Jordan here: Well, not a whole lot has happened since the last blog. Our routine has started to form. We get up much earlier than we did in the States and eat some breakfast. On days we feel rushed or lazy, we go into town (that’s actually about the equivalent of a block away) and buy some porridge mixed with sugar and roasted peanuts for breakfast. The whole meal for us both costs about 35 cents. Not bad! And we’ve come to really like it. Then Sarah heads to school and I head home. Before it gets too hot, I water the garden. So far I’ve got cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, green peppers, green beans, acorn squash, and just recently, parsley, basil, and spinach. So far only the cucumbers have germinated but I just need to be patient. I’ve been preparing my “plant tea” as liquid fertilizer and it should be ready in another week or two. Now, we’ve been getting weird looks a lot this whole time just because we’re the outsiders, but when the white man starts walking over to your yard and scoops up the cow poop and takes it away with him…that really gives them something to talk about. The soil is quite sandy clay material so I hope things grow well. However, I remind myself that this whole community relies on farms being fruitful, so I think it will all turn out well. Sarah has been busy at school. She teaches 2 classes Monday through Thursday and when she’s not teaching, she’s preparing lesson plans or supervising kids. We already have big ideas/plans for the school students. Apparently a low scoring school on test scores, we thought they could use some tutoring services. I’d also like to find some great student leaders that can implement a school garden and tree nursery.

Today we made bean burgers mixed with mashed yam. Really really tasty, but a lot of work and a lot of dishes. The best part, though, is that they go great with the Famous Dave’s bbq sauce that my parents sent in a care package!! We have a few left (after we stuffed ourselves) so we thought we would take them to my counterpart’s home and share. Sarah will then have a chance to drop off some fabric with his wife who just conveniently happens to be a tailor. She wants to have a comfy skirt made. Soon we’ll have to make a day trip into Wa to grab some essentials: jelly, groundnut paste, oats, tuna, Laughing Cow cheese, and maybe a small box of wine. Tomorrow I will see about biking to the carpenter to buy some lumber to make some shelves. We were hoping they would make them for us, but I think it may be a long time before they get that done anytime soon. Sarah starts another week of school and the beat goes on…

Jordan here: So where did we leave off? Oh yeah, we were just about to head back to our site with another giant load of stuff to lug around. Well we made it again over the horrid roads in one piece and were dumped in Bugubelle. We called our friends in Tarsor and found that no one was there that could come pick us up and bring our stuff. They would be back in a couple hours. So we could either pay way too much for a ride from Bug, or just sit and wait. Peace Corps Ghana has preached to us about the importance of just sitting. Many people here spend lots of time sitting and socializing…or even not socializing…just sitting. It is a time for people to just be together and to find out about all the gossip and drink tea, and of course greet constantly. So while we sat at a small store we started practicing some language. Sarah had a great idea to teach the little kids that were sitting around how to play a simple game of tic-tac-toe. It was a hit once we played a few rounds and everyone understood the rules. The young kids were playing each other, the old were playing the young, Ghanaian against American, all kinds of matchups and it was a great cultural exchange. We finally were picked up and brought back to our place. It was late so we just made food but Sarah went off to school the next morning and I went to work on the house. There was painting, cleaning, repairing, and all sorts of other things to work on. I think we did a pretty good job with the time lapse photos as the process progressed or making our place comfortable. We have been hitting up every market day in nearby towns to buy things we keep finding that we need. Nails, flour sifter, tape, food we can’t get here, and an exhaustive list that went on and on. Much of it was food. Sarah and I equal each other out quite well between super bland and moderately nutritious but save a bunch money (Jordan) and super tasty with a lot of variety and highly nutritious but have little or no money left (Sarah). Sarah has been excited to try making several meals from the cookbook that Peace Corps provided. So far we’ve had a version of French bread style pizza, from scratch (relatively) alfredo pasta, guinea fowl egg sandwiches, oats with jam and fruit mixed in, and other tasty treats. We usually end up cooking in the dark in the evening since its dark by about 6pm.
On our last trip to the Tumu market, we splurged about bought a new mattress. My counterpart provided one, but it was getting uncomfortable to sleep on since the foam was losing its strength and our bodies would soon be leaving permanent irreversible imprints. Imagine trying to roll UP a hill on your side. So we went from the least expensive mattress to the most expensive. After sleeping on it for one one, we’ve decided, it was quite worth it. We now have spent nearly the entirety of 2 move in allowances (which is a decent chunk of change) but when we consider there was a room with a sleeping pad 3 weeks ago, we’ve made a lot of progress.
I have now, just today, planted the first of the garden. It’s a hot sweaty process to till the grounds, and eventually get seeds covered, but in about 2-3 months when we’re eating our own produce, it’ll pay off. The walls are all pretty white on the inside, we have the “carpet” down (and can finally walk in our own house barefoot and dare to put something on the floor), the screen porch is 95% complete with the help of the local JHS and local carpenter, and we’re sleeping much better. We recently took advantage of a cell phone deal to talk a lot to family and friends, and that was wonderful. I’m sad to hear my sports teams are all going down the drain, but hearing about everything was great.
Sarah just finished her first lesson plan for tomorrow about numerals. She hasn’t actually taught a class yet even though school technically started last Monday. A lot of prep and rearranging of schedules between teachers to make it all work was needed. She is excited and nervous. We all know, though, that she’ll be a fantastic teacher and a wonderful mentor to some kids that could really use one. I will hopefully start sitting in on the womens’ group meetings this week. We have made it a point to go out each day and greet people in the community to get ourselves known. Its our favorite part of the day. Especially since the hour before sunset is the most beautiful of all and the temp is just perfect. We also are amazed at the quality of stargazing from our village as well.
Thanks for all the birthday wishes, they really brightened my day. We continue to hope all is well back in the States. And although we are having a blast and are looking forward to our time here, we continue to dream of the days of old friends, family reunions, microbrews, lots of chocolate  Finally, after making our Ghanaian style pizza, we realized a couple wonderful things to add to the “I want to send Jordan and Sarah a care package but don’t know what they want” list: pepperoni slices that don’t need refrigeration and parmesean cheese that also does not require refrigeration. All the best.

