What makes me smile in Togo?

For whatever reason, friends and family question whether or not I am happy in Togo. Yes, The Land of The Free has a great deal to offer: equality among men and women, reliable electricity, wireless Internet (Oh how I want that!), coffee shops, Häagen-Dazs Five ice cream (lemon flavor), and bratwursts. Although after almost a year of living in Togo—even without its NYC-style hot dog stands and McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwiches (Judge all you want! I don’t care.)—it still manages to make me smile. The happy-or-not inquiry is usually followed by, “I am not unhappy.”  And it is the truth. Peace Corps Togo is an experience for which I asked. Peace Corps Togo, though at times quite a challenge (culturally, physically and intellectually), is unlike anything else I have ever come across in all of my travels. And that, friends and family, makes me happy.

There are, of course, other little Togolese idiosyncrasies that either prompts a smile, a mini surge of laughter, or a snicker with a headshake.

So what makes me smile?

• The sound of my neighbor’s wife sweeping the compound outside my house early in the morning
• The scenery

Photo Cred: Katy Todd

• Waking up to “Lããfie!” “Lããfie!” “Lããfie!” from the street, which is simply women and men greeting one another quickly on their way to work
• Biking around the city—working in a sense—and someone yells, “Yendoutien!” I turn my head and slow down to see who has called my name and realize a friend wants me to sit and drink tchakpa. The best is when this happens before noon
• Togolese fashion sense and older women

Photo Cred: Katy Todd

• Passing donkeys on the street while biking
• Taxi-motorcycle drivers sleeping horizontally on their bikes (anytime of the day)
• Truck drivers taking naps under semis on the highway because it is the only place with shade
• Eating spicy spaghetti at 8am
• Taking naps on the floor 

• Having conversations with people while biking on the street
• An older woman at the market who sells only grapefruit and limes—we greet one another with the standard greeting but she is so kindhearted and she gives me great deals on grapefruit
• Achu, my site mate’s dog, is very strange (but cute) and whines every time I see him even if it’s only been 24 hours since I last saw him
• Women offering their sons to me for marriage
• Passed out PCVs from either too much sun, too much work or too much…  

• People telling me I am too old (at 25) not to be married
• Seeing all the items motorcycle drivers attach to their motorcycles

Photo Cred: Katy Todd

Needless to say these are not the only tidbits of Togo that make me grin from ear to ear…just happens often enough to make me remember.

Inevitably I will add to this list once more spring to mind, or, that is, the next time I smile.

Until next time…