Here is my grand adventure plan for those of you who are curious:
April 22nd-24th: Elmina Castle, Nzuelzo Stilt Village
April 25th-27th: Study for and then take Culture, Gender, and Reproductive Health final exam
April 28th-May 1st: Togo and Benin (w/ Clara and Kristin and Sarah)
May 2nd-4th: Study for and then take Regionalism and Ethnicity in Ghana final exam
May 5th-10th: Burkina Faso, Crocodile Sanctuary, Hippopotamus Sanctuary
May 11th-May 13th: Study for and then take Human Rights in Africa final exam
May 14th-May 16th: Study for and then take Penology final exam
May 17th: Be baffled as to of how my time is already gone, spend one more day at the beach, pack
May 18th: Worry and panic about not enough suitcase room, desperately rearrange things in the hopes to make them fit better. 10:30 p.m. take off for Heathrow Airport
May 19th: Arrive in Heathrow at 6:30 a.m. entirely confused, find chocolate, wait for next plane. 11:30 a.m. board plane, fly to O'Hare. Arrive at O'Hare having lost 5 hours somewhere along the way. Make it through customs, find Clara's parents, cry and hug them ecstatically. 2:30 p.m. hop in the car, head to Saint Paul. 9:30 p.m. arrive at home, repeat crying and hugging ecstatically, take a hot shower, go to bed.
So there you have it, the next month of my life. The last two days are particularly well planned out, haha. Today is April 18th, which means exactly on month to go until I leave for home, so crazy!! And I'm quite sure time is going to fly with all these trips! Also, if you were going to send me mail, you should send it now or not at all. Anytime past this week, it probably won't get to me before I leave. Feel free to send e-mails instead! :) I miss you all and hope you're having as much fun as me! :)
Sunday, April 19, 2009
The president of Ghana, waterfalls, and monkeys
What a great weekend! This weekend was the last of our four CIEE trips and I think it was probably my favorite one. We went to the Volta Region, where I hadn't been yet, and went to Wli Waterfalls and a mokey sanctuary! I also saw the president of Ghana, John Atta Mills, purely by chance, but it was so cool! The hotel we stayed at was having a shopping mall of sorts constructed by it and Mills is really big on developing Ghana, so he came out to give a short speech about how important this progress was. Security didn't let us get to close to him, but he drove past in his motorcade and waved to the few of us who were outside, it was awesome! I have now seen in person, the president of my home country and the president of my temporarily home country. I'm pretty impressed with myself. :)
Saturday afternoon we had an early lunch at the hotel and then we drove about two hours to Wli falls. We had a 45 minute hike through the jungle which meant a break from the sun, but holey moley the humidity was crazy! The forest was so green and gorgeous, but it was hard to see everything, because a lot of time was spent making sure I didn't fall on my face since the path was pretty rough. There were some people doing the walk in flip-flops and I'm surprised no one broke an ankle, I was pretty thankful for my Merrell's and for my dad being smart enough to make me get some. By the time we reached the falls I was pretty sweaty, but my problem was conveniently solved by the 60 meter high waterfall that I got to swim into! The water was a little chilly, but not much worse than any MN water in late May, I think most people were just babies. It was so cool to swim under the actual waterfall, and then we went behind it and looked up from there and that was amazing! It was something of an uncomfortable walk back with a wet bathing suit, but it was so worth it for the falls! I have some cool pictures, but you all will have to wait for those until May. And someone on the trip has a picture of me in the falls, so there is proof! Dinner was back at the hotel, and afterwards some of us went for a night time swim, which was almost as good as the falls, haha. Night time is never all that cold (at least not for me) so it was great to have warm air around me and a cold pool to swim around in. Plus, it was night time, no worries of sun burn for me, woo-hoo! I enjoyed an amazing hot shower and then slept in an air conditioned room, sooooo nice!
Sunday morning was a breakfast of beans, toast, eggs, and steamed lettuce (pretty common around here) and then we were off to Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary. These monkeys are pretty used to tourists and they're calm, so we got to feed them! They came up so close to us and really happily grabbed the bananas and ate from our hands. It was great to see them up so close and their jumping abilities are pretty impressive. I fed one monkey who happily sat by me while eating, and then another mama monkey who had a tiny baby monkey attached to her. Pretty sure it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen! Again, there are pictures, but you will have to wait until I am home.
