Hello my dearest Blog Followers!

I hope you are all doing very well. I am doing well too. Just bored…things have really slowed down here because Togo is holding its presidential elections. PCVs have all been instructed to cease activities and just “hunker down.” So, that’s what I’ve been doing.

Little things have been keeping me a little busy. I tutor a high school student two times a week in English and every Saturday I work with an NGO for children affected or infected by HIV/AIDS. Also, being the president of the Togo Gender and Development Committee (GAD) and the House Manager of the Atakpamé Volunteer Transit House give me something to do. Those are my constants and the rest of my life sort of varies around them. I’ve also been doing a lot of writing—this break has given me time to work on my Thesis Proposal! If all goes as planned, I’ll be defending the proposal next month and then I’ll be able to FINALLY get started (keep your fingers crossed for me!!) Also, the Peace Corps Togo Country Director asked me to write a sort of “How To…” manual for the Take Our Daughters to Work (TODTW) project because we don’t have any documentation on it and it’s such a great project. So, I’ve been doing that too… After elections, I want to plan a Teacher Training for middle school directors and teachers on the importance of girls’ education and reducing sexual harassment in the schools. So I guess I’ve got some stuff…but not enough!

Other than that, I’ve been getting pretty anxious. I can see the end in sight!!! I have about 8 months left here in Togo. WOW! It kind of seems like a long time, but looking at it different ways makes it seem shorter and longer. For example,

8 MONTHS – long

32 WEEKS – not long at all!!

960 DAYS – impossibly long

Or, if I think of it in terms of individual months and what I have planned, it seems even shorter:

MARCH – Togo elections; GAD elections; leading a training session for new PCVs on TODTW

APRIL – trip to Benin; last GAD meeting; possible Thesis Proposal Defense

MAY – trip to EGYPT and MOROCCO!!; becoming an AUNT!

JUNE – mom is visiting!!; Camp UNITE

JULY

AUGUST – trip to Ghana; Close-of-Service Conference

SEPTEMBER

NOVEMBER – prepare for departure

DECEMBER – FINISH SERVICE! J

NOT LONG!!!

Well, I guess it is apparent that I have too much time on my hands…

But I’ll continue my updates regardless of whether they are important or not because, well, I have nothing better to do…

Last month, I went to Burkina Faso (the country directly north of Togo) with my friend Jocelyn. We had a great time! It was such a great break from Togo. We really just went for the food and we were pleasantly surprised! The capitol, Ouagadougou, has a lot of American places to eat (e.g., the restaurant and the American Embassy, the International School) and we had REAL BACON!!!! AND REAL, SLICED, SQUARE BREAD!!! AND REAL COFFEE!!! AND A STRAWBERRY MILKSHAKE!! AND A BANANA SPLIT!!! AND etc. etc… It was exactly what we needed to power us through the end of service. Also, we went to this really cool artisan village and I got some really nice things. Overall, a good trip but made better by the generosity and friendliness of the Burkina PCVs. Thanks, guys and gals! J

Well, okay, I’ll stop wasting everyone’s time…

A la prochaine!!

Yours truly,

-kara jo

This is me being really happy about package I just received from my momma filled with delicious goodies and all wrapped up in the spirit of Christmas! J