It is starting to get drier here. It hasn't rained in about 3 or 4 weeks, and the locals say that we might get one more good storm before the real dry season happens. Already the grasses and fields of millet are looking brown and some have been cut and harvested. the stalks get used for cooking fuel or animal fodder. When everything is really dry, all the plant life dies and you can see far far far. I'll take some pictures. The change is coming surprisingly fast, and I'm excited about it mostly, except for the whole dryness thing. My nose feels funny in the low humidity, and my heels are dry, but I'm taking care of myself, so I'll be fine. I'm told that the borehole nearest my house dries up in the driest dry season, so that is not so good. I'll survive, I have students do fetch water for me!
I am working with a teacher in Wisconsin and we are doing a pen-pal letter writing project to connect her students to mine in Ghana. I sent the first package of letters from my students today, so they will be arriving in WI in a few weeks, i guess. It will be exciting when we get the responses. My students where happy to write to their "American friends."
I bought a guitar today. I don't know how to play it. Yet. I'm going to teach myself, so if you, my friends and family, have any songs you would like me learn and play for you, let me know. Send me tabs, i guess.
I stepped on a 3 inch scorpion with my bare foot the other night, it was outside my bathroom. Surprisingly, it didn't sting me, just crawled along the wall. My housemate, Robert, was pretty scared of it, and he wanted to kill it, but I wouldn't let him. I examined it for a while and then let it outside. It will be much happier there. It had really cool long claws like tiny hemostats and a big curled barbed tail. cool, cool.
Love to you all,
-Toby
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Life goes on
I'm still living in Ghana and I'm still teaching science in the middle of no where. I'm doing well, keeping busy mostly and still adjusting to a culture that is very different my own. I posted a bunch of pictures on facebook here.
A story: One night, i was up late reading or preparing my lessons by candlelight when I heard a big commotion, barking, whining, puppy crying. When it didn't stop right away, I rushed outside to find out what was going on. Kraman Baa sleeps out on the porch and it sounded like she was being attacked or something. I struggled with the door longer than I should have, it was locked, duh. When i finally got outside, I found three of the watchmen from the school standing over the body of a dead dog...(dramatic storytelling, huh?).
The dog wasn't my puppy, she was hiding in the corner crying piteously and appeared to be wet. I comforted my dog and was able to make her stop crying. She was very scared, but fortunately she did not appear to be injured. She had peed on herself, she was so scared. Poor thing! The intruder dog must have come in the night and attacked Kraman Baa and scared her, waking up the watchmen. These guys are just local farmers, but they didn't hesitate. They carry wooden clubs and they literally beat the dog to death in front of my house. When I got there the strange dog was already looking very dead, but the men were giving it the occasional whack in the head just in case. They were very excited, but concerned for Kraman Baa, saying that the strange dog was sick and that she needed to get medicine. I explained with relief that Kraman Baa had gotten her rabies vaccine and everything should be fine.
The watchmen were also excited because it meant that they were going to have a party the next night. They dragged the dead dog away from my door aways, gutted it, and hung it in a tree in my front yard. There it stayed all the next day until the evening when they butchered it and cooked it in a really big pot over charcoal outside. Eating dog here is actually pretty common. People even buy dogs at the market to have a party and eat it. It also didn't seem to bother these guys that they didn't know whose dog it was. I don't know if the dog really had rabies or not, but it didn't matter to them. Kraman Baa seems to be fine, now.
Eating dog, or cat for that matter, sounds strange and horrible to us, but it's only our culture that says there is some difference between a dog and a cow, pig, or chicken. People here don't treat their dogs and cats like we do in the States. Dogs are animals, not part of the family. And it's hard to get too worked up about animal rights or excessive cruelty to animals when there are people here who are so poor they can't always eat. It's just the way things go in Ghana I guess. Life goes on.
A story: One night, i was up late reading or preparing my lessons by candlelight when I heard a big commotion, barking, whining, puppy crying. When it didn't stop right away, I rushed outside to find out what was going on. Kraman Baa sleeps out on the porch and it sounded like she was being attacked or something. I struggled with the door longer than I should have, it was locked, duh. When i finally got outside, I found three of the watchmen from the school standing over the body of a dead dog...(dramatic storytelling, huh?).
