By: Madeline

     Well, I know that I said I'd try to keep up this blog but anyone who knows me probably knew not to take that too seriously. Or to take it seriously but not trust it, at least. So I apologize for that sense of false hope some of you may have had, but I've been so very busy with school, and my new work, that there's hardly any time to do anything but breathe in between things.      I know that everyone must be quite curious about my new job, so I thought I'd write a bit detailing that. First of all, let me say that this is one of the most outlandish things I've done, for lack of a better word. Yes, I've lived in Togo most of my life. Yes, I've been submerged in more culture than many people ever will, even at fourteen. But still, I never really considered the idea of going to work at a clinic here in Kara, the smallest biggest town I know.       I always think so many things I try are a good idea, and enjoy them at first, but eventually lose interest.

Prejudice is a funny thing. Pride is even funnier. And when I say funny, I don’t mean the laughing kind of funny. I mean the kind of funny that is hard to explain and comprehend. Those two words simply have such a vast array of things that could tag along after them in a conversation that I try to avoid them as much as I can. But I do know one kind of prejudice and one kind of pride that seems to stand out to me all the time, and not only because of where I live. Prejudice seems to me to be one of the most blinding faults a person can have. It can keep them from seeing the good in things, which is often one of the biggest blessings you can have. There are so many kinds, racial prejudice, religious prejudice, and prejudice against anything else you can name. And the fact of the matter is, it makes me sad. The idea of alienating a trait of a person, thing, or group of people, then despising them for it shows that whoever is prejudiced against something, obviously has a big problem to

     There is so much to write about right now I barely even want to blog because I like things to be spaced out evenly. This is just going to be a big blob of random information. Humph. I'll begin at the beginning.      Fourth of July. A rather obscure holiday for me. As I've always had to celebrate two independence days, one with a little more forced gumption than the other, it takes part of the joy out of it. Also, we aren't actually in America 90% of the time. No fireworks. No real Americans. Happy 4th! Of course we make the best of it with the food and games and whatnot.      Holidays in Rwanda are different.      I've noticed that for one thing, there are about half as many expats in Rwanda as actual citizens. So for our American holiday, they had at least forty Americans there. Aidan also made us some explosives. It was a rather fancy, complicated firework that sent sparkles and fire spewing in all directions. The secret? Take a bunch of match heads and wrap t

     Alright, alright, I know it's not really alliteration like I prefer in the title, but I'm too tired to think of alliteration right now. It's hard to leave your blog for a few days, travel to a completely different part of the continent, then come back and write about all of it, on top of being clever. But, just to humor you all, I will try.       So far, we've spent two days in Rwanda. Our plane rides were... Interesting... They went rather smoothly for the most part until we almost died on the last one. When we were landing in Uganda, I guess we landed at sort of an angle, and when the plane hit the ground, we sort of did a bounce-and-lean-dangerously-to-the-right thing. The one side of the plane lifted off the ground and we must have been tilting at a forty-five degree angle. Then we leaned to the left as the pilot tried to right the plane too quickly. It was fine in the end though and we got to the Rwanda airport at one in the morning without any trouble.   

     When your 'metaphorical cousins' visit, there are a few things you can expect. 1: Everyone will get along splendidly and nothing horrible will happen, it will be like little angels playing together nicely. 2: It will go well, aside for the occasional tiff and a few tears. 3: You learn not to expect anything because the results vary from hugs to sprained ankles. I think we can all guess that in this case it's the third.      The Reeves have been here for about a week now, and so far nobody has died. We moved my bed to the side and crammed two other mattresses in my room so I am currently blogging on the remaining two square feet of space. However, I feel used to this arrangement by now. The fact that our best friends are here after not seeing them for a few years outweighs that. So far, we have succeeded in reenacting Les Mis with the three of us girls, playing our own version of 'Thank God You're Here!', and chasing the bunnies around the yard quite a bit.

