The days are still delightful. Right now it is wonderfully sunny and morning cool at 73°. The nights have been in the high 50’s or low 60’s so sleep comes easily. I know the hot days of August are coming closer so I will revel in today.

On July 20th 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon. It was televised, but I didn’t see it. I was in the middle of my Peace Corps training. It was live-in time. I was staying in Bawku with a Ghanaian family, my new family. My group was the smallest language group. We were learning Hausa. We met every day for lunch and more language instruction. On this day, in 1969, we ate lunch sitting around the radio listening to a reporter from the VOA, the Voice of America, describe the moon landing. We had to imagine. People were glued to their TV’s. They saw. We heard.

During my 2+ years in Ghana, the Peace Corps tried to keep us connected to what was happening at home. Every week they sent us the New York Times Week in Review. I read it, but the news seemed remote. My life was centered around learning a new language, adapting to living in a very different country, eating strange foods and fighting homesickness. The events were disconnected from my reality. I was in Africa. I shopped in the market every third day. I bought my chickens live. I hoped my eggs hadn’t been sat on by a hen. I hoped they were good eggs. I bought meat from the very dirty meat market sold by a man in an equally dirty apron. The meat was wrapped in banana leaves. I stopped noticing the dirt. It just was. My showers were always cold. Life was centered around my school where I lived and worked and my town. I lost track of the rest of the world. I was delighting in my new world.

My dance card is pretty much the same as last week’s. It is uke heavy.

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