Last night, I joined the rest of the trainees in my community at a "spot" (that's what they call bars here-basically just a small room with tables and sometimes a fan) to celebrate three birthdays... I found out a few things at this spot that I'd like to share with you. First of all, there is a giant poster of Jesus on the wall, which is sort of a funny thing to have at a bar, but it makes sense, because here in the South, God is VERY important! About 75% of the shops here are named something along the lines of "Glory to God hair salon" or "Blessed tire shop." Every taxi has a crucifix and some sort of sticker with Jesus on it, and even when we went to visit the district assembly (local government) two days ago, the chief executive told us that "We must trust that God will take care of the people in our district." I'm anxious to see the differences in the North once I get there, considering they are so strongly Muslim...
I have also discovered that the alcohol here is little different from the states. The average beer is about twice the size of an American beer, but hard liquor is the drink of choice here. Namely Apateshi and gin. When we went to greet the chiefs in our home-stay village, everyone was offered a shot, which tends to be the trend with any traditional ceremony and religious activity. At this particular occasion, we were offered a shot of schnapps because that's what we brought as a gift (you must always bring hard liquor with you when greeting a chief, as sort of a goodwill offering). We all had the option of either drinking it, or taking a very small sip and pouring the rest out on the ground as an offering to the ancestors. This is what I chose to do, considering it was 7:30 in the morning... Anyway, my home-stay father is one of the chiefs, and he watched me toss my drink on the ground, so later he approached me with a very concerned look on his face. He said to me "Ya, why you don't take your drink? You do not drink?!? I think this is very bad!" I said to him, "Well, I just didn't know how that drink would affect me, so I chose to offer it to the ancestors. But maybe next time I will take the drink if it is small." He was very relieved when I said this, to which I laughed and we continued walking. I'm still getting used to some of the cultural norms and expectations here, so when situations like this happen, I do my best to laugh it off and learn from it... The other type of alcohol that is consumed a lot here is Apateshi, which is distilled locally and made out of palm wine. It tastes like gasoline, basically, which makes sense since it has an alcohol content of over 75%. Yes, you read that correctly, over 75%!! My family enjoys Apateshi quite often, though they also are devout Christians, which is yet another cultural difference that it fascinating to me!
Well, that's about all I have time for today. I'm hoping to buy some fabric today to have a tailor sew a dress for me this week. Tomorrow, the entire group of trainees will be taking a "field trip" to Boti Falls for hiking and checking out the waterfalls, which I'm so excited about!! It will be great to do some sightseeing and hanging out with everyone without the pressure of training...
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
"Obroni! Obroni! Obroni!"
Greetings from Ghana!
I found an internet cafe fairly close to my town, so here we go! The title of this post reflects the words that I hear about 5,000 times a day, mostly from children. The word "obroni" means stranger or foreigner, and children of ALL ages love to yell it to us white people as we walk down the street. Yesterday I told one of my fellow trainees that every time I walk down the street, I feel like I'm in a one-man parade, like I should have candy to pass out or something. This brings me to my next point, which is the difficulty of walking ANYWHERE without having to stop 20 times to greet everyone I see. This might be one of my favorite parts of Ghana, besides the food. I'm learning a couple of new words in Twi every day, and my greetings are starting to become really natural, which is a good feeling. Ahhh there's so much to say in this blog and such little time to say it....
Okay, I guess I'll start by telling everyone that I got my site announcement for the next two years! Starting in August, I will be living and working in Gushie in the Northern Region, which, if you remember my last post, is where I did my vision quest!!! I am absolutely THRILLED about this position and I can't wait to get there!! This means no electricity, semi-running water (pit latrine, but I get a shower), and a very short ride to Tamale, which has lots of internet, hotels, restaurants, etc... I will explain more about my future job and location later....
