DinosaurToby

I'm Home!

2010-10-27T21:00:00.002-05:00

I've finally made it back to the land of the free and the home of the brave. From Senegal, we traveled through Mauritania, hung out with cool RPCV Jacque, Then a lot of long bus rides through the mine field, into Western Sahara and to Morocco. Marrakesh was cool and eventually I caught the ferry from Tangier to Spain and visited Ana in Granada. Jack went his own way, Barcelona and then Portugal. I flew from Madrid to Dublin and spent a week visiting Sarah and her family, and this morning i flew back Dublin to O'Hare. I'll stay with Drew here in Chicago and see some friends before going up to Madison for Halloween weekend. Ultra brief summary, but it does the trick. ask me for the details, there are plenty.

I'm oh so happy to be back, jet-lagged and overwhelmed, confused and anxious to see what i've missed and who still remembers me here. I'll get home to my parents house in Point next week and then properly relax for a time before looking for the next step in my life. I'm still putting off decisions on that front for now.

I hope to see lots of friends in Madison this weekend and beyond. I don't have a phone yet, so fb or email me so we can get together. If you want me to come visit you where you are, let me know and i'll see what i can do. I still have some money and my freedom. Eventually i'll have to get a job, apartment, school, life, all that.... but not yet. not yet.

love,
-Toby

PS. eventually, maybe soon, I'll get around to putting up some pics from my last days in ghana and my travels afterwards. promise.

Back to the beach in Dakar

2010-10-05T11:29:00.002-05:00

After a long dusty train ride and and an even longer bus ride we entered Senegal. We had trouble with the Mali immigration check point, who insisted that we buy the mali visa again because we didn't have our reciept from the first time. We had to walk a half hour in the hot hot sun and then back again to the police station to argue with them. During that time, our bus driver got tired of waiting for us and threw our luggage off the bus. We yelled and pleaded but there was nothing we could do and the bus left. Feeling dejected, i had to hitch back into town to the police and pay for the visas again. On the way back i stopped at the bus station and explained my sad plight to the friendly station master. I assumed that there was nothing they could do, but he sent a young guy out on a moto and he came back a few minutes later saying that there was a bus in the next town and that we should hurry up and go now. We rushed over and found that it was the same bus! Apparently, after leaving us behind, some of our nigerian friends on the bus convinced the driver to wait 2 and a half hours more until we made it. We thanked everyone profusely, borded the bus and proceeded with our 20 plus hour journey.

We finally arrived in Dakar at 5 am and slept in the bus station on our prayer mats. In the morning we began to explore Dakar, and it is really something. Dakar is like a bigger, nicer, frencher version of Accra. There are fancy hotels, highways along the beach, fancy restaurants, aggressive street venders, and a giant statue of some africans boldly pointing westward (built by the North Koreans, of course.) Jack and i hooked up with a big group of senegal pcvs who were all in Dakar for a sector summit and we stayed in their very nice regional house. Free lodging meant we had more CFA to spend on food and drinks. I also went to the beach, a fancy club with a swimming pool, and a cool Kewl Garul dance party. I also drank too much tequila. Overall, a great time in Dakar.

Now we are on the move again, going north now and heading for Europe. We are prepared and being cautious but we won't stay too long in Mauritania or Western Sahara; but push on for Morocco. I'm looking forward to some cooler weather, but i suppose i'll have to wait until after we cross the desert.

Take care all,
-Toby

Je ne parl pa

2010-09-25T08:34:00.003-05:00

So far, all good things about francaphone africa.

Bobo is a very relaxed town and we had fun wandering the big market and chatting with people. food, they put everything in baggettes here and make a sandwich. In ghana, it's only the egg sandwich that is recognised as legitimate, but here you can throw what every you have into some long crusty bread and eat it that way. We also met a nice lady on the bus who wanted to introduce us to her daughters. We accepted of course, and ate with her one night, and the daughters drove us around on motos.

On a map, the trip from Bobo to Bamako doesn't look too bad, and the roads are all good, so it shouldn't take 14 hours, but it did. After crossing the Mali border, our bus was repeatedly stopped and made to wait at "security checkpoints" where the driver and conductor had to deal with officials who occasionally wanted to actually check the bus for something. The conductor took a collection on the bus to make up for all the bribes he was paying. Overall, almost half our time was spent waiting at a standstill for approval to continue. Eventually we got to Bamako.

Bamako is a very nice city and Mali just celebrated it's 50th birthday so everyone is happy and the place is all decorated. The only downsides are that it is really hot and beer is hard to find. Also, Jack is getting tired of bagettes and brochettes. But i'm not, and my antibiotics are making me feel powerful. Tomorrow we will take the train to Kayes and from there continue on to Dakar and the beach. I'm looking forward to the water.

All the best to all my bestest,
-Toby

COS travel plans

2010-09-15T11:02:00.002-05:00

So, I officially ended my peace corps service on August 19. I got all my medical checks upped, signed all the forms, interviewed with the boss and wrote up my Description of service official report. I'm done, I'm free and i can do what ever i want. up to a point of course. RPCV!!!!!

Jack is from Berkley CA and he and i are both without detailed plans when we finally get back to the US, so we are traveling around West Africa before we leave and having fun. After COS, we traveled back up through Ghana and visited Sonya, Brenden, and the TSO before getting to Serena's site. We went to a yam festival with her and had a good time before we continued from there into Togo.

