All in A Day's Work

Here is a lovely photo of what laundry day looks like for me, here in Ghana.

Man do I miss that Post Street Laundromat right now.

Yes, it is true each dirty garment must be hand-washed in a bucket, rinsed properly (to avoid detergent itch), and line dried. It is extremely humid in the Central Region and so nothing ever really dries completely but I can’t complain. Dry enough is good enough for me. I’ve been told that sometimes during the rainy season it can take days for clothes to dry and just when they do…torrential downpour. I am sure you will have the chance to read a furious blog post in the future when I experience this tragedy first hand.

Back to School Shopping

School is scheduled to begin sometime in the second or third week of September and so, like any good teacher, I went back to school shopping for some sweet new Ghanaian fabrics to have made into some acceptable teacher wear. Now we must all keep our fingers crossed that the seamstress I bring them too doesn’t sculpt them into un-wearable monstrosities. It happens more often than you can imagine.

I will post pictures of the final results later, but here are the fabrics I chose:There are four different fabrics there.
I even got some fake Kente print- the light blue one, second from the left.
Wish me luck!

Meet the Neighbors

Introducing...My backyard friends

Well, now that I am all moved in...I think it is time to introduce you to a few of my noisiest neighbors. The sheep belong to the Director of Education of Ghana. I am still a little unsure why they live in my back yard but they sure do help me get rid of my leftovers. They have such expressive faces and love posing for pictures. So, Enjoy the photos:

This one I refer to as "Willy Nelson", although because rumor on the block is that he was born on Tuesday, his Ghanaian name would be Kwabena.

This is the newest member of our sheep family. Like mother, like daughter (or son- frankly I can't tell). Ridiculously adorable though.

Acronym Upgrade!

I don’t know that I have ever been to a graduation that I’ve enjoyed. I think that by law they are required to be disproportionately sweaty, uncomfortable, and of course, mind numbing. It is sort of the final, final exam to make sure you are really committed to getting through the whole process. Our Swearing in Ceremony, was no exception.Everybody showed up in there newly tailored Ghanaian threads, looking good as ever. We posed endlessly for pictures, heard several speeches, performed some silly skits in our target languages, did a cultural performance, and most important took the oath of service. After all was said and done, my acronym PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) was upgraded to PCV.
This is "The Kukurantumi Boys Club". They have all been assigned to teach Math in Junior High Schools around Ghana.

Here, we have the Health/Water/Sanitation Crew (Health/Wat/San). Their jobs include anything from managing water sourcing projects to volunteering in HIV/AIDS clinics.

A few brave volunteers performed some traditional African drumming in front of our homestay families and did a lovely job at that. I ended up playing the shaker for the last drumming/dancing number.