Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This is just a quick update as I'm en route back to village after a wonderful vacation in Ghana for Christmas. Thanks to family and friends' very thoughtful cards and care packages and presents, I had a quiet early Christmas celebration by myself at home in village, but on the 22nd, I left with 2 of my friends (Emily and Fabiola) to first go visit host families from training and then head on to Ghana for a little vacation. We had a blast! Our eyes were bugging out as we entered Accra and saw actual highways and a mall (!!!!). We ate great food (ice cream, mexican food, chinese food, etc.) and saw a REAL movie (Australia with Nichole Kidman, etc.) in a REAL movie theater. After getting out of Accra we went to a cheap resort where we went on a canoe ride through mangroves and where I got to swim in the ocean ... It was all so relaxing and wonderful. Getting from place to place was a little stressful and tiring, but all in all everything went smoothly and we had a great time. And now that I'm rested and refreshed, I am happy to be back home in Togo!
My Christmas decorations at my house
Tea time with peach tea crystal light and peanut butter cookies during Emily's first visit to my village since she dropped me off at post visit
making peanut butter pancakes over a charcoal stove (Danielle's gas for her stove ran out) on Danielle's porch
Edwige and I by her sewing machine
The garden of the uncle who lives in my compound; I'm experimenting with green beans and lettuce here
Lunch at Emily's host family's house
We bought chickens as Christmas gifts for our host families (they don't look excited here but they were!)
My host mom killing the chicken we gave her.
The best breakfast we've had in 7 months - with REAL toast and butter! This picture was taken our first morning in Accra, Ghana
Emily and I in front of the Christmas tree at the Accra shopping mall on Christmas Day. All the other stores were closed but we were excited anyways to be inside a mall!
Ice Cream and a Movie!
On our canoe ride through the mangroves
A view from the canoe
Emily and Fabiola lying out on Green Turtle beach
Green Turtle Lodge
The cute little hut we were staying in
On the beach with Emily
Drinking out of a coconut that some vacationing Germans gave us
Breakfast on the beachfront the morning we were leaving
My Christmas decorations at my house
Tea time with peach tea crystal light and peanut butter cookies during Emily's first visit to my village since she dropped me off at post visit
making peanut butter pancakes over a charcoal stove (Danielle's gas for her stove ran out) on Danielle's porch 
Edwige and I by her sewing machine
The garden of the uncle who lives in my compound; I'm experimenting with green beans and lettuce here
Lunch at Emily's host family's house
We bought chickens as Christmas gifts for our host families (they don't look excited here but they were!)
My host mom killing the chicken we gave her.
The best breakfast we've had in 7 months - with REAL toast and butter! This picture was taken our first morning in Accra, Ghana
Emily and I in front of the Christmas tree at the Accra shopping mall on Christmas Day. All the other stores were closed but we were excited anyways to be inside a mall!
Ice Cream and a Movie! 
On our canoe ride through the mangroves
A view from the canoe
Emily and Fabiola lying out on Green Turtle beach
Green Turtle Lodge
The cute little hut we were staying in
On the beach with Emily
Drinking out of a coconut that some vacationing Germans gave us
Breakfast on the beachfront the morning we were leaving
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