Hey everyone, Jordan here: So training is over. So this is Peace Corps. After finally making it all the way back to the Upper West Region, stopped in Wa to buy some things that we knew we would need to start our house up and running, catching a lori (vehicle) to the closest town Bugabelle, paid more in luggage costs than the fare to get ourselves there, watched it all roped down and winched to the roof of the lori, piled in another 25 or so people, and headed out on our 3 hour nearly off-road trip to our place.
As we got out of the lori immediately the awstruck looks started from the Ghanaians seeing not one but TWO folis get out and unload what seems to be enough supplies to go on a jungle excursion. A thunderclap struck and the tell tale cold breeze blew on our faces informing us that the time was short beofre a downpour was coming. We shuffled under a store awning and called my counterpart in Tarsor to send a car to pick us up and our luggage. Of course they did not get to us in time and we had to wait out the 30 minute downpour. Eventually we just said screw it lets get into the wet truck and just get to our site; we were ready to unpack. We pulled up to our site expecting to see some of the important things we needed done to make the house ready for us all finished ie door locks, mosquito screens and screen doors installed and a suite of other small things. Only about 2-3 of these had been taken care of so we were glad to hear the Volunteers were having a mandatory meeting in Wa in a couple days so we could buy a bunch MORE supplies. We had nowhere to set things besides the floor. On that floor, part of the floor was seeping sticky glue or sap or something, so we had to spread plastic sheets to not damage our stuff. We laid everything out to dry with rope strewn across the porch. After setting up our bed on the foam pad on the floor and hanging the mosquito net that Mikey gave us (someone must have grabbed ours from the KSO) and went to bed by about 8:30 or so since it is dark by 6pm and we don't have electricity.
We were up the next day after sleeping in at about 6:30am. We made some breakfast (groundnut paste on bread) and started cleaning! But soon, we were ready to head to the market (pronounced yohWOH here). All the communties from around the area all come to the same place for that communities market since it only happens every 6 days. We bought 2 buckets, a big metal wash bowl, and a large garbage can to hold water. It just happened that we bought all of this from my counterpart's mother, go figure. Bori, a friend of ours, helped us around to get good prices. Nearly everything is bartered for here. And since we are white, it is assumed that we have a ton of money and everyone's starting prices if we asked are about twice as much as if a Ghanaian asked.
We also needed some food: tomatoes (Sarah bought these and then left them there by accident and she was super sad), hot peppers (funny story to follow), onions, and a few other things. Since we biked there, we of course had to strap our cargo down and head back on the 25 minute dirt road home. I think it is a common thing to see cargo adding up to more mass than the actual vehicle that is hauling it and our bike ride did not break this trend. But we made it back started the real cleaning with bleach and scrub brushes. I literally watched the 10 year old dirt cascade off the bucket bath area walls. Very satisfying. I think the words "huh, that's what that ledge looks like" came out of my mouth. Then I got down on hands and knees and scrubbed the tile part of the floor for 2 hours. This gave me even more respect for my mother who taught me how to do this the right way as I was growing up. Thanks Mom! We needed to fill our 50 gallon water barrel so we headed out to the borehole to start hauling and every Ghanaian around ran over to do it for us. They love doing little favors whenever possible to show respect and welcome to foreigners. A woman who is deaf (I think she will be a great friend) and probably 70 years old came over, with a smile, promptly threw a bucket of water that probably weighs 50-60 pounds on top of her head and walked it back to our house and poured it, from her head!, into our barrel and spilled maybe 100 milliliters. Then she went back and did it again, and then apologized for the spilled water. Jeepers! These ladies are crazy strong!
Sarah washed some clothes and then we made tuna and vegetable sandwiches for dinner. While Sarah chopped the hot peppers she accidentally wipe her upper lip which immediately began to burn like crazy! Apparently it didn't stop for 3 hours! The only way she could relax a little was by pouring water over her face. Once that stopped burning, her hand was still burning so she had to sit the rest of the night with her hand in a bowl of water. I felt so bad cuz there was nothing I could do. Eventually we made it to sleep and got up this morning at 5am to make it in time to catch the lori leaving from Bugubelle to Wa. On our list of supplies was: white paint, screen for the porch, new floor "carpet", chairs, 2 tables, cooking pots, a frying pan, mop bucket, tupperware containers, hammer, nails, and lots of food. We scoped out the best prices and will buy them all before we head back on Monday morning. Tomorrow we'll see our fellow Volunteers to discuss our experiences with our new sites and suggestions for training next year.
Well I know that's a lot of words and no pictures, but we'll try to post some before and after pictures soon. We hope this post finds you and your families in good health and happy times. With much love from Ghana, Jordan and Sarah.

