So it's exam period here. For those of you who have gone to college at home, the exam period lasts for 2 maybe 3 weeks correct? And usually you're done within the first week. Well at the University of Ghana in Legon the exam period is about 5 weeks. I have only four exams (one of them was taken earlier). Yet i need the entire month of may to take them. very interesting...
On top of htat the campus is slightly out of control. The University decided that they were only going to offer campus housing to freshmen. They don't have the facilities to house such a large campus and they felt that freshmen are the most vulnerable. It does make sense (no matter how inconvenient it is to the rest of the school population). Anyway, the campus was in an uproar with protests going on everywhere.
Some students took it that extra step and wrote threatening letters to professor on campus. Threatening not only them but their spouses and children as well. They were also written in blood (a bit too dramatic don't you think). So they had to send out notices saying that exams were going to continue as normal. The first exam was on a saturday and students woke up and went only to be thorouly disgusted by their exam rooms. Some exams had to be cancelled because there were dog feces smeared everywhere in each of the testing areas. It was pleasent. Worst part? I don't think they really disinfect here.... I'm bringing things to sit on...
So the university and the government has fought back. It's pretty much martial law here. Outside of all the major buildings there are about 6-7 officers decked with sticks, guns, tear gas and gas masks. about 4 containers of tear gas each actually. They're quite obnoxious in all reality. a bit power hungry and i've had more than one taxi driverget harrassed for no reason. oh well, it's ghana!
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Waagaadoogoo ; )
You know those places that you here about and are like "I have no desire to go there"? Places like russia and Uzbekistan?... Well Burkina Faso was kinda like that for me. But I really like passport stamps... A lot! So when someone mentioned that it was an okay place to go i jumped at the opportunity. So this past week i spent my time in Ouagadougo (pronounced waagadoogoo. maybe the most amazing name ever). It might be one of my most favorite cities now.
Anyway, after a few false starts (we were origionally going to leave from togo. btw, i went to togo. it was alright, not all that exciting). We finally purchased tickets and we left on a bus at 5 pm on monday. the bus ride is 24 hours. It wasn't that bad except for the horrifically grotesque cankles that i've developed. Kinda looks like elphantitus. I took a picture don't worry. Anyway, hot doesn't begin to explain the temperature when we got off the bus tuesday evening. It's dry heat too so it was kinda like sticking your head in an oven... it actually made Ghana seem cool. But luckily i think that was the most stuffy it was the three days we were there.
Anyway, we got a taxi to drive us to this little backpackers hotel that we rread about. At first glance it looked awful but after a couple of days we realized that it is a well run place. Clean, no rodents, electricity all the time. Really not much to complain about. it was a bit warm though. Anyway, we just kinda wandered around that tuesday night. it was a french colony so they have french influences everywhere, especially the food. A major thing for us is that they gave us french bread as an appetizer before our food came. That NEVER happens in Ghana. Needless to say we were more than a little excited.
The next morning we went to a bakery and had some fabulous pastries and then spent the rest of the day wandering. I can't say that we visited important Burkinabe places or national monuments but we just wandered. I don't know how to explain it but it was just a nice friendly city. We weren't hassled, we weren't harrassed people were just friendly. We were basically able to eat and shop our way with out any problems. They ahve amazing metal work there. We were ableto talk them down quite a bit.
The next day was pretty much the same we just wandered and met people. It's a french speaking country so my friend Georgie and i kinda stumbled through french the entire time. It's amazing how far really bad french can take you. We made a lebanese friend named Omar. He owned a restaurant that we'd been getting dessert at. Not only did he give us discounts, but he offered to drive us to the opening of the Ouagadougou Jazz festival! It's actually a big deal and we had seen posters for it but they said that it started on friday. But omar told us that the actual start was on thursday. So he drove us to the hotel. The tickets were the equivilant of $10 (which in africa is quite a bit of money) so he said that if we just sat in the bar we could hear the music without actually paying and having airconditioning. So here we are in are chocos and tivos with dirty tank tops and dirt on our legs sitting in a fancy hotel bar, sipping juice (cause it was the cheapest thing on the menu). Boy did we feel classy. But we got to hear amazing jazz by Rido Bayonne and his orchestra (if you get a chance look him up, really great music).
After awhile we decided to leave and we went outside. Of course there are NO taxis at this hotel in the middle of no where. I saw a guy standing next to a ministry of education bus and so i went and asked him where we could get a taxi. We got to talking (in my broken french and his broken english) and it turns out he had seen our group before earlier. He talked to the driver of the bus and the driver agreed to drop us off at our hotel. When we got on we realized that it was the band's bus!!! So there we were four random americans sitting in the bus with this Parisian band who were utterly confused as to why we were there. They were really nice though and invited us to dinner but we declined. Anyway, this e-mail has gotten way to long so i will stop here. Needless to say we had an amazing trip! We jsut got back this morning and my cankles ahave yet to disappear....
Anyway, after a few false starts (we were origionally going to leave from togo. btw, i went to togo. it was alright, not all that exciting). We finally purchased tickets and we left on a bus at 5 pm on monday. the bus ride is 24 hours. It wasn't that bad except for the horrifically grotesque cankles that i've developed. Kinda looks like elphantitus. I took a picture don't worry. Anyway, hot doesn't begin to explain the temperature when we got off the bus tuesday evening. It's dry heat too so it was kinda like sticking your head in an oven... it actually made Ghana seem cool. But luckily i think that was the most stuffy it was the three days we were there.
Anyway, we got a taxi to drive us to this little backpackers hotel that we rread about. At first glance it looked awful but after a couple of days we realized that it is a well run place. Clean, no rodents, electricity all the time. Really not much to complain about. it was a bit warm though. Anyway, we just kinda wandered around that tuesday night. it was a french colony so they have french influences everywhere, especially the food. A major thing for us is that they gave us french bread as an appetizer before our food came. That NEVER happens in Ghana. Needless to say we were more than a little excited.