Serena's sight is right on the border of Ghana and Togo, so it wasn't too long of a trip. When we got the border, we tried to buy a visa there and the one lonely togolese immigration officer said we couldn't do that. After a wait, he simply stamped our passports and told us to go to the next Border town and get our visas. Our plans didn't include going to that town, so we didn't. We hung out in chill town called Sokode and then went down to Kpalime, which had mountains and waterfalls of which we saw a little on a short hike. Mostly, we took it easy, tried the local food and beer and tried to hit on the local women. Togo is a lot like Ghana and we felt right at home, but with French influence so they have better food. Both Jack and I speak passable french, and we get by alright. We traveled to Lome and looked for Togolese pcvs but only found one on our last day in togo. We were going to go to the beach near Lome, but decided to save it for Ghana because we know those beaches better. We tried to cross back into Ghana at Lome, and there encountered minor problems. The immigration guys were not so friendly and not amused that we didn't have visas. One guy told me he wanted to slap me, but he didn't do it. They sent us to another building to buy the visa we should have gotten upon entry, but on the way, the Ghanaian officials saw us and waved us over to start entry procedures. They always like us because we have residency permits. We thought we had gotten through without having to pay when a big Togolese official came looking for us. He made us go back to the Togo side where we got yelled at and then had to wait around for a while before they took us the the other place where we bought our visas and passed through. The ghanaians where confused as to why we had left and come back, but still happy to see us.

Back to Accra, we hung around and looked into what it would take to get a visa to Cote D'iviore. Eventually we turned in the paperwork to the cold-as-ice reception lady at the CI embassy. We met some other fellow travelers and hung out with them in Accra: Jimi the Nigerian and Hans the German, cool guys. It's too expensive in Accra, so we went to the beach to wait for the visas. A few days at the Hideout turned into a week and suddenly we realized that we would have to rush back to get to the embassy by friday, or stay the weekend, so we did. Stay that is. We didn't spend much because we ate in the village: Lobster and fufu. Also, the group of omnibus pcvs after us had their COS conference that week and afterwards a bunch of them came to the beach we were at, so we stayed and had fun with them. Eventually, after a total of 10 days at the Hideout, we came back to Accra to leave for real.

Back in the Peace Corps office people kept seeing us and saying "I thought you were gone!" I've said goodbye to some pcvs so many times that it's a little ridiculus. Jack and i got up nice and early and went to the Cote D'Iviore embassy to pick up our passports only to be told by cold-as-ice that we were rejected because we did not have a ligitimate hotel reservation in Abidjan. That was true, we didn't have one because all the hotels there were too expensive. So rejected by Cote D'iviore, means we don't have to worry about how expensive and maybe dangerous it is there. Instead we decided to go back to Burkina.

Originally, I did not want to pass through Burkina because i have already been there three times and the visa just increased to 10 times the previous price. Our grand plan is to travel across west africa to Dakar, Senegal and then up to Morroco and cross into Europe. Get out your atlas and you will see that there are a number of ways we could go from ghana to senegal passing different countries along the way. From Bobo-Dioulasa in Burkina, we will go to Bamako, Mali and then to Dakar. Long bus rides, but only if we get the burkina visa. which we did, in only a few hours and the consular was very nice and the receptionist was cute too. Burkina is now clearly superior in Embassy services to Cote D'Iviore, the only downside is that the visa we got cost 100 USD and is a 5 year multiple entry visa. So I'll be coming back. And yes, they required it to be paid in US dollars, although Burkina uses the CFA.

Tomorrow, we will start again and travel up through Ghana again to Wa. from there, leave and never come back, at least until next year. But we are really going this time, promise.

That's a summary of the travel so far and the tentative plans i've got. It will undoubtedly change, but such is life. Wait, we are going to a bunch of francaphone countries. Se la vie! If you live along the way, i'm coming to visit you, otherwise i plan to be back in WI by the end of October and in Madison for Halloween. oh yeah.

love and kisses,
-Toby

The end

2010-08-13T17:48:00.002-05:00

Dear friends,

I haven't posted anything in a while, sorry about that. I suppose you all have gotten used to me not being around and don't miss me much anymore. Well too bad for you i'm coming back! Actually i won't be back for some time, but i'm getting to the end of an era here in Ghana.

July was very busy with the end of the school term, and preparing to finish my service and leave my site. I got through as much as I could with my classes, we finished Plant Reproduction and even looked at some real flowers and seeds in the classroom. It's such a challenge with no science lab and too many students to get in depth hands on study. I've been teaching all of the first year students, four classes and about 180 students and i try to meet with each group 2-3 times a week. We do the best we can with what we have. I set my exam questions and helped the secretaries type up some exams. Always impressive that i can type 50 words a minute. You forget how valuable/useful a skill like that is until you are in a situation where you are the only one with it. Like during a zombie attack and only one guy knows how to fly the helicopter, but he just got bit, oh shit!

