That Monkey Stole My Pineapple...and Other Tales

Where to start.......Lets be sequential and start at the beginning; it all started with a journey across the Afram Plains where i live, to a place called Mole National Park. It takes me 6 changes of vehicles to get there....over 17 hours and some interesting times! but i have gotten ahead of myself, lets back track to where the fun really started.
 My friend Andi and i are making this journey together, we start at her place, than go to the Nkawkaw station, get a car no problem at 6am. We arrive in Kumasi around 830am, to try and find a car to Tamale....Now this sounds simple, and really should be simple, since both of these towns are large and visited often; But no....This is Ghana...and even the simplest things can get way out of hand.....very fast. One of the best things about Ghana is when you are lost, all you have to do is go up to someone and ask them where to go and they will tell you! It has been a very good experience for me to have to ask people questions on where in the world i am going, since i was one of those who NEVER asked back in the states; now i don't think i will have that problem. After walking for about 30 mins all around Kumasi to find the station that will get us a car to Tamale, we finally get there, and with good timing. We hop on a VIP bus ( this is similar to a greyhound and very nice) and head out on our 7 hour journey in relative comfort.
We than get to Tamale and spend the night at the TSO (the northern Peace Corps Sub-office). We wake up early (again) to find a car that will take us to Mole. Now, let me pause here and say this is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Ghana, so it should have a very simple and easy way to get there for all those who are coming from around the world to see this place, Wrong! There is no car that will take us straight there, so we have to pick a car that will get us close to the place, where we than will have to take a taxi to get to the actual park! All of this takes us around 4 1/2 hours. When we do the car change in Demango, we of course pick up our favorite things......Loaf of bread, box wine and juice! We are volunteers here and don't have the money to buy 3 meals a day at a resort! Anywoo, got to the park, got to our rooms, which were very nice. Three people to a room, Super comfy beds, working shower and flush toilet in each room, and with a porch on the back! Amazing value for only around 15 bucks a night!

One of the best things about this place is the fact that is has full pool!!!!!! O, but i do love a Pool! So of course the first thing we do is but on our suits and get in! We were all SUPER dusty and gross from traveling, so this helped Alot. While in the pool, Jo, one of the girls with us, spotted our first elephant!!!!! It was amazing! I have been to zoos, worked at zoos, see elephants up close, but there is nothing that can compare to seeing an animal that large in such a wide open space. I would have thought that it would make them look smaller, but i was wrong, they seemed even larger and so much...I dont even know the right word to use. It took my breath away to see how elephants should always look and be. We got there on Christmas eve, and decided to do a walking safari on Christmas morning (how many people can say they have done that?). So again we wake up early (are you seeing a pattern to Ghana, to do anything, u wake up early), and start off on our adventure through the park for a two hour walking tour with an armed gaurd.....just in case.

On this walk we saw a bunch of Bush bucks, Cobbs, Green monkeys, Birds, Warthogs and of course Baboons! Sorry to say we were not able to see elephants close up, but we saw plenty more of them later in the day. Once we got back, we had our free b-fast ( at which point a Baboon came and thought baout stealing it, but Hannah b saved our food by yelling and baring her teeth, Thanks Hannah!), than to the pool again. During this time i was reading Tess of the D'ubervilles, I have always wanted to read that book, and am very glad i did, it was good! On Christmas day, we all sat around listening to x-mass music, swimming and watching the elephants play down below us in the water. That night we all had dinner together (most of us had cheese bugers and fry's....YUMMM), and drank some lovely beer or box wine, as is the classy thing to do in Ghana.
We were going to leave the next day, but deceied that we needed one more day here, so we rounded up our money and stayed another Wonderful night at Mole. The last day we were there, and did something not to smart; we were cutting a pineapple outside, near the pool, and one of the monkeys came and took off with it! I say this is more our fault than its, but damn was it not one of the funniest things ever!
We left the next day and traveled all around to get back home! Hope this entertained you a bit into the life in which i living!

