Getting close!!

My last day of work served as a serious wake up call. I was no longer doing the daily 8 to 5 thing and I could focus more on the countdown to departure. My last day of work was on August 17. I spent August 18 and 19th in Sonoma, laying in the sun with friends, playing sports and shutting my brain off. I was back in San Francisco for maybe 3 hours before I flew to Vermont for another small vacation. 8 days in Vermont allowed for some quality family time and a number of small wake up calls regarding the Peace Corps.

Though most of my time was spent hanging out with my cousins and spending some quality time before leaving for 2 years, I also got to experience solitude, humidity, mosquitos, manual labor under the sun and a night with no electricity. Unfortunately, I was completely conscious of these changes and I'm sure they'll prove to be nothing compared to Ghana. Killing a few hours each day by myself without internet or cell phone reception was easy enough. I had a few good books but still had to think to myself that most of my next two years will be virtually solo. 80 degrees with nearly 100% humidity was a big change from SF and made me sweat when i did anything but will be NOTHING compared to 110 and 110% humidity. Are you kidding me? I still can't imagine this. I went to Bikram yoga one evening and during a 90 minute class in 110 degree heat, I felt like I might faint several times. It felt great but not as nice as walking outside after class into the cool night air. Ghana won't have that door, I won't be able to walk out of the heat EVER!!! Mosquito's were no big deal. I worked to help my uncle build a post and beam deck on his house. We'd work until nearly sundown and sit on the deck for a while after working. Each morning, I'd wake up with at least half a dozen new bites on my knees and toes. I forgot how annoying it can be to get a mosquito bite in a knuckle. Fortunately, I didn't have to worry that these mosquitos might be carrying malaria. I'll have to step up the protection soon enough. On the malaria note, I had a chance to read an article about malaria and it's way gnarlier than I had realized. Thought it's relatively managable with medicine, over 50% of Ghanaians get Malaria during their lifetime. Perhaps I've mentioned that Northern Ghana is the Malaria capital of the world. Nice huh?!?!?

My last night in Brookfield included a serious deluge. While at dinner with my Great Aunt Jan and my mom, the clouds opened and ripped the town apart. Several trees were knocked down and the power went out for over 24 hours. I've experienced a number of blackouts in my time (including 2 weeks after Hurricane Wilma in Ft. Lauderdale) and wasn't worried. However, reading by candlelight and simply getting from point A to point B at night is a serious pain in the ass. Depending on where I'm stationed in Ghana, this might be every night. Good thing I've stocked up on LED headlamps. I can't help but let my imagination run to situations like walking around in the pitch black and tripping over a nice, fat, 15 foot python (the most commonly seen snake according to my tourist guy book).

That's it for now. I got back from Vermont on the 28th and came up to Seattle on the 30th. I'll be here until Sept. 3rd and from there until the 14th (actual flight to Philly) it's all prep and countdown time.

Until next time.