I know that I have not been good about posts during my time here and I apologize for that and now, somehow, 3 months has flown by and Navrongo will be my home for only a few more days. I can't wait to come home, to see family and friends, to eat non-Ghanaian food, to have toilet paper with individual squares, etc. But at the same time I am not ready to leave here--it seems that we have finally gotten settled here, understanding the ins and outs of life in Navrongo, and now it's time to go. The past months have been an amazing experience and I am so glad that 3 years ago I made the decision to switch from being a nursing to international health major. Ok enough with the sappiness--now here's a quick update as to what I have been doing for the past few weeks.
Thanksgiving was uneventful--Ashley's boyfriend brought some food from home so our meal consisted of stove top stuffing, peanut butter sandwiches, fried plantains, and, for dessert, peanut m&m's. Needless to say it wasn't quite like Thanksgiving at home. The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went with Ashley to take her boyfriend back to Ouaga where he was flying out. If there is one thing I have to say about Ouaga it's that it is super expensive. No $1.20 meals there. Even if the weekend made me significantly poorer, it was still fun and we ate a lot of delicious sandwiches. This past week I have been work work working a whole lot. I had to remember how to do data analysis and basically concluded that my project had no significant finds. A little frustrating but that's how research goes and the experience of creating and executing a research project all on my own was wonderful. This weekend has been extremely busy. Yesterday we spent much of the day in Bolga, getting lunch at a favorite restaurant there and visiting the craft center. The evening was devoted to power point presentation making since we present tomorrow (AHHHHH). This morning April and I got up and cleaned the apartment and once again discovered that our kitchen floor is white and not the lovely shade of dust it has been. We had one last lunch just the three of us at Perseverance before heading into market for some final shopping. Then we picked Aki and Emma up from the taxi lot (they are here until Tuesday) and headed into market again and then back to the Center.
This evening April, Ashley and I went out to dinner with Dr. Williams which turned out to be very nice. It was nice to wrap things up with him and to have a relaxing dinner out (that we didn't have to pay for!). There was even a power outage to go along with the fact that the water was out most of the weekend. The next 48 hours are going to be nuts trying to get everything together before heading out on our 2 week adventure. April and I haven't decided if we are leaving Tuesday morning or Wednesday morning but regardless we will be heading first to Kumasi (a big city), then to the coast, and finally to Accra. It will definitely be an adventure but I am looking forward to it. Well that is really all there is to report from the past few weeks. Next time you hear from me I should be back on American soil...