The next morning we went to a bakery and had some fabulous pastries and then spent the rest of the day wandering. I can't say that we visited important Burkinabe places or national monuments but we just wandered. I don't know how to explain it but it was just a nice friendly city. We weren't hassled, we weren't harrassed people were just friendly. We were basically able to eat and shop our way with out any problems. They ahve amazing metal work there. We were ableto talk them down quite a bit.
The next day was pretty much the same we just wandered and met people. It's a french speaking country so my friend Georgie and i kinda stumbled through french the entire time. It's amazing how far really bad french can take you. We made a lebanese friend named Omar. He owned a restaurant that we'd been getting dessert at. Not only did he give us discounts, but he offered to drive us to the opening of the Ouagadougou Jazz festival! It's actually a big deal and we had seen posters for it but they said that it started on friday. But omar told us that the actual start was on thursday. So he drove us to the hotel. The tickets were the equivilant of $10 (which in africa is quite a bit of money) so he said that if we just sat in the bar we could hear the music without actually paying and having airconditioning. So here we are in are chocos and tivos with dirty tank tops and dirt on our legs sitting in a fancy hotel bar, sipping juice (cause it was the cheapest thing on the menu). Boy did we feel classy. But we got to hear amazing jazz by Rido Bayonne and his orchestra (if you get a chance look him up, really great music).
After awhile we decided to leave and we went outside. Of course there are NO taxis at this hotel in the middle of no where. I saw a guy standing next to a ministry of education bus and so i went and asked him where we could get a taxi. We got to talking (in my broken french and his broken english) and it turns out he had seen our group before earlier. He talked to the driver of the bus and the driver agreed to drop us off at our hotel. When we got on we realized that it was the band's bus!!! So there we were four random americans sitting in the bus with this Parisian band who were utterly confused as to why we were there. They were really nice though and invited us to dinner but we declined. Anyway, this e-mail has gotten way to long so i will stop here. Needless to say we had an amazing trip! We jsut got back this morning and my cankles ahave yet to disappear....
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Elephants, Jack Nicholson and Rice
Hello all!
well this past week i went to see elephants!!! Now as relatively simple as that sounds, it wasn't. Far from it actually. Basically if i didn't see elephants it might have been the worst weekend of my life, but since i did see elephants it was amazing!
It all began last Monday when Lauren and i tried to go and by tickets to the nearest town near the park. There weren't any left. We had been planning to go on Wednesday. They told us that they had some middle seats left on the Thursday morning un-airconditioned bus (i should probably mention that this trip is between 12-15 hours depending on the driver). We really wanted to see the elephants so we said sure!
Anyway, we get to the bus station at 7 am cause our bus was supposed to be at 8. 8 rolls around, no bus. 9 rolls around, no bus, until finally at 12 pm the bus comes. We had to just sit around the bus station cause all the people would tell us is "it will come". So we sat at the hot bus station for 5 hours.
Anywho, lauren and i had a premonition that our bus ride wasn't going to be very comfortable when we noticed that not all the passangers' luggage fit into the storage under the bus. We kept seeing people lug large suitcases and huge bags of rice into the actual bus. We also realized that by "middle seat" they didn't just mean non window. It meant that the aisle had wobbly fold out seats that only reached a third way up your back. So when we got on the bus i couldn't put my feet all the way on the floor cause there was a bag of rice there, i also couldn't lean back cause there was no where for most of my back and my head to go. so i had to sit up straight. for 15 hours. with my backpack on my lap. couldn't really sleep. it was not cool....
In addition to the cramped conditions, are bus driver was a bit reckless in driving and it started to rain. He slowed down after we passed our SECOND over turned truck.....
So at 4 am we reached Tamale. The bus to a Larabanga (the village next to the national park) was leaving at like 5ish so we just walked to the bus station and waited around for another bus. At 5:30 we were off (luckily with actual seats this time) we were so exhausted we didn't even notice the bus ride was 3 hours long on dirt roads. Actually some like 20 year old guy fell asleep on me and i could have cared less : ).
So when we reached Larabanga we were met by some guys who managed to convince us to stay at a house as a "homestay". they told us that it benefitted the community more if we stayed with community members. By community he meant his sister. So we quickly left and found a guesthouse to stay at. I use the term lousely. Actually there were termite hills on our "ceiling". i have pictures... it was definately an experience! But the owner was really nice and some of his family gave us a tour around the village. They have the oldest mosque in ghana. it was actually really pretty. totally made of mud and such. it's apparently the only 100% muslim village in ghana.
The next morning we took motorbikes up to the park. It was a walking tour so we just wandered until we found animals. So we basically walked around for 2.5 hours without seeing anything besides antelope (which are basically deer and not all that interesting....) Finally we saw elephants going to this watering hole. It was really hot and they all wanted to cool off. I think we saw like 20. it was an entire herd! At one point in time i was talking to Lauren and we turned around and there was an elephant basically charging at us. we didn't run. we treated it as a picture taking opportunity ; ). lucikly the elephant took a sharp left and just went into the water. It was honestly one fo the most amazing things i've ever seen. they're so graceful!
After that. we caught motorbikes back to Laragbanga to get our bags. Then we took motorbikes to another town about an 45 away. From there we just caught a bus that was leaving for Tamale. this ride was not as pleasent as the first one. it was slower, more crowded and seemed not to have shock absorbers. luckily i hadn't eaten anything : )
Basically the rest of the trip went like clockwork. The hotel we stayed at kinda reminded us of a scene in the Shjning though... it looked like there were blood smears on are walls and i felt like jack nicholson was gonna show up any moment. Anyway, i love you guys and when i get my camera i'll try to post some pictures! love ya!
well this past week i went to see elephants!!! Now as relatively simple as that sounds, it wasn't. Far from it actually. Basically if i didn't see elephants it might have been the worst weekend of my life, but since i did see elephants it was amazing!
It all began last Monday when Lauren and i tried to go and by tickets to the nearest town near the park. There weren't any left. We had been planning to go on Wednesday. They told us that they had some middle seats left on the Thursday morning un-airconditioned bus (i should probably mention that this trip is between 12-15 hours depending on the driver). We really wanted to see the elephants so we said sure!