The Commonalities of Ghana, let me count the ways.....

Here is a List of things commonly done, seen or felt in Ghana:
1. Getting anything i could ever need from a top the head of a women ( and i mean anything-food, drink, toys, razors, toothpaste, sewing machines, chickens (alive), ect.)
2. Having a simple hand signal tell a driver where you are going
3. LOUD MUSIC AT ALL TIMES OF DAY AND NIGHT
4. Sleeping under a mosquito net
5. Cooking three meals a day....everyday
6. Wondering what type of meat i am Really eating....cause you just never really know here
7. Drinking water out of a plastic bag.....usally bought from a top someone head...avalable EVERYWHERE in Ghana
8. Babys slung on the back of everyone women, being help up by some miracle of cloth twists
9. Using powder milk for everything...
10. Perfecting my dutch oven temps...harder than it sounds
11. Getting into a car and never knowing how fast your going because no instruments work
12. Fitting 8 people in a car....a regular sized sedan...Talk about getting close to your neighboor
13. Being called white person in 57 differnt languages
14. Getting treated differnetly because i am white
15. All food either being bland or spicey
16. Seeing breasts ALL the time
17. Being called beautiful and than proposed to daily
18. Emonional swings with out being hormonal
19. Never being truly clean
20. Seeing the Brittish spelling of words
21. Being worken up by roosters, guina fowl, African doves, and small childern most mornings
22. Making the perfect egg sammie and than showing it off to everyone
23. Sitting and doing nothing for hours, just watching and listening
24. Greeting everyone you see, meet, look in the eyes
25. Being asked by childern and adults alike for money or food or toys ALL the time because im white and rich.....so not true!

So those are just a few of things that i thought might be an intresting insight into my Ghanaian Life.

Turkey....Can you hear me??

Dear Ghana,
Let me count the ways in which i love you and life at the moment! First things first, i have finally gotten a hold of my room and made it my own! ( i know it has taken me 3 months to do it, but now its amazing) I have painted it a lovely Grey and Purple, I had shelves made for my bedroom and kitchen, as well as a screen door (which they call a trap door here...not the best name for it...) for my bedroom. I am going to be getting fake wood floors as well soon, so that i do not have to look at the concrete anymore!
Teaching has been going well, I taught them itsy bitsy spider the other day, as well as head shoulders knees and toes! I am going to be starting an Eco-Theater club with the Junior high school kids soon! Ghanaians LOVE to act and play around, so i am going to combine the two loves in my life and do small shows about how we can improve our community! I am also going to be doing a "club" for the primary school (elementeray to all of those in America) which is pretty much me just reading story's to them and playing small small games. I am also starting the slow process of starting a bee keeping group in my community. 
*This is a call out to ANYONE that knows of any bee companys, I need some help and would love to get any contact info that you know of!*
My counter part and i went up to a IST (in-sercive training) about Shea Trees, since most people in my area are cutting them down and useing them for charcole, instead of useing the nuts to make shea butter and other things, so we are going to try and get them to stop useing the shea trees, and use some of the other trees in the area that are grown just for charcole production. This IST was in the Upper West, and took us two days to get there! That was the last region in Ghana that i had not been too, so now i can say that i have seen all of the regions in Ghana!!!! From There i took a 15 hour bus ride down to Accra! Oye, that was a very long day!
Now i am in Accra for Turkey day celebrations! The US ambassador hosts all of the PCV for a good ol' thanksgiving day dinner!! He does this out of the kindness of his heart and Boy, do we ALL appercate it so much! So a big THANKS to you! Also, since most of us have to travel far to get here, they set us up with expats (aka people who are working in Ghana from America) to stay with. I won the lottery with this, me and another girl got set up with two of the most amazing men ever! (Ted and Paul)! Their house is amazing, the food....O the delious food that we have been having, and this morning they brought in a women to give us Mani/Pedis, so i feel utterly female at the moment and loving it! what a nice change to the dirt and scruff that i usually am!
And my last bit of news....I got a KITTEN!!!!!!!!!! His name is Echo, hes a grey tabby and AMAZING! I will post pictures soon of him and my new room's look!
Ok, well thanks again for everything Ghana, Ted and Paul, The ambassador, Peace Corps, and well Everything!!
 I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL thanksgiving day!
Love,
Tess May

