As i have said many times before, it is so nice to hear from all of you! Please keep emailing me and posting comments on my blog. Sometimes i feel very far away from everything.

Camelia, so glad you found my blog. :)

Few notes...

First, my cell phone is not working at the moment. For some reason the reception in my town (and my town only! Darn developing countries!) decided to give out. So far all of you clogging the lines between the US and Togo, please stand down. Hopefully things will be fixed shortly. Do not panic. Aaron will be back shortly. :)

Second, in case you havn't known the address, www.aaroninafrica.com is fully up and running.

On to the good stuff...

As i think i metioned a number of times before i am currently living with a host family. They are amazing! I think my host father and mother are in their early thirties. They have two little girls ages 6 years and 8 months old. I love them all dearly. I really think that when i leave here I will miss them like i miss my own family.

When i first arrived I would eat all of my meals at the table in the house either alone or with my host father. The rest of the family would eat after me at a small table in the outdoor kitchen. After about a month of being here I asked my host mother if i could eat with the entire family. For some reason (it was the same way in India) people think that it is respectful and actually wanted, as the honored guest, to eat alone. This concept is SO foreign to an American!

The first time we ate as an entire family it was raining. My host father and I, after drinking a local alcohol called Sodabe (aka MOONSHINE! PHEW! I had some earlier today at half-time of a soccer game i was watching. That stuff BURNS going down!) we prepared Fufu (i think i've talked about fufu before) under the thatched roof of the kitchen as it rained. We then went inside as a family and ate together. The 8 month old girl says two words. She says "Bonjour" (sometimes) and "papa." While we were sitting at dinner she looked at my and said, "Aaron." I can honestly tell you that my eyes started to water.

(Another short story when the little girl almost made my eyes water...

A couple week ago I was playing outside with the kids . I was sitting in my chair as they ran around and did what little kids everywhere do. At one point the littlest girl came to me and motioned that she wanted me to pick her up. Having heard another Peace Corps person tell me, "Don't worry. You WILL get peed on." I tried to stay clear of holding the potential water ballon at my feet. The older girl noticed the little girl wanted to get into my lap and ever so kindly ran over and helped her up. I sat there with this ticking time bomb on my leg expecting every second to feel the warmth slowly creep down my leg. Nothing. I was just feeling comfortable when the little girl runs back over and says, "Elle a fait kaka." (She pooped). Sure enough I lift her up and look down at my newly crap streaked shorts. That's what happens when you are living life in the fast lane... aka... Africa.)

I now have moved out to eating with the family at the small table outside next to the kitchen. I am in. I'm a part of the family now.

I love it here.