Blog post 100!!! Merry Christmas from Zebilla! Who in the right mind would decide to celebrate Christmas in two different towns on the same day, travel one of the most dodgiest roads in Ghana only to suffer an inevitable breakdown on the way, and all whilst starting the process of moving house from one country to another?!!! Well...it was one way to pack every last minute of Zebilla life into this adventure before moving on and moving home! Wow, what a day!

Christmas away from home was never going to be easy, and it was super hard to be away from friends and family at home and all things truly Christmassy. But celebrating Christmas here in Ghana amongst all my Ghanaian friends and wonderful volunteer family was a fantastically unique and memorable time, and I loved every minute. Thank God for Skype though, it's what got me through!

Christmas eve was when it finally started to actually feel Christmassy here. Until then the searing hot sun and the lack of Christmas music, snow and mulled wine had meant it felt like any other sunny month in Ghana. There were a few Christmas carols at work every now and again, but wearing a summer frock and drinking ice cold lemonade it was kind of hard to get into it! Anyway, with all my bags packed and ready for home, I finally dug out all the Christmas packages friends and family had sent, and made myself a cosy little Christmas corner full of all the goodies . I sweated through a yummy hot chocolate brownie drink with marshmallows, put some Christmas music on and danced about a bit and finally it started to feel like Christmas, yey!

Christmas eve was all about packing up to go home for me, and saying goodbyes in Zebilla. I'm so glad I gave myself enough time to wrap up my placement and say goodbye to everybody properly, it's one of the most important things that I did, equally important but way more valuable than all the paperwork and practical stuff that's also piling up at the end of a placement! It meant I could spend all afternoon playing with little Jamal who loves bouncing about on my bed, and eating home cooked jollof rice with Janice and Fati, simple things that mean a lot at times like this. Packing my massive suitcase with all things colourful and Ghanaian, I can't help noticing how much has changed, a whole year has flown by, and there's no way I'm getting it all into my suitcase!

In the evening, Nicole and Janice and I went to visit the missionaries who live nearby, for me to say goodbye to them, for Janice to say hello to them as she hadn't met them yet, and to celebrate a little bit of Christmas with them in their lovely home. Nicole got major culture shock when they invited us to sit at their dining table (proper table and chairs not plastic!) and drink tea and eat cake! They are always so kind and welcoming, and their house has the wonderfully warm homely vibe that's perfect for Christmas. We caught up, talked for hours, ate plenty of yummy cakes, chocolate and cheesy popcorn, and then they sang some beautiful songs for us, at which point it all became too much and of course all three of us were blubbing away! It was a lovely evening and a peaceful way to say goodbye and end such a fantastic year.

On the way home Nicole and I went to church, the late night service was in full swing so we went and sat at the back, although there was no chance of hiding and we were spotted as celebrities straight away! It was a fun and lively service, lots of singing and dancing and singing and more dancing, lots of prayers and wafflings in Kusaal, such a nice way to start Christmas day in this wonderful little town, and a strong reminder of the people I've met here and their unwavering upbeat attitude to life.

Christmas morning was a treat, so many visitors, pancakes, fresh fruit and more hot chocolate on the go, a lovely Skype chat with my family, and lots of fantastic gifts and goodies from home. It was a mini whirlwind but so memorable with the sun shining lightly, my new Ghana dress on and los of love about the house. The kids came streaming to the door as we gave out the remains of the huge amounts of Canadian punch left over from the party and lots of colouring books, sweets, pencils and toys sent from home (thank you everybody!). It was my last chance to say goodbye to a few people, so I got all my bags lined up ready to go and went off to say a few last goodbyes. It was hard but happy as I know I'll keep in touch with a lot of people here.

Mid-day and we set off in a taxi for Bolga, bye bye Zebilla! It was hard to imagine this was the last time I'll make this journey, and maybe it won't be as I'm sure I'll go back one day. In true last journey style we broke down half way along the horrendously pot-holed and dusty road and had to sweat it out in the baking sun for an hour whilst we waited to be rescued! It was such a contrast to imagining breaking down at home in the snow on Christmas day, here we were boiling hot and nowhere to hide, sheltering under an umbrella and gasping for a cold drink!

Eventually we made it to Bolga, where the party was in full swing. It was a fantastic spread of food, with everything from Terence the turkey and cranberry sauce, to mulled wine and chocolate brownies, between us all we did well! It was so nice to see all the other volunteers and fully catch up, saying a few goodbyes to those who I won't see down on the coast for our new year's holiday, especially Nique good friend and fellow CASO in Wale Wale. I spent some of it at the party and some with Crispin's family which was really nice. At the party we had secret Santa, light-up balloons, tinsel, a Christmas tree, fake snow, sparklers, Christmas lights, Christmas music, and of course some truly Ghanaian Azunto dancing, a perfect Christmas party! It was such a busy day that it was only in the evening that I finally got to open up some of the gifts from home, and it dawned on me yet again how lucky I am to have such fantastic friends both here in Ghana and at home :-).

The next morning we were up early for the 9am bus to Accra, packing up the last of the xmas pressies, sweeping up the glitter and tinsel, packing bags for baby Alex and deciding how many toys we could feasibly squeeze in to bring with us...and of course scoffing the last of the Christmas cake. Before we knew it, we were on the bus and ready to go. Boxing day morning, goodbye Bolga, miss you already!

With love from Ghana,

Em

Xx