A time when Sheep and Chickens rule the road

When i first went to my site during training, i was like, this is not to bad, traveling should not be anything that i cant handle.....Good lord....Afram Plains....why do you have to be so difficult to get in and out of! So, i had to come down to Accra, which is the capital of Ghana, and should have only taken me around 5 hours to get there.....It took me 8 hours! but, let me start at the begining of this tale.....It starts on a cool thrusday morning, when i have to wake up at 3am to catch the bus that is leaving my area. This is the most reliable and timely way to get out of my area. The good part about waking up at the butt ass crack of dawn, is that i get first pick of seats on the bus, which is CRUTIAL cause being in the middle seat with two sweaty, smelly Africans for, 4 hours, is not my idea of fun! So as i was walking to the bus, I noticed that the only animals i was seeing were herds of sheep sleeping on the rd....and i mean more sheep than i have ever seen in Ghana, all together! It was a little crazy how many sheep were loitering on the road. Most times of the day, you will see the goats, but it seems that night belongs to the sheep.
Anyway, I got on the bus, got the best seat, and waited till we left at around 5am. This is the first time that i have been awake that late/early here in Ghana, so i got to see the sunrise and i had forgotten how amazing they are! I wish that i did'nt love sleep so much, so i could see them more often. Once we got to the Lake side were we take a ferry to cross, I find out that the Ferry is not there, and wont be for another hour.....well this just was not going to work for me, so i took a fast boat, which is a large wooden boat with a motor attached to it! I took the one that will only take 3 people across cause its better! So i get to the other side and take a Tro (which is like a van, but from the 70's and made in Japan, and is most of the time falling apart) to Nkawkaw. The road to Nkawkaw is AMAZING! you are driving up a mountian with waterfalls and beautfull scenery all around and than drive down into the town. Here, I will get on another tro which will take me to Madina, which is a taxi station in Accra. I find the tro that i need to take, and some women cuts in front of me, and takes the last seat! WHAT!*! So i had to wait for the next tro to fill (there are generaly anywhere from 10 to 14 seats on the tros). This takes over an hour, so of course i take advantage of all the things that these wonderful men and women have been making all morning AKA Bofriut (donuts), fried rice, and some candies; it was a good waiting time.
Once the tro filled, we were off! It takes around 2 hours to get to Madina, but on the way there....as we were climbing a hill....our tro decides to slowly die.....smoke starts to billow out and the car will not stay on anymore. At this time, i will tell you my mantra that i have devloped while travleing around...."Trust in Ghana.....Trust in Ghana......". We were able to get the car to a more level place where we could find water and some other myserious liquid that fixed our tro (yay)! I get to Madina, hop on another tro to get to the Accra Peace Corps Office ( FINALLY). Also, half way through this adventure, my ipod dies....and man...do i depend on this little piece technology!
So here i am, sitting in an AIR CONDITIONED room with a glass of cold water, using Fast internet, and feeling AMAZING. Im gonna be getting some Amazing food while here, cause you can get just about anything you want in this City. So that has been my day so far! Life in Ghan, you just never know what is going to happen to you, but what can you do, but smile and say..." O Ghana, i never get bord with you, Thanks for changing it up everyday!"
Till next time!

A funny thing happened on the way.....

