End of Stage!

I can't believe it, but I'm back in Lome after 11 weeks of training. Our stage group left our training villages early this morning. I think overall, most people were very ready to end training and head off on their own, but I personally had a really tough time leaving the village. I absolutely loved my host family, and I became good friends with a number of peers in the village, so it was really hard to say goodbye. I definitely plan on going back and visiting, but I won't be able to do so for a while. I'll actually be able to see my host mom once more tomorrow when she comes down with the other host moms to the swearing-in ceremony, so that makes me happy. All of the trainees signed a bunch of paperwork today, and then tomorrow we'll actually take the oath to become official volunteers. They say it's the same ceremony as the one for new ambassadors and civil servants, which I think is pretty cool since it makes it sound so official. All of the new volunteers will also give a small speech in the local language of their village, so mine is going to be in Kabye. The speeches will supposedly be broadcasted over the radio too , which is pretty neat - although potentially embarassing as well :)

The rest of the weekend in Lome will be free for shopping and stocking up on items that will be difficult to find anywhere else in Togo but which we will need at our sites. For me that means a lot of food items, miscellaneous kitchenware, paint for my house's walls, a new cell phone (with the hopes that it'll receive reception in at least some places in my village), and maybe, if I have enough money to do so, some art for decoration (although art tends to be way more expensive in larger cities). A lot of people will also be taking advantage of the large variety of restaurants that can be found in Lome as well as the relatively faster internet. Lome is great for having a lot more available resources but I personally am anxious to get back to the smaller village life as I greatly prefer the calmer atmosphere of life out "in the bush", as we say here.


my host mom and dad


me and my host mom on our last evening together


me and two of my good friends (taken the day I left)



the (amazing) language trainers [photo taken the day we left]