I also took a bunch of photos of my students and me standing with my students. I wanted them to have a picture of me to remember me when i leave. I printed off a bunch of them and handed them out. Digital photos are expensive to print here, but it was worth it to see how happy they were to get them. I guess in the US you just email your photos to walgreens and get 'em for like 3 cents each, but here it takes a little more legwork, and ligiri (dinero). On the last days of school, I took a lot of pics of my school, students, and staff, and I arranged with some of the students who have film cameras to snap pictures of me and those who didn't get pictures before. It was really hard to say goodbye to so many good people that i spent so much time with. My students will miss me and I will miss them. so much.

Bismark and other staff planned an end of the year party to say goodbye to me and Headmaster (he's retiring, mandatory at age 60). We had light soup with goat and took one bottle each ( I took two Star). There was time for some speaches and they presented Head and me with smocks. It's my third smock and it is Packer colors, sort of, so I'll wear it to the next tailgate party I go to. Shauna et al. think it unlikely that i will every wear a smock in the US. They are right, but that won't stop me from treasuring them forever. It was great to sit with my coworkers and friends one more time. The week before we had a dog party, that was fun too.

I went to a goat roast at Shauna's and to the big Wa party and said goodbye to a bunch of the other volunteers. It doesn't seem so final or sad to say goodbyes to other PCVs, I know that in the future i will be able to keep in contact with them and see them if we want to. It's much sadder for me to goodbye my friends in the village and people here who i may very well never see again. I do want to come back. I promise I will come back, but I cannot be sure of seeing them again, and it can never be like this again.

After all that, I went back to site for a few last days to pack up all my stuff and say my last goodbyes. I gave away most of my small stuff lots of little things to my students and other crap to all my small girls and boys, but my big backpack is full and probably weighs 100 lbs. I have that plus my small backpack. I also sent some stuff back with Shauna and with Vicki, so i'm bringing plenty of crap home. There'll be something for each of you, my dear friends. Along with my stuff, I needed to pack up my PC water barrel and filter and bring it back to Tamale Sub Office, since i'm not being replaced (I hope they do send a volunteer to my school again in the future). It took some doing to lug all my stuff to Bolga, where I said more goodbyes and picked up more crap.

Now I've finally made it to Tamale and i can leave a bunch of it here. I have said goodbye to all the people and places that have been important to me for the last two years. I left Sirigu for the last time and Bolga for the last time. It was harder than I expected and I felt a really good sadness, so I knew that it is a good thing that is ending now. After a few failed attempts, I cried about it, but it didn't make me feel better, rather i felt more miserable. As Jake would say, it was ugly crying. I'm glad that i started my goodbyes plenty of time in advance and I think I did as good a job as I could getting to everyone and tying up loose ends. I know my village will miss me and I will miss everything here. so much so much.

The end. And also a beginning. I will go to Beth's wedding tomorrow and then to Accra where I'll have my interviews and etc. and then officially COS. Afterward I will not be affiliated with the US gov and then i can do WHAT EVER I WANT! Jack and I are still planning to travel, but we haven't decided what routes to take. more there later. The world is about to open up and i guess i have to dive back in. some traveling will be good before i'm forced to re-enter US culture, my "normal" life, and job/school or whatever. oh man, i'm not ready to think about what i'll do when i get back. let me know if you have ideas. and if you want me to come visit, i will. I don't even need a bed, i can sleep on the floor, i'm really good at it now.

Do good, be well.
-Toby

Happy Fourf!

2010-07-05T07:53:00.002-05:00

So,

Difficulties involved in aquiring the neccessary materials for a more traditional celebration of the birth of our nation (dinomite is not the same as fireworks) resulted in some brainstorming and Shauna came up with the excellent idea to build a trebuchet for 4th of July. Jake had a pretty big gathering and we had great food, including burgers, hotdogs, and a variety of cold salads that did not contain lettuce, so the mood was set.

The mention of siege engines inevitably brought out a few others who were into (or too into) that sort of thing, so we went to work. I was quite satisfied with our result, although we did not have the endurance to figure out the proper way to make the sling throw rocks in the right direction (not back in our faces or onto the roof). We settled for the basket-type catapult-treb-cross. As evening drew near on Independence day, and the William Tell Overture swelled in the background, we sent flaming projectiles far afield, to the delight of all. A coke bottle of petrol only costs a cedi. We got some cool videos that Beth promised to post eventually.

I can safely say it was the best 4th in a long time, plenty of oohing and ahhing. It is pretty cool how well a coffee can full of rocks and dried grass will burn when it is doused in gasoline. Also, I'm happy to report that there were no serious injuries incurred.

I hope everyone is well at home. I posted some random more photos on facebook, check 'em. That's all for now.

Do good and be well.
-Toby

The home stretch

2010-06-11T14:52:00.002-05:00

Hey all.

This font i'm using is called trebuchet, which is a great name and i was actually just looking up trebuchets on wikipedia before this. everyone should have a trebuchet or two.

My last term of teaching is in progress. I've got about 3 months to go until i'm done with my pc service and on to other exciting things. I'm excited to be almost done. I love it here, but i'm looking forward so much to getting back to all my loved ones and places. I'm feeling a sort of senioritis here, but i can make it the last bit. I've come this far afterall. I've got enough to do here, with saying goodbye to everyone and packing up and giving away all my stuff, making sure i've tied up all loose ends. It will be over so fast.

