I might do a few more blogs talking about adjusting to real world, which will probably be harder than adjusting to here, but this will be my last entry from Ghana.

Last week our COS conference was extremely fun. We’re the only group left that came in with under 70 and our group got really close after two years together. The conference was about reintegration into the States and all the paperwork that we have to do so it shouldn’t have been too exciting but it flew by. We did “Fufu Awards” between each section (ex. Most likely to bring Kente clothe to Broadway-me, Most likely to require a nap while walking to his car-our boss). 97% weren’t politically correct enough to quote here but they were hilarious.

The resort was gorgeous (Will Smith and lots of other celebs have stayed there), the food was so good, and the company was perfect. The last day the environment volunteers gave out a cutlass award to each of the 3 sectors to signify hard work and accomplishments. Hannah Frank won Health and Water Sanitation, Sam Frankel won Environment, and in a favorite moment of PC I got the cutlass for Small Enterprise Development. Kris Laurie, one of my closest friends during training, gave the speech. The level of respect that I hold him in really added to the meaning of what was said.

20 of us headed to the remote beach for the weekend to delay our goodbyes. A good amount have even came all the way to Accra to see Marcus and I off. We have a week full of paperwork, medical stuff, and last minute arrangements until we fly out Thursday night for Munich and Oktoberfest! From there we are going to Fussen in the Alps, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris. I should be home October 10th.

Leaving America was hard because 2 years seemed so long. Leaving Kpetoe was rough because I’ll probably never see most of these guys again. Despite that it couldn’t have gone much better.

It was our Kente Festival this weekend so everyone was around and the town was crowded. Lots of PCVs and even the Country Director came. So basically all my Kpetoe friends were there, most my closest PC friends were there, and there was a huge festival going on. I got to say individual goodbyes to Michael, Bright, Joshua, Lawrence, Mr. Agba and Suzzy. It wasn’t easy but the fact that the last 2 years have been a blast really helped.

Tomorrow I leave Ho and our whole group that came in 2008 gets together for our Close of Service conference. 34 of our original 42 will be there and 2 of those missing will finish their service but can’t make it. We are a great group with lots of personality so it will be a fun few days together.

My PC Boss

Mukaila and me. He's the big man in town that's always been there for me

Going into our newly opened visitors' centre!

All Powdered

Beza, Julie, Steve, and Chrissa came.Ceremonies here are not exactly fun so this really meant a ton to me

The traditional rulers of the Agotime Area

Don't mess w/the Queen Mothers

My boss from PC even gave a speech

Mr. Agba, who calls me his son, powdering me as part of the ceremon

The entire Agotime Tourism Management Team

All the weavers of the shed. One of my favorite pictures because thses are the guys who I spent the most time with.

(Big Sister will add the pictures later that would take me hours)

Yesterday was one significant day for me. We opened the visitors’ centre with a big ceremony. This centre was the end product of all of our work. Basically everyone I’ve worked with over the last 2 years was there as well as some big men and women (including a member of Parliament, our District Chief Executive, and all the chiefs and queen mothers) and the place looked great. When they were introducing the Tourism management team I was called last and then pulled aside to get dressed to become a master kente weaver. We’re mostly certain I’m the first Caucasian one ever.

Mr. Agba, who has taken me out for 100s of Guinness’ and calls me his son, actually performed the ritual which included getting powdered. Julie wouldn’t have missed it even if I begged her probably and Steve, also from our PC group, came and took great pictures. My replacement and even my PC boss came. Having these friends there with all my site buds was all I could ask for.

Here’s a summary my boss had me write up:

My apprenticeship lasted around 18 months. For the great price of 30 Cedi ($20) and a bottle of booze I purchased the services of 2 master weavers, Bright and Joshua. Now they are best friends. They taught me everything from buying threads, setting the warp, spinning the threads, threading the pulleys, and the actual weaving. Who knows how many hours they spend fixing my mistakes.

My first pattern was a plain warp weave meaning just the background showed through. My second pattern was a plain weft weave meaning just the colors in the shuttle showed through. From there we continued to increase the difficulty. I excelled at motifs and tricky patterns earning the nickname of “the designer” but am definitely still extremely lacking in the speed department. Currently I can do one women’s strip in a day. When I told them I wanted to be the first white person to weave a patterned men’s cloth they probably doubted it but they let me try it. They told me if I finished it’d I’d could be a master weaver. I know it took a lot of their time but I never could have finished without their help.

A master weaver can see about any pattern and know how to do it completely. They are also allowed to take on an apprentice.

It shows that I’m pretty proud but many titles given are honorary, I actually earned this.

Today when I was weaving it was all congratulations from the guys. The oldest weaver in the shed came up to me and gave me a real hug, unheard of here, and told me tons of way too nice of things. Then he gave me a strip with one of my favorite traditional patterns. He said he didn’t have much but he wanted to give me this. How am I supposed to say bye to these guys?

This post could go on for days so I best stop it here with 2 good articles about Technology and how it’s changing Peace Corps and Readjusting back into life in the States after an experience like Peace Corps.

The picture of us from Obama actually made the NPR website too.

Cute kid waiting for us to start painting that day

PC Logo that took me quite a long time.

Showing the kid where the shirt is from.

Last weekend the World Map Project was lots of fun. I basically spent most of my time helping with the grids and then painting the Peace Corps logo but it’s done now. Jake and I decided that the World Map Project is cool but the Midwest Map Project would be even better and want to get that started. He's from Wisconsin. On the way to and from the site of the project I stayed in our bunk house in Kumasi with Marcus (who’s going to Europe with me) and Mikey who was my roomie through training. With all the new PCVs sometimes it’s just nice to hang out with people you really know.

Today I gave my last kente tour. It’s Chrissa’s site now but Marian of Alan & Marian (our couple that has done PC a few times) had most of her 1965-67 Peace Corps Morocco group visiting. This called for the veteran tour guide. Showing them around was lots of fun because they had tons of questions and really took their time appreciating the weaving (and spent a ton). Talking to them about their PC experience verses ours was very interesting. I was texting and calling in the tro to coordinate things and they made 1 call home over 2 years. At the same time they said that the sanitary, food, and infrastructure situations here are worse than they were in Morocco then. The tro we were using did get stuck in a rut but it was right by the welders that helped me with the basketball court so all worked out.

The small world connections keep coming my way as one of the ladies is a good friend from high school, Katie Guerriero’s aunt. It was crazy to talk to someone who knows Katie even better than I do while being in Africa.

The best part of the day was easily seeing all the weavers, especially Bright and Joshua, and above all Michael, my neighbor boy. He’d been constantly asking Chrissa when I’d be coming back. I’ll only get to see him a few more times so I gave them my contact stuff in the States.

The rest of my service will be so different. I will always be with at least 1 other American and most the time I can walk to an internet café. So far it’s been a complete blast but I do miss my alone time and Kpetoe.

The new group had their swearing in ceremony which was followed by a large gathering of new and current volunteers. This was the last time I’ll see anyone outside of the group I came with probably. I remember being the new volunteer so well and now we’re the ones going home. All my journals from my 1st year were handwritten causing me to type them so I don’t have to drag the notebook across Europe. I can’t believe how much my thoughts have changed. At the same time the things that have remained the same (especially the support from home and friends here) say equally as much if not more.

After Swearing In, I had a meeting down on Keta Lagoon. We took the most disgusting, sinking, and fun canoe ride of my life after a great meeting. The years of rowing probably kept us from completely tipping and the other canoe definitely had more issues. Now I’m at Julie’s playing catch up from 2 years with limited internet and commuting out to Kpetoe to show friends around, weave, or hang out with my buds there.

My replacement has moved into the bungalow and has started to make it much more feminine; I don’t plan on going in it again since it’d be so weird but the change is definitely for the better. It’s very hard to let go of the project but it’s in good hands and will continue to grow. Our ecotourism project even made national news with like a 5 minutes segment. I still have like 6 full days of weaving and master weaver ceremony along with Kente Festival in Kpetoe before I leave.

This weekend I head to the middle of the country to paint a world map on the side of a school at a friend’s site. It’s a very popular PC project that I haven’t done yet so I’m excited. It’s very valuable to show the kids where Ghana is and how it fits into the world. “Oh, Ghana is very small small” is a popular 1st response.

Being around so many PCVs lately hopefully will help get my social skills back. I even went on a date this week which was really fun. 29 days left in Ghana.

Packing doesn’t sound like fun so I continue to put that off. Instead I’ve been devoting most of my time to weaving. My best friends are in the 2 looms next to me so it’s what I want to do. I’ve almost finished 2 strips on the 11 for the women’s cloth I’m weaving for a PCV friend. She came and picked out the pattern and colors which is cool because I get to learn new techniques and very uncool because of the colors. My men’s cloth was blue, black, grey, and white. That’s a men’s cloth for sure. Cynthia’s women’s cloth is pink, purple, blue, white, and cream. I have to make it very clear to visitors that I did not have any say in the colors.

I’m finally to a point were I’m getting decent at weaving. Almost any pattern is doable and my speed is getting up there. In a day I can weave a high quality tough pattern strip. It took me 2 years to get to here and now I’m leaving which is frustrating.

I’ll move out of the bungalow on Wednesday and have meetings for the rest of the week then I’ll be mostly staying with Julie in Ho. I’ll have a lot more internet access and more importantly time to spend with Julie. She and I are pretty opposite but as the only PCVs remotely close to each other we’ve become extremely close, like other PCVs mock us about it. I know I wouldn’t have made it without her and I’m glad my last month here will be with her. With our other 2 best friends Alison and Andrea back in Canada and Tennessee (both locations almost too easy to mock) already it’s starting to feel like it’s time to get going.

1st strip of Cynthia's pattern

Chessboard and bag I made for another PCV outta the leftovers of my men's cloth.

Haven't posted random pictures of the kids on the neighborhood lately....

We had Fafa act like she used to when she saw me.

That's more like it

Grand Valley State University Colors

It's HUGE. Taller than me (6'3") and twice as long.

Joshua, Bright, and I. The best master weavers ever and soon to be perhaps the only Caucasian kente master weaver in the world.

Tuesday at 11:11 I finished my men’s cloth! 19 double strips (38 regular) make this massive cloth up. It took me about 5 months but with lots of travel in there too (Bright could do it in less than 1.5). When I started I was doing 3 squares a day and on my 2nd to last day I did 27 (779 in entire cloth). I’m still slow but the weavers were even more excited about it being done than I was. They all tried it on and we took lots of pictures. Goodbye entire group shot is planned for early next week.