This is a story that happened a while ago, but i feel should be told to the world! ( all names have been changed so as to not embaress my fellow PCV....:)

Once upon a time, in a land far....far away, there was the group of PCV that had some place to go, and they choose to leave at the worst time, when traffic was terrible and the Tro was very full, but what were they to do? They pilled onto the Tro (Pushing and shoving to make sure they even got a seat on it in the first place) and ened up sitting in the very back two rows. Once everyone was on the tro, we set off......for a land of Traffic and Cement walls. While waiting in Traffic, one of my fellow PCV, looked over at me and said " I have to PEE.....like NOW"....since we were in this land of traffic and cement walls, there was no place to stop so that she could take pee. We thought that maybe once traffic started to go, we could ask them to stop for her...only prob. was....we did not move for a LONG time in this over crowded tro. Thank goodness, we had a fellow PCV that turned out to be McGeiver ( I cant spell his name, but i think who u know im talking about)! He happen to have a very large plasitc bottle, which he than cut the top of it off, and presented it to her, so that she may reliver herself. one problem, she was sandwitched inbetween two Ghanaians, in the second to last row, so we had to switch places. This entailed a very entertaining view im sure, of my butt up in the air and her body crawling over mine. But we were successfull and she was able to get into the last row and use the plastic "urninal" that McGeiver made for us!
We than had the problem of what to do with her....Pee....since we were in the middle of the city, with no place to put it ( and let me say, she filled that baby up....good job!) Thank goodness, the tro gods were looking out for us, and we started to move out of the city, and into places that we could dispose of the pee much eaiser without any notice.
SO that is the story of tros, pee, cement walls, and the Amazing skills of Peace Corps Volunteers!

Meetings, people, and food....O My!

This past weekend has been an amazing time! It started on wed. when i was supossed to meet with a group of farmers and talk about projects and what their plans are, and how i can help. But see, the thing is, i kinda left my phone at site, and was thus not able to contact these nice gentleman to come and pick me up in this town that i had never heard of, so instead i went to another volunteers site and helped her move in and get comfortable in her new place. Ooo, one reason i was not able to just go back and get my cell phone, was that i had already crossed the river and it would have taken me another 2 hours to get back to my site and than try to get back to the town they were going to meet me in. Anyway, i had an amazing time with my friend Andy and her new roomate Mabel, who are both teaching at a Teaching college here in Ghana ( in other words, they are teachers for People we will become teachers). On Friday, Andy and i went to Kumasi for our VAC (volunteer advisory committey) meeting which is held 3 times a year and all of the volunteers in the eastern region are to come. We talked about what events are coming up in the next few months, what we want to see done and if we had any problems that management needed to know about. We also talked about our next GLOW (girls leading our world) camp, which i am VERY intrestred in, since i have been working at camps for around 6 years ( CRAZY, that i had been doing it for soooo long), so we are going to have another meeting just on that in Novemeber. It was Great to meet all the current volunteers that are in my region.
After the meeting, a group of us went into town and had a Very nice dinner. We went to Sir Maxs and had super good pizza and Hamburgers...as well as some ice cream....yummmmm! gotta treat your self every once in awhile to some good ol american food. On sunday, i skyped with my famliy for the first time since being here (it had been 4 months since we had seen each other faces), it was awesome to get to talk to them face to face~ OO, i almost forgot...I got a bike FINALLY!!!! I can now travel around my village ALOT easier, but it should be intresting to get my bike back to my village....im sure it will be fine!
I just finished cooking dinner with 3 other volunteers, and boy was it good. we made a "cheese" (laughing cow cheese) cream saw with carrots, green pepers, onions and garlic, over noodles. Than had some Chips Ahoy cookies which a Volunteer left behind ( THANKS BYRD!) for dessert. Well, that is about it for now, I travel back to site tomorrow, and dont plan on traveling again for some time!
*in the words of a PCV- The days go by slowly, but man do the weeks fly by!*

Just a small view into my life....

