One week from today I meet the other Health: Water and Sanitation Peace Corps Trainees. We spend the night in historic Philadelphia – perhaps getting a chance to see Constitution Hall the Liberty Bell – before heading to Africa. We arrive in Accra, the capital of Ghana, on Wednesday to begin our 10-week training program. We anticipate being sworn in as Volunteers in mid-April.
My feelings? Excitement and awe with a twinge of apprehension.
Excitement and Awe: My next 27 months will be filled with new experiences.
Food I haven’t tasted cooked with tools and processes I haven’t seen. New tastes and textures to expand my Ghanaian recipe collection. I’ll learn to cook something besides ground nut (peanut) stew.
People I haven’t met. Fellow trainees, Peace Corps staff, and Ghanaians will become my friends and pseudo family – helping me adjust to my new life, working together to identify and focus on mutual goals, embracing me with their warm hearts, watching me grow.
Places I can only imagine. Rainforests. The largest man-made lake in the world. City markets. Kente weaving. Coastal slave forts. Rural villages. National parks with elephants and monkeys living in the wild. People performing everyday tasks in different ways. Traditional Ghanaian homes. Cashew farms. How many blank photo memory cards should I bring?
Unintelligible mutterings spoken too fast for my brain to interpret. Twi – and maybe another language – will soon filter through my ears. I am confident my brain will soon translate the noise into distinct words and teach my mouth and tongue to create meaningful phrases. Although English is the official language in Ghana, I’m sure I’ll get too practice Twi.
A Twinge of Apprehension: I head to Philly on Sunday; I have less than a week to prepare for the journey of a lifetime. The root of my apprehension: a lengthy to-do list, a room full of “take to Ghana” items, and knowledge that I won’t see friends and family for a couple of years.
My multi-page to-do list doesn’t seem to get shorter. I add items as quickly as I complete items. I find myself doing fun items like updating my blog or sewing a dress instead of the important tasks printing Peace Corps schedules or researching Ghana. I may not complete something critical. But hey, great friends and family will gladly jump it to help with anything that falls through the cracks. Right? Right!
Mom’s guest bedroom is full of potential Ghana-bound items I carted from Dallas. With a two suitcase and 80-pound checked luggage limit, each item is now undergoing a careful want vs. need analysis. The “store at Mom’s” stack is expanding, but the “take to Ghana” stack needs to shrink more. I’ve made two cuts; I need at least two more significant cuts. Clothes are being reduced to a minimum – even the blouse I made a couple of days ago didn’t make the cut. I plan to wear clothes repeatedly and have clothes made in Ghana. I’m carefully considering how many layers of clothing I can wear and still be able to waddle through airports.
I went overboard buying gifts for my host family. I’ll take the heavy cookbook (at least that’s today’s plan), but the bubbles will remain in Kansas. The watches I purchased for my host parents seem bulkier than they were at Wal-Mart. What could I ship to Ghana instead of carrying on the plane? Should I mail Uno and other card games to myself or will I want them right away? What about the harmonica I don’t currently know how to play but anticipate learning in my spare time? Will the crochet and tatting supplies make the cut?
If you have packing recommendations, send them quickly!
As my send-off gets closer I realize how much I’ll miss my family and friends who continue to be incredibly supportive.
There are many challenges to staying connected with loved ones and acquaintances across 6,400 miles: No face-to-face communication. No 24/7 email or phone access. Six-hour time zone difference. Perhaps irregular and/or unreliable internet access. Twice-the-standard postage rates without daily delivery. Busy schedules. Different priorities.
Looking for general “what’s Linda doing” updates? Read this blog – my main tool for letting friends and family know what’s happening.
Want more personal communication? Send me an email (knowing my response may be delayed).
Especially over the next few weeks – and even during the next couple of years, remember the “no news is good news” mantra. If you don’t hear from me, it’s not because I don’t care or because something dreadful has happened. It’s most likely because I haven’t been able to get to the internet. Or it might be that I’m so busy I haven’t been able to take time to let you know everything is OK. Or perhaps it’s because I’m too excited and awed – and having way too much fun – to take time to record my experiences.