The guys have had even more to be happy about as we are having the best month any of them can remember. As of yesterday we have sold GH 1,456 from 117 guests…117!! Both are easily new records. I couldn’t have asked for a better showing on my last full month here. With the guidebooks, brochures, signboards, website, and such more people are giving us a try. The guys weave so well, are laid back and the prices are low so once people come they tell their friends. You would think with all the visitors I’d be getting my social skills back but they are still far from where they need to be for home.

Now I’m weaving a pattern that uses 4 shuttles (5 really) so I’m slow again. My men’s cloth was 2 shuttles (really 3). I still might try to weave a women’s cloth which is ¼ the size of a men’s cloth.

This morning I gave my neighbor girl Wonder some Jello. She kept in in her mouth for like 10 minutes and still isn't sure about it.

Oldest weaver in the shed goofing around.

Foster and Lawrence with me. Lawrence does all my orders for the German embassy (my commission is 2 Guinness) and is the happiest guy in the shed. Many Ghanaians like to look serious in the pictures and we made fun of him for it and I promised I'd post it.

The walls of my house are now empty; less than 20 days left in it. I’ve been staying so busy that all I do there now is sleep. This week after giving a presentation for the new group 2 of them came to do a “Job Shadow” of me. The basketball, weaving, chess, darts, walking to Togo, palm wine, cloths shopping at market, and good eats might not have added up to a good job shadow but we definitely had a great time. It’s interesting how coming just 2 years later will completely change their PC experience.

I have a PO Box because when we got here internet was 45 minutes to open Yahoo. Now if I wasn’t leaving in less than 2 months I’d get a wireless modem. Roads are paved, power seems to stay on longer though water still goes out a lot. PC will also be doubling its number of volunteers within 2 years. Of the 70+ in the new group 28 are coming to my region, Volta. We have 6 in my group here. For a long time Julie was the only PCV within 3 hours of me. The increased net will allow for even more cultural exchange and that along all the other improvements and closer neighbors will make for happier volunteers. Happy volunteers do better work. I love how PC adjusts to progress rather than try to stay the same. Being a PCV is hard enough; they deserve every added comfort available. I’m excited to hear how these guys do.

1.5 strips left of my men’s cloth since I’ve been hosting and coaching a lot lately. We had a big meeting at the visitors’ centre with all the weavers and the paramount chief and talked about the future of it. The guys know I’m leaving and have been incredibly nice. They decided I get made a master weaver on August 30 at the opening ceremony of the Kente Festival! I have to have my cloth finished to become one so they’ve been helping any way they can. Bright takes my weight back and Lawrence will pick each string to make sure there are no knots in the warp whenever I’m gone. Both processes take me 30 minutes. I love these guys.

During basketball warm-ups Monday I was the proudest I’ve been here. We looked just plain sharp doing layups. Smooth, agile, and having fun. I should have taken before and after video. The guys still aren’t great but they’re getting good. I love that my starting 5 is Courage, Wisdom, Fiesta, James, and David with Wizzy as 6th man.

The new nets mom sent me even outlasted the rims as I had to take them down and weld them yet again. One completely snapped; they get used a lot. This time we added some extra support and so far so good. Wednesday was probably my last practice with all the guys there so to end it we did 2 on 2 with me and the 3 best. I showed my age in the end, spraining my ankle and having to stop. I’ve been limping to my loom and back since.

The huge guidebook to Ghana, Bradt, who is easily the most important aspect to any tourism sight, emailed me and said that Julie and I will be getting free copies of the newest edition for our help. That along with all the praise from the new group and my village has me pretty proud of what we’ve done here.

Marcus and I got September 16th as our official Close of Service date. We have to be out of our houses by August 12th for our replacements so we get just over a month of homelessness to finish up our service which should be kinda fun. That gives us like a month left living in our villages. That's like no time at all and it's really hitting me how close I am to leaving.

My replacement Chrissa coming is when it really hit me how much I've put into this project. Like people always say give it everything you got; well for 2 years we have and we've made lots of progress. It's weird to be showing someone else around and I'm very protective of it. Luckily, I really think Chrissa will do great things and will be a great change of pace for the guys. Working with a woman will be such a good thing for them. When she told some of my weavers she would be replacing me asked "Are you sure...?" She seems really excited about the project, ready to get to work, and has lots of good ideas.

Other great news is that there will be 2 PCVs in my village this next group. Brian is an environment volunteer but more importantly to me used to play basketball and can't wait to take over coaching. He'll also be able to maintain the court which was a huge worry to me. It looks like I'll be leaving things in good hands.

4.5 strips left of my men's cloth!

This might look incredibly slow, and for a master weaver it is but for a kid from Michigan it's pretty good. Each zig zag section takes me like 25 minutes now; when I started it took almost an hour so I may be slow but I'm improving.

These sections only take me a few minutes now

Friday night the Blackstars played against Uruguay in the World Cup Quarter Finals. If they won they would have been the most successful African team ever. They should have but ended up losing in a shootout after missing a penalty kick in overtime. A group of us headed down to Accra for the match. It was INSANE. BBC said it was like a carnival atmosphere. Big screens all over, everyone sporting Blackstars apparel and businesses closed down or made it possible to watch the match. It was easily the best vibe I’ve ever felt for a sporting event. I’ve never wanted a team to win as badly as I wanted them to. After the loss, everyone was just quiet and semi depressed. The next day Accra was still pretty empty. Some of us are still recovering from the lose.

Other than that lots of weaving and guests. I’m down to 6 strips left of my men’s cloth but only have a little over a month left in my house so it’ll be tight. My replacement, Chrissa, comes for site visit on Wednesday so that’s exciting. Marcus and I are getting our plans for our trip home together which is exciting. It’s bittersweet though because right now we have a lot of fun. We’re comfortable here, have great friends, and lots of freedom. This weekend a group of us went to a great beach appropriately called “the Hideout.” It took almost a day to get there but so beautiful and worth it.

Video after we qualified for the next round..after a loss.

Trevius Jones, the TCU o-lineman and me

Weaving, it's what I do

The Hideout

Awesome bridge you have to cross

USA vs Ghana party in the weaving centre

My new turbo fan and my old one in the background (without the duct tape and 2 spoons it had that used to hold it up)

After Ghana LOST to Germany 1-0 Wednesday the entire country went into a crazy party. The streets of Ho were absolutely nuts. Thanks to an Australian upset, Ghana made it to the knockout rounds of World Cup to play against no other than the USA. Lots of my excitement was lost on the fact that everyone was so happy after a loss. One of our players was running around the field with a Ghanaian flag and the Germans, who won the game and group, just walked off the field. I’m still not used to that aspect of the World Cup.

The buildup to yesterday’s game against the US was huge. Everyone was telling me how much they were going to “score us.” They kept saying how they beat us in 2006 and they’ll do it again. I pointed out that the 2 finalists from 2006 had already been eliminated but that didn’t change the amount of taunting. Actually even now I’m still not sure who I was really cheering for. I mean Ghana got me hooked on football and I’ve seen the Blackstars play 30 times more than the US but still US is home. It was definitely a fun night with the weavers watching on a tiny tv. Now I know I’ll be pulling 100% for the Blackstars again on Friday. Last night after the game, however, I played it safe and came straight home as the street in my village was packed. It’s a great atmosphere but dangerous. Up in a northern region there were a few fatalities; I love football but not that much!

GO BLACKSTARS GO!

The weather has been wonderfully cool or at least for Ghana. This morning I thought it was cool and it was 83. I’m not sure if it’s the wetter and cooler weather or what but lots of my stuff is breaking. My pipes have a leak so I have to turn off the water when I’m not using it. Right now, however, that doesn’t matter since there is no water. My fan finally gave up after a 4 month battle but that’s fine since it’s been so nice out. My surge protector started making noises and stopped working but that’s alright since I don’t need it if I don’t have a fan. It all works out.

The newly arrived 70+ PCTs just got their site assignments. My replacement is named Chrissa. I haven’t met her yet but I hear she’s from Nebraska so she must be cool. I think having a girl will really be a good change of pace for Kpetoe after almost 5 years of guy PCVs. Hopefully she can pick up where I leave it and take it even further. It’s weird to think that someone else will basically take over the last 2 years of my life. We’ll overlap some so I can teach her the bit I’ve learned but then I’ll hopefully leave Ghana in September.

Thanks to having an Ipod again I’ve been putting more hours in my loom lately than ever, setting a PR for weaving twice within the last week. 21 squares on Thursday and then 24 yesterday; my previous record was 13. I have over 10 double strips out of the 19 I need for my men’s cloth. I wasn’t even able to get out to the basketball court for 2 weeks due to traveling, weaving, World Cup, and training for a regatta in October.

When I did finally get out there it really was astonishing. I was expecting it to be empty and I’d have to go round up the kids. I ride up to the court to find a full game going on with plenty of kids waiting for next! They stopped the game to welcome me and ask where I’ve been and then Wisdom drained 2 middle range jumpers when they started back up. Wisdom is the hardest worker of the lot, not the best athlete by a long shot but he practices his shooting all the time. He’s easily got the best jumper inside the arc and it’s something else to see his confidence rise. Seeing that the court is still being heavily used even if I’m not pushing it was really gratifying.

World Cup matches haven’t really went my teams’ ways so far but tomorrow that could all change. Go Blackstars and USA! Julie comes back from America tomorrow too so I get my closest neighbor back! It’ll be great to have someone consistent to talk to again.

World Cup has totally changed the daily life here. School was canceled to watch the opening match and any time an African team plays. Every house that has a tv has it turned to the match with the constant vuvuzeela (horn) noise becoming part of your day. Normally there are a lot of Ghanaian flags on houses and cars but this week it has been insane. Some cabs can barely see due to 7 flags on their cars. We set up a tv in the weaving centre so we can still get some work done.

I was actually in Togo and Benin for some of the matches but they were still extremely interested since all of Africa is cheering for any African team. So far Ghana is the only one to win but Ivory Coast plays this afternoon. Ghana’s win was huge and puts them in great position to advance.

Togo and Benin are both Francophone countries so communication was hard but the food was absolutely amazing. Peace Corps Volunteers there should weight more than here in Ghana but Ghana is a little better off financially. Crossing African borders is a painful yet humorous process. They wouldn’t believe that Sinae was American because she’s of Korean decent and they all wanted bribes. Luckily we knew the prices and are well traveled. I also forgot my Yellow Fever card after making sure to tell everyone else to bring theirs. I sure as heck wasn't getting a shot in the hut they were giving them so I just acted like I didn't speak english or french and repeated. "Yellow card?" "Yellow card" and walked on by despite them yelling after me.

Stilt village in Benin. So big..

Michael, and if you look hard his girlfriend struggling in the background; great pic!