 This is the entrance to my compound and new home-this used to be the clinic, but they built a new one...thank god

 This is the courtyard that i share with the rest of my fellow Ghanaian's

 The view of my room when you first walk in....thats my water filter in the corner  there- i will soon be repainting my room since i can not deal with this super BLUE color

My bed....with the amazing mosquito net protecting me every night

4 months in Africa, and i still am not tan......

Welcome! I have now been at site for almost a month now and things have become much better; i am not nearly as bored as i once was.....Thank god! just to put it into perspective, i have read 8 books, in three weeks, oy! but i have learned many things about many people, like how china hates Tibet, and nelson Mandela was one amazing guy, and that one should never be friends with a zombi! There are some things that i struggling with in Ghana because of the way that i was raised in America. I have found that i do not like sharing my food, i am very selfish and want it all to myself, where in Ghana you must invite all of those that are around you to eat, when eating, it is only polite; i have not been very good about that. I need to learn not to be selfish with my food, which amazes me that i am since we in America have so much food and dont share very often, but here in Ghana, where many dont have enough money to live, will gladly give you any and all of the food they have, to help you out. Shame America, we need to learn from Ghana, and go back to our kindergartner roots, and learn to share better.
Speaking of kindergartner (KG), I am soon going to be teaching at my villages primary school in the kg class. I know, crazy right? but they need me something bad, cause right now there are 55 children in one class, ranging in ages 3-7 with only one teacher (i have no idea how this women does it), so they want to split the class, and give me the older kids to teach. Im sure you have now thought...."tess, do these kids even speak english?" and i will tell you, Nope, they dont! So, i am unsure as to how it is going to work since i only know small small Ewe (the local language that they speak) and they only know small small english, but i think with some time, we can learn to understand each other better. I am unsure as to how things will go, but i am positive that whatever happens, that i will get a lot out of it, as well as the kids getting a lot out of it.
Since i am now living on my own, i have been cooking for myself 3 times a day and boy, have i become very inventive with what i am now using, cause its all that i can get! the things i can now do with green peppers, carrots and cabbage is amazing!!!!
I am learning many things about myself while in Ghana. this is the first time that i have ever lived by myself, and it has taken some time to get used to it, since as many of u may know, i like to socialize and be around people! I am very fortunate to have people around me that speak english very well and know many things about America and Americans. there is one guy named Omar, and he is teaching me about Muslims and their faith, since i knew NOTHING about it at all.  It has been very enlightening to get his take on the world and we have many lively discussions about human nature.
Next week, i am going into Kumasi which is one of the largest towns in Ghana for a meeting with all of my fellow volunteers that live in the Eastern region. I am Super excited for three reason: 1. i get to travel  2. I am getting my bike 3. I am getting a kitten!!!!!!! 4. I get to eat yummy food ( i know i said three, but i forgot about awesome food....) I am so super excited about getting a kitten!!!! I already sound like a crazy person to many people, because i have named certain animals that i see everyday (like Chester, the no tail rooster, and penny, the doting chicken mother) these are the things that are occupying my time.
I am prepping for many things to do in the upcoming months in my community (other than naming the animals that i see around town) like a fire education class for the community, and an environmental club for the students. I am also going to try and set up a bee keeping group and to get my community to utilize the Shea trees that they have in their area.
Well, untill next time, that is most of what has been going on in my life and in my head!

Wait....these past months have been Winter?????

