Family, friends, family friends, family of family, friends of friends, acquaintances, strangers, stranger than strangers, people in general. I call upon your assistance in raising funds this holiday season. What for you may ask? Well, I've kept it simple. I am raising funds for the following three items.

1 Custom batik stamping table1 Industrial electronic sewing machine 1 Permanent Job for a new Global Mama Other options include:$ 17 Buys a Batiker’s Supply Kit (Dying bowl, Apron, Mask, Gloves)$ 24 Buys a Seamstress’ Supply Kit (Tape Measure, Scissors, Seam Ripper, Needles, Pins)$ 51 Builds a Custom Batik Stamping Table $ 86 Buys a Cast Iron De-Waxing Pot for Batik Fabrics $ 333 Buys an Industrial Electric Sewing MachineLast year a bunch of you helped Global Mamas expand our NGO into a small fishing village in Southern Ghana called Prampram. Since then, we've employed 13 women, and one man (who obviously receives a lot of attention!) We've also had a number of volunteers from all over the World work with the women on business techniques, financial planning and design.

Mary filling in wax stamps.Our goal this year is to hire 23 more women and expand our current workshop to include a rainwater collection system and eventually a portable building extension.

If you decide to join my plight, I would be more than happy to send you a personalized thank-you from a Mama, you could give the gift of a job this season!

We've interviewed a few of the Mamas and captured their extremely powerful and inspirational stories. With these stories, we will create videos to showcase all of the good work that donors are supporting. Here is the first video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3wqP6A4bRo

The site that is managing Global Mamas fundraising is called Razoo and website is:http://www.razoo.com/story/Global-Mamas

In advance, thank you everyone for your support and happy donating!

A PCV friend of mine got married over the Halloween weekend. When she asked me to be her maid of honor I said yes, who wouldn't but I never thought to ask when she would be getting married. She is from Georgia and I never thought that she would be getting married on the Georgia/Florida weekend but that is the weekend that she chose. I had to tell her that if she was still back in Georgia she would have to chose a different day because no one would have come to the wedding.

The wedding was held in Techiman, which is about 7 hours from my site so I left on Thursday to go and meet her in Kumasi. On Friday we left for Techiman and went to her fiance's family house and they cooked us a wonderful meal of fresh peas and carrots!

On Saturday we met the rest of the family and had our hands and feet panted in henna. The designs were beautiful. My friend also had her chest and back painted since she was the bride. That night we went to a dance party in her honor. We went to bed thinking that we would have until noon on Sunday to get ready for the wedding, we were wrong.

At 8am we got a knock on our room door, my friend needed a family representative and two witnesses to go to the mosque to represent her. So I got to go into the mosque and be a family representative, but since I was a woman and it takes two women to equal one man they had to find another woman, so one of her fiance's aunts came with us.

The ceremony was interesting. The imam talked about the responsibilities of the family and how divorce is not permitted in Islam. He then said that if there were any problems in the marriage that it was up to the witnesses to help resolve the differences. If we could not resolve the problems then it would be up to the father's and then it would be up to a council decided by the Imam. The Imam then said some prayers and when we left the mosque the couple was married.

We went back to the hotel and I told my friend that she was now married. We both had a good laugh at that since she had not been there and and had not said anything. At noon another friend of ours performed a modified American ceremony for her. This way she would feel like she was married. After that little ceremony the couple took pictures and they danced just like any other wedding.

On Monday we went to the District Assembly for me to sign a document saying that they were married according to the Ghana government. When I did this the man also told me that I was responsible for working out their problems.

As we left the District Assembly I told my friend that they were responsible for their own problems no matter what I had been told for the past 2 days.

It was a fun weekend and the henna is still on my hands and feet. I am waiting to see how long it will last.

Well I am not quite sure when I decided to extend but as my second year came to a close it just seemed to make sense to extend for a third year. I really enjoy being in Ghana and the people here are wonderful and I was just not ready to go back to the real world so I agreed to spend a third year in Ghana.

I moved into Accra but before I did I was able to turn over my project to my wonderful counterpart Gladys. She is now running the bead production center for Global Mamas. I am so proud of what she has been able to accomplish. To think that two years ago she wanted nothing to do with management, she only wanted to count beads. Now she has the confidence to run the whole show. Gladys and the other women that I worked with are the main reason that it was too hard to leave.

While I am in Accra I am still working with Global Mamas but I am now working on more of the human resource issues and inventory systems for the store. I am working on training the store manager to view customer service as the most important thing in the store rather than folding the same thing over and over again. Some days I wonder how people can work in retail for their entire lives and then I remember that it is because I am not always perky.

I am glad that I am staying for an extra year, I can now finish some of the things that I wanted to do when I started and feel like I have some closure when I leave. I miss everyone and I am sorry that I did not get to call everyone when I was home for my Grandmother's funeral. I will be home from December 15-January 14th so I will try to call or see as many people as I can then.

On Tuesday my Krobo office held my going away party. While I am only moving to Accra they wanted to wish me well and thank me for everything that I had done for them in the last two years. I told them that I did not want anything big but of course that was ignored.

The event started at noon and Gladys handed me a handwritten program! I could not believe that she had come up with a program; she has come so far in the last year. The program was as follows:

Opening Prayer

Local Songs

Aim of Program

Presentation of Gifts

Rebecca’s Speech

Refreshments

Closing Prayer

One of the bead makers gave the opening prayer in Krobo and then Gladys translated, then some of the bead makers sang a local song giving thanks to God for the work that we have done and asking him to watch over me when I travel. Then the women that I work with sang and danced another song praying for me and thanking God.

Gladys then said explained why we were all there and opened up the floor to anyone who wanted to say something. Just like back at home, no one wanted to be first to speak, finally Julie stood up and said that she was speaking on behalf of all of the market ladies for working with them and for bringing more people through the market. She thanked me for explaining to them how American’s like to shop, she said by not pressuring the customers it has increased their sales. Abraham, a bead maker, said that because I was so picky and wanted such good quality in what I bought his quality has improved on all of his products and his sales has improved. Grace, another bead maker, said that she had learned some small English from me and appreciated the increase in orders. Gladys, my production manager, said that she learned that if you want to succeed you have to be a hard worker no matter what. She said that when I would come back from a trip to Accra I would always see what needed to be done and then would do it no matter how tired I was. Grace, one of the assemblers, said that she learned to be accountable and that when she made a mistake I treated her as everyone else and that no one got special treatment in our office.

They then said that I was like the rain to a farmer’s crops. Without rain a farmer could not grow his crops and then could not make any money. They said that without me they could not have increased their sales and they would not have been able to send their children to school or save for their future goals. I know that this is a huge exaggeration of what I have done, they have done the work. I just gave them some advice but it is nice to know that they have listened to what I have had to say and it worked.

They then presented me with gifts of beads, cloth and the office all contributed to give me a queen mother’s Kente clothe and slippers. I changed into my kente outfit and put on as many of the beads as I could and danced into the office. I gave my speech to the group and thanked them for welcoming me into their community and making me feel like part of their families.

We then had some drinks and took pictures. I could not believe how much they presented me with; I was fighting back tears during the whole thing. I would have been completely happy if they had all just stood up and said what they had learned from me but if I did not take what they offered they would have been insulted and that is the last thing that I wanted to do to my new extended family.

It will be hard to leave them on Sunday even though I am only going to Accra and I can come back to visit. The people here have been so welcoming to me and my family. It is not something that can truly be explained it is something that has to be experienced. I know that the next volunteer will have a wonderful experience as well as long as they keep an open mind and try to spend time with as many people as possible.

So a few weeks ago my supervisor got a phone call from a local orphanage saying that they had a six month old baby girl available if they were interested. It has been 9 months since they brought their two year old son home so this was something that they really had to think about.

They went to the orphanage and met with the baby and the people who were taking care of the baby to see what her story was and after about a week of talking it out they decided to bring her home.

She is the cutest and best little girl you can image. You can see the pictures on one of the links I have added. Her big brother Ben took to her right away and was sharing his toys with her on day one, even his favorite ones! When someone said to him on day 2 that they wanted to take the baby home with them he said “no baby inside”. He is already a very protective big brother.

It is nice to see these instant happy families and it shows that love makes the family and nothing else.

August 30, 2011 was the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps worldwide and the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps in Ghana. Ghana was the first country to welcome Peace Corps volunteers and as we like to say here, Peace Corps was born in America but learned to walk in Ghana.

On August 30th, Ambassador Teitelbaum welcomed Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) from the last 50 years, current Peace Corps volunteers (PCVs), Peace Corps Trainees (PCTs), Peace Corps Staff and Ghanaians who had been effected by a PCV over the years. At the event the Ambassador swore in 70+ new Peace Corps Volunteers and celebrated the 50 years of uninterrupted service of the Peace Corps Volunteers in Ghana.

The event was a capstone to events planned by a committee of Volunteers and staff. The highlight of the committees efforts was unveiled at the ceremony, a new Kente clothe to hang in the Peace Corps office. The Kente was donated by staff and volunteers and will hang at the mission to mark the friendship between our two countries.

I am happy that I worked on the product development committee and that the PCVs who wanted products to commemorate the 50th Anniversary were able to purchase them and that the communities that were chosen to make the products were able to make a little more money because of this event. The event was a lot of work and turned out to be a huge success and I am glad that I stayed to see it through but it could not have been done without the other PCVs who worked on it before they finished their time here. Your hard work showed in the finished product!

I am half of the way finished with my last vacation during my PC service. I decided this time to try the beaches of Portugal and the trip has been wonderful. We are staying in a small beach town called Praia das Macas which is about 30 minutes from Sintra. Sintra is an UNESCO heritage site with beautiful castles and palaces that date back to the Moors.

To be fair I have only left the beach for one day, I have been trying to even out the tan lines that 2 years in Ghana have given me. The plan is to go into Sintra tomorrow by taking the historic trolly to go to the Moor Castle and 2 of the palaces. I will post some pictures of when I get back to Ghana next week.

I hope that everyone back home has a great July 4th.