My great Dutch friends left on Saturday. Since February we’ve been having good times. While I will be visiting them in Holland on the way home (3.5 months!) it was still sad to see them leave. The day that they were to leave they decided to climb the mountain that dominates the horizon around Ho. I had never done it so Marcus, who was visiting, and I went with them. A light rain made it a rather dangerous climb and we even had to climb a HUGE tree upside down because it had fallen and blocked the only way but it was so worth it.

That’s close friends Julie, Andrea, and Kristine all leaving within a month. Luckily I’m going to Togo and Benin with Cynthia, Sinae, Rachel and Lindsey tomorrow for a week so I won’t get too down. The weather has been amazing lately too so I hope it holds for our trip. Rainy season is marvelous; like, I don’t sweat 24/7. It looks like that was my last dry season and I can’t say that I’ll miss it.

Summer’s always fly by, even here, so I’m trying to get as much work done ahead of time as I can. I made our new brochure and sent it in for revisions this week. Compared to my 1st brochure this one looks great (not saying much). You can really see the progress I’ve made in Photoshop; not exactly a skill I thought I’d develop in PC. May also set an all time record for sales and guests with GH 1,202 ($850) and 75 respectively! Lots of those guests came from the basketball tournament but they still count, just not sustainable. We’ve also been setting up arrangements to deal with the overlap of the new volunteer and myself. My top weavers have been so busy with orders that I have Guinness stocked up in the fridge (the commission the guys give me for each cloth I sell) so we’re all pretty happy here. I even got an Ipod from the Hubbells which will make my weaving, running, and traveling 100xs better! Thanks guys! World Cup on Friday too, GO BLACKSTARS GO! USA!!

(At a BBQ at the Canadian Embassy)

Cute girl as leaving: So maybe I’ll see you in Grand Rapids sometime.

Me: Yes please.

The PCVs I was with got a good laugh outta that but I need to get back into the social life…

Kente made for an Apple Laptop. We had an appleoff between Bright Joshua and me to see who got to do it. My apple took second to Joshua's shown above.

Old Brochure

New Brochure

The Thank You postcard before African Printers got ahold of it.

They announced the winner of the Barclay’s best places to watch a match competition and we didn’t win but top 10 out of 5,000 isn’t bad. Entries came from 190 countries. I asked if they could get us a banner or something to hang up in the TV hut saying we were top 10; they probably won’t but it’d be amusing if they did.

Last week we had a group of students come from Texas Christian University. They were polite as can be and bought lots, both favorites. Each weaver in the centre took one of the students and had them weave on their loom for like an hour, teaching them the basics. Bright said since I’m a full weaver now so I had to take one too. Enter Trevius Jones, an offensive guard for the #7 ranked TCU Horned Frogs. He was far too big for my loom so I took him to our biggest loom and started teaching. We were the only group without a language barrier and he caught on really fast so I actually had him doing 4 shuttles at once by the end. He didn’t weave as much as everyone else did but he did much harder designs with better quality. Tons of strings were broken from his pure power weaving technique but the weavers loved it.

He was hilarious, polite, and modest and therefore now I’m a Horned Frog fan. I needed a DI team anyways. His talking about missing Mexican food after a week without it has had me craving it since. The pictures from his fancy camera should be pretty cool; he’ll send them to me soon. Topping it all off he sent me an email saying I have TCU tickets when I get back this fall. The weavers made tons of money and I got to meet an awesome guy, which makes for a good day.

With less than 4 months left I’ve started to travel to the places I need to get to. Until now I’ve traveled lots less than most PCVs. The basketball guys won’t always have a coach 6 days a week but they’re catching on and we have some definite leaders emerging. Finishing my men’s cloth will be very hard as I barely wove last week and the next 2 I’ll be going to Accra and then Togo and Benin for a week. I’m pumped for Togo and Benin since my 1st planned trip there got canceled due to a hippo attack. Last week I traveled via ferry and that was the first time I’d been on a boat in almost 2 years; a mortal sin for a rower.

Slave Defense Wall at Adam's site. The villagers built concentric circles around the entire village to prevent slavers from capturing villagers.

1st Boat ride in a while!

End of a practice.

Seriously awesome links

Our village website has just been published thanks to the hard working students of Dr. Pope's class at Grand Valley State University.

Check it out at:

www.visitkpetoe.com

It's a work in progress so feedback is needed.

VERY COOL

My village was just picked as a finalist for the top 10 places to watch Premiere League Football in the WORLD. I submitted a picture, video, and text and if I win I get a round trip to an Arsenal game!!! I've at least won a team shirt.

Second from bottom on the list:

http://www.barclaysfootball.com/finalists/

The Champs

End of practice this week

Saying bye to Julie and Andrea on consecutive days sucked. My cell phone will be pretty quiet and my social life at a standstill with them gone. Luckily I have basketball and weaving to keep me occupied.

I really need to get on my weaving because it’s almost official that I’ll be leaving Ghana right after our Close of Service Conference in September that is supposed to take place 3 months before you leave. This means I won’t miss the World Series or GVSU in Bama and I can bike and row before it snows. This also means I’ll need to get traveling, sort lots out and get a job, anyone hiring?

Basketball has started to take over my days but it’s been something else. This week we officially started the AgoSec basketball team. Sometimes we have girl’s practice in the morning and guys practice in the evening since it’s too hot to play during the day. The guys and I have really connected but if anyone wanted to have a great reality TV show they should have people coach a team of 13 year olds of the opposite sex with a language barrier in a sport they’ve never played. My best players for each team respectably are named Courage and Charity which I think is awesome.

Maintenance on the court is still almost a daily occurrence but its holding steady. The nets are long gone and I’ve had to take down and weld each rim as well as add a metal plate for reinforcement. I think that will keep them solid for a while and Ma is looking for heavy duty nets to mail me. The court being used this much is a good thing so I’m definitely not complaining. Last night after finishing reinforcing them I stayed and shot for a bit alone even though it was dark. So many people helped to build this thought and now it’s actually there and I love it.

When I’m not coaching I’m weaving and am now on my 7th double strip for my men’s cloth. Ipod is in the mail from Meg Hub which will really help me be able to weave longer.

We got our kente signboards placed throughout the region and so far I’ve had 4 texts about how great they look. Now we just got to get that visitors’ centre decked out and opened.

Basketball has been quite a hit. The kids even asked if we could move playing up a half hour to be able to play more. For now a group of 10-25 guys informally get together everyday from 4:30 until dark. It seems there’s always some form of maintenance to do. I haven’t started an Agotime Secondary School team yet cause I’ve been gone lots and am still playing catch-up but I should next week or so. Yesterday I finally convinced some girls to come onto the court and shoot. It was just for a few minutes but you gotta start somewhere.

Of the regulars some leaders and standouts have already emerged. Richard is easily the most responsible of the group, Courage and Christoph are probably the best, and Alan is a brat. The progress over just a few weeks is insane (Granted lay-ups are anything but a sure thing). We almost looked sharp warming up one day. Their defense however is still exactly how they play defense in football. 2 guys without much pressure on the ball, 2 on the nearest 2, 1 deep and they just float and rotated around. It sounds like a decent zone but it’s not at all.

The visitors’ centre is basically done and looks great, complete with a signboard. We’ve had some major issues with placing the signboards in other districts. Actually we’ve had lots of issues lately. With my service coming towards the home stretch I’ve been stepping back more and more and honestly I’ve been kinda disappointed in how poorly the governance board has performed. I gotta get it through to them that it’s not my project, it’s theirs and that I won’t always be there.

Today I have a big meeting with my boss and counterparts to decide for good if I get replaced or not. I’m really not sure how it will go. There’s still lots of work to do and I think it’s one of the best sites in PC but lots of villages want PCVs. Tomorrow we have a meeting to sort out the issues on the governance board with the paramount chief. It should be pretty interesting.

This week my 2 closest friends (location and level) leave. Julie is going home for a while for a wedding and Andrea is going home for good. The 3 of us have been a constant over the last year and it will definitely take some adjusting to life without them. They’re the only ones that I saw consistently enough to be up to date on what’s going on in Kpetoe. You rely a lot more on a lot fewer people here. I plan on weaving an excessive amount until Julie gets back.

Here's the link to Andrea's great fall during para sailing that Julie so kindly posted for the world to see.

http://vimeo.com/11440320

The last 2 weeks have probably been the busiest and most fun of PC. With the All Volunteer Conference being so close to Julie and me we planned events on either side of it. The weekend before 14 of us went down to the ocean. A storm rolled in late afternoon, so cool. 3 of the guys stayed out in the huge waves; I stayed in the water but not quite as deep since I swim like a rock.

126 volunteers went to one of the best hotels in the region for conference. AC, wireless (1/2 the time), warm water, swimming pool, and good eats. PC ran the conference exceptionally well. We didn’t have too much free time between HIV/AIDs and admin meetings but when we did we took advantage. Thursday night was prom. Julie and I both made Prom Court. Sinae and I were one of the best dressed and the 1st couple to jump into the pool still dressed. Adam Luck is the best DJ in Ghana. Friday night was talent show. I showed some of the kente I’ve woven and some of the acts were just hilarious.

We make animal prints look good.

Rock, Paper, Scissors competition.

Biggest personal news out of the conference is that it looks like I’ll be replaced by another PCV. I had been told that I would not be so had started working accordingly but this is great for my community. Not official, but if I do get replaced due to the change of training schedules there would be an overlap with the new PCV. It looks like I could be headed home in September rather than Nov/Dec since I know I wouldn’t have wanted the old PCV there for my first 3 months. I could move to a large city and take on an admin role but if I’m in Ghana I want to be in Kpetoe. This means leaving all my friends earlier, I have to get my US life in line real quick, and work harder on my men’s cloth. We also got a 40% living allowance increase which tells you how under paid we were but still great news.

We invited everyone out to my site after the conference for a basketball tournament and kente, but figured 20 max. At least 57 PCVs came! We had 9 teams for the tournament (complete with trophy), on a boiling hot day. Since some people had to travel that night we had to play from 10:30-3:30…suicide basically. I swept the court with my phone on my hip so I could give directions but some sweat wrecked it leaving me phone-less on the day that I would need it the most of course. Due to the ugly 9 teams bracket and double elimination my team ended up playing 6 games. By the time we made the championship against a great team that had played 3 we were seriously hurting. Adam Luck and I both had heat strokes and are still recovering but it was still so much fun. All night my legs kept cramping but having so many people seeing my site and what we’ve done was absolutely amazing. When people who are doing amazing things compliment what you’ve done it doesn’t get much better.

