Greetings from Week #6 of Training Hell. Now there's only 5 weeks left and one of those is devoted to visiting my placement site and future home for the next two years. Time is jetting past. Training is tough, mostly due to the demands of learning a new language and the general schedule M-S, 8-5. Hey, this is work! The training is designed for 20-somethings and less so for mid-lifers interested in other facets of living, such as reflections and explortion. I do know that time is coming.

Last week the Business group went on a fieldtrip to the northern portion of the country. Twenty of us visited Kintampo waterfalls (a 30 and 90 ft falls), Mole National Park (home of elephants, baboons and warthogs) and Tamale, which is the largest urban center in the northern third of Ghana. The north is hot and dry, winds from the Sahel filter south during their "winter" and deposit sands nearly to Ghana's coast. Our fieldtrip was a nice change of pace and we focused on the challenges of ecotourism and business in a developing economy. As the upper 1/2 of Ghana is also largely Moslim and it's Ramadan, we heard lots of prayers. Ghanains discovered really big speakers and they're now everywhere. Guess what I think of that??!!

Returning to my host family after those hot, dry days on the road was a treat. They missed me so much that they prepared my favorite dinner--red red, which is fried ripe plantain with bean stew (mostly beans, onions, tomatoes mashed together). The college-aged girls are returned to their schools next week and I'm certain to miss them.

I also came home with a weird eye condition. I look like someone popped me a good one in the right eye, it is all red and puffy. The PC nurse says it will heal with some cream--ok, wounds heal very slowly here, the heat and humidity.... So, I'm looking odd.

There's so much I want to write, but time always seems short here at the internet cafe. It's slow, it's only slightly better than dial-up, but at least it is something. What else? Soooo, much more to say. This week I bought some fabric for skirts and my host mother is taking me to her seamstress. When other trainees have had clothes made they strangely look unlike what they ordered. I'm concerned.

I'm skinnier. I hate all the starches here--rice, rice, white rice, yams (not like sweet potatoes) and more white rice--protein is in short supply, although they have peanuts (they call them ground nuts). Vegetables are in short supply here. I'm sure glad that I brought vegetable seeds from home, another reason to be excited about my new home.

Weather? We're now intereing the dry/hot season and that will extend into March, although my site is located in the rainforest, so I may be getting rain year-round.

Many, amy kudos to Mary for organizing a package drop--I'm savoring everything, especially all those words which surround my heart. Nice treats from Carole and the birding gang (Bob, Gordon, Becky and Larry). Miss you all more than I can possibly surround with words. Thanks too for reader comments.

Special greetings to Jen and Grandma. More soon...xoxox...d

ps. News gets here in weird fits and starts, sad to hear about Rosa Parks (1sr woman to lie in state??)
bird count up to 63, green sunbird yesterday