Travel Plans Set

Today I purchased Cori's ticket to Ghana, and confirmed mine.

As part of the Fulbright grant, all my travel is paid for, so the State Department picked up the tab for my refundable round trip ticket to Accra, Ghana (costs about $3500). The people handling the Fulbright arrangements insist upon purchasing refundable tickets for the exchange teachers.
Basically, you can not buy a round trip ticket if the return date is more than 12 months from the time of purchase. Since we're not coming back until August 2010, I can only see three options:

1. Buy a one-way ticket now. Purchase a one-way ticket later when you know your return date and it's less than 12 months away. Turns out, one-way flights from Milwaukee (or even Chicago) to Accra, Ghana cost about $2300.
2. Buy a refundable round-trip ticket. You purchase the ticket with the departure date in mind, then select a random return date many months in the future. As that date approaches, call the airline and change the return date to the date you actually want. Since the ticket is refundable, you can do this without incurring a fee. However, a refundable ticket from Milwaukee to Accra costs about $3500.
3. Buy a non-refundable round-trip ticket. You purchase the ticket with the departure date in mind, then select a random return date many months in the future. As that date approaches, call the airline and change the return date to the date you actually want. However, because the ticket is non-refundable, you have to pay a $250 change fee (this is the international change fee. I believe it's less for domestic), and pay any fare differences between your initial ticket price, and the ticket price for the new return flight. Currently, a non-refundable ticket from Milwaukee to Accra runs about $2000.

So, it seems to me the obvious choice is #3. Pay the $2000 airfare. Then pay the $250 change fee at a later date. The only way it may not work out is if airfares from Accra to Milwaukee skyrocket during the next 6 months. Even if they go up by a few hundred dollars you would still come out ahead buying non-refundable compared to refundable.

I told this to the people who run Fulbright, but they insist on purchasing a refundable fare ticket...at least for me.

However, Cori's ticket is our responsibility, so for it I went with choice three. It'll be interesting to see who comes out ahead in the end.

Anyway, here is our departure information:
Tuesday September 1, 2009
Depart from Milwaukee on Delta 6394 at 10:10 AM
Arrive in New York JFK at 1:12 PM (local time)
Depart from New York JFK on Delta 0166 at 5:25 PM (local time)
Wednesday September 2, 2009
Arrive in Accra, Ghana at 8:30 AM (local time)

We don't know when we'll return, but it will be sometime in early August 2010.

One neat thing I read: If you live in a foreign country for at least 330 out of 365 days you are exempt from paying federal income tax. So we certainly won't be back before the 330 days are up!

Health Care

Last week's Achilles surgery seemed to go well. I spent the first couple days after coming home from the hospital in bed, foot elevated. Occasionally I would hobble to the couch for a change of scenery. Cori's been an amazing care taker, serving me food, getting me the paper, and even helping me in and out of the bathroom. Showering has been tricky: Cori installed a hand-held shower nozzle that helps a lot, and picked up a non-slip shower mat and plastic deck chair.

The pain I had following the surgery faded away within a couple of days, and was quickly replaced with itching. Oh my God the itching! I have had dreams (literally) of jabbing sticks inside the cast and of cutting the cast off. I'm not sure if the pain is better than the itching, but it's a close contest.

Monday I ventured out of the house for the first time. Cori and I went to the travel clinic at Froedert Hospital where we met with an immunization nurse to go over all the vaccines we will need. We got shots for Yellow Fever, and a Hepatitis A booster. This morning we each took the first of four pills for Typhoid. We also need to be immunized for rabies and Hepatitis B, and probably meningitis. We also need to get our malaria prophylaxis prescription. About the only disease we don't have to worry about is Japanese encephalitis (glad there's no such thing as African encephalitis).

Today I received a chest x-ray to test for tuberculosis, and had more blood drawn (they took three vials of blood a few weeks ago) to complete all the medical tests required by Fulbright. Living in Ghana for a year requires plenty of needle pokes.

Next week I will visit the orthopedist to have my cast removed and replaced with a walking boot for about six weeks. I'm getting pretty good at moving around on crutches, but man, are my hands getting sore! One good sign though: I can gently flex my left calf and my foot moves a little. Success! But it comes at the cost of discomfort. I don't think I'll do that too often right now.

Summerfest, Milwaukee's gigantic annual 11-day music, food, beer, sun, and people-watching event begins tomorrow. I'd like to go, but only if Cori's willing to push me around in a wheelchair. Maybe we can get preferred seating at concerts?!?