Between swimming in a waterfall and feeding monkeys, I had a very African experience weekend. Which is good, it reminds me of why I choose to come to Ghana and not a more developed or more like America country. Of course, when I got back, the water was out all over my dorm, and I was back to wondering why not England or Ireland, haha.
I got my Visa for Togo last Thursday, and on Tuesday I am getting one for Benin, so that trip should be good to go! Also, this Wednesday I leave for Elmina Castle and a stilt village. Elmina Castle is in Cape Coast, where I have been before, but my tour of Cape Coast Castle was kind of a let down, so I'm going to try again with Elmina this time. From there we take off to Nzuelzo stilt village and hopefully this will go better than the planned trip we were supposed to go on, that never happened, when at 4:00 in the morning, there was still no bus. We come back Saturday and then I'll study like crazy for my first exam on Monday. It's crazy to think how soon those are happening! EEK! I've got all sorts of trips planned out for the next few weeks, but I will save your eyes, and put those in another post.
Saturday afternoon we had an early lunch at the hotel and then we drove about two hours to Wli falls. We had a 45 minute hike through the jungle which meant a break from the sun, but holey moley the humidity was crazy! The forest was so green and gorgeous, but it was hard to see everything, because a lot of time was spent making sure I didn't fall on my face since the path was pretty rough. There were some people doing the walk in flip-flops and I'm surprised no one broke an ankle, I was pretty thankful for my Merrell's and for my dad being smart enough to make me get some. By the time we reached the falls I was pretty sweaty, but my problem was conveniently solved by the 60 meter high waterfall that I got to swim into! The water was a little chilly, but not much worse than any MN water in late May, I think most people were just babies. It was so cool to swim under the actual waterfall, and then we went behind it and looked up from there and that was amazing! It was something of an uncomfortable walk back with a wet bathing suit, but it was so worth it for the falls! I have some cool pictures, but you all will have to wait for those until May. And someone on the trip has a picture of me in the falls, so there is proof! Dinner was back at the hotel, and afterwards some of us went for a night time swim, which was almost as good as the falls, haha. Night time is never all that cold (at least not for me) so it was great to have warm air around me and a cold pool to swim around in. Plus, it was night time, no worries of sun burn for me, woo-hoo! I enjoyed an amazing hot shower and then slept in an air conditioned room, sooooo nice!
Sunday morning was a breakfast of beans, toast, eggs, and steamed lettuce (pretty common around here) and then we were off to Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary. These monkeys are pretty used to tourists and they're calm, so we got to feed them! They came up so close to us and really happily grabbed the bananas and ate from our hands. It was great to see them up so close and their jumping abilities are pretty impressive. I fed one monkey who happily sat by me while eating, and then another mama monkey who had a tiny baby monkey attached to her. Pretty sure it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen! Again, there are pictures, but you will have to wait until I am home.
Between swimming in a waterfall and feeding monkeys, I had a very African experience weekend. Which is good, it reminds me of why I choose to come to Ghana and not a more developed or more like America country. Of course, when I got back, the water was out all over my dorm, and I was back to wondering why not England or Ireland, haha.
I got my Visa for Togo last Thursday, and on Tuesday I am getting one for Benin, so that trip should be good to go! Also, this Wednesday I leave for Elmina Castle and a stilt village. Elmina Castle is in Cape Coast, where I have been before, but my tour of Cape Coast Castle was kind of a let down, so I'm going to try again with Elmina this time. From there we take off to Nzuelzo stilt village and hopefully this will go better than the planned trip we were supposed to go on, that never happened, when at 4:00 in the morning, there was still no bus. We come back Saturday and then I'll study like crazy for my first exam on Monday. It's crazy to think how soon those are happening! EEK! I've got all sorts of trips planned out for the next few weeks, but I will save your eyes, and put those in another post.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Still Alive
Hello All!
Sorry for not being better about posting, but the internet has been particularly slow these past few weeks, so getting blgoger to work is always a challenge.
