Chicken with it's head cut off!

The past few weeks have been kind of stressful and hectic to say the least. I feel like I’ve been running around like a “chicken with its head cut off”. On Thursday November 22^nd (Thanksgiving) I left my village for Accra (the capital of Ghana) for Thanksgiving dinner at the US Ambassadors house. The last Ambassador started a tradition of inviting all of the Peace Corps Volunteer’s to his house for an amazing dinner so this year the new Ambassadors decided to carry on this wonderful tradition. By wonderful I mean the menu included turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cheesy cauliflower casserole, ginger carrots, green beans, mixed salad, cranberry sauce, and gravy! For dessert we had pumpkin, apple, and pecan pie! The new Ambassador is also super nice. He and his wife are both from NY and he even graduated from U of R. I also got to meet a ton of volunteers that I haven’t met yet. When we travel to Accra for the holidays we have the option of staying with a homestay family. I was a little apprehensive about this option at first but I heard great things from other volunteers so I decided to try it out. All of these families are Americans people living here in Ghana, mostly working with Peace Corps or with the US Embassy. Well let me just say they were amazing. I won’t mention their names, but if they just so happen to be reading this I want to say thank you! They were so welcoming and completely opened up their home for us. Their home, by the way, seemed like a palace. AC, a hot shower, washer and dryer, swimming pool, fridge, couches, etc. My living conditions at my site aren’t poor by any means, but this really seemed like heaven. In the evenings we would just sit and chat for a few hours, and it was really nice to be able to do that. They took us to the commissary, which is like an American supermarket reserved only for the government workers, and I know we looked like kids in a candy store.

After we left their house on Saturday the 24^th we traveled to Kumasi, which is in the Ashanti region. We were able to stay at the Kumasi Peace Corps Office, which has sort of a hippy vibe to it. There hammocks, gardens, awesome murals painted on the walls, and a very laid back atmosphere. Volunteers often use their vacation days to go and hang out here for a break. When we got there the water pipes weren’t working properly, but we got lucky and it poured that night so we all put on our swimsuits and bathed in the rain, which was FREEZING! We had our reconnect In-Service Training (IST) from the 25^th-1^st. This is the first time since we’ve been to site, that all of us from my group are reunited. We also come with our counterpart teachers. My real counterpart wasn’t able to come because he had lectures at his university, so I brought another teacher from my school. The training/workshop focused on topics like behavior change, learning disabilities, writing grants, standardized testing in Ghana, and sharing experiences from the last few months. The first time we all met our counterparts we were still pretty new here in Ghana, we couldn’t speak the language, we didn’t like the food, and we really hadn’t integrated much so every day the volunteers usually stayed pretty segregated from all of the counterparts. It was completely opposite this time, which I loved. We are all close with our counterparts now so we were all talking, hanging out, eating together, and playing ultimate frisbee, which was a blast! We also put dreadlocks into one of the volunteer’s hair and got like 3 Ghanaian counterparts to help. The whole time we just chatted and explained different American/Ghanaian customs/beliefs. If that’s not integration then I don’t know what is. I even celebrated my 22^nd birthday (I know I’m getting old) during IST. Everyone sang happy birthday to me, I got a few bottles of alcohol, cookies, and we all just hung out, listening to music and had a good time. On the last night of the IST we all went to a night club that plays live music. Our counterparts were the first to get up and start dancing, but after they started we all joined in. I’d say we all danced for a good 2 hours, and it was such a good time! Leaving Kumasi was bittersweet. I was anxious to get home, but it means I won’t be seeing a lot of my friends for a while because they live so far away.

Coming home was nice. And yes, I am calling it home. I really am starting to consider this place my home now. When we got in the car that was headed to Volta and I started to hear people talk in my language I was relieved. Many people in Ghana (or at least the Volta Region) say that the Voltarians are the nicest people in Ghana. I don’t know if I’m biased because I live here, but I agree! I was able to talk to people again and I was a lot more comfortable. Not to mention all of the welcome backs I received.

While I was gone for a week and a half I missed a fundraiser that the School Management Committee (SMC) had in town. They ended up raising 6,000 Ghana Cedis, which is amazing! We’re going to use the money to build a computer lab for the 24 laptops that were donated to our school by a political party. I’m excited!

Unfortunately I missed revision week at school because of the IST and we’ve started term exams this week. I’m a bit nervous about that because I wasn’t able to cover all of the material that I was supposed to and the term exam is worth 70% of their term grade. We’ll see how it goes though. This Friday is the Ghanaian Presidential Elections so that has been a popular conversation point recently. In general, Ghanaians seem to be way more informed about their political issues than most Americans, which is interesting. Most of them actually know more about American politics than I do. We are on “standfast” for two days before the elections and three days after, which means we can’t leave our sites. Although Ghana is a peaceful country, it is better for us to be safe in our village than traveling around during the election times. In Ghana they have two main parties, but they have a ton of smaller parties and the winning party needs to have at least 50% + 1 to win. A lot of people are saying that it is likely there will be a run-off election because of this, in which case I will also be on standfast from the 25^th-30^th of December, which means I’m just planning to stay in my village for Christmas.

So on a more fun note, I’ve been eating lots of new things recently. A few weeks ago I went out to the bush around 6:30am and started drinking palm wine (not so alcoholic) and akpeteshie (very alcoholic). By around 10am we started cooking lunch. I was with a few hunters and they said they were going to find some bush meat so they left with their sling shots and 4 dogs. Meanwhile we pounded fufu and started to prepare for the soup. The hunters returned with a rat (not grasscutter, which is like a giant rodent, but a legitimate huge rat like you’d see in NYC). I helped to clean the rat and we made some awesome food! After we were done eating a few of the guys said they were going to do some tapping, but I was feeling really sleepy so they made a makeshift bed of sorts our of some wood planks for me, and before I knew it I was fast asleep. Three hours later I woke up super dehydrated. I told some of the people that I needed to go home because I didn’t bring any water with me and I was feeling very thirsty and they said that we would be leaving soon. 4pm rolls around and I haven’t had anything but alcohol all day so it was pretty easy for them to convince me to drink the river water. Yup, I drank two cups of river water. They assured me that I would be fine, and magically I haven’t died yet. Next time I’ll bring a water bottle though. When I came back from IST I had another volunteer staying with me and we decided to buy a chicken to prepare with my fellow teachers. So the brought the chicken and I thought it was dead when the handed it to me upside down by the feet. I was thinking “wow this thing was just killed it’s still warm!” Well that’s because it was still alive, which I found out when it started squirming. Anyways we had to kill the chicken, which is done by plucking the feathers from the underside of the neck and then cutting the neck to drain the blood. For a few minutes it didn’t move and I thought it was dead. Then it started flapping around in front of my feet, and I’m not going to lie, I freaked out a little bit, which was hilarious to all of my friends. This is where the inspiration for the title of this blog came from. I thought that phrase was kind of just a joke until a few nights ago. Eventually the chicken died, and I helped to pluck all the feathers which is done by soaking the chicken for a few minutes in boiling water to loosen the feathers. The most interesting thing I’ve eaten is snake. I’ll divert here a little bit. It is taboo for most Ghanaians to eat snake. When you ask them about this there are a few different reasons. Some believe that snakes are kind of evil and they carry bad juju so if you eat them then you will be cursed. Some believe that if you aren’t careful when preparing the snake then the poison will leak into the meat and spoil it which will then kill you. I don’t actually think that’s possible, but to be honest I don’t know. In my opinion this fear comes from the fact that yes, snakes in Ghana are poisonous, and many people have been killed/injured by snakes here. This means they don’t want their children messing around with the snakes, so from a very young age they teach the children to fear snakes proper. So we found someone to prepare the snake for us, but me and the other volunteer were the only ones who would eat it. It was actually really good. There is a ton of bones, but they were all about 3 inches long. I had assumed that the bones would run perpendicular to the snake’s body, kind of like our rib cage, but they actually form a diagonal cage around the snake.