Updated Mailing Addresses

Note the new mailing addresses on the right side of your screen! :)

Peace Corps packages are waived of the duty fee, which is why we still have packages sent to Accra (if Peace Corps picks them up, we don't pay a duty, if we have it sent anywhere else in Ghana, we could end up paying HUGE amounts of money on what is sent to us - no good - so packages still to the original address in Accra).

Letters can be sent to my school's P.O. box in the city to the north of us, Tumu (note the new address given on the right sidebar). Postcards are fun to get if you go on vacation, and then we will designate a wall of our home to all of your cool postcards, and they only cost 98 cents to send! :)

Also, if you want to send something, consider your many options. If the item(s) do not weigh much, consider sending a large mailing envelope and pay by weight (and then we don't have to pay a handling fee for the envelopes). If weight is a concern, check out the flat rate boxes, but don't feel obligated as these can get spendy! Talk to others and collaborate to bring down cost :)

Items we would LOVE in a care package:

Dried fruit (it's harder to find fresh fruit where we are in the north :(
Beef Jerky
Summer sausage
Cheese (Powdered like in Mac n Cheese, or like Laughing Cow that doesn't need refrigeration)
M and M's
Granola Bars (We miss these...)
Power bars/Luna Bars/Etc (perfect snack and a way to get some nutrients!)
Sauce mixes (alfredo, pesto, etc)
Just-add-water meals (like those lipton noodle sides or camping meals)
Trail Mix! Yeah! All Kinds!!
Pictures of you and us, or you doing what you do back in the US :)
Spices, especially Italian spices (rosemary, thyme, basil, Seasoned salt)
Anything snacky from Trader Joes that would ship well and is healthy to eat!

Random Things that would also always be helpful:

Soccer ball (my school has ONE, not a fun way to run a practice :)
D Batteries (for our fans - tried them out and they work GREAT! :)
Fun things to do with kids: cheap books with lots of pictures, coloring books, bubbles, little cars
That 2-1 shampoo/conditioner from Target for Kids that smells like various fruits :)

Things to note about sending things: if it's something that may melt or break open, make sure to put in a ziplock. This will not only prevent things from getting sticky all over the box, but we can also use the ziplock! Same goes for tupperware if you need to put something in tupperware, we can always use it! If you were thinking hey, Jordan and Sarah may like this, I'll ask them about it, just shoot us an e-mail! You can find a surprising amount of things here in Ghana, but all the things listed are ones we've been missing... :)

This all being said, no obligations to send a package, we just love your support :) And if you do send one, PLEASE know it is much appreciated :) ALSO, if you post your address as a comment, or shoot us an e-mail with your address, we would love to send you a letter :)

THANKS!

Hey all! Sarah here...

Sorry to not have updated in awhile - we were at an internet cafe in Kukurantumi where our homestay is last weekend, but the blog wouldn't upload - don't know why, but anywho - here we are back at the KSO with high-speed internet - it's been a long week!