Anyway, we get to the bus station at 7 am cause our bus was supposed to be at 8. 8 rolls around, no bus. 9 rolls around, no bus, until finally at 12 pm the bus comes. We had to just sit around the bus station cause all the people would tell us is "it will come". So we sat at the hot bus station for 5 hours.
Anywho, lauren and i had a premonition that our bus ride wasn't going to be very comfortable when we noticed that not all the passangers' luggage fit into the storage under the bus. We kept seeing people lug large suitcases and huge bags of rice into the actual bus. We also realized that by "middle seat" they didn't just mean non window. It meant that the aisle had wobbly fold out seats that only reached a third way up your back. So when we got on the bus i couldn't put my feet all the way on the floor cause there was a bag of rice there, i also couldn't lean back cause there was no where for most of my back and my head to go. so i had to sit up straight. for 15 hours. with my backpack on my lap. couldn't really sleep. it was not cool....
In addition to the cramped conditions, are bus driver was a bit reckless in driving and it started to rain. He slowed down after we passed our SECOND over turned truck.....
So at 4 am we reached Tamale. The bus to a Larabanga (the village next to the national park) was leaving at like 5ish so we just walked to the bus station and waited around for another bus. At 5:30 we were off (luckily with actual seats this time) we were so exhausted we didn't even notice the bus ride was 3 hours long on dirt roads. Actually some like 20 year old guy fell asleep on me and i could have cared less : ).
So when we reached Larabanga we were met by some guys who managed to convince us to stay at a house as a "homestay". they told us that it benefitted the community more if we stayed with community members. By community he meant his sister. So we quickly left and found a guesthouse to stay at. I use the term lousely. Actually there were termite hills on our "ceiling". i have pictures... it was definately an experience! But the owner was really nice and some of his family gave us a tour around the village. They have the oldest mosque in ghana. it was actually really pretty. totally made of mud and such. it's apparently the only 100% muslim village in ghana.
The next morning we took motorbikes up to the park. It was a walking tour so we just wandered until we found animals. So we basically walked around for 2.5 hours without seeing anything besides antelope (which are basically deer and not all that interesting....) Finally we saw elephants going to this watering hole. It was really hot and they all wanted to cool off. I think we saw like 20. it was an entire herd! At one point in time i was talking to Lauren and we turned around and there was an elephant basically charging at us. we didn't run. we treated it as a picture taking opportunity ; ). lucikly the elephant took a sharp left and just went into the water. It was honestly one fo the most amazing things i've ever seen. they're so graceful!
After that. we caught motorbikes back to Laragbanga to get our bags. Then we took motorbikes to another town about an 45 away. From there we just caught a bus that was leaving for Tamale. this ride was not as pleasent as the first one. it was slower, more crowded and seemed not to have shock absorbers. luckily i hadn't eaten anything : )
Basically the rest of the trip went like clockwork. The hotel we stayed at kinda reminded us of a scene in the Shjning though... it looked like there were blood smears on are walls and i felt like jack nicholson was gonna show up any moment. Anyway, i love you guys and when i get my camera i'll try to post some pictures! love ya!
Friday, April 6, 2007
PICTURES!
As you probably figured out, the monkey is from the monkey sanctuary... isn't he cute?! The picture of james and i is from when he came to visit. No joke the kid lost like 10 pounds when he was here. He's a freak ; ).
The bottom two are from the waterfalll. I don't have any pictures of me under it cause well... I still wanted to have a camera when I left. I didn't get the top of the waterfall in the pictures but it goes way higher than that. Hope you like them!
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Monkeys, Waterfalls and Passover oh my!
The past couple of days have been awesome! on saturday we took a trip to a monkey sanctuary in the Eastern region of ghana. The monkeys were so cute! ew all had bananas to feed them and we just held them out.They were picky though. They only took the bananas that were half peeled. they liked the act of peeling them themselves. They'd grab them right out of our hands, it was cute. I promise i'll bring pictures but it was raining today and I didn't wanna risk gettingmy card wet...
The next day we went to Wli falls. I think that has got to be one of the prettiest places in the world hands down! After a 45 minute easy walk, we got into this clearing. The waterfall is the tallest in West Africa. Luckily we all wore our bathing suits. The water was freezing cold but we got used to it. We were able to actually get underneath the waterfall. It was AMAZING! Now don't be fooled. it kinda hurts. That much water falling that far can make ur skin kind of sore but it was really invigorating. It was a little creepy though cause there was kind of a bat cave a couple of hundred feet up. There were literally thousands of bats circling around our heads as we were frolicking in the water : ). Actually some guy found a dead one. a bit grotesque actually...Anyway, the water fall was definatley one of my highlights of the semester.
To top off those couple of days, we had a Sader. For those of you who don't know what it is. It's basically the passover dinner. Jewish people have this dinner to acknowledge the things that God did for them during and after their time in Egypt. There is a lot of symbolism involved in the process. Actually the the Lord's Supper was a Sader dinner. Anyway, we did it at the CIEE house. The girls who put it together worked their butts off! There wasn't any power so we had it out side, they put 4 tables together in a straight line and had candles covering it. Because there wasn't much room we were sitting like 2 to a chair (there were about 30 of us). It was actually quite amazing. It felt like a big family dinner. It was also cool because a lot of the sader focused around social justice and there is a lot of discussion involved. It was nice because some of the girls who put it together had never been apart from their families during Passover. We've pretty much become a family here so i think our Sader dinner made it a little less sad. If anyone ever gtes the opportunity to go to one, i totally suggest it!
Anyway, i gotta run but i love you all!!!!
The next day we went to Wli falls. I think that has got to be one of the prettiest places in the world hands down! After a 45 minute easy walk, we got into this clearing. The waterfall is the tallest in West Africa. Luckily we all wore our bathing suits. The water was freezing cold but we got used to it. We were able to actually get underneath the waterfall. It was AMAZING! Now don't be fooled. it kinda hurts. That much water falling that far can make ur skin kind of sore but it was really invigorating. It was a little creepy though cause there was kind of a bat cave a couple of hundred feet up. There were literally thousands of bats circling around our heads as we were frolicking in the water : ). Actually some guy found a dead one. a bit grotesque actually...Anyway, the water fall was definatley one of my highlights of the semester.