Quick, get out your Ghana maps, it's time for a geography lesson! Starting in August, I will be living in Gushie in the Northern Region, so look toward the north of Ghana, locate a large town called "Tamale," and move your finger just slightly further up, and you just might find my small village (it's on about half of the maps I've seen). Right now for training, I am staying in the Eastern Region, in Anyinasin, so look toward the faaaar south and slightly to the east, and you should find it!
A few words about my training so far and my homestay family. From now until I am finished with training in August, I am staying with a family in Anyinasin along with 12 other water/health and sanitation volunteers scattered around in houses in this village. The other 60 volunteers are spread out in nearby communities, and we gather as an entire group once a week. My basic schedule is as follows: I wake up between 4 and 5am thanks to extremely noisy roosters and goats who live right outside my door, literally. I then emerge from my cave (it's really a large room with electricity, a desk, a bed, and a couch! I've got a cushy pad!), and I greet my "father," "sister," and "brothers." I have only a little time, so I cannot tell you everything about them, but they are pretty amazing. My father's name is Nana. He is 67 years old, he is a chief of the village, and he does hard labor in the fields every day. He named me "Ya Kuma" on the first day I met him, and the name has stuck, so I now only answer to that name in my village. "Ya" means Thursday-born, and "Kuma" is our family name, sort of like a last name. My father loves to wear minimal clothing, ie: a large cloth wrapped around his body with his skinny arms poking out... He also loves to speak English with me and he often asks me if I "need to urinate now ." This might be his favorite question, in fact. He's very concerned about my health!! :) My sister, named Obana, is 24 years old, and she acts as my "mother." She is a widow, but she has a 4 year old daughter who lives with us, whose name is Mikhail. My sister cooks for me, and I'll explain a little more about that in a minute...
I have 6 HOURS of language classes a day, and I am learning a language called DAGBANI, which I will be speaking when I move to the Northern Region to start my service. I cannot believe how intensely we are studying the language, but we basically start from scratch and we have about 2 months to become fluent, so it's a necessary evil! After language, I go to 2 hours of technical training to learn tips and strategies to being a good water/health and sanitation volunteer, then I come home at 5 to eat dinner. After that, I usually watch soccer matches with my brothers and father. We cheer for every African team and I also cheer for the Latin American teams, as long as they're not playing an African team or an American team :) Usually I go to bed around 9:30pm, because the roosters have no mercy on me in the morning and the days are long....
Now I have very little time left to share more things with you, since I have to be back at my house by 8pm (father's orders!), but I thought I'd tell you a few things about Ghanaian food and eating habits while I have the chance, since I feel like it's a great reflection of the culture here and can be very fascinating. First of all, we almost NEVER eat any meals together as a family-I eat every meal by myself on my porch. This is true for every volunteer here, which sounds strange to most people at first, considering that Ghanaians are such communal people and very close to their families. Eating here is a very quick process, in which you eat as soon as the food comes out of the pot (while it's still hot) and you talk very little. Generally we all eat at separate times because you can only cook very small amounts of food at a time, so you eat whatever you can get your hands on! Secondly, the staple of EVERY meal here is CARBS. Seriously, I eat rice at nearly every meal, usually combined with pasta and some sort of stew with yams. I love almost all of the food I've eaten so far-it's generally SUPER spicy and all of the stew has a tomato base, and to me, it's all delicious!! I am never given any utensils, so I'm expected to eat everything with my hands, more specifically, my right hand, since we are FORBIDDEN to ever use our left hands for anything here in Ghana! Mom and dad always told me that I should live in Africa because I always tried to eat with my hands instead of my fork when I was a kid, but surprisingly, I am still perfecting my right hand eating technique! I am always served about 3 times as much food as I could possible eat (this is not an exaggeration), and it is actually rude to finish all of the food on your plate, because it means that your mother has not sufficiently fed you and therefore is doing you an injustice. My sister's favorite line is "you are big now, but I will make you so much bigger! You will be so big when you leave me, and Ghana will know that you eat well in the Kuma house!" :)
There is so much more that I could share with you, but this post is ridiculously long, and my friends have officially given me the one minute warning sign, so I'm done here. One more bit of information though... I have a cell phone that I keep with me at all times, which you can call to talk to me! If you call through Skype, it costs 15 cents a minute. Here's what you dial: 011233547756581. This will literally send you directly to my cell, so give it a try! Remember, I am 4 hours ahead of you, so be kind! Also, my address is the same as the one posted on the side of the blog, and I love letters!!