My friends at site came through huge to help host everyone. Patricia took off for the weekend so we could use her beautiful home. Since it’s so nice we had our older PCVs stay there and they loved it. Mukaila got the District Assembly Hall for me, Bright got me mattresses, and all my weavers transported them. Andrea, Julie, and Kristine were running around town getting stuff all day. Basically all of my close friends came through huge and allowed people to have a great time. It was the biggest non-PC organized event in our time.

Can Ghana handle these moves?

Great Aunt Ann Acker Athletic Area is finished and being used! Armed with 3 years of technical drawing, a tape measure, chalk, some string, my last roll of duct tape, and some paint brushes and a roller Andrea and I set to painting the court on Friday afternoon.

We got a late start while we were tracking down supplies so the first afternoon we only did 2 perimeter lines. Goats came and ate some of our reference string too but it was worth it to see Andrea chase them away. I did take the first shot on the court that day. It was a pull up jumper from about 15 feet out..Nothing but net, after an afternoon beer.

Saturday we got an early start and by the time Julie joined us we had the perimeter and center circle outlined. Julie, our PC fashion expert, is also the premiere fingernail polisher in Tennessee. With this knowledge we put her to work on the detailed aspects of the midcourt design. All day somehow it stayed cloudy but didn’t rain even though I’m pretty sure it was pouring on 3 sides of us at one point. The clouds let us work all day and we were just able to finish the entire court. We used up every drop of paint but it looks good. I knew we could do it; but I didn’t know we’d actually do it this right.

People were literally watching paint dry, that’s how exciting Kpetoe can be. We were going to go out and celebrate finishing but we ended up asleep by 9.

Having the court done put me in the best mood. Sunday Afternoon I went out to shoot around. In no time there were 6 of us, then 10, then 15, etc. They think I’m the best player in the world so obviously we have a long ways to go when it comes to skills but I got a few more months to coach them up.

I wish all the people who donated towards this idea of mine could see the kids (and adults) playing. I really didn’t think we could ever actually build something this cool but here it is.

“Are you near a computer?”-My sister on the phone with me.

“Beth, my computer is right next to me but the nearest internet is an hour away.”

Hopefully today and tomorrow my friend Andrea and I will be painting the court. I used to paint the badminton court onto the grass in our backyard at home and am pretty good at geometry so it might look decent. Bright and Joshua have offered to help too. The wet season is just starting so it’s been raining almost daily which may slow us down.

The visitors’ centre has it’s tin roof on it now! Their prediction of opening in June may actually be accurate. We also just installed 4 ceiling fans in the weaving centre. Unfortunately they aren’t close enough to hit me when I’m weaving, but Joshua sure likes it. April has been slow tourist wise with only 9 so far but our sales are high. We haven’t put brochures in Ho for a while so we better do that before all the summer volunteers come.

This week I started my 5th strip outta 19 for my men’s cloth. After much research, (“Hey Bright, has a white guy ever wove a real men’s cloth?”) I found that I may be the first Caucasian to weave a patterned men’s cloth. I also gave my longest weaving lesson to Kristine, the Dutch doing research on kente. It ended successfully with a nice section shown below.

Wednesday I took the GRE in Accra. Taking the GRE in a developing nation is probably not a good idea but it’s nice to have it out of the way. Best part was Monday night Maria and I went to ice cream and movie which was both of ours first date in a long time. We gotta start practicing for home.

Things have been busy and will stay that way for about another month. Then I go from meetings, socializing, having construction at 2 sites, and GRE studying to…weaving. I guess I’ll be able to start coaching too but I’m nervous that I won’t have all that much left to do. To top it off Andrea leaves for America in May and Julie will be going home for around a month too. The 3 of us have been inseparable. I hate it when people leave. Right now things are going great though so I shouldn’t complain.

Each year on Easter Weekend Nkawkaw (“incocoa”) hosts a Paragliding Festival; the perfect festival for the type of people who do PC. We got there super early and I ended up being the 1st PCV to go. It was awesome. My pilot was interviewed on BBC and Julie and I got interviewed by a Ghanaian TV Station.

My takeoffSome of my flightMy friend Andrea's takeoff 1 (in her defense the pilot jumped on her back & had all 3 failed takeoffs of tandems)Andrea's successful takeoff. I didn't want to get another crash on video so the camera moves for a second.

I also went to “The Future of Dance” put on by the University of Ghana’s Dance Department. Interpretive dance isn’t really my thing though and I had barely slept the night before so I struggled staying awake. The girls liked it; I liked the set. They had a ramp coming down from a tree.

Lately everything has been breaking on me. Luckily my projects are going very well and I’m doing as much as I can in my time left here or else I might not be so happy. My Ipod, which is probably my most crucial possession next to my laptop and headlamp, fell out of it’s case while I was running and is dead. My ATM card was eaten by the machine when I had a friend try to get money out for me. My 2 favorite shirts and the kente shorts I wove may be spoiled by how trashed they got going up and down the mountain this weekend. The basketball court money finally ran out and I had to ask my parents for money twice in a phone call; a new record even for me.

It shouldn’t take much more to finish paving the court and then my friend Andrea and I will do the dimensions since the kids are on break for 3 weeks. We need the court finished by our All Volunteer Conference in Ho at the end of the month so PCVs can hop over here after for a tournament. The half of the court that is paved has been getting used and is already even a little beat up. At first I was kinda disappointed but another PCV was like that just means it’ll be used and it’s a good project.

The other money is going towards buying the rights for the website that Dr. Pope’s class is developing for my village. I really think that internet and the Bradt Travel Guide are the 2 most powerful advertising tools we could have. I will admit I also got a nice new shirt for PC Prom but I gotta look good.

The visitors’ centre has all the walls basically done. We’ve also had a good amount of big kente orders lately. Things are going very well.

All that's left to be paved of the court.

The visitors' centre yesterday

Visitors' Centre as of this morning with WALLS.

The Court 1/2 paved.

Earlier this week we had some really strange weather. All day it was hazy and extremely humid. Someone told me there was a big sandstorm up in the Sahara causing it. Now it’s back to normal bright and hot but you kinda miss the sun when you have it so much and then lose it.

Lots happening at site but I really haven’t had to do too much besides pay people, make sure things aren’t too crooked and be around if they need me. Basically I’ve been weaving a bunch. The basketball court is over ½ paved and moving fast now that we switched masons. My friends Alan and Marian built a school and they went through 3 masons so Alan says I’m not doing too badly. The water has been out for a vast majority of the time slowing progress. This morning we organized all the 1st years to go to the stream with buckets even. I felt bad but the kids didn’t seem to mind. The changing of masons and lots of extra costs will be cutting the cash really tight but I guess we can do without pimp uniforms.

Rumor has it our All-Volunteer Conference at the end of April is going to be in Ho. 130 PCVs 25k from my site sounds like the perfect time to have our opening ceremony and tournament. Gotta have it done by then. We already have our men’s and women’s captains for the PC teams and my weavers are even getting a team together. I’m tempted to play for the weavers; I’m getting halfway decent at weaving and they need me a little more. But I really like to win so I’ll probably play for Team PC.

The visitor’s centre is moving along very quickly. These builders are from the capital and don’t mess around. We got off to a rocky start when we couldn’t find some of them a place to stay and we weren’t helping unload the trucks when they came. They’re used to working with small communities where everyone knows what’s going on and helps. We have 12,000 people living here and not even all the weavers know what’s being built. That’s my fault along with the board. The paramount chief came up big with an extra room for them to stay at and I asked the guys at our weaving centre to help unload the cement bags. Now things are going smoothly.

The days are flying by and there’s lots of fun stuff coming up. I’ve even been on the same book for over a week now which is unheard of (granted it’s on the Supreme Court and Sandra Day O’Connor doesn’t exactly make for a quick read). Spring is packed with trips, social events, conferences, and unfortunately some work. Summers are very busy for us so it looks like my 230ish days left here will be gone in no time. Got to start thinking about what to do when I get back…well after Europe on the way home that is.

Guy we randomly saw in Accra. I helped build that playground with my entire 8th grade class and we all got those shirts!

We get everything in plastic bags and they litter the ground. People try to make things like purses and such out of them. This is a rain coat made from frozen strawberry yogurt packages. I wanted to get it for my niece's 1st bday but not sure if her parents would let her wear it.

Some of the first pictures of kente weavers taken by missionaries. Just this week I was given a huge Dutch report on kente which is awesome.1912

1908

1907

1906

1888-1895

1865-1868

We’ve made no progress on the basketball court the last few weeks. This is mostly my fault. My primary assignment has been keeping me busy which is great. The people building the visitors’ centre will be coming back Monday to start up again, I have a few orders from the German embassy, and there is a SNV (Dutch) volunteer doing research on kente who I’ve been trying to help out. Kristine stole Bright for like a week to conduct interviews all over the traditional ruling area making my hours of weaving a day very lonely and she’s also doing a supply chain analysis. I’ve gone along on some of the interviews and have even learned some new stuff. She and another volunteer drove Bright and me to the biggest kente market on St. Patrick’s Day. The market is close to my favorite beach in the world too and Bright had never been in the ocean so we had to go. Bright and I needed shorts though so we stopped on the side of the road and I found the only green shorts (Nigera Football) I could. We were off for Guinness on the beach, come on it was St. Patty’s Day. This research stuff is hard.

On the way there we experienced a first for me in Ghana, a radar gun. We got clocked going 72 kph along the coast and apparently the speed limit was 50 kph. Luckily the police here are beyond corrupt and 2 Cedis ($1.33) and a smile from the girls and we were on our way. Bright swimming in the ocean made the whole trip worth it. He swims in a local creek so he can stay afloat but that’s not exactly the ocean; especially here the waves can get awesome. The ripe tide is also intense and very dangerous so we were worried about that and didn’t tell him other things we probably should have such as closing your mouth when waves come and not to open your eyes under salt water. Whoops, sorry Bright. He still had a blast and I could tell the other weavers were jealous when we got back.

There is also another American living in Kpetoe now! Patricia is retired and married to a Ghanaian so she just moved here. Their house is very nice and we’ve met a few times for meals. Between her and Kristine I’ve been socializing more than I ever here in Ghana. I still even get to see Julie and Andrea once in a while too. It’s weird to say the least but very nice.

I haven’t forgotten about the basketball court though. We actually are getting a new mason because we’re so sick of waiting for the old one. Lots of PCVs are waiting for the opening tournament. The kids at the secondary school are too. All this had to wait however because the president of Ghana came to town on Friday to break ground on a new youth employment dealy. It’s been busy but lots of fun. By looks of it I’ll be all over the south of the country the next month so it won’t slow down for a while which will make my time left here fly by even faster. 2.5 strips of the 19 needed for my men’s cloth.

One of the best part about visitors is that they take lots of pictures! Here's a hodge podge of the last 2 weeks.