To top off those couple of days, we had a Sader. For those of you who don't know what it is. It's basically the passover dinner. Jewish people have this dinner to acknowledge the things that God did for them during and after their time in Egypt. There is a lot of symbolism involved in the process. Actually the the Lord's Supper was a Sader dinner. Anyway, we did it at the CIEE house. The girls who put it together worked their butts off! There wasn't any power so we had it out side, they put 4 tables together in a straight line and had candles covering it. Because there wasn't much room we were sitting like 2 to a chair (there were about 30 of us). It was actually quite amazing. It felt like a big family dinner. It was also cool because a lot of the sader focused around social justice and there is a lot of discussion involved. It was nice because some of the girls who put it together had never been apart from their families during Passover. We've pretty much become a family here so i think our Sader dinner made it a little less sad. If anyone ever gtes the opportunity to go to one, i totally suggest it!
Anyway, i gotta run but i love you all!!!!
Friday, March 30, 2007
Bugs
So i had a little extra time on my hands so i decided to post again. I haven't travelled yet, but i'm going up to a waterfall tommorrow so i'll be sure to write about it : ). Now you guys know that although i don't run and scream when there are bugs, i don't take a general liking to them. have no compassion for them and unlike some of my friends i will be more likely to kill a bug then put it on a piece of paper and set it outside. Which is why last Tuesday was such a problem....
Imagine the hottest indian summer day in Maryland and that is what it feels like all the time here. So imagine my surprise when it rained during one of y classes. Not just a little bit of rain, but a torrential (i know i can't spell...) downpour. It was enough wind and rain that a window pain fell into the room and water was blowing in. I was really excited cause the rain brought about cool weather....LIke cool enough that I slept under my sheet for the first time in two months.
The next night was bug night. Apparently every time it rains, flying termites come out and look for a queen mother (i don't know how true that is). This meant that these bugs flew to everywhere where there was light. I'm not talking about a couple bugs or even what we experienced with cicadas. I'm talking like biblical locust amounts. Enough so that the floors were covered with wings and bugs that had lost their wings. The bugs were everywhere. in our showers all over our sinks on the floors. The more common areas, you couldn't step anywhere without getting at least 20 dead bugs undreneath your feet. I felt like i was in a bad dream. I live in a sweet so we have a common room. When we closed the doors, these bugs still managed to crawl underneath our doors. The ones outside would beat against your window if your light was on. It was disgusting because there were so many that there was an audible beating on the windows. It was horrific.
So I just tell you this story so that next time you see a bug you will realize that it's not quite that bad... ; )
Imagine the hottest indian summer day in Maryland and that is what it feels like all the time here. So imagine my surprise when it rained during one of y classes. Not just a little bit of rain, but a torrential (i know i can't spell...) downpour. It was enough wind and rain that a window pain fell into the room and water was blowing in. I was really excited cause the rain brought about cool weather....LIke cool enough that I slept under my sheet for the first time in two months.
The next night was bug night. Apparently every time it rains, flying termites come out and look for a queen mother (i don't know how true that is). This meant that these bugs flew to everywhere where there was light. I'm not talking about a couple bugs or even what we experienced with cicadas. I'm talking like biblical locust amounts. Enough so that the floors were covered with wings and bugs that had lost their wings. The bugs were everywhere. in our showers all over our sinks on the floors. The more common areas, you couldn't step anywhere without getting at least 20 dead bugs undreneath your feet. I felt like i was in a bad dream. I live in a sweet so we have a common room. When we closed the doors, these bugs still managed to crawl underneath our doors. The ones outside would beat against your window if your light was on. It was disgusting because there were so many that there was an audible beating on the windows. It was horrific.
So I just tell you this story so that next time you see a bug you will realize that it's not quite that bad... ; )
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
: )
so i've been informed that I haven't posted in awhile... sorry! Anyway, last week was a FABULOUS week. A lovely person known as a one James Misner came and visited. We had an amazing time!
On saturday night we played pull with my roomie and her boyfriend. It was actually pretty cool. I have to say i'm quite proud of our skills. neither of us have really ever played pool and yet we beat them. it was beautiful. The next morning we went to this place called the Green turtle. It was a long drive and for those of you who know james, you know that he can't really sit still. He did ok this time : ). he fell right to sleep. We had some issues getting to the place cause it's in the middle of absolutely no where. we had to drive on a dirt road with nothing around us for about 20 minutes to get there.
Anyway, we got there and it was the most amazing place. It's totaly eco friendly so it's all solar powered and the toilets, showers and such are all self composting (i probably didn't spell that right). everyone who works there is from the local village and most of the money generated by the place goes back to the village. so it was cool. We took walks and slept on the beach the entire time we were there. (as well as a canoe trip) and................... WE GOT ENGAGED! It was beautiful. He did it right at sunset on the beach. The ring is beautiful and we are incredibly excited!
After the fabulous green turtle and engagement we decided to go to hohoe which is a village that is near the two highest mountains in ghana. we climbed one of them. It was definately NOT my idea. But we did it! It was a bit painful. I told him that if he had proposed from the top i would have said no. this trail was straight up. Not like american trails on mountains which kind of go around so it's not steep. nooooooooooooo this one went pretty muchs traight up. we actually had to use our hands in some moments to climb up the rocks. I'm glad we did it though. I can't look back at it and not laugh.
The town of hohoe was pretty cool too. It was really quaint and we just got to walk around and find random little things in it. It was like one amazing date week!
Overall, the week was amazing! I wish you all could come here! I definately had so much fun. sorry this isn't very detailed but i'm almost out of time. love you guys!
On saturday night we played pull with my roomie and her boyfriend. It was actually pretty cool. I have to say i'm quite proud of our skills. neither of us have really ever played pool and yet we beat them. it was beautiful. The next morning we went to this place called the Green turtle. It was a long drive and for those of you who know james, you know that he can't really sit still. He did ok this time : ). he fell right to sleep. We had some issues getting to the place cause it's in the middle of absolutely no where. we had to drive on a dirt road with nothing around us for about 20 minutes to get there.
