2 Days!!!

So there are only 2 days left until I leave. I hope I have everything I am going to need. Everything is all in a pile on the floor of my room with my suitcase. I have no idea how it is all going to fit! i leave at 11:55 Saturday night. My friends have told me that they are coming to the airport dressed up in wierd costumes to see me off. Embarrassing? Yes, but I love them so I will just laugh along with it. I would probably do the same if it was one of them going away too.
Anyway. I have tried to call my host family, but have had no success. I have the country code right, but I guess the combination with their number is not working. And seeing as I have no idea what a typical phone number looks like for Ghana, it is hard to distinguish if part of it is an area code or actually part of the whole number. ARGH. I will try again tomorrow.

Host Family!!!!!!

Yay I finally got my host family!!!!! They are the Bannermans. Tina (mom), Ben (dad), Louisa (sister 17?), Ben (brother 15?), Patrick (brother 22?), Tracey (sister 18?). They say they like soccer and cricket and basketball so I think I will fit right in with the soccer there! And I am pretty lucky to have 2 siblings that are my age-ish. They have dogs too, which I like, and someone in the family plays the piano, which I used to do! We are oddly similar! Anyway, I am extremely excited to finally know who I will be staying with! I was a little worried for awhile that I would have to live with the program leaders or something. I have a good feeling that this trip is going to be awesome!

12 Days!!!!

As the title of this post gives away, there are only 12 days left until I leave for Ghana!!! Unfortunately I have not been told of my host family yet. I'm hoping that I hear from AFS really soon. I have met our 2 team leaders Robb Hale and Rebecca Messner. They seem pretty cool! I have also met a few of the 40! other students going on the trip. We have been sharing ideas and advice on Facebook, which has been quite helpful. I still haven't met about 3/4 of the people going with us though. Hopefully they will join our Facebook group. This week I have been shopping around quite a bit for things I need for the trip: a nice blouse for church, mosquito netting, sunscreen, an awesome soccer ball for the kids at the orphanage, malaria meds (ugh), light weight pants and a paper back Harry Potter for the kids to name a few. When I packed my suitcase last week with the clothes I figured I would need I surpisingly had a ton of room. Now.....I'm not so sure! Fortunately, a bunch of the stuff I am bringing is either for my host family or the kids at the orphanage or that I can leave behind. I can't wait to meet all of the other students coming with me! The ones I have met online seem really cool. That's all for now. More later.

ONLY 24 DAYS LEFT!

I leave on the 29th, today's the 5th, that means only 24 days until I leave on a plane for New York. At the airport I will be meeting up with all the other people in the Ghana team mission. We will have an orientation together in New Yorka and then from there it is a direct flight to Accra, Ghana! That reminds me, I need to find a Twi to English dictionary!

Soroptomist International of Woodland

Thank you so much for your extremely generous donation. Along with 5 other donations, it has brought me up to $3,100 towards my trip. I look forward to sharing my experiences with all of you when I return in August.

Scholarship

Around January I applied for a Merit Scholarship from AFS. I found out that I had been rejected a month or so ago, but my local AFS volunteers told me that they would try their hardest to get me a small scholarship. This past week they notified me that they had awarded me a $500 scholarship from the local chapter. This very generous award has now brought me up to a total of $1800 dollars raised towards my goal.

Second Donation!

Thank you so much Oma and Hiro for your very generous donation! I really appreciate all of the support you guys are giving me!

First Donation

Thank you to Annette and Al Eggers of Autoglass Express in Auburn for making the first $100 donation towards my trip! It is much appreciated!

Accepted!!

As of Febuary 27th, I have been accepted to AFS's program in Ghana!! It is now official that I will be going this summer and now I have the daunting task of raising the money! YAY!

AFS

AFS or the American Field Service is the foreign exchange organization that I have applied to go abroad with. Here is a link to their website. http://afs.org/afs_or/home

Their Statement of Purpose: AFS is an international, voluntary, non-governmental, non-profit organization that provides intercultural learning opportunities to help people develop the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to create a more just and peaceful world.

http://www.afs.org/afs_or/focus_on/community_service/33
http://64.13.222.54/partners/gha/index.htm
Here are other links to AFS's profile on their program in Ghana.

I have applied for their 6 week team mission.

Where I Am Going

This little country is Ghana for those of you who don't know where it is. It was the first African nation to become independent from the British in 1957. It's capital is Accra which is the largest city and is located on the coast. Ghana has a population of 22.5 million people. Its official language is English, but there are many other indigenous ones. Its currency is the Cedi. Their main industry is agriculture.