The past two weeks or so have been filled with different things. I purchased fabric a ways back and was finally able to have clothesm madfe with it. I found a great (and cheap) seamstress who is incredibly nice and does really good work, so I'm very pleased with my clothes. I've been to the beach a few times (don't worry Mom, always with sunscreen). Last weekend I toured a prison in Nsawma (a small town outside of Accra) which was quite interesting. 5 men live in a cell that's about 1/4 the size of an average college dorm room. There is no shade anywhere and there is always noise. I recommend never doing anything illegal to anyone who comes to Ghana. This past weekend was Easter, which means all of last week and this past weekend was filled with church services. My one suitemate can't believe that I had no plans to go to chuch at all. I went to Palm Sunday service and that was enough for me. Clara (one of the girls on the trip with me) went to Easter service with her host family and it was 7 hours long! Needless to say, I'm ok with having not experienced that. For easter itself, Clara and I went to Gail and Stu's (the folks who work for the Embassy) and that was really nice! We met three of their friends and had delicious turkey and salads and lemon merengue, yum! We also got to sleep there, which means air-conditioning and real blankets, woo-hoo!
This is the last week of classes here, although three of my four are already done. Two classes ended two weeks ago, and one class ended last week. So I just have the one class today and then I am done! Next week is revision week, and then exams begin for three weeks. It's weird to think that I am done with classes here, I kind of feel as if we're just now starting to learn things.
Planning for my different trips is starting. I'm hoping to make it to Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso, and then a few different places within Ghana. Once I know my travel schedule I'll keep you all updated! I have a feeling that my last three weeks here are going to go pretty quickly, because I'll either be studying, taking a final, or traveling. So I will spend the next two weeks getting ready for all that.
This time in exactly 5 weeks, I will be boarding a plane in Heathrow headed to O'Hare, this is crazy! While I love being here, I will definitely be glad to be headed home, but I'm glad I've still got lots of travel time to go!
Happy Tuesday!
Sorry for not being better about posting, but the internet has been particularly slow these past few weeks, so getting blgoger to work is always a challenge.
The past two weeks or so have been filled with different things. I purchased fabric a ways back and was finally able to have clothesm madfe with it. I found a great (and cheap) seamstress who is incredibly nice and does really good work, so I'm very pleased with my clothes. I've been to the beach a few times (don't worry Mom, always with sunscreen). Last weekend I toured a prison in Nsawma (a small town outside of Accra) which was quite interesting. 5 men live in a cell that's about 1/4 the size of an average college dorm room. There is no shade anywhere and there is always noise. I recommend never doing anything illegal to anyone who comes to Ghana. This past weekend was Easter, which means all of last week and this past weekend was filled with church services. My one suitemate can't believe that I had no plans to go to chuch at all. I went to Palm Sunday service and that was enough for me. Clara (one of the girls on the trip with me) went to Easter service with her host family and it was 7 hours long! Needless to say, I'm ok with having not experienced that. For easter itself, Clara and I went to Gail and Stu's (the folks who work for the Embassy) and that was really nice! We met three of their friends and had delicious turkey and salads and lemon merengue, yum! We also got to sleep there, which means air-conditioning and real blankets, woo-hoo!
This is the last week of classes here, although three of my four are already done. Two classes ended two weeks ago, and one class ended last week. So I just have the one class today and then I am done! Next week is revision week, and then exams begin for three weeks. It's weird to think that I am done with classes here, I kind of feel as if we're just now starting to learn things.
Planning for my different trips is starting. I'm hoping to make it to Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso, and then a few different places within Ghana. Once I know my travel schedule I'll keep you all updated! I have a feeling that my last three weeks here are going to go pretty quickly, because I'll either be studying, taking a final, or traveling. So I will spend the next two weeks getting ready for all that.
This time in exactly 5 weeks, I will be boarding a plane in Heathrow headed to O'Hare, this is crazy! While I love being here, I will definitely be glad to be headed home, but I'm glad I've still got lots of travel time to go!
Happy Tuesday!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Kumasi Weekend
This weekend was a CIEE trip to Kumasi and it was absolutely amazing! We had planned to leave at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday and we took off from campus at 6:45 a.m. which is really good for Ghana! We also took two buses, so there were spots for everyone right from the beginning, something else that doesn't always seem to happen here, haha.