Anyway, we got there and it was the most amazing place. It's totaly eco friendly so it's all solar powered and the toilets, showers and such are all self composting (i probably didn't spell that right). everyone who works there is from the local village and most of the money generated by the place goes back to the village. so it was cool. We took walks and slept on the beach the entire time we were there. (as well as a canoe trip) and................... WE GOT ENGAGED! It was beautiful. He did it right at sunset on the beach. The ring is beautiful and we are incredibly excited!
After the fabulous green turtle and engagement we decided to go to hohoe which is a village that is near the two highest mountains in ghana. we climbed one of them. It was definately NOT my idea. But we did it! It was a bit painful. I told him that if he had proposed from the top i would have said no. this trail was straight up. Not like american trails on mountains which kind of go around so it's not steep. nooooooooooooo this one went pretty muchs traight up. we actually had to use our hands in some moments to climb up the rocks. I'm glad we did it though. I can't look back at it and not laugh.
The town of hohoe was pretty cool too. It was really quaint and we just got to walk around and find random little things in it. It was like one amazing date week!
Overall, the week was amazing! I wish you all could come here! I definately had so much fun. sorry this isn't very detailed but i'm almost out of time. love you guys!
Saturday, March 3, 2007
My trip to the Post Office...
Sorry I posted twice but my roommate deserves a little space on the blog. My wonderful mother sent me two large boxes of necessities (you know... mac and cheese, peanut butter, chips ahoy...) and i had to go and pick them up at the post office. Now the postal system in ghana is a bit corrupt. So my roommate said she would take me. We get to the post office and walk up to our first counter. Basically this guy started typing in random numbers into his calculator. I think he was just making crap up actually. Now just a note, things here are very cheap. I can eat 3 meals a day for about a dollar. I taxi ride into the city costs about 3 or 4 and an hour on the internet is about 80 cents. So when i arrived at the post office, the man took one look at the USA address and the fact that i gave him an id card that said that i lived in one of the International dorms (usually only rich ghanians live there along with the int'l students) and decided to make some money. he wanted about 27 dollars per box as my "tax". He basically said we were rich and could afford it actually. As you can imagine i did not bring 54 dollars with me. So my roommate told him that i was from northern ghana and that we were both on scholarship to the university. He kept on looking at me cause i don't think he quite believed me. But hey, my roomie is cute and she basically sweet talked another lady behind the desk to be on our side as well. I just kinda grunted the entire time and she did the talking for me. My roommate got the man to go from 54 dollars to 4 dollars.... She's definately my hero. We basically had to run after that cause two of my friends (who were obviously not ghanian) showed up. We also ran cause the guy asked for my roommates number.... oh well! you gotta do what you gotta do! Miss you guys!
Ok so this (the one with the bridge) picture is the canopy walk that I took at Kakum national park. basically these crazy canadians built this "bridge" between a bunch of trees. There are 7 of these bridges with platforms on each tree when you complete thye bridge. the highest points are 120 feet above the rainforest. It was actually a really cool experience. slightly frightening when you get to the middle parts... once you realized you've done three bridges and that no matter what you need to complete at least three more to get to solid ground. It's a bit scary. Let me tell you... there was more than one missing bolt on these things...
The picture of the ocean is at the Elmina castle. In a nut shell, this beautiful ocean view was the last thing thousands upon thousands of slaves saw of their home. It was surreal because this castle was so beautiful on the outside but on the inside was horrific. there were 50 of us on the tour and even we were feeling claustriphobic in some of the spaces. this fort was run by the portugeuese at one time and then the dutch. Both were equally barbaric in the treatment of these people who's only fault was that they were on the losing side of the war. Many of these people were stuck in this castle for months at a time waiting for a ship to come for a life of hardship in teh caribbean, the Americas and Europe. What was interesting was that the tour guide put blame not only on the europeans, but the victorious tribes who collected their fallen enemies and walked them to the castle to be sent abroad. It was totally a reminder of humanity's capactity for evil...
That house is a picture of the govenors house. Right outside his front door, hundreds of men stood chained, hungry and filthy, while in the back of his abode were the women. Many times he would stand on his balcony and chose a woman to take for the evening.
On a less depressing note! the cavern looking thing is actually a dried up waterfall! Since it was the dry season the waterfall wasn't running but it was beautiful anyway. I mentioned this place earlier, it's Boti falls. It was even more beautiful in person. and much larger... i wish i'd put someonein the picture to give you a better idea of how big it was.
I'm sorry there are no pictures of me. I've realized that i was always the one behind the camera. I'll work on it ; ). Ok love you guys!!!
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Stupid things i've done....
For those of you who have been posting (and those who haven't! I love you all!) i just wanna say it's cool to hear from you guys! I wish you were here with me! I hope everything is well with you.
So we went away for the weekend again! this time we went to Ada Foah which is basically where the Volta River meets the ocean.
We meant to leave at like 8 am but in typical ghanian fashion we left at 9:30. We we took a trou trou to Accra and then attempted to find a trou trou to Ada Foah. Of course no one can give you a straight answer here so after 30 minutes we finally found the place we supposed to catch the trou trou. Then we found another group of opportunistic young gentlemen who we think were trying to take advantage of us. Luckily there was one person in our trou trou who noticed the guy emphatically shaking his head outside of the trou trou telling us that they were going to "trap us". So we went and found other means of tranportation....
The ride up there was pretty uneventful. When we arrived we had lunch at a hotel on the water. This place was really expensive. By really expensive i mean a meal cost us $6. That's outrageous here. We're used to paying about $1 (usually less) for our meals. So we ended up splitting our (surprisingly small by ghanian standards) meals. But it was totally worth it because we sat outside and had this AMAZING view of the Volta river. and it was i think the most perfect weather ever. And to top it off, we noticed a scraggly man sitting next to us and we thought he looked very familiar. We could not for the life of us figure out where we knew him from. one of the girls finally realized that he was the coach of the Ghanian Black Stars team! Now for most people that's not very exciting but it was for us. This guy is the coach of the team that beat the US in the World Cup. The Black Stars are like the pride and joy of ghana. I think maybe even more so than Kofi Annan. They had a "friendly" match against Nigeria about a couple weeks ago and i think everyone in ghana was sitting in front of their tvs that night. Ghana beat Nigeria for the first time in FIFTEEN years. needless to say people were rioting in a way that was remenicint of the red sox beating the yankees...
