No Direction Home

I'm guessing no one will read this since I did such a lousy job of posting regularly but I'll try again. I finished Peace Corps in July. Two years fly whether you`re having fun or not. Illnesses aside, I would say I had fun. I had fun the way running marathons is fun. I`m better off for having done it but no way in hell will I ever do it again. I learned French, learned to teach, generally learned a lot, and made a lot of new friends. I think I'm a better person. I have no regrets.

Now that it's over, my employment status goes from "volunteer" to "not at all". Odd waitressing and babysitting jobs not withstanding, a review of my job history goes like this: student, grad student, postdoc (technically a fellowship and not a job), peace corps volunteer, and now itinerant bum. I have not, in fact, ever had a real job. Looking on the bright side (a state of mind that gets easier every year), I have a nice chunk of free time and future plans roughly as solid as my e. coli tainted bowel movements. Fluid as they are, I nonetheless have plans. I will spend a few months here in West Africa to finish my tour of the world's poorest countries. Then off to SE Asia. And back on US soil before Christmas. If I can scrape together the resources for a car, I'd like to see America through my newly acquired rose colored glasses. If you have a free couch you could loan me for a night around end of December/early Januaryish, I will schedule my road trip to pass through your living room.

At the moment I'm in Accra (Ghana) trying to take care of plane tickets and visas. Africa is not known for her efficiency, so it's kind of frustrating but the process is ambling on. Ghana is nice. Unlike in Burkina, most households in Ghana have an annual income higher than the value of my ipod. Other bonuses are a good number of English speakers (thanks to British Imperialism), moderate double (as opposed to triple) digit temperatures, and even the occasional fresh vegetable. I spent a sweet week at a beach resort, some kind of eco friendly backpacker type establishment complete with dreadlocked blonds and drunk Australians. Soon we (my friend Brandi, another ex-volunteer, and her friend Peter) will head to the Lake Volta region in the Ghana's eastern region. Lake Volta is famous for giant egg laying turtles as well as the being the largest man made lake in the world. It is also a haven for butterfly enthusiasts. And who isn`t enthusiastic about butterflies? Pictures: Both from Burkina. The first is a fisherman in the village where I lived. The second is a cool cricket that's not nearly as big as it looks in this photo.