Have Fun But Think About AIDS

I'm a real, full-fledged volunteer!! Swearing-in was last Friday and was a hilarious occasion, of course. Peace Corps had us go sit out in the lawn for about an hour while everyone else (trainers, homestay families, country director, ambassador, etc.) came in and found their seats. Then Peace Corps had us get up and file out of the lawn so that we could make our grand entrance! Boy, was everyone surprised to see us! Peace Corps also hired a brass band that was about as good as most of the bands I heard in middle school. They didn't seem to be playing the same melody as one another and spontaneously burst into song throughout the whole ceremony! We also had to give several "cultural" performances. By this I mean our language groups had to perform a song, skit, or dance in front of everyone in our local language. The Dagbani song and dance we did about waist beads (beads women wear under their clothes on their hips) wasn't awkward at all. And the burning garbage a few hundred feet away provided a lovely aroma.

After swearing-in I began making my way to site with my little puppy, Sage. Yes, she is mine now! She has been quite the trooper travelling all the way from southern Ghana up to the north. On the way up to site I stopped at Lake Bosomtwe with a few friends for a couple nights. It was beautiful and relaxing. Kind of felt like high school spring break - we drank during the day, ate cheeseburgers, and played games (yes, I got roped into ping pong AND a card game). As several signs on the way to the lake noted, we had fun, but thought about AIDS. And yes, these are real signs. I'm not making it up. The lake was by far the most beautiful thing I've seen in Ghana so far and I even got to see a beautiful sunrise. And no, I wasn't still awake for it, I was actually awake that early in the morning.

So this morning we woke up at 4am in order to take a bus from Kumasi to Tamale. While standing in a ridiculously long line to buy a ticket for a bus before the sun even came up I began reflecting. I'm standing there with a puppy in my purse; my friend has a bunny in a box; and we are about to get on a seven hour bus ride. All around us are women with stuff on their heads (literally, water satchets, bread, wood, fish, underwear, etc. in bowls on their heads) and people yelling. It's loud and hectic and crazy. Sometimes I still think to myself - "WHERE AM I?? WHAT AM I DOING??" I've been here almost 3 months now and feel pretty adapted, but every now and then I have those moments.

Tomorrow after navigating Tamale to buy a stove, pot, utensils, toilet seat, laundry supplies and everything else I need to set up house (with a puppy still in my purse), I will go to Lungbunga to LIVE. For TWO YEARS. WOW. Of course I have mixed emotions, but I am mostly excited. I feel like I'm going home. Unfortunately my New Years and Christmas will be lame - the runoff election for Ghanaian president is Dec. 28 so Peace Corps is forbidding everyone from leaving their sites Dec. 24-Jan. 2. But I have little Sage to keep me company! She's a good dog - miraculously house broken somehow.

Oh and a headline from the Daily Graphic (Ghana's newspaper): "Leperacy Covered By National Health Insurance Scheme." So in case I get leperacy, I'll be ok. Oh, Ghana.

Happy Birthday Jim Morrison

I made it through homestay! Just moved out this morning. Thank God. Last night and this morning were especially noisy, maybe because of the election. People yelling and slamming doors at 10pm (I know, so late). Even though I am actually IN Ghana, I am still very unclear about the election results. From what I've heard it's very close and there might be a run-off. Maybe all of you and your reliable news sources will have more information. If so, feel free to pass it along.

I managed to pass my language exam last week so it looks like they will have no reason to send me home! Which means on Friday I will be sworn in as a volunteer!

The biggest news right now is that I might have a puppy! I say "might" because one of the trainers got her as a Secret Santa gift. First of all, who gets PUPPIES as Secret Santa gifts?? Only in Ghana...But it looks like I might end up with her. We will see. She is black and white and a little brown and FLUFFY! Fluffy dogs are very hard to find in Ghana, so I'm trying to take advantage. I found her yesterday, which was Jim Morrison's birthday, so I think she is a gift from Jim. If I keep her I will name her Sage after Jim and his girlfriend's dog.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! I am very jealous of the cold weather and all the good food. I am mopping my face with a sweat rag and wondering if I will get rice or plantains for lunch.