I’m sure your very excited and, perhaps, expriencing a really wild emotional roller coaster. You are embarking on an expreience of a lifetime. I”m not sure I would have the courage to do what your doing. I’m positive that you will be rewarded many times over and will not feel any regret on your decision. Lots of hugs and warm kisses your way.
My two cents:
1. Get a small external hard drive to store your photos on so you can reuse your memory cards.
2. Leave the games, instruments, crafts at home – if you have time, you will find those things there or new things to bring back and share!
3. Clothes: take good jeans and good shoes that fit you well, leave the rest – you will have so much fun shopping for blouses and such there!
4. Throw that to do list away, enjoy your family and friends and don’t look back.
5. If you want for things – your friends will send, but you will be so enamored, overwhelmed and physically exhausted with the newness and differences, that you won’t have time for much more initially. Seriously, all your senses will be awakened by this experience.
Then, as you fall in love with your new life, the stresses of life will diminish and you will sink into your new friends and community there that your time will go fast. Really, you will find they have a slower life and enjoy things far more than we are use to here – enjoy it! You are such an open and inquisitive person, I for one can not wait to read about your experiences, live vicariously through you and be enthralled by your tales when you return and before your next adventure.
Eyes forward my friends, much hugs and love. Thank you for being such an inspiration to us all and also for making a difference in all the lives you touch!
What a thoughtful response, my friend. I can tell you’ve “been there” and “done that.” I appreciate the great advice from your lessons learned. I am blessed to have you in my life.
I know we’ll stay in touch and i look forward to sharing adventure stories as we both move forward and embrace our incredible lives.
Safe journey, my friend.
You won’t really have much down time until you are at site, so I would leave the games/hobby stuff back and have someone send to you if you decide you want it.
Make sure to bring a headlamp. Trust me.
If you packed a year supply of anything (except medicine), leave the extras in a padded envelope to be shipped. I get packages of stuff I left behind monthly. Padded envelopes are easy to send, you can actually fit quite a lot of stuff in there, they are cheaper, and you get them faster. Win, win, win.
If you are on the fence about anything, leave it.
Bring a towel.
Don’t forget a USB stick, external hard drive, and a good notebook. A hard folder for all the papers is probably handy too.
Leave the cookbook. You will get a pretty good cookbook here that has lots of recipes and if you are giving it as a gift, really leave it. Ghanaians aren’t fans of American food and most can’t read anyway. Maybe take some pages with you of things you really want to make. Ghanaians wear watches for fashion, not to tell the time. It is either morning, afternoon, or time to pound fufu.
Bring good pens.
Don’t forget shampoo and conditioner.
And lastly, pack some candy that you can open after about a month. You will be craving american junk food. Mine was a bag of oreos. Wonderful.
Tell Ernest, the driver, I said hi when you see him next week! Bring him a gift and you will be taken care of during training!
Thanks, Caitlin, for the practical suggestions. Your ideas will save me lots of heartache – and will also save my back because I won’t be carrying stuff I don’t really need. I love the ideas of sending extra stuff in padded envelopes. And packing a special treat provides a special treat. I look forward to meeting you in Ghana – and I’m sure I’ll have a message to you from Ernest.
I’m so excited for you Linda and all the wonderful new experiences you will have. Went to the post office and learned that it only costs $1.05 to send you a letter from the Dallas area, but the postage has to show the actual U.S. dollar amount, which means we can not use the ‘forever’ stamps. The post office does however have $1.05 stamps that can be purchased (for ‘single’ stamp letters). Will see if that changes with your new address after training is finished. Good luck with figuring out what to pack!
Thanks, Sandra, for checking out the postage rate. I mailed myself a postcard yesterday – for $1.05. I am sure the rate is the same from anyplace in the United States – and will not change based on my location in Ghana. I know mail call will be an exciting time!