Today was the daywe went to the bat caves in Bouyem. We hiked for a ways and then stopped at the first cave, which had no bats but a river. You could kind of bear crawl under the rock to look at the water. Then we hiked a lot more and came to a second cave where you could see bats. Then we climbed up and down over a lot of rocks and through a lot of trees and then we came to the third cave.

People used to hide in this bat cave in times of war because looking at it, you see no way in. That's because to get to the actual bat cave you have to crawl through a wet, wet tunnel. I was a little claustrophobic, but the tunnel was short enough. You could hear bats going nuts ahead of you, but it sounded like they were inside the rock. Then we came out into a cavern where there must have been thousands of bats. To get out, you can either crawl back (no one was up for that) or you can do what we did. We went up a rickety, muddyladder and were spit out into a kind of rock chute which we had to climb up. Someone kicked a chunk of rock down and it got me on the hand, but I was still able to climb (not that I had much of a choice.) We climbed out of the chute and were on a platform in between two more rocks. (The ladder part took you out of the cave into daylight.) THEN we had to climb up this boulder/rock wall using a network of tree roots.

It was AMAZING. I haven't been home yet, so I'm sitting here in the cafe covered in dirt, sand, and bat shit. But I told someone in our group that if he went, I would goback and do itall again.(He was sick so he didn't come.)

I really need to start posting about things in this blog - there's almost too much to talk about. I get overwhelmed and just don't try. I think my next entry will be about food, so look forward to that.

I feel that I need to update, even though not that much is going on. My visa/passport forms have all been submitted, despite the unhelpfulness of the clerk at the post office. (He was convinced that he should take everything and mail it USPS even though I had specific instructions from PC NOT to let him do this.) Now I'm focusing on moving out of my apartment (which involves getting rid of the little that I own) and packing for service.

I've never been a good packer, but this seems harder than anything else. I have to pack for 2 years without knowing what my living conditions will be like. I'm allowed 2 pieces of checked luggage and a carry-on. The total for my stuff cannot exceed 80lbs. I'm bringing a backpacking backpack and an army duffel for the 2 big pieces, and a smaller backpack for the carry-on.

I need to bring clothes (but not that many because I'm going to go African and wear what they wear - it's better suited to the climate), shoes, books, a sleeping bag, flashlights, tupperware, a shortwave radio, any name-brand toiletries I can't live without, duct tape, etc. There are a million things I've thought about and decided against, and a million more things I have yet to think of.

Ugh I don't want to think about this anymore.

Things I'm enjoying now before I lose them:

Having long nails. (In Ghana, worm larvae gets stuck under your fingernails and then it's easier to accidentally eat it/them. I plan to keep my nails short.)

My washing machine.

Air conditioning.

Ice cream.

Internet.

Things I'm excited about:

Meeting my training group.

Abandoning US standards of personal hygiene.

Learning to speak a new language.

My government passport.

Things I'm nervous about:

Living with a host family during training.

Vaccinations.

Spiders.

Having to eat dog. (I'm going to fight eating it tooth and nail, but sometimes shit happens.)

Today I got the invite. For those of you who are not Peace Corps, the invite is the Big Deal. You go through the application process and the interview, you get the nomination (the smaller Big Deal) and then you have to be medically and legally cleared. My entire process took 11 months, but I hear that's unusually long.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Country: Ghana

Program: Environmental (Agroforestry and Alternative Livelihood)

Job Title: Agroforestry and Alternative Livelihood Facilitator

Dates of Service: Nov 30, 2006 - Nov 28, 2008

Pre-Service Training (in Techiman): Sept 22, 2006 - Nov 30, 2006.

Orientation Dates: Sept 19 to Sept 21, 2006

"You will assist Ghanaians to use agro-forestry and alternative livelihood practices. You will also train community partners to access resources. You will use participatory methods to engage a wide-range of people in the learning process. People will acquire knowledge, skills and practices to build capacity. You will play several roles: learner, change agent, mentor, co-facilitator, and co-planner."

The packet also includes information about insurance, loan deferment, passports, and asks for yet another personal statement about the work I'll be doing. When I thought about the personal statement, first I blanked. Then I experienced a moment of panic. I don't know how to use participatory methods to engage a wide-range of people in the learning process! I don't know shit about African trees or farms! I know that that's what training is for, but I can't help but be just a little bit scared to death. It's all so real now...