"There's a village in my backyard!!"

I AM IN LOVE WITH LUNGBUNGA!!

Just wanted to say that first. After visiting my site last week, I now feel like Peace Corps is something I can actually DO! I have an amazing house, am surrounded by amazing people, and think Northern Region is beautiful.

My home is in teachers quarters, meaning I am surrounded by JSS and primary school teachers. However, I have the same amount of space all for myself that most teachers share with THREE other people! I have a living room, bedroom, kitchen, courtyard, bath area, and bucket flush toilet all to myself!! It was built within the past year, so the bat shit hasn't started seeping down the walls through the roof, like most other people's homes. Lucky me. (I do have bats though - I almost got hit in the face with one while eating dinner in my courtyard one night.)

I am working with people who are called things that I aspire to have in life (not kidding, their names are Justice and Comfort). Comfort is a midwife who already started calling me her daughter. My counterpart/contact person who I will work with on projects is great; he brought me meals three times a day. And supplied me with all the groundnuts I could eat!

Personally I think Northern Region is just beautiful. When I got to my home I opened the back door, looked out, and literally exclaimed "There's a village in my backyard!!" I'm not sure what else I expected, but when I look out my back door I know I am in AFRICA. There are round mud huts with straw roofs, women cooking over fires, beautiful trees, and big open sky.

I don't have electricity, which I actually don't mind too much (surprisingly!). I can see so many stars at night! During dry season when it gets really hot I will probably be sleeping in my courtyard and will have beautiful stars to look at. And reading by candle light really isn't so bad!

My project description is still pretty vague and ambiguous, but I can deal with that. I do have two years to figure out something to do. Fortunately there is a clinic in Lungbunga, so I can go there a few days a week to help out, which will give me some structure.

So that's my site! I LOVE LOVE it and can't wait to go back up there. Only two more weeks until I swear in and become a real volunteer...crazy.

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes! I had a good birthday. I was at site. My "supervisor," a former Peace Corps volunteer doing Guinea Worm work, brought Andy and Ana, my two closest neighbors, up to Lungbunga to celebrate. He brought me beer and cake! I even attempted to SHOTGUN a beer!!! I'm sure those who used to drink with me are shocked by this. AND I ate a double cheeseburger and french fries the next day when we spent the night in the Kumasi Sub-Office. Shotgunning beers and eating double cheeseburgers...I don't even know who I am anymore!

Thanksgiving was also fun. A friend and I went into the nearest big city to eat American-ish food. We had egg rolls, french fries, and ice cream for lunch. Delicious.

On another note, when I move to site in the middle of December I will have a new address! Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has written me (yes, all three of you)...letters are so much fun to get. Packages are also wonderful and I am surprisingly easy to please these days. So if anyone is feeling especially in the Christmas spirit or just wants to do a good deed, feel free to mail something!

Here are some things I can ALWAYS use: books, shampoo, candles, incense, St. Ives Apricot scrub, Arm and Hammer toothpaste, magazines/newspapers, and any kind of American food. And of course letters!

Address:
Catherine Trottman, PCV
P.O. Box 962
Tamale, N/R
Ghana, West Africa

Given people's track records, I would be willing to bet that Bro Paul and his friends will be the first to put together a package and mail it. Haha...I'm hoping to put a little competitive spirit into this!

So those are the updates for now! My homestay family wants to celebrate my birthday on Sunday - we'll see what all that entails. I'm sure it'll be a good story. I have my technical and language exams next week...I better study up on Dagbani! I am happy and healthy (still!) and so so excited to move to Lungbunga. It is my Ghanaian 214 Mitchell Lane (minus Whitney, Dylan, and Gobi of course!).

Nice Long Entry for Dad

This week we leave for SITE VISIT!! I am so so excited. I can't wait to find out what my house is like. After all, I will be living there for two years (hopefully haha!). I hope it lives up to 214 Mitchell Lane standards.