In mid May, right after All Vol, my mom and aunt arrived in Ghana for a two week visit. For both of them it was their first time in Africa and they could not have chosen a better timme to come. The rains had started to fall, so the temperature had cooled down (at least to those who have lived here for awhile), the Dipo festival was starting in my town, I was going to baptise my godson and the people that I work with and see all the time were so excited to meet them.

There plane arrived early and as usual for airlines in international travel, it took them over an hour to get their luggage and clear customs and immigration. I was prepared, I brought something to read. I don't think I go anywhere without something to read now. Their first impression of Ghana was of me "negotiating" with the taxi driver on how much he was going to charge us to go to their hotel. I was able to get the price reduced by 50%, not my best effort. Mom and my aunt were impressed.

They got to the hotel, dropped off some of their luggage and then we walked to meet my supervisor, Renae. We arranged to meet for dinner later that night and then I took them on a quick tour of Osu where they were able to exchange their money and start shopping. The first place on their list of where they wanted to go was the Global Mamas store.

The women at our store could not believe how much we looked alike. I had told them that I would be bringing my family by the store but when we walked in they were shocked that we looked so much alike. I am not quite sure what they expected. Mom and my aunt were thrilled that they were able to get new skirts for their time here and to take home. They also got some gifts to take back. Sorry Nikki and Steph, I am not going to ruin the surprise. We then went back to the hotel to rest, jet lag was setting in for both of them.

We met Renae and her son Ben for dinner and mom and my aunt were both surprised at how well behaved he was at dinner for a 2 1/2 year old boy. They kept saying that if he was back at home he would be throwing a fit or demanding everyone's attention but he did not. He just played with his toy and if he wanted something he would say "Ma, Ma".

The next day we left for my town. As usual my taxi driver was late. He said he could not find the hotel but he had been there before, same excuse new day. I told him the route to take that should have been the fastest but there was an accident and a ride that should have taken 2 hours ended up taking us 4. Mom and my aunt were thrilled to get to my house, too bad the water was out.

Once at my house they got their first lesson in bucket bathing. I thought that it would be self explanitory but I was wrong. After the first day, I did give a quick lesson.

On the second day in my town we started going to the Dipo Festival, which is the fertility festival in my town. This is a 4-5 day ceramony that the young Krobo women must go through before they can get married. If they do not then they must start their own family homes. It was really interesting to watch and I even was able to dress on the last day. I have included pictures. Mom and my aunt were really excited to see everything. They could not believe how emersed into the culture that I had become, to the point that the lack of personal space is not an issue for me and that I could understand the local language.

After staying in my village and eating kontumeri, rice balls and ground nut soup, fufu, and red red, we went to Kpetoe a kente weaving site and then to Accra. While in Accra we did more shopping, met up with some of my friends at the beach and then on Saturday went to Christ the King church and baptised Ben.

The baptism was different from what you see in America but then so much of the things we do here are. Mom and my aunt were able to meet one of the Assistant Directors for Education at the Peace Corps who was also being a godmother for a little girl.

After that I had to go to a 50th Anniversary party for the Peace Corps and I let mom and my aunt rest. Sunday we left for Cape Coast and the beach.

The Cape Coast area is full of history and sites. We did the Kakum National forest, although mom did not make it all the way to the canopy walk, we went to both castles (Cape Coast and Elmina) and met the staff at the Global Mamas office in Cape Coast.

I don't think that I could have fit much more into their trip if I tried. I am sure that when they flew out last Wednesday they were exhausted but

It is hard to believe that it has been almost 2 years since I was sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer but it must be true because last week I went to my Close of Service conference. I have to admit that the last place that I wanted to go was to this conference. Don't get me wrong, I did want to see all of my fellow volunteers, especially those that are posted to far away for me to visit but it came at a very inconvient time for me.

My project is busy, as usual, but we have found a new office space and I was excited to start the renovations and move the women into the new space before the rainy season starts. I also wanted to get this done before my mother and aunt arrived in Ghana but as I have learned from being here for 2 years nothing happens as you want, it happens on its on time.

So I resigned myself to going to the conference and then to All Vol(which is right after COS) and then going right back to site and trying to get as much done as possible before my mother gets to Ghana. Since I had to go to the conference I was going to make the most of it and I must say that it was one of the most informative conferences that I have gone to while at Peace Corps.

The sessions were relative to what we needed and they were broken up by us giving each other "fufu" awards. These are little "most likely awards" that our friends would nominate us for about things that we have done during our time in Ghana. Most of them were very funny.

At night it was nice to sit along the river with other PC volunteers that I had not seen in several months and catch up and see what they were going to do when they finish their service.

When we finished the conference we were taken to the All Vol conference, where we still are. It does seem a little odd that those of us who are about to leave have to be at this conference since we are not supposed to start new projects before we leave but we are going along with it.

For some of us it is our first chance to meet all of the PC volunteers that were sworn-in in August. Since the conference is being held at the same place as it was last year it is bringing back memories of the people who already went home and we are telling the new volunteers stories about them. I guess it is our way of passing on the PC history to the new volunteers. At some point they are going to get tired of hearing "Do you remember last year when. . . ."

It nice to see all of the volunteers but it will also be nice when this conference is over on Thursday morning. It means that I have less than a week until my family arrives in Ghana.

It is hard to believe that I have less than 6 months left in Ghana since I have decided to extend for a few months and I hope that I use that time to experience as much as possible.

After the last two weeks of dealing with one of the largest banks in Ghana I can now understand why most people in Ghana do not have bank accounts.

About a month ago I heard through the grape vine that the local branch of the large bank was closing. This directly effects the women that work with me since that is where their paychecks are directly deposited. The bank did send out letters to the mailing address of record but since none of the women actually have post office boxes they did not get the letter. Rather they all came to me, almost in tears, asking what I was going to do about it.I told the women that I would go to the bank and find out what was going on and if the bank was closing I would find out when.

So I went to the bank and waited in the very long ques and then I asked the "personnel banker" if the branch was closing. He told me that it was closing on May 27th and that all of the information was in the letter that they had sent out. I told him that the women that I worked with had not received their letters yet and they wanted to know what they needed to do.

He said that they could move their accounts to the new location, which is more than 2hours away by tro, or they can close their accounts. I went back to the office and told the women what I found out and told them that before they closed their accounts that they needed to get a complete bank statement so they could be sure that they were getting all of their money back from the bank.

I explained to the women what a complete statement looked like and they said they understood and then they re-explained to what I had just said. The women went to the bank and then they came back to me upset again. They all told me that the bank would not give them their statements. They were only given a small sheet of paper with their balance. They were told that they were women and that they did not need a statement.

To say that I was pissed is putting it mildly. I went to the bank the next day to find out what was going on and why they were treating their customers and my employees like this. At this point the man called me a "stupid women" for even asking for a statement, which got my blood pressure rising but I stayed calm (for the most part). I told him that they women had the right to the statements and I wanted to know how to get the statement for them.

He said that they would have to write a letter on their letterhead and present it to the bank. The bank would process the request and have the statement ready within 24 hours. I explained to the "personal banker" that these were individuals and that they did not have letterhead and that most of them could barely write their name. His answer was to put it on a piece of paper and then have them sign it. I left his office, went back to my office and hand wrote all of the requests and had the women sign them. I then asked one of the women to take the letters to the bank sot that they would have their statements on Monday morning.

After that experience I went to the small rural bank to see what they could do for the women that I work with. The experience was night and day. They were nice and willing to help. I explained that I wanted to open 20 accounts for the women but that I had some questions. The women directed me to the bank manager and he answered all of my questions and even said that if I gave him a letter with every one's name on it he would send someone to the office to fill out the application forms. In addition to the great customer service the fees at this bank are so much lower that the women are going to be able to save much more of their own money. It is a win win.

On Monday when the women went to pick up their statements at the large bank they were told that they were not ready and that they had to wait in the ques. They went during their break and so when their break hour was up they called me to say that they would be late because they still did not have their statements. I asked for the number of the manager so I could move the process along.

I got the number and was told that they still had to print the statements, I asked the man why they were not printed already since it had been more than 24 hours and the statements were system generated. He then changed his story and said that they had to sign for them and that they had to wait in the ques and that there were people ahead of them. I asked him how many people were ahead of them and he said that he did not have time to talk to me because I was not a customer. I explained that I had 2 accounts with his bank and that he should answer my question. He said that if he did not have to talk to me he could help them quicker and then he hung up on me.

All in all it took the women 2.5 hours to pick up and sign for bank statements that were already printed. When the women got back I had to go through them and audit them and then explain the charges to the women and tell them how much money they had in their accounts. I had also made copies of the request to close an account form and I filled it out for each of them. I circled how much money that each one should be getting back from the bank and told them that they needed to sign and date the account closure form while they were at the bank.

The women went to the bank on Tuesday to close their accounts and that also took 2 hours. When they got back some of them had me check to make sure that they got the right amount of money. I was amazed at the bills that the bank gave them. The bank gave one woman 6 $50 GHC and then the rest of her money in $1 GHC coils. The amount that she got back was $347.49. I don't think that there is any place in my town were you can break a $50 GHC bill.

I was amazed at how poorly the bank was treating these women. I am so glad that these women will never have to deal with them again. Unfortunately I do still have 2 accounts there.

It is hard to believe that I only have a few months left at site. It seems like just yesterday that I arrived in Ghana, struggled to get through training and then arrived at site. I have loved being here in Ghana and I love the people that I am working with every day. When I tell them that it is almost time for me to go back to the States they all tell me that I am not allowed to talk about it anymore or they will start to cry. I have really been welcomed into the community here.

For an American who is used to living in large cities and who did not always know her neighbors, it has been really interesting to get to know my neighbors and to have them worry about me every day. If my neighbors don't see me for a couple of days and I have not told them that I am traveling, they will send their children to make sure that I am OK and to see if I need anything.

Just this last week, our water was out for a couple of days and Mame Alice from across the street asked if I wanted her children to go and fetch water for me. I told her that I had enough in my large trash can to last another 2 days but if it was not back on by Thursday I would have the children go and fetch water. She was just worried that I would not have enough water to cook, bath and do everyday things. I will miss this along with her grandchildren running to give me hugs and making fish faces everyday after work.

