Yes!!!! I'm still alive!!!!!

So..

Well, I'm back in Accra right now, as our group is just on our way to Nkawkaw for our retreat with Father Paul... which I am really looking forward to!

I've completed the first half of my village stay, and although it's been challenging at times, it's been really awesome too. My mother's name is Christiana and my father's name is Samuel, and I have 6 brothers and 2 sisters: Joseph ("Amati" - 20), Jacob (19), James (17), Margaret ("Amaki" - 14), Peter (12), Ezekiel (7), Joshua (5) and Monica (3 this Christmas). I have a room that I share with my sister (Amaki) and another girl from the village (Lani), a hole in the ground for a toilet, and a bath house that's really just three-and-a-half walls with a broken concrete floor.. and it's actually pretty great! I'm definitely becoming a big fan of this whole bathing outside thing. We eat banku every night, and it's amazing!! Amaki makes the best banku I've ever tasted, and my mom makes a different stew or soup every night.. and she's an excellent cook. I did get quite sick after my first few days there, but it was because of something called 'saltpetre' that they put in the soup.. I went to the hospital and then spent some time recovering at Dinah's, so needless to say, they don't make that soup for me anymore! I went farming with my mother and Amaki this past weekend (picking peppers), and the farm itself was about a half-hour walk away. It was the first time I've ever had sweat dripping off of my face!! I was so tired by the time we came home, and though I stayed until all the peppers had been picked, we were only there for about an hour.. maybe two at the most - and I'm still sore! (..I'm such a baby!!)

I've definitely had my bout with homesickness, and for a few days - and especially around the time I was sick - all I wanted to do was come home. But a phone call home and a letter written through tears really helped. In fact, just this past weekend I had my first "I'm really gonna miss this place" feeling. I will miss the business of Junction, fetching water, cooking with my mom and Amaki (which I do every night - I'm still trying to perfect the banku, but it's going well!), and just the general way of life. It's all so different.. as much getting used to as it takes, it's pretty great once you let it in and soak it up.

I had this really great moment with Amaki on Sunday, and I want to share it with everyone who reads this. As a white person in Ghana, I am constantly called out to and referred to as "baffoono" (or braffoono or blaffoono - I'm not really too sure) - which means 'white man', and on Sunday as Amaki and I were walking past the school close to my house, some older schoolchildren started calling it out, and for the first time Amaki turned to me and said "Don't mind them.. you are NOT 'baffono'. You have a name - you are Abusaki. You are NOT baffono." It was really great.

Anyway, there are likely a gajillion other things I probably wanted to say and am totally forgetting in this moment, but it's been a while and I'm running out of time. I hate to go. I've realized that writing to home somehow makes me feel closer to it, and I like that. As much as I'm loving it here, I think about home often and wonder how it's going there. I miss everyone, and I hope all is well.

Take care over there, and know that I continue to carry all of you with me.