First week home


I took the flight from Accra to New York to Atlanta to St. Louis. On Saturday I got up at 5 am Accra time and got into St. Louis at 11 pm central 20 something hours later at Accra is 5 hours ahead of St. Louis. It was much different from my 20 hours bus ride from Nandom to Accra on Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday late morning). I did not sleep on the plane and it was like 4 in the morning Accra time when I arrived so I was a zombie who could hardly think when I landed. I'm thankful that my son picked me up and let me recover for a few days.

I got to hold Andy, my first grandchild, on Sunday morning. He is a cute baby at 9 months. Chris and Missy are doing well and the house looks fine. 
Missy, Andy, and Chris

Holding Andy.

On Tuesday I was less of a zombie and I took the train from St. Louis to Kansas City to see Samantha and Brandon. The train trip was a very nice trip. I could get use to traveling in a first world country.
My favorite (and only) daughter Samantha

Samantha and Brandon have a nice apartment. It is an older place with a number of issues inside and out – so a place more to save money rather than living in luxury. I think it is nice – but anything with indoor plumbing and solid electricity is an upgrade.

I'll see my mom and family in Arkansas next week. Spending time with family and friends is the only reason for coming home.


Things are different


There are several striking differences in this first week that should be obvious, but after 15 months in Ghana one forgets some things and gets use to other things.

  1. Connection to the internet is a lot faster. In Ghana I sometimes wait an hour or a day to do something as simple as post a text update on Facebook. I know it sounds obvious, but having developed the patience with slow internet speeds the fast instant response is refreshing. The trick now is to not fall into the trap of always needing faster and faster speeds.
  2. Food is easier to get. Obvious again. America is certainly the home of the plenty – and I decided to use my American credit card and not really worry much about how much I spend -“I'm on vacation” mode of operation. Still, I know that my digestive system cannot process a drastic change in diet and I do not easily shake the mindset of budgeting and discriminate shopping. So I'm somewhat taking it slow.
  3. Walk in my subdivision. I went for a walk in my subdivision on Sunday afternoon. For most of the walk I did not see or hear anybody. Empty front yards and the hum of insects and air conditioning units was a striking difference from the near continual greeting of people common in a Ghanaian village. This is exactly what I told my neighbors in Ghana – but it was still striking when I experienced it again.
  4. Driving 70 or so miles and hour on Interstate 70 – a well paved road is certainly different. Nandom to Wa is about 60 miles away and it takes about as long in a tro as driving about 200 miles from O'Fallon to Kansas City.

I remembered all of these things of course and they should not have been striking, but they still were.

I am enjoying my visit and looking forward to seeing more family and friends as well as Samantha's wedding. I have been warned of the difficulties of getting back on the plane headed to Ghana but I do have about a year left of service and I want to finish up my work.


Health


My cough got worse after the plane – but might be getting better now – or at least not getting worse. If I need to see a doctor stateside there is some procedure that I can follow by getting in touch with the Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO) back in Ghana.

 Communication is not difficult – I got a US sim card with unlimited talk, text, data for 30 days so I can whatsapp message PCMO (and already have given them updates). (Note: the plan was more expensive than I would have liked @ $45 + $15 for the sim card and I don't need unlimited, but the choices of a direct buy was limited.


Love always,

John

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