Katie’s 2 week visit flew by. We covered more of the country than I ever thought she’d want to. It’s great having guests because I probably wouldn’t travel to the tourists sites if they didn’t come (or be able to afford to!). The highlight of the trip had to be Mole National Park. We went to Accra to catch an overnight bus to Tamale (13 hours) then ended up hiring a cab at 4 am to cover the last 4 hours on probably the 2nd worst road I’ve been on here. We made it with one flat tire and our cloths COVERED in dirt. It was so worth it. A monkey stole our sunscreen, warthogs were everywhere, antelope roamed, and we probably got within 30 meters of 2 elephants on our safari. After almost week on the road we made our way back to Accra. There Katie bought me a t-bone steak, took us to the irish pub, and even got us a room at a resort that cost more than a month of our living allowance. It was awesome.

The last month has been the hottest since I got here. Of course that means no power or water (3 days and counting so far this time). The nights are just miserable and my water barrel has a hole in it so my emergency supply is 2 buckets. Michael saved me after my run this morning by giving me one of his family’s buckets to bath with. I really hope water and power come back soon.

The last 6 weeks or so have been my happiest times here. I’m not really sure why; just lots going on and lots to look forward to. Everyday I am just excited about what I’m doing and you can’t beat that. There’s only 8 months left so I gotta get as much done as I can in that time. The basketball court is 1/3 the way paved, don’t ask, but I’m hoping to have it done by the end of the month so we can host a basketball tournament right before hang gliding on Easter weekend. With power out if the sun’s out I’m weaving. Finished my 1st of 19 strips for my men’s cloth this morning!

Togo, the country I live on the border of, just held “elections” and there has been some riots in the capital Lome (2 hours away). Last time lots of Togolese came over to Ghana, thankfully the border guards all know me and still let me run through.

Your lucky week, I let Katie write up the blog so you don't have to read my writing! Here's what she's got to say:

It definitely is a different culture over here. It is a lot more laid back. If something doesn’t get done today there is always tomorrow or next week. However, everyone has been nothing but nice and polite. I seem to be muddling my way through conversations. Most people here know a little English with some actually being pretty fluent. I, on the other hand, know like maybe 1 or 2 words.

Dan didn’t have to focus on too much work this week which was nice since it then gave us a chance to hang out and travel a little bit. We went to market one day and it’s kinda like Shipshewana. Dan is an excellent bargainer and can always talk someone down in price. We bought matching fabric and had party pants made out of them. They are probably some of the ugliest pants ever but we pull them off nicely.

We went into town to watch a football (soccer) match in town this week on the only TV in town. Words cannot describe the experience. First it’s beyond hot and it’s packed with people. The noise, cheering, and chanting made you think you were in a packed stadium at home except it was louder and had more energy. The best word I can come up with is intense. I have never experienced a sporting event like it before. I don’t think everyone there understands the rules or know what is going on but they love their football and to cheer for their teams.

Thursday we went to Wli falls and it was beautiful. It was a nice little hike up to the falls but definitely worth it. The falls were gorgeous and the water was nice and cool. We actually met some Michigan State students at the falls – what a small world! I guess they are here to do an 8 week internship in Accra but get to do a little traveling before they start. I had on an MSU shirt that day and they recognized me. A few of them even knew where Eaton Rapids and Jackson were!

Two PC teachers brought some of their students yesterday to see Dan and his weavers. We spent the day showing them around the weaving center and the Kente products. It is fascinating to watch and see how fast they can weave and the complexity of their patterns. I think I am going to give it a try before I go but am terrified on messing up all of his hard work.

I’m only half way through the trip and have decided that this is the only way that you should travel Africa. There is no way that you would get immersed in the culture, the people, and the experience if you came here for your first time without having a friend to show you the around the “real” Ghana and not just the tourist spots. I think we are getting a healthy balance of both. Hopefully we will be seeing elephants sometime early next week. Wow, this was a lot harder to write that I thought it would be. Definitely have to give Dan credit for writing the blog week in and week out.

Custom made Party Pants!!

Some pictures from the first leg of the construction of the Visitors' Centre. I (Dan)never thought we'd actually get going on this so it's pretty exciting.

This week we're in search of Elephants!!

My new pattern.

Great Aunt Ann Acker Athletic Arena taking form.

Always avoid alliteration at all costs.

How you transport huge poles over a mile....

This week’s been uber stressful but really fun.

Sick of waiting for the school carpenter to cut 6 inches off 2 boards (2 weeks) I rode my bike stopping at every house with workbenches looking for a carpenter. After like an hour I find Clemens; I think it’s really Clemence but Clemens’ a better name. Clemens doesn’t speak English but he has a hand saw, tape measure, screwdriver, and a manual drill with a huge bit (basically ¼ of what I used to carry in just my tool belt at all times). In no time at all we have the backboards cut and the rims on with my Leatherman being on of the most used tools. I miss my tools.

We go to put the backboards on the poles and the school thinks they should have more metal welded on for support, good idea but no way to move the poles. Enter Ghanaian schoolboys. They carried the poles well over a mile each way to a welder. Then we assembled the boards and the visual arts students painted them. This all took 3 long days which sounds long but I really couldn’t be happier with how quickly we got it done. Thursday our mason decided to show up which was perfect timing and we raised the hoops after digging the holes 2 nights before. “Next Monday” they will start laying the concrete.

This would have been enough for a busy week. The NGO that’s building our visitors’ centre came to start the first phase too. I am riding my bike between work sites all week (exciting since my breaks stopped working). This hasn’t gotten off to such a great start with yet another land dispute but we arranged for and the storage of most materials which is a big step. After a day of painful meetings the settled the debate only later to move the site but the new site is great.

Over 30 guests this week too! We are running out of some stuff but the guys are working hard to restock. Katie comes on Sunday and I’ve been getting ready/pumped for that too. The guys know that while she’s here I’ll do some work but would prefer to have it done before or after. I’ve barely traveled this year so a few days away from site will be great.

This week was a nice break from the dreaded Dry Season. It only rained for about 10 seconds on Thursday but the air was a little thinner and cooler. Friday it stayed cool and then it even rained for a few minutes. I walked across town and my shirt wasn’t drenched in sweat; it was great. Dry Season will last for a couple more months so any break is great.

We sold 3 smaller cloths this week which for this time of year is very good. Our biggest ones are Men’s cloths; 19 strips wide and double long strips so roughly 6x11 feet. Instead of saving up for one (anywhere from $200-$400) like I had planned I decided to go big and try to weave my own, perhaps not my wisest choice ever due to my weaving speed. Bright can finish a men’s cloth of the pattern I’m doing in 2 months with 6 day weeks dawn to dusk. I weave 5 days a week for like 2-6 hours and have a few out of town meetings coming up. The guys are taking bets on how long ranging from 2-6 months. If I finish it before I go home (9 months) I’ll be happy.

The international marketing class back home looks like it will really help us out. They are even designing a website for us. This is huge because there is very little information on the net for traveling in Ghana and that’s where everyone goes for everything. This is the type of stuff that I can’t do at all. They said they’ll make it easy to update so I can do that while I’m here and train one of the guys to after I leave. They even planned on an online kente store which is so tempting but I just don’t think we have the product consistency or technology to handle that. Mukaila is one of the few people in town with email and he checks it like once every 3 months.As you can see, summer months are huge and that the little advertising we've done has made a difference just in the time I've been here.

As great as sales are, this is really what matters; the number of people exposed to kente. The tourist community is based on word of mouth here so making sure these visitors have a positive experience is equally important as to actually selling if not more so.

As of this week every piece of the basketball court is at the school. Monday we’re supposed to assemble the backboards and rims and have it paved (they say) by the end of the week. The plan is to have it paved by the time my friend Katie comes and visits for 2 weeks next Sunday. That way she can help me paint it (you’ll be put to work if you visit). We might try to head up to Mole National Park which is our biggest wildlife reserve where we’d surely see elephants, warthogs, and hopefully no snakes. It’s at least 2 days travel each way though so maybe we’ll stay by the coast drinking coconuts on the beach. Enjoy your snow!

That reminds me, check out Ghana’s lone competitor in the Winter Olympics Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, a skier nicknamed the Snow Leopard.

http://www.ghanaskiteam.com/newsite/features/profile

8 strips outta the 20 some I wove of this pattern.

Despite never enjoying it a friend convinced me to do Sunday’s 2nd reading at church on short notice. He gave me a slip of paper with 1st Corinthians 12:31, 13:13 on it. “Wow, I’ll do it if it’s that short.” “Yes, it’s small small.”

I do the whole procession in and it’s been lights out for days so no microphone; both not favorites. I go and read my lines that didn’t make too much sense but lots of the bible is like that to me and was pleased because I didn’t stutter and was audible. I even spoke slower and remembered to say “The word of the Lord” unlike last time. The Eve translation was going on a bit longer than mine I noticed. Things are just longer in Eve right? A lot longer….? Like 10 times longer?

Turns out it was 12:31-13:13, not 12:31, 13:13. Who would think it was just 2 verses? Me.

I read: “Set your hearts, then, on the more important gifts. Best of all, however, is the following way. (skip to 13:13) Meanwhile these three remain: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.”

I skipped 12 verses about Love that are like the most read verses at weddings. You know the whole Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous, it’s eternal stuff. I kinda like my version better.

Projects are moving a little bit again which is a vast improvement over the last few weeks.

The NGO building our visitor’s centre came to Kpetoe for a meeting to approve the land and agree on our signboards and their location. The say by end of the month the signboards will be ready and by end of the year the visitor’s centre will be done. These seem a bit ambitious considering how long it takes me to get things done here but they have a little more push than me hopefully.The big men approving the site for the centre.

After almost a month of searching we got the 6 loads of sand we needed to take the next step on the basketball court.

Hard to see but they are paving the road to market so the entire thing is lined w/dirt, hense the lack of availability of trucks.

Sunday was a huge football day for my teams. It was a great atmosphere but Arsenal got owned by Man U and the Blackstars lost in the championship match of the African Cup of Nations. At least the Blackstars looked good.

“Your lizard looks like a goat.”-Bright about a Motif on the cloth I just finished.

the lizard is red in the middleish.

Warning: over 2 mins long. just skip to the end if you want to see what i'm actually weaving

which one doesn't belong?

A whole lotta nothing lately. I did set a new personal record and wove an entire patterned strip in a day yesterday. Marcus came over for his birthday last weekend and we played some basketball in Ho, went to the beach, and lots of darts.

Hopefully next week will be a little more productive for the basketball court. GO Blackstars GO!

