Sunday, April 15, 2012

38

...days since i have been in ghana. a bit over a month since my last updates, so here are a few quick and (maybe dirty) facts: (please pardon the terrible internet language, i typed this up on my phone)

- I tested and passed the Language Proficiency Interview in Dagaare – which means that I am now ‘proficient’ in the language and will be able to communicate with the people at my site/village.

- Site locations were finally revealed to the Trainees after the language test. Since I already knew my region, I was not as excited as everyone else who didn’t know. Still, finding out the exact location of my site was just as fun. I finally met my Contact Person (CP), i.e: the person who is going to introduce me to my community. He’s a math teacher, and he’s hilarious.

- my site is a little remote village in the upper west region. i am the first volunteer/'white person'/foreigner to have ever been in this village. my 3 days at site conjured up an interesting combination of feelings. nervousness, proud, pressured,  loneliness, excitement, overwhelmed...  im still trying to sort them out. hopefully after the first 3 months i could tell you more about it.

- my house/living quarter is a two rooms unit inside a 3 units house. its per peace corps standard though if you know me,, youd know that i dont need much room for comfortable living so having all this living space does feel strange, especially at night when i am alone siting in the dark sweating.

- sitting in the dark sweating because my village has no electricity so i have no electricity in the house. ergo, no fan. this might confuse some people as how i can still get online and whatnot and for that i will tell you that a. i have an internet phone and b. as long as i have a portable modem i can get online anywhere with a laptop as long as there is phone service.

- yes people have phone here even if they dont have electricity.  yes it is kind of ironic.

- i just finished 2 weeks of technical training and got to homestay last night after 12 hrs of traveling in a tightly packed bus. it was still better than my trip from the Upper West to Tamale -- 10 hrs with no AC -- so yeah im not complaining.

- i also took a techinical exam at the end of training, which gave my hand a cramp afterward. lots of short answers.

- if i pass that tech exam, next sunday i will be swearing in officially as a peace corps volunteer. then we can toss away the trainee title that we have been carrying around these few months.

- if anyone has sent me a package and letter im hoping to get them this week to bring to site with me, so i hope youre excited for it becuase i am :)

- if anyone want to send me things, be it electronic of snail, please feel free to. ( i could use some new music and tv shows, hint hint)

- as for pictures, i juts updated a few from the first 2 weeks on facebook. if youre a friend, check it out. if youre a rando, dont add me.

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