Time to get to Work, well after some Play

I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to go through training with for over 10 weeks. I wish I could get to know some of them better but it was time for us to actually get to work. For the elections we were all in “hotels” for the last few days together. Rather than spread out over 3 cities we were split up into 3 hotels forming a triangle with each leg about a 30 minute walk. I give the distance because it’s a sign of affection if in the middle of the night you get woken up to “Everybody Dance Now” and dancing. Adam has speakers for his Ipod and the first night in hotels Maria and him went into Andy’s room and blasted it complete with dancing. Andy bolted out of bed and joined in. He was like “Who’s next?” And thus the tradition started. They soon pounded on Mikey and me’s door and when Mikey opened it they stormed in. Maria was grooving on my bed and I had no idea what was happening. Once I got my senses I joined in. That night we woke up all 13 volunteers in our hotel.

The next night, the night before Swearing In, we got back from the spot at like 11, the latest I’d been up in Ghana and chilled a bit. Then we were like, let’s dance party EVERYONE. 11 of us started the 30 minute trek to Oshakotee Lounge at 11:40. One of our married couples thought we were robbers breaking in and were like “oh no!” but then quickly joined in our dancing. I’ll never forget Vince’s look after we turned on the lights and blared the music. Of all the people we Dance Partied there only Sam joined the crew for the trek to Grace Adu Hotel. Grace Adu was where all the rest of volunteer couples were staying, married or not. This made for perfect Dance Partying.

The first 4 rooms we hit were couples and they were absolutely hilarious. Even if they were mad at us for pounding on their doors, they instantly lost all anger when they heard that song and saw the quality of dancing. The 4th couple wouldn’t answer the pounding so I said, “Election Results!” They opened the door with one of them ready to evacuate! My favorite of the night that’s blogable had to be Alan and Marian, our over 60 couple. Marian answered the door and joined in the dancing while Allan lay in bed with his hands behind his head just smirking. Then we still had the 30 minute walk home through downtown Kukurantumi at 2 am singing to Journey and Hanson. I’ll never forget that night, we Dance Partied about 30 people.

The next day we had a very entertaining and HOT swearing in ceremony. We all got dressed up in our newest Ghanaian clothing and were joined by our trainers, current PCV’s, the country director of PC, the Ambassador, the regional elected leader, our host families, and basically everyone else we’ve met in the last 10 weeks. It was great to see everyone 1 last time. We tore up our dance and I thought the whole ceremony was pretty cool. During our oath I was like, wow this is pretty sweet. I was pretty proud of becoming an official PCV. The meal after I had to say goodbye to my host family and all the other host families I’d gotten to know. Mikey and my internship lady even got us 2 yards of cloth each. Nana gave me a big kiss on the cheek when we were announced; I think that means I have to visit when I’m allowed to travel in 3 months. It was touching to see just how many people we’d already interacted with.

That night we all went out and had a blast. It wasn’t until the next morning when people started to take off to their assignments that we realized this is the last time we’ll all be together until COS (close of service) which will be in November 2010. When we’d said goodbye to our friends and family back home we instantly met these people. We were basically thrown into a room and told to become friends cause for the next 2 years they’re all you got. Well it worked, we all have some pretty amazing friends and we just never put going to our sites together with leaving each other. That morning was a happy sad.

We got each other through training and were ready to go make small small differences but still. I walked back to our hotel after I was ready to leave to say bye to Adam, my next door neighbor for the last 10 weeks, and even though we’re the 2 big tough guys in our PC group it still wasn’t easy. I could get back to Jackson in less time than it would take me to get to Mikey’s or Adam’s site.

The rest of the byes weren’t any more fun. I’m proud to say I didn’t ball like I did when I hugged mom bye but that doesn’t mean we weren’t close to. The people going to Volta were the last group to leave so at least we got to see everyone off.

The 8 of us decided to take a 2 day break and go to Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary before going to our sites. It was a great little 1 night vacation and feeding the monkeys by hand was really sweet as was the way they just interacted with the village. Cynthia held her banana a little too high and the monkey had to jump to get it and scared the crap out of her, it was great. From there we said our goodbyes quickly as thankfully our tro’s showed up as soon as we got to the junction. Quick is the way to do byes if you have to.

Now I’m at Kpetoe and fully moved into my bungalow. I expected it to be sad but honestly the second I got out of my tro I got pumped, I really do love my site. I went “grocery shopping” at a few stands and even made a pasta sauce with room for improvement. Mr. Agba and I have a big meeting next Saturday with all the Kente weavers and players in the Volta region so that’s exciting. By the end of the week I should be fully settled in and will start my Kente lessons and start Mr. Agba’s computer lessons, yesterday I sent him his first text message ever. I’m already pretty known throughout my side of the village because I’m white. My full name is For Daniel Yao, meaning Brother Daniel Thursday Born, but I usually go by For Daniel.

I’m working on getting a PO Box in Kpetoe or Ho so that I can get mail weekly rather than just whenever I’m in Accra or my APCD or PCMO stops by. That means if I haven’t gotten a letter that you sent I probably won’t for a little bit. I’ll call Beth and have her post the new address as soon as I get it. You guys rock.

“I’m giving each of you one of these Gumbi’s, he’s like the Patron Saint of flexibility and God knows that’s what a Peace Corps Volunteer needs the most.”-Our Country Director at Swearing In as he holds up a 3 inch toy Gumbi.