Camilla called today and she got my packages (both in the same day). The funny thing is... we got her letter today too!
She is having an amazing time and has NO DOUBTS in her decision to join the Peace Corps and accept their invitation to Togo, West Africa. She has a wonderful host family and is making life long friends.
Good news... she got the USB card for her camera today in one of the packages so pictures will be arriving soon (hopefully this weekend if she can get an Internet connection). In the meantime... she sent a hand-drawn picture of her home in Tsevie (pronounced chey-vee-yay) that shows her room next to her host sister SeKupe who is also 22 and is moving to Lome to study nursing. She also lives with her host brothers Dos (16) and Kossi (32) with his wife SaFemme. Her host parents are Patricke (papa) who is a Doctor's Assistant and Velorique (Maman) who is a Chef. Her host brother Kossi is an electrician and her littler host brother Dos is in his last year of high school and looking forward to college.
She is having an amazing time and has NO DOUBTS in her decision to join the Peace Corps and accept their invitation to Togo, West Africa. She has a wonderful host family and is making life long friends.
Good news... she got the USB card for her camera today in one of the packages so pictures will be arriving soon (hopefully this weekend if she can get an Internet connection). In the meantime... she sent a hand-drawn picture of her home in Tsevie (pronounced chey-vee-yay) that shows her room next to her host sister SeKupe who is also 22 and is moving to Lome to study nursing. She also lives with her host brothers Dos (16) and Kossi (32) with his wife SaFemme. Her host parents are Patricke (papa) who is a Doctor's Assistant and Velorique (Maman) who is a Chef. Her host brother Kossi is an electrician and her littler host brother Dos is in his last year of high school and looking forward to college.
Their home opens up to a courtyard in the middle and has giant coconut, orange, avocado and guava trees!
She has not had any problems other than adjusting to the malaria medication which she has to take daily. She said that all the locals call all the volunteers "Yovo" which they also have a song for that goes "Yovo, Yovo, Bonsoir!" She said that it must be the next thing after "Papa" and "Maman" that they children learn. Her host sister assured her it was a harmless song and not meant to be racial or negative which is good because she is called Yovo at least 20 times a day.
She is eating well and happy with her new host family. The first night with them they made her an "American" meal consisting of spaghetti noodles combined with macaroni noodles and some vegetables cooked with it with olive oil or some kind of oil/butter combo and a hard boiled egg right on top. She said it was yummy and she ate it all! So much for our picky Camilla!
She also said she would love any kind of news via Newsweek, NY Times, Gainesville Sun, etc as they all feel really out of touch with what is happening in the rest of the world. She also really enjoys wearing her UF apparel because the other volunteers hate that her team was No. 1 so she rubs it in.
She will be finding out really soon where she will be placed over the next two years. She has a huge book she is going through tonight with all of the options outlined and described and she gets to pick her top three for them to select from. She has an interview with the director next week about her choices. It is nice that the program asks for their input... apparently it is not something all Peace Corps volunteers get.
I will be talking to her on Sunday again to give her an update on the Gator Game Saturday night if anyone has any news they would like to relay. We have missed her so much over the last three weeks but she is really happy so... therefore how can a mom not be happy too.
She has not had any problems other than adjusting to the malaria medication which she has to take daily. She said that all the locals call all the volunteers "Yovo" which they also have a song for that goes "Yovo, Yovo, Bonsoir!" She said that it must be the next thing after "Papa" and "Maman" that they children learn. Her host sister assured her it was a harmless song and not meant to be racial or negative which is good because she is called Yovo at least 20 times a day.
She is eating well and happy with her new host family. The first night with them they made her an "American" meal consisting of spaghetti noodles combined with macaroni noodles and some vegetables cooked with it with olive oil or some kind of oil/butter combo and a hard boiled egg right on top. She said it was yummy and she ate it all! So much for our picky Camilla!
She also said she would love any kind of news via Newsweek, NY Times, Gainesville Sun, etc as they all feel really out of touch with what is happening in the rest of the world. She also really enjoys wearing her UF apparel because the other volunteers hate that her team was No. 1 so she rubs it in.
She will be finding out really soon where she will be placed over the next two years. She has a huge book she is going through tonight with all of the options outlined and described and she gets to pick her top three for them to select from. She has an interview with the director next week about her choices. It is nice that the program asks for their input... apparently it is not something all Peace Corps volunteers get.
I will be talking to her on Sunday again to give her an update on the Gator Game Saturday night if anyone has any news they would like to relay. We have missed her so much over the last three weeks but she is really happy so... therefore how can a mom not be happy too.
