Last Day in Togo
In the morning, I had breakfast at the Hotel Ibis with the Triki, Kemal, and Enrico, and gave them my business cards so they
could stay in touch. Then I checked out and said goodbye to the staff. They struggled to say goodbye to me in English, a gesture I appreciated.
School Visit
Elon came to pick me up and take me to Lycee Lome Cite, a school that one of the Togo seminar participants had invited me to visit. It was literally around the corner. I could see the hotel from the school. I thought it was awful that a car had been arranged to take me on such a short trip. I could have walked there and walked back to the hotel and slept some more before checking out. On the other hand, it was helpful to have Elon ask around and find Mr. Kogon, the man whose class I’d be visiting. It turned =out there was a primary school and a lycee on the same site. Elon asked around and finally we walked across the sandy playground to a room where we found Mr. Kogon. We sat in the school secretary’s office until we could meet with the principal of the whole school, who was an English teacher and had studied in the States. His English was great. I saw the 15 year old computer in his office that no longer worked so everything there is done by hand.
After the introduction, I walked down the corridor with Mr. Kogon. We said a brief hello to the Terminale (last year) students, then to the Premiere students, then came to the Seconde class I’d be observing. Even though in French “Premiere” means 1st and “Seconde” means second, the Seconde students were in their first year at the lycee; the numbering system goes
backwards. That took some getting used to, especially when I was reviewing the textbooks for the three levels.
Anyway, despite the fact that there were 76 white and khaki-uniformed students in the room and the primary school kids were noisily playing soccer outside (and they were easy to hear because there were no windows or even screens), Mr. Kogon did a good job of making the class fun and communicative. I spoke to them about 5 minutes, then went to say goodbye to the principal. On the way back to the car I saw the teacher’s room—a wooden table in a concrete room with some old bookcases. I still want to hug the walls of my teachers’ room at UCR Extension when I think of it.
Last Fou-Fou
Elon then took me to the program office. When Jean was ready, we got in a car with Elon and rode through the city to a restaurant to have my last fou-fou and meat and fish with the 6 people from DIFOP. It was clearly one of the nicer restaurants in the city—there was a lot of concrete and painted tables. The soap was liquid in a bottle, not cue stick chalk. We had forks
and knives to eat with. And we had coasters to cover our water glasses with to keep the bugs out. The bottlecaps were left on our beer bottles for the same reason. At one point I forgot and poured the bottlecap right into the glass. That meant I had to pour the beer out. :(Anyway, we had a very nice lunch together and it was a little sad to say goodbye to them.
Adventures in Shopping: Exploring the Grand Marche
We drove back to the program office, where I had about 4 hours to kill before driving back to Mary’s to shower up and rest before going to the airport. I checked my email at the American Cultural Center, then decided it was time to do some touring on my own.
The American Cultural Center is in the middle of the Grand Marche (the Grand Market). Each morning that week driving into the center we took a narrow dirt road that was crowded with stands and people selling goods. I decided to walk on the road at the other entrance; it looked wider and smoother. I got some nice jewelry on that side, then kept walking through narrower paths, trying not to get in the way of taxis, motorbikes, cloth and food sellers, and people carrying ungodly amounts of goods on their heads. I found my way to Rue du Commerce, and got hounded by men selling stuff. I needed souvenirs so that was okay, but when the drum sellers followed me with one of their friends for several blocks while he took me to his friend to sell me an overpriced music tape, I was irritated and heartbroken for them at the same time.
After buying the tape, I told the guy who’d led me there I had to go. But I told him to leave me too soon—I wasn’t where I thought I was. I wandered along a road I thought was the road back, but when I saw a streetlight I knew I was in the wrong place. I used my map to get me back, then ended up at a bus station at the beach. It was close to 4:00. I was afraid I was gonna have to take a taxi or mototaxi back if I didn’t find my way soon. But I gave the map one last try and soon I found myself at the doorstep of the American Cultural Center.
When I went upstairs I told Jean about my little adventure. My worried Togolese papa said, “I thought you were downstairs checking your email!” I said, “I was, then I went into the market.” All is well that ends well, though.
I said goodbye to everyone. Jean said goodbye as the French do, with a kiss on both cheeks. Mary took me to her nice big house, where I took a shower and watched her daughter play until Alex (another driver) came and took me to the airport. If Jean was my Togolese papa on this trip, Mary was my American mama. God bless her.
One of the teachers from the Lome seminar was outside the airport saying goodbye to her sister, who was off to Germany. It was a nice surprise to see her again, and a nice way to say goodbye to Togo. The expediter took me all the way to the waiting area at the gate. I sat on a nice leather couch until it was time to get on the plane. I made it through the long security line and survived the spraying of insecticide after the airplane doors closed. I survived the long bus rides and security lines in Paris to get to my connecting flight, and the 11 ½ hour flight from Paris to L.A. I got my car started again, got it washed, and survived
the 45-mile drive to my mother’s that took 2 hours. We were both excited to see each other again. And for the first time in a long time, California and my hometown looked like paradise to me.
Tags: Africa, market, school, Togo, Travel
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