Anyway, after our lunch, we called the place that we were staying and they sent a boat over to pick us up. It was more like a very long canoe for those of you who think i spent a weekend in luxery ; ). we motered over to this cluster of huts. They were set on this strip of sand with coconut trees everywhere. There were nice hammocks between the coconut trees giving the best shade! once you walked behind the huts over the sand dune there was the beautiful ocean. It was awesome standing in the middle of the sand strip and seeing a calm flowing river on one side and large and powerful ocean waves on the other. This place was awesome! the huts were so beautiful and relaxing at the same time. our floor was the sand and basically the walls were just palm trees braided together. but the beds were ridiculously comfortable. I'm not gonna lie, best night of sleep i've had since we were in Ghana.
Now for the stupid thing. Like dumb americans (american because i later realized that i didn't see a single ghanian getting into the water), we decided to go check out the ocean. one guy went in and had to struggle to get back out of the water because the waves were so strong and the undertow just pulled you right back in when you tried to get out. So we stayed further up on the sand. Anyway, we honestly only went into our ankles but the waves would come everyonce in awhile and drench us. So you'd fall back from time to time. For you ladies, you know that sand just gets stuck in the most awkward places. So i decided to bend down and clean out my bathing suit. Well apparently i didn't have enough time between the next wave. i was quickly knocked down and dragged out. about three people tried to grab me but the wave pretty much had me. I tried to swim to shore but it wasn't working. Phil grabbed my arm but just managed to fall too. I kinda gave up and hoped the wave would just carry me to sure which by the grace of God it did. I think i really scared everyone though. I felt bad. Oddly enough i was more mad at the fact that i lost my hairtie...
After that, we decided to stick to the river side. We hung around and red on the beach. Then the stars were beautiful at night. there weren't really many lights so we cold see them soo clearly. We woke up at 5:30 so we could catch the sunrise and it was just so peaceful. it was an awesome sight with the river to our left, the rising sun (well kinda...) to our front and the calm(er) ocean to our right. After that we kinda just relaxed and read in hammocks and such until our banana pancakes (i nkow your jealous) were ready.
Later that afternoon we went to a Rum making village. It was cool. we thought the tour was gonna be so much more though. They jsut wanted us to buy the rum though. We didn't spend to much time there. they had us sitting on benches and our butts were sore. And after that we took the boat home! It was an amazing weekend! And if you read this far i'm amazed!!!
So we went away for the weekend again! this time we went to Ada Foah which is basically where the Volta River meets the ocean.
We meant to leave at like 8 am but in typical ghanian fashion we left at 9:30. We we took a trou trou to Accra and then attempted to find a trou trou to Ada Foah. Of course no one can give you a straight answer here so after 30 minutes we finally found the place we supposed to catch the trou trou. Then we found another group of opportunistic young gentlemen who we think were trying to take advantage of us. Luckily there was one person in our trou trou who noticed the guy emphatically shaking his head outside of the trou trou telling us that they were going to "trap us". So we went and found other means of tranportation....
The ride up there was pretty uneventful. When we arrived we had lunch at a hotel on the water. This place was really expensive. By really expensive i mean a meal cost us $6. That's outrageous here. We're used to paying about $1 (usually less) for our meals. So we ended up splitting our (surprisingly small by ghanian standards) meals. But it was totally worth it because we sat outside and had this AMAZING view of the Volta river. and it was i think the most perfect weather ever. And to top it off, we noticed a scraggly man sitting next to us and we thought he looked very familiar. We could not for the life of us figure out where we knew him from. one of the girls finally realized that he was the coach of the Ghanian Black Stars team! Now for most people that's not very exciting but it was for us. This guy is the coach of the team that beat the US in the World Cup. The Black Stars are like the pride and joy of ghana. I think maybe even more so than Kofi Annan. They had a "friendly" match against Nigeria about a couple weeks ago and i think everyone in ghana was sitting in front of their tvs that night. Ghana beat Nigeria for the first time in FIFTEEN years. needless to say people were rioting in a way that was remenicint of the red sox beating the yankees...
Anyway, after our lunch, we called the place that we were staying and they sent a boat over to pick us up. It was more like a very long canoe for those of you who think i spent a weekend in luxery ; ). we motered over to this cluster of huts. They were set on this strip of sand with coconut trees everywhere. There were nice hammocks between the coconut trees giving the best shade! once you walked behind the huts over the sand dune there was the beautiful ocean. It was awesome standing in the middle of the sand strip and seeing a calm flowing river on one side and large and powerful ocean waves on the other. This place was awesome! the huts were so beautiful and relaxing at the same time. our floor was the sand and basically the walls were just palm trees braided together. but the beds were ridiculously comfortable. I'm not gonna lie, best night of sleep i've had since we were in Ghana.
Now for the stupid thing. Like dumb americans (american because i later realized that i didn't see a single ghanian getting into the water), we decided to go check out the ocean. one guy went in and had to struggle to get back out of the water because the waves were so strong and the undertow just pulled you right back in when you tried to get out. So we stayed further up on the sand. Anyway, we honestly only went into our ankles but the waves would come everyonce in awhile and drench us. So you'd fall back from time to time. For you ladies, you know that sand just gets stuck in the most awkward places. So i decided to bend down and clean out my bathing suit. Well apparently i didn't have enough time between the next wave. i was quickly knocked down and dragged out. about three people tried to grab me but the wave pretty much had me. I tried to swim to shore but it wasn't working. Phil grabbed my arm but just managed to fall too. I kinda gave up and hoped the wave would just carry me to sure which by the grace of God it did. I think i really scared everyone though. I felt bad. Oddly enough i was more mad at the fact that i lost my hairtie...
