The success is not the product but the journey!

October 25th
This evening was a glorious evening. I broke out my french press for the first time and man oh man am I happy! It will give me the energy that I need to study and write tonight. So time for a bit of an update.
Friday the 21st was a bit of a rough day for me. One of the trainers stopped by my house in the morning and told me that I didnt need to go to language training in Angynasin and to just stay in my house until the training director came to talk to me. He didn't know what the director was coming to say to me. I sat in my room with the biggest knot in my stomach just waiting for the news. Finally he came and told me that I was placed in a site that was expecting a education volunteer. They gave me a site in the eastern region "near" Boti falls, at least that's what they have been saying as of yet I still don't know what the placement entails. The eastern region does not speak Dagbani, they speak Twi. Not only do I have to change jobs but I have to forget all the Dagbani that I was trying so hard to learn and relearn all the Twi I had forgotten and then quickly catch up with the others that had been studying for the past week. To tell the truth I was disappointed. I really liked my placement. I was excited to be in the Northern region, to help with environmental education, to help with conservation efforts. Now I still wait to find out what is expected of me at this site and my hopes are still high for what is to come. There are pros and cons to this situation. Cons: Im not super close to the organic mango farm that I would have been in the Northern region and I will be the only one in the eastern region from this training group. Pros: the eastern region has two rainy seasons, it will be easier to travel around the southern part of Ghana, and it wont be as hot. One of the first core expectations of a Peace Corps volunteer is to be flexible. I think I have this one down, starting a new language then switching a week into it and all while not knowing what is happening with my site.
Other then that change everything here has begun to be routen. Getting up early to the sounds of sweeping and rosters at 5am, the first chilly cups of the morning bucket bath, the "coffee" or the sugar milk that is slightly flavored with coffee. Ive been able to get up for a run a couple of times which is really nice. I even got proposed to while dripping in sweat on the second one, I dont know what that means other than run faster! The food is still spicy but predictable and lots of starch.The yam is like our potato and their potato is more like our yam, also lots of bread and noodles. Im still practicing English with Effia and Derik just wants to play around. I think Effia is starting to catch on that I need to practice Twi now and she is trying to help when possible but it turns in to laughing at me mispronouncing the words. Its all in good fun and she has such a cute laugh! Other things that have become normal are; taxis breaking down in the middle of the road and waiting while they fix it just enough to keep going, grown women peeing on the side of the road standing up, goat poop on my shoes, the fact that they sweep the dirt paths, water in a bag... everything in a bag, and being called obruni left and right (which means white person, its not derogatory we just respond yefre me Kyndra which translated directly means "we call me Kyndra"). I like the feeling of all these things becoming normal... maybe not the peeing one but still it means that I am starting to feel more comfortable here. All the new experiences have made this place my home for the time being and I just cant wait to get to site and really settle in to where I will be living.
Field Trips
Sorry to jump around (remember I have coffee in my system for the first time in a month).  On Wednesday we went to an arboretum a half hour away as a field trip for technical training it was wonderful to get out and see some of the magnificent plants this region has to offer. We got to have our first taste of sweet berry which makes your taste buds go crazy and turns sour tasting things into the sweetest taste! We tried it on some not so ripe oranges and man oh man do they work! We also tried cocoa seeds and they are the same as in Costa Rica, slimy mucus blobs, they taste sweet but the texture thing has got me thrown way off. We continued with a little hike after somebody pointed out a squirrel, the guide then proceeded to kill it with a stick because they are seen as pests here, so that was a good start. We got to see some amazing trees and I posted some pictures on facebook but they dont really give the true glory of these plants. It was a quick tour and I dont think I remember very much from it on the information aspect because it was so quick and I was distracted by looking around. It was great timing for a excursion out of the communities for a breath of fresh air and a little bit of a change of pace.
Sunday we went to Boti Falls on a optional field trip. It was amazing. The falls were beautiful. The water rushing down and creating a mist of warm spray on your face. It was nice to be wet from something other then sweat.  The atmosphere was very different from in the communities because there was very few people there other than us. It was almost too touristy. The walk to the falls was just a set of stairs. The hike was a lot more interactive with some steep climbs and slippery descents. The height of the hike was a beautiful outlook area. We got to just sit and take it all in. We are in Africa. We are in Ghana. Sometimes it dosent seem like it but its moments like that one that make everything real.



As of right now (saturday oct 29) my placement and job discription is waiting for me at my home stay. I feel kinda bad becuse we got out of language class early today (because we are that awesome) and so me and Terri went to New Tafo to get on the computer and pick up a dress she had made. Its really awesome and I think I will get one when Im back in town after we are done traveling around the country for a month.  But our training director wanted to give it to me personally because he wanted to explain some things but I just missed him. We actually passed him on the road... bad timing on our part.  Oh well!  So I will be making some calls later tonight and hopefully the word will spread quickly.

Sunday we leave Masse and our home stay families to go for the counterpart workshop and site visits next week then technical training for three weeks!  I am very excited!  We get to actually get out there and figure out what we are in for at our site and with our jobs!  Our first stop is the KSO Kumasi sub office which should be pretty great and a bit of home feeling we will have AC and limited wifi of a secure line!  Other then that we don't know where we are going or doing specifically its always a mystery!

Until next time,
Live in Love