I seem to start each blog with an apology for not writing for ages. Since my last blog I have had my first visitor to Ghana, had two birthday parties (both different, both fun but only one involved my new cat and an adult pass the parcel!) and as most of you will know been back to the UK. All three of these events deserve their own special blog and I will get round to it but as my blogs are getting longer and longer I don't quite have the strength yet and so am going to ease myself back in with short blog about my return to Ghana!

First off my luggage. I seem to have brought more back with me this time then when I came for the first time. I also do not seem to have learnt my lesson as very little of it could be called essential and I was left transferring a few kgs from bag to bag and as it turns out you can take cat food (as long as it is dry) through customs!

Journey was fine (No upgrade to business class, gutted as could definitely get use to the jet setting lifestyle!) and thanks to some checking by Ellie (VSO vol) I actually had a bed to stay in once I arrived at Ghana (They had booked me in for the Saturday) and stage one was complete!

Managed to get a seat on the 'luxury' bus as it was the only bus with tickets left (an extra fiver) and then hit Accra. I had my first experience of 'Sunshine Salad Bar'. It costs a relative arm and a leg (£8 for a salad) but they are so big and tasty that Goliath would struggle to finish one on a good day.

The journey back to Tumu was filled with ups and downs (Ups the seats on the 'luxury' bus are HUGE, Janet introduced me to the best egg and bread place in Wa, Downs, hauling the amount of luggage around, waiting 5 hours for a bus due to a 'surprise' inspection that everyone knew about!, the rain having destroyed the roads to Tumu,) I finally made it back to my house in Tumu at 9:30 on Tuesday night having left London at 12 on Sunday. Although during this epic journey my faith in humanity was restored! Three times people went out of their way to help me with my bags and expected nothing in return no matter how far out of the way they had to go.

First thing I noticed, apart from the inch of dust that had settled over everything, was my fridge had decided to turn itself off. 3 weeks of no power, mixed with defrosted meat lead to a perfect storm of evolution in my freezer. The amount of things living in there was enough to give a small child nightmares but after three cleans, two rounds of bleach and most of a bottle of raid it is almost back to normal.

Work has been great since I have got back. The Jelly Babies that I brought back from the airport went down a storm and everyone 'thanked God' that I made it back safely (one guy was relieved that I had managed TWO plane trips without being 'got' by Al Qaeda!) and they all send their greeting to everyone back home (after I had given them all the greetings that you so kindly sent J!). Beginning of a new year brings out the drive in people. I guess it was the same in England. Got our big INSET training lined up for next week and I am doing 3-4 hours a day which will be great fun but very hard work as well as visiting local KGs to see what's happening (I still secretly love causing havoc by whenever I turn up 70 children under the age of 5 bomb out of their classrooms and start chanting, 'Fowli' repeatedly at me!) as well as quite a lot of computer based stuff. Everyone says it is around this point that everything falls into place and things start to get moving. It was amazing how quickly I fit back into life here.

The only downside to all this newfound work is it leaves me less time to practice my juggling.... I decided I needed some new hobbies and although I got some good ideas from some of you guys (and some ideas that were a little on the bizarre side, adopting a baby seems a little extreme!). I Realise that most people who can juggle learnt when they were in there early teens and mysteriously stopped around the ages of 14/15 (that this is also the time they worked out how to 'delete browser history' on the family computer is probably completely coincidental!). I have decided that this is a 'key' skill to have in my armoury (I'm a primary school teacher, just spent 2 years doing a VSO placement in Africa and I can juggle! Add and also an amateur magician (my next potential hobby!) to that and I will be the Jonny Depp of the online dating world when I return!). Having been slightly less than dedicated to start off with (mostly three minute sessions and then get sidetracked and do something else), after 2 weeks I can now juggle for about 12 seconds before a ball goes flying off in some direction I don't mean. So when most of you next see me I will be a mean, lean juggling machine!

Finally a very Ghanaian thing happened today! While back in England I got my hands on a projector to take back for use in the office and the occasional movie night. Now I was all for handing it over with no big fuss but the GES was never going to let me get away with that. They organised a whole ceremony.....

We had members of staff, two cameras and the local radio station there to record the ceremony to broadcast later. I was aware of the scale of this so had to make a mumbly off the cuff speech and then listen to a two page prepared speech by my District Director praising me! The English part of me was mortified by this development, but I tell you what, a ceremony celebrating you including clapping and speeches doesn't half make your day just a little better! (The photo to go with this blog is during the DDs speech!).

So your homework this week is to come up with some new good ideas for a hobby to keep me sane over the next year and a half. With 5 Heales coming out at Christmas the best idea or two might even get a space in their luggage!

So despite this blog supposedly being a short warmer upper it has crashed in well over a 1000 words even though I have left out a few choice stories! Hopefully this will be the first of many over the next few weeks.

Ps you might have noticed this blog was clean(er!) than most of my others. This was due to both my Grannies not only admitting to reading my blog but picking out the true blood synopsis as their favourite/most like me part of anything I had written. Realising that both your Grandparents chose rampant S and M Ware-panthers and over stimulated vampires over any other part of my blogs means that I have slightly reassessed the content of my writing! (Although that will probably last about 3 blogs as I have just got my hands on Season 5 of True blood!)

Missing everyone!

Love Jim xxx