Sunday FUN-day!!! With a side of shirtless service...

So, I had a really great day today, for seemingly simple reasons, but all adding up to just a happy Sarah!  I am down in the Eastern region for a month to be a trainer for the next group of education volunteers that arrived in Ghana a week and a half ago.  So this past week we spent in different sessions learning about how to be a teacher in Ghana, all the hurdles they'll be up against (because there are a lot of them!) and getting a chance to observe teaching in some schools.  The next two weeks they'll be in the classroom teaching and we trainers will be hustling around to all the different participating schools to observe them. 

Lucky for us, Sunday is the free day for the trainees, which means WE get a free day too!  And my Sunday was just one big ball of happiness :)  Started the day off early with a run with my friend Bob, then ate my oats and drank coffee while reading the news online - how nice!  Got some small laundry done and hung, then walked to the nearby town to get 'groceries' for the week with Bob.  The temp was not too hot, so walking felt really nice.  I was in such a good mood that when people and kids called me 'Obroni' (the word for white stranger in the south), it didn't even bug me today, it was actually fun today to call back 'Obibini' (roughly translated as black person, which isn't offensive, in fact they find it hilarious that you know how to say that back to them :).  We found great deals on all the different foodstuffs we needed, then Bob says, I think we need to have a small adventure today, what should we do?  I said I didn't know, and he said okay, we'll find one.  So we are wandering around the town searching for a good price on noodles, and Bob says, You know what?  Let's find some palm wine.  Okie doke! 

Palm wine is made by cutting down a palm tree and tapping the liquid on the inside of the tree, which the longer it sits after coming out of the tree, the more fermenting occurs and the higher the alcohol content. (for more information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_wine).  This isn't usually something you find at a spot (a place where you can go sit and drink a beer) but out in the bush where someone has a small palm wine producing place.  So we start asking around, and people are pointing us in the same general direction.  When we get to the spot pointed out, and a girl around the age of 19 says to follow her, she knows where it is.  We follow her to her house, where she drops off a bag and picks up a cute chubby baby, another woman, and a string of kids (that want to follow the white people :)  We all start winding back through the palm trees and people's compounds in search of this palm wine - Bob turns around and says, I think we found our adventure!  On the way, the girl with the baby turns around, hands me her baby (which I've been singing to the whole time) and takes the bags out of my hands.  I told Bob it looked like she was trading me one mango and one bunch of bananas for one beautiful baby :)  We continue walking - only to get back into the bush and find out the man wasn't there.  Go figure :)  By the time we got back to town (I had traded the baby back for my fruit) it had started to rain, and two minutes later, we were thankful to make it under a small store's roof before the heavens opened up!  After the 20 minute downpour, we treated ourselves to meat-on-a-stick and a beer (served to us by a younger man without a shirt - so here apparantly the motto is before heading back to the office where we are staying.  Then got to nap, make delicious spaghetti for dinner, and call home to wish my brother a happy birthday and my dad a happy father's day! 

Today, I just embraced the feeling of being content because I got to feel refreshed after a rain, make a baby smile, make people laugh by the small amount of Twi I can speak, cook good food, and talk with good people.  If I were to have a theme song for the day, it would be this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnr1saD8hBQ - go on, listen and feel happy too!  Feeling blessed for all the wonderful things that bring me happiness in this life, and blessed for all the family and friends here and back home that love and support me.  Thanks, and may this day and everyday bring you happiness big and small!!

I know you're all sitting rivetted wondering what the scores for our continuous epic game of rummy would be at right now.  Well, at this point, Sarah is still whooping me, but I'm on the way back.  Lets check  back in a few weeks to see if anything has changed.

Things I will miss…

Of course we miss especially the 3 F’s: family, friends, and food.  But so often I think we let life pass us by and then look back and say, “you know what I miss?”  Others would call this taking something for granted.  I think it’s best for us all to realize in nearly all situations, there will be aspects of it that we will miss.  However, not often do we realize these things while they are still happening, before we can never experience them again.  So while we’re here, I want to recognize some things I will miss and get the most of them before I move home to comfort and convenience and likely not return to Ghana. 

    I will miss this simple life:  We live in a village of less than 1000 people.  Of which we probably see on a regular basis, maybe 200-300 of them on the same one kilometer of road.  Not having the ability to see or be in contact with unlimited numbers of people at all times is refreshing if you think about it.  Yes, of course, it is great to be able to connect with old friends, family members extended to all branches of the tree, and find out exactly what they’re thinking at all times.  But when you don’t have this service, life slows down, and you have no choice but to worry about fewer things. 

I will miss not having the news:  Nowadays, the news is mostly about conflict and suffering.  Otherwise, why would it be interesting?  Here, I don’t know how the election trail is going, who is bombing whom, or what new technology is emerging that we should all want to spend our money on.  Certain news is useful to know, absolutely.  But it can be a blessing in disguise to have to work so hard to find out the latest xyz…

I will miss being able to grow things every day of the year (provided I can find water):  Yes we have a dry season that is basically like a 6 month drought, but even if water is plentiful in the Midwest, it is likely frozen for many months out of the year.  Here, provided we have an irrigation dam, we can grow vegetables all year.  It can be a lot of work, for sure, but being able to grow a salad in my garden when I’m used to covering all my skin for fear of it freezing, can be nice J

I will miss cheap beer:  The beer here is not great.  There are few selections, and they’re no craft beers that we were enjoying before we left.  But they’re big, and cheap.  About the equivalent of $1.80 for a beer that is equal to about 2 pints in America.  Usually we go for a beer called Castle, which is thick milk stout, of about 7% ABV.  One or two of these is enough, which make us both cheap dates. 

