Grumble grumble...Peace Corps...grumble grumble

Sometimes you would think that the Peace Corps has only been around for a few years and, on top of that, that Peace Corps Ghana has only been in existance for a short time. It is frustrating how some things are so unorganized. You would thank that in almost 50 years of PC Ghana they would have some things figured out. Just to get reimbursement for official travel is a ridiculous process that involves writing and re-writing a form until the admin ladies accept it. Apparently, both old and new PCV's have problems with the form...you would think that they would try something different: maybe clarifying the form?

So, my stomach has not been feeling well lately. My neighbor is going to Accra this weekend to pick up some things. I figured I would do a MIF kit (you basically take samples of your poop for a few days and send it for analysis) and have him bring it to the office so they could figure out what the heck is wrong with me. Included in the MIF kit are a few bottles of mercury and a few droppers of iodine. The directions (which actually are included in kit) are pretty clear and understandable. They tell you to squeeze the iodine into the mercury. So, my neighbor and I are going through the kit and he is telling me what to do since he had to do one. He then tells me that he remembers when he had to do a MIF kit that Peace Corps told us in training to ignore the directions INCLUDED in the kit and to use directions in this medical manual they gave us. Wow, does that make a whole bunch of sense. There is so much going on during training and all of us were just new to country that who is going to remember that, when we have fifty-million other things to remember? Well, apparently my neighbor remembered, but for anyone who knows me I definately did not remember. What the heck is the point of including those directions in there if they are not accurate? AND, if they know they aren't accurate, why don't they take them out of each kit before they give them to us OR put a label on the container telling us where to look for the correct directions? So many questions left unanswered about PC Ghana.

Today, I am in the nearest city waiting for some of my PCV friends to get here. They are coming to visit me in my village this weekend.

So, those community meetings I keep talking about. Yup, still have not happened. There is a festival in my village on the Saturday before Easter where all of the villages in our cultural area come together to celebrate. So, the chief has been busy with that and taking care of his farm. Every time I go to talk to him about announcing the meetings he tells me that he has not forgotten and that we will have them soon. Hmmm...I think it is over 2 months and counting since I brought this up to my community? haha.

So, as you can tell I am a little grumpy today. It is a really hard adjustment to go from such a busy life back home to one where just sitting around all day is considered 'work' and normal. Honestly, I feel lazy here. I try to occupy my time with visiting people, studying and practicing language, trying to set-up meetings, but I still get so 'bored'. The wierd thing is that the 'feeling lazy' is all in my head. I think I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing: trying. haha. Life is so wierd here.