I found an internet cafe fairly close to my town, so here we go! The title of this post reflects the words that I hear about 5,000 times a day, mostly from children. The word "obroni" means stranger or foreigner, and children of ALL ages love to yell it to us white people as we walk down the street. Yesterday I told one of my fellow trainees that every time I walk down the street, I feel like I'm in a one-man parade, like I should have candy to pass out or something. This brings me to my next point, which is the difficulty of walking ANYWHERE without having to stop 20 times to greet everyone I see. This might be one of my favorite parts of Ghana, besides the food. I'm learning a couple of new words in Twi every day, and my greetings are starting to become really natural, which is a good feeling. Ahhh there's so much to say in this blog and such little time to say it....
Okay, I guess I'll start by telling everyone that I got my site announcement for the next two years! Starting in August, I will be living and working in Gushie in the Northern Region, which, if you remember my last post, is where I did my vision quest!!! I am absolutely THRILLED about this position and I can't wait to get there!! This means no electricity, semi-running water (pit latrine, but I get a shower), and a very short ride to Tamale, which has lots of internet, hotels, restaurants, etc... I will explain more about my future job and location later....
Quick, get out your Ghana maps, it's time for a geography lesson! Starting in August, I will be living in Gushie in the Northern Region, so look toward the north of Ghana, locate a large town called "Tamale," and move your finger just slightly further up, and you just might find my small village (it's on about half of the maps I've seen). Right now for training, I am staying in the Eastern Region, in Anyinasin, so look toward the faaaar south and slightly to the east, and you should find it!
A few words about my training so far and my homestay family. From now until I am finished with training in August, I am staying with a family in Anyinasin along with 12 other water/health and sanitation volunteers scattered around in houses in this village. The other 60 volunteers are spread out in nearby communities, and we gather as an entire group once a week. My basic schedule is as follows: I wake up between 4 and 5am thanks to extremely noisy roosters and goats who live right outside my door, literally. I then emerge from my cave (it's really a large room with electricity, a desk, a bed, and a couch! I've got a cushy pad!), and I greet my "father," "sister," and "brothers." I have only a little time, so I cannot tell you everything about them, but they are pretty amazing. My father's name is Nana. He is 67 years old, he is a chief of the village, and he does hard labor in the fields every day. He named me "Ya Kuma" on the first day I met him, and the name has stuck, so I now only answer to that name in my village. "Ya" means Thursday-born, and "Kuma" is our family name, sort of like a last name. My father loves to wear minimal clothing, ie: a large cloth wrapped around his body with his skinny arms poking out... He also loves to speak English with me and he often asks me if I "need to urinate now ." This might be his favorite question, in fact. He's very concerned about my health!! :) My sister, named Obana, is 24 years old, and she acts as my "mother." She is a widow, but she has a 4 year old daughter who lives with us, whose name is Mikhail. My sister cooks for me, and I'll explain a little more about that in a minute...
I have 6 HOURS of language classes a day, and I am learning a language called DAGBANI, which I will be speaking when I move to the Northern Region to start my service. I cannot believe how intensely we are studying the language, but we basically start from scratch and we have about 2 months to become fluent, so it's a necessary evil! After language, I go to 2 hours of technical training to learn tips and strategies to being a good water/health and sanitation volunteer, then I come home at 5 to eat dinner. After that, I usually watch soccer matches with my brothers and father. We cheer for every African team and I also cheer for the Latin American teams, as long as they're not playing an African team or an American team :) Usually I go to bed around 9:30pm, because the roosters have no mercy on me in the morning and the days are long....