After that, we decided to stick to the river side. We hung around and red on the beach. Then the stars were beautiful at night. there weren't really many lights so we cold see them soo clearly. We woke up at 5:30 so we could catch the sunrise and it was just so peaceful. it was an awesome sight with the river to our left, the rising sun (well kinda...) to our front and the calm(er) ocean to our right. After that we kinda just relaxed and read in hammocks and such until our banana pancakes (i nkow your jealous) were ready.
Later that afternoon we went to a Rum making village. It was cool. we thought the tour was gonna be so much more though. They jsut wanted us to buy the rum though. We didn't spend to much time there. they had us sitting on benches and our butts were sore. And after that we took the boat home! It was an amazing weekend! And if you read this far i'm amazed!!!
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Travelling!!!
So unfortunately, there are actual classes here. My classes are potentially interesting and potentially dull all at the same time. It's kinda weird cause there is reading but the books may or may not necessarily be in the book store... It's a bit confusing to understand them too. so as it stands i feel as if i may not getting the most academically out this trip...
On the flip side! i went away for the weekend! Unlike many other countries in the world, Ghana has one travel book. A book by Phillip Briggs. He's become our Ghana guru. Anything that Briggs says we take it as pure fact. So Phillip Briggs said that there was an interesting town called Kofordua. So we (me and 6 other people) went!
Briggs was right! The town was really pretty. It was nestled between hills and it was very green. Since Accra is so developed, there isn't much grass or greenery. it's pretty much just dusty. So this was a welcome sight. over lunch we consulted our guru yet again and the book said that there were some waterfalls about thirty minutes away. So after lunch we went in search of a trou trou to take us to the falls. after almost getting robbed by a group of opportunistic young "gentlemen" we found a taxi to take us up there. it was cool cause we saw rain for the first time since we've been here!
Anyway, we got up to the falls. Basically they had no room for us up there. we must of looked so sad that they were like "we do have a hallway...". So we slept in a supply closet. there were small plastic lawn chairs in there but they weren't condusive to sleeping at all so we all slept on the cement floor.
Anway, that night we hiked down to the beautiful falls. Well the falls weren't really running cause of the dry season but the caverns were beautiful! After that we went to a funeral. We heard the music from our closet and decided we wanted to go. we went and danced but then decided to leave when it started smelling like pot...
The next morning a village elder came and got us so that we could great the chief and his men. it was basically a traditional greeting ceremony. There was a lot of speaking twi and i didn't know what was going on. They did make us drink the palm wine though. that stuff is ridiculously strong. i didn't want to disrespect them so i took a miniscule sip and then the custom is to throw the rest on the ground (which i did gladly). After that we hiked to a couple awesome caves and rocks.
We then went to a church service (cause again we heard the drums). it was crazy! they made us dance around the church. just us. it was interesting.
But yeah, that was my weekend! you definately can't get things like that in a classroom! I miss you guys! talk to you later!!!
On the flip side! i went away for the weekend! Unlike many other countries in the world, Ghana has one travel book. A book by Phillip Briggs. He's become our Ghana guru. Anything that Briggs says we take it as pure fact. So Phillip Briggs said that there was an interesting town called Kofordua. So we (me and 6 other people) went!
Briggs was right! The town was really pretty. It was nestled between hills and it was very green. Since Accra is so developed, there isn't much grass or greenery. it's pretty much just dusty. So this was a welcome sight. over lunch we consulted our guru yet again and the book said that there were some waterfalls about thirty minutes away. So after lunch we went in search of a trou trou to take us to the falls. after almost getting robbed by a group of opportunistic young "gentlemen" we found a taxi to take us up there. it was cool cause we saw rain for the first time since we've been here!
Anyway, we got up to the falls. Basically they had no room for us up there. we must of looked so sad that they were like "we do have a hallway...". So we slept in a supply closet. there were small plastic lawn chairs in there but they weren't condusive to sleeping at all so we all slept on the cement floor.
Anway, that night we hiked down to the beautiful falls. Well the falls weren't really running cause of the dry season but the caverns were beautiful! After that we went to a funeral. We heard the music from our closet and decided we wanted to go. we went and danced but then decided to leave when it started smelling like pot...
The next morning a village elder came and got us so that we could great the chief and his men. it was basically a traditional greeting ceremony. There was a lot of speaking twi and i didn't know what was going on. They did make us drink the palm wine though. that stuff is ridiculously strong. i didn't want to disrespect them so i took a miniscule sip and then the custom is to throw the rest on the ground (which i did gladly). After that we hiked to a couple awesome caves and rocks.
We then went to a church service (cause again we heard the drums). it was crazy! they made us dance around the church. just us. it was interesting.
But yeah, that was my weekend! you definately can't get things like that in a classroom! I miss you guys! talk to you later!!!
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Classes
So there are no cool stories for this week. Everything has been great here. I've started my classes which have been interesting... Even though we're technically into the 2nd week of school one of my professors is trying to change the time and or day of the class. But overall the professors have been really cool. I thought that i was going to have a hard time with the lecture style of classes but it's nice cause there is no pressure for participation points ; ).
The one downside are my Twi classes. we have them every day from 4-5:30, Monday through Thursday. It's at that point in time when i feel most sleepy... Now for all those who know me, you know that I suck at languages... like really really suck at them. in fact i'm still trying to get a hang of the english language. So a language where the majority of words and sounds are nasely and pretty much run together. it's a bit hard. oh well! it's only for 6 weeks!
I have to hand it to them, they managed to pick a classroom that is ridiculously far from everyone. In fact to get to class on time we have to leave thirty minutes early...it's a large campus. if it wasn't such a small class i don't think most people would go.
Last week i went to the beach! i think it was my favorite poihnt here thus far! There are 38 of us and so it's hard to find something to do where all of us could get together. the beach was perfect cause we could invite whoever we wanted and we could do whatever we wanted as well! I'd definately say it was one of my best times at the beach ever. Ok, sorry there isn't much to report. i'm sure something crazy will happen to me this coming up weekend. Talk to you later!