Hello all and welcome to my life as a new offical PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER!!!!! On August 30th, 69 of us swore in as the next group of volunteers to Ghana! The past three months has flown by/dragged by very slowly. I wont lie, i enjoyed all the training that we got, technical was the best times ever with my fellow NRM peeps! But all those times have past, and now i am at site, in a small town called mem chemfre in the Eastern region. for the next 3 months, all new volunteers have to stay at site; we are not to travel other than to our market town or for a meeting that we must go to! this is will be difficult for me, i love to move and see and travel, and now i must stay at site. I understannd the importance of this, cause i must get to know my community and have them get used to me and have me better understand the language, but oy, I dont know what to do with myself, with all this free time. I have been told what to do for the past 20 years of my life, and now im on my own, with no car and no one that speaks my language near me. It will take some time to get used to not doing much. As an American, i have never been taught how to be "still", how to appercate silence and the value of just sitting and watching the world. If i get nothing out of peace corps other than this very important lesson, than i would have learned a valuable part how who i am and how i fit into this world. Ok, so that was a little deep....to a lighter subject, I have moved on from my romance novels and now truly enjoy a book that makes me think! for those who knew me in college, know what a big step this is for me!! :)
I would like to remind everyone that letters and postcards always make my day and i just sent out 5 letters to people, so you will for sure get something back! Well, that is about all that is going on in my life for the moment. I will fill you in when something else happens! Hope all who read this have a Fantastic day!!

The Ramblings Of an African God...or so they say

For the past 5 weeks, i have been doing......lord....what have i not been doing!! My crew..aka the awesome people that are Natural Resource Management, and we traveled around in a big peace corps bus all around the country. our first stop....Brong Afafo region....Techiman. Techiman is home to the largest outside market in West Africa....Of course it was not going on while we were there, but that's OK. Here we stayed at one of the most wonderful places i have ever stayed....It is home to Monks and set in the most beautiful place. There were massive rocks to climb on and views to die for if you can reach the top. Here we learned about how to make soap, cultivate mushrooms and learn that monks really do like it quiet...and well we, might not have been the best guests in that way...Sorry monks! We than got into the bus again and made an 8 hour trip up to the upper east region, to a town called Bolgatanga. There we stayed at a spiritual retreat that was very nice, had some good times there....poker nights.....water sachet fights and quality time with the donkeys. Here we learned about bee keeping, NGOs, GoGs, Rabbit rearing (gulp....Scary rabbits), and some other things that i really cant remember at this time.... From here we went to Tamale, which is in the northern region. The was the nicest place that we stayed....it was almost cruel to house us here cause we are not going to be living that nice for a loooonnnnggggg time! Here we learned about Vetiver grass...which is this amazing grass that cures cancer ( not really, but man does this stuff help the world...almost as good as Morianga) you should look up both of these plants, cause they are amazing! We got to meet a lot of current volunteers which was nice! than we got back onto the bus for the last time and made our 10 hour journey back to home stay in Maase, Eastern region. So thats where i am right now, freaking out about an exam that i have this wend. to see how well i know my language.... Oye!!!!!!!! Also only 9 days till i swear in as an official peace corps  volunteer! gonna be good times!!!!!!!!!!

The life of a PCT...so far

Greetings! I have now left the coco college and have been traveling around Ghana for the past 2 weeks and have just started this adeventure, but first.....I have been to my site.....and i like it a lot!!!!!!! So to get to my site you have to cross Lake Volta on a ferry or a fast boat, and it takes around 30 mins to cross it, so its not to wide...thank goodness. So once you get to the other side, you have another 1.5 hours of traveling till you get to the next biggest town.....my Martet town...where i will buy just about anything that i might need.
Well, now we are in this large town (and when i say large think of those who know it....prob. around the size of Nashville, IN) from my this town, we take the only road that goes to my town for about another 30 mins. Its the picture that i posted before this one. Depending on the amount of rain we get, the road can either be relativily calm to a nightmare...so it all depends on monther nature...and how good the shocks are on your vehical (general....there are no shocks....so its more like a roller coaster ride). Than we get to my tiny town of mem chemfre! It is very small and quiet and amazing! there are no stores or anything; all the houses are off the main road in the trees a bit more. The landscape is...its hard to describe...there are mountains (or really like larger hills) on either side of me, so its always green here, but flat in my area, I will do try to post more pictures of it next time i got ( When i swear in as an Offical Peace Corps Volunteer).
I will be living ina  very secure compound with some teachers, so thats lovely.....I have one room and a kitchen. I also have a flush toliet all to myself and running water at certian times of the year!!!!! WHAT!!!!!! I was not expecting is at all!!! So that is very nice...Its a good combo of true PC living and some awesome amenaties!!
Ok, so here is the skinny on the next 3 weeks or so, the NRM crew is gonna be traveling all around Ghana, so i get to FINALLY see the north, which i am super excited about!!!! i will let know what what all is going on next time I get internet...so who knows when! But i hope everyone is having a Fantastic time where ever you are!!!!!!