Now I have very little time left to share more things with you, since I have to be back at my house by 8pm (father's orders!), but I thought I'd tell you a few things about Ghanaian food and eating habits while I have the chance, since I feel like it's a great reflection of the culture here and can be very fascinating. First of all, we almost NEVER eat any meals together as a family-I eat every meal by myself on my porch. This is true for every volunteer here, which sounds strange to most people at first, considering that Ghanaians are such communal people and very close to their families. Eating here is a very quick process, in which you eat as soon as the food comes out of the pot (while it's still hot) and you talk very little. Generally we all eat at separate times because you can only cook very small amounts of food at a time, so you eat whatever you can get your hands on! Secondly, the staple of EVERY meal here is CARBS. Seriously, I eat rice at nearly every meal, usually combined with pasta and some sort of stew with yams. I love almost all of the food I've eaten so far-it's generally SUPER spicy and all of the stew has a tomato base, and to me, it's all delicious!! I am never given any utensils, so I'm expected to eat everything with my hands, more specifically, my right hand, since we are FORBIDDEN to ever use our left hands for anything here in Ghana! Mom and dad always told me that I should live in Africa because I always tried to eat with my hands instead of my fork when I was a kid, but surprisingly, I am still perfecting my right hand eating technique! I am always served about 3 times as much food as I could possible eat (this is not an exaggeration), and it is actually rude to finish all of the food on your plate, because it means that your mother has not sufficiently fed you and therefore is doing you an injustice. My sister's favorite line is "you are big now, but I will make you so much bigger! You will be so big when you leave me, and Ghana will know that you eat well in the Kuma house!" :)
There is so much more that I could share with you, but this post is ridiculously long, and my friends have officially given me the one minute warning sign, so I'm done here. One more bit of information though... I have a cell phone that I keep with me at all times, which you can call to talk to me! If you call through Skype, it costs 15 cents a minute. Here's what you dial: 011233547756581. This will literally send you directly to my cell, so give it a try! Remember, I am 4 hours ahead of you, so be kind! Also, my address is the same as the one posted on the side of the blog, and I love letters!!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Ghanaian babies are the cutest babies EVER. Seriously.
Hello all!
I just left my vision quest, and I honestly don't even know where to start! On Wednesday morning my vision quest hostess, Shawn, made the short trip down to Tamale to meet up with me and my friend Mike and take us back to her place via one VERY PACKED taxi. Shawn is a volunteer in a small village called Gushie (pronuonced goo-shee-ay) in the Northern Region, and she actually extended her Peace Corps service, so she has been in Ghana for about 2 and 1/2 years and has about 6 months left here. She has a small house to herself with semi-running water (she doesn't have to fetch water, but her bathroom is a pit latrine) and no electricity. Although the entire village is made up of mud huts, she lives in a cement style house since that is the basic amenities that a Peace Corps volunteer receives. Shawn is a WATSAN volunteer, which is what they call the health and water educators (that is my job as well), so it was really amazing to pick her brain and learn about all of the different projects that she's doing in her village. Shawn is highly motivated and has a lot of great ideas and passion for her community, so at times it was even overwhelming to see all of the things she has come up with and started because I feel like I have nowhere near the skills required for these jobs! We followed her around and helped her do some of her duties, such as meeting with local community leaders to discuss a health conference, checking up on the carpenters who are building her nursery school, and running a reading program after school for children in her village.
When we weren't helping her or observing a job that she was working on, we were mostly meeting people in the village and talking with them (well, Shawn was talking in the local language, Mike and I were mostly smiling and waiting for translations!). I realized more than ever that the job of a volunteer is ALL about the relationships you make with the people in your community. By having strong relationships, you build trust, and your projects come naturally out of the needs you see. I was really inspired by Shawn in this way, because she absolutely LOVES the people of her village and they have a strong love and respect for her too. We always felt extremely protected and cared for while we were there, which is why I'm definitely looking forward to finding out where my future site will be!