Needless to say I’ve changed a lot. I’ve experienced so much that I never though possible. Giant spiders on my wall no longer faze me. I have learned to appreciate everything I have. I respect people of all ages more than I ever have. I’ve slowed down a bit, and learned to go with the flow. I’m able to find some humor in even the most terrible situations. I’ve learned to compromise and choose my battles. I’ve learned to improvise. And most importantly, I’ve learned to live life to the fullest, everyday, all the time.

Until next time!

Morning morning!

Well I haven’t written in a while so here goes… School is tough. I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d ever be a teacher so I didn’t go to school for education as many of you already know. Sure, I’ve tutored my friends but it’s completely different. To be honest I think that having a background in education might have hindered my abilities here because their education system is quite different from ours in the states. I’ll give you a run down of the typical student’s day here in Ghana

.

-Wake up around 4am to help around the house with cleaning, cooking, or whatever else needs to be done.

-Many are at the school compound by about 7:15 to sweep, and clean out all of the classrooms.

-My school, and many other JHSs, start at 8am, which means that morning assembly is at 7:45.

-Morning assembly consists of a few songs, prayers, announcements, and punishments. The students are required to have clean and ironed uniforms, clean and cut fingernails, proper footwear, buzzed heads (boys and girls), and a handkerchief. If they fail these requirements they are punished: caning, weeding, kneeling, or some other labor. They are also punished for being late, and speaking the vernacular language. A lot of times this cuts into the first class block.

-School closes at 2pm, but on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesday we have extra classes until 3:15.

-Most of them go home, change, eat quickly, and then help their parents around the house, prepare food, go to farm, or sell things at the roadside.

-By they time the finish eating, and bathing, most of them are too tired to focus very well on their assignments.

I’m struggling quite a bit in school because the literacy level in my school is very low. I try to write a lot of the important things board because it is often hard for people to understand American accents, but if they can’t read it doesn’t do much good.

So on the first Friday sports day I embarrassed myself by trying to play Volleyball, but the next Friday I thought I would be able to redeem myself by teaching them how to play ultimate Frisbee because I’m actually semi-decent… Until I start running and trip over the big cement block in our school compound that is… It’s OK though I went on playing while my foot bled everywhere. Probably not my best decision.

Well I’ve become pretty popular among many of my students and younger kids in town. I’m 84% sure that they have some radar that alerts them the second I walk through my front door because as soon as I come home I’m flocked with visitors. A lot of times they are doing homework so I don’t mind, but it doesn’t leave much quiet time.

I helped with a Spelling Bee in Ho. They have started a Spelling Bee in the country so you can register your school and they give you information on how to coach your students. Then you hold a Bee at your school and the top 5 or 6 spellers go to the Regional Qualifiers (I believe it’s called, but not sure), and the top 3 spellers from each region go to Accra for the final competition. I was amazed by some of these words because I know for a fact I couldn’t spell many of them correctly. The winner of the final competition wins an all expense paid trip to Washington D.C.

along with $500 spending money. The winner last year was from the Volta Region (the best region in Ghana!), so I’m hoping we can represent again this year.

Got some packages from home, which was awesome. One day I had dinner that consisted of cheeze-its and pizza Pringles (thanks Sarah and Mom and Dad!). It also included ingredients for s’mores, which rocked my world.

Hmm what else? I’m really excited about Thanksgiving this year. We’ve all been invited to the US Ambassador’s house in Accra for a Thanksgiving feast. Actually to say I’m excited is probably an understatement. Not only will I be stuffing my face with delicious turkey and pumpkin pie, but I will also be meeting a ton of other volunteers that I haven’t met before. It will be the first time in 3 months that those of us from the most recent education group will all be reunited again so I’ll get to see all of my friends. We also had the option of staying with a homestay family in Accra so I’ll be staying with an American family who is now living here in Ghana. I’ve heard wonderful things about these families and, like I’ve said, I’M EXCITED!

After the Thanksgiving festivities, those of us from the education group will be traveling to Kumasi for In-Service Training. It is a 7 day long training seminar that we bring our counterparts to. I’m not exactly sure what this entails, but I think they give us more teaching strategies and we talk about any successes/failures/frustrations/etc we’ve had over the last three months.

Other fun things that have happened…

-I set up a hand washing station at my school. It’s called a tippy tap and essentially you attach a jug to a rope connected to a stick that when you press on the stick it pulls the rope which tips the jug. I’ve never seen kids more excited to wash their hands, it’s great.

-The health system here has provided the medication for all of the students to be dewormed, which is good.

-Ghanaians LOVE Celine Dion. I hear her music all the time, and it makes me happy.

-Some people here say “Morning morning” instead of saying morning in their local language, but since they’ve been saying it for so long, they think it is their local language and not English. Anyways, I greeted an elderly woman by saying “morning morning” and she got so excited! In the local language she said “You understand Ewe!” I replied in the local language “I understand Ewe small small.” It was the highlight of my week.

-Check out this website. It’s hilarious and extremely accurate: http://whatshouldghanacallme.tumblr.com/

-The anti-malaria medicine the Peace Corps makes us take induces crazy vivid dreams… That’s been interesting.

-Things I miss: American holidays, (American) football, cheese, chocolate, cold weather (never thought I’d ever say that), driving, cooking, sleeping in, pets, contacts, and of course family and friends! Wish you all could visit!

-I had all my kids come last weekend to scrub my floors and walls. Found some interesting critters like lots of spiders, a big millipede, and a lizard.

-Download “Whats app” if you have a smart phone. It’s a messaging application that sends messages over the internet. It comes through your phone like a text message though. That means that you can be texting your favorite Peace Corps Volunteer, free of charge! My number here is +233248207663 and yes you have to use the plus sign.

-New pictures will be coming soon!

-Also my birthday (Nov. 26^th) and Christmas are fast approaching. If you’re interested in sending some goodies, here a short list of things to include.

            -chocolate (no, it won’t melt)

-any type of shells and cheese things

-any other food type things that you just add hot water to

-deodorant (they sell it here, but it’s not quite the same)

-any type of 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner combos

-flash drives with music/movies/PDF books

-Frisbee, deflated soccer/volley ball

-I’m lacking in nice semi-dressy shirts that I can wear to school with a pair of dress pants, or I can wear with jeans to be semi-casual. I have a pair of brown dress pants, and a pair of white/tan dress pants.

-Also a few of my dresses have been ruined that I wear to school. Dresses should be semi-conservative meaning nothing above mid-knee, nothing strapless or spaghetti strapped. I have a lot of pink/purple so that color should be avoided.

-Q-tips

-If you don’t want to send anything, you can put credit on my phone by going to telephoneghana.com then go to the bottom right and it says recharge. Click that link. Then it asks for the country then provider, which is Ghana and MTN. Then the phone number which is 248207663 it will automatically put in the area code. Then you put in the US dollar amount and press continue. 20 USD dollars lasts me quite a long time here.

-People here have been really interested in the US elections. A good majority of Ghanaians support Obama because “he gives hope to other people of African decent.” I have heard a few people saying that he worships the anti-christ though which I have to laugh at.

-PICTURES!!!

-a guitar for dummies type of book so I can learn how to play the guitar I bought

-cheeze-its

-dried fruit (craisins, raisins)

-hand sanitizer

-bug spray

-any other fun goodies!