Had our homestay goodbye ceremony this past Saturday in Kukurantumi, where we did a couple of fun dances (hoping to post some pictures of this - Jordan and I participated in a couples dance which everyone loved when they saw our matching outfits to boot :) ), and a large group dance too. Sunday we relaxed and finished up packing, drying clothes, giving our homestay gifts (the boys loved the Twins hats!) and trying and failing to get to bed early since we were leaving at 6 the next morning...which in Ghanain time ended up being 6:45 after waiting for the tailor to finish sewing our matching outfits for swearing-in (don't get me started), and then in true Ghanain fashion, waited at the Peace Corps office and didn't actually leave for Accra until 9:30. Went to Valley View outside of Accra (same place we originally spent the first week in country), and spent the day hanging out like old times - our last few days of summer camp :)

Tuesday, we were up at 4:50am for breakfast, as it takes FOREVER with traffic in Accra to get back into the city. Went straight to the American Ambassador of Ghana's house (it's really nice, we get to have a Thanksgiving meal and celebration there in November, so we're excited to be able to go back!) to practice our dances, go through a run-through of the actual swearing-in ceremony, and wait around getting REALLY hungry, since the ceremony didn't start til 10, and we didn't eat until 1:30 in the afternoon. Do the math people - we ate breakfast at 5am, and I only had a granola bar and orange for snack! For those that know me, I was hurting! The ceremony was pretty neat - LOTS of "ceremony" to it: every speaker always thanked all of the higher-ups for coming, for the ambassador for hosting us, the new PCVs (that's us!) for their committment to service, etc, etc, at the beginning of EVERY speech. We did our dances again, which went a lot better the second time, had an inspirational speech by another high-up official in Ghanaian government (can't remember his name, but it's early and I didn't get much sleep last night...) who actually had a PCV teacher that made a big impact on him, helping him get where he is today - I'll have to keep that in mind when I'm down on hard days of teaching, acknowledged some RPCVs that served in Ghana (even one from the original 1961 class!), then FINALLY got to have some hors d'oeuvres and drinks to celebrate and mingle. Some of the trays of food included slices of pizza, which we mobbed - actual cheese!

Overall, a nice ceremony, but we were all so tired and overwhelmed afterwards. Went back to Valley View to get ready to party it up as new PCVs that night with some celebratory dancing, card-playing, etc, thinking we'd be getting ready to leave the next morning...but that was not to happen. Turns out we were supposed to originally meet with the PRESIDENT of Ghana to take a picture just like the original class of 1961 did, but it fell through since he was traveling. So then they tell us that we are going to wait and be at Valley View til Friday morning, in order to take a picture with His Excellency President Atta Mills at his castle on Thursday! So okay, we had to wait around for longer (which messed up people's beach plans, including me and Jordan's, but oh well), but we got to meet a President of a country! I've never met a president of a country! Crazy!

Wednesday was spent like summer camp :) Played some fun ultimate frisbee in the morning, huge yummy lunch, played a tournament of bucket jam in the afternoon (look up the rules to can jam, and imagine a plastic bucket instead - I'll explain more later because it's an AWESOME yard game!), yummy dinner, then fun hanging out with people for the evening. Someone even bought a pirated copy of the final Harry Potter movie (you can find all sorts of pirated movies here in Ghana - you can just never tell what the quality will be...) so some people were watching that. I'll have to swap that from someone at some point after Jordan watches the first part :) Got up Thursday morning, ate breakfast, packed 5 PC vehicles to the brim with luggage and PCVs, and drove to the PC office in Accra. Picked some lunch near the office, then drove to Osu Castle to meet the President! The grounds were really pretty (I'll get pics, I promise), we were seating under tents on either side of a long red carpet leading from the castle, and all stood up for His Excellency - which just felt so weird to see him in person after seeing his face on billboards all over the Southern part of Ghana. The speeches by our Country Director and the American Ambassador were good, and the President's speech was really good too - he was also taught by a PCV back in the day, and has fond memories of her, and is really supportive of the PC in Ghana. After that, we all took a picture on the steps leading up to the castle, he shook the hands of the people in the front row (wasn't there, darn!) then walked up and out, saying on the way that he would have us all over for fu fu sometime...ha :) After having a cold drink (I can joke that the President of Ghana bought me a beer!) and some tasty catered food from a box, we walked back past all of the large armed guards, jumped back into vehicles, then back to the PC office! Whirlwind goodbyes as they herded 41 of us into vehicles and made the 6 hour trek to the KSO last night. Needless to say, we were all beat - it had been a long week with little sleep.

I think we'll spend another night here at the KSO to head into Kumasi and look for a bike for Jordan, then head up North tomorrow or Sunday. School starts on the 13th - I'm getting more nervous for THAT, that's for sure! I'll just keep thinking about my Dad starting school around the same time though, that will help keep me going throughout the next couple years!

I know this was rushed, but wanted to make sure I got a post out in case we weren't allowed to stay tonight - miss you all and THANKS for the blog comments, e-mails, facebook messages, and general well wishes! We really appreciate it! This is when it will get tough - our first months away at site and starting into service when we don't see as many other volunteers and can't travel. We will hopefully be setting up our modem to have internet at sight, but aren't sure how great the service will be - all things we'll find out in the next couple of weeks! I'm sure we'll both get homesick once we are more on our own and have more time to think - but know we miss and love you!

Jordan and Sarah