We arrived in Kumasi around noon, had lunch at Pizza Inn (yum, pizza!) and then we split into two groups and we were off to two different villages in Kumasi. Quick geography lesson: There are 10 regions in Ghana, Kumasi is one of them. Ashanti is the capital of the Kumasi region. OK! My group first went to an Adinkra village, where we got to watch them make the ink they use for stamping and then got to try our own hand at stamping cloth. For those of you who are curious, Adrinka is the name for different symbols the Ashanti's have that mean different things. There is a very common symbol you see all over Ghana that means “except God” which is just one of the many they have. There's all sorts of others: humility, unity, fertility, go back to your roots, etc. So this village, has these symbols carved out of wood, and then they make their own liquid dye, and stamp pieces of cloth and then sell the cloth to make a living. Since there were 25 Obruni's, I think the village was more excited about what they could sell us, then showing us how they did it, but I still really enjoyed it.
The next stop was a Kente cloth village. Kente cloth handwoven cloth, and it is traditionally worn by chiefs, people with honor, or people with lots of money, because it is very costly. There are different patterns that are made for different ethnicities, different chiefs, whatever it may be, a Kente cloth pattern can be made specifically for one person. The looms they use to weave are really neat, and I got some great pictures, which you can all see in May, because I don't think the internet will ever work fast enough here. I met a man named Peter inside this workshop who said he had been weaving Kente cloth for 21 years, and he has done some pretty impressive work. He was very proud of the different things he has made and his skills with Kente, and he was really happy when I took a picture of him with his loom. He also didn't pester me while I was looking at his cloth for sale, so that gave him lots of brownie points too. Leaving the Kente cloth village we somewhat accosted by all of the people trying to sell knick knacks to us on our way back to the bus. A few of them men kept trying to force their way on to the bus so we would buy something, and it ended up being quite an adventure of letting CIEE people on the bus, but keeping the hawkers out of it. Kind of crazy, but we're all still alive.
After that we drove through the Kumasi Central Market, which is the biggest in West Africa, and I believe it! There were shops/stalls/people everywhere you looked! We were going to walk through it, but after we tried to for just 10 minutes, it was much to crowded and we had to give up. It was kind of nice driving through the market though, because traffic is horrible, so we sat for a long time on the bus and really got to see lots of things. And all this without the hassle of being bothered by people to buy things, so nice!
After that we were off to the hotel which was sooooooooooo nice. It was the Golden Tulip, which is apparently an international chain, and they sure know how to make things fancy. I completely forget that I was even in Ghana. The carpet was super plush and soft, everywhere was comfortably cool, and there was a bathtub and hot water! I took two baths while we were there! :) Apparently Mr. Gyasi (our program coordinator) is friends of a friends who has some kind of connection to the hotel, so we got a great deal on it. Another awesome part to the hotel was that the Black Stars were staying there! So when we would be walking around the hotel, we would randomly see them around, it was awesome! I'm pretty sure all of us were much more excited than any of them, haha. After a delicious dinner with real salad and fruit, I took an hour long bath and then happily curled up in my bed, with a comforter and watched TV, it was so wonderful!
Sunday morning I woke up not feeling well at all, and was hoping it was just from lack of food, but after eating breakfast I still felt nauseous and really not up to doing much. There was a planned trip to one of the museums in Kumasi, but I was really worried about missing out on the football match later in the day, so I stayed at the hotel and just rested for the morning. I'm not going to lie, I took a second bath and just read in my comfy bed, and it was one of the best things ever. I also drank a ton of liquids and that seemed to help as well.
At 1:00 we took off for the football match which was starting at 5:00, but I guess you have to get there early. The match was Ghana verses Benin and it was a qualifying match for the World Cup in 2010 (which is happening in South Africa). I guess games that matter for World Cup can be pretty intense and full of people, so I think CIEE wanted to be sure to get us there early enough to be safe. On our way in, there were people everywhere, and one of the girls had her wallet stolen. She realized it the second it happened though and ran after the guy and yelled thief really loudly. Everyone close by immediately went after the guy, and her wallet was found on the ground, everything in it, in a matter of about 20 seconds, but it was intense. We had been told that thievery is taken very seriously here and this really proved it. Ghanaians who had been standing by closed in around the thief and wouldn't let him go until police came by, and from there who knows what happened. We still had a ways to go to get to our seats and a lot of people to get through. Abena and Alex (two CIEE leaders) made sure we all had everything really safely in our possession and then we pushed our way through everyone. I felt hands on me everywhere and people trying to reach into where my pockets would be and making grabs for anything. Everyone made it through fine, but the whole experience left me kind of rattled and really glad that we hadn't tried getting through the crowd on our own.
