Clean Feet

My feet are always dirty here. You may be asking yourself why is that such a big deal? Aren’t feet always dirty? Very few roads in Togo are paved and side-walks are non-existent, which means that I spend most of my time walking around on dusty dirt roads so at the end of the day my feet are pretty filthy. As a new volunteer its best to get out of your house as much as possible so I have been walking around Dapaong saying hi, or “saultaing” to random people and trying to improve my French, but as soon as I get home the first thing I say to myself is, “holy shit my feet are dirty” or “merde, mon peids sont sale.” Told you I have been working on my French. However as a result of this I have found that a good activity to pass the time is washing my feet. Not in the religious sense a la Jesus and Mary Magdalin, but it just feels good to have clean feet at the end of the day. Simply taking a shower is not enough to get your feet clean. F.Y.I you need a solid 10 minutes of solid scrubbing to get all the dirt off. So it’s best to get a bucket of water, a bar of soap and a sponge, take a seat on the front porch and go to town. It’s best to start with the bottoms then work in between the toes. Don’t ever skip going in between the toes. There is a lot of dirt in there and you can’t be shy about it. Then move on to the top of the foot and don’t forget to rinse and repeat. Always repeat. Another question you might be asking your self is…why don’t you wear shoes to avoid getting your feet so dirty. My response is, “well smart ass it’s really hot here, everyone in Togo wears sandals and I’m trying to be bien intégre.”
Now that that’s out of the way I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and enjoyed the cold weather. This was my first X-Mas with-out my family so it was a little sad, but at the same time all of the volunteers in Togo are family in a way. We don’t always all get a long but at the day they are a great group of people and an amazing support network. This was also my first New Years Eve not seeing Umphrey’s McGee in 7 years. It was a little bit weird rocking in the New Year without my favorite band, but I guess the streak had to end sometime, and what better place than Togo. New Years Eve is not very big in Togo but there is a pretty big celebration on New Year’s Day. Everyone dresses up in their best clothes and eats A LOT of food. I also found out that it is customary for kids to go up to adults and ask for candy. Not knowing this I felt bad not being able to pass any out, but none of the kids seemed too upset. One brave kid even knocked on my door and asked for some. I really hope he enjoyed the raspberry crystal light packet.