Laughable moment in Ghana:

this has been up for 11 months now

I would kill to have all my power tools here. Not only would it be another hobby to keep me busy but it would make things go a lot faster with the basketball court. It has taken literally 3 days to get the school carpenter to cut a board in half. With the lack of progress on the court I’m glad there have been some steps taken in my primary project.

I work with a new NGO called the Kabor Foundation that works in many fields to fight poverty in Ghana. In November I wrote up a proposal for a tourism customer service workshop for them and didn’t think too much of it. Suzy, the chairwoman, took the proposal around and got it funded and set up the entire workshop. She found me on Thursday and told me I was going to be presenting on Saturday. I didn’t really want to but I figured I could make an opening presentation. Friday I wrote up a good (at least I thought so) presentation with lots of info but figured just do a handout and cover the main points. I show up and find out I am the ONLY presenter. Suzy had 30 people there from the District Assembly and local tourism sites which is very impressive (including 5 of my weavers). My buddy Sylvanos translated most of my presentation and we ended up covering everything I had written down and then came a million questions of very good quality. It took almost 2 hours! People really seemed to get a lot out of it. To top it off Suzy made me the Project Coordinator (like 5th in charge) of the NGO which is a nice resume boaster.

This was probably the most influential thing I’ve helped with for my primary project besides the rubbish bins and my mom’s stationery and I did minimal work for it. It was definitely a nice change of pace from the usual time/payout ratio here.

I’m also getting help from a GVSU international marketing class. We’ve had people from over 30 countries come to Kpetoe now so it’s about as international as you can get. This lets the class work with a real project and above all helps me where I’m the weakest; marketing. Last semester Dr. Pope’s class helped us advertise our Kente Festival and we ended up with our biggest festival yet. They help with brochures, flyers, posters, tour groups, internet references, etc. It’s a good thing for everyone involved.

Without like our top 6 players the Blackstars still snuck out of group play and are in the quarter finals of the African Cup of Nations, go Blackstars go!

My weavers that attended the presentation.

It wasn't much but I think we made some progress and they at least got free drinks outta it.

It was so hot and the kids were bored so obviously it was water gun fight time.

While in America:

“Are you excited to go back to Ghana?”

“I’m excited to go back so I can come back to America again!”-PCV Julie Nguyen

Home was full of family, friends, laughs, supermarkets, hugs, cold weather and delicious food (gained 12 needed pounds). I answered more questions about Ghana and what I’m doing than I thought I knew answers to. It was motivating to see how interested people were.

Transitioning back worried me but within a day I was back into my routines. I’m not saying it was/is easy but it helps that I also got to bring 100 lbs of American goodness (dart board was 10).

Ghanian Moonshine (Akpethesie) wasn’t such a great item to transport. My brother and Joe (basically brother) both did a shot and didn’t feel well. The one I did was bigger and I was fine which makes one wonder about my stomach. Joe bounced back like a champ in a couple hours but my brother ended up going home for the night! Joe made the wisest choice of the night and dumped out the rest.squirt gun fun

My assignment is getting more convoluted yet it’s still calmer here. If everything doesn’t get done today there’s always tomorrow; just be sure to get something done. We aim to break ground on the visitors centre within a month. I’m hoping/praying that the basketball court will be done before. Today I’m taking the dimensions for the backboards to the school carpenter. Put those together with the rims and poles we already have, throw them in the ground, find even more sand, pave and paint it and we’re good to go. Easy right?

Dry season is in full swing (last night it got down to 88). That means bush fires to burn out animals. Therefore power is on and off and cell phone service has been horrid. That normally wouldn’t change my day much but I had to get a message from PC to everyone in my region. I rode my bike all over the district sending out 1 text message at a time if I was lucky. Still it’s great to be back and I think I’m ready. Being nonstop at home reminded me that this laidback lifestyle is pretty sweet. 10 months.

NEWS: The President of Ghana has forbidden all Government workers from watching TV during work hours. This sounds legit but that means they can’t watch the African Cup of Nations going on right now, which is all anyone is doing, especially after the attack on the Togolese team. They are not happy. We set up a radio in the weaving centre and the guys even found an English speaking station for me.

Sorry it's sideways but Desmond is a reader favorite. I had to pick from like 6 good shots of his moves..

The exams at AGOTIME SECONDARY SCHOOL (where the court is being built). Too hot inside the buildings.

Akpeteshie distiller James. Palm wine goes through this twice to become Akpeteshie.

foundation of court filled w/sand

Michael's class only had 1/2 day of school so they came over to play catch.

Lately the Hammonton (I spell it differently each time I think) season has been in full effect. It’s when the winds change and the temperatures do too. After this it gets really hot. Right now the nights are cool and there’s a constant breeze. It sounds refreshing but lots of people, especially PCVs, get sick during it. I’ve been sick for like 2 weeks now but only 1 really bad night and day. That night I had to put on my longsleeve tshirt for the 1st time here and covered up with my lightly used sheet and was still freezing; it wasn’t fun at all. The next day I just stayed in bed, read, and listened to BBC and now am feeling a bit better.

As for the basketball court, our sand man (literally) finally found a new source and got us the needed loads. Now the foundation is filled and it’s a good spot to stop as both the school and I will be going on break and the sand can settle. When I get back we will get the backboards made, install the poles, lay the concrete, and paint the court. That will still probably take a while but overall we’ve moved pretty well even if it doesn’t seem like it to someone in the States.

All the required information for the visitors’ centre will be with my NGO as of Wednesday so hopefully by the time I get back things will be ready to roll on that too. Lots of stuff has been happening in Kpetoe so it’s pretty cool. Topping all of this we no longer have a “tv hut,” we now have a building with walls and a ceiling fan! Next thing you know that internet café that’s been “coming soon” since March will open.

With my trip home this close the last week has gone by so slowly! My friends here have given me presents for my parents and will cover for me on work, yardwork, and bills. I’ll miss them but I think I’ll be so busy catching up with family and friends that the 3 weeks will fly by. My computer lessons with my friends here haven’t quite reached the point where I’ll let them blog for me however, so this will be the last entry until I get back January 8th.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Our first try at the floorplans for the visitors' centre. All those years of Chuck Messengers Architecture class being used.

Poles for the basketball court at the welders.

This is my token cute African kid for the day. Ladies I'll be home in 10 days; I'm building him a court.

Our initial signboard, we'll see how much it changes.

Internet everyday last week was fun but once I found out I was healthy I was ready to get back to site. While I was gone there was absolutely no progress on the basketball court which was disappointing but we’ve made up for it lately. Still doesn’t look like it will be done when I go home but Friday Mukaila and I finally tracked down some poles! The welder did them over the weekend and yesterday Mukaila got them delivered all the way to the school. Now we just need to find some more sand (something my dad says Africa shouldn’t run out of).

I’ve also been getting kente ready to take home and meeting with our tourism group about the plans for the visitors’ centre. We get to design our billboards and pick 6 locations throughout the country to put them. We also got to design the actual visitors’ centre within given dimensions; this is the stuff that I love to do and the guys are excited about it.

I have only been weaving about an hour a day so progress is slow on my latest pattern but we did set a 1 day record with 28 visitors on Saturday. 18 were Ghanaians from Accra and spent more time watching me weave than any of the other guys. I thought they’d be mad but they were amused. Bright and Joshua also decided that it was insane that I had been here for 15 months without having the “meal of the chiefs.”

One night I asked what they did for Christmas since I had only been in my village for like 2 weeks last Christmas and didn’t know anyone. They said go to church and have a special Christmas meal. Worst decision I’ve made in Ghana was asking what that meal was.

Cat. Only men are allowed to eat it the “meal of the chiefs.” They wouldn’t let me go home without trying it. Joshua tracked down one and told me how feisty it was. They were so excited about it all week. Sunday rolls around and they come to my house to take me to where it’s prepared. On the way we did a shot of Akpeteshie to “grow our appetite.” Rule to live by from Danny V: “Anything you need to take a shot before eating can’t be good.”

Akpeteshie is by far the worst thing I’ve ever tasted. It’s Ghanaian Moonshine, double distilled palm wine that tastes like gasoline mixed with tequila that’s “industrial strength alcohol.” Seriously, it’s disgusting but it’s very cheap and gets the job done.

There was plenty of cat to go around especially since I only had 2 pieces. They made fun of me a lot for not eating much. By the time we were done I was late for my tourism meeting (usually I wait hours for them) but no one was mad, they were so proud that I’d finally had cat.

Congrats to Lumen Christi football for their 8th state title!!

Grand Valley is moving towards another national title too so that helps me deal with Arsenal's falling apart of late.

Thanksgiving at the Ambassador’s was very fun. I was the first to arrive at embassy employee’s house of the 3 of us staying there. You might not think much of it but it had Armed Forces Television, hot water, and AC in every room. I watched Home Alone 2 one morning!

Me-What state you from?

Host-Michigan.

Me-What high school did you go to?

Host-You wouldn’t know it because it’s not around anymore but it was St. John’s.

Me-Which combined with St. Mary’s to form Lumen Christi.

Host-…yes

Later that night we figured out that he’s a really good friend with my aunt who is now a nun. If you met Sister you would know why after he found that out he was even nicer to us.

Thanksgiving had awesome food that I have never been more thankful for. It was open bar with actually good drinks too. Before I knew it the Ambassador was mixing my drinks and from there it got fun. I did lose my Adidas sandals that I had worn for over 430 straight days here. My feet have so many blisters from this new pair I’m trying to wear now.

While hear I also sold a lot of kente to other PCVs or Expats that I’ve met. I’m getting to know more and more Expats and they are an extremely interesting bunch. I feel pretty lame compared to most of them but they can’t weave kente so it’s ok.

I’m stuck in Accra for Midservice Medical so I can’t really do too much for the court. I did what I could so they could get some stuff done while I was away but we’ll see. It’s Hammaton Season which means the changing of the winds and I’ve got a cold. This is the first time I’ve been sick in Ghana.

Today I have a meeting with my supervisor about starting work on our visitor’s center! The plan would now be to break ground by February. There are a few steps we have to do until then which should keep me kinda busy when I get back from the states! 17 days!

Happy December!!

The fully blocked foundation. This court ain't going nowhere.

Entire court dug out

Getting the trench dug

The court is moving along nicely. They finished the blocks which will make for a very strong foundation. We are still having some issues locating poles but everything else is going well. Next step is to have the kids fill in the space between the bricks and then comes the laying of the court itself. It’s cool to ride out there and see where the project is each day.

The Trade Fair in Ho last week was pretty nice. Think Jackson County Fair but without elephant ears or a Vainner winning largest sunflower head. I’m not sure how much our district sold, it wasn’t a ton, but we got our name out there a little more. I didn’t do too much work for it but was still in Ho for a little bit of most days. That cut down on my weaving but was still fun.