When I look back at my project I have mixed feelings. The project that I was originally assigned has gone nowhere. I was able to get the machine wired but that was about it but at the same time I fell into another project that has turned out to be more meaningful.

I ended up bringing all of the production of the bead products in house and we have gone from 7 employees to 20 this month. Next month we will be moving into a larger office and we will be able (and need to) hire 15-20 more women.

Gladys who I work with everyday is basically running the office. She really only needs me for moral support and for my computer skills. When we sat down to do performance reviews last month she ran the show after I did the first one, I could not have been happier. She has gone from being afraid to speak in front of other people to taking charge. She is learning how to use the computer and is taking more and more responsibility without me having to ask her. I know that when I leave she is going to do great. I will just miss her so much.

I am not sure where I will land after the PC but I am hoping that the work will be as challenging and that the people will be as welcoming.

So yesterday was market day and it was hot. I can honestly say that March and April are our hottest months. I was doing my marketing and I came across two men from the UK who were lost in my market. They were looking for the beads section and were lost in the section of plastics and rice bags.

I offered to show them where to go and on my way back to where I normally buy food, I ran into a lady who I had bought some baskets from. She yelled to me "hey white" to get my attention. I went over to give her my greetings since I had not seen her in a while. When I got there she handed me a straw hat. I asked her what it was for, she looked at me like I was an idiot and then told me to put it on. Now I know what hats are for but I did not understand why she was handing me this hat.

I put the hat on and she said that it was beautiful on me, in the local language. I asked her how much it was and she told me that it was free. I asked her if she was sure and she said yes, I was turning red and that white people should not go out uncovered.

I then wore my new hat through the market and got some interesting looks but at least I did not get too much sun.

When I got back to the office all of the girls wanted to know why I was wearing a hat because they had never seen me wear one. I told them the story and they said that the whole town likes to look out for it neighbors. I guess that means that I am now part of the community.

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of when President Kennedy signed Executive Order 10934 to create the Peace Corps. Ghana was the first country that received volunteers, although there is some discussion about which country received the first volunteers.

Currently Ghana has over 140 volunteers serving in all 10 regions. For the volunteers serving in Ghana we like to say "Peace Corps was born in America, but learned to walk in Ghana."

I feel very fortunate to continue the tradition of Peace Corp Volunteers serving in Ghana.

Well my New Year's resolution was to try to keep my blog more updated this year and two months into the year and I have already failed. I will try to do better.

The last month has been really busy and stressful in Ghana. As most of my friends know my grandfather passed away in January and I was not able to fly home to attend the funeral. It was not that I did not want to go, he did not want me to miss "the work that I was doing in Ghana." It was nice that he understood what I was doing but at the same time it was hard not being at home. The other reason that I did not fly home was that it was so cold in upper-State New York that I would have gotten so sick. It is really hard to go from 95 plus degrees to below zero.

There is a reason that the Peace Corps asks all of the questions that they do when they are interviewing people before they place you. I thought it would be easy to be away from home for two years since I had lived away from my family since college but when you get the phone call from the States saying that someone you love is sick or dying all you want to do is to go home. I will have to say that the administration here was so supportive when I was thinking about going home and they were willing to help me get home. I can not say enough good things about how supportive they were.

After I dealt with my Grandfather's passing, the women that I work with exported their largest order to date. They produced over 7000 items to ship to the US and 6000 of the items were already sold! I am so proud of what they have been able to do.

Gladys who I almost have ready to take over for me is doing such a good job that I can almost sleep in some mornings. She really only needs me there to verify the decisions that she makes. The amount of self-confidence that she has gained is amazing.

I will try to do better about updating my blog before I complete my service in July/August. I hope that you all have a great week.

So some of you know that there is a new little one in my supervisor's family and his name is Kofi Ben. He is about 2 years old and he came home the week of Christmas and he is the cutest and smartest little boy that I have ever seen. Ben was abandoned at a hospital in October in has been in an orphanage since then.

When Ben got to the house he was very thin and under fed but after a few weeks of good food he is really starting to fill out. It is amazing the change in him in the few weeks that he has been at their house. He understands English and has no problems getting his message across.

I put some pictures up so you can see him, including two of me reading to him. Whenever I go to the house he hands me a book and motions for me to read to him. It is usually the Bob the Builder book (he likes cars) but he really does not care.

I have always enjoyed spending time with my supervisor (it is almost like being at home) but now that Ben is there it is even better. I get to see how happy that he has made her and her husband and it shows the joy of adoption.

Sorry for the delay on the details of my trip to Istanbul but when I got back to Ghana I ended up in bed with a really bad cold and I am just getting back on my feet. I guess that it what I get for going from temperatures being over 90 everyday to it being less than 30 in Turkey. Not that I am complaining, the trip was great and the break from the heat was much needed.

Well I arrived in Istanbul around 6am on Wednesday and the hotel was there to pick me up. It was so nice that everything worked out. When I got to the hotel the room was not ready (but I was not expecting it to be) so the desk manager told me where I could get money out of an ATM, and a SIM card. I decided to walk around the area around our hotel. I could not believe how centrally located our hotel was, right behind the Four Seasons and within walking distance to almost all of the major sites. Leave it to me to find the Starbucks within the first 10 minutes. I felt like I was back in America. I actually saw the McDonald's first but could not bring myself into going there so I went into the Starbucks and got a Venti Earl Gray tea and loved it. Since it was so cold outside it was nice to have something warm to drink. I walked around the area for a little while longer and then went back to the hotel to wait for our room to be ready.

While I was sitting and talking to the desk manager I started talking to John from Hawaii. He thought it was funny that I came all the way to Istanbul for Starbucks. I explained that I was living in Ghana and how long it had been since I had seen a Starbucks and he laughed. I then met his fiance Natalie and we talked for about 30 minutes. Little did we know that they were the couple in our room, once we found out they were great about getting ready and moving to their new room. We agreed to meet for dinner that night.

Georgette got in a few hours later and the first thing that she noticed when she walked into the room was my Starbucks cup. I think that we went to the Starbucks everyday that we were in Istanbul. It is a good thing that the dollar was so strong in Turkey. So the first day we just walked around so that we would not get too lost and get ready for the rest of the week. We met John and Natalie for dinner and sat and talked to them for about 2 hours and agreed to meet them the next day to go to the Asian side of Istanbul.

On Thursday we got up and had our first breakfast at the hotel and it was great. Homemade yogurt with preserves, fresh bread, olives, cheese and veggies. I am still dreaming about it. We then met John and Natalie and took the ferry to the Asian side. The main difference between the Asian side and the Sultanan area that we were staying in is that there were fewer tourists and fewer people spoke English. We resorted to the universal hand gestures to communicate. We walked around for a few hours, I bought a hair straightener and then we had a great lunch at a local place. We did not know where the place was so we asked an older couple on the street and they walked us over to the restaurant. I will have to say that it was one of the best meals that I had in Istanbul. I am not sure what I ate but it was great!

We got back to the European side and then went to the Spice Market for the first time and after living in Ghana the market was tame to me. The men (all of the vendors were men) asked what we would like and when we said that we were just looking they would say that they were just selling. They would answer any of our questions and truly try to have conversations with us without the pressure of selling us things. On several occasions I told them that this was our first day in Istanbul and that we would not be buying anything for a couple of days and they would give us their card and say to please come back when we were ready.

After the Spice Market we did another "American" thing, we ate at Subway. I know that it is hard to believe that I flew half-way around the world to eat at American restaurants but it is hard to get cold-cuts in Ghana so a turkey sandwich was like heaven to me. When we finished dinner we walked back to the hotel and Natalie was able to negotiate the best buy of the day. She got a "Prada" bag for 47 lira, the store wanted 150 lira. I thought that I was a good bargainer but she had me bet on this day. We wished them safe travels and said good night.

The next day was New Years and we decided to start to see some of the more tourist places like the Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya and the Cistern before we went out to dinner. I am surprised to say that we were able to do all four in one day.

The Hippodrome is just really two things, the German fountain and the Obelisk and then we walked to the Blue Mosque but when we got there it was the start of afternoon prayers so we went over to the Aya Sofya (which is across the park). The Aya Sofya was great, it is amazing how much history that is in that one building. For it to have been a church, a mosque and now a museum and have such little destruction is truly amazing. We went back to the Blue Mosque and respected their request to remove our shoes and cover our heads (which I will say not all Western women did) and went in to see the mosque. This was the first mosque that I had been in and it was quite peaceful and beautiful. The painting on the ceilings and walls were amazing and I can see how they could help one meditate on God. We were very careful not to take any pictures of people praying just out of respect for them. The mosque was as quiet as any church I have ever been in, although it did feel odd to have my head covered.

The Cistern was interesting because the whole thing is underground and the bottom of it is full of water. The site was found and then lost two or three times before it was finally restored to its current state. In Ottoman times it was how part of the city would get its water. The really interesting thing is that two of the columns have the head of Medusa as the base. No one really knows how they got there but they are there.

By the time we finished visiting these sites it was almost time for dinner so we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up. We went to a seafood restaurant for dinner and while the food was good, I don't think that it was the best meal that I had in Istanbul. I hate to say it but I was in bed by 9:30pm on New Years Eve, but I did wake up when the fireworks went off outside our hotel.

On New Years Day we went to Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar. I hate to say it but I was not impressed with the Palace. It was the most expensive of the tourist sites that we went to and a good portion of them were closed. According to the placards in the Holy Relics room the Place has the staff that Moses used to part the Red Sea, the head of John the Baptist, the foot print of Mohammad and several bead hairs from Mohammad. I will say that I saw these things but they would not let us take any pictures and I will not say that I believe what the placard says. the best part was the Harem (which you had to pay extra to see). It was set up like it would have been during the Sultan's day and it was well preserved.

When we finished with the Palace we went to the Grand Bazaar. Like the Spice Bazaar I did not find the vendors to be too pushy but rather polite and informative. It was here that we ate our first kabob sandwich. It was so good that it was the only thing that we ate for lunch for the rest of the time we were there. The sandwich was like a gyro (either chicken or lamb) with french fries, lettuce, tomatoes and sometimes a cream of some sort. It was on either a pita bread or a wrap. I could not get enough of them.

