'Tis the Season

Happy Holidays! I love this time of year in Colorado! It's not bad in Togo either but I can't wait for snow and to be cold!! Then it will really feel like Christmas!

Well, I have officially been a Peace Corps Volunteer for a year now and it feels great! It has been a year full of life changing, challenging, incredible and fulfilling experiences. I wish there was a way to describe it to you all but there just aren't words. I will do my best to continue sharing what I can through this blog and my pictures.

Oh and there are new pictures that go along with my last blog entry so check them out. I had a friend upload them and I didn't have time to label them so I hope they are self explanatory. I will try to add captions maybe when I am home at Christmas and have fast internet at my fingertips.

So, since I last wrote, what have I been up to?... lets go month by month:
(Just a brief overview)

September:
I was helping with the new group of trainees, who are great and full of enthusiasm. I had a lot of fun sharing stories with them and absorbing some of their positive energy.
I also found out that my proposal to move to the city was accepted and scheduled for November. I had written to senior staff requesting to move to the city 18k from me for some great work opportunities and to my surprise, it was accepted. I was thrilled but the move is bitter sweet. I will have exciting new projects that include working with the Ambassadors Girls Scholarship Program NGO and a woman’s shea butter co-op. I will have a wonderful house with running water and electricity and I will always have cell reception (no more climbing the mosque for reso)! But I will very much miss the family that I adopted, that took me in as their own and made me feel so welcome! I will also miss the simplicity of village life. I actually liked depending on moon and candle light and I loved my out door, under the stars bucket baths!
Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims, was most of September and it was so amazing to see how strong these people are. I fasted for one day, and I tell you what, there is no way I could do it for 30 days in a row. The tradition is to fast sunrise to sunset. Just imagine waking up at 4am (earlier for women to cook) to eat and you better eat a lot because it has to last you all day. You work in the fields all day and you can't drink water! Then after the prayer at 6pm, you break the fast, pray again at 7 and go to bed only to do it all again the next day. I commend their faithfulness and strength! I did lots of biking in September to get on shape for AIDS Ride in October which I will talk more about later.

October:
Since I knew that this would be my last month in village, I spent a lot of quality time with my family and friends. I will miss them significantly but will visit often. One of the new volunteers will be living and continuing the work I started in Wassarabo so I will have a chance to go back.
Every year volunteers across Togo organize and participate in AIDS Ride. It is a week long bike tourney that reaches out to small, rural villages that rarely get attention from outside NGOs and development organizations. This year, along with 9other PCVs and 2 Togolese counterparts, I biked around 120k over 5 days and did HIV/AIDS prevention presentations and condom demonstrations. We reached around a thousand villagers and although it is hard to know if we created any change, we shared useful information and started discussions in place that might not have ever heard our message. Biking was tough at times, always beautiful and overall, I am so glad that I participated!

November:
An exciting, historical month!
I was so excited for elections this year! It is amazing to see so many people getting involved. I am so proud of my country and our democracy! We really are so lucky to have the governmental system we do. I can say with confidence that it is the best in the world and after seeing what systems are like over here, I have a new appreciation for my vote!
The person replacing me in Wassarabo came for post visit the first week of November and I really like her. Her name is Emily and I can see us getting along great. She was so positive despite the scariness of seeing your village for the first time. I feel good about having her in Wassarabo. She even kept her cool when she saw her first scorpion outside the house, so I know she'll do great!
I moved into my beautiful house in the city. It isn't home yet but it's getting there. I have started making contacts and mapping out ideas for projects and I am really excited for the opportunities to come.
I said goodbye to some very special people who helped shape me as a volunteer and got me through really tough times. I will miss them so much, you know who you are, but look forward to a lifetime of friendship! Congrats on making it through and thank you for all you were to me!
I spent 2 weeks with the new group at the training site and got to remember what it was like to go through training. I love the new group and the people that are going to be in my region!
I came down to Lome for Thanksgiving at the Country Directors house. Although I miss my family a lot, I am very thankful for the new family that I have built here. The life in Togo is often difficult and hard to explain to people at home so having a support network is very important. So Thank you to all my PCV friends for understanding and always being there to listen. Thanksgiving this year gave me a whole new perspective on life, as you can imagine, and I look forward to the changes it will make in my life in years to come. I am so grateful, beyond words!

December:
Started off right with a short vacation to Ghana, the land of two lane highways, shopping malls, one taxi seat per person, English!, nachos and strawberry fanmilk! I enjoyed a day visiting silly things like the grocery store and a sports bar, then laid on the beach for a day. It was great! Good company, laughs, beautiful sunsets, great food and relaxation.
Then I came back to Lome and unfortunately found out I had bronchitis. I got the meds i need and feel fine so that’s good. And I can't complain because I get to stay in the really nice med unit with hot water and air conditioning and 3 home cooked meals a day!
I am headed back to Sokode in the morning for one last week before I come home for the holidays! I have some last minute Christmas shopping to do and some meetings to set up then I will be headed to the wonderful US of A for almost 4 weeks.

I will be home in Colorado from Dec. 17th till Jan. 8th with some short trips here are there and hope we all get a chance to catch up, whether that be in person or just by telephone (free nights and weekends). I won't have a cell phone but will let you know the best way to communicate when the time gets closer.

I am so anxious to see my family and friends, thinking about it gives me goose bumps!

Until then...

Enjoy the snow!
Remember to take a deep breath and look around at what's really important this holiday season.
Find something to be thankful for, it's really easy.
The world is a wonderful place full of incredible people just waiting to meet you, so open yourself up.

Peace and Love

Jillian