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!!