We spent half the day in the market but I did not buy much, for the first time in my life I kept my impulse buying to a minimum. I knew what I wanted from Istanbul and that was the only things that I bought.

I got us lost getting back from the Grand Bazaar and so by the time we got to the hotel we were cold and tired so we decided to just eat at the restaurant on the corner and it was a good choice. This place had the best tomato soup and pizza and we ended up going back 2 more times.

The next day we went to another neighborhood on the other side of the Bosporus and just walked around. We also got our hair cut and it was a real treat to have my hair cut and then blown straight. By the time he finished it was so straight I could have been an actor. It was great.

On our last full day in Istanbul we went to the Chora Church/Museum and I have to say that this was my favorite place that we visited. The church is out of the way and we used the public transportation system and managed not to get lost. The murals in the church were so pretty that I ended up buying a book about them. I just could not believe how well preserved they were.

We finished up the day by buying any last gifts that we needed for friends and family.

The week that I spent in Istanbul was great. The weather was both rainy and sunny but it was cold the whole time but that is what I was looking for, or so I thought. If I had more time I would have loved to take the bus to the ancient city of Troy and to see more of Turkey outside of the city. I know that Turkey is not all like Istanbul but if the rest of the country is as welcoming as Istanbul than it is a country worth visiting.

Well I just got back from a great trip to Istanbul for New Year's. The trip was one of the best ever and I can now say that I have been on 4 continents and have seen some interesting things. It will take me several days to go through all 700 pictures and to put them up on the web, but I will.

I will also write a much longer blog about what I did while in Istanbul. The one thing that I did not do was buy any carpets.

I hope that everyone had a great New Years and I hope that 2011 is good to everyone!

So last Saturday I was invited to the Ghana Bead Makers Association meeting. I knew that the meeting was going to be long and that I was going to have a hard time understanding it but to say that it was a difficult meeting was putting it mildly.

My part of the meeting was finished in the first 30 minutes but of course I had to stay for the rest of the 3+ hour meeting. I was impressed that they kept minutes and that they went over the minutes at the beginning of the meeting, they also went over how much money they had and what they had spent it on since the last meeting.

About half way through the meeting they started to discuss what they were going to do with the money that they had saved from their dues. One of the chairmen had gone to several banks to find out about the different interest rates that they could get if they opened up a savings account. When they were talking about the interest rate, the chairman would convert the rate into real money so that all of the members could understand what they were talking about. After explaining their options (3, 6, 9 or 1 year investing) the group took a vote on which one they wanted to do. The vote was close but they voted to invest their money for one year because they would get the largest return on their money.

It was great to see that the members understood what was going on and that it was their opinion that mattered. It was also great to them investing their money and getting something back for it. Too often in developing countries one person holds the money and either runs away with it, takes a large portion of it or mismanages it.

After the discussion of how to invest the money they then talked about the Koforidua bead market move and the meeting got out of control. The people who wanted the market to move to Laasi started to yell at the people who wanted the market to stay in Koforidua. This went on for about 45 minutes. Finally one of the bead makers stood up and played the parliamentarian and started applying Roberts Rules of Order without realizing it. He was calling on people one from each side alternatively. He only let one person speak at a time and if someone spoke out of turn he had them taken out of the room. I sat in the room in complete disbelief that one man who was not on the board could control the room so well.

I will have to say that when the meeting started to break up I was ready to leave but I left with a feeling that their was some hope for the association.

So last week was Farmer's Day here in Ghana. The only thing I know about Ghanaian holidays is that they have more than the US and no one can really tell me what they are for apart from the religious ones. Farmer's Day is a little different, it is to celebrate farmers and fishermen. The country has the day off and the government gives lots of speaches.

I on the other hand used the day off from my project to go to Wli waterfalls. The waterfall is supposed to be the highest one in West Africa and I think that they must mean the one at the high walk because the one that I saw did not look that high. The falls are about 3 1/2 hours from my house and I decided to spend the night at a lodge owned by a fabulous German couple.

I will have to say that the location was great (about 300 m from the welcome center for the falls), the food was some of the best I have had while in Ghana. To top it off they had real coffee for breakfast.

The people at the waterfall did a good job explaining the history of the falls and telling about the different trees and things as we walked by. It only took about 45 minutes to walk to the falls but it was worth it. Once I got there and went into the water I could feel the stress of the week going away, even if the water was very cold.

I went to the falls with some friends and I did take some pictures which I am uploading tonight and hope to link to tomorrow. If you want to see more of my nature shots let me know, I did not want to bore anyone.

I can't believe that it is already December and that it will soon be Christmas. It is hard to get into the Christmas spirit here when it is over 90 degrees and everything is brown and dry. For those of you who are keeping track I have a little over 7 months left here. (I am going to try to come home in July). I miss you all and hope you are getting ready for a great holiday season.

Well this was my second Thanksgiving in Ghana and I will have to say that I am getting used to not cooking and not doing any dishes. Again this year the US Ambassador to Ghana invited all of the PC Volunteers and Fulbright Scholars to have a late lunch at his house. The added benefit this year was that we got to meet his new daughter. I think that she is only 6 or 8 weeks old now and she was so good during the meal.

I got to the house a little after 1pm for cocktail hour and had a glass of Sangria with lots of ice. I did not want to get too full since I knew that the food would be great and my friend Beth and I were presenting a drum to the Ambassador between lunch and dessert.

The food did not disappoint, it was like being back at home but much hotter and without all of the work. Beth and I presented the Ambassador with a traditional Ghanaian drum to thank him for his support of the PC and to start the 50 years of Peace Corps in Ghana celebration.

I left the house around 5:30pm and went to a local expat hangout and was able to watch American football, even if it was the Patriots and Lions. The only way it could have been better if Matt Stafford was playing, then at least I could have rooted for a UGA player.

I got home early enough to Skype my family in the US who had just finished eating dinner. It was great to see everyone around my Uncle John's living room. My three little cousins kept asking when I would be home and if it was hot in Ghana right now. One of my uncles said that I looked tired. I tried to explain that it was 5 hours later here and that I get up no later than 6:30am. He could not believe that I got up that early.

On Friday I went to Cape Coast to work on a small project for the Peace Corps and stayed with some of the other Global Mamas volunteers. I had a great dinner at a restaurant by the Cape Coast castle and was lucky enough that they had pizza for dinner. I also picked out some fabric from our office and had 3 pairs of wrap pants made. Aileen they look even better than the ones that I wore when I was home.

On Saturday morning I woke up to do a batik workshop. I went to Cape Coast to work on a batik for the PC in Ghana and while I was there I thought I would learn how to do the batik myself. Like making the beads the process is very labor intensive but I will have to say that I am glad that some of the women do wear protective equipment. My batik came out great, I chose to use dark blue and teal and everyone seemed to like the design and the colors. I will have to say that my stamping needs some work and I will not be selling any batik to Global Mamas anytime soon. I am not up to their quality standards :)

Sunday was another great day, I was able to go to the beach! Some friends and I went to Breneu beach and relaxed. The water was great and the waves were not too bad so I could swim. Lunch was fantastic, I had lobster and chips. The price was so good that I could not resist. I was given 3 small lobsters and a plate of chips for $15 GHC. I left full and happy.

Monday I had to go back to Accra so I could get back to Krobo but once again it was a good day. I was able to get an A/C car to Accra and the traffic was not too bad. I did not mind being back at my house.

When I saw my neighbors they all commented on how relaxed I looked and said that I must have had a good few days because I looked so much happier.

I think that I will have to plan another trip to Cape Coast in a few months, after I get back from my New Years trip to another exotic destination.

Welcome back Harmattan you were not missed. I know that it is early in the hot dry season but as I am writing this post (6:30pm) it is still 90 degrees in my room.

It has been said that a person can put the unpleasant things out of their mind when the event has passed and I think that is what I must have done about harmattan. I vaguely remember that it was hot last year but I don't remember being this hot this early.

The "wise, old ladies" in my village have said that because last year's harmattan was so easy (not to me) and that our rainy season was so late and sporadic that we are going to have a really hot and dry harmattan season this year. Just what I am looking forward to!

I have one fan in my room and hopefully it will last through the end of the season. Lets just hope that I can make it to the end of the season.

With only nine months of my service left to go and many of the people I have known since I got to Ghana now leaving (since they have finished their 2 years). I have been thinking about my time in Ghana and how much different it is from the average (if there is one) PCV experience.

When you go through training the Peace Corps tells you to be prepared for a lot of down time and that you might have to find your own projects. I knew that for me there was no way that I could just sit around all day without anything to do and I just prayed that I would get an assignment that was meaningful and would give me real work to do. My prayers were answered and I can honestly say that I am busy almost everyday. If I wanted to work on Saturdays and Sundays there would be work for me to do.

I talk to other PCVs who since being in Ghana have lost their sense of time and don't have set schedules. I know that this is part of the process here but it has not happened to me. I am glad to say that from when I started we have hired ten more assemblers and found more bead makers. The assemblers now have bank accounts and health insurance and I see smiles on their faces most of the time. They are so happy about the big orders that we are getting and they know that they will continue to have steady work.

Unlike other volunteers I don't get to travel around as much and get together with other volunteers from other regions. While I know that this is part of the Peace Corps experience, I came here with a goal and working on my project seems like a better way to spend my time most days. It is also expensive to travel around and I would rather use that money for other things.

If after two years I can see a real difference in my project and know that I have made some friends here than I can say that my time has been well spent. I also know that I have learned to slow down and to appreciate things. I still work more than most but that is something that may never change and I can thank my parents for that!

So today was a really bad day. It started off with me looking for my house keys for 10 minutes only to find them under the bag that I carry with me to the office.

When I walked out of the house this morning I put my cell phone in my pocket, something that I never do. I went to the road side and caught the tro to my office. Well that is nothing new or strange. I sat in the very back row of the tro against the window and held my bag on my lap like I always do and just waited to get to the office.

About 5 minutes into my ride a man got into the tro and sat next to me, and to be honest he just seemed a little off. He sat a little too close (even for Ghana) and kept trying to poke my left side. I pushed back and told him to move over. He said he was looking for someone but I did not believe him.

