April

I can't believe it's already April. It doesn't seem possible that we've been here over a month already. It still feels like we're getting settled (and in many ways, we still are). I wish I could say it's all been smooth sailing, but life here is tough, even for a family of "obrunis" (white people) living in a nice house with a steady income and a fair amount of help.

Dusty has made lots of promising contacts for his research, including the vice chancellor of the university here. He's an MSU alum and friend of Dusty's Twi tutor back in the States. When Dusty told him he was an MSU graduate student, he was eager to do anything he could to help out a fellow Spartan! He's also met with several NGO and government contacts in the forestry industry. We're fortunate to be in Kumasi, which is literally at the heart of Ghana's timber industry. He's shifting his focus slightly from the timber itself to the ways in which farmers are helping to rehabilitate land that has been degraded by excess logging, and he has identified a couple potential field sites that are reasonably close (less than an hour's drive) to the house. I imagine his success thus far has a lot to do with his capable research assistant...

Elliot is eating his weight in papaya (baw-baw) and banana (baladle) and attracting attention wherever he goes. He still loves doggies, and one of his favorite things to do when we're stuck inside is to look at pictures of his buddies Merlyn and Hemingway back home. Friends of ours keep trying to convince us to take on one of their puppies while we're here, but we're not there yet. On Thursday, we got hooked up with a weekly expat playgroup. Between the backyard pool (even though he never actually made it in), the swingset and the slide, he was in heaven. Naturally, he could not have cared less about playing with the other kids (or giving mom the chance to visit with the other moms), but it was still great to get out and watch him having such a good time. We'll be back this week for sure!

We're all getting excited for the arrival of my mom and brothers in a couple weeks. It will be great to have company - and we're looking forward to taking them around and showing them the sights. It's hard to believe they'll be here so soon!

It rained on and off all afternoon today, culminating in a big storm that hit just before dinner and cooled everything off. Ahhh, so refreshing after some of the hot days we've had!