At this point it's about 2:00 in the afternoon and we have three hours to go before the game. I thought I would be bored, but I was so wrong. The fans at theses games are awesomely crazy. There were so many “fan clubs” (as they call themselves) of the Black Stars, or of Black Stars players and most every club had their own mini marching band, so there were trumpets, drums, and loud instruments everywhere. And everyone danced, the whole time! The game went until 7:30 p.m. and they all were dancing and singing the whole time! Ghana won the game, which was great, but unfortunately, the first and only goal was within the first minute of the game, so there was never another time for everyone to go absolutely crazy, which is to bad. It was definitely a great game to watch and an experience unlike anything I've ever had. It was really neat to see how proud the Ghanaians are of their athletes.
Dinner wasn't until 9:00 p.m. which meant most everyone was starving, but I think CIEE thought ahead on that one, because there was lots of food put out for us. After dinner was more laying around in my incredibly comfortable bed and Ocean's 13 was on TV, wooo! Monday morning was just breakfast at 8:00 and then we hit the road. We couldn't leave on Sunday night because that would get us into Accra in the middle of the night, which wouldn't be safe for anyone, so we got an extra night in amazing luxury and then made good time Monday morning with lack of traffic on the roads. I've got to say, while I loved living so comfortably for those 48 hours, it was kind of hard because it made me realize how much I miss my normal lifestyle at home. I mean, all of the things that made being in the hotel so wonderful, were simple things that I usually have at home. Hot water, soft carpet, not sweating, sleeping with a blanket, wearing pants. None of it was anything fancy, just things that I am used to. So being there made me somewhat homesick, but I think it's worth it for how relaxed and comfortable we all were. And in just seven weeks I will have all those things again! Before that though, I still have hippos and crocodiles, stilt villages, and Togo and Burkina Faso to see!
Sorry this post ended up being so long, but it was a good weekend! Feel free to send a letter my way letting me know how you're doing. Getting mail while I am here is always exciting, and I posted my address, so no excuses! :) For those of you in MN, I hope Spring in finally on it's way!
We arrived in Kumasi around noon, had lunch at Pizza Inn (yum, pizza!) and then we split into two groups and we were off to two different villages in Kumasi. Quick geography lesson: There are 10 regions in Ghana, Kumasi is one of them. Ashanti is the capital of the Kumasi region. OK! My group first went to an Adinkra village, where we got to watch them make the ink they use for stamping and then got to try our own hand at stamping cloth. For those of you who are curious, Adrinka is the name for different symbols the Ashanti's have that mean different things. There is a very common symbol you see all over Ghana that means “except God” which is just one of the many they have. There's all sorts of others: humility, unity, fertility, go back to your roots, etc. So this village, has these symbols carved out of wood, and then they make their own liquid dye, and stamp pieces of cloth and then sell the cloth to make a living. Since there were 25 Obruni's, I think the village was more excited about what they could sell us, then showing us how they did it, but I still really enjoyed it.
The next stop was a Kente cloth village. Kente cloth handwoven cloth, and it is traditionally worn by chiefs, people with honor, or people with lots of money, because it is very costly. There are different patterns that are made for different ethnicities, different chiefs, whatever it may be, a Kente cloth pattern can be made specifically for one person. The looms they use to weave are really neat, and I got some great pictures, which you can all see in May, because I don't think the internet will ever work fast enough here. I met a man named Peter inside this workshop who said he had been weaving Kente cloth for 21 years, and he has done some pretty impressive work. He was very proud of the different things he has made and his skills with Kente, and he was really happy when I took a picture of him with his loom. He also didn't pester me while I was looking at his cloth for sale, so that gave him lots of brownie points too. Leaving the Kente cloth village we somewhat accosted by all of the people trying to sell knick knacks to us on our way back to the bus. A few of them men kept trying to force their way on to the bus so we would buy something, and it ended up being quite an adventure of letting CIEE people on the bus, but keeping the hawkers out of it. Kind of crazy, but we're all still alive.
After that we drove through the Kumasi Central Market, which is the biggest in West Africa, and I believe it! There were shops/stalls/people everywhere you looked! We were going to walk through it, but after we tried to for just 10 minutes, it was much to crowded and we had to give up. It was kind of nice driving through the market though, because traffic is horrible, so we sat for a long time on the bus and really got to see lots of things. And all this without the hassle of being bothered by people to buy things, so nice!