Physics of the Quest

So I recently watched the movie Eat Pray Love which is a movie starring Julia Roberts. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's about a woman who takes a year long journey through Italy, India, and Bali (that's probably spelled really wrong so sorry about that) to basically get a change from her life in America, learn about the world, learn about herself, and experience new things. She has good days, some bad days, and some really bad days. She faces language barriers, cultural barriers, meets some amazing people, and learns a lot of new things. Anyways, I feel as though many of the main plot points resemble my life these days. At the end of the movie she says, "In the end, I've come to believe in something I call "The Physics of the Quest." A force in nature governed by laws as real as the laws of gravity. The rule of Quest Physics goes something like this: If you're brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you." - Eat Pray Love. I started thinking about this and realized how much I have learned since I've been in Ghana. I even learn from the small children or from people who can't speak any English. Even on the bad days I learn something new and something wonderful, which makes it all worth the diarrhea and the harassment and the poor test scores and the serious lack of good chocolate. I will regard every single person I meet as a teacher because we all have something to share in this life. I can only hope that I will be able to share as much as I've been given...
Alright, enough with that stuff. Here's the list.
1. Well I told you all that I was sick a few weeks ago. Strangely enough it seems every single person in my village also found out. I was visited by all of the teachers at my school, and from the primary, and from the kindergarten. I'd say I had at least one visitor an hour for like 3 days straight. Part of me loves this, and part of me hates this. In America when we are sick, especially if it involves the gastrointestinal stuff, we don't really like to tell people. It's not like that here. In fact it's the other way around. If you don't tell people you are/were sick they become angry with you. Thankfully I only missed two days of school, but even that put me behind quite a bit.
2. We had our first staff meeting last week. It was a combined meeting between the kindergarten, primary, and JHS because we are such a small staff. We talked about quite a lot of things that I didn't even know existed. For example, we have things called thrift-and-loan, and welfare. They are programs in place where you put in certain amount of money every month. The welfare is mandatory and the thrift-and-loan is optional. Say for example you need money for something, but you don;t have it. You are able to take money from the thrift-and-loan and it has an interest rate (which I don't remember, maybe 10 percent?), so when you pay the money back everyone who has put money in has made a little bit of money. The idea is that at the end of the year (I think) we all get back the money we put in, plus the interest we have collected. Since Peace Corps Volunteers aren't allowed to make any money for their personal gain, I would use the money to help pay for a student's school fees or something. The welfare is similar but every month all of the teachers put in 5 cedis (there's 16 of us I believe - so 80 cedis a month), and its used for things like birthdays, deaths in the family, marriages, having a baby, and an end of year celebration. Each of these occasions has a set pay out fee that the person gets if one of these things happens. For example, on your birthday you get 50 cedis. Yay! We also talked about things like forcing the students in the primary school to speak English because several of them can't by the time they get to form 1 in the JHS, which makes my job impossible. Also, we need to be present, on time, every day. Typical staff meeting type things.
3. Most exciting thing recently was the traditional Ghanaian wedding that was at my house over the weekend. I say traditional because everyone here was calling it traditional, but to me it seemed very westernized. Some aspects are different, but many are very similar. So on Saturday morning around 10am the two families met to discuss the things that will be given as gifts. Typical things include alcohol, tobacco, and fabric. It was explained to me that the bride will take someone to be her "father" that is usually another family member or close friend, but is not her actual father. This "father" does a lot of the negotiating and is very active in the wedding. The brides family sits on one side, the grooms family on the other. The groom was sitting with his family, but the bride was inside still until much later in the ceremony. They do prayers, introductions (Which included mother, father, grandparents, and for some reason me. Even though I've never met the bride of the groom, but I just so happen to have white skin which makes me an important honorary guest), greetings and the man’s family explains why the bride’s family should allow her to go to their family. Then they collect money “to pay for the brides flight from America to Ghana" (actual words). Several women went into the room and made a procession to lead the bride outside. They pretended they were a plane (coming from America) and the bride comes out and sits in a chair near her side of the family. They then do a little service about how a man and a woman should be in a marriage and then the brides family physically gives her to the man and his family. Then the pastor comes and blesses the ring (they didn’t have one for the man, I don’t know why) they do the typical man putting the ring on the brides hand but instead of kissing they hug. Public display of affection is not accepted here. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that. Then there was dancing and similar to how they do it in the US you go and give the new couple money as they are dancing. This whole thing went about 5 hours straight. Then there was a reception with music, food, drinking, and dancing. This was all done on Saturday. On Sunday both sides of the family come back together to distribute the gifts. Most of the gifts were alcoholic: gin, whiskey, and some other spirits. There was also tobacco, and several other wrapped things that I don’t know, but I have been told that usually you include some nice fabric for the mother of the bride because of the fact that she carried the woman on her back for several years. I was told that the man is the one who pays for all of the things involved in the wedding. Separating out the gifts took about 3 hours because there was a lot of arguing and going back and forth. At the end, everyone present must take some sort of drink that was bought for the wedding: beer, spirits or soda which represents that you were a witness to the wedding. Also there was a lot of people at the wedding with cameras and since I’m a white person I managed to be in about 70% of these photos, even though I didn't know anyone. All in all it was a lot of fun.
4. Extra classes have started so I'm extra busy. Teaching ICT to 30 students with 1 computer is not easy-o.
5. There are designated weeks when all teachers are supposed to give class tests so this past week was test week. That means I gave 3 tests to the form ones, 1 to the form twos, and 1 to the form threes. UGH! I had some students who wrote literally nothing. Didn't even try to guess something that we had talked about in class, the just sat there for the whole class period, and wrote nothing. Some students did exceptionally well, and most of the students did about average. I had 6 form one students that I caught cheating. Side note: cheating on homework and tests, even standardized tests, is very common here. They learn this from the time they are in the primary schools, and it is a very hard habit to break. The problem is they aren't very good at it. They seem to think I can see them when they blatantly bring out their note books. So anyways, as punishment I made the 6 students come to my house and hand wash my clothes and fetch water for my poly tank. You may be thinking "Oh my God Sam, how could you do such a terrible thing? Are you even allowed to do that?" Well in reality this is a far less punishment than they are used to because the other teachers would cain them, but I'm not allowed to use a cain (Peace Corps rules). Also, I could (and most volunteers do) just make the students wash my clothes and fetch water just because without it being a punishment.
6. On Friday we had sports day which means all of the kids went and played soccer in the field. The teachers and a few older students played volleyball... have I mentioned I'm really, really bad at volleyball? Well, I am, and I'm pretty sure I embarrassed myself in front of several teachers and students. I told them that next sports day we are going to play a sport that I'm good at so I chose ultimate frisbee. We'll see how that goes.
7. Other notes:
-Some of us bought cheese in Ho. For a tiny block it's 10 cedis, which is a lot to us but it was delicious.
-I'm thinking of starting a boys/girls club with my form 3 students where the girls and boys meet separately every other week to talk about thing like puberty, sex, STDs, nutrition, and whatever else they have questions about. I asked them if they were interested and they said yes so I have to talk to my counterpart and headmaster now.
-I get "scolded" by my landlord/Ghanaian father about what time I should be home at, and who I should and should not talk to.

Yah I think that's about it for now. Until next time :)
P.S. Don't ever think for a second that a person won't be able to teach you something new, we can learn something from every experience if we just open our eyes.

"The Club"

So what’s new? I’ll give you a list because it’s easier that way

1. I was formally invited to a fundraiser at the church I have been attending. They want to raise money so that they can buy new instruments for the band (namely a guitar). Should be a good time!

2. I need to make an effort to read more about what is going on in the US. Most of the literate people that I talk to are very informed about things like US politics, economics, and other social things. They try to ask me questions or make conversations about things and I have no idea what they’re talking about…

3. So I’ve finished two weeks of school, and it went really well… I think. I didn’t teach at all the first week because the students were going to farm and cleaning and we were giving tests to the P6 students who were trying to come to F1. We discovered that some of the students can’t spell their names, can’t read, can’t do simple math, but some of them (9 to be exact) were able to pass the test and come to F1. Some of those who failed the test have been in P6 for four years now so the primary school said they aren’t allowed to come back and they have to find a different school to go to. The second week of school was good. I’m getting to know my students better and I hope that they are starting to understand my accent.