Meg Hub’s dad sent me a package which was perfectly awesome. I mention this because it also had tons of pictures from when Meg Hub visited me here for the kids. Pictures might not seem like much to us but these kids were going nuts. Singing and dancing and showing everyone nuts. I guess you have to realize that theses are their first picture of themselves and will probably be the only pictures they’ll have of their youth. That’s sad but makes these mean a ton to them.

Wednesday I head down to Accra for Thanksgiving! Last year Maria and I killed the turkey for our group and this year the US ambassador is having some PCVs come to his house for dinner AND we get to stay with embassy employees! A little different than last year. That means super nice house probably which could mean NFL game on satellite. I can’t watch the huge Grand Valley or Lumen Christi games which stinks but watching the Lions would be awesome. I’ll also be purchasing the rims for the court at the mall while I’m there. Then I’ll go back to site on Friday to take care of stuff for the court only to have to come back to Accra on Sunday-Thursday next week for my Mid-Service Medical.

They do a few tests, send us to some dentist, and just check up on us now that we have under a year left. One of my best buds Marcus will be down there with me so it’ll be fun. We’ll probably go to the only movie theatre and to the only sports bar in the country and have internet every day. Does life get any better? Oh it does, it’s almost Christmas Season!!! Christmas is always amazing but this year it means home for 3 weeks!

Taken this very morning, setting african blog posting records. This is Bright's loom set up at the Trade Fair. He stole my seat pad because mine is a lot newer than his, jerk.

I am under orders from some big donors to take LOTS of pictures of the Basketball court being built so here are some:

Bricks for the foundation

Truck dropping one of the loads of sand.

This court is for them and they're glad to help.

Land after clearing

Part of the planning committee

Land before clearing.

The site of the court, directly behind the Secondary School

The court is coming along very nicely, well for Africa. The land was cleared and fairly leveled by the school kids in no time, which was awesome to see them all out there excited about the project. Mukaila wants this to be around for a long time and is making sure things are done correctly. That means right now they have formed bricks that will be the base for the court so that it doesn’t sag and crack. We’ve had 10 truck loads of sand and stones delivered and have a platform made for all the cement work. Things were flying until we ran into our current problem. There are no poles to be found in all of southern Volta region for some reason. Today we’re going to look some more but we have to have the poles before we lay the cement so this could be our first (of many I’m sure) delay.

It’s extremely weird to be on the other side of things. I’ve done construction in the States for like 7 years but started as the grunt and then ended as crew chief, never the guy paying for it but rather building it. If I wanted things to go faster I would just work harder. So far I’ve lifted 2 bags of cement and they yelled at me for doing that. They call me “sir” or “Mister Daniel” and have me look at things and approve them. I don’t like it, give me my 20 ounce Craftsman hammer with straight claw (think I miss my tools much?).

On the weaving side of things today we packed up Bright’s loom and hauled it to Ho for the Volta Region Trade Fair. Not sure how it’ll all turn out but they have a very nice set up at the parade grounds and people are coming from all over. They were just opening the stalls this morning but I thought it was really cool. This week I’ll be splitting time in Ho and Kpetoe. I don’t think I’ll actually be doing too much work in either but it’ll be nice to mix things up a little.

Things are starting to get going on the basketball court. Mukaila has been so clutch. He sets up all the meetings with the artisans and even drives me to see them and when appropriate he negotiates stubbornly all while continuing his big man job at the District Assembly.

The nice thing about working at a school, especially in Ghana, is that the kids are used to doing work. Usually they do work for others but this is so they can get a court so they don't complain a bit. I can only imagine if Lumen asked us to clear ground for a new football field (good luck in playoffs this week!). They cleared the entire area of bush, trees, and weeded it in a day. Today and tomorrow they're leveling the land. Bright and Joshua were almost upset when they found out they wouldn't have to organize the weavers to do daybreak labor. I'll try to get some pictures but I've been running around getting stuff.

I was very impressed with my Barclay's bank. Usually if I go in to get money out they see I'm white, see my name isn't Ghanaian, give me my money, and say "Thanks Thomas" (they don't do middle names much here so they get confused. However when I went in to get more money than I'll make off my living allowance for my 2 years here they didn't just hand it over.

They kept apologizing about having me do my sloppy signature one more time. Then I went and talked to the manager, and he said I wasn't wearing glasses, I showed him I had contacts in. He called Peace Corps. In typical PC manner the first 5 numbers we tried didn't go through. Finally our awesome secretary answered. She verified I should be getting money out and that I was "very tall, white, and had the bushiest hair." I don't think my hair is that bushy.

Plan is to get materials delivered this week and hopefully get going w/the concrete on Monday. This is Africa however so if we do it within 2 weeks I'll be happy. Either way it's great to be moving forward.

Adam Luck's man purse pattern woven by Dan Vainner, watch out Coach.

Aladdin and Jasmine. Actually he wasn't supposed to be Jasmine but his costume was so close it had to be.

Creepy huge statue of Mary on the mountainside at the Grotto.

This is Julie next to the SMALLER statue and that statue is on it's knees.

October was the hardest month I’ve had since February. We were between steps on all our projects and it’s been miserably hot. I thought I needed a vacation so Kevin, PCV, and I were planning on going to the coasts of Togo and Benin and relax for a few days to break out of it.

Nothing here is easy or goes to plan however. It took 3 entire days for me to collect and submit the stuff for my vacation request due to signatures, printing (lack there of), power outages, and emails. After some discrepancy it got approved; we’re ready to go. Not so much. Kevin calls me on Friday and is like “I don’t think I can go man, a hippo bite me.” I thought he was joking; not in Africa.

There was a hippo in his village and everyone was watching it when it started to come towards them. Kevin tripped while people were fleeing and doesn’t really remember much after that. Hippos kill a lot of people here so we are very lucky Kevin is ok but he is pretty shook up (rightfully so). The big bite on his butt required lots of stitches. Boys will be boys and Adam Luck and I call him “Hippobottomous.” Too soon? Anyways, no go to Togo. To make myself feel better I decided to use the money I woulda spent on visas to go to the mall and buy lots of stuff. My entire bill, with lunch, was only 22 Cedi (~$17) not even close to a visa. I’m pretty used to this PC living apparently.

Not going is fine however because as of this morning I have the funding in my account for the basketball court! I got all the official paper work from Washington and was reminded just how many people donated and how fast it filled. The generosity of people back home is enough to break any bad mood.

A few articles have been published on what I’m doing over here. It’s a lot of pressure because I really don’t do much but they are much appreciated. The Global Connections one I submitted a write-up for and was the only one I was aware of before my parents read it. I have no idea who did the Lumen Christi Alum Newsletter one or the Faith Magazine one. Whoever did didn’t miss a beat about my projects and I’m impressed, very. My quotes are pretty cocky but I like that. I’m not some saint and people give me too much credit.

Speaking of Saints, Julie and I visited Amber one day and went to the biggest Catholic Grotto in West Africa which was really creepy/cool. There were all the Stations of the Cross life-size and a statue of Mary that was GINORMOUS. It looks like November will be a much better month than October. And how many people can say that a hippo biting someone's butt prevented their vacation!

My new pattern

The maroon and gold pattern is the hard one that I used to break like 37 strings while doing.

Let’s see this week I wove, worked out, and read…a lot. That’s about it. Really changing the world eh? Highlight of the week was probably the Spam sandwich I had compliments of Mrs. MegHub. It was delicious; which I think means I need to go home.

Still waiting on the transfer for the basketball court money. We did finalize, or at least I think we did, the location for our visitors’ center which took months. We’re hoping to be able to start building the court after I get back from Togo and Benin Nov 8th if we have the money. Hopefully around then the construction manager will come and approve the site for the visitors’ center too. Ideally the court is built by the time I go to the States for the holidays but that’s not very likely. I want to be able to show people who donated the finished product that they funded in like record time.

Togo and Benin should be a nice break though. Kevin and I don’t really have an agenda but they are French colonies so the food is better. We’re gonna stay close to the coast and there’s voodoo villages, who doesn’t love witchdoctors and beaches? I know I do.

My closest PCV neighbor, Julie, works with an NGO and found this as proof of the amazing work and cultural understanding she been able to promote in her time here in ghana. the following is a VACANCY flyer she found this morning that her counterpart typed up. this is how the counterpart views her job:

If not for her hard work there would be nothing crossed off, though she does need to work on their speaking good english.

Friday night in the Under 20 World Cup Final the Ghana Black Satellites (Sr national team is the Black Stars and Women’s team is the Black Starlets) played Brazil. This match was HUGE here; everyone stopped whatever they were doing to watch it. Ghana didn’t play their normal exciting game of quick crosses and athletic deflections, Brazil was in control. Just before half Ghana even lost a man due to a questionable red card and would have to play down one man the rest of the match. They somehow held on for regulation and 30 minutes of OT to force a shootout. Tension in the TV hut was high.

Twice during the first 5 attempts it looked like Ghana had lost. All Brazil had to do was score but our keeper stopped one and a player kicked the ball inches over the net. After 7 shots finally Ghana won and the chaos started. Singing, dancing and chanting while the showed them receiving their medals and then it all moved to the streets. Parading up and down our main street with drums and any noisemaker they could find. In Accra apparently the partying didn’t stop until 4 am. This was the first time an African nation had won any World Cup. Keep your eyes on the Black Stars come South Africa 2010, we’re ready.

Other than that it’s been extremely hot and power has been out a lot. Sunday the entire country didn’t have power. We’ve been trying to find a better location for the visitors centre but have really struggled with that. The current spot is almost 5k out of town and is just ridiculous if you ask me. If we build there it pretty much will be useless so hopefully we can secure better land. Between waiting on that and hoping that PC transfers the funds for the b-ball court I’m lucky we’ve had some fun guests lately and that I have hobbies. It took me a few days to get the hang of it but now my next pattern is coming along nicely. A guy from Accra said I was the “hottest weaver in town” since lots of people stop in to watch a white guy weaving a medium level pattern.

“It may be the strings are not strong.”-Bright from his loom on why my strings kept breaking while I tried a hard technique.

“It’s you.”-Bright after pulling on the strings to test their strength.

Some of the strips of Obama sewn into a cloth.

Yesterday I was typing a write-up and a guy comes up to my window and explains to me that there is a big snake just on the other side of my house. My Eve is horrid but “snake” in any language will get my attention. He was just wearing a pair of flip flops and shorts and was holding 2 big sticks. Apparently one of these lethal armaments was for me. “I don’t think so Tim.” I hate snakes more than the Yankees. I went and spun threads the entire morning so I didn’t have to come home.