The dog wasn't my puppy, she was hiding in the corner crying piteously and appeared to be wet. I comforted my dog and was able to make her stop crying. She was very scared, but fortunately she did not appear to be injured. She had peed on herself, she was so scared. Poor thing! The intruder dog must have come in the night and attacked Kraman Baa and scared her, waking up the watchmen. These guys are just local farmers, but they didn't hesitate. They carry wooden clubs and they literally beat the dog to death in front of my house. When I got there the strange dog was already looking very dead, but the men were giving it the occasional whack in the head just in case. They were very excited, but concerned for Kraman Baa, saying that the strange dog was sick and that she needed to get medicine. I explained with relief that Kraman Baa had gotten her rabies vaccine and everything should be fine.
The watchmen were also excited because it meant that they were going to have a party the next night. They dragged the dead dog away from my door aways, gutted it, and hung it in a tree in my front yard. There it stayed all the next day until the evening when they butchered it and cooked it in a really big pot over charcoal outside. Eating dog here is actually pretty common. People even buy dogs at the market to have a party and eat it. It also didn't seem to bother these guys that they didn't know whose dog it was. I don't know if the dog really had rabies or not, but it didn't matter to them. Kraman Baa seems to be fine, now.
Eating dog, or cat for that matter, sounds strange and horrible to us, but it's only our culture that says there is some difference between a dog and a cow, pig, or chicken. People here don't treat their dogs and cats like we do in the States. Dogs are animals, not part of the family. And it's hard to get too worked up about animal rights or excessive cruelty to animals when there are people here who are so poor they can't always eat. It's just the way things go in Ghana I guess. Life goes on.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Animals?
My mom sent me a picture of a cute little tree frog tucked into a big dahlia flower. I don't see any frogs around here, although I'm sure there are a few. It's just that most places, the ground absorbs the rain very quickly and leaves it dry. There are some marshy areas around with water lilies in them. Mostly I see toads hopping around. I was sitting with the night watchman one night and a toad hopped by. It was a normal sized toad, maybe 2 inches long, and he taught me the name in Frafra. I forget the name, but i remember that it meant toad-child, meaning that the one we saw was a little one. He showed me with his hands how big the big ones get, making a shape the size of a grapefruit. I'll keep my eyes open for one of those. I saw a really big spider 4" and some really big cockroaches 3" in my house, and there are ants all over, some pretty big and fast.
I don't see too many animals here, except farm animals. There is the occasional lizard scurrying around, but considerably fewer than in the southern part of the country. They like to climb trees, and we don't have as many trees here. Mostly I see birds. There are vultures, doves, some kind of crow, a big grackle type bird, and a handful of small multicolored bird species. There are also the occasional larger bird with a big curved bill, some kind of toucan or horn bill, I imagine. I have a bird book, and eventually I'll take the time to look them all up and make a list for you guys. I just haven't had the time for as many leisure activities here.
Doing well, getting by.
-Toby
I don't see too many animals here, except farm animals. There is the occasional lizard scurrying around, but considerably fewer than in the southern part of the country. They like to climb trees, and we don't have as many trees here. Mostly I see birds. There are vultures, doves, some kind of crow, a big grackle type bird, and a handful of small multicolored bird species. There are also the occasional larger bird with a big curved bill, some kind of toucan or horn bill, I imagine. I have a bird book, and eventually I'll take the time to look them all up and make a list for you guys. I just haven't had the time for as many leisure activities here.
Doing well, getting by.
-Toby
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Ghana quirks and a new Address
Thanks to all who continue to keep me informed of the outside world and send me positive energies and encouragement. As for mail, thanks to all who have sent me mail, although I haven't received it yet. I have joined some other PCV's in the area in using a post office box in Bolga, where I'll be able to check it more often, and hopefully, mail will be delivered faster. If you send something to the Peace Corps address, it will still get to me, it will just take some time. The below address is fine to send letters and packages. Thanks!!
