The KSO, home away from home, from our home home… if that makes ANY sense…?

Lets see… the KSO (Kumasi Sub Office) is like one big frat house… bunk beds, huge kitchen, with an oven and a refrigerator, dining room, large lawn outside, WiFi, big sun porch, bathroom with showers… real showers, and real toilets… ones that flush… a library, space to move around, space to just hang out… an amazing American sanctuary.

The KSO was put in place because Ghana Peace Corps Volunteers aren’t allowed to travel during the night… although most busses leave at some ungodly hour in the morning (2:43am)… it was also set up for PCV’s to have a place to escape to when we need to get away, talk to someone in American English (yes we are picking up the Ghanaian English accent, accenting our syllables in different parts of the words, and saying things like ‘I’m coming’ when in reality you are trying to say that you are going…but Ghanaian English is for another blog posting… sorry for getting ahead of myself), if we are having the urge to bake/cook, and take a real shower (minus the hot water) and for that matter use a REAL toilet… one that flushes. It is a place to clear our minds, recharge our bodies, feel safe in our surroundings and really take advantage of the internet… wireless internet… that we don’t have to pay for…

Taking a few days to get back to Addonkwanta, the Enviro Group stopped in Kumasi to finish up our technical training and relax/recoup at the KSO. Capitalizing on the fact that we were in a large city we hit the Pizza Joint (well probably the best pizza place that Ghana will have to offer considering that baked items and dairy are hard to come by) and found ice cream for the first time since arriving in Ghana… this made our week.

Technical training was great… motivating to get out and try some of the projects that we learned. In a way to say thanks to all our Ghanaian and American trainers we pooled our money, went shopping at the ‘obroni store’ (import goods store) to have a cook out. Yes that’s right a cook out, BBQ, potluck… and it was amazing!! Grilled Veggie… (yes actual veggies), some sort of grilled meat (not a meat eater here, but was told it was by far some of the best meat consumed since arriving in Ghana), Mac n’ Cheese, garlic bread, and wait for it… carrot cake (well it was out of a box), but yes carrot cake with cheese frosting… (I said cheese frosting… as in Laughing Cow cheese frosting… but all in all is was shockingly good.)

Can’t really tell if the Ghanaian trainers actually enjoyed the ‘Obronie’ food… their facial reactions were rather funny as we gave them guacamole (no chips… substituted with plantain chips… interesting) and as they ate a slice of carrot cake, but the 15 trainees and the two American trainers sure every ounce of food… there were no left overs.