Highs and Lows in the Upper East

Wow what a week! We arrived by market car (the term tro-tro isn't used in the Upper East) at Kongo Spiritual Retreat Centre Monday loving the pastoral scenery and dry heat of the Upper East- my home for the next two years. Meeting the chief of Kongo was a good experience. He was a pretty progressive man who spent some time abroad while in the military. But the highlight of the day was of course food. We had amazing fried chicken with actual meat instead of just skin and bones, buttery noodles, cabbage, and french fries! My friend Vince and I kept singing the current. super catchy Ghanaian pop hit 'I Love my Life.'

The next morning we started of the day with my favorite breakfast food crepes and apricot jam. Then we went into Bolga to meet and practice with our language resources for the week. I met with my speaker Dora at the spot she owns. She also bakes cakes for weddings and other parties. I practiced a lot of my introductions I already knew and also learned some new vocabulary as well. In the afternoon we departed for Paga (near the Burkina Faso border) where we visited the crocodile pond. There are well trained crocodiles here who let you 'sit' (I hovered though) on them and lift their tails up and afterward they are fed guinea fowl as a reward. I was terrified so all the guys went first but I mustered up the nerve to do it and I have the photo to prove it! Which unfortunately will not get posted until August most likely. We also tried shea nuts since the trees lined the road to Paga. Their texture and color is similar to avocados but they taste much sweeter. I love the trees in the Upper East especially the baobab. It is very beautiful there and I'm happy I will be living in this region. I also love that the people are much more chill about foreigners and don't calls us out so much as in the South.

Wednesday we went back to Bolga and a little before midday I developed a headache after which point the week went downhill very quickly: vomiting in a box that served as a trash can on the side of the street, urgently needing a toilet, riding back to Kongo being miserable in a market car, getting a high fever, sleeping restlessly, etc. I won't go into all the gory details but I'll just say I was thankful to have a flush toilet and ceiling fan in my room with a ceiling fan and not be travelling. I continued being ill through Thursday and had recovered by Friday which was our day for reflection, self language practice, and packing. Yesterday we journeyed to Kumasi leaving at 4 am and arriving at the sub-office where we stayed the night close to 10 pm- talk about a long day. Later today we head out to Bunso for counterparts workshop and burgers! I am excited yet nervous to meet the person I will be working with for the next two years. Please leave a comment and let me know if you have questions about Ghana or if there's anything in particular you'd like me to write about. Thanks for reading!