. I think it was a great trip for Thommy overall, and if it wasn’t, I would never know because he didn’t complain at all and was a fantastic, enthusiastic guest! He was also inspired by the work I am doing here and the people of Togo and we planned a little project of our own, but you will have to stay tuned to hear how that pans out…

For October, I planned a Men As Partners (MAP) conference for community leaders in Sokode. MAP is a program that targets men in order to involve them in the gender development process. Basically, the status of women will not progress without getting men on board. So everything was ready to go, but our funding ran into some issues arriving in Togo, so we had to postpone the conference until November. I am really looking forward to it, even though it will be a month later than planned.

For now, I am just working and living my routine here in Sokode. It’s really nice to just be here after all the traveling I have been doing in the past few months. I am just trying to enjoy my time and make it slow down a little which just keeps getting harder. Before I know it, it will be Thanksgiving and then Christmas at home!! I miss everyone and hope that everyone is enjoying the cool weather.