It is hard to believe that it has been almost 2 years since I was sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer but it must be true because last week I went to my Close of Service conference. I have to admit that the last place that I wanted to go was to this conference. Don't get me wrong, I did want to see all of my fellow volunteers, especially those that are posted to far away for me to visit but it came at a very inconvient time for me.
My project is busy, as usual, but we have found a new office space and I was excited to start the renovations and move the women into the new space before the rainy season starts. I also wanted to get this done before my mother and aunt arrived in Ghana but as I have learned from being here for 2 years nothing happens as you want, it happens on its on time.
So I resigned myself to going to the conference and then to All Vol(which is right after COS) and then going right back to site and trying to get as much done as possible before my mother gets to Ghana. Since I had to go to the conference I was going to make the most of it and I must say that it was one of the most informative conferences that I have gone to while at Peace Corps.
The sessions were relative to what we needed and they were broken up by us giving each other "fufu" awards. These are little "most likely awards" that our friends would nominate us for about things that we have done during our time in Ghana. Most of them were very funny.
At night it was nice to sit along the river with other PC volunteers that I had not seen in several months and catch up and see what they were going to do when they finish their service.
When we finished the conference we were taken to the All Vol conference, where we still are. It does seem a little odd that those of us who are about to leave have to be at this conference since we are not supposed to start new projects before we leave but we are going along with it.
For some of us it is our first chance to meet all of the PC volunteers that were sworn-in in August. Since the conference is being held at the same place as it was last year it is bringing back memories of the people who already went home and we are telling the new volunteers stories about them. I guess it is our way of passing on the PC history to the new volunteers. At some point they are going to get tired of hearing "Do you remember last year when. . . ."
It nice to see all of the volunteers but it will also be nice when this conference is over on Thursday morning. It means that I have less than a week until my family arrives in Ghana.
It is hard to believe that I have less than 6 months left in Ghana since I have decided to extend for a few months and I hope that I use that time to experience as much as possible.
My project is busy, as usual, but we have found a new office space and I was excited to start the renovations and move the women into the new space before the rainy season starts. I also wanted to get this done before my mother and aunt arrived in Ghana but as I have learned from being here for 2 years nothing happens as you want, it happens on its on time.
So I resigned myself to going to the conference and then to All Vol(which is right after COS) and then going right back to site and trying to get as much done as possible before my mother gets to Ghana. Since I had to go to the conference I was going to make the most of it and I must say that it was one of the most informative conferences that I have gone to while at Peace Corps.
The sessions were relative to what we needed and they were broken up by us giving each other "fufu" awards. These are little "most likely awards" that our friends would nominate us for about things that we have done during our time in Ghana. Most of them were very funny.
At night it was nice to sit along the river with other PC volunteers that I had not seen in several months and catch up and see what they were going to do when they finish their service.
When we finished the conference we were taken to the All Vol conference, where we still are. It does seem a little odd that those of us who are about to leave have to be at this conference since we are not supposed to start new projects before we leave but we are going along with it.
For some of us it is our first chance to meet all of the PC volunteers that were sworn-in in August. Since the conference is being held at the same place as it was last year it is bringing back memories of the people who already went home and we are telling the new volunteers stories about them. I guess it is our way of passing on the PC history to the new volunteers. At some point they are going to get tired of hearing "Do you remember last year when. . . ."
It nice to see all of the volunteers but it will also be nice when this conference is over on Thursday morning. It means that I have less than a week until my family arrives in Ghana.
It is hard to believe that I have less than 6 months left in Ghana since I have decided to extend for a few months and I hope that I use that time to experience as much as possible.
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