Official Volunteer!

Sorry its been a while since my last post. First and foremost, I hope everybody had an awesome Christmas (enjoy that snow for me!).


Second, I have a new address!

Diana Hsieh, PCV
Peace Corps/Ghana

PO Box 962

Tamale- Northern Region, Ghana

West Africa

I passed my language exam! Woohoo! This was hopefully obvious as I didn't show back up in America haha. After passing the language exam we were all sworn in as official Peace Corps Volunteers! The swearing in ceremony was really really nice. We all got our certificates, danced a bunch, and had some celebratory drinks after!

Then we all travel to our individual sites, mine being Yapalsi. I was definitely a little worried because last time I was in Yapalsi I left pretty stressed out. However since I've been at site it's been nothing but nice. Knowing more of the language has been a huge help. I was really dreading the children knocking on my shutters saying, "Madam. Madam. Come out. Madam. Madam. Come out. Please. Madam..." for 20 solid minutes at night, but since being at site that hasn't been a huge issue.

So every morning I go and get water from a pond about a 10ish minute walk from home. Everybody carries the water in these huge barrels on their heads so I wanted to do the same. It's a pretty funny site because by the time I get back to my house I'm normally soaking wet. I use a bucket about half the size of the barrels they carry because my neck muscles just aren't up to par. The one time I tried to carry one of their barrels on top of my head I thought I was going to break my neck. I literally could not even take a single step for fear making myself a paraplegic. I've made it a personal goal to be able to carry one of those barrels though, I mean, my 12 year old sister here can do it (the barrel has to weigh half her weight). People here are beasts man.

Not having electricity hasn't posed a huge problem for me yet. It was annoying though when I couldn't charge my phone when it died. My original battery lasted 2 weeks before it needed a charge and was amazing. However I dropped my phone on my way to site and my battery fell out and disappeared into thin air. It was like a really good magic trick, only I didn't get what I lost back. This new battery actually just freaked out last night. The battery got really hot and expanded to an oval like shape. I got really scared and threw it away, thus bringing me into town so I could buy a new battery and visit an internet cafe!

Yesterday I went and picked cotton with my fellow village mates. I kept wondering where every child went during the day so I followed them. It was a site for them to see my picking cotton next to them. Cotton tears at your hand though, you got to be careful when picking it!

 Getting my PCV certificate!!

 My host parents at the ceremony! They had a matching dress tailored for me.

 A funeral ceremony I attended. Those guns were LOUD.

If cultural integration didn't begin with fetching water in the morning or picking cotton, it damn well began when I ate this- "Saba" or bush meat. My family ate this the night before but I had already eaten dinner so I thought I was in the clear. Well, no. I got this for breakfast today. Maybe this is how everybody feels when they are served fish with its head still attached? Either way I ate this whole thing (minus the tail, head, and 1 paw). Honestly it wasn't too bad...