Toby Koy
PO Box 743
Bolgatanga, UER
Ghana, West Africa
I'll let you know when and if I get something, that way you'll know it got to me.
I've been doing pretty good, here. The first week of classes at my school has just ended, but there is still plenty of organizing to do, and it will take some time for me to get the flow of the place. I'll address the topic of school at a later time.
The money in Ghana is called the Cedi, pronounced like "CD." Just last year the money was revalued, to stabilize the economy I suppose, and now there are two ways to talk about money: The old cedi and the new Ghana Cedi. The new GH Cedi is about equal to the dollar, and 1 GHC is equal to 10,000 old cedis. They have all new money, nice color coded bills and shiny coins, but half the time, people still refer to prices using the old numbers. In the market, the woman tells me that the heads of garlic are 3,000 each. She means 30 pesewas (or 30 cents). Since I buy a lot of things that are less than a GH Cedi, I often convert back and forth, and I usually don't get confused, many people do, it's new for everyone. People say "tousand" which means 10 pesewas/cents. It pays to have an idea of the approximate cost of something, so if the vender says "3" you will be able to guess if he/she means 3,000 (30 pesewas) or GHC 3.00.
Here are some common costs of things I buy: pure water satchet 500ml: 500 cedi (5 pesewas), freshtaste-like a fruity freezepop: 5 pesewas, corn roasted over coals by street vender: 20 pesewas (the corn isn't the sweet corn like in the states, but It's still pretty good), FanYogo-strawberry yogurt frozen treat: 40 pesewas, bag of ground-nut paste(peanut butter) 1/2 cup: 50 pesewas, dry local rice about 500 ml: 80 pesewas, big loaf of sweet bread: 1 GH Cedi, pint jar of fruit jam: GHC 2.50. A lot of food is not very expensive here, just the imported foods like the jam are more costly. Local produce and things made here(like the ground-nut paste) are pretty cheap.
In the market, and at food stands, you often buy food by cost, rather than volume. For instance, you wouldn't say, "Give me 3 tomatoes," you would say, "Give me tomatoes 2,000". Vendors will arrange there things in little piles, and then tell you the cost of each pile. Often they will have two or three sizes. With bulk things like rice or flour, they have different cups or cans and a price for each. When you buy food at a market, they will often put it in a bag for you, no matter what it is. They even put oil, honey, or kerosine in a plastic bag if you buy it. The plastic bag really is the only container that is used here.
People sell lots of stuff off their heads. Carrying things on your head here is standard, so it's not uncommon to see someone with a huge bowl of some product on their head. Sometimes it's a box with clear sides so you can see the food, or a bucket with a lid. It is impressive that people are able to balance heavy things so well, and the women (especially) all have good posture because they often carry heavy things on their heads.
As for me, I cook most of my own food now. I'm happy with that, even though ingredients are limited. I can always find garlic, onions, tomatoes and okra. Also dried hot peppers and a few spices. I mostly eat rice, pasta or bread with a veggie stew. The other common starch is yams and cocoyams. I cook them like potatoes, and it work out fine. I like to cook and I'm not picky, so I'll survive.
I'm tired of writing, so I'll just give you some more pictures. If you have topics you want me to cover about life in Ghana, or you have questions, feel free to comment, or email me. I can be sort of scatterbrained sometimes, and I don't know how well I'm doing at giving an accurate picture of what it's like here.
To all my friends and family: I miss you.
Love,
Toby
Toby Koy
PO Box 743
Bolgatanga, UER
Ghana, West Africa
I'll let you know when and if I get something, that way you'll know it got to me.
I've been doing pretty good, here. The first week of classes at my school has just ended, but there is still plenty of organizing to do, and it will take some time for me to get the flow of the place. I'll address the topic of school at a later time.