When we got to one of the major junctions in my town he asked to switch seats with me because he needed to talk to someone at a kiosk so I switched with him. He really did not talk to the man but yelled from the window. He then reached down to the floor of the tro between my legs as if to get something. I told him that it was unacceptable and he could wait until I got off the tro to get what he dropped. Little did I know that what he was doing was stealing my cell phone from my pocket!

I got off the tro at my usual place and realized that my phone was not in my pocket. I looked in my bag to see if I had put it in there but it was not there. I walked into the office and told Michael what happened and he tried to call my number and it rang a few times and then it was turned off. He then asked me what the man was wearing and went off looking for him and my phone.

He came back about an hour later but he had not been able to find the guy or my phone. He went to the next town and waited for all of the tros to come in and asked them if they had picked up a white person and a person that fit the description of the man that I gave. When he got a positive answer he asked where he dropped the other man and then went to that area and looked for him. Of course the man was gone.

I then went to try to replace my phone and the phone numbers. This took me a better part of 4 hours. I first went to Akosombo because I was told that is where I could replace my Tigo chip. On my way there I meant a man named "Ben" who wanted to be my "special friend". I told him the cover story that I use here, that I am married and he said that it was fine, he could be my "man on the side". I got to hear all about his numerous white girlfriends while he tried to help me with my phone problem. I kept telling him that I could handle the issue by myself but he would not leave me alone. Finally the man at the phone store said that I would have to go to Somanya to get the chip replaced. I thanked both the store clerk and "Ben" and got back on the tro.

I stopped in Atimpoko at the MTN store to try to replace my MTN chip and they would not help me. They told me that my Peace Corps id was not a real id and that I needed a drivers license. I then told them that I had used it before and they said they did not care they would not help me. At this point I was almost in tears and I left. I first said that they could learn about customer service from their store in Koforidua and if they did they might actually have some sales.

I then went to Somanya and was helped by the nicest man. I was able to get a new phone (with a warranty), a replacement SIM card (so I have the same number) and I was in and out of their office in less than 30 minutes. I tried to do the same for Tigo but their office has closed in Somanya so I had to get a new number.

I am glad that the day is almost over because I don't think that I could handle much more of this. I had things that I wanted to get done today for Global Mamas and I ended up spending the whole day trying to deal with a phone because I was not paying attention on the tro.

This was an expensive lesson to learn.

Sorry for the delay in posting but what seemed like a great post topic a year ago now just seems like another day in Ghana. I am not saying that I have gotten jaded because it is quite the opposite, what I think has happened is that I have gotten used to life overseas in a developing country.

When I talk to my friends and family back home and they ask general questions about what I am doing or how I travel or where I have been they are amazed that I just sound so matter of fact about it. Last week a former PCV was back in the country and we went to Markola (one of the largest markets in West Africa) and she was commenting on how unfazed I was by how busy it was and the general chaos. I am not saying that it does not bother me some days (I would not be telling you the truth if I said that) but on the days that I don't want to deal with the crowds and the constant people yelling at me I find something else to do, and there is always something else to do.

Our rainy season is just about over and I am sad to say that this means that Harmattan will soon be here. Rainy season is my favorite time of the year because after the downpour of rain the whole area looks so clean and still smells like rain. The rest of the time it smells like a mixture of chop food that makes me hungry. This year's rainy season was quite bad for West Africa and Benin got it the worst but that is not to say that we escaped unharmed. Alot of the maize farmers had their entire crops destroyed and when the water reached the damn by about 30 minutes from my house it is now at the maximum level. Some Army Reserves from the midwest are here to advise the damn people how to release the water without causing any damage to the people on the river below. They started to release the water 3 days ago and there has not been any large scale flooding. Thank heavens.

To my friends in the US, I can not say that I am sorry to have missed all of the campaign commercials. I heard from Mom that this year the elections were dirtier than usual which is difficult to believe. I have to confess that for the first time since I was able to vote that I did not. I just did not have the energy to request an absentee ballot. At least I won't be getting jury duty this year:)

I hope that everyone is doing good and I will try to post again before Thanksgiving!

So this week I am in Accra for my mid service medical check up. Before I got here I had heard mixed things about what to expect. Everything from "you are just going to Accra to get you out of your site" to "you will just have to do 3 MIF tests and a Pap test". In all honesty I thought that it would be a waste of my time if that is all that this was going to be, then I read through the questionnaire.

The PC asks you an extensive amount of questions about your health while you have been at site and then from how you answer those questions they determine what medical tests they need to run or what other doctors you will need to see. There are standard tests that all volunteers are required to have done and then PC determines any additional appointments by how you fill out the questionnaire. Considering that the federal government is responsible for my health care while I am here and for any medical condition that I might get from being here I want to make sure that my medical records are accurate just in case something happens. It is always better to be safe than sorry, or as my mother says "document, document, document." If you tell them and they write it down, no one can come back later and say that they did not know.

So based the standard PC requirements and on how I answered my questions I had to go to the dentist this week, see the dermatologist, the GYN and an ENT.

Let's start with the dentist. As most of you know I hate going to the dentist. It has nothing to do with the profession or the dentists that I have seen in the past I just don't like to go. Because of my fear of the dentist I was dreading going to the dentist here. I am happy to report that getting my teeth cleaned in Ghana was one of the better dental experiences of my life. There was no pain, she was gentle and did not lecture me about flossing.

Then came the dermatologist. She completely looked at my skin to make sure there were no spots and of course gave me the same lecture that my derm at home would, wear sunscreen at all times.

Next came the ENT, aka the ear doctor. I had to see him because I feel like I am having a hard time hearing people and I can't hear on my cell phone without my earphones. I think it is because it is so loud here but I just wanted to make sure that there was no major problem. I went to the military hospital today to see the doctor and he was very nice and knowledgeable. He did a few tests and I get to go have a complete hearing test on Friday. He is not sure what it is but does not think it is anything major.

The last was the trip to the GYN. This was nothing big, all women have to go and she was a very nice German doctor who made me laugh during the procedure. Something I did not think was possible.

The week has been a round of doctors visits and it makes me feel like I am back at home. I can now understand why some volunteers say that coming to Accra for their mid service medical is a waste of time, I think that they have missed an opportunity to have their concerns addressed.

September 26th was census night in Ghana, and there were signs all over town but I had no idea what that ment until Monday night when a census worker came to the house and asked me the census questions.

When the worker started to ask the questions he wanted to know who in the house had spent the "census night" in the house. So now I understood what the census night ment.

The questions were very interesting, some were the same as we get on our census but then there were other questions that I don't remember being on our census. Here are some of the questions that they asked: the literacy those 11 years or older, educational characteristics of persons 3 years or older who had formal schooling, economic activity of persons 5 years or older, if you are disabled, how many children were born alive in the last 12 months, what the house is made of, if you own or rent the house, number of rooms in the house, number of sleeping rooms, main source of lighting, what you cook with, how you get your water for drinking and water for other domestic purposes, if you have a kitchen, a bathroom, a toliet, how you get rid of your trash, if you have a mobile phone, a land line or have access to the internet.

It was interesting that the question about economic activity of persons 5 years or older. They wanted to know if any individual is working for at least 1 hour during the 7 days prior to the census night even if he/she is going to school. They wanted to know the kind of work even if the child did not get directly paid. I am hoping that this is to get children to stop working and go to school but I know that that is not going to happen.

At first I thought that they would not want to interview me since I was not a Ghanian but since I was living in Ghana I got to answer the questions. They had a section with your nationality but they never asked if I had a visa to be there which I thought was a little odd. There was also a question about how many languages you speak. I asked the man to clarify that question and the options were one local language, one local language and English, one local language and French, more than one local language or other. I chose other.

On the whole the experience was interesting. When he finished he thanked me and I walked him to the gate because he was afraid of the dog, Teddy. He was telling me that my interview was one of his shortest at 45 minutes. He said that some of his interviews have taken 5 hours to interview the entire house.

I am glad that they are getting all of this information so they can get a baseline of information about the living conditions of the country and from what the director of census in my town is saying the information is going to be used for something for the World Bank and the UN. I hope that Ghana is going to be able to get something for all of the hard work that the workers have put in to get the information.

So I am sitting on my front porch waiting for someone from my office to bring me my house keys. You may be wondering why, because I am locked out of my house.

Yes I am having another blond day. My plan was to leave the office about an hour early and try to get some computer work done at the house. So I wrapped everything up at the office. Made sure that everyone there had all of their questions answered then packed up my bag and left; walking right by my keys in the front door of my office. Now let me just say that I keep the keys there so that I won’t lose them, I guess that today I just forgot them. In my defence (if there is one) I am usually the one who locks up the office so that is why I keep the keys there but today I was not the last one in the office.

As I was walking down the dirt road to my compound it hit me, I don’t have my damn keys. Now if this had happened in the US I would just pry open a window and jump climb into the house hoping that the alarm was not on, right Mom. Unfortunately that won’t work here. I have bars built into all of the windows and I have burglar gates on all of my doors and I do lock them. So I am stuck outside until someone brings my keys.

The only good thing is that about 2 weeks ago I did put out a chair on my front porch so I have some place to sit when the weather is nice. So at least I am comfortable while I wait for my keys. I got home around 4:15pm and talked to my neighbours until the rain came and it is now around 5:15pm and the keys should be here at any time. I would say that I have learned my lesson but we all know better than that.

So I spent this week/weekend in Kumasi. The middle part of the week was spent in a safety and security meeting that allowed us to make sure that we are ready for any possible problem that might arise in Ghana (not that there has been any). I can honestly say that Peace Corps takes the safety of the volunteers very seriously and makes sure that we know what to due in case of any issue, from floods to crime.

After the meeting, I stayed to do some research on product development for the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps in Ghana. I had never been to Kumasi and I had heard that there were some really good kraft villages in the area. I decided to use 2 days to explore at least 2 of them.

On Friday, I went to visit a fellow volunteer Kelli at her site. Her primary job assignment is to promote Adinkra printing on fabric. There is a traditional way to do this by using a calabash and a water based dye. It was interesting to see the prints and I did take some pictures that I will post tomorrow.

