I went to IST, and then converted to Catholocism for the Easter Holidays

I just returned from In Service Training in Sunyani, where all of the environment sector volunteers from my training group met for the first time since dispersing to our sites. It was a week long, and i don't have anything to say about it really...lots of flipcharts and activities and talks. There was a local hotel with a swimming pool, though, so many of us went and crashed the pool. It was a nice break from the village.

After IST a couple friends and I went to Kristo Buase, a Franciscan monastary to mellow out for a couple of days. I took my meals in silence with the monks; for desert and breakfast we ate yogurt! (yogurt is pretty rare here). It was peaceful. The grounds of the monastary are home to some inredible rock formations, and one night my friends and I climbed up the rocks to watch a lightning storm pass overhead. Kristo Buase is a great example of permaculture in action. It is relatively self sustaining, with plenty of fruit trees and food grown by the monks, who also make jams from all sorts of fruits and some excelent cashew liquor. They sell these things, and also accept donations from travellers who pass the night there.

On Easter Monday (Easter is 2 days here - one day for church and one for picnics), I attended my community picnic at the local Catholic Parish. I went with my neighbors, and everyone exchanged dishes and wore nice clothes. In the afternoon we had many competitions. I judged a dance contest. It rained a little, but just enough to cool us down on a hot and mostly sunny day.