The money in Ghana is called the Cedi, pronounced like "CD." Just last year the money was revalued, to stabilize the economy I suppose, and now there are two ways to talk about money: The old cedi and the new Ghana Cedi. The new GH Cedi is about equal to the dollar, and 1 GHC is equal to 10,000 old cedis. They have all new money, nice color coded bills and shiny coins, but half the time, people still refer to prices using the old numbers. In the market, the woman tells me that the heads of garlic are 3,000 each. She means 30 pesewas (or 30 cents). Since I buy a lot of things that are less than a GH Cedi, I often convert back and forth, and I usually don't get confused, many people do, it's new for everyone. People say "tousand" which means 10 pesewas/cents. It pays to have an idea of the approximate cost of something, so if the vender says "3" you will be able to guess if he/she means 3,000 (30 pesewas) or GHC 3.00.
Here are some common costs of things I buy: pure water satchet 500ml: 500 cedi (5 pesewas), freshtaste-like a fruity freezepop: 5 pesewas, corn roasted over coals by street vender: 20 pesewas (the corn isn't the sweet corn like in the states, but It's still pretty good), FanYogo-strawberry yogurt frozen treat: 40 pesewas, bag of ground-nut paste(peanut butter) 1/2 cup: 50 pesewas, dry local rice about 500 ml: 80 pesewas, big loaf of sweet bread: 1 GH Cedi, pint jar of fruit jam: GHC 2.50. A lot of food is not very expensive here, just the imported foods like the jam are more costly. Local produce and things made here(like the ground-nut paste) are pretty cheap.
In the market, and at food stands, you often buy food by cost, rather than volume. For instance, you wouldn't say, "Give me 3 tomatoes," you would say, "Give me tomatoes 2,000". Vendors will arrange there things in little piles, and then tell you the cost of each pile. Often they will have two or three sizes. With bulk things like rice or flour, they have different cups or cans and a price for each. When you buy food at a market, they will often put it in a bag for you, no matter what it is. They even put oil, honey, or kerosine in a plastic bag if you buy it. The plastic bag really is the only container that is used here.
People sell lots of stuff off their heads. Carrying things on your head here is standard, so it's not uncommon to see someone with a huge bowl of some product on their head. Sometimes it's a box with clear sides so you can see the food, or a bucket with a lid. It is impressive that people are able to balance heavy things so well, and the women (especially) all have good posture because they often carry heavy things on their heads.
As for me, I cook most of my own food now. I'm happy with that, even though ingredients are limited. I can always find garlic, onions, tomatoes and okra. Also dried hot peppers and a few spices. I mostly eat rice, pasta or bread with a veggie stew. The other common starch is yams and cocoyams. I cook them like potatoes, and it work out fine. I like to cook and I'm not picky, so I'll survive.
I'm tired of writing, so I'll just give you some more pictures. If you have topics you want me to cover about life in Ghana, or you have questions, feel free to comment, or email me. I can be sort of scatterbrained sometimes, and I don't know how well I'm doing at giving an accurate picture of what it's like here.
To all my friends and family: I miss you.
Love,
Toby
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
photos
I've added a few more photos at the end of this album on facebook.
There are some of my house and kids, and the swearing-in ceremony. I'm doing well, getting ready for classes to start. I'll ramble more later, I've been on the computer for a while now...
love,
Toby
There are some of my house and kids, and the swearing-in ceremony. I'm doing well, getting ready for classes to start. I'll ramble more later, I've been on the computer for a while now...
love,
Toby
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Send me a care package!
If you miss me, then you'll want to send me a care package! Just kidding, only send me stuff if you want to. Feel free to send letters or anything as well, but don't spend too much on postage, I hear the flat rate boxes are the best deal. If you want to send me snacks, send stuff that can survive rough handling and temperature changes, and put stuff in ziplock bags. swedish fish, dried fruit, cliff bars, powdered cheese, and cookies are some of the things I crave. Send packages to the PC office, and they should find their way to me eventually. Thanks in advance!
love, Toby
Toby Koy c/o
Peace Corps Ghana
PO Box 5796
Accra North, Ghana
West Africa
love, Toby
Toby Koy c/o
Peace Corps Ghana
PO Box 5796
Accra North, Ghana
West Africa
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
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
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