I lived in Africa, ask me anything.

In the mid 90s my mom got a job working for the American Department of State as the Peace Corps medical officer for the West African nation of Togo.  One of the perks of the job is that the US government would fly family members over.

So for 6 months of my freshman year of highschool, I lived in the capital city Lomé.  I went to school there, made friends, and the next summer (when I lived there for 3 months) I got a job in the American Embassy.

So ask me anything.  Some topics of interest: funny/interesting experiences I had, working for the government in a foreign country, the expat community, languages, food, authoritarianism/corruption, neighbors, weather, disease, technology, or any other aspect of life that you experience every day.

I also spent a lot of time in Bulgaria, but I'll do another ama for that.

Wow I just looked up Togo on wikipedia, I'd never even heard of that country before. It's a tiny sliver!



How did you get the job at the embassy? What did you do?

So dependants of DOS employees oversees can get jobs depending on their skillset.  All I had to do was sign the form that my mom filled out for me where she lied and said I'd never smoked weed.

The first job I got was in a werehouse (ok it was a warehouse) helping an african guy do inventory.  One of the guys who had previously worked there had convinced his co-workers that he would voodoo them if they didn't help him steal things.  So me and my boss went through the warehouse checking on what things we still had.  Some of the memorable experiences I had were: My boss got his hands on an issue of national enquirer with a story about a "bat-boy" and asked me if it was real; Everyday on my way to work, all my neighbors would want to talk to me.  I didn't realize it at the time, but I must have come off kind of rude by trying to get to work on time.  In the local culture, you're expected to talk to your neighbors for a good hour or so before you get going on your day.  Hopefully, they thought that it was just a novel experience.

Everyday on my way to work, all my neighbors would want to talk to me.  I didn't realize it at the time, but I must have come off kind of rude by trying to get to work on time.  In the local culture, you're expected to talk to your neighbors for a good hour or so before you get going on your day.  Hopefully, they thought that it was just a novel experience.

Wow, that's a cool tradition. I like talking to my neighbors but we usually only talk in the summer when I'm working in the garden. Last week after it snowed they shoveled the sidewalk in front of our house. Seriously they're the best.