Lately the Hammonton (I spell it differently each time I think) season has been in full effect. It’s when the winds change and the temperatures do too. After this it gets really hot. Right now the nights are cool and there’s a constant breeze. It sounds refreshing but lots of people, especially PCVs, get sick during it. I’ve been sick for like 2 weeks now but only 1 really bad night and day. That night I had to put on my longsleeve tshirt for the 1st time here and covered up with my lightly used sheet and was still freezing; it wasn’t fun at all. The next day I just stayed in bed, read, and listened to BBC and now am feeling a bit better.
As for the basketball court, our sand man (literally) finally found a new source and got us the needed loads. Now the foundation is filled and it’s a good spot to stop as both the school and I will be going on break and the sand can settle. When I get back we will get the backboards made, install the poles, lay the concrete, and paint the court. That will still probably take a while but overall we’ve moved pretty well even if it doesn’t seem like it to someone in the States.
All the required information for the visitors’ centre will be with my NGO as of Wednesday so hopefully by the time I get back things will be ready to roll on that too. Lots of stuff has been happening in Kpetoe so it’s pretty cool. Topping all of this we no longer have a “tv hut,” we now have a building with walls and a ceiling fan! Next thing you know that internet café that’s been “coming soon” since March will open.
With my trip home this close the last week has gone by so slowly! My friends here have given me presents for my parents and will cover for me on work, yardwork, and bills. I’ll miss them but I think I’ll be so busy catching up with family and friends that the 3 weeks will fly by. My computer lessons with my friends here haven’t quite reached the point where I’ll let them blog for me however, so this will be the last entry until I get back January 8th.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Our first try at the floorplans for the visitors' centre. All those years of Chuck Messengers Architecture class being used.

Poles for the basketball court at the welders.

This is my token cute African kid for the day. Ladies I'll be home in 10 days; I'm building him a court.

Our initial signboard, we'll see how much it changes.

Internet everyday last week was fun but once I found out I was healthy I was ready to get back to site. While I was gone there was absolutely no progress on the basketball court which was disappointing but we’ve made up for it lately. Still doesn’t look like it will be done when I go home but Friday Mukaila and I finally tracked down some poles! The welder did them over the weekend and yesterday Mukaila got them delivered all the way to the school. Now we just need to find some more sand (something my dad says Africa shouldn’t run out of).
I’ve also been getting kente ready to take home and meeting with our tourism group about the plans for the visitors’ centre. We get to design our billboards and pick 6 locations throughout the country to put them. We also got to design the actual visitors’ centre within given dimensions; this is the stuff that I love to do and the guys are excited about it.
I have only been weaving about an hour a day so progress is slow on my latest pattern but we did set a 1 day record with 28 visitors on Saturday. 18 were Ghanaians from Accra and spent more time watching me weave than any of the other guys. I thought they’d be mad but they were amused. Bright and Joshua also decided that it was insane that I had been here for 15 months without having the “meal of the chiefs.”
One night I asked what they did for Christmas since I had only been in my village for like 2 weeks last Christmas and didn’t know anyone. They said go to church and have a special Christmas meal. Worst decision I’ve made in Ghana was asking what that meal was.
Cat. Only men are allowed to eat it the “meal of the chiefs.” They wouldn’t let me go home without trying it. Joshua tracked down one and told me how feisty it was. They were so excited about it all week. Sunday rolls around and they come to my house to take me to where it’s prepared. On the way we did a shot of Akpeteshie to “grow our appetite.” Rule to live by from Danny V: “Anything you need to take a shot before eating can’t be good.”
Akpeteshie is by far the worst thing I’ve ever tasted. It’s Ghanaian Moonshine, double distilled palm wine that tastes like gasoline mixed with tequila that’s “industrial strength alcohol.” Seriously, it’s disgusting but it’s very cheap and gets the job done.
There was plenty of cat to go around especially since I only had 2 pieces. They made fun of me a lot for not eating much. By the time we were done I was late for my tourism meeting (usually I wait hours for them) but no one was mad, they were so proud that I’d finally had cat.

Thanksgiving in a small World

Congrats to Lumen Christi football for their 8th state title!!
Grand Valley is moving towards another national title too so that helps me deal with Arsenal's falling apart of late.
Thanksgiving at the Ambassador’s was very fun. I was the first to arrive at embassy employee’s house of the 3 of us staying there. You might not think much of it but it had Armed Forces Television, hot water, and AC in every room. I watched Home Alone 2 one morning!
Me-What state you from?
Host-Michigan.
Me-What high school did you go to?
Host-You wouldn’t know it because it’s not around anymore but it was St. John’s.
Me-Which combined with St. Mary’s to form Lumen Christi.
Host-…yes
Later that night we figured out that he’s friends with my aunt who is now a nun. If you met Sister you would know why after he found that out he was even nicer to us.
Thanksgiving had awesome food that I have never been more thankful for. It was open bar with actually good drinks too. Before I knew it the Ambassador was mixing my drinks and from there it got fun. I did lose my Adidas sandals that I had worn for over 430 straight days here. My feet have so many blisters from this new pair I’m trying to wear now.
While hear I also sold a lot of kente to other PCVs or Expats that I’ve met. I’m getting to know more and more Expats and they are an extremely interesting bunch. I feel pretty lame compared to most of them but they can’t weave kente so it’s ok.
I’m stuck in Accra for Midservice Medical so I can’t really do too much for the court. I did what I could so they could get some stuff done while I was away but we’ll see. It’s Hammaton Season which means the changing of the winds and I’ve got a cold. This is the first time I’ve been sick in Ghana.
Today I have a meeting with my supervisor about starting work on our visitor’s center! The plan would now be to break ground by February. There are a few steps we have to do until then which should keep me kinda busy when I get back from the states! 17 days!
Happy December!!

