Making changes...

So a lot has happened since my last post.  I had to leave my beloved Kabou.  I moved south of Togo to a town called Agbodrafo.  Peace Corps made me leave because I was being harassed by a neighbor, unfortunately.  It was definitely a bitter sweet move, I pretty much spend 2 weeks trying to convince Peace Corps to let me stay.  Didn't work.  Anyway, Agbo (Agbodrafo is just too many damn syllables) is a beautiful town, just a different environment from Kabou.  Kabou is more of a community: everyone knows everyone, you literally can't walk 5 minutes without greeting at least 10 people, and people tend to be nicer.  In Agbo, people aren't necessarily mean, they just don't go out their way to greet you.  It's different.  It's also a tourist town so it has wonderful hotels, a great beach, a lake where you can swim, canoe, or even jet ski, and a slave house where a lot of tourist come to visit.  Only problem is, I'm not sure what I can do as a volunteer to help a town that seems pretty developed.  Except, there's a great computer lab so I could possibly teach some computer courses.  I don't know.  Hopefully the work will find me.  On va voir.

frolicking on the beach

Enjoying the scenery, there's also a nice bar on the beach ;-)

Lake Togo

Just thought this was a pretty pic - it's an unfinished church , that's been unfinished since1986

Tabaski

Me and my friend Danielle celebrating Tabaski

Last Sunday was Tabaski.   This is one of the biggest religious holiday for Muslims and is celebrated greatly in Kabou -well greatly in most of northern Togo.  Being a Christian, I knew very little about Tabaski or any Muslim holiday for that matter, so I was very curious.  Apparently, Tabaski is the "Festival of Sacrifice".  From what I was told, it celebrates the almost sacrifice of Abraham's son, Ishmael.  Without going into too much detail: Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son and his son was willing to be sacrificed because it was the will of God.  When God saw their obedience he stopped Abraham and told him to sacrifice a goat instead.  When the goat was sacrificed, God gifted Abraham with another son, Isaac, as a reward for his obediance.  So, Muslims celebrate this ultimate sacrifice each year during Tabaski.  Now, I can't speak for Muslims or even Togo but celebrating Tabaski with my Togolese friends was a great experience.  The family I celebrated with, chose the animal they wanted to sacrifice like a week before and they decided on a goat.  Early Sunday morning, everyone was dressed in their best clothing to worship (I wish I could describe how that went, but I didn't attend, but I heard it was beautiful).  After worship, the goat was cleaned then slaughtered, then prepared.  After that, it was a lot of celebrating and eating the entire day.  It felt like the entire town was celebrating with us.  I don't plan on converting, however; it was a wonderful experience.