4. I’m having a bit of an internal struggle because a few of my students in F1 don’t know English very well (some can’t read, some barely understand anything I say), and many struggle with it. So do I stop my ICT, Math, and Science lessons to teach English? Maybe. That would help all of the students struggling with English, but we wouldn’t get very far in the subject I’m supposed to be teaching. Or do I continue on with the subject and try to stick to the syllabus for those who do understand and are doing well so that when they have to take the end of term exams they are able to do well and pass? For now I’m trying to do a little bit of both. That is I call on students who aren’t raising their hands to read what I write on the board and to try and explain what it is that I’m talking about. It’s going OK, but the other students laugh when they make mistakes, which we all know is bad for self-confidence and such. It is only going to make them not want to try at all. I have told them all that if anyone laughs at another student when I ask them a question or while they are reading they will be coming to my house after school to fetch water so we’ll see how that goes.

5. Have I mentioned I don’t like funerals? They seem to just bring a lot of new people into my town that I don’t know and they don’t know me so they assume I’m a tourist or something. They call me Yevu (white person/foreigner) and sometimes I go up to them and make conversation and ask for their name, tell them my name (all in the local language), and then the next time they see me they greet me, but it gets exhausting having to deal with so many new people all the time. Also they blare loud music. I mean so loud that I can hear it across town. I like the idea of celebrating the deceased’s life instead of mourning it, but I don’t like all the unwanted attention. I guess that’s just something I’ll have to get used to. Oh and they’re three days long…

6. On Fridays I only teach one class in the mornings so after that I went with my counterpart teacher into Ho to go to the Yam festival. Once there we met up with several other teachers from my school and surrounding schools. It is hard to understand many of the cultural things that go on here because we don’t really have the same concepts in English, and to be honest it often seems like people just participate in these events without actually knowing what the purpose is so it is hard for them to explain things to me. Anyways, the people who believe in the traditional rituals, traditions, festivals, etc. believe that people shouldn’t eat yams until they have been blessed by the elders and offered to the ancestors. That means that from about April-September (I think) people don’t eat yams. During the festival they elders bless the yams and allow the ancestors to eat the yams first and then everyone else can eat the yams. On Friday they had a huge parade with hundreds of people walking down the main road, playing music, and dancing. The women were all wearing extremely short shorts (even by American standards) and neon colored clothing. Many of them were also wearing leggings, which is common for this festival. The men were also wearing strange clothing, and almost everyone was drunk. Since times like this can be kind of dangerous for foreigners, my counterpart teacher and a teacher from the primary school were walking on either side of me trying to stay as close as possible because people were grabbing at me (not necessarily in an aggressive/violent way, they just wanted to walk with me or dance with me). Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but one of the other teachers took some pictures so hopefully I’ll be able to get them and post them so that everyone can see. The closest thing I can compare it to is St. Patrick’s Day in downtown Buffalo. Huge crowds of people, dancing, mass quantities of alcohol, music, and strange clothes. I had a lot of fun, and I should be going to the second part of the festival next weekend so more to come on this subject.

7. So I’m not sure if this is a secret reserved only for Peace Corps Volunteers so I might get in trouble for sharing this with all of you, but oh well. So there is “a club” known to Peace Corps Volunteers (I’m not sure if it’s in all Peace Corps countries or only Ghana). Anyways, there is only one way to join this special “club” and that is to shit your pants. They say that if you finish your service without joining “the club” at least once then you are somewhat of a rarity and it is very uncommon because most people do it at least once, and some do it several times. That being said, I joined “the club” this past weekend. I’ll spare you all the details, but it wasn’t that bad. In my group of 25 we had at least three people join during training, and that’s just the ones I know of. Some people said that if they joined they wouldn’t admit it to anyone. I have been sick for about 4 days now with a fever of at least 100 F, so I won’t be going to school this morning. Hopefully I’ll start to feel better soon!

8. Well that’s about all. If you guys have any questions or suggestions for future blog posts let me know! Maybe there’s something you’re wondering about or a cultural aspect you don’t quite understand. Soon I’ll start to run out of ideas and my posts will become very boring. Also, I’m starting to get used to everything so after a while I won’t know what to write about, so let me know!

School is starting! Are you sure?

Yay new blog! Ok so here are some new things that have been going on. School was supposed to start on the 4^th of September. The week before classes I was trying to figure out what classes I would be teaching so that I could start preparing, but my headmaster and counterpart teacher said we would talk about that the first day school opened because for the first week the students would just be cleaning anyways. Ok. So on Monday the 3^rd I called my headmaster around 2pm to find out what time I should be at school the next morning. He told me he was coming to my village soon and we could talk about it then. So I waited, and waited, then waited some more, then called him around 4pm (he said he was coming soon), then waited some more, the called him around 6pm (he was still coming), then I left my house. I figured I would see him when he got to town or he would call me. So he shows up to my village around 8pm and informs me that the children would be going to the school maize farm the next day so I didn’t have to come to school.

Well I went anyway around 11 and was able to talk to my headmaster. It looks like I’ll be teaching 5 classes: ICT (computers) 1, 2, and 3, math 1, and science 1. Maybe… This is a lot to take on so I’ll be pretty busy, but it will be back to my old life of being a work-a-holic right?

Anyways he told me I should come back the next morning (today) around 7:30. So I get there a little early and no one is to be seen except for some nice men that were doing voter registration that entertained me for about 3 hours (now 10:30 and still no one at my school). I decided to go and get some food and within an hour I start to see some kids headed towards the school so I follow. They were busy sweeping and cleaning, and my teacher and one other were busy interviewing the kids from P6. Side note: In Ghana the grades go Kindergarten 1, Kindergarten 2, Primary 1-6, JHS 1-3, SHS 1-3. To go from P6 to J1 you must pass a test. It seems like the kids in P6 range from about 10-14 years old, so you would think they could read, and add. Wrong. As I was sitting and listening to the interviews some of the questions that the students couldn’t answer were: “How do you spell your name?” “How do you spell ‘orange’?” “What is 5+4?” but my favorite question was “Who is the current President of Ghana?” So I’m not sure if I ever wrote about this, but the former President of Ghana, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, died on July 24^th of this year and was replaced by President John Dramani Mahama. Ok back to the point of the story. Most of the students said that Atta Mills was still president, but my favorite answer was that Barack Obama was the current President of Ghana… You learn something new everyday. Thankfully I wasn’t the only one shocked by the student’s performance. My counterpart teacher and another teacher at my school both were surprised by the results. Anyways, the kids will go back to the farm in the morning, but I should be able to do some review classes in the afternoon.

So what else is new?

I have been selling things like bread, sugar, ground nuts, garri, etc. from a little shop type thing owned by a woman in town who I visit a lot. It’s a lot of fun, and the people in town think it’s great. It gives me a chance to practice my local language!

“Lights out” is an English term used by Ghanaians when the electricity goes out (happens rather frequently and can last anywhere from 5 minutes up to hours). The sun sets around 6:30 and its pretty dark by around 7, but the other day the lights went out around 8pm. Luckily I was sitting outside when this happened and it just so happened to be an amazing night to see the stars. It tends to be overcast a lot here so it is rare to have a good view, but it was completely clear this night. The moon was also an orange-ish color which was awesome! I just sat with a few kids in my lap looking up at the stars.

My village is extremely quiet compared to what I was used to at homestay. People here either don’t have the equipment to blare loud music or they chose not to, either way I love it. It’s also much smaller so there are less people. Needless to say I’ve been able to sleep in until like 7am every morning! It has been heavenly. Usually I wake up to one of the small children I hang out with at my window saying “Daavi Adzo” (which is my name in town – literally translates to Sister Monday-born). I go an open my door and there is two or three of them coming to greet me. It always puts a smile on my face!

