Moving

This morning I moved to the house down the street. My friend has been living here for the past 2 weeks or so and I visit almost daily and so this is logical and I’m so happy to live in a house where I will have a kitchen, but don’t think modern here. It’s like camping but it’s a small room with a propane stove (no oven), a double sink, and a small refrigerator. Then there is a stall-like room that is the shower and small stall-like room with a toilet that is jimmy-rigged together, but it works and that’s what counts I guess.
My room is a nice size, bigger than at the compound and I even get a double bed and the mattress is VERY firm to say the least. I guess it’s either super soft and squishy foam or the firm version. I’m happy to have the firm so this is good. I also have a desk and two shelves. Our small coffee table that doubles as a dining room table with the four chairs can easily transported outside under our grass roofed awning to enjoy the ocean breeze over the walls of our yard. Oh and we have a coconut tree in our yard too. I just need to figure how to get the 10 or so cocoanuts out of the tree now.

My friend and I cleaned the house and I unpacked today. We had the chauffer and guardian in for coffee when they dropped me off this morning and that was fun. I realized that I’m picking up on certain key words and so I can kinda sorta follow a basic conversation. That was a nice and exciting moment this morning too. Then the guardian made sure that the school’s carpenter guy came over later and helped me to hang my mosquito net here. I was very grateful as the way my ceiling is constructed it wasn’t so easy.

Many of the Togolese workers at the school were sad that I was moving and told me on and off during the week how they were sad I was moving. It kinda felt like everyone was saying good-bye like I was moving back to the U.S. I love that I have a community here already!

I don’t need to go and get any pets here as I have much wildlife that lives here (in the house too). We have Paula the lizard who lives outside in the yard, Lizzy the small lizard who runs around inside the house, the gecko that lives in the kitchen, Charlotte the HUGE spider that lived in my roommate’s room but decided that my widow is a better spot. So I won’t count or name the mosquitoes, ants, and various birds but they are also ever present. Life is good.

Please remember that anyone is welcome to visit and there is a third bedroom in the house too. It would be great to have a familiar face to show around town.