Medical clearance!!

Celebration time!!!


I received medical clearance so I can now turn my attention to other things.  It is time to celebrate with some wine and then plan my next steps before Eastern Caribbean.

Next steps in the process


This month I will begin more serious research on the Eastern Caribbean to prepare what I might bring.  The research will include reading blogs of current Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) and general research.  This will help me to decide what I am going to take and how to prepare.

I will also get more serious about what I have, what I want to keep, what I want to leave, what I need to give away, and what I need to get.  I already have most of what I will need, but I’m also thinking of host family gifts.  For example, I have a headlamp that I like and I will bring it along.  But I might buy a new one or two for gifts.  I will be likely staying with two families.  The first part of training is on St. Lucia for 6 weeks and that will be with one host family.  The second part will be on whichever of the island nations I will be assigned for three weeks with a different family.

I also need to get some things done around the house.  I have a lawn mower to get repaired, trees to get trimmed, and a ceramics kiln to install.  I would like to get those things done before the middle of February if possible, but some might get delayed.

I saw the dentist today and will likely complete my dental work by early May.

I will hopefully be heading off to Holland and a few other European countries for maybe a couple of weeks or so in May.  And of course Miami and then St. Lucia in about 126 days if anyone is counting.  You can see that I’ve updated my page to add a countdown clock.  J

I also want to take some car/train/plane trips to see family and friends before I go – probably in March or April and then one last short time to visit to mom again in May.
 
All the work around the house and travel means that I will likely quit working by the middle of February if not sooner.

So by the tone of this post you can tell I’m still pretty amp’ed up from medical completion.  I realize there was never much doubt, but I pretty much put my entire focus on getting medical stuff done.  Now that it is done I need to get busy with other things.

Until next week …

Love always,

John

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pito – brewed millet

Image
Corn, rice, and millet are the common grains grown in my region of Ghana. All three are used food, but millet is also used to produce the local brew – pito, or daa in the local language. “N nyu daa” - in Dagaree means “I drink pito.” There are several varieties of millet grown here – a red and white varieties have loose heads. These are used for pito and other foods. There is also a smaller seed variety with a tight head of seeds that is mainly used for porridge. (Don't have a picture of that variety yet.) In all varieties millet grows on a stalk with the grain head at the top of the stalk. White and red millet in the field Two bundles of while millet to be used for seed next season Converting a grain to alcohol is a common practice in various cultures. It provides a way to capture and digest the nutritional value of the grain. In some places, like Germany and the beer brewing monks, the making a beer was a way to preserve the harvest. In Ghana the millet is
Read more

Yam harvesting

Image
Roger and I went to farm to harvest yam on Saturday morning, September 13, 2014.  In Ghana a yam is a root crop that is different from a sweet potato.  We have sweet potatoes here as well. Yam recently harvested Preparing a yam for boiling The yam has a white flesh – softer than a white potato. In this area the yams are planted between April and June.  Harvest continues into December and January depending on the weather and pigs getting into the field. The plant is a vine – which is grown on stakes rather than allowed the spread out.  The plants are placed on a raised bed about 2 feet high.  The beds are surrounded by flat trenches.  This allows the rains to flow around, but not wipe out the yam crop.  Intercropping seems to be common practice with yams planted in the raised bed, soybeans around the edges, and rice in the trenches.  The occasional corn or okra plant is also among the yams – although the bulk of those crops are in other fields.   Row of ya
Read more

Mid-service Training

Image
This past week was mid-service training (MST). The conference was held on St. Lucia at the Mount of Prayer Coubaril run by the Benedictine Nuns. It was a lovely place with hospitable people as you would expect from Benedictines. A couple of years ago in Ghana I was able to spend a little time at a Benedictine Abby (popular with volunteers) – so it was a nice connection with the two Peace Corps services. I got a little spoiled with the great meals and the WiFi. I intentionally don’t have WiFi at my house so I’m less tempted to stay inside. I do have better data service than Dondometeng in the Upper West - no complaints there and so none here. Their Church Their view Their conference room Getting ready for a meal My room was the only one with a television.  It did work, but I didn't watch anything. My guess is the picture was a little fuzzy because of all the estrogen, but that's just a guy theory with a dirty phone This was actually my firs
Read more