Time is flying by and I am having a bit of a blitz this weekend on catching up with the blog as I have got rather behind.
Feb 14th was Valentine’s Day, Maths Day and National Chocolate Day all in one. By then I had no chocolate left from the various parcels I was sent at Christmas.
When I got back from my travels after the New Year other European volunteers said I looked well. Ghanaian colleagues at work said that Africa wasn’t suiting me - I was thinner and browner. Different perceptions! I have lost a few kilos but not a lot and am certainly not in any danger of fading away.
It was a bit daunting getting back on the moto after a break. If I am going far afield I usually go with someone else as there are no maps and I don’t know where any of the schools are. However if you set off in the right general direction you can usually ask someone for directions. People are really helpful and I never feel at all unsafe. I have now found out that I can pick the moto up from the ground even though it’s really heavy - I managed to drop it when I ground to a halt in deep sand. You need to keep your revs up in sand but the back wheel tends to wobble around and I chickened out and got stuck. I constantly have a few impressive bruises on my right leg as every so often I hit my shin on the pegs as I move the moto in and out of the house but am otherwise still in one piece as yet.
In March I braved the 16 hr bus journey south and visited Accra for a few days, travelling with a couple of other Upper East volunteers to attend some VSO workshops. Socially it was good to catch up with other volunteers who were in Accra for various reasons or live there and to eat out. Like any other capital city Accra has lots of expats living there and other high earners so there is a good choice of international cuisine available at a price. So for a few days we paid almost UK type prices and enjoyed real mozzarella and parmesan on pizza, South African wine, butter, ice-cream, chips and bacon. I also bought some chocolate and a few other goodies to bring north. I couldn’t afford to be there for long! It was a bit cooler in Accra and I got some really good sleep in the hotel as there was air con. It was lovely to have cool air in the room and snuggle under a cover.
It was time to say farewell to both my housemates, firstly Iona and then Andrea, in February & March as they reached the end of their placements and returned home. So there were several parties and ‘sittings’ to say goodbye and then it was hello to new faces as replacement volunteers arrived. It was strange to suddenly be senior volunteer in Zebilla!