and all if the sudden it was July.....

June….. no wait, July 7 2012.

So many things… where do I begin?

Let’s start with the most recent and work our way backwards.

My Ghana “dad” showed up this morning. Until today it has just been me, Rita (the 4 yr old), Nana (the baby), and my Ghana “mom”. Today a dad arrived. He is very nice and speaks some awesome English. We can actually have legit conversations.  A part of me wants to yell “Where have you been?!  So many awkward moments could have been avoided if you had always been here!” and then the very small, sane, rational part of my brain speaks in a low, almost inaudible voice “Melissa, this man has been away at his job till now and you’re lucky he even graced you with his presence, so enjoy it lady.”

July 4^th was pretty cool. I had class all freakin day till 4pm then I achieved some freedom (me and America have so much in common). All the trainees planned to make dishes, potluck style, and meet at the local bar to celebrate freedom, democracy, and the American way. After my delicious guacamole was made (my Ghana family refused to try it. Their excuse was “I’m satisfied” lol) I traveled to the bar and enjoyed some of the best food I have ever had. There was apple crisp, Asian cabbage salad, fruit, Italian tomatoes, coke floats, and so many good dips. Oh, and also fried chicken.  We are a talented group of people. Sam (a girl) and Jessica (also a girl) decided to do superlatives for our group, everyone voted and here’s where I fell. There were male and female winners for each group.

1^st place most likely to get a Ghana tattoo (please, so obvious)

1^st place most likely to cane a student (hit the student with a stick, apparently I come across as 

the most violent among the females)

2^nd place most likely to get malaria (one girl told me she nominated me because I always forget to take my malaria pill)

2^nd place most likely to get a parasite

2^nd place most likely to be asked to leave Ghana by the Ghanaian government (I am not sure what this says about me except that I have an attitude problem)

2^nd place most likely to get a buzz cut

2^nd place best humor

Then I was nominated for a bunch of stuff i can’t remember. So…….. what does all this mean? Well, I guess it means people think I will get sick, beat Ghanaians, shave my head, get thrown out of Ghana, then laugh about all of it. Awesome.

Before July 4^th nothing worth writing about happened. Just a lot of learning and a lot of sitting.

Now that you are basically caught up I’ll give you a glimpse of the future. Tomorrow I leave to go to Kumasi and meet my counterpart. A counterpart is the person (usually an employee at your school) that helps you integrate into the community and helps you understand your school. They are supposed to be the “go to” person for questions and help. On Tuesday I meet my counterpart, we spend a few days together and then I finally get to travel to my site. I am so excited! I finally get to see where I’ll be for the next 2 years and unload some my junk. I spend a week at my site and then I spend another week traveling around, doing some stuff ( I still don’t know exactly what). I know at some point I will go shadow another PC art teacher.

I am so excited that everything is finally coming together. It’s hard to spend a month in limbo, not knowing where you are going or who you will be working with, especially with everything that is expected of you. I will be very glad to have some concrete information