I was also able to sit in on a meeting with the MPs (Member of Parliments) who serve on the industry and trade committee. The meeting was interesting to watch. The meeting started with 15 minutes of greeting, the people hosting the meeting had to greeting the visitors and then the visitors had to do the same. Everytime a new person came in they had to stop the meeting and greet.

The meeting was nice to see, the MPs told the people of the villagers and members of the TMT (tourism management team) what they do and how they can help the town. They also asked the TMT what the government could do for them. The TMT was then able to stand up and say what they wanted and have their voices heard. I left after an hour of the meeting but it was still going on and the people were getting their voices heard.

On Saturday, my friend Georgette came in a few hours early for her VAC meeting and we went to the brass village. To say it was an experience getting there is putting it mildly.

We left around 11am and did not get there until 2pm. Here is the story. We left with some general directions on where the village was so we were off. We got into a tro and dropped where we were told to and got into a shared taxi. We thought that it might not be right since the price was too low. About 10 minutes into the trip a passenger asked where we were going and when we told him he told us that we were going in the wrong direction. He told us where to get out and how to get the village.

We dropped and grabbed a taxi to the teaching hospital. The taxi was so nice, it had A/C. We got to the hospital and tried to get a tro to the village. No one knew where we were talking about. We showed them the name of the village in the Bradt's guide and they were still clueless. Finally someone tried to help us and got us a tro. Problem was it was going in the wrong direction.

About 30 minutes into the trip on this tro I noticed that we were leaving town and the village was supposed to be in town. I looked in the guide book and found a map and so we got out of the tro and got into a taxi and finally got to the village. Little did we realize that the village is just past Sir Max's restaurant in Kumasi (a favorite pizza place for volunteers).

When we got to the village, I found the guy I was looking for, Paul. Of course he said that I should have called him for directions. So we spent some time looking at the things that the brass casters make and I took some pictures. I also bought some things there. I will post the pictures tomorrow. Getting back was much easier, two tros and we were back at the sub-house.

While I was at these two sites I was able to think of some good ideas of things that might sell during the celebration.

Today was amazing, I was able to get 5 bank accounts opened at Barclay's for 5 of the women that work in our Krobo Assembly Center. I am hoping to get 2 more opened by the end of the month and then 3 more opened in the next month or two.

You may wonder why I consider this such an accomplishment. The reason is the documents required to open an account. The major banks in Ghana (Ghana Commercial and Barclays) require either a passport, or drivers license if you don't have either one then you have to produce 2 forms of identification (birth certificate, national id card, baptism certificate, national health insurance card, etc). They also require that the person who opens up the account has a mailing address and a residential address and know when and where they were born. This is where all the problem started. None of the women that I work with have birth certificates, 2 of them did not know the exact date of their birth, and the list goes on and on.

Getting the accounts opened was a real lesson on life in Ghana. I thought that I knew how to ask questions of the women so that I could get the answers that I needed until we had to fill out the form for the account. I would ask when were you born and they would tell me the town, I would ask when their date of birth was and they would give me the year. It reminded me of what our great-grandparents would have answered when asked.

None of them had a postal address so they all had to go and find some place to use as a postal address. In Ghana there is no home mail delivery, all mail goes to a PO Box, so most of the women used the church that they attend or a local community center.

When I went to talk to the personal banker at Barclays (who is a great man and very professional) he told me that if they did not have a passport or drivers license they could bring in two other forms of identification as long as the names matched. This is where I ran into more problems because 2 of the girls had the two forms of identification but their names did not match. One would have their "house" name and the other one would have their "Christian" name.

So now for two of the workers we have to get new identification cards and don't ask me how to do it. I am told that there is only certain times that you can get an id card and it depends on the region. The fun never ends.

For the last three workers, they have just started working so I am going to wait a little while and see if they are going to work out before we open up the account.

So now I am going to show them how to fill out a deposit slip and a withdrawl slip and next week we will continue our weekly budgeting classes. I think that I getting some things done even if it is small, small.

So last weekend we had our Eastern Region VAC (volunteer advisory committee) meeting at my house and while it was nice to see everyone, I don't think I will ever host it at my place again.

We have at least 15 new volunteers in my region and it was great to start to get to know everyone but my house is located in a nice, quiet neighborhood was the wrong place to have the meeting. I feel so bad for my neighbors. I think that Saturday could have been a commercial for "Hear come the noisy Americans" I felt like it was a frat house I was staying in rather than my nice quiet house.

It is amazing that when most volunteers come to Ghana we comment about how loud it is, between the loud radios, church services, goats, chickens and children running around at all hours. Then when they are given the opportunity to stay at a nice quiet location they turn into the exact same thing that they complain about.

When I talked to my neighbors this morning the first question he asked was "are they new volunteers, because your other friends that come to see you are so much quieter." Maybe the longer that we are in country we learn how to use our inside voices and to respect our neighbors. I just know that as much as I like spending time with the other volunteers I would not subject my neighbors to the loud conversations again.

With less than a week to go before the start of the college football season now is the time that I miss being back in the states the most. I miss all of the articles in the newspaper about how well the teams are predicted to do in the coming season. Bill, thanks for sending me the articles from the AJC.

While I am living in Ghana and on a continent that does not understand the concept of American football or the rivalries of college football the urge to fly home for the UGA/FL game grows. (I won't be coming home my mom and aunt will be here.) I have tried to explain to people here about college football in the South and how it is like a religion but they don't understand how it can be called football if it is not played with your foot. They also don't understand how girls/women can get dressed up to go to games and why we follow our school teams well after university.

I love living in Ghana and have adjusted to most things here but can not get used to not having my Saturday afternoon/evening football game in the fall. Please keep the updates coming and lets all pray that this is a great year for the DAWGS!

I just got back from one of my normal trips to market and I realized that my community does not really see me any differently than the rest of the people in town.

While it is a goal of PC to have you integrate into your community in my case it is a little more difficult since my community has about 17,000 people in it and they don't get all that may "blofonos" that come to visit. (Blofono means white person from over the mountain or visitor.)

When I was at the market today I think I only heard 3 people call out to me "hey white person" or "blofono" and when I was leaving I had to push my way to get by the tro-tro just like everyone else. A few months ago people would have been screaming at me or would have been helping me get through the crowd. Now they just expect that I can handle myself.

It is saying something that they think a white woman can take care of herself because here they think that most white women are frail and need someone to help them do everything. I think that I have passed a milestone here.

It is also worth noting that if I don't go to market for a week or so my regular market ladies will ask about me when I come back to make sure that I am ok and that I have not been sick. It is nice to know that I have been accepted.

So my office has had mice for quite a few weeks and as long as they have left me alone I have been fine to leave them alone but in the last few days they have been taking over more and more space and have moved into the office and started to have babies.

On Tuesday I was getting a plastic box of beads out of one of my cabinets when I noticed a nest of paper and thought "this is where those damn mice are living". Well you all know that I am not going to be the one to chase a mouse around the office, I hate to even deal with spiders, (although I have gotten better at that). It is a good thing that a few weeks ago we had a guy named Michael start here and he took it upon himself to take care of the nest.

As he was moving the plastic boxes he noticed that there were baby mice. Just great is what I was thinking. He picked the first one up by its tail and put it in our trash can. He found 2 more and then the serious mouse hunt started. We blocked off parts of the office with cardboard boxes so the mouse would be trapped and after 30 minutes it was .

I am glad to say that Michael killed it. He put it in the trash can and it went home with the 3 babies with Gladys so her 2 cats could have a treat.

Then this morning another one (probably the dad) jumped out of the cabinet and we started the hunt all over again. I am glad to say that this time it was Gladys that killed the thing and it is out of the office.

I am hoping that this will be the last mouse in the office for a little while but you never can tell.

On Thursday Peace Corps Ghana swore in the new group of 72 volunteers. I went to the swearing in for a couple of reasons, I wanted to see my friends who I had not seen in months, I wanted to meet the new group coming in and see where they were going. It was great to see the new group of volunteers and absorb some of their enthusiasm.

After being at site for a year, I needed to be reminded of the joy that I first felt when I was sworn in. I still love being here and would not trade my site for anyone other one. But like every other job there are days when you wonder what the hell you are doing, and it is a little worse when you are in a foreign country and don't really blend in. Lets face it this is not a "Where's Waldo" book.

So of the 72 new volunteers at least 14 are coming to my region and I have two new neighbors within 10 minutes of my house. It is going to make my last 11 months at site a little different. I have become so used to being the only white person out of 17,000 people and now there will be three of us. Having so many new volunteers in the Eastern Region will make going to bead market on Thursdays interesting. Our usual lunch meeting after market will now be so big that we are going to need the private room in either Chris' Cafe or Linda Dors. They may also take up most of the Vodophone cafe. I think Koforidua is going to love having all of these volunteers in the area.

Swearing in also meant that I have less than one year left in Ghana. My Peace Corps ID expires on August 11, 2012 so I guess that means that I have to be done with my job here by then. I am not quite sure how I feel about that.

I have talked to the volunteers who are getting ready to go home and they say that their second year flew by. I can't imagine that it can go any faster than my first but if it does than I am in trouble.

I have started to get my site ready for my departure (I know that it is early but I am the last volunteer that they are going to put here). We have hired someone to take my place when I leave and I have started to train him and I think he will do great.

Now I just have to start to think about what I want to do when this great adventure is over in 11 months. Any ideas?

So yesterday I decided to take a quick 1/2 day trip to Aburi to see what the woodcarvers in Aburi had to offer. I was in the mood for some retail therapy, some things never change.

When you come to Ghana, especially in Accra, you see a lot of wood carvings of all shapes and sizes. The prices can be range from the low end to quite high so I wanted to go to where the carvings are actually produced.

The woodcarving village is about an hour and 15 minutes from my house (if you make all of the connections). When I got to the village yesterday it was a nice cool, overcast day and there were about 20-30 individual vendors selling almost the same things. There were a lot of wall hangings, masks, various sizes of drums, all different kinds of animals and games.

I was finally able to find the three wise monkeys that were carved separately and a game that is played here in Ghana. I also got a few gifts for people back home.

Don't worry Aunt Laurie, I remembered that you liked monkeys and picked you up a little something.