Shawn made us some amazing local dishes, such as ground nut soup with rice balls, and we were sure to taste many dishes that the Ghanaians were serving as we wandered around. My favorite part of the trip, though, were the babies! When you walk into a family compound, which consists of about 3-4 huts circled around a small open dirt area with a fire (called the "kitchen'), you will find mostly women and LOTS of children, especially babies. The women loved to hand us their babies and we gladly accepted! We spent a lot of time sitting around fires, holding babies, and laughing with the women (Shawn called it baby therapy)... I could definitely get used to this!! This morning we went to a baby naming ceremony, which was an incredible opportunity to take a peek into the lives of Ghanaian villagers. Basically, after a baby is born, it stays with its mother in a hut, where neither the baby or the mother can leave until after 7 days. The baby does not have a name during this time, until the 7th day, when tons of the village comes together to celebrate the baby, because after this time it is assumed that the baby will live and the baby finally belongs to the village. We hung out with the men outside the huts for a while and chewed coca beans (one bean has about 5 times the amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee!), then we went into the compound where all of the women were gathered with their babies, making food and celebrating the new birth!
Overall, vision quest was an amazing experience, and it got me SO EXCITED for my future site! I would love to write more, but my friends are calling me to watch some soccer and get a Ghanaian beer, and I can't resist that! :)
~Katie
I just left my vision quest, and I honestly don't even know where to start! On Wednesday morning my vision quest hostess, Shawn, made the short trip down to Tamale to meet up with me and my friend Mike and take us back to her place via one VERY PACKED taxi. Shawn is a volunteer in a small village called Gushie (pronuonced goo-shee-ay) in the Northern Region, and she actually extended her Peace Corps service, so she has been in Ghana for about 2 and 1/2 years and has about 6 months left here. She has a small house to herself with semi-running water (she doesn't have to fetch water, but her bathroom is a pit latrine) and no electricity. Although the entire village is made up of mud huts, she lives in a cement style house since that is the basic amenities that a Peace Corps volunteer receives. Shawn is a WATSAN volunteer, which is what they call the health and water educators (that is my job as well), so it was really amazing to pick her brain and learn about all of the different projects that she's doing in her village. Shawn is highly motivated and has a lot of great ideas and passion for her community, so at times it was even overwhelming to see all of the things she has come up with and started because I feel like I have nowhere near the skills required for these jobs! We followed her around and helped her do some of her duties, such as meeting with local community leaders to discuss a health conference, checking up on the carpenters who are building her nursery school, and running a reading program after school for children in her village.
When we weren't helping her or observing a job that she was working on, we were mostly meeting people in the village and talking with them (well, Shawn was talking in the local language, Mike and I were mostly smiling and waiting for translations!). I realized more than ever that the job of a volunteer is ALL about the relationships you make with the people in your community. By having strong relationships, you build trust, and your projects come naturally out of the needs you see. I was really inspired by Shawn in this way, because she absolutely LOVES the people of her village and they have a strong love and respect for her too. We always felt extremely protected and cared for while we were there, which is why I'm definitely looking forward to finding out where my future site will be!
Shawn made us some amazing local dishes, such as ground nut soup with rice balls, and we were sure to taste many dishes that the Ghanaians were serving as we wandered around. My favorite part of the trip, though, were the babies! When you walk into a family compound, which consists of about 3-4 huts circled around a small open dirt area with a fire (called the "kitchen'), you will find mostly women and LOTS of children, especially babies. The women loved to hand us their babies and we gladly accepted! We spent a lot of time sitting around fires, holding babies, and laughing with the women (Shawn called it baby therapy)... I could definitely get used to this!! This morning we went to a baby naming ceremony, which was an incredible opportunity to take a peek into the lives of Ghanaian villagers. Basically, after a baby is born, it stays with its mother in a hut, where neither the baby or the mother can leave until after 7 days. The baby does not have a name during this time, until the 7th day, when tons of the village comes together to celebrate the baby, because after this time it is assumed that the baby will live and the baby finally belongs to the village. We hung out with the men outside the huts for a while and chewed coca beans (one bean has about 5 times the amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee!), then we went into the compound where all of the women were gathered with their babies, making food and celebrating the new birth!
