The information is starting to come together!

July 10^th

My life is slowly, but surely, falling into place. I have met my counterpart. I know my village. All that’s left is for me to go visit and then, in a month or so, move in.

My counterpart is a very intelligent man named Ernest.  He has his M/A in Art Education. He seems to have his you-know-what together. He speaks great English and he is on top of all the information Peace Corps is throwing at him (and there is soooo much information).

A funny question he asked during one of our sessions was whether the Peace Corps had a secret agenda, and if so what was it? Apparently, and I didn’t realize this was a prevalent, but there is a rumor that PCVs work for the CIA. The rumor isn’t just in Ghana, its everywhere.  I was totally ignorant to this rumor. It was interesting watching our trainers explain that if we have ever had any involvement in an intelligence agency our application is immediately trashed and we get a FBI background check during the application process.

My village is Coaltar. Here is what it looks like on paper:

·         Eastern region

·         There is a post office, hospital, and my school.

·         Farming community with a concentrated settlement pattern

·         Primary language is Twi

·         Conflicts in the community are solved through  the chief and the court

·         Thursdays are communal working days

·         It is 53 kilometers from Accra

I haven’t visited my site yet (that’s on Thursday) but I have a sheet of paper that says I’ll be living in a housing compound with 5 other people. Ernest told me there are 4 other teachers and a reverend. This could be awesome…or not awesome. In a perfect world me and these 5 other people would be one big family and we would love each other and everything would be wonderful.  I’m just going to stop there and pray this is the case. Plus there’s one toilet, so there isn’t really a choice but to get along.  I’ll have electricity which is a plus. I’ll get one bed, one writing table, and one chair. Some of the other PCTs have pictures of their place in their folders, but I don’t.

On a separate note I decided to chop off my hair.  The length is about mid neck.  Why did I do this to myself (you might ask)?

1.       I have to take bucket baths. 

2.       I like to wash my hair everyday

3.       It’s hot

4.       I was tired of wearing my hair up everyday

5.       It will grow back

6.       It’s hot

I have had this cut for a few days now and I am liking the functionality of it. It’s not as pretty as long hair, but it’s not terrible and I can wear it down.  One problem is my cowlick.  I have always known I have a cowlick in the back of my head, but I guess longer hair weighs it down and it’s not as noticeable.  With this short hair my cowlick is way more noticeable and annoying.

  

I think I have convinced myself to take the next 2 years as a reprieve from trying to look good. I still have to look halfway decent because I will be teaching, but I don’t have to look good. I will have to step up my glamour a touch when I actually start teaching, just because I don’t aspire to support the dirty, hippy, Peace Corps stereotype. Right now during training I can pretty much get away with rolling out of bed, throwing on a skirt and a shirt, washing my face, brushing my teeth, looking at my hair but not doing anything with it, and heading out the door. Chopping off my hair, not wearing makeup, and putting on Chacos every day is my way of letting go of my old ways and stepping into a new comfort zone (this comfort zone also consists of clothes that, after 4 bucket washings, have started to look like hobo clothes). In maybe my entire life, this is the least I have ever worried about what I look like. I never obsessed over my looks by any means (I only brushed my hair when it started to morph into dreadlocks) but I would almost always put on some makeup, put on nice clothes, and try to look my standard of pretty. Now my standards have dropped dramatically. My new idea of dressing up is putting on mascara and putting some hair goo in my hair.

Who knew this experience would afford me the opportunity worry less about my appearance, allowing me to focus that brain energy elsewhere……. like figuring out how to convince someone to open a Taco Bell franchise in Coaltar? Helllooooooo secondary project.