Hello everybody!!

I only have a few minutes and didn't do the usual thing of typing the blog at home and cutting and pasting it in, so this one won't be as long but I'm sure I'll make up for it later :)

Monday night was a wonderful birthday evening. After dinner, my roommates and I went to the Jungle Bar and met up with the Canadians we met over the weekend at Mole NP. It was really enjoyable and we all had a good time drinking a beer and sharing stories. The Canadians bought me a box of red wine for my birthday like I had never seen before. It is in a carton like you would buy milk! It's funny. Certainly not the best wine, but not as bad as you may imagine.

Two days ago we went to a local school to perform screenings. Up to that point we have screened approximately 1,100 people in our 2.5 weeks of work. That day, alone, we screened over 500! It was a wicked crazy busy day, but always fun. It was really cute because the kids do a little bow as they come up to hand you their form. It was so sweet!! I have NEVER had anybody bow to me before! Also, where we put "age" and "sex" a lot of the children wrote in full sentences, "I am a female" or "I am eleven years old." It was really precious. I fully enjoyed the children!

Today we went back to the school because, surprisingly, there were still a lot of children to screen. Two hours into our work a HUGE storm blew in! As the wind was picking up and the sand was flying around I kept saying it was just a matter of time. When the rain finally hit, we all took shelter in a classroom. This was the first time I have been inside of one. On the chalk board was the Ghana National Anthem, which the children sung for us. I thought it was a beautiful song and wrote down the lyrics:
God Bless our homeland, Ghana.
And make our nation great and strong.
Bold to defend forever,
the cause of freedom and of right.
Fill our hearts with true humility,
make us cherish, fearless, honest.
And help us to resist oppressor's
rule with all our will and might.
Forevermore.

The storm has yet to let up. "When it rains it pours" REALLY applies to this country during the rainy season! This is really the first real rainy day we have had because it usually passes within an hour, if not sooner. I actually got goosebumps today! I definite first here in Africa. It is quite a nice break from the incessant sweating though, I must admit. I'm even wearing a long sleeved shirt!

And, on that note, I am out of time! I am traveling to Yendi tomorrow with Yue to help with surgeries. Yendi is about an hour east of Tamale and is currently experiencing an intense water crisis. I am excited for the experience.

I'll be in touch! Much love to everyone! Take care!
Katherine

P.S. Oh yea!! I started interviewing patients for my research project (more on that later) but an interesting one was a 70 year old woman with cataracts who believes the cause of her condition is a toothache she had a while ago and let go untreated. I'm excited to gather more interviews, for sure.

Gina- I keep meaning to e-mail you!! You will have an e-mail coming from me shortly. Sorry for the long wait, I've been thinking of you tons!!!