Also during site visit is my 23rd birthday (on Nov. 24 in case you didn't know)! I doubt I will tell my Ghanaian community about it...they don't really make a big deal out of birthdays like us Americans and I don't want anyone thinking I'm expecting anything. But I will get to celebrate in Tamale with some fellow Peace Corps friends on Tuesday, Nov. 25 which will be nice. And also on that note, I don't think I have good cell phone reception at site with my current phone number. So if anyone wants to call or text happy birthday messages (which I'm sure you DO) you should wait until I go to Tamale on the 25. And yes I'm aware that I'm shamelessly asking for birthday attention!

I also get to meet my counterpart this week. My counterpart is the person living in my community who I will work closely with on most projects. Very exciting. I'm extremely relieved to see training almost over. It's great to be with lots of American Peace Corps volunteers all the time (I really do love them), but I'm tired of homestay and not living independently. I'm ready to move to my new home, settle in, and work on some projects. Swearing in is less than one month away!!

The Ghanaian national elections are coming up! On Dec. 7 they will elect a new president. It's all pretty exciting and interesting to see how an election happens over here. On my taxi ride to the internet cafe we drove through an NDC rally. Pretty intense!

MOST EXCITING NEWS SO FAR: I have TWO kitten possibilities!! My homestay family offered me a baby calico who is gorgeous. And there is also a tiiiiiny kitten I found at the spot (bar) on Friday night who I fell in love with. The spot owner said she is a "lost cat" (maybe I'll name her Losty haha) and they really want me to take her. So hopefully something will work out. I am very lonely without my baby boy (Dyl) and I need some animals in my life!

My health has been miraculously great thus far. With the exception of dusty lung I have had no sickness. I'm very lucky. I'm also getting more accustomed to the food (I even asked for fufu the other night. By the way, fufu is basically pounded yam. It's a doughy consistency and used to scoop up soups and stews). Old Tafo (my homestay community) is a bit intense for my tastes -aggressive and in your face a lot. After visiting Northern Region I am so excited to move there. It was much more laid back and relaxed. It is also predominantly Muslim, which I imagine will have to be quieter than the Christians down here in the south. Except for the 4AM calls to prayer...

I am also still making lots of good friends in Peace Corps. I have created a little family for myself, it's wonderful! Consuelo, my surrogate mother, is AMAZING! I hang out with her all the time and she is even going to help me PACK for site visit today! Two of the married couples in their mid and late 20s have adopted me as their baby sister too! So I am surrounded by lots of wonderful people. At site I will be living close to Ana and Andy, two other good friends in the WatSan sector. I'm lucky.

So that's that for now! My mother says she likes short blog entries and my father says he likes long blog entries so I have to do some of each to appease them. You are a dedicated blog reader if you made it to the end of this one!

Midnight Prayer

So at home I was woken up in the middle of the night by smoke detectors, drunk roommates, or parties. These days it's a bit different...I am continually woken up by the girl who lives next door to me because of her LOUD PRAYING!!

These Ghanaian Christians are OUT OF CONTROL. They sing, clap, stomp, speak in tongues, chant, drum...anything to be as loud as possible. The other night some dogs were attacking each other outside of our window, so my neighbor began loudly praying to make them go away. She said the dogs came because of her failure to go to church that night. I strongly encourage her to attend church EVERY night, to avoid dog attacks as well as midnight prayer sessions.

Anyway. Yesterday we went to an herbal HIV treatment center. It was very interesting! They use ARVs still too and refer patients to the hospital, but rely a lot on herbal remedies. They showed us mysterious bottles which could supposedly cure stroke, menstrual cramps, all sorts of things...interesting, to say the least.

Obama, Obama, Obama

So now that I'm not (as) delirious, I have more to add about field trip.

Well one thing really - on the way home from Tamale, I FELL OUT OF THE TRO!!! My skirt got caught on one of the jump seats and I kept going and my skirt stayed there. The skirt ripped and I fell backwards out of the bus, skinning and bruising my leg, scraping my back, and bruising my hip pretty badly. And now I'm back in Old Tafo with what feels like dusty lung or something. Pleasant.

I am so so so excited Obama won!!! And so proud of my little blue North Carolina. It's been fun watching it over here. And by watch I mean refreshing CNN.com and half-listening on a wind-up radio. But people here are actually really excited. Yesterday in the car ride home from class an Obama song came on the radio! It was mostly in Twi, but the chorus was "Obaaama, Obaaama, Obaaama!" Amazing. Haven't heard any McCain songs, that's for sure!

