Too Much Starch

June 10^th, 2012

Finally a free afternoon. Its 4:30 pm Ghana time, 12:30 pm US time.

I am trying to decide if eating a Ghanaian version of pizza rolls that sat in my hot room for 24 hours is a good decision. I’m going to risk it. I haven’t gotten sick yet (I am fully aware I am jinxing myself and these pizza rolls are most likely teeming with bacteria that will keep my intestines busy for the next few days). Ok so I just tried one and…. SURPRISE… it’s not like a pizza roll at all. It’s more like a scone.

A week ago I made the decision to get on a plane that brought me here. It’s amazing how fast this week has gone, I wonder if this is a glimpse into the future. I’m sure in a year and a half I’ll be flipping out about how fast the Peace Corps passed. Right now it seems like these 2 years can’t pass fast enough. It’s funny how when one thing happens it seems I’m just waiting for the next thing to happen. Weeks before I left I just wanted it to hurry up and happen so I wouldn’t have to stress about it anymore, at the beginning of last week I just wanted to get settled and get the initial shock to be over, now I can’t wait till training is over so I can just get on with my job. I really need to just enjoy this period because I have minimal responsibility… I don’t even have to feed myself. I mean, I have lift the food to my face, but I don’t have to make it.  Later I have to filter water, make food, keep myself clean, integrate, and do my job…. plus a lot of other responsibilities I can’t even think of right now.

Tomorrow should be interesting. Tomorrow the trainees and I move to Anyinam, which is a town (I think, I’ll let you know once I get there) where 25 families have been carefully screened and polished so that each one of us can move in with each one of them. This is really nerve wracking. I’m being asked to move in with a Ghanaian family for 10 WEEKS. I am a guest in a foreign house in which anything could happen. I’ve been told Peace Corps carefully screens these families and puts them through all types of sessions, but the Peace Corps can’t prepare them for the faux pas and the general awkwardness that overcomes me when I am a guest in someone’s home, and I don’t think I have to mention the fact we come from two completely different cultures, that’s a given. I am fully prepared to do a lot of apologizing.

Just to switch gears for a moment and hop onto a completely irrelevant subject…. I am about 10 seconds away from cutting out all those built in underwear things put in girls running shorts. Girls, why is this happening to us? It’s hot and I don’t need another layer, plus it feels all diaper-ish and I haven’t quite reached that stage of my life yet. I know some of you are yelling at your computer something about not wearing undies with running shorts, and those god forsaken things sewn into my shorts are the underwear and I’m screaming back GROSS. No thanks. I don’t want my underwear built into my shorts and I don’t need to feel like I’m wearing diaper.

I am working on packing up my stuff for the move tomorrow but, as it seems, I’ve acquired 25lbs of paper, a mosquito net, and a big heavy med kit to add to my already over stuffed luggage, so I’ve put off the task till later tonight.

If you are wondering where I am in more specific way then just “Ghana” find a map of this so-called “Ghana”.  Find the coast. Follow it to the east. Now, as of right now, I am in Accra. Even more specifically Valley View Christian College (I doubt you can find Valley View on a map, but google is amazing so who knows). Tomorrow I move to Anyinam (north and slightly west of Accra in the Eastern Region). I won’t know where I’ll be for the next 2 years till much much later in my training but I’ll keep you posted.

The fun part about next week is we get to start learning about how to survive on our own and how to do our jobs.  I’m excited because finally the college and being a teacher for 6 months thing (not to mention the long term subbing positions) is paying off. I sort of, kind of, know a little bit about teaching and how to do art, so I feel like I’m a tiny baby step ahead in that aspect because barely anyone here has teaching experience. Given, Ghana is not Virginia. The rules are different. I might be completely caught off guard and feel completely inadequate, but I have gotten a group of kindergarteners to listen long enough to create glittery masterpieces.  I’m up for the challenge.