I managed to get really sick for the first time. You’re probably thinking I was vomiting or had some type of horrible explosive diarrhea. Well you’re wrong. Instead I have this nasty head cold accompanied by sneezing, coughing, fever, headache, chills, etc. You may now be wondering how I caught said cold. Well I’ll tell you. It just so happens that these children (don’t get me wrong, I love them already) that I have been hanging out with like to touch my face, my food, the straw for my water bottle when I’m not looking, etc. So germs spread and it went from one child being sick, to all of the children to me. I don’t even want to think about the contaminated things that have made their way to my mouth…

My water filter was invaded by the little tiny ants I have been talking about. I washed the whole thing out and I have attempted to seal all entrances with duct tape (there’s nothing duct tape can’t fix, right?)… I’ll keep you updated.

Other news: 1 USD is currently equal to 1.93 Ghana Cedi (let’s just say that’s 2 Cedis). Some things I can buy for 2 Cedis: a large loaf of bread, a coke and about 2 shots, 20 water sachets (500 ml of water each), 2 huge meals (if you buy them from a seller on the street), and lots more!

I’ve been eating a lot of fish in many forms including sardines and little (whole) minnows. Don’t get me wrong, I like fish, but I’ll probably never want to eat it again once I get back to the states.

Some other things that I forgot to put in my last blog about Ghana include:

-The term “running”. In the US we use this term to describe the physical activity of exercising. Here it is used to describe having diarrhea. So if you are jogging somewhere and someone asks you what you are doing (which they always will), and you say running they will assume you are trying to get to the nearest toilet very quickly. Instead you have to say jogging or training. On this note it is perfectly acceptable for someone to ask you if you are “running” if they have witnessed you go to the toilet several times in a short time period.

-Adding an “o” to the end of words. Examples include: “Bye bye-o” “Sorry-o” “I’m coming-o” “It’s not easy-o” “Morning-o”. I’m not really sure of the meaning/purpose behind this, but all of us seem to have picked it up very quickly so you can be sure that you returning volunteer will use these terms in their every day conversations.

-And last, but certainly not least, machetes. I’m going to be honest here so don’t judge me. Before coming to Ghana I assumed, inappropriately, that machetes were only used in violence. Well I was definitely wrong. Machetes are used by hundreds of people every day at farm, to cut things, and to weed (kind of like mowing the lawn). It is perfectly to walk through town carrying a machete, most people own one, and they are super common. So weeding. It never occurred to me that they wouldn’t have lawn mowers here, but very few people here do. Instead they take advantage of their most active work force: children. On any given day, in some town in Ghana, I can guarantee that there is a group of small children (aged anywhere from maybe 4-15) weeding some patch of grass or field. There first time I saw such a large group of children all hacking away at grass with machetes my jaw dropped. In the US we would never let a child use a large knife, especially unsupervised for the most part. Of course I’m used to it by now and it seems like a common thing. I will try to get a picture of this process if I ever have my camera handy when I see this.

I was feeling kind of blah the other day, getting sick, missing home and friends, but I got to talk to my family and a few friends and I’m feeling better now. Otherwise my village is great, everyone knows my name, everyone is friendly, the weather has been good, haven’t had much trouble with biting insects, I’ve been to drink palm wine twice, bought a guitar (not sure if I’ve already mentioned this), the sunsets are beautiful, and I’m loving life.

Wow this is long… I started this because I was bored, but thought it would be really short. Enjoy!

A few things about Ghana and my life these days

These are things that I see/do on a daily basis that I just wanted to let everyone else know about while they still seem new to me before it becomes natural. It's the things that I am about to tell you about that make me laugh everyday and really make me enjoy my time here.

1. Pointing out the blatantly obvious is not only done regularly but it is pretty much expected, and no one will make fun of anyone for doing so. Example: I was washing my clothes the other day (picture clothes in bucket of soapy water, me physically scrubbing my clothes) and 4 different people came through my yard. Each and every one of them said something along the lines of “Oh, you are washing your clothes.” I tend to be a bit on the sarcastic side so I really had to restrain myself from saying “Nope.” This could be about anything from eating to going to take a bath.
2. That brings me to my second point. Sarcasm is not understood here. At all.
3. Relating back to point 1: people repeat 50% of what you say back to you. Example: I say, “I am going home.” Someone replies, “You are going home?” At first I thought people were mocking me, then I realized that this was their normal conversation pattern, and then my sense of sarcasm kicked in…
4. “I’m coming.” In the states this could have many meanings, but usually you say it when you are physically going towards a person like if they ask you for help you could say “I’m coming” as you actually get up to go and help them. In Ghana it is a little bit different. “I’m coming” actually means the person is leaving you. For example, say you are having a conversation with someone and they have to go and do something, they would say, “I’m coming” as they are actually physically walking away from you. It is also perfectly acceptable to use this line of a person who is trying to sell you something that you don’t want to buy. Just say “I’m coming” as you wave, keep walking, and never come back.
5. One phrase that makes me laugh every time I hear it is, “Are you sure?” I haven’t quite figured it out yet, but I’m pretty sure it is meant as a joke in most situations? A person would say this to you after you make a statement (serious or not serious) and they either don’t believe you or want to pretend they don’t believe you. Either way I think it’s hilarious.
6. I also really enjoy the rhetorical questions. People tend to use them a lot when they are giving lectures, speeches, or giving you information of some sort. They pose the question and then immediately answer it.
7. For those of you who still have a hard time differentiating between your left and right (be honest) just come to Ghana for a few months and you’ll be sure to figure it out. In this country (not sure if it’s in other countries also) it is VERY disrespectful to engage other people with your left hand. You would never give them anything, take anything, gesture towards them, or sometimes even eat/drink with your left hand. If it just so happens that your right hand is busy (covered in food, crippled, holding something) you have a few options. You can use your left hand if you say “sorry left”, or cross your left arm with your right arm to signify that you know it isn’t right. This has become almost second nature now, and I quickly notice when I see people using their left hand inappropriately like in movies.
8. The logos and phrases I see on clothes are phenomenal! I notice great ones almost everyday but I quickly forget. Some of the ones I remember seeing are Aldis (for my Buffalonians), Phillips, Playboy (always makes me laugh), other sexual comments which I will not include, Gucci, Vogue, Northface, and many more.
9. Dis ting. What is a dis ting you might ask? Well you see the meaning is constantly changing. Dis ting is a phrase used for almost anything imaginable that you either don’t know the word for or have forgotten the word at that time. For example: “I bought some of the dis tings at the dis tings, but I didn’t see the dis tings.” Translates into: “I bought some of the rice at the market, but I didn’t see the cucumbers.” This might be a little dramatic and it’s usually only used once in a sentence and you have to try and figure out what the person is talking about. I have heard it said multiple times though and there’s just no way to make any sense of what the person has just tried to tell you. It is kind of like how we say “whatcha-ma-call-it” except we would stumble and try to explain the noun we were referring to. Not here. They just move on like that is a perfectly acceptable thing to call whatever they are talking about without even the slightest worry that you won’t be able to figure it out.
10. Finger snapping. I suck at this. In Ghana, it is customary to shake hands with people a lot. This would be fine except then you are expected to finish this hand shake with a joint snap. As you are releasing the other person’s hand, you grab onto their middle finger, and you both use the other person’s finger as the starting point for your snap. I’m terrible at it. I can only get it about 70% of the time.
11. Speaking of handshakes, they aren’t always “normal” handshakes. In the states we do maybe between one and four shakes (unless we’re realllllyyy excited about something). Here it is more of a hand holding while you talk to the person. This includes greetings, questions, random conversations, political matters, the weather, etc. This hand shaking process can take anywhere from 2 seconds (if you’re lucky) to 10 minutes if they are also trying to get your phone number and request your hand in marriage….
12. This brings me to my next point. Never did I ever imagine that I would have so many marriage proposals at the young age of 21. I think the most I got was 5 in one day when there was a funeral in town. I have come up with a number of strategic way to diffuse the situations including “I’m married”, “Ok sure, pay my father 500 cows”, “I don’t know how to cook or clean”. Along with many other lines that only work sometimes.
13.  “You are invited.” This is a statement that you will always hear when food is being served. The person is inviting you to come and share the food that they are eating. Usually the person invited doesn’t actually go and eat unless this was a previously planned thing, or they are really close. If you don’t invite those around you to your food it can be taken as offensive in some cases. The response, if you are not going to eat, translates to “I am satisfied” or literally to “My stomach is full” depending on the language.
14. Taxi and tro (small busses) rides. Taxis are made to hold 5 people (4 passengers and the driver) and tros are usually made to hold 12 people (11 passengers and the driver – except for some larger tros). These are basically just guidelines though which are rarely followed. Drivers will try to fit in as many people as physically possible before they are satisfied. So most of the taxis are very small cars that hold 3 people in the back and then have two bucket seats in the front. I’ve been in several cars with 4 people in the back, and 3 people in the front which means 2 people are squeezed into one bucket seat – I’ve heard it gets worse than this though. The most people I have ever been in a tro with is 18… it was tight.
15.  “Snot rockets.” I don’t know what else to call this without using this slang term, but for those of you who don’t know what snot rockets are it is when a person turns their head (sometimes), plugs one side of their nose with their finger and blows the other side onto the ground, and then usually repeats this process for the other side. Not only is this habit extremely common here, it is also perfectly acceptable to do in all situations. Along with buggers, let’s talk about picking your nose. Also extremely common, and perfectly acceptable at all time. 

