I keep calling myself Antelope Michelle.

Okay! I am here! Well I have actually been here for about 12 days. I haven’t had any opportunity to access the internet till now so I’ve been trying to get all that has been going on down in writing so I don’t forget. This blog is just going to be a compilation of mini blogs I wrote after each couple of days…so bear with me!

June 3 – 5th
I am in Ghana and having a fantastic time! The plane ride was 11 hours, but I didn’t think it was too bad actually. I slept a decent amount since we were to arrive in Accra (Ghana’s capital) the morning of the 4th & had to be ready for a day full of activity. We also had that deal where the movies play on the back of the head rest in front of you, so I watched It’s Complicated and some episodes of Nurse Jackie & United States of Tara. The movie was good, but really tugged on the I-am-not-going-to-be-in-America-for-a-while heart strings. I mean it’s just Meryl Streep drinking vino, hanging out with her girls, making yummy desserts, wearing super cute clothing (& family for that matter) and having the most adorable house. The whole naked Alec Baldwin & the fact she is some 30 years my senior somehow didn’t deter me from feeling that way; which I find a little funny. So that led me to watch the ShowTime/HBO series because I knew I could count on some dark and heavy issues to make me feel better about my departure, haha. Honestly, I never thought I would be as sad as I have been about leaving. I mean, it only comes in spouts, but I guess I thought I could be a mutant and feel totally fine about leaving everything that I know! Crazy, right? But I have come to the conclusion that you have to be a mutant to not feel the fear & uncertainty that comes with serving in the Peace Corps. Overall, I have found the fact that this experience is not easily sharable to be one of the harder things. Which I now understand why I even made a blog, to share at least a smidgen of the journey I am on!
The arrival wasn’t bad. We got in early, around 8 AM, and were bused from the airport to the Accra headquarters in style. By in style I mean police escort! We then did some welcome stuff and were bused out to where I am now. I am currently at pre-PCT, pre-Pre-Service Training, haha. We are staying at a university and thus are living the dorm life. We have running water, electricity (from 6-11pm) and meals taken care of! Seriously, we are being so pampered here. This is like the secret hide out for the big group of Americans that know very little about how to act, what to expect, and what goes on in Ghana. The trainers, which are all Ghanaians, have told us we have the luxury to mess up and make mistakes and not have serious consequences *SIGH OF RELIEF*. They are really babying us into this and I really could not be happier about it! It mostly feels like a summer camp at this point. We learn some language, fill out paperwork, eat, and hang out and play games in the evening. We actually went to the Market today to try out our “survival Twi” and it was great! I am by no means an outgoing person usually, but I was so ready to make mistakes and talk Twi to the local woman and children selling fruit, spices, fishies, and bunches of other stuff. I tried to ask what something was called in Twi, (phonetically: Woh Yeh Dio?) since like nothing looks familiar, and the woman laughed! But she spoke with me in Twi and even taught me how to say “my name is...” It was fun; now I literally look at every Ghanaian and want to speak to them and get to know them! It’s ridiculous. I’ve never really had to use a language to get by and the whole challenge really excites me. That and Ghanaians thus far have been so friendly. For example, we were at the airport and one of the other trainees did not have her baggage claim sticker and she started freaking out when they checked it as we left. The man checking sensed her concern and said “Relax, you are in the friendliest country in Africa.” This is something they are very proud of too. The trainers so far have told us that as long as you greet someone, the door is open and almost everyone here will help you and speak with you. Which means no snobs, apparently? I sure hope so.

Welp, that’s all I have for now!