World cup weekend and my birthday next week! the world accelerates as i experience it.

love, toby

facebook pics

2010-05-22T11:02:00.000-05:00

here's a link

love, toby

Way too much vacation

2010-05-10T05:46:00.002-05:00

Okay, an update:

I was super busy all of april vacationing and generally having too much fun. Now I'm tired and ready to get back to normal boring life at site, teaching science. Right after classes ended, Corey Serena Meghan and I went up to Ouagadougou and met Lauren, then we all travled into Mali and hiked Dogon Country for 6 days. Fun francaphone times, great scenery, and so amazing to see my friend again. Afterwards, traveled back down to Ghana, hung out at my house and then Lauren and I went to Robert's wedding. Fun fancy dress, ghana church times! Then Lauren and I went to Tenzug, Paga and finally back to Ouaga where she flew back to the us, despite ash clouds and such. I went home for one day and then set off for Ho, in southern Volta region of Ghana for the All Volunteer Conference at a very fancy hotel. After allvols, we had cos conf so basically i was there for 2 weeks. Finally, working my way back up to Sirigu and I will be back at it this week. I am happy and tired and getting excited about finishing my pc service. More on what i'll do next in another post. for now, look at facebook for pics of all these adventures etc.

Love to all,
-Toby

Dusty day

2010-03-21T08:30:00.002-05:00

Yesterday and today it has been so dusty that it seems like we are in a fog that covers everything. Even at noon, the sun seems like a hazy glow and doesn't give the normal scorching heat that i'm used to. Don't get me wrong, it's still way hot, like 100 degrees or more every day, but with the sun obscured, it doesn't all get through. I know the UVs will still get through so i'll still get burned if i sit outside to long.

It has been hot and dusty for a while now. some nights it is really not pleasant at all. Lying in bed all sweaty (not from exertion) and no place is cooler. ok, I could sleep outside, that gets a little cooler, but where i live, i would have to deal with all my students showing up and wanting to clean and fetch water at 5am. That's not the way i usually like to wake up. No lights, no fan so i just sit and pretend i'm in a sauna and i like the hot and really sweaty food.

Air is so hot, even at night and even inside. The other night I was trying to light a candle and the candle bent over while i was holding it. The wax was so pliable that i could bend it into the letter S and it wouldn't break, so i made it stand up and lit it that way. The best is when you are sweating so much that it drips into your food while you're eating, then you don't have to add as much salt as usual. I wish i could say that it is getting to the end or that it is almost over, but i'm pretty sure it is going to be like this all through April. By the end of april, hopefully we will start getting rains and the heat will reduce some. Until then, i deal.

School, we are in final exams for term two. That means i have a week to go, then 200 test papers to mark, and then vacation. After vacay, one more school term and that's it. I'm getting close to the end and i'm excited.

I'm also excited for vacation. Lauren is coming and we are going to hike in Dogon Country with some other PCVs. It is going to be great to see her, and the travel should be super cool, too. I'll take lots of pictures. After that, it's All Volunteer Conference, and that will be a blast as well. It certainly was last year. After that, COS conference. I'm super busy all the month of april so i hope i can fit everything in that i want to do. Robert's wedding is in there too!

Love etc,
-Toby

Funeral pics

2010-03-14T11:57:00.003-05:00

Here's a link to the facebook pictures.
-TK

Funeral Season

2010-03-14T11:07:00.002-05:00

So around here, dry season is the time for funerals and Ghanaians celebrate funerals in a bigger way way than almost anything else. Important people that died this year, (and everyone is important to somebody) get celebrated in a three day event that draws huge crowds from far and wide. Sometimes, families wait for quite a while before having a funeral for their relative, even several years. These days, there isn't so much to do, so funerals are all the time. Every weekend there is a funeral somewhere, drumming and dancing and drinking and eating is going on, usually within earshot of my house, almost constantly.

I went to visit my good friend and housemate Robert and attend the funeral of his fiance's mother. Women's funerals and men's funerals are different, mainly in the types of dancing. Men's funerals may have a War Dance, but there wasn't one of those when i went to this funeral. There are plenty of variations, I'll describe the one i went to recently.

Funerals are put on at the family house of the deceased and family and friends from all over the country come to them. Preparations start 3 days before by brewing pito, which takes three days to ferment. On the third day, the funeral starts and everyone arrives. Visitors bring gifts for the family of the deceased, often alcohol or other beverages. They also bring animals like fowls, guinea fowls, goats and sheep. The animals are food, of course. and are usually slaughtered and fed to the masses. You have to give the animal alive, though. Giving someone a dead animal is strange and suspisious.

Groups of drummers and dancers arrive and perform for tips, people eat and drink a lot, hang out and offer condolences. The atmosphere is not normally sorrowful, it's rather like a carnival. People come from the surrounding communities and there are people selling all sorts of things, plenty of snacks and drinks. Let me stress: lots of drinking. There are sad people, of course. The funeral will have people designated as "chief morners" whose job is to be sad while everyone else has a good time and works hard. The dancing and masses of people are exciting. Sometimes there are fireworks too.