Well that it’s for now. I hope that these aren’t all things that you have to personally experience in order to find amusing. Welcome to my life!

Care Packages!

Ok so many of you have been asking about care packages… so here it is.

I have been told that the best way to send things in through the US Post Office (if you know of a better way let me know). You can get flat rate boxes and they are the cheapest for me to pick up (I have to pay to pick them up). I’m not really sure how it works, but I understand that they can run on the pricey side? Maybe it could be a birthday (November)/Christmas type thing? You can also send padded envelopes for much cheaper if the item isn’t fragile. I know there’s a list of things you’re not allowed to send through the mail, but you’d have to check with the post office to find out what that is.

So I’m definitely not suffering over here by any means but there are a few things that would be nice to have. Feel free to choose anything from this list or get creative!

Be sure to write “AIR MAIL” on anything you send and when writing the contents of the package write “used” for everything – I guess this makes it less likely for people to try and steal? But I’m not really sure if that’s true.

Please comment as to what you are sending so I don’t get duplicates of things like books or anything else I wouldn’t want multiples of. Most of the stuff I’ll always be able to use though.

Address:
Samantha Bobbe, PCV

Peace Corps Ghana

P.O. Box 5796

Accra-North, Ghana

West Africa

Stuff for the kids in town:

-children’s books

-coloring books with colored pencils

-the school age girls are required to shave their heads so hair accessories are out, BUT they all have their ears pierced so earrings are in

-toys – they really like little knick knack type toys

-learning games

-that colored string to make friendship type bracelets

-bubbles

-nail polish

For me:

-dry soup mixes that come in the bags and you just add water and boil

-stuff to make s’mores, or candy in general. The chocolate here is terrible

-powered drink mixes

-zip lock bags – bugs get into EVERYTHING here, tin foil, zip lock containers

-shells and cheese (it is really really hard to find cheese here and when you do its super expensive because they don’t really have milk – don’t send anything that needs milk!)

-books – I’ve got some of the new ones like the girl with the dragon tattoo series, and the 50 shades of grey series so not those ones

-toothpaste – they have toothpaste here but it’s gross

-shampoo and conditioner is really hard to find here and it’s expensive. I prefer the 2 in 1 types

-seeds – I want to make a garden at my school. I already have cucumber, cabbage, squash and beans so don’t send those ones.

-spices for food

-raisins

-hand sanitizer

-clorox wipes

-cheese-its

-olive oil (they have it here, but it’s super expensive)

-pepperoni

-plain colored t-shirts - size medium (avoid red and black because they are mourning colors) – can be used as “bubble wrap”

-candles – I’m a big fan of the summer/fall scents (apple, pumpkin, spice, flowers, beachy), not a big fan of the winter ones though (mint, evergreen, etc)

-printed off pics of friends, family (the internet takes a long time to load fb pics)

-bug spray

-citronella candles

-benadryl

-a fast drying towel – I only brought regular ones which don’t do well with washing and line drying

-duracell rechargeable batteries (they have lime green on them)

-I want to learn to play guitar so I think I’m going to buy one but I need a “guitar for dummies” type book and maybe some music books

-Q-tips

-beef jerky

-nail polish

-white out pens for grading

-deodorant – any female type EXCEPT fresh powder (they have it here but it’s not good)

-a yoga book – in case I get reallyyyy bored

-dresses – must be at least knee length

-dried fruit/nut mixes

-any type of food things that just require water/eggs/oil and heat (I do have a gas burner)

-spice packets – taco, pesto, alfredo

-tuna and chicken packets – they have mayo here

-I don’t have much music so if you want to fill a cheap flash drive with the music you know I like or the latest in the US that would be awesome! I stole some music from all the other trainees, but it’s a random assortment. I’m especially lacking in the country department. If you have books in PDF format they can also be added to the flash drive.

That’s all I can think of for now, let me know if there’s anything you have questions on, need clarification, or have an idea but you’re not sure it would be good/work.

Thanks in advance!

Global Evangelical

I guess I am the newest member of the Global Evangelical Church in my community. Although I don't go to church in the states and I had planned to stay away from religion while in Ghana I've decided that it's not the worst thing to do on a Sunday for 3 hours. It was actually a good time and the whole congregation was very friendly. It will be a good way to get to know people, practice my language, and integrate into the community. They translated the important parts for me, made me dance, made me go up in front of everyone to introduce myself (which was super embarrassing), and gave me their blessings.
I traveled into Ho to go to the market which was a lot of fun. I realized that I didn't buy the one thing I seem to really need which is tupperware containers. I have hundreds of these teeny teeny tiny little ants that are everywhere. They seem to even be able to get into my zip lock bags... not cool. I just keep killing like 20 at a time and they just keep coming back.
Well since the last time I wrote I was able to officially meet the chief and elders after it was put off 5 times between my first site visit and since I've been here. They recorded all of my information and told me that if there was any problem at all I could come to them. We even did the traditional shot of gin (at 6am by the way) which is a way to "wash the feet of newcomer and welcome them into the community). On Wednesday I will be formally introduced to the whole community. There is a convention in my town for 10 days and the people come from all over Ghana, Togo, and a few other countries I think. Many of them don't speak the local language and I can't recognize the people that are from my village compared to those who are new so they just look at me really weird when I try to great them, and then someone else has to tell me they aren't from this village.
What else is new?
I get to run a little store type thing that belongs to Da Mama, who has kind of taken me under her wing. I have started to know all of the prices, and it's a lot of fun :)
School starts one week from tomorrow. AHHHH!

