Two More Sleeps

It probably doesn't look like much, but that white board and those blue squiggles represent the next couple weeks of my life! Sunday marks the official start of the 2010 Ghana - Canada Partnership for Environmental Education (GCPFEE) study tour. Myself, 4 colleagues, 10 students, and 1 consultant are heading to Sunyani Ghana in beautiful West Africa.

The blue squiggles were our latest attempt at trying to bring some level of structure to our days while also figuring out the logistics of organizing 16 Canadians and approximately 30 Ghanaians! We have four weeks to accomplish a lot so the logistics get a little crazy at times! We're lucky to be working with such great partners in Ghana and of course having Amanda as our officially Ghanadian always helps!

Preparations for the trip have been going on all semester but like every year in April, I've spent most of the last week or so sitting on my butt marking. Well... when I wasn't in meetings, running errands, or simply day dreaming about Ghana I was marking! This semesters assignments were submitted electronically (mostly) which has made the marking thing a bit easier - no trucking paper back and forth.

Despite all the prep I'm still feeling a little bit crazed about heading out on Sunday. I think the volcano and its impact on air travel through us all for a loop. One of our students is actually joining us in Accra, she was one of the unfortunate ones who was trying to get to Europe last week when the volcano blew its top! It took an extra week and I imagine extra funds and patience but she finally made it to Greece yesterday... she was to have left last Thursday!!

Anyway - this will be the last post until Sunday when I hit to Traveler's Lodge in Richmond. I'm heading over earlier than the crew to visit with friends and celebrate my BD a day early. I'll meet up with everyone at the hotel before dinner and then it's GAME ON! For those of you just tuning in and/or who haven't had to listen to me go on and on and on and on about this trip - I'll be in Ghana for a total of 7 weeks before heading to Italy for a vacation. The first 4 weeks are with the GCPFEE, the last 3 will be spent traveling around and checking out sites for a field school in 2011 (my mom will be joining me for that), and then it's off to Genoa Italy. We are in Genoa for 2 nights before heading out on a 7 day Med' Cruise, then back to Genoa and then home via Paris (only 5 hours).

I hope you enjoy the journey along with my latest adventure. As always there will be lots of pictures and hopefully the internet will be a little more predictable this year you I'll be able to keep the blog more up-to-date.

Ag

Two Weeks To Go

I cannot believe that we only have two weeks left before we head to Ghana. There is so much to do (marking mostly!) before I leave but this year I'm determined to have all my grades submitted before I leave Nanaimo!! Tomorrow we have our official pre-departure session with the International Ed folks - it really makes it real.

We've had some great activities this semester and when I find the time - airplane to Ghana perhaps - I'll post some pics and video of our prep. We have a much larger group of folks joining us this year so it should be interesting.

I think I mentioned in the previous post that my mom is joining me after study tour is over. We will be spending 3 weeks traveling around Ghana as I work to arrange a study tour next spring. This will be really exciting as it will be the first time that I travel through the country without the safety net of Rick, Ken, and Maggie and perhaps more importantly Michael - Ghana's best bus driver!

In preparation for the trip I've been checking out some of the sites that I will visit. I think that I'm most excited about visiting Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary! I don't know how mom will do with the Tro tros but I figure if she's excited about the Yam Boat up the Volta Lake, she's up for anything!

As we get closer to the date I'll start posting more and am hoping that once we get to Ghana I'll be able to post stuff every couple of days... I'll do better this year I promise!

Until later - Aggie