At the end of the first day, lots of tired, full, drunk people sleep all over the place and where ever they can find space. The next day, many say goodby and go back to wherever they came from. They get parting gifts of food and drink. The second day is more for family and they spend the time relaxing in the home, preparing food, cleaning up from the night before, and dancing. The woman's family arrives in the evening and there is more dancing and celebration. Since in a traditional Ghanaian marraige, the woman goes and lives with the man's family, the wife's family is separate and not the same as the rest of the family and guests.

On the third day, the woman's family travel back to their place, and they take the spirit of the woman and the funeral back with them. Before they go, they dance and go around to the neighboring houses to say goodbye to them. They carry gifts and a few belongings of the deceased woman. The neighbor houses also give gifts, food and drink mainly. Animals(food) are common gifts.

After the family leaves, the funeral festival is over and people can go back to their regular work. next week, there will be a funeral at someone elses house and you can go have a good time there.

I had fun at Cynthia's mother's funeral and I enjoy going to funerals occasionally in Sirigu, but there are so many that i don't go all the time. I also attract alot of attention and at a big funeral there are lots of people from out of town and they don't know me so they tend to get bothersome or annoying. Drunk strangers want to talk to/harrass white people, especially white women (which i'm not). But it's not so bad and certainly interesting. Next time you come to visit me, I hope we can go to a funeral so you can check it out.

I posted some pictures from the funeral and other pics on facebook

Love,
-Toby

Vacation Pics on Superbowl Sunday!

2010-02-07T07:00:00.004-06:00

I posted new pictures on Facebook from vacation with the family.

Today is superbowl sunday, but i won't watch because it comes on at 11 pm tonight and i have classes to teach tomorrow. I hear the Who are the half time show, you'll have to tell me all about it another time.

I'm back to the teaching and it's going well. Also painting the world map on my school, that's fun. My time here is winding down, feels like i only have a little to go, its acutally about 7 months. oh man. when i come back, we should hang out.

love, Toby

Long Vacation

2010-01-18T05:01:00.002-06:00

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

The Koy Family comes to Ghana!

2010-01-04T08:01:00.001-06:00

What a dramatic title for a blog entry!

We've been having fun and not too many snags. Here's a quick overview. Mom, Dad, and Jamie arrived in Accra after lots of bus, plane and airport time and passing through London. they got in a few hours late, so i had fun hanging out it Accra airport waiting for them (not really). We stayed in a pretty nice hotel in Osu and then went to Adda Foah for a few days, stayed at Maranatha beach camp. Dad liked the sand and friendly staff. Jamie and I danced with Antoinette, mom took pictures with her new camera.

Traveled back to Accra and struggled to get cash, missed the Forex by a few minutes and the African ATM did not agree with the people in the bank back in Stevens Point, but we got enough money to buy plane tickets. We took the flight from Accra to Tamale, GHc262 one way, about an hour flight. It was actually really nice, just like any flight. We did have to get up at 4 am but it all worked out pretty good. We saw Andy in the airport with his family, too, doing the same thing we were doing. I spent more money than i make in a month (my parent's money actually) to travel for 1 hr to a place it would normally take me 12 hrs on a bus to reach. Pretty cool. also cool to get from Accra to Sirigu all in one day.

We relaxed in Sirigu, went to the market, sat on some crocodiles and met my good friends. Bismark took us on an excellent tour of his family home, and we got a chance to see some traditional dancing at the Natunia festival. My parents stayed at SWOPA and Jamie stayed with me at my house. We tried some food. Mom likes red red. Jamie had some stomache issues one day, dad said it was from the goat, but we disagreed.

Now we are traveling back south, Bolga today, Tamale tomorrow, Kumasi and Cape Coast after that. Rashid is making us some nice ghanawear and we'll get some gifts and things in the market. maybe a basket or a pot. We'll meet more friends along the way. hope they all can handle long bus rides, we'll use STC mostly.

Love and etc to all,
-Toby

Wet season Photos

2009-12-26T07:15:00.001-06:00

I put some more pics on facebook. the link is here.
enjoy
-Toby

Happy Boxing Day!

2009-12-26T06:38:00.002-06:00

I don't actually know what Boxing Day is, or how to celebrate it normally. The guards at the office reminded me that it was a holiday today too. Happy Christmas to all yall who celebrate it. Happy Chanukah for all of you as well. Other holidays, the same. Yesterday I celebrated with friends and pcvs in Tamale, ate chinese food and candy, watched movies: most of Elf, and Love, Actually. Good stuff. Santa even came and left some beef jerky in my stocking.

The real celebration is tonight and after. My mother, father, and brother are arriving at Accra Kotoko airport anmd I will be there to meet them. I am very very excited to see my family!! It has been over a year and a half since I left and came here to Ghana and I miss them so much. We are going to travel around Ghana and have a great time. I want to show them everything and everyone that I know here and that is important to me. I just hope that all the logistics aren't too exhausting and frustrating. I'm sure i can make it work.

Enjoy yourself and those around you. give yourself a hug and kiss for me.

love,
-Toby

It's dry here now.

2009-12-12T05:12:00.002-06:00

So, it's really dry here now. Like absolutely dry. Like Arizona dry. Not that I actually know anything about Arizona. Anyway, all the plants are dying except the trees that must have deep root systems because they stay green. The thorn trees (pronounced 'torn') actually put out their leaves during the dry season. All the water drys up, the stream becomes a sandy shallow ravine. Everyone finishes their farming and starts on dry season activities if they have any, if not, it's time to sit around and drink pito.