I will miss the utmost freedom to fail at work, and still be a good Volunteer:  We have lots of ideas and lots of aspirations  for things that could make life better for Ghanaians and those serving in Ghana.  Peace Corps has conditioned us, in a way, to be pessimists.  We know that we’re not big NGOs with 10s of thousands of dollars to throw at big projects.  We work on the grassroots level, standing next to the people we are living next to.  We plan a project with all the necessary steps to promote capacity building of the people, quality of life improvement, and sustainability.  However, we understand that we’ve not walking into situations of ease and that behavior change (most if not all of our projects have an element of this involved) is very difficult.  If it was easy, Peace Corps would not be here.  So we realize that the best laid plans can still fail.  Of course that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try big and small ways to improve life and the land, but we are trained to accept failure as just another thing we learn, instead of means for termination of employment. 

I will miss the dusk and dawn here in Ghana, especially in the village:  Not being able to sleep because you’re literally sweating through your sheet at midnight is no fun.  But when you’re outside, working hard in the sun, and are very tired, going home, bathing with cold water and going for a walk around the village is perfect.  We usually get out about 4:30 or so and start to walk down the road to the next village.  We greet those people coming back from farm carrying firewood, raw shea nuts, or any other produce or tools from the farm on their head.  They always ask “Nie kumu?” or “Where are you going?”  They think we are walking to the next village because, really, who just goes walking for no reason?  In certain places we stop to overlook rolling hills of green (in the wet season) or brown (in the dry season) and watch the sun slowly set over the African horizon.  I love sunsets, and it’s a fact that I have only a numbered chances to see it here on this Earth, and I won’t get to see it again from Africa.  The mornings, we’re up by 6 or 6:30 and they are cool enough that a hot breakfast of oats or porridge and maybe some coffee are perfect.  We have a nice view from our porch to watch the sunrise over our compound wall. 

The sounds of early activity at the borehole are ever present.  At times we really wish we would have peace and quiet at 5:30am.  But I’m sure that a little part of me will miss the hustle and bustle of our area.  After school, all the girls from school come and hang out just outside the fence by the borehole.  Hence we never really had a completely quite time at our place.  We often said the zoo opens when all the kids stand by our fence to “witness how the white people live” within our compound.  It can actually be somehow soothing knowing that someone is always around you.  You’re never really alone.  Sometimes at home when things were too peaceful and quiet, I would actually get restless and be longing for the sign of someone doing something.  Here, I don’t really have that problem.  There will come a time that I wish that I could just sleep in until 7am without there being a ruckus outside our window.  But then once its gone, I will really realize that my special time in a completely special place on this earth is finished.

I think my point is that as life happens, the good things and bad things alike, give us a feeling that we’re alive.  Too often we realize that times were good only when we reflect on those times instead of recognizing them as they happen.  So I’m going to take my next 15ish months and enjoy as many of those days as I can before the experience passes me by without appreciating its uniqueness.  Try to realize that each struggle in life still makes memories of things you’ve learned and understood.  Things that few other people can ever truly understand…

Shea Conference, etc (again)

Communication Experts

Jordan teaching other volunteers about starting vegetable gardens and tree nurseries

A much better version of the hammock made entirely with water sachets. Not my invention

Another Volunteer shows us how to make our own cheese

back in Ghana eating some good ol egg sammies

folding papers one sheet at a time

Being silly before the togo dance party

The nicest couple of people (and their family) we've met in a long time. They're from Denmark and they stopped down to see what real village life is like. I got a chance to be a tour guide again :)

3 lovely ladies

2 pretty ladies and some other guy

ahhh
— with Sarah Panzer Wein.

We get to see the Italian circus in Accra

We get to see the Italian circus in Accra

We stop in Togo on the way back from Benin to eat lunch. Nice view!

Projects and fun

The frame for my first attempt at a rabbit

Sarah is always a great helper

— with Sarah Panzer Wein.

hutch

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I get to build a rabbit hutch with the rabbit group in Kulfuo. Not quite finished yet.

A little more completed

I also get a chance to build a solar food drier. It also is very efficient in drying moringa leaves. Basically just a 2X4 frame with window screen on one side to allow good ventilation.

This is what happens when the giant pan of water on your head gets out of control.

Our eggs, fried cheese, ham, english muffin, and moringa breakfast!!!

A really weird...mushroom?

Me and Issah haul in a giant stick to continue our tree nursery shade building

I play tug of war with Kachifa. Obviously she's a strong one :)

Pumpernickle bread, salmon, cucumber, laughing cow, and other stuff. It was interesting, but tasty

Improvisation when the regulator for our propane isn't perfect.

Swearing In Dance

Finally figured out how to upload this. It is from the swearing in ceremony in August.

Issah digs a hole for the doorway.

The tough guys pose to show our buffness.

We got caught in a sandstorm. Mix that with a little (a lot) of sweat and it's not a pretty picture.







Some helpers help us move bags with soil for tree seedlings




















We line them up in groups of 100.


















Some of the crew filling bags with soil and some cow manure fertilizer.













Sarah Panzer Wein transplants some moringa seedling inside the fence. In a few years, these moringa should be strong enough to act as a live fence and they gardeners can use the chain link in a new place and leave long lasting fruit trees in the current location.
























The tree nursery so far...about 1300 trees. About 2500 to go.