Week: minus 5

I returned to my sister, Jeanne's home in Salt Lake City on Friday after a memorable but short stay with Mike, Cami and Cosette in Germany. I spent time walking around Weil der Stadt, visiting Cosette's school for her fencing lessons and to see a student-written play performed by her 4th grade class.  Cosette was outstanding as the wicked general who overthrew the king and sent the prince away on a suicide mission to slay a fire-breathing dragon.  Mike and I toured Ritter Chocolate factory on the way to buy a new foil for Cosette's fencing tournament.  Cami and I munched croissants and travelled to school, soccer practice and other fun things while everyone else was hard at work (right!?) While there, I studied Twi, some cultural conditioning instructions and read some the interesting blogs of serving volunteers and my soon-to-be staged comrades.  On the flight from Paris to Salt Lake City, I sat by a charming woman who had herself served in the Peace Corps in Morocco before she was married.  She was very encouraging.  How lucky was that?

Ritter Chocolate factory, gets cocoa from all over the world, including a significant amount from Ghana, noted for its "very rich flavor".  Yum!

Week: minus 6

Only six weeks until I go to Peace Corps staging to become a Junior High School Mathematics Teacher somewhere in Ghana.  I'm now enrolled in both Facebook and I am starting my own blog (thanks, michelle, for encouraging me.)  Yesterday from Weil-der-Stadt, Germany we drove out to see Cosette play some awesome football (soccer) and toured Tübingen Castle. I also prepared an initial packing list following  volunteers in our group and one serving PCV in Ghana, and I did my daily run through my stack of Twi flashcards.

Cosette's first game this season.  They learned a lot.

Cami, Mike & their friend Prof. Thorsten Trippel explore Tübingen Castle.  Trippel explained that it was built as a hunting lodge for nobles, before there was anything else in Tübingen.  Tübligen owns one of the oldest Universities in Germany and 30,000 of the 90,000 residents of Tübingen are students. Johannes Kepler was educated in Mathematics there.