The aridity causes some problems for me personally although i like it overall. My heels do their best to split into little pieces, but i have plenty of moisturizer. My nose gets dry and irritated so i pick it in public, but that's not a problem here, it's the norm. It also gets really dusty and the soil is rocky and clay-y so the dust is Africa Red. After a long car ride on a dusty back road, everyone looks a little reddish. Smart people wear jackets and scarves to keep off the dust, I just wash my neck when I arrive. Also, when you finish a long ride it is quite satisfying to blow your nose and see all the dust that did not get into your lungs.

It's also been getting considerably cooler. I wrote the word "colder" but replaced it while thinking of you all buried in multiple feets of snow, I'm jealous. The temperature during the day still gets hot, but it takes longer to warm up, and the mornings are cool enough to want a longsleeve or even a light coat. My students take every opportunity to wear something over their uniforms to keep out the cold, but these days it's legit. But not at 2 pm. It is a stylish windbreaker, though.

The cat gave birth again! She is so fertile. This time, Evander popped out two little ones, an orange stripey and a gray stripey one. Good thing too, because she was way fat and annoying. This is number 3 and 4 since i've been here. Seems she gets pregnant every 6 months, it means i've been here for a year and a half. Mama cat is my buddy, but her other kids are wild and scardy and don't let us touch them except fleetingly. It's because she hid them as babies and i didn't get to play with them. That might happen to these new ones, too. Evander gave birth in the little enclosure where the hens keep their new chicks, so the chickens, (also very fertile) are out. I'm sure mama cat will move her brood to a more secure location, like the garage.

I have some photos i wanted to post, but i forgot my pen drive at home, so next time. It's still all virusy, so i'll do my best. I'll take it to my friend at the internet cafe, but that sometimes results in a clean and empty pen drive so i'll upload the pics first.

My Mom, Dad, and Brother are coming to visit me here in Ghana. It is going to be so awesome. I haven't seen them in that long time. oh man wow.

Lots a Love,
-Toby

Novemberness

2009-11-14T09:23:00.002-06:00

Around here it's the end of the wet season, the harvest is finishing, and people are eating well. It's the season of change, suddenly i can see 10 times as far because everyone cut down their millet. The grass is starting to get brown because it hasn't rained in a few weeks. Pretty soon it will officially be dry season. Then, no insects, no clouds, no work for most people and no water. Dry season is relaxing time unless you are a child, woman, or salaried worker (or a volunteer worker). It's the holiday season in the states, eh? We are getting together at the Tamale Sub Office for Thanksgiving and that should be fun, but otherwise, I'm focusing on teaching. I'm still teaching Science and ICT. Typing practice in the classroom and computer practicals in the afternoons in small groups since we have only 5 computers and thy are set up at the nearby catholic mission since we don't have electricity at our school. It works out, and the kids sure are excited about their computer time. So far, we have learned how to turn on the computer, use the mouse, click, double click, open and close windows, minimize and maximize windows, resize and move windows, and use microsoft paint. Paint is one of my favorite programs, and the kids are pretty excited when they realize they can draw on a computer. Mostly, though, they ask me how to erase. not sure why. The pen pal project with East Junior High in Wisconsin Rapids is going on again, too. My kids are going to write response letters to their american penpals. They love it.

Take care, love to all.
-Toby

Halloween at the Dance Club

2009-10-31T05:18:00.001-05:00

It's one of my favorite holidays, no religious overtone or expectation to travel or do any specific thing except have fun. Ghanaians don't know about Halloween, which is unfortunate. The do get the concept of trick or treating, but they do it for Christmas when you are walking down the street. Anyway, i'm trying to help them learn.

I explain to friends that Halloween is an important American holiday where people dress up in costumes, go to parties and get drunk! It is also a time for playing jokes on your friends and also people you don't know, but i've never been that into that aspect. While all of you back home do it up big time, think of me as you roam State St. in the midnight glow of giant spot lights and greet the herds of riot gear-clad soldiers for me. But hold your breath when the tear gas hits.

Last night i went with some other volunteers to the opening night of Bolga's hottest dance club, Celebrity. My friend Kimo, who djs the AIDS radio show with me, also manages the club, so we got a discount, but others were paying more than I make in a day to get in. It was totally a fancy night club, like from anywhere. Lots of very skimpily clad ladies and fancied up dudes were getting down and drinking expensive small beers. The Music was really loud and the lights flashed and smoke machine periodically made way too much smoke. With all the air conditioners it was still a little stuffy. Over all fun, but i wish more of my dancing buddies were there (good times at IQ night). Ghanaians love to dance, and there was plenty of bumping, grinding and general booty dancing by men and women. There's no problem dancing with people you don't know, and i grinded on and was grinded on by some men and women. i think i was the only white guy there, but there were an assortment of white ladies around. I tried to explain to one very enthusiastic dancer that white ladies don't usually like being grabbed without permission. He thanked me for the advice.

The club is fun, but i can't do it that often. It's exhausting and expensive. Tonight there is a party at one of the new VSOs houses. It's a "fancy dress party" so I'm gonna get dressed up all fancy. You'll see pictures. Enjoy the all that don't be too bad. send me your pictures and love. greet old friends.

