PCV at last

Well, training is finally over and I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer! There was a big ceremony in which our trainers presented me with a certificate and we took the oath of service. It was a pretty big deal and I felt pretty good. My host family, my father, mother, and brother Michael and sister Nancy came to see me. My family had a great outfit made for me that matched with Michael's and we both wore them at the ceremony. They also gave me an outfit in the northern style. I thanked them and said goodbye, then moved out. It was sad to leave after 2 months of living with them, but I was also excited to finally get to my site and make a place for myself that is truly my own.

I took my time traveling to site, spending a night in Kumasi and then Tamale, at the Sub-offices there. Traveling with the puppy wasn't so bad. On the busses, she stayed in her basket on my lap and mostly slept. She did well on the leash, too. She isn't house trained, and I had to clean up after her on a few occasions, but overall, it was not as difficult as I anticipated traveling 15 hrs with a 2 month old puppy. I was also lucky that there were people traveling the same way who helped me look after her.

The past week I've been getting to know the people in my community and working on my room and house. I've spent the most time in the kitchen, I miss the Phoenix kitchen, and I've been equipping myself as much as I can to be able to cook whatever I want. I worked with the local carpenter to make a free-standing shelf unit to store my food, pots, pans, and dishes, and I brought in a table to work on. I have a counter with a good sink and a 3-burner propane stove, but no running water or electricity. It means that I need to start cooking supper around 5 pm if I want to see what I'm doing, since the sun sets around 6:30pm. I have a kerosene lamp and torches(flashlights) to fill in the gaps, and I take bucket baths in the dark.

I've grown to like bathing (pronounce bath-ing) this way: take a bucket of water and pour some on your head from a smaller cup. Wash with soap all over, no need for shampoo, and then pour the rest of the water on yourself to rinse. The best part is when you've finished and there is still some water in the bucket, you raise the bucket and dump it on your head. Refreshing! And economical, since I usually have to fetch my own water from a borehole nearby my house. When It rains, I collect all I can off the roof, and I want to add gutters to my house to catch more. Just another project.

Eventually, when I have everything arraigned, I'll go around and take pictures of my house to make a "virtual tour" for you all. It might take a while, because my camera batteries are currently dead. I can charge them and other electrical things at a friend's house. I've got a few weeks until the students arrive and classes at my school begin, and then I'll actually have to teach high school! Until then, I've got plenty to do, organizing my new life. I miss the familiarity of things at home, and mostly, the people. I hope you are all doing well. Email me and tell me what's new in your life. Remember, I'm sort of cut off, so even mundane things are exciting to me.

I'll try to update about weekly, although anything change here. I'm on Ghana time. Know that I am doing well, and thinking of you, my friends and family, often.

Love, Toby