Dance Marathon in Ghana

I think most of you know the hellish experience of Dance Marathon. Either you did it with me (lucky you Whit, Bro Paul, Luke, Blake, Angela) or you've heard about it. But I think you know the gist - on your feet for 24 hours with the same people. There are moments of fun, agony, exhaustion, and delerium. I am writing this entry at the Tamale sub-office, at the end of what I would consider my Ghanaian version of Dance Marathon.

These past five days were spent on what Peace Corps calls "field trip." It is an opportunity for volunteers to travel to different parts of Ghana with their sector to learn more about other volunteer's day to day lives. Since we are the largest sector, WatSan was split into two groups - one gong to northern Volta region and one going to Northern region. Please refer to your nearest map of Ghana to try to understand Peace Corps' brilliant idea: in an effort to save money we were all taken in one vehicle from Koforidua up through Volta region to drop people and then up to Tamale in Northern region. This is not the most efficient way. Especially with road conditions taken into account. Our vehicle is a 22 passenger yellow minibus. Some of these are not even real seats, but ones that fold out to fit extra passengers. There are also lots of cockroaches living in the bus. Most of the roads are not paved and all are riddled with potholes.

We leave Old Tafo at 5:30am. We arrive in northern Volta at 3:30pm. Thinking that the bulk of our journey is behind us, most of us are excited. Little do we know that we have another EIGHT HOURS TO GO. On the worst roads so far. And since we are trying to arrive before dark (ha), there is no time to stop for dinner! By the time we get to site at 11:30pm we are absolutely FILTHY. Literally. The dust is so bad that our skin is a nice orangeish-brown color. The guy in the back left corner of the bus changed color so much that we nicknamed him Sandy Andy. We are all in very foul moods.

So here we are on field trip. The first night we sleep outside, which was nice, until we woke up and there was so much dew we thought someone had played a joke on us and poured water everywhere. All day we do WatSan activities, including inspecting boreholes, visiting chiefs, discussing sanitation, and playing cards. We also participate in a football (soccer) match with Ghanaians, who were taking it WAY more seriously than we did. I don't play (of course) but most of the rest of the group does. Our team sustained minor injuries.

I think the highlight of this field trip was the random fit of hysterical laughter that plagued me and my friend J.J. We are teaching children about HIV/AIDS, hand-washing, malaria, etc. but most of these kids don't speak English very well. We are trying to encourage them to create a song, dance, or drama. After receiving only blank stares for a good three minutes, one boy softly (and robotically) sings, "Wash, wash, wash your hands..." After an awkward pause, J.J. and I realize that this is the entire song. For whatever reason, this combined with the vacant stares sent both of us into a fit of hysterical laughter right in front of the children!! We both had to turn away, had tears streaming down our faces, and had to get someone to replace us. The rest of the day we could hardly look at each other without the rumblings of hysteria.

It is now 2:18am and I am STILL AWAKE!! This is another reason why this field trip is like Dance Marathon. I haven't stayed awake this long in ages! I am waiting for election results and also have to be up at 4:00am to drive back to Old Tafo, so I figured I would try staying awake. I feel delirious.

Opposite Day, cont.

So here is what I did today:

6:00am: Wake up to the sound of sheep and roosters
6:30am: Eat breakfast (some sort of porridge..reminds me of Malt-O-Meal...remember that fiasco, family??)
7:00am: Laundry - approximately 2 skirts, 6 shirts, 6 pairs of underwear, a towel, and a washcloth take about one hour. And I need to figure out a way to do laundry without making my knuckles bleed.
8:30am: Market - buy rice (with ants in it), tomatoes, garlic, onions, charcoal, and eggs so that we can cook a meal with our language class.
11:45am: Lunch - our egg/tomato stew turned out well!
Afternoon: Plan lessons to teach small children about hygiene i.e. where and how to poop, how to wash hands, etc.

Tonight I have maybe more rice and a cold beer to look forward to. What I would do for a glass of red wine and some CHEESE!