Overall, vision quest was an amazing experience, and it got me SO EXCITED for my future site! I would love to write more, but my friends are calling me to watch some soccer and get a Ghanaian beer, and I can't resist that! :)
~Katie
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Accra to Kumasi to Tamale and beyond...
Hey folks! Once again, I have some unexpected internet access so I thought I'd give another update that has some more details about what I've been doing here! Yesterday we hung out at the Peace Corps headquarters in Accra so more people could get vaccinations (we have so many more to come... bleh). In the evening, we participated in sort of a Peace Corps tradition of going to the American Ambassador's house for a reception with him and his wife, along with our Ghana Peace Corps staff and other foreign service officials in the area. It was a great night (the Ambassador's house is so big!!) where we were able to unwind and see another really beautiful side of Ghana.
After a late night at the Ambassador's house, I woke up at 3:30am to leave with several other volunteers who are spreading throughout the country for the rest of the week on vision quests. We traveled for an hour to get from our site to the Capitol city of Accra, then we hopped on another bus for a 4 hour bus ride to the city of Kumasi. Thankfully there was a Peace Corps worker who met us there because bus faires and communication can sometimes be difficult with our limited knowledge of Twi (one of the most common official languages) and limited knowledge of the way things work in Ghana... So after arriving to Kumasi, we had to catch another bus to the city of Tamale, which was about a 6 hour bus ride. Needless to say, we didn't arrive in Tamale until about 7pm, which made for an incredibly long day. There is a Peace Corps policy that says we can't travel at night, so we are crashing here at the PC office until the morning when we will all split up and head to our locations for the next few days while we shadow current volunteers in their jobs. I am going to visit a water and sanitation volunteer in a small northern village for my vision quest tomorrow. My friend Mike is also traveling with me and staying with the same volunteer, so I don't feel as nervous about trying to find her and maneuvering around the area...
Even though today's bus rides were long and VERY uncomfortable at times, I am so thankful that I got to travel to the Northern Region within such a short time of coming to Ghana. After this trip, I've seen a lot of the various backdrops in Ghana- cities, tropical forests, plains, mountains, small mud hut villages, etc... I must say, even though the Northern Region is more remote, the landscapes are absolutely stunning and the villages seem to be very tight knit communities within themselves. I would absolutely love if I was placed up here, but I probably won't find out for another 2 weeks or so, and I'll be happy no matter where they send me in the country!
Well, I must close out this post because it's time to relinquish my computer rights and head to bed. On a final note, however, tonight as I and two of my friends were walking back from a nice, quite expensive (about $5 total... crazy, right?) dinner, we had to stop so my friend could add minutes to his cell phone. We just stopped at a shack on the side of the road, and we saw that there was one boy working the counter and another boy cooking something over a fire. Then we asked him what he cooking at the said "I thin you call it the rat." lol. It turns out he had just caught that rat with his hands and decided that it would make a lovely snack, so he was just perched on the side of the road cooking a rat over an open fire, skin, head, and all. lol. So anyway, remember that tomorrow as you're eating dinner, I know I will, and I'll certainly enjoy my rice and plantains a little more than usual :)
~Katie
After a late night at the Ambassador's house, I woke up at 3:30am to leave with several other volunteers who are spreading throughout the country for the rest of the week on vision quests. We traveled for an hour to get from our site to the Capitol city of Accra, then we hopped on another bus for a 4 hour bus ride to the city of Kumasi. Thankfully there was a Peace Corps worker who met us there because bus faires and communication can sometimes be difficult with our limited knowledge of Twi (one of the most common official languages) and limited knowledge of the way things work in Ghana... So after arriving to Kumasi, we had to catch another bus to the city of Tamale, which was about a 6 hour bus ride. Needless to say, we didn't arrive in Tamale until about 7pm, which made for an incredibly long day. There is a Peace Corps policy that says we can't travel at night, so we are crashing here at the PC office until the morning when we will all split up and head to our locations for the next few days while we shadow current volunteers in their jobs. I am going to visit a water and sanitation volunteer in a small northern village for my vision quest tomorrow. My friend Mike is also traveling with me and staying with the same volunteer, so I don't feel as nervous about trying to find her and maneuvering around the area...
