Back in the A-F-R-I-C-A

What it is. Yes I am back in Togo after a very tender, magical time spent in wonderland, a.k.a. Greece. I would post pictures, but I cannot find the cord necessary to plug into the computer to do so. It is somewhere hidden in Nacho's tender, magical locker that I think has about a week's worth of dirty laundry, a whiskey sachet, her iPod cord, a solar charger, some flip-flops and other various important necessities such as a camera cord. My trip to Greece was great. Let's just leave it at that. The trip back to Togo is what makes my life so much more interesting. I missed my flight from Athens to Dubai because my flight into Athens from Thessaloniki was late. They also made the flight out of Athens early, which gave me absolutely no time to get my luggage out of baggage claim and check in to Emirate Air. So, they booked me on a flight with Olympic Airlines into Dubai. Olympic Airlines. Where to begin? They ran out of blankets, they gave us only one choice for the meal (beef pastitsio--a Greek noodle casserole--that I actually did eat. I'm so glad I practiced eating meat before I came to Africa, but who knew I would have to put it into use in Europe?), the headphones did not work and there was only one TV monitor with only one choice of a show per 1000 seats, the flight attendants were saucy as hell, and the bathroom would put even a latrine at a bus station in Togo to shame. But, before all of this even happened, my leave-in conditioner was taken from me at the security check in Athens. That's right, LEAVE-IN CONDITIONER. The woman tried to also take my Tom's of Maine Cinnamon-Clove toothpaste that was given to me by my mother, Biggie Smalls, but when I started crying and pleading to her that where I was about to go was so undeveloped that they didn't even have Tom's of Maine toothpaste, she placed her pointer finger vertically over her mouth and told me to keep quiet and furtively threw the toothpaste back in my bag. Afterwards, ss I was trying to cover my red, swollen eyes from my fellow travelers with my favorite big, Togolese, haute coutoure sunglasses, I noticed that one of the lenses had fallen out (they finally broke-I knew it would happen, it was only a question of when, because these are the second pair of these glasses, but the first pair had a different demise. The ear piece fell off). So, I just let them all have it. I was sad and couldn't hide it anymore. I spent the night on a chair in Dubai (8 hour layover), but not before checking out the Duty Free Shop. To make up for my sadness and loss of leave-in conditioner, I bought a big bag of almonds, Haribo gummy bears, and anti-wrinkle eye cream. My friends met me in Accra and it was like a gift from god.
The marathon in Togo has been cancelled because only 3 people are running it. I am still running the Ghana marathon, but have decided to participate in a bike tourney that runs across Togo and supports the same scholarship for girls' education. It is in November. Today, I will be leaving for my village and I am nervous and also scared to see the state of my house. Bat guano and mice turds fall down from the cracks in the ceiling, especially in my bathroom, and it is not a very welcoming site. I will have a lot of work ahead of me and I am tired and too lazy to wash my hair that has dusty mud in it from yesterday's bush taxi ride back to Togo. I think about all of you and miss you all so much. I have to keep reminding myself that this is all an adventure even when I am twiddling my thumbs, staring at the ceiling and trying to figure why I did this and how much longer I can do this. I am lucky to have this opportunity and I am experiencing new things all the time, even though they are not always very comfortable. I am okay. I am okay. This is an adventure.

Fat lady a-singin'

I have been in Togo for 367 days. The new training group just arrived here the day before yesterday and we had a big welcoming party for them last night. I have been out of village for about 2 weeks. But, let me tell you all about Camp UNITE. C'est bananes! It was a week long camp (I never went to camp as a child) for female apprenties (what is an apprenti/apprenticeship, you ask? An apprenticeship is like a trade school. They can do apprenticeships in carpentry, sewing, mechanics, etc.) They are also doing camps for male apprenties and girl and boy students. My camp though was the first camp and even though I am now exhausted, it was well worth all the hard work. The camp consisted of sessions on Family Planning, HIV/AIDS, Gender Equality, Nutrition, Adolescence and Puberty, Self-Confidence and Techniques to Good Communication. The mood of the camp was positive and all the girls after the 2nd day really came out of their shell. We sang and played games and taught the girls some income generating activities (jewerly making using bottle caps and magazines pages...prettier than it sounds; lotion making...). I got to play the role of "Pagi" the negative villager who tries to discourage the girls all week, but somehow learns from them too. The last day of camp I was a changed girl who had gained self-confidence and a positive attitude. Voulour c'est pouvoir (to want is to be able)! I am leaving Togo on a very positive note. I will be in Greece from mid-June to mid-July and I am super pumped but also super scared because I am afraid I will not want to come back from the land of milk and honey (actually yogurt and honey). But, I have a lot of support from other volunteers and they keep me here happy, most of the time. Kisses and hugs to all of you. Barack, eh? Sweet.