Also, I forgot to mention my proudest moment in Ghana thus far. The other morning I was on my way to bath and approached a small child. He was TERRIFIED of me. He screamed "obruni" (white man) and cried and literally ran way from me!! I laughed. After being chased and tormented by screaming children for the past month, I was thrilled to get some payback. It's the little things here in in Ghana.

Opposite Day

So I feel like most days here I am doing the opposite of what comes naturally to me. For example, this week we took a field trip to visit LATRINES. I'm not kidding. We spent an entire morning touring a community looking at their latrine variety. Some were broken. And I mean very broken, like the floor was caving in and you could see poop coming up from the ground. And there were maggots and all sorts of gross things. I can't believe I have agreed to do this for TWO YEARS!! Sometimes I think I am crazy!

Also, today we went on a HIKE. Yes, I was hiking. And some of it was actually kind of hard. There were some steep rocky inclines and declines and I thought I was going to break my ankle quite a few times. But I made it! And I guess the view was worth it...my family would be SO proud if they had seen me!

So that's just a quick update about what I've been doing in Ghana this week -- looking at poop, talking about poop, learning how to keep poop away from your mouth...oh and hiking. I think I'm already a changed woman.

How to Become a Real PCV

I made it another week! Things are settling down now, I am thrilled. We have moved in with homestays, found out our site placements, got cell phones, and are operating on a regular SCHEDULE (my favorite)!!

I am living in Old Tafo, a community near Kukurantumi, our main training site. My homestay family situation is odd. I'm not entirely sure who I live with and who my family is. I know the mother, father, and about 3-4 siblings, but they do not all live in the same compound with me. They are all nice though and most speak English. That's a plus. I also have my own latrine (BIG plus) with a lock on it. It doesn't smell too bad at all, but sometimes it is scary when the flies tickle your butt. Not pleasant. I like my room a lot, I have made it cozy, but the sound of rats scuttling in my ceiling every night is disconcerting. The rats, along with loud choir music/tongue speaking and bleating goats can make sleeping difficult at times. But interesting, nonetheless.

The eating situation is a bit strange. I eat alone, like a child who is being punished. I actually like it though. I am nearly at the end of my tolerance for yam, plantain, fufu, and various meat stews, so I don't mind that my family doesn't witness how difficult it is getting for me to eat. My mother or sisters bring food to my room while I am away at class and then take the dishes away after I have left again. A little mysterious.

For the next two years, I will be living in Lungbung (or Lungbuna, I think it has various spellings). It is in the Northern Region, about 35 km northwest of Tamale, which is a pretty big city. I am happy with my placement. I get to work with NGOs including the Carter Center and UNICEF on things like guinea worm and just general health and sanitation. I am close to other volunteers too (the closest one is only 10 km) and 4 of us live along the same road to get to Tamale. My accommodations actually sound nice: a bungalow associated with the junior high school, including 2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, private bath, private bucket flush toilet (!!), and courtyard. Unfortunately my Ghanaian mansion is not equipped with electricity. So I will be going to bed around 7pm every night.

I also have a cell phone now! I have no idea if it's a bad idea to put cell phone numbers on blogs, but I feel like it might be, so if you want to call (or text!) ask my family or Whitney, they should know.

I am still doing well. I have yet to get deathly ill. Amusing events happen on a daily basis and it's hard for me to remember them all. Last night I was with other volunteers on the way home from a spot (Ghanaian bar) in a taxi. We are driving down the road and the driver pulls over to purchase something from a man. I notice that it is a very large rat. Like a Gobi-sized rat. Maybe slightly larger. And the rat is STILL ALIVE. The driver purchases the rat to take it home, kill it, and prepare it for a meal. He keeps it in his lap and under the front seat of the car the rest of the way to Old Tafo. I was sitting directly behind him and TERRIFIED it was going to crawl on me. Luckily, it didn't.