Just a few pictures

The one and only road in and out of my town

The lake near my village

A village of Fulani (nomadic tribe)

a university for Coco...yes please

I have now been in Ghana for over a month.....holy hell....and i'm still loving it! We are leaving our homestay family's today and will be gone for the next 5 weeks. I am not sure when i will be able to get back onto the internet next, so i thought that i would write  real quick and tell you about what has been going on. I tired Fufu for the first time yesterday, it was not so bad......I did a major faux pas and chewed it, which you are not supposed to do, its more of a swallow fast type of paste...my bad!  I cant wait to see who is going to be swearing us in...it could be anyone... :) I feel that i must being this up, since being in PC i have become very close to all the people in my "class" in a very short time. First i feel that this is because we are thrown together in this Crazy situation and we have to hold onto each other and fall a long way down; second, to be doing something is ridiculous and out there, we all have to have at least something in common with each other and that can create bonds like nothing else and third, When you are in a land where there is NO one that you can relate to very easily, these people that i have only know for 1 month, are a life raft, are the light at the end of the tunnel, you could say and i love that we are together in this (whether we like it or not :)
P.S Happy b day Kim and Nicole!!

This is how we do it......

So I have now been in Ghana for....18 days.....wow......it seems longer and shorter all at once! So lets see, what have i been up to these past 2.5 weeks: I am now living with a Ghanaian "host" famliy, which means all of the NRM (natural resource management) kids are living in a village in the eastern region, with host familys. I have a new "mom, dad, 7month of brother and 2 year old sister" . It was been an.....interesting time....the food has taken some time to get used to. imagine if you can a large ball of bread dough, only with you roll it, it does not change shape, and has been fermenting for a while.....this is called Kenke.....a food that they have here....i can not say that i love it all so much!
But on the brighter side of life, the fruits are amazing! Two days ago, we learned where we are going to be living for the next two years.....called our Site announcement ceremony......I got WAY sick that day, and was feeling like death, so im sure most of the people there thought i hated that i was going to be living in the EASTERN region, up in the Afram Plains!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!! Im super excited! I will be taking over for a PCV (peace corps volunteer) that is there right now and will be COSing (close of service) this august.
I will be learning a language called Ewe, with only one other person, who is in the Volta region. I will be having 6 hours of language training DAILY and than 2 hours of tech training daily as well for the next 2.5 weeks! My head is going to explode with amazing knowledge! lol After that, we are (we, as in NRM and Watsan) going on field trip after field trip for about 5 weeks! i will visit my site and learn bee keeping and see crocs and go to a monastery! and lots of stuff, so look out for that, and i will put pics up soon, i just dont have  my camera charger at the moment...woops! lol, thanks mom for sending me a package!
Ok, well thats all that is going on in my life at the moment, PLEASE send me mail and packages!!!! I WOULD LOVE to hear from everyone!
 a special shout out to my Ginger Katie for thinking a head and sending me a kick ass postcard so i got something the moment i got there.... You ROCk!!!

GHANA.... WHAT?