The fully blocked foundation. This court ain't going nowhere.

Entire court dug out

Getting the trench dug

The court is moving along nicely. They finished the blocks which will make for a very strong foundation. We are still having some issues locating poles but everything else is going well. Next step is to have the kids fill in the space between the bricks and then comes the laying of the court itself. It’s cool to ride out there and see where the project is each day.
The Trade Fair in Ho last week was pretty nice. Think Jackson County Fair but without elephant ears or a Vainner winning largest sunflower head. I’m not sure how much our district sold, it wasn’t a ton, but we got our name out there a little more. I didn’t do too much work for it but was still in Ho for a little bit of most days. That cut down on my weaving but was still fun.
Meg Hub’s dad sent me a package which was perfectly awesome. I mention this because it also had tons of pictures from when Meg Hub visited me here for the kids. Pictures might not seem like much to us but these kids were going nuts. Singing and dancing and showing everyone nuts. I guess you have to realize that theses are their first picture of themselves and will probably be the only pictures they’ll have of their youth. That’s sad but makes these mean a ton to them.
Wednesday I head down to Accra for Thanksgiving! Last year Maria and I killed the turkey for our group and this year the US ambassador is having some PCVs come to his house for dinner AND we get to stay with embassy employees! A little different than last year. That means super nice house probably which could mean NFL game on satellite. I can’t watch the huge Grand Valley or Lumen Christi games which stinks but watching the Lions would be awesome. I’ll also be purchasing the rims for the court at the mall while I’m there. Then I’ll go back to site on Friday to take care of stuff for the court only to have to come back to Accra on Sunday-Thursday next week for my Mid-Service Medical.
They do a few tests, send us to some dentist, and just check up on us now that we have under a year left. One of my best buds Marcus will be down there with me so it’ll be fun. We’ll probably go to the only movie theatre and to the only sports bar in the country and have internet every day. Does life get any better? Oh it does, it’s almost Christmas Season!!! Christmas is always amazing but this year it means home for 3 weeks!

Taken this very morning, setting african blog posting records. This is Bright's loom set up at the Trade Fair. He stole my seat pad because mine is a lot newer than his, jerk.

I am under orders from some big donors to take LOTS of pictures of the Basketball court being built so here are some:

Bricks for the foundation

Truck dropping one of the loads of sand.

This court is for them and they're glad to help.


Land after clearing

Part of the planning committee

Land before clearing.

The site of the court, directly behind the Secondary School
The court is coming along very nicely, well for Africa. The land was cleared and fairly leveled by the school kids in no time, which was awesome to see them all out there excited about the project. Mukaila wants this to be around for a long time and is making sure things are done correctly. That means right now they have formed bricks that will be the base for the court so that it doesn’t sag and crack. We’ve had 10 truck loads of sand and stones delivered and have a platform made for all the cement work. Things were flying until we ran into our current problem. There are no poles to be found in all of southern Volta region for some reason. Today we’re going to look some more but we have to have the poles before we lay the cement so this could be our first (of many I’m sure) delay.
It’s extremely weird to be on the other side of things. I’ve done construction in the States for like 7 years but started as the grunt and then ended as crew chief, never the guy paying for it but rather building it. If I wanted things to go faster I would just work harder. So far I’ve lifted 2 bags of cement and they yelled at me for doing that. They call me “sir” or “Mister Daniel” and have me look at things and approve them. I don’t like it, give me my 20 ounce Craftsman hammer with straight claw (think I miss my tools much?).
On the weaving side of things today we packed up Bright’s loom and hauled it to Ho for the Volta Region Trade Fair. Not sure how it’ll all turn out but they have a very nice set up at the parade grounds and people are coming from all over. They were just opening the stalls this morning but I thought it was really cool. This week I’ll be splitting time in Ho and Kpetoe. I don’t think I’ll actually be doing too much work in either but it’ll be nice to mix things up a little.

Things are starting to get going on the basketball court. Mukaila has been so clutch. He sets up all the meetings with the artisans and even drives me to see them and when appropriate he negotiates stubbornly all while continuing his big man job at the District Assembly.
The nice thing about working at a school, especially in Ghana, is that the kids are used to doing work. Usually they do work for others but this is so they can get a court so they don't complain a bit. I can only imagine if Lumen asked us to clear ground for a new football field (good luck in playoffs this week!). They cleared the entire area of bush, trees, and weeded it in a day. Today and tomorrow they're leveling the land. Bright and Joshua were almost upset when they found out they wouldn't have to organize the weavers to do daybreak labor. I'll try to get some pictures but I've been running around getting stuff.
I was very impressed with my Barclay's bank. Usually if I go in to get money out they see I'm white, see my name isn't Ghanaian, give me my money, and say "Thanks Thomas" (they don't do middle names much here so they get confused. However when I went in to get more money than I'll make off my living allowance for my 2 years here they didn't just hand it over.
They kept apologizing about having me do my sloppy signature one more time. Then I went and talked to the manager, and he said I wasn't wearing glasses, I showed him I had contacts in. He called Peace Corps. In typical PC manner the first 5 numbers we tried didn't go through. Finally our awesome secretary answered. She verified I should be getting money out and that I was "very tall, white, and had the bushiest hair." I don't think my hair is that bushy.
Plan is to get materials delivered this week and hopefully get going w/the concrete on Monday. This is Africa however so if we do it within 2 weeks I'll be happy. Either way it's great to be moving forward.