Even though today's bus rides were long and VERY uncomfortable at times, I am so thankful that I got to travel to the Northern Region within such a short time of coming to Ghana. After this trip, I've seen a lot of the various backdrops in Ghana- cities, tropical forests, plains, mountains, small mud hut villages, etc... I must say, even though the Northern Region is more remote, the landscapes are absolutely stunning and the villages seem to be very tight knit communities within themselves. I would absolutely love if I was placed up here, but I probably won't find out for another 2 weeks or so, and I'll be happy no matter where they send me in the country!
Well, I must close out this post because it's time to relinquish my computer rights and head to bed. On a final note, however, tonight as I and two of my friends were walking back from a nice, quite expensive (about $5 total... crazy, right?) dinner, we had to stop so my friend could add minutes to his cell phone. We just stopped at a shack on the side of the road, and we saw that there was one boy working the counter and another boy cooking something over a fire. Then we asked him what he cooking at the said "I thin you call it the rat." lol. It turns out he had just caught that rat with his hands and decided that it would make a lovely snack, so he was just perched on the side of the road cooking a rat over an open fire, skin, head, and all. lol. So anyway, remember that tomorrow as you're eating dinner, I know I will, and I'll certainly enjoy my rice and plantains a little more than usual :)
~Katie
Monday, June 7, 2010
Maaha!
Maaha (good afternoon!)
I have a few short minutes to post this since I'm here in the Peace Corps office in Accra for the afternoon, but I thought I'd send out something to let everyone know that I'm here, I'm safe, and I'm having a blast so far! We got into Ghana on Friday, but it feels like I've been here for months :) All of us as volunteers have been staying together and learning cultural lessons, some language lessons, and bonding over card games and African dancing. On Tuesday I leave for my "vision quest," where I'll be joining up with a current volunteer to shadow them for a week, so I'm really excited to get out to a new part of the country and dive in to what life might be like... The people here are absolutely beautiful, the food is GREAT, and as much as I miss everyone, life here is too exciting to worry about home too often :) Well, that's all for now, I'll post the next time I can get internet acces, but feel free to send me a letter by using the address that I posted on the right side of this blog!
~Katie
I have a few short minutes to post this since I'm here in the Peace Corps office in Accra for the afternoon, but I thought I'd send out something to let everyone know that I'm here, I'm safe, and I'm having a blast so far! We got into Ghana on Friday, but it feels like I've been here for months :) All of us as volunteers have been staying together and learning cultural lessons, some language lessons, and bonding over card games and African dancing. On Tuesday I leave for my "vision quest," where I'll be joining up with a current volunteer to shadow them for a week, so I'm really excited to get out to a new part of the country and dive in to what life might be like... The people here are absolutely beautiful, the food is GREAT, and as much as I miss everyone, life here is too exciting to worry about home too often :) Well, that's all for now, I'll post the next time I can get internet acces, but feel free to send me a letter by using the address that I posted on the right side of this blog!
~Katie
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Whoaaa we're halfway there, ooooh livin' on a prayer...
