The countdown begins...4 months left of my Peace Corps service!

As crazy as it is, as of March 8th, I will only have 4 months left here in Armenia.  I will be ready to come home, ready to be with the people I miss and have access to the things I love about America.  But it's also a very strange feeling to know that there are only 4 months of this experience left, just as I really feel like I've started to get Armenia and how to be successful and how to live here.  My last Armenian winter is slowly coming to an end, so getting excited for Spring and the start of Summer here!  But more on that later:)

Since I last wrote, some really amazing things have happened.  To start, I got to spend 8 days in Ghana with a friend of mine, Gary, who is a Peace Corps volunteer serving in the central region.  After some difficulties securing my VISA and finding the yellow fever vaccine, I landed in Accra to warm weather, sunshine, and what ended up being one of the most amazing trips I've ever had (and one I am going to try to describe as much as I can:).  I wanted to take advantage of experiencing Ghana through the eyes of a Peace Corps volunteer so I could really see Ghana, or at least as much as I could in the short time we had.  Gary planned everything, so I just had to follow his lead, quite literally at times as the public transportation is incredibly challenging to navigate, and we did as much as I can possibly imagine could be fit into the time I was there. One thing that actually helped with all of the traveling we did, my luggage didn't show up until the day before I headed back to Armenia.  I can tell how much more laid back I've become since I've been a PCV and after living in Armenia because wearing the same clothes for the whole trip and not having my usual stuff wasn't a big deal, you don't really need much to get by:)  And I'm sure having my hiking bag would have made the already cramped public transportation a lot more difficult.  Among the first things I noticed about the incredible differences between Ghana and Armenia were the colors present everywhere, the clothing, the buildings, everywhere you looked it was colorful.  Living in Armenia, you get used to the majority of people wearing black and the dullness of many of the buildings here and the colors in Ghana totally energized me.  The first few days all I could say was how much I loved the country, so much so Gary asked if I just loved everything.  But it was just such a different world from what I have been living in for the last almost 2 years, that it really opened my eyes to the extremely different places we live in and how incredibly different our Peace Corps services are.  Another thing I absolutely loved was the music, it felt like it was everywhere.  You woke up in the morning and heard people singing and in many of the villages we passed, there were huge speakers and people dancing while they walked down the street.  Below is one of my favorite songs that I heard.

The first night, we stayed in Accra with a woman named Kate, she had been Gary's counterpart until she moved to Accra to be with her husband.  Many teachers in Ghana, once they graduate, are placed by the Ministry of Education in a school, most likely not one in their hometown and many are separated from their families as a result.  At times, these placements are up to 10 years before they can request to work at a school where their family is.  Kate had been living in Gary's village for the first few months of his service before she was able to be placed in Accra to be with her husband who is a nurse at one of the hospitals in the capital.  Kate is one of the most incredible women I have ever met, her energy, openness, and instant love for me is something I will always remember.  In Ghana, everyone refers to each other as their brother and sister and it is unclear who is actually related and who is not because this endearment for one another ends up being just as much if not more important than actual family ties.  Gary and I also stayed with Kate and her husband my last night in Ghana and she let me know that I would forever be her sister, something that will always be one of the most important things that happened to me during my trip.  During my second day, Gary and I went with Kate to sit in on her class for a little bit and meet the kids.  I haven't gotten the kind of positive attention we did that day in as long as I can remember, the kids were giggling, smiling, touching us, and so excited that we were there.  Their smiles were incredible and totally lit up the whole room.  Each school has a uniform, so all of the kids were dressed up in the same outfits, boys in shorts, girls in skirts.  I noticed that all of the girls had their hair cut very short and it turns out that is the current fashion.  The class was taught in English as that is the national language, but there is also the language for the different areas in which people live, many in Accra and Gary's village speak Twi and in many areas English is not spoken at all.  (I tried unsuccessfully to learn a little bit:)  At first, I had a hard time understanding the English as they have a very distinct accent, which made it interesting listening to the volunteers speak because they also use the accent to better understand each other, but after a few days it became a little easier to understand.