After that we were off to the hotel which was sooooooooooo nice. It was the Golden Tulip, which is apparently an international chain, and they sure know how to make things fancy. I completely forget that I was even in Ghana. The carpet was super plush and soft, everywhere was comfortably cool, and there was a bathtub and hot water! I took two baths while we were there! :) Apparently Mr. Gyasi (our program coordinator) is friends of a friends who has some kind of connection to the hotel, so we got a great deal on it. Another awesome part to the hotel was that the Black Stars were staying there! So when we would be walking around the hotel, we would randomly see them around, it was awesome! I'm pretty sure all of us were much more excited than any of them, haha. After a delicious dinner with real salad and fruit, I took an hour long bath and then happily curled up in my bed, with a comforter and watched TV, it was so wonderful!
Sunday morning I woke up not feeling well at all, and was hoping it was just from lack of food, but after eating breakfast I still felt nauseous and really not up to doing much. There was a planned trip to one of the museums in Kumasi, but I was really worried about missing out on the football match later in the day, so I stayed at the hotel and just rested for the morning. I'm not going to lie, I took a second bath and just read in my comfy bed, and it was one of the best things ever. I also drank a ton of liquids and that seemed to help as well.
At 1:00 we took off for the football match which was starting at 5:00, but I guess you have to get there early. The match was Ghana verses Benin and it was a qualifying match for the World Cup in 2010 (which is happening in South Africa). I guess games that matter for World Cup can be pretty intense and full of people, so I think CIEE wanted to be sure to get us there early enough to be safe. On our way in, there were people everywhere, and one of the girls had her wallet stolen. She realized it the second it happened though and ran after the guy and yelled thief really loudly. Everyone close by immediately went after the guy, and her wallet was found on the ground, everything in it, in a matter of about 20 seconds, but it was intense. We had been told that thievery is taken very seriously here and this really proved it. Ghanaians who had been standing by closed in around the thief and wouldn't let him go until police came by, and from there who knows what happened. We still had a ways to go to get to our seats and a lot of people to get through. Abena and Alex (two CIEE leaders) made sure we all had everything really safely in our possession and then we pushed our way through everyone. I felt hands on me everywhere and people trying to reach into where my pockets would be and making grabs for anything. Everyone made it through fine, but the whole experience left me kind of rattled and really glad that we hadn't tried getting through the crowd on our own.
At this point it's about 2:00 in the afternoon and we have three hours to go before the game. I thought I would be bored, but I was so wrong. The fans at theses games are awesomely crazy. There were so many “fan clubs” (as they call themselves) of the Black Stars, or of Black Stars players and most every club had their own mini marching band, so there were trumpets, drums, and loud instruments everywhere. And everyone danced, the whole time! The game went until 7:30 p.m. and they all were dancing and singing the whole time! Ghana won the game, which was great, but unfortunately, the first and only goal was within the first minute of the game, so there was never another time for everyone to go absolutely crazy, which is to bad. It was definitely a great game to watch and an experience unlike anything I've ever had. It was really neat to see how proud the Ghanaians are of their athletes.
Dinner wasn't until 9:00 p.m. which meant most everyone was starving, but I think CIEE thought ahead on that one, because there was lots of food put out for us. After dinner was more laying around in my incredibly comfortable bed and Ocean's 13 was on TV, wooo! Monday morning was just breakfast at 8:00 and then we hit the road. We couldn't leave on Sunday night because that would get us into Accra in the middle of the night, which wouldn't be safe for anyone, so we got an extra night in amazing luxury and then made good time Monday morning with lack of traffic on the roads. I've got to say, while I loved living so comfortably for those 48 hours, it was kind of hard because it made me realize how much I miss my normal lifestyle at home. I mean, all of the things that made being in the hotel so wonderful, were simple things that I usually have at home. Hot water, soft carpet, not sweating, sleeping with a blanket, wearing pants. None of it was anything fancy, just things that I am used to. So being there made me somewhat homesick, but I think it's worth it for how relaxed and comfortable we all were. And in just seven weeks I will have all those things again! Before that though, I still have hippos and crocodiles, stilt villages, and Togo and Burkina Faso to see!
Sorry this post ended up being so long, but it was a good weekend! Feel free to send a letter my way letting me know how you're doing. Getting mail while I am here is always exciting, and I posted my address, so no excuses! :) For those of you in MN, I hope Spring in finally on it's way!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Great Weekend!