Love,
-Toby

more facebook photos

2009-10-25T10:35:00.003-05:00

it's been a while,

here on facebook, more photos from a while ago.

-Toby

Mouse wars

2009-10-24T05:38:00.003-05:00

So i've been having this little war with some mice in my room. I'm a lover of all animals, but i condone their killing for certain purposes (to eat for example) and I have a hierarchy of tolerance for certain animals that are often called pests. Mostly i just deal with insects in the house, though. it goes like this:

welcomed: i encourage their presence and protect them when i can. ex: spiders, cats
tolerated: I don't mind them if they don't cause a problem. i like to study them. ex: ants, dust bunnies, beetles that get into the flour
discouraged: i don't go out of my way to kill them, but i don't want them in the house. ex: crickets, scorpions, moths, little bugs that fly into lights
kill on sight: i am prejudiced against them and expect them to do harm and no good. ex: mosquitos, flys, cockroaches

Usually I would put the mice in the "discouraged" category, my fellow mammals, i want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but i don't want to share my food with them. and they like to chew stuff up. A while ago, I started hearing chewing noises behind my dresser late at night. I figured a mouse must have take up residence, but she wasn't bothering my food staches so i didn't do much about it. It got more annoying when the noises came more often. When you're lying in bed miserabley hot and sweaty, tiny scratching and chewing sounds get annoying fast. I did some investigations and found that mice had chewed a hole in the wood in the back of the wooden closet cabinet thing i have, and they had chewed up some plastic bags and foam stuff i had stuffed back in the corner. it was time to take action. The cat that lives at my house, Evander, doesn't come inside so often, so i couldn't really blame her for not taking care of it.

I asked around in the market and got some mouse/rat poison stuff. The kid that sold it to me said i should mix it with food and leave it for the mouse, but not to put the dead mouse outside afterward or the other animals will eat it and die, and then i'll die when i eat them. check. I cleaned out around and behind the cabinet and a little grey mouse escaped out from under, so i prepped some treats for his return. The stuff was chemically smelling but looked like dried fish, i mushed it on some bread and stuck it under there.

I was a little concerned about the unpleasant smell of a decaying mouse, so i kept checking to see if it worked, but nothing. maybe he left and didn't come back? that would be good, but no. I left for the conferences and such in Southern Ghana, and when I came back it was obvious that the mouses were still around. Someone had chewed on my candles and even dragged one behind the cabinet. droppings and chewed plastic confirmed the new residents where rodentia. Seems the poison didn't work so well. They had eaten it all and expanded their domain to on top and the side of the cabinet too. I found their reason for all the work when i pulled the bags and stuff out again. The urge to reproduce is so strong, nestled in one of my chewed unwanted backpacks, were four tiny blind mouselets. They were about an inch long each, just growing a bit of black fur, but they squirmed around and huddled together when i exposed them.

My dilemma was this: I don't want them here, they can't survive anywhere else, seems a bit cruel to kill helpless creatures like that, but i also didn't want them to suffer undully. Also, they shouldn't go to waste. I thought about just tossing them outside, but then they would starve/freeze to death. I thought about stomping them, but that would be a little extreme, and not appealing to me. (it would also make a mess to clean up). I decided on a course of action that would lead to the mousies quick demise and anothers benefit. I put them, squirming, in my cats food dish on the porch. Once she found them, Evander was pleased, and so were her children, wild kitties that also live around the house. I do think she was a little insulted at the percieved insult that she couldn't catch her own food. I don't think the babies suffered much.

The next day it was time to clean out the nest for real. I have to empty out the cabinet everytime i want to tip it and get underneath, so it's a chore. when i did, two fat mice ran out and out of the room. I pursued and Evander was there to intercept one. Way to go kitty! She had no problem with a fiesty live prey animal. The other (daddy) mouse escaped for the time being. I thought he was gone, i cleaned up the place good with bleach and all. I didn't expect him back, but then one night i heard the chewing scratching again, so i went back to work.

I tipped the cabinet again, but no mouse came out. I didn't see him, so i tipped it back down. Then I noticed a tail sticking out from under the corner of the cabinet. I poked it and it wriggled around and went under the cabinet, but when i poked under there, i could feel something alive and wiggling. I put a little more weight on the cabinet and there was a little crunch, the tail stopped wiggling. I tipped the thing up again and was able to fish the ill-fated creature out from under the cabinet finally. The tail was a big tail, connected to a big mouse, and his head was squished. I had caught him under the edge of the cabinet when i moved it, and that was the end. I put him in the cat's dish and called them in. This time Evander acted like she had killed the mouse herself, all protecting her catch and growling.

A rather longwinded account of my mundane, if not mildly gruesome adventures. I found it amusing enough.

I also found a baby sheep in a street gutter and lifted it out to be reunited with it's mother. That story is a little more uplifting. as you wish.

love,
-Toby

Still here

2009-10-14T12:08:00.001-05:00

The other day i ate mac and cheese and spam with a titanium spork. It was awesome.

love,
Toby

Travel

2009-10-04T07:00:00.002-05:00

Like I promised some time ago.