The village was so cute that it may be some place that I bring mom and Aunt Aileen so they can see some of the typical and traditional craft work in Ghana.

Other than this trip I have been working and trying to keep our heads above water with the orders that we have been getting. It is wonderful for the girls to see how much the products they make are liked in the US.

I needed a little break this weekend from the production at the office, so I decided to take a short trip to another PCVs site in the Volta region to see how Ewe Kente is made and to possibly buy some.

The trip took less than 2 hours and my friends site was great. I dropped at the weaving site and there were about 5 weavers there working on orders they had received from embassies, expats and from the states. I was able to walk around the center and watch the guys make the kente and then sit down at one of the loom's and have my picture taken. Don't be fooled by the picture I did not try to weave anything, I was too afraid to mess up the design.

Inside the weaving site they had some strips of Kente that were already completed. They had both Ewe kente patterns and Ashanti patterns. I fell in love with one pattern called "Poor man doesn't eat stone". The phrase means that no matter how poor you are you can not eat rocks. They had the pattern in several different colors and I ended up buying 11 strips of this kente pattern that were sewn together. It will look so nice with a black dress when I am back in the real world and start to go out again. The best part is that this pattern is reversible.

I took some pictures while I was there and have uploaded them. Hope you enjoy my mini-trip.

Some how I survived the first week of production but don't ask me how. I had to let one employee go and my production manager left with malaria but I got through the week.

Here is what happened. . . .

Monday all of the girls showed up on time for work except for one, she did not call anyone, she just did not show. I decided that if she did not show up by Wednesday that I would give her position to someone else.

Tuesday the missing employee showed up. When I asked her why she did not call she just laughed at me then said she had a doctors appointment and did not come after it. I asked her how she was going to make up her hours since she had to work 40 hours per week to get her benefits. Once again she laughed at me and said to just take it out of her pay. When I told her that we had talked about her not having any vacation time yet and that she was going to have to make up any hours she missed she again laughed. She thought that I was kidding. I told her that she was going to have to work full time, we had so much work that we were not offering any part time positions. She said that she was not going to make up the hours and I had to let her go.

It was amazing how quickly after that the girls started to work faster. I knew that they were good workers but at the same time I knew that they were going to test me for the the short term. By letting this one person go they all knew that they were going to have to work their time and that I was not going to let anyone get away with anything.

Then my production manager started to disappear. I could not believe it, she then pulled me aside to tell me that she was not feeling good but that she would stay and work and if she need to "get sick" she would just go to the gutter like she had been doing. I told her that was unacceptable, she needed to go home and get better. She was out for 3 days with malaria.

I will have to say that my first week was a trial by fire but I survived.

Well tomorrow is the day, the girls officially start working for me. I am not sure yet if this is a good thing yet or not.

If you are wondering what I am talking about here is the story. The NGO that I am working for used to have a company that assembled our products. After going back and forth with them since I arrived in my town about several fair trade issues it was decided that we would no longer use them to make our products.

When we told them of our decision we also offered the workers (the girls) the option of coming to work for us directly and having me be the manager. They all started to dance and asked if they could start working for me the next day. I told them that they had to work it out with their current managers and then get back with me.

It has taken us about two weeks to get everything straightened out and tomorrow is the girls first day. I am now hoping that all of the work that the interns did to help me get ready was enough. I am also hoping that I have enough supplies to keep them busy and that they will listen to me and follow the changes that I have made from the way that they were doing it in the other location.

I think that the first few months will be them testing me out, like at every job but they are also on probation and will be getting progress reports from me. I am hoping that this works out because our bead sales have increased so much that this business can be really profitable for the workers and the bead makers.

Let's just keep our fingers crossed that I can make it through the first week.

Today I went in search of bead makers. Now you would think that since I am living in the center of the bead making region that this would be an easy task, that would be an incorrect assumption. Until today the majority of the painted beads that we use in our designs are bought from the market ladies and the market ladies get them from the bead makers. Since the market ladies don't want to lose our business they don't want to give us the name or the villages where they get their beads.

In the last two weeks I have had some cadets from West Point volunteering with my NGO and they have been a huge help! Among the other things they have helped with is to find the bead makers. When we went to Koforidua the first week that they were here they watched as I talked to some of the market ladies to see how to try to get information out of them, especially about where they get their beads. They then started to walk around the bead market and ask similar questions and they were able to get the name of different villages.

Last week they went to some of the villages and they found a great asset named Nicholas. Nicholas has been making beads for more than 20 years and he has taught at least 70 people how to make beads in the area. He invited them to bring me back to meet more of the bead makers.

Today we went back to one particular village. This village is probably the most remotest village that I have been to while in Ghana. To get to this village you have to go to a small town, then turn down a dirt road for about 3-4 miles until the dirt road ends at a family's compound. At this point you have to climb for about 20-30 minutes up a mountain. The hike was about 1 mile long.

When we got to the town I think that every house we saw were bead makers. It was amazing. Here I had been looking for bead makers and it was like they were hiding in this Shangri-la the whole time.

After spending about 2-3 hours in the village I found most of what I was looking for and had ordered about 150 pairs of beads. The good thing is that the bead makers will be making more for selling directly to me than by selling to the market ladies and we are spending the same amount. It was a great day, I feel like I was able to get much done.

The best part was that I will not have to go back to the village to get the beads. The bead makers come to my village twice a month for a meeting of the bead makers and so they can bring my orders then and I can give them new orders at that time since there is no cell phone coverage in the village.

So now that I have a new phone that takes pictures and video I thought that I would use it to take a few snap shots.

I tried it the first time when we had so much rain at the office that I thought that we were going to have to build an arc to get out of the office. I know that we are in the rainy season (I can tell by the amount of rain and the fact that I am wearing jeans because I am so cold) but I have never seen so much rain in my town. We had so much rain one day that the whole front of my office was completely flooded up to the front 2 steps, the gutters were over flowing and the roads were flooded. Needless to say, I stayed in the office until the rain stopped. I did not want to walk in the water because I did not know what was in it, I could only imagine. About 15 minutes after the rain slowed and then stopped some how the ground absorbed all the standing water and the only thing left was mud, or so I would like to think. I have a link to some pictures if you would like to see the flood.

I have also put a picture of what one of the more creative shoe sellers did in my market to get people to stop and look at his shoes. He dressed up a teddy bear and put shoes on it and then put a water sachet in front of it to make it look almost like a real "small boy". It was amazing the amount of people who were stopping and looking at his shoes and most were buying things. I would love to see more of this "out of the box" thinking here.

The last picture is of the little boy who lives across the street from me. His name is Yaw and he lives with his mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and his aunt. This is typical in Ghana. The little boy is so cute and he loves to come over and pet the dogs in my compound, he also likes to wander up to the main road. I have to bring him home about 2 days a week because he gets away from the house just to see the "big trucks" on the main road. I am always afraid that he is going to get hit by one of those trucks.

Hope you enjoy my pictures.

So last night I went with the GM interns to watch the game and to cheer on the Black Stars. We got there and the owner of the chemical store saw the 8 white people in the crowd and did not want us to stand in the street so he had us stand up on the concrete ledge to watch the game. Every thing was going fine until just before Ghana scored their one goal in regulation time. Then someone pulled the cord out of the wall and the video screen went black. We could still hear the game but we could not see it on the screen. I was afraid that a riot was going to break out because just then Ghana scored. The whole group that was watching the game started cheering and screaming for them to get the projector back up and running.

The projector started to work again just as half time started and the game was going just fine and then a fight did break out just next to me. From what I could understand they were arguing about the game and the discussion just got too heated. The next thing I knew the guys that I was with had me stand behind him so I would not get hit. I had forgotten how nice it is to not have to always stand up for yourself.

When that had passed, we went back to watching the game. It broke my heart when they missed the penalty goal that would have ended the game and then it went into further time and then the whole towns heart broke when they missed their penalty shots. The whole town just put their heads down and walked away. I was like they did not even want to be around anyone else to talk about the game.

I am in Accra today to deliver some things to my NGO and it is like the whole town is in mourning.

Hopefully the next time will be better!

Last night was wonderful! I watched the Ghana vs. USA football game with some friends at a local hotel that has a big screen tv. Being able to watch the game while in Ghana was amazing. The people I was with were so worried when Ghana did not score after the first minute because for most of the recent Ghana games they have been only been able to score one goal. When it went into overtime they got really worried and then when they scored so quickly in overtime the place went wild.

After the game was over we left to go home through a couple of small towns and we drove through lots of crowds of people running through the streets, carrying the Ghana flag and drumming. What made this really interesting was that the game was played on a Saturday which is funeral day. What this means for those of you who have not been to Ghana is that most of the people who attended the game had been drinking apatashe for the whole day and were pretty drunk.

While I would have loved to see the celebration in town I don't enjoy being around large crowds of drunk people whether I am here or back in the states. The next game will be on Tuesday and it will be great to be able to watch it in town again on the big screen made out of the white sheet.

Sorry US but Ghana wanted it more.

What a week! Ghana is now the only African team to advance to the single elimination round in the World Cup, they are now the "Hope of Africa".

I went and watched the game in the middle of my village. A local business owner had set up a "big screen tv" which was a white sheet pulled tight between a wood frame, and then the game was projected on both sides so any one could watch it. I think that there must have been 500 people in the street watching the game. I was able to video the area on my new phone and will post it later today.

I was there with some 7 volunteers that Global Mamas has working in my town for the next few weeks. It was great for them to get the full Ghana experience and to see how great my town is at such a huge moment for Ghana.

It was too bad that Ghana lost the game to Germany but it seemed like the whole town knew all of the "what ifs". Then when the screen was put up to show that Germany and Ghana were the two teams from our group to advance the whole town started to cheer.

Tonight Ghana plays the US and the press here is calling it a grudge match because Ghana beat the US in the last World Cup. Now everyone here in town is asking me who I will support. While I love the US, I will be supporting Ghana. When I tell people this, there next question is why. My answer is because the US is not a big "football" country. We love most of sports like American football, basketball and baseball but not "football" or as we call it soccer. Where as in Ghana children grow up dreaming of playing in the Premier league in Europe. It is a sport that is played in the streets and courtyards by children with chunks of dirt. Therefore I have to support Ghana.