Just a quick note to let you all know that I am alive after my weekend in Kumasi. It was absolutely wonderful and involved staying at one of the nicest hotels every. I will get a blog post up in a few days all about it!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Trip Time!
This weekend is a trip to Kumasi (a main region in Ghana) with CIEE. We will got a village known for Kenti Cloth, as well as apparently the largest outdoor market in West Africa. On Sunday we will go to a Black Stars game (the National Football (soccer) Team of Ghana) and watch the game against Benin which is one of the qualifying games for the World Cup. It should be pretty awesome. The best part to the trip is that it is all arranged by CIEE, so I don't have to worry about a single thing, for 48 hours, woo-hoo!
I'm sending some of our sun and heat to help melt the snow and bring Spring back to MN. :)
P.S. I am still hunting for a summer job for June-August 2009, if anyone knows of anything, please let me know!
I'm sending some of our sun and heat to help melt the snow and bring Spring back to MN. :)
P.S. I am still hunting for a summer job for June-August 2009, if anyone knows of anything, please let me know!
Monday, March 23, 2009
A wonderful few days
Thursday through Sunday of this week were really good. Thursday night we went to Bywels (a local bar) where there was live high life music and it was so much fun to be with people my age and dancing and not on campus. The bar atmosphere made everything fun and the music was great for dancing. It reminded me a lot of how I would spend time in Morris, so that was really good.
Friday morning was a failed beach trip, but it meant we were at 37 station, so we went to the massive veggie stand there and got lots of veggies for sandwiches and that was dinner which was so good! Avocado, cucumber, green pepper, tomatoes, and fresh baguette, made for such a delicious meal! I think I am going to try to start buying veggies for the whole week sometime during the weekend, and then I can have veggie sandwiches for some of my meals and have a nice break from rice or pasta.
Friday night we went and saw the Pan African Orchestra and they are great! The concert was outside and it was night, so it wasn't all that hot, and it was good music and it was neat to watch them play. Sarah's boyfriend Moussa plays with them, and he actually had quite a few solos, so he must really know what he's doing. Rumor has it that the Orchestra is coming to the States in the fall, so I am going to keep my eyes open for them, it'd be great to see again if they're anywhere close to MN.
Saturday morning we tackled Makola market which is the biggest market in Accra, it is absolutely insane in size and everything that is there. We tackled primarily the fabric section of the market, and we were able to find a woman who was inside of a building, so we were out of the sun and the crazy rush of people, meaning we got to slowly look at fabric and choose the ones we really wanted. And she sold it to us for cheap too, which is always appreciated. I got two different prints and am going to have one dress made and two shirts, I'm pretty excited. Also at Makola were all these different types of foods, giant snails included. When I say giant, I really mean giant. There were some that were bigger than a tennis ball, it's insane! They are just massive! Some of the home stay people in my program have said that their hosts have fed them snails, and it's not anything all that pleasant. I'm kind of glad I've been able to avoid that. I'm getting better and better at not being overwhelmed by people constantly badgering me to buy things at markets, so that made being at Makola much easier. I went in to it with the mindset that people might bother me, but to just ignore it, and I think that helped. Yes, there were people who grabbed me and hissed at me, but I just didn't let it bother me and it made the whole experience much better and more enjoyable.
Saturday evening Clara and I got to go to Gail and Stu's (who we met through a friend of Clara's dad) and they work for the U.S. Embassy, so they have a really nice, Western style, house. We had showers with hot water, cheese and crackers and doritos(!), a dinner of tacos and salad with chocolate chip cake for desert, mass amounts of juice, running water, clean bathrooms, and air conditioning. It was absolutely amazing. And we got to spend the night, so I slept in air conditioning too. It was so nice to wake up in the morning and not feel sweaty or gross. And it was quiet! So wonderful!
Sunday morning we had a tasty breakfast of eggs, sausage, and hashbrowns which was such a nice change from the normal pb&j of most mornings. Then Gail, Stu, Clara and I took off for campus and Clara and I were able to give them a tour of campus which was fun. We did it in the car, which made it much more bearable, and it was nice to know that we had something we could do for them, after they have done so much for us. I had forgotten just how massive this campus is until we drove all over it. Thank goodness I only have to go to a few places throughout my class week here. Both Gail and Stu seemed happy to be able to see the campus (they hadn't seen it yet in their 2 years here) and it was nice feeling like I actually knew things about what I was talking about. Generally I am the one asking questions, haha. OH! And when we left Gail and Stu's they sent us off with homemade wheat bread, cheddar cheese (AMAZING!), leftover chocolate chip cake, chocolate frosting, and a bag of dove chocolates. And then a bunch of plastic ware too, which we can always use! The generosity of the two of them is incredible and it made the past 24 hours so much better. Just being in a house, and somewhere quiet and comfortable was so nice and put me in such a positive mood. I owe Gail and Stu big time!