So we're definitely not "halfway there," but we're almost on our way to Ghana! I'm making this short because I need to re-pack a lot of my stuff tonight and bail about a pound out of my luggage before we head out for the airport tomorrow morning. Basically, this will probably be my last post for a while. I'm expecting to be out of touch for at least 2-3 weeks as we start training because we'll have an extremely busy schedule for a little while and minimal internet access. If for some reason I get access, I'll send out another update, but for right now, no news is good news! :)
If you think about it, pray for our group tomorrow as we head out of the country. It's going to be an incredibly long couple of days with minimal sleep and a lot of logistics that need to flow smoothly. We are all beyond excited, particularly after spending the evening karaoke-ing together and enjoying our last night in the USA, but there is also a lot of anxiety and fear, so your prayers are really appreciated.
So this pretty much sums up my last stateside post. Again, keep us in your prayers and I'll certainly be thinking of all of you in these next few weeks!
GRACE AND PEACE,
~Katie
If you think about it, pray for our group tomorrow as we head out of the country. It's going to be an incredibly long couple of days with minimal sleep and a lot of logistics that need to flow smoothly. We are all beyond excited, particularly after spending the evening karaoke-ing together and enjoying our last night in the USA, but there is also a lot of anxiety and fear, so your prayers are really appreciated.
So this pretty much sums up my last stateside post. Again, keep us in your prayers and I'll certainly be thinking of all of you in these next few weeks!
GRACE AND PEACE,
~Katie
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The city of brotherly love.
Tonight rounds out a long and great day in Philly, where our training has officially begun! I left the house at 5am this morning to catch my flight from Chicago to Philadelphia, and I ended up arriving at the hotel around 1:30pm, which made me one of the first people to get to the staging event. I took advantage of the hotel's free wi-fi, since we probably won't be getting much of that once we leave the states, and waited for other volunteers to show up. Right away I went out to lunch with some fun guys who had also come early, and soon more and more people were showing up. It turns out there are just over 70 people in my training class to Ghana, so plenty of people to meet and mingle with! I went out to dinner with a different group of people and soon realized that 1.) there are a lot of people from out West (Colorado, Utah, etc... ) and 2.) There are a lot of math and science teachers! As a health/water and sanitation volunteer, I feel slightly in the minority, and I'm still fairly unsure as to what my job is going to entail once I get there... But I guess that's why they give 3 months of training, right? The rest of the night consisted of paperwork and meeting new people. It's a little comforting to know that nearly everyone else has the same apprehensions as I do, and that this whole trip hasn't really sank in for most of us yet. When there was a lull in the dinnertime conversation, someone said, "wow, isn't it a little strange that soon we're going to be real friends? Training together, traveling together, visiting each other?" And I think that sentiment basically sums up my feelings right now. I know a lot of these people will be my closest friends over the next 2 years and my support system to help me stay grounded to home, and it's weird to think that this isn't just summer camp, but that we're all starting new chapters of our lives together at the same moment in time.
In closing I'd like to share a couple of important lessons I have learned today:
1.) The people of Ghana are called Ghanaians, pronounded "gah-NAY-ans" (with an emphasis on the "nay")
2.) One of the languages spoken in Ghana, one that I will will at least be learning a little bit of, is called Twi, which is apparently pronounced "twee"
Well this is all for tonight. Tomorrow we will have training all day in Philly, which includes LOTS of vaccinations that are apparently administered "military style," meaning that our arms are going to be killing us tomorrow after all the shots we're getting! :)
~Katie
In closing I'd like to share a couple of important lessons I have learned today:
1.) The people of Ghana are called Ghanaians, pronounded "gah-NAY-ans" (with an emphasis on the "nay")
2.) One of the languages spoken in Ghana, one that I will will at least be learning a little bit of, is called Twi, which is apparently pronounced "twee"
Well this is all for tonight. Tomorrow we will have training all day in Philly, which includes LOTS of vaccinations that are apparently administered "military style," meaning that our arms are going to be killing us tomorrow after all the shots we're getting! :)
~Katie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
