August 30th

The market was big; however, I was with other people and I didn’t get to explore all of it. I know that next time I will see more and more as The Grand Marche is huge. We were mostly in the fruit and vegetable area but I did see tubs of dead chickens balanced on the heads of men and flopping with each stride the man took. I saw the empty bottles from vaccinations being sold, and I smelled the sea air mixed with people and waste of all kinds. I would have liked to take more pictures but I feel it would only increase my chances of being mugged at the market so I will collect pictures little by little.

The girls I was at the market with, and I walked almost an hour back to the school compound. I thought it was half this distance but trekking in the periodic rain, carrying heavy bundles from the market was a bonding experience. I guess my new friends are women not girls as one is an older lady who has been living in northern Togo for over 9 years and she is very sweet. We share a common area, kitchen, and restroom in the dorm on the 3rd floor of the Primary School compound campus. There are 3 campuses in all, so I teach at campus about 4 blocks away. The other woman is a little younger than I am and is from Belgium. She speaks French and teaches at the Secondary Campus up the street the other way. She speaks more English than I speak French so we communicate in English mostly, but she is helping me learn some things in French. She also has a house that is in between the compound where I live and the school I teach at so it is easy to walk down the street to see her.
Yesterday she had several of us over for dinner and it was so nice. Then some people went home and she and I and 2 other people went to a Jazz Club here in Lome. I was impressed until the band played the ‘Call Me Al’ song by Paul Simon and the singer didn’t know hardly any words, but the music was good. They played American, French, and African songs while people listened and danced. I had a nice time and even observed a group of the white men who brought African women out as dates/escorts/prostitutes…there is nothing new under the sun.

Today my Belgium friend and I went for a walk along the beach. I am an eight minute walk to the waves lapping my toes. I never would have thought that I could live closer to the beach than I was in L.A. but I am right now and it’s AWESOME! The beach was nice but you could tell how powerful the undertow was so we just walked and watched and chatted some. When we sat for a moment 2 Togolese guys came and sat on each side of us and were hitting on us. This is common as they don’t see us as anything but a visa and way out of Togo. So the guy who was talking to me realized that I don’t speak French so he had some English so we chatted a bit, but he was confused why my friend spoke French and I didn’t and wanted to know how we communicated and I told him in English some. He wanted to know how long I was planning to stay in Togo and per my friend’s idea and advise the other night you tell these men years or that you are moving here and they lose interest rather quickly. So I told him that I was going to teach in Togo for many many years. The look on his face was classic and he truly did lose interest. It was so funny and my friend and I laughed at this later.

Life is good and I am getting more and more settled as the days pass. I am getting used to the children on the streets or the young people saying ‘bon jour yovo’ as I pass, which is basically ‘hello white person’. I just crack up as they don’t mean it to be rude but to point out what they see. Most people speak to me on the street and the kids all look and waive as some don’t know French yet. I really live in Africa and I like it. I mean it isn’t always comfortable but I know that this is overall a life experience I won’t forget. I will write more about the boy with the broke leg who lives next the compound I live in, he is so adorable.

Oh, one sad thing that happened today was the discovery that our rooftop free Wi-Fi has been locked and so now we need to go to the Secondary School to use the internet. Se la vi.