So I know it has been way way too long since I have posted any entries. The reason is that I spent the last month in the UK. I just arrived on Wednesday and I will return to my site in Lawra tomorrow. I thoroughly enjoyed the month I spent abroad. It was nice to enjoy the amenities of the first world including good food and wine, the theatre, hot water, and electricity all day, every day. I got to visit the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where I will be applying for my Masters of Science in Public Health, specifically the Public Health in Developing countries program for the fall of 2008. I really liked the sound of the program and hope I will be accepted into it when I apply in September. After being scheduled to return to Ghana on July 3rd I ended up being delayed an extra 8 days in the UK due to a suspicious package at Heathrow airport. It was nice to have the extra time and even nicer because by the end of that last week I was really ready to come back to Ghana. After 12 hours of craziness at Heathrow I also realized that transportation can be a nightmare in the first world as well (no one knows what really happened except that 9000 people got their flights delayed).

During my time in London I stayed with friends of mine who were incredibly generous with their hospitality. Inevitably in listening to the stories of my life here, both the good and the bad, they asked if I really wanted to be here for another year. The realization that I came to at the end of my time there and since I have been back is that despite the challenges, of which there are many, I really love it here. Life is not easy here at all. For example, when I got back into the country late at night even though I had called that day for a reservation the room wasn’t available. It seems like no amount of advanced planning helps here sometimes. But moving around Accra and taking care of my business before coming back North made me realize all of the things I love about living here. The people in this country are AMAZING. I continue to be inspired by their strength and resilience and seemingly bottomless capacity for humor in the face of adversity. Ghanaians know they have it hard here. One of the favorite lines I hear all the time from people is “you see how we suffer.” Sometimes it is serious, sometimes it is a said as a joke with a glint in their eye. There are bad people here as there are everywhere, but the overwhelming majority of Ghanaians are friendly, open people who love to laugh. I love the fact that when you get on public transportation you greet the person next to you and ask them how they are. I can see why this country has the reputation as being the friendliest country in West Africa.

Another conclusion that I came to is humans can adapt to any environment and I also am adapting. I am in Tamale at the moment, writing this at the Peace Corps sub office which has been newly connected to the internet (thanks to our new Country Director Bob, he does seem to be willing to make changes sometimes when we ask for them which is awesome.) I went this morning to get my bus ticket to the Upper West tomorrow and to the market to buy some veggies for dinner. The station and market are seriously hectic places which would have once been intimidating to me but are now routine. I discovered the secret that if I moved through society like I used to in Jamaica, I have a lot less people calling me “obruni,” their name for white person, just like less and less people called me “whitey” the longer I lived in Jamaica. Basically I just act like I know what I am doing and where I am going and use hand signals to respond to people rather than always verbally responding to every person trying to get my attention. I remain detached (not to be confused with aloof which I know comes off as snobby) and act like even the strange or confusing is routine and have fewer problems with harassment for money. Also speaking to people in Ghanainglish (Ghanaian English) really helps just like speaking to people in Patwa in Jamaica helped.

The final conclusion that I came to is that I like my life here. I had a great time being in London, but after just seeing friends and grad school and not even doing much site seeing I was exhausted after 3 weeks and felt like I had been running the whole time. I have often enjoyed the fast pace of cities and thrive on the diversity of people and things to do. But right now at this point in my life I have enjoyed slowing down and simplifying. I like having time to read and to cook and time to interact with people on more than a superficial, “I have somewhere to get to after this” level. I have had time to work on personal development, as I always do when I travel. I know I will go back to the urban pace of life next year, but in the meantime I am enjoying what I am doing now. I am really looking forward to going back and seeing where the project is at. I am eager to see if we have heard anything about our grant application from Ghana AIDS Commission and see how the PLWHAs are doing. I am also looking forward to seeing the orphans again, somehow I managed to actually miss their screaming “Nansaal pog! Nansaal pog!” translation: “White lady! White lady!” Besides, after about 50 attempts I think they are finally learning my name. “N youri ba Nansaal pog. N youri la Shista Liz.” Translation: “My name is not white lady, my name is Sister Liz.” :)

So anyway I will let yall get back to your respective days. I know that I will have a lot of ups and downs the next 13 months, but I am feeling reenergized for my work and ready to face things as they come. I will try to send an update of how the project is doing in a few weeks after I get back into the swing of things. In the meantime I hope all is well in your corner of the world. By the way, as you may have guessed my friends were unable to hold the benefit that they wanted to in San Francisco in mid June. The reason is that they could not find an outdoor venue like they wanted. If you know of a good outdoor venue, please contact my friend Freida at freida2020@yahoo.com. They are looking to reschedule toward the end of the summer.