Saviefe Gbogame

Well the last few weeks have been crazy! I passed my language exam, which means that I can successfully introduce myself and my family, shop in the market, ask for/get directions, give my daily routine, and some other randoms things. We were all officially sworn in as volunteers on August 16h, 2012. It was really hard to say goodbye to our home stay families the next day. How can you thank someone enough that has taken care of you for almost 3 months, and considered you part of their family?
We travelled to Bunsu College on Friday to do some cross-sector training in the fields of Health, Agriculture, and Water-Sanitation. This was a completely volunteer led training so it was a lot of fun and hands on. We learned about malaria, compost pits, latrines, soak-away pits, nutrition, baby-weighing, chicken/rabbit rearing, bee-hiving, growing vegetables, school gardens, and the list goes on. We were also able to network with other volunteers, get the inside scoop, and ask a ton of questions. On Sunday morning we all left for our sites. Mine, which I've said before, is Saviefe Gbogame. I've been spending time unpacking, hanging picture, meeting people, eating, decorating, walking around, playing with kids, etc. I love my village and all of the people here. Maybe I am just biased because Volta is my region, but I really feel like it's the best region (even though there's many I haven't been to). Everyone here is more relaxed, and it's quieter. It is also nice to be able to finally use the language that I have been learning even though it is slightly different here than the dialect that I learned. It was hard to leave all the friends I've made over the last few months knowing that I won't be seeing them again until November (you can't leave your site at all for the first three months), but we all plan on staying in contact. I know it will fly by with school starting up soon.

4th of July, Site Visit, and Shadow Visit - June 24th 2012

July 24th 2012 - 4th of July, Site Visit, and Shadow Visit

            Wow I haven't written anything in almost a month so hopefully I can remember everything that's happened. We put on an awesome 4th of July celebration. We all brought a dish to pass and we ended up with apple crisp, apple pie, coleslaw, guacamole, fried chicken, tomato basil salad, pineapple, mango salsa, icecream floats, and I brought a box of cheese-its that my parents had sent to me (thanks Mom and Dad!). I had made everyone fill out some superlatives (best smile/eyes, best humor, etc) and we read the answers, which was a lot of fun. We also all sang the national anthem. Even though there wasn't any fireworks it was one of the best 4th of July's I've had!

            I ended up eating the snail that my homestay mom made... It was definitely interesting. She made it by boiling it in palm nut soup and serving it with banku. To me it tasted like a rubbery thing that had been rolling around in the dirt. I did have the opportunity to have some much better tasting snail made by someone else a few weeks later.

            We spent a few days learning Ewe that was supposed to help us when we went on out site visits. On July 8th we left for Kumasi. We stayed in a hotel type facility until the 12th doing a counterpart workshop. Each volunteer gets a counterpart person from their school (usually the same subject) that is meant to serve as a mentor, friend, guide, etc. for the next two years. Unfortunately my counterpart couldn't make it but the headmaster of the school came to do the workshop. We had sessions for three days about the role the counterpart is supposed to have, and the rules and regulations that Peace Corps has for the volunteers. On Thursday we left early in the morning to travel to our sites.

            My town is Saviefe Gbogame, in the Ho District, in the Volta Region. It took about 12 hours to get to my site from Kumasi. We arrived at Ho, which is the capital city of Volta, and my headmaster and I met up with Mike who is the volunteer that I'll be replacing. He helped us get back to my (soon to be) house. I'll be living in a compound with a few other people including my landlord who is also the head of the School Management Committee. About a year ago a woman moved in to help take care of my landlord and the compound. I will have the option to pay her every month to cook for me, but I haven't decided yet what I want to do. I'll have two rooms that are connected and they are completely furnished because I am lucky enough to be replacing a volunteer. There is a well right in the compound and I also have a mango tree! I am one of the few volunteers that has a flush toilet, but we all have electricity except for one (sorry-o Jessica). Thursday night we walked around the community and meet a bunch of people including some of the other teachers. On Friday we went to meet the chief early in the morning, and then we went to the school for a few hours. Since it is the end of the term the students were just reviewing for finals. The school is in a really nice location and I'm hoping to be able to start a school farm as a project. I was also able to meet a lot of the teachers at the primary school and the kindergarten (which I plan to spend a lot of time at). On Saturday morning Mike and I went out to the bush to drink palm wine and eat before going on a hike. The palm wine is collected from palm trees that have been cut and tipped onto their sides. They carve a hole through the trunk and place a container underneath it to collect the juice. If you drink the wine very early in the morning it is very sweet and it has a very low alcohol content. If the wine is left to ferment throughout the day the alcohol content increases. It is delicious no matter what time you drink it at though! They also use it to make apoteche (not sure how that's spelled). They use a system o f tubes to boil the wine and the collect it. It is very strong. I also had snail again, but this time I actually enjoyed it. It had been roasted over the fire and I think it was seasoned with pepe and salt. I also had banku and stew and bush chicken. Needless to say I was quite full by the time we set off on our hike up the mountain. Once we reached the top there was a lookout place that had an awesome view of the town on the other side. You could also see part of the Volta river. During my time there I just spent a lot of time trying to get to know a few people that will be helpful to me when I return. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming, and I think that I am really going to love my site! Mike has also been informing them for a while now that I am coming, and that they should treat me with the same respect that they treat him (thanks Mike!) so I should be in a pretty good situation.

            I left site early Saturday morning and traveled 12 hours to Cape Coast in Central Region. We are all required to do a shadow visit, which involves watching another Peace Corps volunteer teach. Unfortunately, the schedule didn't work out so well and we are shadowing during exam week so there isn't too much to do. We got to see the school, meet the teachers, and help mark exams, but we didn't get to see any teaching. On a more exciting note we did get to go to the beach in Cape Coast which was beautiful. We met up with a Health volunteer before going and got to help with a baby weighing in her town before going. The mothers would put their babies into a kind of fabric sling, pass me the babies, and I would hang the sling from a scale. They keep track of their weight so they can be sure that they are growing and getting enough nutrients. Many also got shots and Vitamin A. Afterwards we set off for Brenu beach (I think that's how it's spelled). Some beaches aren't so nice for swimming, but this one was really clean. We met another Education volunteer who had two trainees staying with her so we had quite a large group. We swam, ate coconut and pineapple, did some walking, and just relaxed. I got to try slack rope walking, which is like a rope tied between two trees and you try to balance on it. I wasn't very good, but it was fun! On the 19th we spent the night in Cape Coast so that it would be easier to travel in the morning. The place we stayed at had awesome food and smoothies! I definitely hope to be able to make it back to Cape Coast a few times over the next two years.

Boti Falls, CRIG, and Ewe - June 29th 2012

June 29th - Boti Falls, CRIG, and Ewe

            So we finished practicum today. The students and teachers put together a little goodbye ceremony for Lou and myself and they gave us each 2 yards of batik fabric (which I have already dropped off at the seamstress to have a dress made). A lot has happened recently but I have been too busy/tired to write about it. We did go to the Ohoum festival on the 22nd but we didn't see any traditional rituals. We just saw the chief being carried in a chair down the street. Then the whole city turned into a dance festival.

            On the 24th we went to the Boti Waterfalls, which were awesome. We did a two hour hike that was basically climbing straight up and down the side of mountains. The views were unbelievable though and we even got pizza at the end.

            Those of you who have known me for some time know just how clumsy I can be... Well, I managed to drop my phone that I bought here into a puddle of water. Now it doesn't really work so I unlocked my smartphone that I  brought from home, but I can't seem to figure out how to get the internet to work.

            My family has been collecting snails which we are supposed to eat one of these days. That should be interesting.

            On the 28th we went to the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) to learn about cocoa trees and harvesting them. They gave us all fresh cocoa which I love! It comes in small football shaped hard shell type things and on the inside are the cocoa pods. You don't eat the pods/beans themselves, but you eat the white soft "meat" from around the pod. It tastes nothing like chocolate, but it's sweet. They use all of the parts of the plant though and are able to make soaps, lotions, cleaning supplies and cocoa gin.

            I found out that I'll be learning Ewe and going to the Volta region on the east side of Ghana. Ewe is actually spoken in many areas of Ghana and across West Africa. I am lucky because there is a man that lives in my house who speaks Ewe so he is going to help me with my language skills.