I've been traveling around a lot lately, briefly: I went to PEPFAR IST with Robert. It was in Kumasi, but not a the KSO, at a fancy hotel with a pool. The only APCD there was John, Wat/San. It was a good conference, learned about HIV/AIDS, hung out with other northern PCVs Some COSing PCVs stopped by too, nice to see them. After a week of that, Robert went back to Sirigu and I went to Accra for National VAC. It went fine, but I spent too much money on food and alcohol in Accra. That's how it always is. Also, some volunteers ran the Accra Marathon and did awesome. I spectated and got a sunburn. we went to a cool little place called Honeysuckle and had bear fights. Bear fights are good times. Now i'm on my way back home to start up the old teaching schedule. it will be good to get back to normal after all the irregularity and debauchery. (Yeah for acronyms! don't worry if this part is a little opaque, it's not really that important.)

Travel in Ghana is easy if you know a little about how it works. For our PST, we went out and figured out how to travel around Accra on our second (maybe third?) day in country. If you are in the south and going short distances, the easiest thing to do is catch a trotro. A tro is a mini bus or big van that holds about 15+ people and cruises along set routes, picking and dropping passengers. The "mate" hangs out the side of the tro and calls to people telling them where the tro is going and encouraging people to get on. example: "AccraAccraAccraAccra!" You wave at the tro and it screeches to a halt, then you jump on and it goes again. You give the mate a few coins, the prices and routes are set, so it pays to know where you want to go. When you want to drop, you yell to the mate or the driver and they stop. The tro is one of the cheapest ways to travel, not too comfortable, and pretty fast. Be prepared to deal with overcrowding, breastfeeding mothers, goats on the roof, crazy loud music and honking horns, reckless driving, and less than water tight windows and roofs (hopefully only rain falls on you.) Tros come in all colors and styles, mostly old and rebuilt, lots of stickers on them with wierd sayings on the back window like "Still Innocent Boy" or "Think Twice".

Around cities, you can charter taxis as well. Agree on a price before you get in, because there's no meter. If you don't, you're likely to get ripped off or cause an argument. It's appropriate to bargain with the driver, and it again it pays to know the local standard. You can also take a line car, which is the same as a taxi but it runs a set route and picks and drops people along the way for a low set price. You won't be as crowded in a line car, and if you want, a line car can turn into a dropping car (chartered). Before you get in, you should ask the driver where he's going and if he's a line car. Taxis are mostly little sedans or hatchbacks and have yellow side panels front and back.

For longer trips, you can also take tro. Go to the area of the station where you can get a "filling tro" to your destination. You buy a ticket in advance and wait for the tro to fill up. You can wait on the tro or sit at the station, but sometimes you can be waiting for a long time... like many many hours! there are certain routes that fill faster and times of the day which are better, so learn this stuff if you can before you travel. Once you're full, they'll load lots of stuff on top and take off. It's still crowded and fairly uncomfortable but a pretty good price, and if it fills fast, can be very convenient. I take a filling tro always from Bolga to Tamale, leaves in about a half hour, 4 cedis for 3 hr ride. not bad.

For longer rides still or for more comfort, there are lots of bus companies in Ghana. They go from city to city, leave at set times and make few stops along the way. For many, you can get advanced tickets the day before. The nices buses, like STC, have air conditioning, comfy seats, play movies and are generally very nice when you have a 9 hr bus ride. Bolga to Kumasi on STC is 14 cedis. Cheaper options like Metro (9 cedis) lack AC, movies, and have harder seats, but sometimes I prefer to sacrifice comfort for money. (5 cedis is three beers!) Some buses leave in the evening or afternoon and go all night. PC says we shouldn't travel at night, so of course i never do.

All of these travel options bring with them the possibility of a beakdown. If it's just the tire, the driver will get out, change it and get going again. If it's the axel, you're walking. If it's with a bus company, you're waiting for another bus to come and take you the rest of the way (i waited 7 hrs with STC once).

A little travel story: When Rachel was here, we were riding on a metro bus and our bus hit another truck! we were in the back, when suddenly swerve and smash! It was rather scarey. We didn't die, our bus was only minorly busted: crunched front corner, cracked windshield, scrapes along the side. The other truck was pretty smashed up, right ont he drivers side. It turns out the driver of the other truck (bigger than a pickup, smaller than a semi) was parked going our way, then started to turn into us and we swerved and clipped front corners. The truck spun off and a lot of the rice bags in the back broke and spilled rice all over the road. They took the other driver to the hospital before i saw him, so I don't know how bad it was, but there wasn't any blood in the busted cab, so i think he might have survived. We the passengers of the dented bus had to wait 6 hrs for them to bring a new bus to finish our trip. Luckily Rachel and I used the time to go visit the Kintampo Water Falls. worth it if you have 6 hrs to kill at the falls rest stop. So why didn't I tell you about this incident sooner? I didn't want you to worry, and really, time is relative, so it may as well have happened yesterday from your point of view. Rachel posted some pictures of me and the bus on facebook, check em out.

Love to all yall,
-Toby

Rachel's Photos

2009-08-29T07:10:00.002-05:00

Rachel posted some nice pics on facebook of when she and I traveled and the Obama visit. Thanks Rach. I'm having trouble with mine, otherwise i would have posted by now. Check them out by going to my profile page.

love all,
-Toby