News from the PO

Well, today I called the Placement Office to get a bead on the situation. I think I have been assigned a placement officer named Josh, though I have never spoken to him. The woman who answered the phone said that if he were waiting for any forms from me, he would have contacted me, so hopefully I am all good. She also said that my program is still leaving at the beginning of October (beginning...eek!!) and that it didn't look like it was full yet. She said I should be getting my invitation, if I am going to be invited to that program, by the end of the month. It is already the 13th, so basically I should be getting it in the next 2 weeks if that is going to be my assignment.

This morning I spent a half hour or so talking to Ahmed, who is our night security officer at the building I work in. He is from Togo, the capital...I dunno what the capital is, but that's the city he's from. His dad owns a trucking company that has about 15 trucks that go all over West Africa. He said if I do go to Africa and am going to travel in Togo, I should contact him and he will have his brothers or cousins show me and my PCV friends around. That would be cool!! They'd know all the best stuff! He came to the US for school, but we didn't get into what he is studying or where. He said he learned English in Niger. He said I will really like Africa, that it's great there. He also said that he likes the food at Ngoma, which is a Pan-African restaurant on Wilshire, but that the food in-country is even BETTER....that's good, because I liked Ngoma! I want to go again.

So already one African person likes me! He said I will do really well there because the people are friendly and so am I. He also said Niger is HOT! But I knew that... He knows 4 or 5 languages including English and French, he seemed to enjoy that I knew there would be many languages to learn, as most people are shocked he knows so many. All-in-all a fun conversation, and reassuring, as he didn't seem worried at all about me going or being unsafe.