You know you are a PC volunteer in Ghana when

These are a collection of experiences that fellow volunteers and I have had:

• You can’t sleep because the roach that is roaming your room is so big, it is knocking things off your shelves.
• You have joined the international ‘club’. Members have crapped their pants. It’s bound to happen sometime. At a training session, one of the volunteers was sharing that he woke up to realize he had joined the club over night. When he was asked what he did with his sheets, he said he threw them in his closet. To which the rest exclaimed, “You have a CLOSET!”
• Your 4am alarm is the all night prayer service in your backyard.
• You realize that where you have been brushing your teeth and washing your face doubles as a urinal for your little sibs.
• You feel real good about finishing the obscene amount of breakfast that was given to you, only to realize that your host mom has another plate of plantains and stew for you.
• When your taxi driver makes a pit stop to buy a live rat. For dinner.
• Three men will simultaneously ask for your hand in marriage.
• When no matter how hard you try, your attempt to speak the local language is funnier than Anchorman quotes to Ghanaians.
• When a cold Fanta may as well be a rocky road hot fudge sundae on a hot summer night. Oh man, a rocky road sundae sounds real good right now.
• When baby goats and chickens feel the need to see what you are eating for dinner.
• When you lose miserably to a dance off with a 4 year old Ghanaian.
• You have been asked by your whole community what church you attend.
• No, it’s not raining outside. That would be my sweat.
• You don’t know how everyone knows your Ghanaian name until you realize that everyone has the same name.
• Your host family calls you every hour on the hour to make sure you are still alive and kicking.
• Trying to stay awake in the 2pm heat during training is futile.
• When you have a brother named Kofi.
• Your desk somehow fits all your toiletries, all your plates, cups and silverware, your books and your dinner.
• Your small girl goes after the mouse caught in your mosquito net with a machete.
• A bucket bath is your favorite time of the day.