So, im in Ghana.....Its pretty awesome......loving the people that i am with...so far...lol! I am on my vision quest at the moment in the volta region with laura. for those of you who are not in peace corps and have no idea what i am talking about, a vision quest is where i travel to some part of the country and spend 5 days with a current PCV..(laura is sed volunteer) she is a teacher for IT stuff....i know nothing to do with the envrionment, but its still pretty awesome! we went to another pcv site and planted some coco seedlings today.....pretty fun! but thats about it for now, we are going to go be leaving and eating some popcorn and watching a movie in her house..i will update soon with my views and thoughts of Ghana and such!              So yea....peace corps rocks....so far   :)

I'm Packed, I'm Ready, Lets Do This!

So this is it.........The US government was not lieing to me when they sent that invitation...it wasn't just a big hoax and anytime now someone will shout...You just got Punked.....I am actually going to be living in West Africa for the next 27 months. 

I just finished reading the first 50 years of the peace corps; it was very interesting and i learn quite a bit...I had no idea how many volunteers there once were and how they wanted to have that many again for the 50th ( 14,00 volunteers......we only have around 7,300 at the moment) so unless they can pull off placing 7 thousand more volunteers in 3 months, i dont see this happening...lol but back to me.....

The last week in the states for me was AMAZING! i got to see a lot more people than i thought that i would get to see.....thank Ashley Flinn and Kaylee jeorgens for spreading the word and getting married...lol Thanks too to Sean ( you know what you did) and Hillary Brown.....O why does south africa have to be so far away!!!! 

But i'm packed, im ready, Lets do this!

Mail....you should probably send it now so i can it soon!

Here is my first address that you can reach me at while i am in Beautiful Eastern Ghana:
Tess May PCT
Peace Corps/Ghana
P.O box 5796
Accra-North, Ghana
West Africa


I would love to  have as many pen pals as possible!!!!

The time has come the Walrus says......

Wow....How time has flown...and i mean FLOWN! I remember when i first found out that i was going to Ghana....I thought that 5 months were going to take FOREVER to go by....how wrong i was. Its true what they say, the older you get, the faster the times goes. I had my birthday yesterday....and already it seems like a week ago (lol). Today i bought my first big things for my up coming adventure (yes i know.... procrastination kills, but what are you going to do?) I got a new travel backpack and a pair of Chacos! I have never had either of these, but am SO excited to be getting them.
I know that the time is coming, that i will be leaving soon, but it has not hit me yet....buying these things brought me to the next level....but some part of me is still thinking......really? ghana??? 27 months?? theres no way thats happening!! O, it is....it is!
Well Walrus.....you are right....the time has come...18 days left here in the States

To anyone who is on their way to Ghana

Hello all!
Since i found this site before i found the Facebook group and you have to have someone invite you into the group, i thought i would write a blog to let others know that there is a Facebook group for those of us who are leaving This June for Ghana! If you leave me your name, i can friend you and invite into the group, which has helped me a Bunch!! (thanks mostly to those who are already there helping us out..Thanks guys!!!!)

Hope this helps those out there wondering around in the blindness that is the internet!

Knowledge at last!

Wow, to finally know where i am going to be living for the next 27 months is such a HUGE relief i can not even describe to you, or i guess you do know how to feels if you are in the same place as i am.  I will be living in Ghana which is on the coast of west Africa....I am SO super excited about going; i have less than 4 months left till leave on June 6th for my staging! I am going to be Natural Resource Adviser..
My goals for the moment are to learn as much as i can from other Ghana volunteers, about the country its self, and really anything that has to do with Ghana!!!!!!! If you are in the same shoes i am, and are going to Ghana this June, please contact me and we can chat before we go, or if you are already there and have any advice on what to bring or any relevant information, i would love to hear it :)
Well, i hope all who read this have an excellent day....and until next time..

This is the beginning....finally

So i started this peace corps journey a long time ago, but because of lots of circumstances, i just heard back from my placement officer. I have been sent an invitation to serve in Africa for environmental education which i am very excited about! i have not yet received the packet so i dont know where i will be in Africa, but i am SUPER excited to find out! once i know, everyone will know because i will then be obsessed with where ever it is!