boo

*Imagine that you're seeing exciting, dramatic pictures of waves crashing on the beach and brightly painted fishing boats with multicolored flags waving in the sunset.*

Sorry, the whole point of this post was initially to post pictures from Ghana. But the internet here at the Peace Corps house here in Ouaga isn't letting me do that. So... update?
I'm here, in Ouaga, on my way back to village from our trip to Ghana. We went to the beach for two weeks and it was lovely. I probably gained five pounds and got a wicked tan. It was excellent. Then on the way back I got to do the only really touristy thing I wanted to do- visit the Cape Coast Castle, a major slave castle on the Gold Coast. It's the one the Obamas visited on their trip to Ghana (not why I wanted to go, but I did see the remembrance wreath Michelle brought, molding in the slave dungeon.)
Christmas was great- we had roast pig and hot chocolate and listened to Sufjan Christmas albums and played Christmas scrabble, Christmas Bam, and a very fun Swedish stick-throwing game. Hopefully I'll be able to put up the pictures of us wearing Christmas sweaters and ski hats with our swimsuits on the beach.
Now I'm headed back to village to start the second trimester, for which I have prepared... not at all. It'll be okay. I think. Teaching should be fine, and I'm optimistic about being able to do projects I've been planning, like painting a world map at the high school and doing sex-ed classes with the students at my school (they seriously aren't taught Anything until 3eme, which could mean that they could be 18 or 19 before they learn about the stuff we're taught in 6th grade in the US.) Oh, and finally submitting my ambulance grant proposal. (Almost done. M Seagda is working on getting some more data from the head doctor at the health center, which has taken a while because they've been super busy with vaccination campaigns.) Hooray, projects!

Oh my gosh, I almost forgot. The most exciting part of being in Ghana: FanIce. It's like a rectangular pouch of ice cream. Here in Burkina we have FanChoco and FanLait, which are delicious, but they're not FanIce. FanIce tasted like.. generic grocery store vanilla ice cream that you buy in tubs and feel horrible about eating because they're so bad for you but Delicious. Burkina has nothing to compare. Even the fanciest ice cream you buy in Ouaga is nothing compared to this amazingness (and it's only 50 pesoes! 30 cents?) Like, . I bought it literally every time I saw it for sale (carried on someone's head in a wooden box or in a cooler attached to the front of a bike with the trademark Fan horn honking), which was... often. Like, I ate a lot. Possibly five sachets a day, when I could get it. ... May have contributed to the five pounds.