     You know, last night I was thinking about it, and I've never really thought about what went through my mind when we moved to Togo. I mean, honestly, nobody does that. Only crazy people. Obviously. And it's also something that lots of people have asked me, though I don't really know the answer. But now that I had a good three hours last night to think about it (compliments of a rainstorm), maybe I'll have a valid answer this time.       When we lived here the first time, I had no idea that it wasn't a completely average thing, to move to a developing, French-speaking country. And I was so little that I didn't even give it much thought when people asked me what it was like to live here (I learned to answer that question before I was three). But when I was four, and we made the sudden move back to America, I slowly withdrew into the normal American mindset, that living in Togo wasn't quite normal, just with the thought in the back of my mind that said, &q

     Having a blog is harder than I thought. As a writer, I only usually write when I have inspiration. But as a blogger, I feel like writing consistently about interesting things is hard to do. Especailly when i know people are reading it, unlike most of my other writing. In a way, it makes me feel more courageous as a writer, and in another way, it makes me feel like I'm not putting my best out there, which is one of my greatest fears. I do have a valid excuse for not writing in a few days though. For one thing, we made a brief but harrowing trip to Accra, which involved the Great Gatsby, a live Clue game, and the making of home made wizard wands. The trip to Accra is fifteen hours, and when you're driving all the way one day, spending two days in town, then driving all the way back the next day, it takes it out of you quite a bit.       We came back from said trip on Tuesday, and had a nice time sleeping until ten in the morning. On Wednesday I passed the day listening to D

     Today we went on a safari. For those of you who have never been to West Africa, (aka the sad, pitiful ones) this is not exactly like a safari you'd see in the movies. You get in a car, it's hot, there's no roof, you're out there for hours, there absolutely no breeze and the air that does blow is hot air, and there's not even a guarantee you'll see animals. Luckily, we did today though. We stated out by driving out to the game park, and all got out to pay. We decided to take the park car for some people, and everyone else would pile in our pickup truck. We went into their little solar-powered hut where I spent most of the time anylising the solar panels and how they work. We paid for the truck, were the guide started out by telling us we had to pay at least twice what the actual price was, then when dad just talked for a long time and got him down to the actual price, he threw his hands in the air complaining that's what he was saying the whole time.   

     Today is the last day of school. I have my French final, and trust me, after that I will rejoice. I will sit in my living room and play the chorus of the Avett Brother's Colorshow so loud that my family will be forced out of the house. School has been giving me a run this year. My math grade got down to- perish the thought- a B. I don't think I've ever had a low B in my life. Luckily, I've finished off the year with a normal B, which is better. Government and Civics was no problem. I'm glad I can be graded on ranting about different policies and issues. Chemistry was simple fun, but mostly because I got to do experiments with it. Though I didn't blow anything up. When it comes down to it, I'd really rather not. I'm also taking a writing course, which is basically discussing book online with other nerds like me. Needless to say I probably aced that.     We also took the interns to Akanto's farm in Kante, or to the north. It was much neater than

     And now comes the part where, thanks to a good friend who was just utterly perturbed by the format of my blog, has fixed the format problem! You now get two special treats: Indention, and returns. HUZZAH!       On that note, I will now relate, with abundant hyperboles, what it has been like so far to have our interns here. Firstly, I noticed right away that they were not one of those, "Ooh! Africa! I can hug orphans and save elephants!" people. Sometimes when people come, and they come solely for reasons relating to recognition and/or simple delight, they tend to get a big disappointment. For one thing, it is not 'really hot' here. It is simple, sheer, pain. You could fry an egg on your head. Yes, the heat has been hard but I was very impressed with the simple, "OH IT'S SO HOT WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!" I assure you, I've heard much worse than that. They haven't even spent an entire day sitting in front of the fan yet! Unless you count the ca

     So we're all getting ready for the end of school, right? One of those times of the year where some people sit back and do nothing, thinking they're going to do fine on their exams, and some people spend every spare second pouring over their algebra books and ending up with only one universal answer: Yes, you're right, the X is very important. The end of the school year for me was usually to just take it easy and be excited about summer. But ever since I got into high school and started to actually work for my grades, it hasn't exactly been like that. To give you a good picture, the last week I've been either huddling in the fetal position over the computer, or over my math book answering any questions or comments of my family with a multi-meaning grunt, usually taken for just a normal grunt with no meaning at all. I don't understand why they would think that I'd just give them a normal grunt when MY grunt is clearly a very communicable one.      In al

     I'm not going to lie, but I love beginning things. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I feel like I'm starting something new, or changing something, even though I'm not. And being an aspiring writer, I'll probably want to go back and 'edit' this very beginning in a few weeks time. But I'm not going to because it's a blog and it's not supposed to change.      In the past I've tried to blog. However, I've never been a very consistent writer. I've always dropped different things I've been doing, but hopefully I'll keep up with this. No guarantees. But, hopefully with this change we'll have something to keep steady.      For one thing, it's the first time in... Forever... My family has been thinking about the future. Not that we ever neglected it in a bad way, it's just that we've never had to think about it. But now that I'm in high school, we have a timeline to put together. We can't stay i