Dancing in the Rain - June 22nd 2012

June 22nd 2012 - Dancing in the Rain

            I have finished one week of practicum. I am getting used to teaching, but it is still difficult. My day is always made better by the homestay mom's grandson. He is 5 years old and just precious. He likes to look at my pictures... everyday... multiple times a day. The silence for the Ohoum festival has ended so people are allowed to make noise in town again. The past few nights people have been singing and dancing in the streets until at least 10pm. I was dancing in the rain with my little 5 year old and a few other Ghanaians. Experience of a lifetime. Today I will go to Old Tafo for the festival. The cheif will do a ceremony by the river, which I think is intended to bring the rain.

Teaching Practicum, Eating Dog, and Festivals - June 20th 2012

June 20th, 2012 - Teaching Practicum, Eating Dog, and Festivals

            I have had two days of teaching actual classes in the classroom. It's hard. Seventy minutes is a long time to keep a bunch of teenager's attention, especially when I am trying to make something like vectors exciting.... because they're not. The language barrier is another issue. Math is hard enough to understand, but when it's in a foreign language that you barely know it is much harder.... and next week I'm supposed to teach science.

            I am starting to feel at home with my home stay family. It is weird how after only a little over a week I feel comforted and at home when the taxi turns the corner into my town or when I see my house down the path. My family likes to look at all of my pictures over and over again so they have started to memorize a lot of people's names. I have learned that my home stay mother worked in the cocoa factory for 30 years, and now she owns two stores: one sells provisions and the other cells cement. I have grown to really enjoy banku and ground nut soup. They also made me chicken for the first time yesterday. I've had ice cream and rice water (cream of rice) and okra stew (which is like snot). Today when I was leaving the house this morning they were roasting a dog over the fire. Needless to say I panicked a little bit. I couldn't decide if I would just try it at least once for the experience, but I quickly decided I didn't want to. When I came back home I told my mother I did not want to eat dog and she said that was OK and she doesn't eat dog either. We went to the Ohoum festival today. They hold this festival twice a year and it originated in Old Tafo. I'm not exactly sure what the festival is for, but all of the students go to the chief's palace and they bring firewood.

            Other notes: I ended up killing that huge spider that was in my room after I tracked it down for about 30 minutes. I did laundry this weekend and they helped me because they said I was doing it wrong. I also went to church with my mother and they made us all introduce ourselves. After teaching a group of us usually meets up at a bar in town that is owned by one of the other volunteer's home stay mothers. It is nice to be able to sit, relax, laugh, and vent with some people going through the same experiences.

Home Stay - June 14th 2012

June 14th, 2012 - Home stay

            We have been in home stay for three full days now. At first it was really hard. Just as hard as it would be to go into any stranger's house and trying to integrate into their daily lives. They have been encouraged to speak only Twi which makes learning about the culture very difficult. I am learning though, and I am becoming more familiar with the family as they become more familiar with me. I am lucky enough to have electricity because a few volunteers don't. We also have a toilet that works with gravity (you just pour a bucket of water into the bowl when you're finished and it goes down). I have been taking bucket baths which isn't too bad. My room is basically just a cement room with a bed, and a plastic nightstand. The hardest part is getting used to the food. It's not bad, just different. I have yet to try something that I do not like, which is awesome. The fofoo and banku are a little difficult to manage because it is messy and difficult to eat. They are not meant to be chewed, but instead you dip it into the soup, and then swallow it. Fofoo is made from ground cassava and plantains, and banku is made with ground and fermented maize. They have something called red bread, which is fried plantains in palm oil and some of seasoning. They also have peanut butter,  but it is made out of ground nuts and called ground nut paste. The consistency is more of a liquid than a solid, but it's very good. I have been eating a lot of fish in different stews and soups.

            Last night when I was outside we saw a scorpion (which are very poisonous). I also saw a very large spider... in my room.... inside my mosquito net... He is now living underneath my bed.

            My favorite part about home stay is the nights. I go with my mother and sister into town from about 7:30pm until 10pm every night. We sit in front of the store that she owns and I get to chat and laugh with the children and community members. I learn some of the local language (Twi), and write my lesson plans. Staying out so late is catching up with me though because I get up around 6am every morning, but the roosters and goats start making noise around 4am... UGH!

            Other than some of the new cultural aspects it still hasn't really "hit me" yet that I'm in Africa, except every day from about 12pm-3pm when the heat become almost unbearable. Maybe it's a good sign? It really makes me feel that I have made the right choice and this is what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. I really don't think I'll ever have a moment where it "hits me" because it feels so right and so natural. Just another adventure in my life.

Bucket Baths and Hand Washing - June 10th 2012

June 10th, 2012 - Bucket Baths and Hand Washing

            Today during breakfast we bought phones, sim cards for them, and minutes. For a very basic phone (and I mean really old school), one sim card, and Ghana cedi worth of minutes it was 56 Ghana cedi. That is about $31 US dollars. My phone number if you're trying to text/call from the US is +011233248207663 (and yes the plus sign needs to be included). It is free to send texts if you enable the SMS messaging on your google chat through gmail, and then it is cheaper for me to text you back. So feel free to send me texts every once in a while!

            We got a demonstration today on what our home stay family might be like. It was quite frightening. The main lesson is that we just have to be upfront with our families though and ask them questions if we are unsure about something. We also learned the correct way to take a bucket bath, which was exactly what I expected it would be. They showed us how to wash our clothes by hand and it wasn't too bad. For the rest of the day we basically just relaxed and packed up for leaving in the morning. Breakfast is at 7am, and after that we are going to Kukurantumi and heading to our home stays for the next ten weeks.

Accra Quest - June 9th 2012

June 9th, 2012 - Accra Quest

Well I wasn't sure if I'd be able to go on the Accra Quest this morning because I spiked a pretty high fever last night (101.5 F) and was having body aches and stomach cramps. Luckily the Ibuprofen I took did wonders, and I felt much better in the morning. So we left to catch the tro at about 6:45am, but we didn't get picked up until about 7:45am. My group had four destinations to get to: Busy Internet, Neoplan Station, Kwame Nkrumah Circle, and OA Station.

            We didn't have any problems at all with the first one, but after that we decided to walk to Neoplan station because we didn't think it was that far, but that may have been a mistake. When we were in Neoplan two men offered to help us and they essentially became our personal tour guides. They walked us all through the stations and stopped other people from pestering us. We discovered that the circle is a hugeeee shopping center and you can get clothes, shoes, shampoo, food, and really anything else at all that you may want.

            We got called "obrunis" by many children, which means foreigner or white person. It is not an insult necessarily, but it does get kind of annoying. They are all very excited to see us, and they are happy. One little girl, maybe three or four years old, waved at me and as soon as I waved back she grabbed onto my hand and walked with us for a while. I didn't want her to get too far away from where she was so I tried to let go of her hand and say bye, but when she realized I was trying to leave her she clung to me for dear life and entwined herself in my legs. After a few bystanders saw me struggling to get her off they helped me by pulling her off. It broke my heart, but made my day at the same time. Maybe she will have a PC teacher someday. We had a little trouble with the tros on the way back, but made it back safe and sound.

            In the afternoon we learned a little bit more about how our home stay families are selected, which is quite a rigorous process. We also learned about how to support each other through the difficult times that are up ahead.

            In the evening we did a talent show. People sang, recited poems, juggled, did magic tricks, and many other things. My partner and I decided that since we had no necessary tools to do any of our current talents that we would learn a new talent. We chose balancing the baskets on our heads like the people do in the city to sell things, and all over the country as a practical means of carrying objects. I found that I'm actually really good at it. In no time at all I was walking around Valley View with a basket of water sachets on my head. The staff members were very impressed. We ended up turning it into a little skit, and my partner was tossing items into my basket. We had a few more discussions in the evening and then did some team bonding exercises.