Happy New Year!! What a way to start 2013, on a beach in Ghana, my 11 months of volunteering placement complete and only 3 days until I go home, what an adventure!

It's been a real whirlwind right to the end, and of course I had to go out in style :-). It's been a lovely week on the coast, the perfect way to recover from the madness of wrapping up my placement and leaving Zebilla, get over the home-sickness of Christmas, pack up all the memories from my time here, and celebrate the New Year with lots of volunteer friends, its been truly fantastic!

Being by the sea for one last time before I head to the cold UK where winter-woollies are a-waiting and my wellie-bobs are poised by the back door (ready for some winter walks no doubt)...it's a small gap between placement and homecoming, time to catch my breath, to catch up, to reflect, relax and recover some of my sanity after the long journey down here... a much needed few moments of peace in the process of coming down to earth after this wonderful adventure. My emotions are all over the place, I'm so happy to have had this opportunity, yet obviously so sad to leave, and the moments of 'oh my god its over' are here! But I'm totally over the moon that I'll see friends and family again and that I've got so many amazing memories to bring home with me. I know I've said this before but really this has been the best thing I have ever done (aside from getting on a plane and travelling round the world Africa-India-Japan-style 6 years ago!) and I'm sure it'll take me a while to come back to earth, but the sea and sand is helping!

It's been a really nice way to say goodbye to so many of the fabulous friends I've made here too, as so many of us came for this little treat of a holiday :-). We've had so many crazy moments together, times of madness and frustration, times of pure joy and amazement, and times of mundane day to day life in rural communities in a developing nation...we've shared so much including plates of Kenke and pepper and bowls of TZ and soup that surely now we have a bond for life!

So NYE was celebrated true Ghanaian style with a huge buffet of food followed by one big party under the stars and moon, lots of fireworks, a big bonfire and live music blaring out across the sea, it was a lot of fun and definitely one to remember :-). New years day was a great too with hundred of Ghanaians gathering on the beach for a big celebration with lots of splashing about in the sea, dancing on the sand, and celebrating all things Ghanaian and colourful in their own unique way.

As the days count down to my departure, I'm soaking up every last ray of sun, slurping every last mouthful of fufu, enjoying every last wave in the sea and laughing at every last funny thing my volunteer friends do, oh and giving baby Alex lots of 'last-for-a-while' cuddles too!

What a way to end an amazing placement and start a brand new year, happy 2013!!

With love from Ghana,

Em

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