Techiman

Yesterday we left the hotel we were staying at in Techiman. Looking back on it I had a pretty good time there...with some food related exceptions. In the beginning of our stay there they fed us fried chicken and rice for every meal...for about a week straight until we finally got through to them that we wanted to eat something different. The pool was really fun to swim in, but then it became disgusting all of the sudden. We do not know why but one day it just turned green, and then the hotel kept putting a ton of chemicals in it and the water never became clear again. On our last night the hotel through a party for us, seeing as we gave them a lot of business by staying there for three weeks and there were around 25 of us. They painted the outside of the hotel in the last week we were there, and several of the volunteers like to think that we funded the renovations. I personally am not sure about that because I think that people are required by the government to repaint their buildings regularly. I dont remember where I heard that but I think a Ghanaian told me. Now we are headed back to our homestay village, where there are no flushing toilets, no air conditioning, no running water, and thankfully no more fried chicken. It is like we are going back to reality. I am glad because staying at that hotel and only interacting with each other all the time was starting to mess with my head. It felt kind of surreal. Sometimes at night we would use the projector that gave us powerpoints by day to watch movies at night and I would forget where I was for a moment. A couple times in the past week or so I was struck with this sort of bizarre awareness of how normal I feel here in Ghana. It was an eye opening feeling that I am having trouble remembering right now. I just remember that when I described it to my friends that I was walking with I used the word bizarre. It is funny when realizing the simplest things that entertain us and make us happy these days. A 70 pesewas fanmilk is reallllllly nice in the heat of the day. Fanmilk is sort of like vanilla ice cream but it tastes kind of like that marshmallow puff cream that comes in a jar. Fanmilk comes in a plastic bag and you just bite the corner off and eat the ice cream out of the bag. I dont know if I ever mentioned that is also the way they drink water here. Water comes in bags called satchets and you just bite off the corner and drink it that way. They come in 500 mL bags so it can be good or bad. You are pretty much committed to drinking the whole thing. Now that I am thinking about it I guess you could just throw the rest away...they only cost 10 pesewas. Other simple things that entertain us are imitating animal noises (because in the villages they are everywhere), playing with water satchets (they are pretty much water balloons), and the occasional messing with ants when they find your food and are streamlined and taking it away. And of course we have been drinking for entertainment, and I have had a lot of good laughs with the other people in my training group. There has been a lot of laughing so hard it hurts lately. Last night the hotel threw us a party and gave us four cases of free beer and they even killed a guinea fowl and cooked it up for us. It was pretty fun, Alex was freestyling for a while, Eric was throwing bottle caps at him and he retaliated by throwing the guinea fowl bones.

Now we are back in our homestay village and it feels good to be back. Everyone is so excited to see us and talk to us again. I slept very well last night and it was even a little chilly when I got up around 5 to go to the bathroom. I went back to sleep and had a dream about being cold and drinking hot chocolate. It was nice.

Last night when I got back my three favorite children came to greet me and they asked for my camera. They were looking through my pictures and they saw this picture that I took in Techiman when I had a crazy rash over my entire body. They also looked at the bug bites all over my legs and then Kobi told me not to go back to Techiman again. Hahah. I love how concerned people are here for my well being. My father and mother were very happy to see me again. I talked with my father for a while before I went to bed. I also went to the football field where there was better reception to call my sister back home in America. My nephew broke his arm and I wanted to tell him to feel better. After the phone call there were some people at the spot that called me over as I was passing and they were very friendly and chatting with me. Then another person riding his bike stopped me on the road to talk, he is actually one of the other volunteer's homestay brother. Then after I talked with him my neighbors (two girls, maybe 15 and 11ish?) they were talking with me, because I always make up little songs with them asking how they are in Krobo. Last night it was a song about how I was going to Koforidua tomorrow and one wanted to come with me so I was going to take her in my pocket and the other one wanted me to bring bread back for her. Bringing bread back from places is a common thing apparently. I dont really get it and Im not sure if you are actually supposed to give people bread or if it is just something they say when you leave. It is so nice to be back with all the people greeting and talking to us. I was really going a bit stir crazy with no Ghanaian interaction besides taxi drivers. My parents were especially excited about where I will be living for the next two years because it is the place from which my mother comes. 

Only two weeks and then I will be on my own in Ghana! Ayiiee!