I wasn’t in too good of a mode last week and some of it was because I was between patterns and not weaving. I walked into the centre and the oldest weaver (like 70 years w/7 teeth) starts giving me a hard time about how he hasn’t seen me in days. I got the message and started getting set up again. You should see my loom now, it looks like an X-Wing cockpit. I went from 4 shuttles, a set of pulleys, 2 crossbars, 16 bobbins, and 4 colors to 8 shuttles, 2 sets of pulleys, 2 pedals, a weight, 4 crossbars, 32 bobbins, and 8 colors. I understand about 65% of my tools right now but it’ll come.

Joshua and Bright keep pushing harder patterns at me and I love it even if I am incredibly slow again until I get the hang of it. They have shown everyone my Obama cloth including tourists. Joshua woke up at 2 am yesterday morning to finish threading my loom for me so he could teach me some techniques before he leaves for the weekend. Then I go to the thread store to get more shuttles and bobbins and the guy won’t take money from me. He says I work hard for them and that he likes my weaving. I don’t work that hard and my weaving is a work in progress but alright.

Ghana is in the Friday finals of the Under 20 World Cup. The games have all been really close and in the afternoon so we listen to them while we weave and when there’s a goal we go find the nearest TV. Grand Valley, the Tigers, and the Red Sox all lost last week so I need Ghana to win this thing.

Pretty average week at site and it was great. Yesterday I finished my “Obama” cloth which took almost 3 months to do due to travel and my weaving speed. I put in about 5 hours/day in the loom this last week to finish it up. All the guys had bets on when I would finish so I had to make sure Bright or Joshua won. It took over 70,000 passes to make the 12 strips. This cloth is a thicker pattern than most so progress was extremely slow. It was based off a traditional pattern and it’s customary to fire a musket in the air while you’re cutting one of those from your loom. We were in the weaving center so cheers and mock firing of guns (fingers) had to do but it was great. The palm wine guy in town just tapped another tree so we had a calabash each to celebrate. The guys at the thread shop didn’t think I’d be able to do one this hard so I can’t wait to go buy threads for the next level up this week. This one should look pretty sweet, I’m pumped.

On the way back from my morning exploratory bike ride (I’m cutting back on the running so now I go down bush paths on my bike and check out the tiny villages which is really cool) I ran into some Germans here for kente so I showed them around. After lunch they went to leave and a girl gave me her email address and I said, “Oh I’ll email you in case you want more kente.” She laughed and said, “No, that’s in case you ever find yourself in Germany.” Real smooth Dan, real smooth. Maybe it was because this time I didn’t try my German…

When Harry Potter 6 was coming out the kids and I did a HP movie marathon on my front porch. The girls really loved Emma Watson, the girl who plays Hermione, because she was smarter than the boys and better at magic. They think I’m famous cause I met Obama and hang out w/the big men in town so they asked if we could write her. We did and today when I checked my mail I had an autographed picture from Emma in it! The kids are gonna love it when I go back tonight.

some pictures of twister fun!

Really cool sky one night that I tried to capture...not so much

Marathon route

PC hasn’t said a word about it yet but I think the basketball court is fully funded! My mom, the best PCV ever, called me 2 days ago saying the website says it’s funded. AWESOME. They had predicted 6 months to fill one that large but my family and friends did it in 2.5 months, very impressive guys, you rock. We’ll see how long it takes PC to get me the money but hopefully we can get going on this.

Between that and the talk of the visitors’ center and sign boards it’s very exciting at site. A lot of PCVs say how much I’m doing at site but really in a day about all I do is a few hours of work and weave a lot. (I should be starting my next pattern within a week.) People back home funded the court and NCRC is funding the visitors’ center, I’m just the bridge.

Last week was no running water, this week looks like no running water and no power, gotta love dry season coming back. Now with the marathon out of the way I got my bike fixed up and can start lifting again. I’m working on planning a bike ride through Togo into Benin and back but working out the details is pretty hard here. We gotta start traveling because we’re almost ½ done with our service.

Mukaila’s going to visit a friend of the guy I replaced in Washington this January and he’s really pumped about that. I can’t wait until he sees snow. Some of his questions are pretty awesome.

Under 20 World Cup is going on and the Black Satellites, our team, are doing great so far. They just whopped England 4-0. The TV hut was bopping. They won the African Continent earlier this year in some thrillers; they’re a fun team to watch.

Another month down and another record month of sales. The festival helped that however. Hopefully we can keep this up into the tourist off season.

If you were wondering about the marathon here’s my thoughts, it’s long. I put it separate so only people who really wanted to read it would have to:

Running your first marathon in Africa probably isn’t the best idea ever. Despite being a quick twitch athlete (sprinter) I think I trained pretty well with my long weeks of 20 and 22 miles. I was aiming for under 4 hours. We woke up at 3am and eventually ended up at the start line around 5 with the race starting at 5:30. It was quite a variety of runners there. Like 10 of us PCVs, Kenyan runners, Ghanaians, US marines and some expats. It started pretty late with the African sun already up, not good. It was delayed because they didn’t have water ready yet, also not good.

We started off and I settled in about middle of the pack. About 5 mins in I was running with a cute PCV from Mali and she had this satellite watch that told you your mile split. She ran in college and we were at a 8:30. I held that for my 20 miler and it hurt so bad so I knew I wouldn’t make it for 26.2 miles. Push your body to try to stay with cute girl or drop back and play it safe…Rower Dan wouldn’t have thought about it and stayed with her but I told her cya later and dropped back. A German tried to stay with her and I passed him about an hour later, he finished a long time after me.

Most of the run I was completely by myself which I’m told isn’t normal. How do I know what is normal? It’s my first one. Our veterans were not happy with the marathon and it’s very randomly and misplaced KM markers (not miles), drastic ups and downs and obstacles, lack of food (I had 2 halves of bananas the whole run), the hills, heat, lack of direction, and it’s course which lead us through a developing nations capital without closing anything. Dodging tro-tros, venders, and women wider than buses in Accra is a rough way to end a marathon. Also pacing yourself with KMs is much harder than miles. I did the math in my head and knew I had to do 5:40 KMs but try multiplying 27 x 5.40 then convert it to hours and mins after 3 hours of running.

About half way through I felt great, like really great, I had paced myself and passed a lotta people that went out too fast. I don’t think I picked it up but I had long given up on even looking at the wrong markers or my clock. A few kms later I was passing guys on their 17th marathons who said this was by far the worst one ever, thanks guys, very motivating. The whole time I’m expecting Kimmie, our running pro, to pass me with a smile on her face telling me to keep it up. After ages between markers I come up to one that seems way too far from the finish and they only hand me ½ a cup of water. I need electrolytes or something and I’m out of the amazing GU packs. I’m slowing down and hurting like crazy but still passing people and turn a corner and there’s Andrew, a PCV whose goal was 3 hours a ways ahead but barely moving. Catching him had to be the most hilarious site.

We were only 2 white people in the packed streets of Accra and our bodies are cramping and we can barely move. Eventually I catch up with him and I’m dieing, like chest cramping, worst pain ever dieing, but going faster than he is. We’re both competitive and we look at each other. Then my leg massively cramps again and I say “Let’s walk” something I never thought I’d say but I had no choice, my body was done. He was like “Thank God” and we started the most painful and humbling hour of my life. We were 3:32 into it and had we continued running at our average pace would have been done in 28 minutes.

Walking sounds easy but we could barely do that. Every once in a while we would try to “shuffle” but one of us would pull up with a cramp. The KMs seems like an eternity and the streets were packed. I had nothing left. The thing was everyone else must have died too because I think a total of 3 people passed us in over an hour of walking. We turned a corner and could see a far ways and couldn’t see the finish, horrible. Not too much farther there was a hidden turnoff and Julie and Andrea were there cheering for us. These are my only 2 friends within hours of my site, so we do everything together. Julie yells “Only 10 miles left guys!” and I gave her the bird. Just before that we had started shuffling again so when we passed them we picked it up. It was the last like .1 mile and I’m a sprinter so we sprinted. In rowing we used to do 7 ups, which was up a beat every 7 strokes so we did that with steps and crossed the line together looking strong with a time of 4:43. We came in 40th place, 3rd of Ghana PCVs. They got my numbers and the cheering section came to take care of me. Sinae, Julie, Maria, Andrea, and Marcus all took care of me while the rest worked on others finishing. I couldn’t breathe without pain. The rest of the PCVs started to trickle in. When Kimmie came in we knew she had been hurting, she was 1.5 hours over her previous worst time.

At first I was pissed and swore I’d never do one again. That night I partied it off and was the only runner still going somehow at 1 am. The next day we were in tons of pain but I was feeling better. I asked Andy, who had to stop to use the lack of facilities twice why we ever did it and he said, “I dunno but I’m not gonna let Africa beat me like that, I’m gonna get it next year.” I won’t make any promises but I think I will too.

I gotta thank Jen Shen, KTP, and Anne Varner. Without their help I never would have came close to finishing.

exactly 1 year ago today we stepped off the plan in Accra

42 Peace Corps Trainees arrived

40 Peace Corps Volunteers Swore in

40 are still here

I've had:

4 hot showers (3 of which when Meg Hub paid for hotel rooms)

44 books read

18,061 pages read

49.48 pages/day

261 games of minesweeper won on expert

1 woman driver out of all the cars I've been in

1 cell phone tower

20 hours longest time in a tro tro in a day

1 cinnamon roll

200+ morning runs

1 marathon ran

4:43 marathon

43 minutes off my goal

0 times wearing jeans

368 days without hugging mom

15 months since Tripp and I have lost in darts

over 25 countries represented in tourists at my site

5,836 cedi sold of kente (recorded)

2 bear fights with Adam Luck

1 US presidents hand shook

1 first ladies hand shook

1 goat hit on bike

1 crooked nose from hitting goat on bike

1 chicken break in

1 lion attack near my village

3 Skype conversations with family

0 baseball games attended

$4,000ish donated towards basketball court so far

1 kente pattern designed and named by me

365 days in the same Adidas sandals

75 ish buckets of laundry by hand

1/3 of my clothes ruined until i learned how to wash better

5 languages attempted to be used in conversations in 1 day

My water’s been out for a few days which just means living off the water in my barrel for a while. I only have a few cups since usually I do dishes after each meal because the ants will attack if you don’t. With water out I didn’t do dishes after dinner last night and only had one cup for this morning. After my run I made up some Propel and a neighbor boy about 6 years old comes up to me. They like to try American things so I go to make him some Propel and realize I’m outta cups. So I grab my Michigan double shot glass and fill it up with Propel (which is clear) for him, hand it to him, and we hit glasses on my front porch. As soon as we go to drink my neighbor comes out of his bungalow. “For Daniel, It is too early for that and he is too young!”