February Already?

The time serving as a volunteer flies by surprisingly fast. I’m not sure if it feels like a month has passed since I returned to Ghana, but I know I don’t have much to show for it. What was I doing? I still haven’t managed to clear the land for my garden. The last time I asked a couple people to help me; and when the day came nobody showed up at the site. I asked my counterpart about it Saturday because he was having a bunch of people come and help him at his farm. I asked how I could organize something similar to what he was doing, and he told me that he had already arranged for some people to come next week to do my garden area. So should I just wait to see if it happens or find a way to do it on my own? That is my predicament. John did not tell me how to make it happen. In his case he had a bunch of people come to work on his farm and they made a lot of banku and okra stew to feed everyone. I could arrange this on my own but it might be kind of awkward to do right in front of John (who I live with) when he said it would be taken care of for me. That would be disrespectful to him. The problem with waiting to see what happens is that it may not happen, or it may keep getting pushed back. They have a saying in Ghana, “There is always more time” and they like to say “No hurry”. When I look back on this month I feel like I haven’t been as productive as I would have liked, but I suppose I have done okay by local standards.

I have realized some small things that are extremely important in having a successful second year in the Peace Corps. Most of them have to do with my Ghanaian family, especially my little sister Dita. Whether or not I change the community, I am a big part of her life right now. I have already been able to see the effect I have had on her. The most obvious observation is in how much her English has improved since I first came here. There are other small things that come to mind, and probably many things that I don’t even realize. While she is learning from me, she also helps me. She is a great translator and she makes me laugh. My littlest sister is in her terrible two's phase and cries and screams a lot trying to get what she wants. It can be really annoying but when shes being adorable she is the cutest kid in Ghana.

As for my projects I checked on the mushroom farmers and they have stopped producing mushrooms but are soon going to grow their second batch and expand their efforts by doubling or tripling the number of compost bags they will buy. We also found a closer reliable place to get the inoculated compost bags. I am also a part of a group of volunteers that is working together to bring books to all of our schools. We are in the grant writing phase of that project. My school is in the bookshelf building phase of this project. The ladies soap making group bought the materials to make soap and gave them to me, which have been in my room for at least 4 months. No one is doing chickens currently, at least they are not asking me for advice about it. I am talking to the local clinic about having an HIV testing event. The nurse said he would ask the district for testing kits but I haven’t checked in with him to see if we can get them or not.

I used my astrology book to find a lot of constellations in the sky, so I am now familiar with more than I have ever known. That makes me very happy.

I switched my malaria medicine from Mefloquin deathdrug to malerone awesomeness! I havent been on it long enough to notice the difference but the side effects from this drug do not frequently include depression, anxiety, psychotic dreams, and others. Also a recent update to the side effects was that some of those side effects can become long term. Needless to say I am super pumped about this. 

It took over a month but I have resumed my waking up schedule. I am now waking up between 6 and 6:30 every day, like I was before I visited the States.

I have noticed that since I have been back, there are no longer ants bombarding my sugar, bread, and other food stuffs. I am overjoyed. I am going to assume it is because I was gone for a month and nothing was in my room for them to get at, and the shop my family runs in our house is full of goodies to attract the ants. Now they are all so distracted with the shop that they hardly appear in my room. Let’s hope it lasts.

The yams that I so detested when I first arrived in Ghana are the main food that I am craving lately. I find that funny. Mmm yams! Ghana has so many types of yams. White yam, water yam, coco yam, yellow yam, violet yam, and other variations that I cannot name in English. The best kind of yam is called Poona. Yam is normally eaten with a stew. Common stews are cabbage stew and kontumre stew (which is the green leaf of the coco yam plant).

 In the book I was reading the writer wrote in horrible English, combining misuse of words with incorrect spellings. It was the chapter of Cloud Atlas with the character named Zachry. I’m just wondering if there is ANYONE out there who enjoys reading things that are written like that. Why would an author do that? It took me a lot longer to read that chapter than the others because it seemed like a chore. Any comments on this would be welcome.

Lastly the weather has been amazing the last couple of days. It has been cooling down enough at night for me to use my blanket. In the morning it has been cool enough for me to wear my jacket. I love jackets so it is a really great way to start the day.