June 6-7th
Not much has really changed just yet! I am still staying at the university and still learning about the culture and local language(s). Yesterday, the 7th, we were invited to the U.S. Ambassador’s house for a small gathering in our honor. It was a little surreal, he owns a very very nice house and we were served some great hors d’oeuvres. I savored the quesadilla, guacamole and spring rolls since I will not be enjoying them for a loooong time. We heard speeches from the Ambassador and our Country Director and got some dancing and drinks in too I was grateful for the reception, and look forward to when we all got invited to spend Thanksgiving dinner there! (HOLLAA)
Today, the 8th, was pretty interesting. Half of the crew was sent off on Vision Quest. It consists of visiting a current PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) on your own and staying with them for a couple of days. It makes you learn how to use the local transportation and navigate Ghana solo. The education trainees such as myself did not have to do one because we need to start training early. Apparently if we went we would loose a week of practicum which would be bad, especially since there is only one education volunteer with real teaching experience. So instead we did Accra Quest today. We were grouped into 2s or 3s and sent off on a mission to find a certain place in the capital and learn about it. My group went to the Keneshie market and assigned to gather info on how much transportation costs in the area. This was our first experience on a trow (spelled phonetically) which was interesting. A trow is this 10ish passenger vehicle that serves as short distance transportation in Ghana. Everyone is crowded into this little van thingy with no AC. You tell the director where you are going and he assesses a fare which you can argue. Then, as people get off at their various stops, the director kinda hangs out of the bus to call for more passengers. So these things are rarely empty and if they are they just sit and wait for more people. We took one trow to a “hub” and then had to find another one to our final destination. All the while, there is massive traffic jams, people are walking around the street trying to sell you clean water, snacks, Ghanaian flags, American flags (with Obama’s face on it) and any other random food. It was a pretty cool experience, one that will take some getting used to though. When we arrived at the market I was already tired and gross from the trow ride, but the market was INSANE. There were so many people everywhere trying to sell fruit, fish, clothing, jewelry, bath stuff and more. There was a three story building filled with vendors and a lot more on the street outside the building. I’m pretty sure its one of the biggest markets in Accra, and maybe even Ghana….and I can’t imagine it can get much bigger! It was work trying to navigate and check out all that was being sold there. We tried out our Twi with the vendors, which again they laughed, but we always laugh with them. Its not a mean laugh, it’s a more jovial kind of laugh, as in it is nice you are attempting the language. I don’t really feel heckled much at all…mostly tons of smiles!


June 10th, 2010
Reporting from Kukaruntume! We moved here yesterday and will spend the next three months training here. The ride from Accra was gorgeous and I’m actually relieved to be out of the city. It’s less dusty and the scenery is greener! Today was our first full day of training, and it was pretty rigorous. We spent from 8 AM to 6 PM learning all the stuff we need to know for when we get to our site…how to teach, language, safety, and apparently everything else they could think of. It won’t slow down at all as far as I know, at least not until we are sworn in and set off to do our thing in Ghana!
I think I am still half in shock that I am here in Africa, lol. Everything has been taken care of for us and we’ve been pretty busy since the moment we arrived. I haven’t had a second to just sit and take it all in. On the other hand I’ve definitely adapted a lot already. I can bucket bathe like you wouldn’t believe, I really really enjoy the food so far, and don’t care that my drinking water comes in a baggy! I haven’t gotten sick at all yet which is fantastic considering I was expecting the worst. I barely ever ate spicy food back in the states and here its pretty much the norm. Oh and I am not even jonsin for the internet or phone! At one point during day 2 I had a small panic attack because I realized how disconnected I was. It took me 5 mins to get over and I’ve found that it is ridiculously relaxing without it all. The time that all us trainees would normally spend texting or facebooking, we are instead playing card games and hanging out with each other. At first it was funny, because once the basic “where you from?” & “what is your story?” questions were asked we would just kind of sit there in silence because we ran out of ways to continue the dialogue. I’m pretty sure that is the moment where we would normally take out our iphones or blackberries to text or check some tweets. Instead we would sit and stare at random stuff, haha. But now we’ve all gotten to know each other and are fast friends lol.
Oh and I have yet to comment on the weather. We came just in time for rainy season so it is cooler than usual. It is definitely hot though; I sweat pretty much always! It is always at least a little muggy too so randomly you get that little moisture that just sits on your skin. As far as I can tell, the idea is to just stay in the shade and not leave it unless you have to. We do all our classes outside, so that heat plus sitting through people lecturing for hours gives a perfect setting to randomly nod off. I haven’t gotten burned yet either, but I do have a decent tan going!

So basically it is beyond words so far, and all I can really do is live in every single moment! Man I love Ghanaians! Well for the most part, when they are not calling me abrunee.