In the meantime, my life has been pretty much reduced to sitting around with my leg elevated. That means there has been a lot of time to surf the Internet and watch movies. I discovered the Showtime program Dexter - watched the entire first two seasons (About 24 episodes). Good stuff. Season three doesn't come out on DVD until August. A week ago I had never heard of the show, now I'm counting the days to the next season.
Google Earth has always been one of my favorite Internet applications. Now there are some really fun, and even educational, ways to add to your Google Earth experience.

Learn to Speak Twi

Awesome discovery: From the US Foreign Service, a 1963 copyright "TWI Basic Course" with accompanying audio! Twi, part of the Akan Language Group, is the most widely spoken native dialect in Ghana. (English is the official language, a result of British colonialism that officially ended in 1956)

Some new links

If you're new to this blog, take some time to look through the links to the right. If you've already looked at them look again. I have added some new ones in the past 24-hours.

Also, remember to subscribe to the site feed. Just click the link on the right (towards the top of the page). You can also subscribe via RSS or ATOM if you know what that means. If not, just click the link to the right and enter your email.

Meanwhile, a random "great article." This was penned back in 2002 and if you know anything about how or why today's economy is messed up (former econ students, that means you!), this story's presageful nature should impress!

Post Op

Today I had surgery to repair my ruptured left Achilles Tendon. Here's a summary of how it went:

In the operating room: "Ok, I'm going to start you off with light anesthesia to help you relax."

hmm, my mouth tastes funny

"How does that leg feel?" asked the nurse in post-op.

And THAT was the entirety of my experience today at the Orthopedic Hospital of Wisconsin. My lower-left leg, ankle, and foot are in a fiberglass cast. The leg's elevated. My toes are a yellow-orange from the iodine. Cori served me dinner. Pain ranges from 1 to 5 (out of 10) depending on when I took my last hydromorphone. Believe me, that stuff works!

So, now I have everything "non-Ghana" behind me: School is over. My office is cleaned out. The school supplies that students and parents donated for me to send to Ghana are packaged. The surgery is complete.

I can start focusing more on our trip. Tonight I emailed Leslie, the American Fulbrighter currently at Temasco, to ask about making travel arrangements. I am also going to send Lucy digital copies of the first few chapters of the World History textbook she'll use at Germantown next year. Earlier this month, my teaching assistant at G'Town, Tigran, methodically went through the book and printed a copy of every page we cover. That has been bound and shipped to Ghana. At least until that arrives, Lucy can look over these digital copies.

Farewells, School Supplies, and Surgery

It has been a busy few days. The last day of school for students was Friday last week. Monday, staff worked to get their rooms cleaned up and final grades entered. Tuesday I returned to school to sort the pile of school supplies generated by my request for donations to be sent to Ghana.
The State Department allows me to send four 40-pound boxes of educational materials to Ghana at no charge. I have a few economics books that I want with me, so those went in first. Then I put in the supplies I know I will want for teaching econ: calculators, straight edges, graph paper. Finally, other useful supplies made the cut.
All these supplies were "donated" by students who were cleaning out lockers. (Most of it was rescued from the garbage by custodial workers. You couldn't believe the amount of now or nearly new stuff that gets tossed out at the end of the year!). Cori helped me with the task.

The last week of school was emotional. Every year teachers have to say goodbye to students they have grown close to, but this time I was saying goodbye for a full year! For the juniors, that means I won't see them again before they graduate. I handed out my email to many students, and sent this blog address to all. For students reading this, STAY IN TOUCH!

Wednesday I go in for Achilles surgery. This will be an outpatient procedure. The doctor will slice me open up the back of my left ankle/calf, pull the skin open with a pair of "forks," and sew my Achilles tendon back together. I'll then wear a cast for a couple of weeks keeping my foot elevated. Then I go back to the boot I've had since the injury and I'll wear that for about 6 more weeks. If everything goes as planned, I'll be out of the boot and walking (gingerly) sometime in mid-August, just in time for our departure!

34 Going on 16...Not!

SNAP!

Last week, while trying to prove I could out-high jump a 16-year-old who I have been coaching in track during the past couple of months, I heard a loud noise and felt my left foot lose all ability to support my weight on my toes. I had ruptured my Achilles Tendon.

Monday I will visit the orthopedist to discuss treatment - probably surgery. For the next 6 to 8 weeks I'll be wearing a cast or immobalizing boot. Then will begin the many month long process of rehabilitation.

How will this affect Cori and my trip to Ghana? I don't know except I can say two things: I'll do everything possible to board the plane to Africa in early September, and Cori will be doing all the physical preparations in the meantime.

Cark Spackler from Caddyshack says:

What you've got to do is cut the hamstring on the back of his leg right at
the bottom. He'll never play golf again, because his weight displacement goes
back, all his weight is on his right foot, and he'll push everything off to the
right. He'll never come through on anything. He'll quit the game.

I hope the same doesn't apply to the Achilles!