Holy Janet! You send me a comment with absolutely no information about yourself. Like an e-mail or an address. Please do this. Here is my address: antigoni_yes@yahoo.com or
PCV Antigone Pantanizopoulos
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 3194
Lome, Togo
So good to hear from you. Janet, why the long face? We found each other again. This is so exciting...dreams do come true. Please send me your info. And hello to everyone else!

Pictures speak louder than words

Hello everyone! So I've been doing stuff...biked the pathway for the marathon with Alicia, my co-coordinator. It was lovely and really hot and rained immediately after we arrived in my village. I went to Tchifama, Alicia's village, with my host mother from our training site, Agou Nyogbo, and Julia, my cluster mate who had the same host mother as I did (she's a Natural Resources Management volunteer). We had a good time, drinking tchouk, dressing in the same pagne, wandering around Tchifama looking ridicoulous and then eating fou-fou of course made by Alicia's host mother. So I've decided to just leave you a bunch of pictures this time and little word. I'm doing well, settling in. I read 3 books this week...Gone to Soldiers, The Village of Waiting and The Alchemist. I also started a girls' soccer team (the SexEd class was a bust, so I decided to approach it by talking about SexEd issues during practice) and started on the home visits with the water committee to teach the peeps in village about potable water and fecal-oral transmission. I said little word, didn't I? Okay. Enough. Here. I miss you all...oh and that spider was not killed, fortunately I had a friend come by and catch him in a broom and place him outside unscathed. I call him Biggie Smalls. No relation to the rapper or my mother. Peace out.

Kalo Mina en Avril!

Dear All! I hope you are all well and happy in this beautiful month of April. It is hotter than all get-out here right now and I am really missing a beautiful spring in Tennessee. I am in Lome just for the day to do some computer work and check e-mail. What to say? What have I been doing? I've started training for the marathon and I've decided to run a half-marathon in Accra, Ghana in Septemeber as part of the training. I rode my bike to the dispensaire in Akplolo after not riding it for 3 months (I rode it all the way to Notse and left it there for 3 months...). I made date nut bread, actually 3 times because it's good tasting. I'm being kicked off the computer because someone else has to use it for evil. Just kidding...I miss you all and I hope you haven't forgotten about me b/c I think about y'all all the time. I leave you with several attractive pictures of me pounding foufou and of my beautiful village from the view of Mt. Agou. Tootles!

Me, Alicia and Natasha in Tchifama, Alicia's village. She lives in the chief's compound with his 19 children and 2 wives (he has a total of 5).

Huge spider I found in my bathroom, stared at it to make sure it didn't move during my bucket shower.

Me and the kids sitting on a mat outside my house New Year's Eve.

Me and the kids at my first funeral in village. Akpedje is to my left and was sucking on a sack.

I meant to post this blog at the beginning of this month. This is not Akpedje because the video clip I wanted to add here is not working, but I will send via e-mail so some of you can see it, k? This is me in my house and those are my brooms behind me.(This is Akpedje, my best friend in village, singing "Kalo Mina!" to me Feb. 1. It means "Good Month" in Greek and it is always said at the beginning of any month. I had told her the day before to say it to me and she remembered the next morning. She is shaking a bottle of "tchouk" as she is singing because this was a gift given to me by my Ewe language teacher and she was delivering it to me.) It has been an interesting month so far. I am back in Lome working with another volunteer, Alicia, on organizing a marathon from my village to my friend Ashley's village in Notse. We are planning it for next December and we want the money raised to go to a scholarship fund created by Peace Corps to pay for boys and girls to go to school. The students are nominated by volunteers and their grades are monitored in order to keep their scholarship. Just an idea so far, but I am hoping that it works out because I want to finally run a marathon! I am also working on having a 3-day training for the women's groups in my village focusing on nutrition and better farming practices (i.e. compost and maybe trying to grow more nutritious vegetables instead of the same manioc, yam and corn...). I also want to start a Health (i.e. sex) Education class for the young girls and possibly boys in my village. I am doing a small talk on Moringa at my dispensaire in my village this Wednesday and Thursday. I am planning vacations...so far Burkina Faso and Ghana. I am feeling a lot more settled here and I think having work has actually helped me feel better living here. I just got my ticket to Greece and I am super pumped. July 2-16, y'all. For anyone who wants to come visit me this summer, do not plan anything for those dates. And please come visit me...just let me know ahead of time so I can plan something, but also so I can make sure I can take off for a little bit of traveling, eh? Alrightee, everybody. Hope all of you are well. Here are some more pictures...