When I first landed in Zambia to volunteer with the Peace Corps, my impressions were not at all in line with my expectations. For example, I expected to see lions romping through the bush. Didn't happen. I expected I'd be celebrated as the Bringer Of All Good Things and Haver of So Many Unbelievably Wise Ideas. Yeah...that wasn't so spot on, either. I also expected to be very active in the promulgating the so-called third goal of the Peace Corps: talking about your experience and bringing a little of your PC-life back home. I guess I do a measure of that here on Gadling, but nothing like Aaron.

You see, Aaron's currently serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo. In addition to his work at the local school, he maintains a blog about his experience, and in this way he's satisfying the third goal before he even returns home. Of all the third-goaling Aaron does, I particularly enjoyed reading about The Market (and watching the video); learning about the ritual of Greetings; hearing about Clean (?) Underwear; and, of course, learning about eating dog and cat. If you want to know what the "real Togo" is like, this is it. It don't get no realer, folks.

Not too knock Aaron, but he seems to be living large, with a multi-room, cinderblock house, a sink, a propane stove, and more. That said, imagine trying to forge ahead with a computer center project for this school:

TASCHEN books are some of my favorite to collect. If I had hundreds of dollars to blow I could easily do so on their website, but for now I'll have to place some of these titles on my Christmas wish list or refrain from doing so much running to and fro' to buy a few more. Of the more recent releases I'd like to take a peek at the Inside Africa titles. The two volume set puts the diversity of African living in the reader's face. I'll be one of the first to admit (and this is very sad because I have so many African friends), but when I think of dwellings found in various African places I don't think modern for the majority. I see mud, clay, and earthy homes with wells and without running hot water. SO WRONG. While a good portion of countries may have tribes and villages with housing of this nature there are tons of luxury lodges, artist studios, minimalist houses, and so-forth. These two sets claim to have a good mixture of both and more, but with the eye-popping ink and paper stock TASCHEN uses I'm sure anyone flipping through the book would want to stay in a clay hut. Deidi von Schaewen is the photographer and it took a period of four years and fifteen countries to make it these Inside Africa volumes happen.

Countries featured include Egypt, Kenya, Botswana, Morocco, Réunion, Seychelles, Tanzania, Tunisia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo, Nigeria, and Senegal to list only a few.

Hmm... At the time being I think things are going swell enough with my love life and health, but if things ever took a wrong turn and I wanted to make a vacation out of it, you better believe I'll be heading straight to Togo. Well, maybe. The Marché des Féticheurs is the place to be to smell the monkeys' testicles, snakes' heads and seek spiritual guidance according to the LP online Worldguide. I'm not too sure about what those scents must smell like, but it sounds like an adventure.

Today's word is a Ewe word used in Togo:

nunyamo - way of knowledge

As we learned before the official language of Togo is actually French. Togo has a couple major native languages Ewe and Mina are used in the south and Kabye and Dagomba are used in the north. There aren't many resources for learning the native lingos online, but anyone with French speaking capabilities should maneuver their way around the country with ease. Global Crossroad has a 2 week language and culture program for volunteers preparing to start work in the area wishing to learn basic Ewe.

Past words from Togo: Koffi, o foin

Seems I'm still online today and feeling rather cozy here in Trinidad. The crickets are humming outside, music is heard in the distance calling me to come out, to wine, to dance and have a swell time, but I'm quite relaxed in my current state. My friends would probably place daggers in my back if they knew I was sitting inside hunched over my laptop with the fan blowing streams of cool air on me, but life couldn't be any better if you ask me. The night is still young anyway and the possibility of going out to play is still there. For now I'll shoot my emails to family and friends, soak up the air and even pass on yet another new word.

Today's word is a Mina word used in Togo:

o foin - what's up?

Last time I taught a word from Togo I cheated and used my friend's name. At the time I wasn't sure which tribe or dialect the word, but he cleared things up. 'O foin' like the name 'Koffi' which means Friday is used by the Mina people of Togo and will be hard to learn online. As we learned before the official language of Togo is actually French. Togo has a couple major native languages Ewe and Mina are used in the south and Kabye and Dagomba are used in the north. There aren't many resources for learning the native lingos online, but anyone with French speaking capabilities should maneuver their way around the country with ease. Global Crossroad has a 2 week language and culture program for volunteers preparing to start work in the area wishing to learn basic Ewe.

Past Mina words: Koffi

Although it may be Friday the 13th one can't help to click their heels, sing their favorite show tune and count down the last remaining hours of a grueling work day. Yes! Even with a little superstition in the mix that feel good feeling is impossible to shake and thousands of American's will probably thank God for this final day of the work week. Some will give praise while sipping their morning coffee, others once they know they survived another Friday and specifically that of the 13th. At this point you're probably thinking the word of the day has something to do with superstitions, black magic, or voodoo dolls. That would be far too obvious and probably words you wouldn't want to roll off your tongue in most countries. So I settled on the least obvious.

Today's word is a Togolese word from Togo:

Koffi - Friday

The official language of Togo is actually French and to say this is a Togolese word might be slightly off the mark. Togo has a couple major native languages and I'm sorry to report I don't know of which one this one falls under. Ewe and Mina are used in the south and Kabye and Dagomba are used in the north. Perhaps someone will inform me, maybe it will be my pal Koffi, who was born on a Friday. So, I cheated a little by using my friend's name for the word of the day. Did you know 'Koffi' was a word for Friday somewhere in Togo?

There aren't many resources for learning the native lingos online, but anyone with French speaking capabilities should maneuver their way around the country with ease. Global Crossroad has a 2 week language and culture program for volunteers preparing to start work in the area wishing to learn basic Ewe.