"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!).