Well, that was awesome! Finding five comments the day after a 100+ day absence was a nice feeling :)

Lenore asked if I’m considering staying (or rather, coming back). Here’s the sitch: between all the sicks I’ve lost about 3-4 months to lying in bed. Does that ever suck! Anyway, when all’s said and done, this has had a negative impact on my fieldwork. So, I’m considering extending my time here. Since my ticket expires in Dec, I’ll come home anyway, for a much needed break. But I am leaning strongly towards returning in January for about 4 months.

I kind of come and go on this. Before the very last sick, I was in a really great fieldwork groove, but I’ve kind of fallen out of the groove and it’s starting to feel like maybe an extra four months won’t be that great. But on the other hand, I now know so many more people and thing are going really well, and I’m sure that I could get a lot more done by extending my time here.

The decision that I have pretty much come to at this point is that I will work on writing my research up over the next three-four months, so that I can identify the gaps that I see. That should allow me to set some goals for my return trip. Then I will give myself the option of coming home early if those goals are met. That should help to stave off procrastination, both now and then: I’m not just waiting out a period of time before I can go home, I’m working towards a flexible endpoint based on my productivity. That sounds way more corporate than I mean, but I bet you get the picture.

Filed under: Research Ghana