Last I heard it was 58 and sunny in Saint Paul, sounds like you've got good weather. It's still about a million degrees here, but I'm happy you all aren't sweating. :)
Friday morning was a failed beach trip, but it meant we were at 37 station, so we went to the massive veggie stand there and got lots of veggies for sandwiches and that was dinner which was so good! Avocado, cucumber, green pepper, tomatoes, and fresh baguette, made for such a delicious meal! I think I am going to try to start buying veggies for the whole week sometime during the weekend, and then I can have veggie sandwiches for some of my meals and have a nice break from rice or pasta.
Friday night we went and saw the Pan African Orchestra and they are great! The concert was outside and it was night, so it wasn't all that hot, and it was good music and it was neat to watch them play. Sarah's boyfriend Moussa plays with them, and he actually had quite a few solos, so he must really know what he's doing. Rumor has it that the Orchestra is coming to the States in the fall, so I am going to keep my eyes open for them, it'd be great to see again if they're anywhere close to MN.
Saturday morning we tackled Makola market which is the biggest market in Accra, it is absolutely insane in size and everything that is there. We tackled primarily the fabric section of the market, and we were able to find a woman who was inside of a building, so we were out of the sun and the crazy rush of people, meaning we got to slowly look at fabric and choose the ones we really wanted. And she sold it to us for cheap too, which is always appreciated. I got two different prints and am going to have one dress made and two shirts, I'm pretty excited. Also at Makola were all these different types of foods, giant snails included. When I say giant, I really mean giant. There were some that were bigger than a tennis ball, it's insane! They are just massive! Some of the home stay people in my program have said that their hosts have fed them snails, and it's not anything all that pleasant. I'm kind of glad I've been able to avoid that. I'm getting better and better at not being overwhelmed by people constantly badgering me to buy things at markets, so that made being at Makola much easier. I went in to it with the mindset that people might bother me, but to just ignore it, and I think that helped. Yes, there were people who grabbed me and hissed at me, but I just didn't let it bother me and it made the whole experience much better and more enjoyable.
Saturday evening Clara and I got to go to Gail and Stu's (who we met through a friend of Clara's dad) and they work for the U.S. Embassy, so they have a really nice, Western style, house. We had showers with hot water, cheese and crackers and doritos(!), a dinner of tacos and salad with chocolate chip cake for desert, mass amounts of juice, running water, clean bathrooms, and air conditioning. It was absolutely amazing. And we got to spend the night, so I slept in air conditioning too. It was so nice to wake up in the morning and not feel sweaty or gross. And it was quiet! So wonderful!
Sunday morning we had a tasty breakfast of eggs, sausage, and hashbrowns which was such a nice change from the normal pb&j of most mornings. Then Gail, Stu, Clara and I took off for campus and Clara and I were able to give them a tour of campus which was fun. We did it in the car, which made it much more bearable, and it was nice to know that we had something we could do for them, after they have done so much for us. I had forgotten just how massive this campus is until we drove all over it. Thank goodness I only have to go to a few places throughout my class week here. Both Gail and Stu seemed happy to be able to see the campus (they hadn't seen it yet in their 2 years here) and it was nice feeling like I actually knew things about what I was talking about. Generally I am the one asking questions, haha. OH! And when we left Gail and Stu's they sent us off with homemade wheat bread, cheddar cheese (AMAZING!), leftover chocolate chip cake, chocolate frosting, and a bag of dove chocolates. And then a bunch of plastic ware too, which we can always use! The generosity of the two of them is incredible and it made the past 24 hours so much better. Just being in a house, and somewhere quiet and comfortable was so nice and put me in such a positive mood. I owe Gail and Stu big time!
Last I heard it was 58 and sunny in Saint Paul, sounds like you've got good weather. It's still about a million degrees here, but I'm happy you all aren't sweating. :)
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