Long Vacation

I guess I'm not technically on vacation anymore, but I'm still away from site and it feels like so long since I've taught any kids anything at school. My family visit ended and all have gone back to the mighty us, overall it went amazingly well and we did a lot of cool stuff. It was so wonderful to see my family.

We took our time traveling south from Sirigu, spending a day in Bolga to go to the craft village and market and getting clothing made by Rashid. He made a cute skirt for my mom and a very colorful shirt for my dad, Jamie got some nice stuff made too. We went down to Tamale and spent some time in the market there. Mom made some people mad by taking their picture without permission, but that happens. We went out for excellent chinese and invited my ...friend Mercy and some other pcv teachers who were around to join us. It was nice to see them and my parents enjoyed meeting some of my friends. We traveled by bus and tro but the travel was hard on my fam, I knew it would be. Long legs and sore backs suffered.

In Kumasi we stayed in a hotel by a park with really big cows in it. Jamie and I went out for a pub crawl with the guys for Kyle's Birthday. Happy birthday, dork. Next day we continued on to Cape Coast where we chilled and relaxed on the beach and spent several days. My family liked the beach a lot. I feel like I have filled my beach quota for the rest of my service, but i imagine I'll end up there again anyway. I hope Lauren doesn't want to go to the beach. jk. My aunt and uncle flew in for a week and joined us in CC. We went to Kakum natioal forest and walked on the canopy walk early in the morning. It was beautiful and really high, certainly a cool place to see. We had our binoculars at the ready, but we didn't see much for wildlife, dad was a little dissapointed there. We also toured the castle and enjoyed the beach resort night life. I danced with some rastas at the beachside club, the other white people danced some too. There was one african woman present for a short time, and she wanted to dance with me, she was a good dancer but i found out later that she was married. Her husband bought me a drink.

Jamie took a tro back to Accra a week before the rents went back, and we stayed another night at a fancy beach resort, like i said, a lot of beach time. Then we traveled up to Koforidua, stayed in a nice place and visited the bead market. Dad found a good spot to watch birds by the hotel and he was happy. I watched Fight Club and Juno on satelitte TV. Then we went back to Accra and they all flew back home. Except me, I'm still in Ghana.

I'm so happy that my family was able to come see me and experience what i am doing here. I know now that I will be able to talk to them about more of the challenges I faced here and they will know what i'm talking about. The trip was a hands down success. They got sick for only a day each, nothing serious. We visited all the main places we planned. Travel was rough at times, but we got where we needed to go. They also tried most of the local food I love, although we did eat at some pretty fancy expensive places too. I feel a little spoiled on food.

Now I'm getting myself back into mindset to teach and be a poor pcv again. I'm still in Accra for VAC and won't get back to teaching until next week, but it feels more noraml for me now. It also feels like the whole experience is accelerating. Only about 7 months to go, two school terms and lots of visits and events to fill the gaps. I've got to start making serious plans about what i'm doing after this. looking for a job, maybe back to school, where should i live? anyone want to hire me? I'll get back to yall about all that, but i'm always open to sugguestions.

Love and kisses,
-Toby