The one downside are my Twi classes. we have them every day from 4-5:30, Monday through Thursday. It's at that point in time when i feel most sleepy... Now for all those who know me, you know that I suck at languages... like really really suck at them. in fact i'm still trying to get a hang of the english language. So a language where the majority of words and sounds are nasely and pretty much run together. it's a bit hard. oh well! it's only for 6 weeks!
I have to hand it to them, they managed to pick a classroom that is ridiculously far from everyone. In fact to get to class on time we have to leave thirty minutes early...it's a large campus. if it wasn't such a small class i don't think most people would go.
Last week i went to the beach! i think it was my favorite poihnt here thus far! There are 38 of us and so it's hard to find something to do where all of us could get together. the beach was perfect cause we could invite whoever we wanted and we could do whatever we wanted as well! I'd definately say it was one of my best times at the beach ever. Ok, sorry there isn't much to report. i'm sure something crazy will happen to me this coming up weekend. Talk to you later!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
White Rice, Fried Rice or Jollof Rice?
Or Chicken or chicken or chicken? Yes folks today we talk about food. let me tell ya! Ghanians make good food. a bit spicey but after awhile you get used to it. The only issue is that there isn't that much variety... You kinda have to search for it. IN fact i didn't eat any meat for a couple of days mostly because if i had one more piece of chicken i might have died. We try to mix it up and get some fruit every once in awhile. But pineapple has a habit of hurting after awhile and you don't look ver atractive eating mangos... But they are soooooooo good here. Today we remedied our chicken and rice rut. We had American food! We went to this overpriced Friendly's knock off and i thought i was in heaven. I had a sandwhich! I know that's not very PC or very adventerous but hey everyone get's a craving for the food that they have at home. And the best part? We didn't sit down and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of Cipro, Immodium and pepto tablets. in fact no one popped any of those pills after a meal! Oddly enough that was pretty much a first! It's funny how acceptable table conversation topics change....
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Why one should not ride in a taxi alone at night...
Ok I love Ghana! if it sounds as if these are all horror stories don't take it that way. These are one in a million things that i've just found to be hilarious here. Anyway, one evening a bunch of us were going out. By a bunch i mean we filled up 4 taxis with about 5-6 people each. Anyway, my cab was no exception. The cabs here are like pretty much every other african cab... about to fall apart. if we were in the US i don't think a single one would pass an emissions test in any state. Anyway, we had two girls sitting in the trunk (it was a station wagon) and three in the back seat and one in the front. first of all this guy takes us on a ridiculous amount of back roads... The type of backroads with no street lights and random guys here and there standing next to trees. He also wasn't the most careful driver... i felt as if we were't quite on the right side of the road at times. Like man other places ghana's road drainage system are basically 3-4 foot gutters on both sides of the street. with no covers. So on one very sharp turn, our lovely cabdriver manages to get one wheel in the gutter. The two girls in the trunk probably have bruises from that bump. At this point in time the radio shut off and his lights started blinking. So he pulled over (keep in mind, creepy backroads and no lights...). So he checks his tires and everything is fine. he gets back in the car and turns it on. well tries to. it doesn't start. So we start kind of freaking out but there was a guy in the car with us so we weren't too bad. after a couple minutes he jiggled something and the car started. but i was starting to think we'd have to treck to the nearest road with lights and find another taxi... To top things off when we finally got to where we were going, the taxi driver wanted us to give him more... like it was our fault he can't turn a corner... oh well! I hope everyone is well! is it snowing there? Love ya!
Friday, January 19, 2007
hey there! I hope the new year is treating everyone well! I know some people are starting school again. How's that going? anyway, Ghana has been pretty cool. I still haven't met my roommate but apparently she's really nice (according to the porter). We're in the rich dorms apparently. One of my suite mates has a laptop, fridge, tv, microwave, boom box and a car. this is pretty much unheard of considering some of those things are more expensive here than they are in the states. it's actually a nice sized room. really high ceilings and lots of space. it's crazy cause you have to lock everything here. there's a lock on my closet, then on my door then on the door to the suite. it's kinda getting old but i know it's necessary. There are 6 people per suite with two bathrooms. The showers are 2 degrees below freezing which you would think would be refreshing in the heat. it's not. i'm slowly getting accostomed to it though. The hostels are kind of far from campus but i think i got the best deal with housing. it seems as if i wouldn't have been very happy in the other places.
The food here is GOOD! It's so spicey though. I pretty much will leave plates half full cause i can't handle it anymore. But it's really good, and cheap! i've been getting meals for like 40 cents... Anyway gotta run! Talk to you later!
The food here is GOOD! It's so spicey though. I pretty much will leave plates half full cause i can't handle it anymore. But it's really good, and cheap! i've been getting meals for like 40 cents... Anyway gotta run! Talk to you later!
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Hello!!!
Sorry i haven't posted for awhile. it took forever to get to an internet cafe. I LOVE Ghana!! The people here are very friendly and the campus is gorgeous. I haven't been to accra yet but if you saw the size of this campus you'd know why... Just a little story about how different it is... for those of you excluding a one A.D. that go to AU you know that registering for classes consists of sitting on your floor with your laptop frantically pressing the enter button in hopes of getting the last spot in your 20 person class. At the University of Ghana, registration lasts for three weeks. In that time you stand in a line outside in the sun of the given department. For departments such as the Political science, sociology and the psych depart. these lines include you and about 200 other people. I was at the political science department. I stood in the wrong line for about 45 minutes and then realized that the large mass ahead of me were people pushing to register for poli sci classes. So too joined that mass. I pushed and shoved and body slammed a girl to finally get into the 8x8 room to sign up for ONE class... only 4 to 5 more to go...
If you wonder why i come back and say i've taken the history of agriculture in Africa and Ghanain botanical studies just know it was because the line was short.... talk to you later!
If you wonder why i come back and say i've taken the history of agriculture in Africa and Ghanain botanical studies just know it was because the line was short.... talk to you later!
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Welcome!
Welcome to my blog!! Right now it's really boring causee i'm still in Maryland... But hopefully something will be posted later on! See ya later!
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