Here is a story that nicely sums up the Peace Corps experience and the bonding that we all go though: it is commonly known that you become a "real" Peace Corps Volunteer once you have shit your pants. One of our group joined the club recently and was telling the story to a group of other trainees. He actually shit himself in his bed while he was sleeping and was asked what he did with the dirty underwear. He replied, "I just threw them in the closet." In perfect unison, the trainees all said, "You have a closet?!?!" Not, "ew gross, you are a grown man and pooped yourself" or "ew gross, you thew poopy pants into the closet." Amazing. And this is why I love Peace Corps right now.

Master Jesus Spare Parts

Well we made it! All the way to Ghana. I have been in country about a week and a half now, after a weekend of "staging" in Philadelphia. Peace Corps likes to use lots of funny names and acronyms all the time. Like staging. It has been a whirlwind so far, lots of learning and traveling, so I will try to mention the highlights.

For those of you curious about technical details, there are 42 of us in the program. We are known as the "omnibus" group, which means that there are Environment, Small Enterprise Development, and Health/Water Sanitation volunteers all together. I am in Health/Water (known as WatSan) and my group has 16 people in it. A group of teachers came earlier this summer and they just swore in recently.

So we arrive, hang out on a sort of "campus" I guess you would call it, called Valley View. At Valley View they gave us all sorts of fun stuff like an enormous medical kit complete with every sort of medicine imaginable. We also get lots of shots. We all just form a line and go up to the nurse, tell them our name, sit down and get the shot with everyone watching. I'm sure it's uncomfortable for those who are squeamish about shots. Valley View was kind of boring. We did get to have dinner at the ambassador's house, which was nice. I drank the last red wine I will have for a long, long time.

Overall, I am liking Ghana. Here were some of my initial observations:
1. The sun seems very high in the sky even early in the morning. It feels mid-afternoon, but it is only 10am.
2. Store owners like to name their shops after Jesus. For example, Trust in God Cosmetics Shop, Master Jesus Spare Parts (my personal favorite), and God is Good Eggs for Sale.
3. The people are amazingly friendly. We ask for directions and they will personally escort you to your destination. And in some cases they even paid for peoples fares.
4. Animals are EVERYWHERE. Which makes me very happy. I am obsessed with goats. Although I have a hard time telling goats and sheep apart sometimes. And sometimes even dogs.

So after Valley View we went on "vision quest" (another weird Peace Corps term - I think it conjures images of native americans tripping on peyote in a cave somewhere). This is when we travel to another part of Ghana to stay with a current volunteer to give us an idea of what we will actually be doing (since all of this is mostly unclear. Even now it is still unclear). I traveled to Wechiau, which is in the Upper West region. It is apparently the most neglected and underdeveloped region in Ghana. We took a 14 hour bus ride to Wa, the regional capital, before heading out to Wechiau.

I have to take a moment to discuss the bus ride. We used STA buses, which is apparently the nicest, most comfortable way one can travel in Ghana. They were nice. The best part was the movies. There was a TV in the front which showed what I think were Nigerian films. They usually involved who I initially thought were small boys, approximately 8-10 years old. However, when the boys began picking up prostitutes and drinking liquor, I became confused. Supposedly these were not boys, but midgets! Ghanaians apparently LOVE midgets and find them hilarious. So in all the movies and programs they showed, small-looking males were the main role. Very odd, but I found this hilarious. At one rest stop the bus driver pulled me off with him, encouraging me to drink apateshi (a homemade liquor) and eat snake meat. I opted for a Pepsi.

My vision quest was fine. I liked my village. We rode on a pick-up truck with picnic benches in the back to get there. They are known as "bone rattlers." I am eager to get to my own site, which won't happen for another two months. On Monday we find out where we will be placed. Very exciting! Now we are back in Kukurantumi where we are training. We learn language and skills that are more relevant to our specific sector. I will be living with a homestay family in a village called Old Tafo. This afternoon we are having a "cultural fair." Who knows what Peace Corps has prepared for us this time. I will keep you posted.

Apparently I'm a blogger

So blogs aren't really my thing. But I figured I want to keep in touch with people and fill them in on any crazy African adventures, so here goes. I haven't left yet though, so I don't have much to say now. I don't think anyone really cares to know the details of my packing list. Hopefully I will be able to write something shortly after I arrive, but who knows. Africa is crazy. I'll end on that note.