Go Ghana!

I am back home in Ghana after a short two week vacation with family and friends. I had a great time visiting everyone at home and catching up on everything that I had missed in the last year. It is amazing how things change and how they stay the same.

I was surprised by the fact that the road construction in Jacksonville is almost completed and that the traffic was half of what I remember it to be when I drove into work in the mornings. I was completely shocked by how expensive everything was, I know that I am used to paying next to nothing for things in Ghana but really are jeans really worth $180?

I loved eating all of my favorite foods and going to my favorite restaurants. Even after eating everything that I could possibly eat, I think that I only put on 3lbs. Maybe the weight really will stay off.

There are some things that I thought I would miss and then when I got home I realized that I really did not miss them all that much. Don't laugh but television was one of them, while mom and dad have digital cable and over 300 channels there still was nothing to watch on most days. I ended up watching my "stories" aka "General Hospital" for a week and it only took me 15 minutes to catch up what I had missed for the last year. I guess that all my shows will be there for me when I get back in 15 months. The other thing was AC. I was cold the entire time I was back in the States. When I went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned they had to cover me up with a blanket to keep me from shivering off the chair.

The most interesting thing about going home was how excited I was to get back to Ghana. Please don't get me wrong, I am not saying that I did not enjoy the time that I had with my family and friends (it was too short to see everyone) it just took this trip for me to realize that I have truly made Ghana my home and that I am excited to see my project through to the end and make sure that it is sustainable beyond my time here.

When I got back to Ghana on Friday, I was amazed by how many of the people from my village called me to make sure that I was back safely. It is a custom in Ghana to ask about your travels and it just made me feel nice that my friends and neighbors here included me in this custom.

While I miss my family and friends back at home, I know that when I leave my village in 15 months I know I am going to miss them just as much.

So once again I am sitting at an airport (this is becoming all to familiar) and getting ready to fly to another location to see more family and friends, and I can not believe that I have been back in the States for almost a week now. The time has flown by and I don't feel like I have gotten much done. I have gotten my hair cut and did spend the day at the spa but the days have flown buy.

The other interesting thing is that you really can't fit that much into your suitcase and have it weigh under 50lbs. I had a long list of things that I wanted to bring back and while I was able to get most of it in my suitcase I thought that I would have been able to get it into one suitcase.

The only thing that I wanted to do was to spend as much time with my family as possible but it is amazing that the things that you want to do while you here.

For my friends in the Jacksonville area that I did not get to see, I am sorry. I only had so much time and I will be home again in about 16 months.

To say that it is weird coming back to the US after living in Ghana for a year is an understatement. I thought (very naively) that since I had gone to Rome in February that it would not be a big deal for me to fly into JFK and just walk around like I had not been gone for so long. Let me tell you how wrong I was.

To start with security has changed completely. I thought that it was difficult before I left but it is so much worse now and lets remember that I flew a few weeks after September 11th out of Dulles Airport. When you fly out of the Ghana airport they hand check all of your bags and then they go through the metal detectors and then you get not one but TWO pat downs. I was shocked.

Then when I was going through customs and immigration neither could believe that I had been living abroad in Ghana for a year by choice. I told them that I was a Peace Corps volunteer and then it made since to them.

When I got into the Jet Blue terminal I walked around for 10 minutes trying to decide what to eat because I wanted it all and knew that if I ate all of it I would be to sick to fly to Florida. When I did order my pepper steak from the Asian bistro, I did it from a computer screen and no one said "it is finished". When I got my meal it was right, hot and great, with OUT MAGGIE cubes.

The entire terminal has wireless Internet and it is so fast that I can work on 5 things at once. I am not sure how I am going to go back to the other dial up connection speed at my house in the village.

The true test of how much I freak out will come when I go to the grocery store and see how much my favorite fruit costs. If strawberries are under $20, I might just pass out in the store.

Today marks the one year anniversary that my PC group landed in Ghana and I thought that I would write about how many things have changed since I have been here and a brief summary of what I have seen and done.

When I first got off the plane and we went to the office and then to Valley View University I thought OMG Accra is huge I can never get used to this city. Now when I drive by Valley View to come to Accra to make deliveries for my NGO I think "Great I still have another 45 minutes to an hour before I get to Accra depending on traffic". I now walk around Accra, especially Osu like it is no big deal, I hail taxis and can negotiate a price like I have been living here for years. I was with a few other volunteers last night who rarely come to Accra and they were amazed by how well I negotiate for a taxi. My nice girl attitude goes away when it comes to the taxi drivers here.

I also had my first "I am in Africa moment" a few weeks ago. It was not what most people would think of as an African moment. There have been power outages in Accra for the past month so as I was walking from Osu to Labone to where I stay I thought that if there was power in Osu there must be power in Labone, wrong. My African moment was walking and hearing nothing but generators. You might think this would be a weird moment but here I was in a modern city and the only thing you could here was generators, in the village you are used to the power going out but not in the city. It was surreal.

As for some of the things that I have seen or done in the last year here is a quick list:

number of regions visited: 5 of 10 (I will get to the other 5 this year)

number of ditches fallen into: 1 (but it was dry)

number of children who have run screaming from my b/c of my skin color: 4

number of marriage proposals: too many to count (lost count my first month)

number of bats killed in my house: 4

bottles of sunscreen I have gone through: 4

number of Burt's bees lip balm I have used: too many to count

amount of rice I have eaten: several kilos

pounds I have lost in 1 year: 35

joined the "club": not yet

number of times I am hissed at a day: about 20

This is just a short glimpse of what my year has been like. Some may ask if I am looking forward to the next 15 months and all I can say is that I can not wait. The hard part is over, I now know what I to expect and it is just like living any where else.

I am staying in Accra this week before I fly out for the US for 2 weeks. My supervisor at PC asked me to come into town and work with him on a project so I came in from the village and I am staying at my supervisor's house. Last night was a very sad night in the house.

About 3-4 months ago a neighborhood cat had kittens in the yard and the day guards around the house have been caring for these 4 kittens. It is really sweet to see the Ghanaians watch over them because usually they could careless about pets. Last night they found out that one of the night guards had taken one of the kittens.

While we were in the house we could here the argument outside and let me tell you that it was heated. The guard that took the kitten said that he had permission but that was not the case. He is also from the north where they eat cat and dog so we know that the kitten is not going to be a house cat. So after about 45 minutes of fighting they realized that nothing was going to get settled and they all dispersed. Please keep in mind that they were just arguing that no one was in any real danger.

Those of us in the house were rather upset because we had watched them grow up, and just yesterday morning I moved them out of the way from my taxi. Most of you know how much I love animals and would have taken all of them in if I was living here for longer than 2 years. It breaks my heart to think that this little kitten is going to end up as someones dinner, especially since it was so small. It would not even be enough for a snack. I know that as part of living here I am supposed to open my mind to new experiences but I have to draw the line at eating dog and cat. Hopefully the kitten will run away and find a better life living on lizards.

So this week was the week when the girls who had completed their Dipo training were walking around in their beads and traditional fabric.

Now you maybe asking what the Dipo training is, and that is a good question. Dipo is the "coming of age" custom which turns Krobo girls into Krobo women. In former times, girls were sent to live with the older women on Krobo mountain or in the villages for one year, to learn from them. Now most of the education of the girls takes place in schools so the custom only takes one week.

The custom is interesting, from what I have read. I have not seen it take place, I have only seen the girls walking around in their cloth and beads. The custom is that the girls wear many pounds of beads as part of the ceremonies and for most of the ceremonies the girls are not allowed to wear cloth from the waist up, they can only wear beads. It is only after the girls jump the stone to prove that they are "good girls and have not conceived a child" if they have they will not be able to jump the stone and the pot from which you drink the sacred drink will break.

Most of the girls that I have seen going through the ceremony are between the ages of 12 and 17. The Queen mother of my area try not to allow any girl under the age of 12 to go through the ceremony and try to use the ceremony to education the girls about HIV/AIDS.

It is very expensive for the girls to go through the ceremony. The family has to buy the girls several new pieces of cloth depending on the day of the week and new beads to add to the family collection. In addition they need to purchase gifts to give to the traditional priest who presides over the ceremony. Not all families in the village can afford for their daughters to go through the ceremony but those that do are looked upon with favor and it is a way to emphasize the importance of waiting to have children and family.

Seeing the girls walking around the village this week in their traditional clothes made me smile that this was one tradition that was not lost in the race to modernize Ghana. All to often I see the boys here wearing their pants as low as we do in the States and their hats on backwards like the hip-hop stars do. Everyone wants to be an American hip-hop star and lose their traditions so I am glad that they are holding on to this one and adding HIV/AIDS education.

Rainy season is once again here in my part of Ghana and with that comes the cooler temperatures. Now you may be thinking "She lives in sub-Saharan Africa how much cooler can it be?" The answer only in the 70s today, I had goosebumps on my arms.

Here is the back story. . . . When I arrived in Ghana almost 1 year ago (June 4th will be one year) it was rainy season and the current PCVs said that this was their favorite time of the year because they could wear jeans and sleep without sweating. We all thought that they were crazy. We had just gotten off the plane and were sweating like it was the hottest day in August in Macon without the A/C. Now after living through the Harmattan with the dry, hot winds and cool (but not cold) nights I can see why PCVs love the rainy season. I did not sweat at all today!

I was at the office today until about noon (the power went out during the storm and I could not see to work) and then came home. I was so cold that I had to put on a pair of pants and a short sleeved tee-shirt and bundle up in a blanket. This is the first time in maybe 8 months that I have not been in a tank top dress or tank top tshirt and skirt(except for Rome). I thought about pulling out my fleece from my suitcase and putting that on because I was so cold. Who knew that you could get used to temperatures in the 90s and then find the 70s so cold? When I looked at the thermometer in my room at 1:30pm this afternoon it only read 75 degrees, on most days it would have been closer to 95 degrees.

It will be interesting when I go home in 20 days to see how I handle the cooler weather. Will I be the one wearing jeans, sweaters, and sandals with socks in June in Florida, probably not but when I am in upstate NY I might just be wearing my long underwear!