My sister Kate:)

We left Kate's class and started the journey to Hohoe,where we stayed for 2 nights.  Transportation takes quite a bit longer in Ghana than Armenia due to some incomplete roads, dirt roads, and other obstacles.  Most of the travel is done in a vehicle called a Tro, it is similar to the marshutni's we have in Armenia, but they are bigger and can hold more people.  Transportation is also quite a bit more expensive in Ghana than Armenia as the gas prices continue to go up.  Every stop the tro's make, you are surrounded by people trying to sell water satchels (about 10 cents a piece and you go through many of these throughout the day), and food, pretty convenient when you want a snack over a long journey. I got hooked on fried yams and a sauce called Pepe, it became my staple throughout my whole trip. Once we got to Hohoe, I got to experience my first Ghanian meal, banku, a dough type substance that you pick up with your hands and dip into a spicy soup.  Apparently, it was a rite of passage to eat this and I liked it so much, we got it our second night there:)

Banku

 Another huge difference between our two countries is people don't really start moving in Armenia until 9 or 10 am whereas in Ghana the day starts pretty much by the time the sun is up, 5:30 or 6am.  So after a long day of travelling, my usual bedtime of midnight quickly changed to me passing out way earlier than I'd like to admit.  The next day was one of our two touristy days,we started by heading to a monkey sanctuary, such a cool experience.  We were given bananas and our guide made really interesting noises to call the monkeys to us.  We gripped the bananas tightly and the monkeys jumped right up onto our arms.  First time I'd ever experienced anything like it and it was really fun.  Then we took a short hike to Wili Waterfalls and it was an absolutely stunning site.  Because I was wearing the only jeans I had, I didn't get to wade over to the wall, but Gary made it over to under the waterfall, which proved to be a little more challenging than it looked.





That night we headed to another PCV's site to cut our journey to Cape Coast in half.  We were treated to a delicious Mexican meal complete with guacamole, totally a treat since we can't get avocados in Armenia:)  The next morning we finished the trip to Cape Coast and I got to see the Atlantic Ocean from the other side and it was amazing.  We went on a tour of the Cape Coast Castle, one of the places where slaves were held for up to 3 months before they started the journey to the US.  It was one of the most powerful tours I have been on, at one point, they put us in one of the dungeons and turned the lights off to give us a slight glimpse into what the slaves had to experience.  We then grabbed a beer at a bar with the best view of the coast and topped the night off with a delicious dinner and a dip in the ocean. 

 I could have stayed in Cape Coast a bit longer, but we were on a time crunch and headed to Gary's village.  We spent the evening watching music videos with one of Gary's friends Henry and his wife and child and chatting with a guy they call Nana Chelsea, because of his love for the football club.  Nana is the word for Chief and it is a honor to be referred to as Nana.  The village has named Gary Nana Kwasi Ata, which includes the word for twin because he reminds them of their former Chief and this name shows the amount of love they have for him.  The next day, I was also introduced to the Queen Mother, who is the female head of the village, she was an incredibly sweet and sophisticated woman and it was really special for me to have had the chance to meet her.  Everyone in the village was so wonderful and wanted to say hello, so it took us quite a bit of time to walk from Gary's place to the cab since it was time to go.  Then came the end of my journey.  I experienced so  much more during this trip and am so grateful to have had the chance to go and to have such an incredible host:)  And, Gary plans to come to Armenia for a visit in May to experience another side of Peace Corps, so it's my turn to show him what life is like here!

Cape Coast

The second I landed back in Armenia, things were crazy.  A few days after I got back, the US Ambassador John Heffern came to Gavar to see the Rehabilitation in the Home Trainings, Good Hope NGO, and the Children Development and Rehabilitation Center of Gavar.  He came to better understand the work we were doing and to show his support to our parents, children, and staff.  It was one of the best days I have had in country and so important to our beneficiaries:)  What was really great, is the week after the visit, Candace Cable, an American Paralympian came to Armenia to show her support of people with disabilities and the Ambassador invited my counterpart Mariam and I to participate in many of the events Ms. Cable was holding.  It was such a special experience for both of us.

Ambassador John Heffern visits Gavar!

We also celebrated Peace Corps week with many of the friends we have made in Gavar.  They gave interviews about why working with Peace Corps has been important to them and also talked about what they want Americans to know about Armenia.  We are working on editing the film so I hope to share that with all of you soon.

Celebrating Peace Corps week!

And now, I am just staying busy trying to get everything wrapped up before I leave in July.  My counterpart Mariam and I, from Good Hope, are working on a project to provide legal counseling to our NGO and we have a couple more months until our rehab in the homes project is complete, Diana and I are working on project proposals with the NGO's we work with in neighboring villages, and I am working with other members of the Gender Equality Training of Trainers steering committee on the upcoming conference which will include seminars on domestic violence, gender selective abortions, HIV and AIDS, contraception, gender issues in Armenia, and more.

And, in non-work related news, my plumbing has finally been fixed!  After three months of no water, dishes piling up, and many entertaining moments, I now have full access to water:)  So that's the latest from Gavar!  I am starting to work on my resume and looking at jobs so I will also keep you all posted on that!  Sending lots of love from Armenia!

Hoping this is the last of the snow!