The Beaches

The beaches here are absolutely beautiful. It is very hard to describe with words other than breathtaking. However, there is a big difference between the public and private beaches. This is a picture is of Coco Beach, a private beach, near sunset. The public beaches are not as clean as the private beaches. Every Sunday the public beaches are filled with people and music from around noon until well past dark (by the way it gets dark at 6:30PM). The private beaches tend to have alot of litter, homeless people, and vrime (theft). It is a rule of thumb not to travel to the public beaches at night. I live about 10 minutes from the beach. I can see and hear it from the roof of my school.

Shelly at the Market

Grande Marche' (Big Market)

There is only one word to describe it...AMAZING!!! There is about a two mile radius with nothing but small shacks, stands, and people walking around selling items. The people are selling everything from fresh produce to undershirts to hair weave. It reminds me of a outdoors Farmer's Market on steroids. SOOOO many vendors and even more product.

Lome, Togo has the best selection of fresh produce I have ever seen (and those who know me know that food is my hobby). There is a endless supply of fresh pineapples, plantains, bananas, papayas, mangos, oranges, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, apples, and any other fruit or vegetable you could imagine. As I said AMAZING!!! You can purchase two grocery bags of oranges for about $3.00. It is crazy how it is "organic" in the US and "normal" and AFFORDABLE in here in Togo.

The tropical flowers are to die for and just like the fruit AFFORDABLE. Now I just need a vase, so that I can adorn my room with such beauty.

There are two rules when at the market.
1. Only look at items if you want to purchase them. NO browsing here. People get very aggressive with trying to make a sale and it is hard to get them to back off. Your best bet os to know what you want in advance!!!

2. Never take the first price the vendor gives. Always take the price they give at cut it half. There always seems to be an extensive, aggressive conversation at this part of the sell. This can be very intimidating, so I just steer clear and give them the first price. Just call me a peace maker (or weak).

Ar-cen-ciel International School

The school has three campuses: Maternelle (3-5 year olds), Primarie (1st - 5th grades), and Secondarie (6th-12th grades). The residential section is housed at the Primarie school. It is set up like a collage dorm: two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living area, and a kitchen. My roommate is another American teacher from Arkansas. We spend a lot of time together planning and learning the culture and city.

Every morning I walk to the maternelle school (about 7-10 minutes). I really enjoy this time in the morning because it gives me the chance to reflect on my day to come. I work from about 7:30 AM -11:30 AM teaching seven 3-4 year old students. Three of my students speak English and the rest speak French. It is a busy day because we have Circle Time, Language, Math, Center Time, Snacks, Play Time, Story Time, and Crafts (all of this has to be completed in 4 hours!!). Most days I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off, but it is so much fun. They love to sing and dance:-)

At noon, I walk back home and there is a hot meal waiting for me (made by one of the women here). It is usually a salad, stewed chicken or beef, and pasta/ rice/potatoes, and bread. After lunch I nap for 2 hours or so. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursday I head back to work at three. For two hours I teach English to 3-5 year olds. It is pretty fun. This part of the day flies by. At around 5:00PM I am walking back home. I am not ready to venture off into the city without someone who speaks fluent French and some English, so mostly I just hang around the school in the evenings.

At around 6:30 PM it gets dark and dinner is served. I will not be loosing any weight (the food is great and I do not have to cook or clean). This is the best. Mosylt in the evenings I read or talk to Clara...byt the way I have read 4 books in two weeks:-) I am starting number five tonight.

My First Two Weeks

I miss you America!!!! I am sorry I have not graced this blog with my experiences in almost two weeks. This has been a jam packed 2 weeks (it feels like two months). I have seen so much in such a little time. I am sorry about the pics. It has been a pain to get a strong enough internet signal to get them uploaded. I will keep trying.

I love Africa!!! It is amazing!!! There lives a constant sense of hope and life, despite the disparity and poverty that lurks throughout the streets. I am constantly reminded that most of my life I have focused on my WANTS in life, not realizing that to live only my NEEDS are to be met. The people here live on a NEEDS basis and it tends to simplify life in a manner that was surprising to me.

Where Do I Begin???

Where do I begin??? So much has happened since my arrival in Africa yesterday. There is so much I want to share.

The Journey from Accra, Ghana to Lome, Togo

Well, my plane landed in Accra, Ghana at 8:00Am Sunday morning (11 hour plane ride). after retrieving my bags from baggage claim I waited in the airport for a couple of hours for someone from the school to pick me up. I could not fathom why it took him so long to come and get me, Lome is ONLY two hours away (or so I thought). Since he was late, he sent two friends who live in Ghana to greet me and wait with me until he arrived. These men were very nice and hospitable. They offered me purified water in a 4 by 4 plastic bag (less pollution).

Let me get to the actual journey... We took a taxi to the bus station (not your average American bus station), which in a outdoor market place with any people. The bus was actually a mini van, which would take us to the Ghana/ Togo border. There were 11 people and my luggage cramped in this van for about 2 hours or so. At times we were on dirt roads, which had huge rocks and pot holes. I slept for a portion of the drive and attempted to have a conversation with the man from the school, who only spoke French. Needless to say, we had to use a translation dictionary, but it worked out well.

After we got to the order, I had to fill out a lot of paper work to leave Ghana. This took about 20 minutes. Once I got the okay to leave Ghana, I had to then go to the Togo border check and obtain a Visa, which cost about 45 US dollars. this was very interesting because I had my bags inspected and I had to go through Customs. The people were generally nice:-) They seemed to argue a lot, but I soon found out what they were really doing...

After crossing the Togo border after another 20 minutes, we caught a taxi to the school (where I am living). While waiting for the taxi to drive to the school, I encountered a huge argument amongst some cab drivers. They were out of their cars and yelling and waving their hands at each other...I later realized this started as a negotiation for money and patrons, which is a BIG deal here, and turned in to much more. When all was said and done, the trip from Accra, Ghana to Lome, Togo took about 4 1/2 hours. Now I know why he was late:-)

So I am here and all is well. Some of the people here speak French, but mostly the local dialect. some of the French I learned in high school is coming back, but I have a long way to go.

The School

The school has three campuses and was founded 25 years ago on the patio of the owners house. I got to share a wonderful meal with them last night. They are a wonderful Iranian family with a great desire to share knowledge with the local people of Togo.

I will post pictures soon!!!