Update!

Hi All!

Hope this finds everyone well!  Nathan and I are in Kara for the night and have already had cold Cokes!  For my birthday (yes, not for another month! but we won't be back for a night until after April) we are staying in a nice hotel and it's only $18/night. Yep, that's right...cheap huh?!  And we get TV, AC, and a hot shower. I am a happy girl!

 

Weather is still hot, with hotter weather on its way.  We've been sleeping outside in our courtyard. Nathan sets up the mattress each night and we hang a mosquito net around it (it also keeps out mice and bats and termites).  It probably goes down to 70 degrees at night and we love it!  Asher sleeps on the mat beside us!

 

I am staying busy with school and am still really enjoying it. The students are used to very cut and dry lessons, so I've had fun introducing creative activities.  Thanks Mom and Ganny for all the construction paper and markers!

 

Plus, I've still been cooking.  I've cooked Togolese food with my friends Adele (corn porridge and peanut sauce) and Jessyln (rice porridge and peanut sauce) and I have shared American recipes with them, including popcorn, sugared peanuts cooked over a fire, and spaghetti sauce.  Everything has been received enthusiastically! 

 

Asher is well and we've left him overnight with Pierre and Rachel. He'll have fun playing with his brother,Beepo,but I miss him already ;-) 

 

Next week Nathan goes to In-Service Training at a retreat center in the South of Togo.  I will go the week after.  I'm looking forward to learning new skills and also seeing friends from Stage.  Plus the PC will be cooking all our food - yummy!  Remember, Thanksgiving?!!  Same cooks! 

 

There is a volunteer 20k away and we've hit it off great!  She is 23 and a health volunteer who arrived 3 months before me. She lives in a town and has electricity!  I biked there last week and spent the night.  Great girls night complete with No-Bake Jello Cheesecake!  Plus I'm super proud of myself for biking...My quads are looking good ;-)

 

Thanks again for all of the wonderful care packages.  I cannot write enough about how they lift my spirits. I have been a bit homesick this month but am still happy to be here and am learning something new everyday. Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!  I'll try and get pictues up before the day is out...Much love!