I'm back at the Vodafone Internet Cafe in a town near our Peace Corps training and homestay site called Koforidua. It is a bustling town/city with a huge market area open various days of the week. I am beginning to get the hang of shopping for things in Ghana. It takes getting used to both the physical arrangement of places in Africa and also what is available here. I am looking for some items that I won't be able to find in the village/town where I will be teaching for the next two years. I will need to go to larger towns to find certain things. My clothes are not holding up being washed by me by hand by the bucket method. You would think that wouldn't be the case but it turns out that machine washing keeps clothes in good shape. My things are stretching out and some have even lost their fabric content. And in just two months! The markets have large piles of second hand clothing which I believe were donated and people resell here. The prices vary wildly so negotiating is the order of the day. The other day I found a skirt from the Target (Mossimo Brand) which started out at $5 and ended up at $2.50 (not so different from some of the sales they have actually at the Target). I am at the Cafe (foodless) this afternoon because we have the afternoon off (a first!!) because we passed our language proficiency exams and are almost through with training. Our swearing-in and celebration party with our host families in attendance is next week, after which we head to our sites to begin our Peace Corps service. My site is the town of Mepe in the Volta Region of Ghana. It is at the southern end of the Volta River and only 25 miles from the Ocean as well.

Ciao a tutti. Forse vi faccio leggere in inglese perche ho poco tempo qui al internet cafe e ho gia' scritto un bel po' in inglese qui sopra. Stessi descrivendo il mercato in questa citta' che si chiama Koforidua e dove si trova l'internet cafe. Il mercato e' enorme ed e' un misto tra l'Europa e Morocco fisicamente e per quello che viene venduto. Qui pero, la gente non ti segue per strada che e' bello. La gente di Ghana e dignitosa ed anche elegante perche' portano tutti i tipi di roba sulla testa e cosi camminano col corpo dritto dritto . Devo lavare le mie cose a mano e si stanno disfaccendo di gia' in solo due mesi. Cosi sto cercando nei mercati tra le pile infinite di roba a secondo mano venduta in Africa. Sarebbero state delle cose mandate qui come aiuto ma vengono venduto un'altra volta.

Abbiamo questo pommeriggio libero perche' abbiamo passato i nostri esami di lingua ieri. Nostro training e' quasi finito e la prossima settimana ci facciano una bella festa con i nostri famiglie ospite e' veniamo 'sworn-in'. Poi andiamo ai nostri siti permanenti. La mia sara' il villaggio di Mepe sulla Volta River e neanche tanto lontano dal mare (40 km). Si sente l'aria del mare li'.

A presto allora.