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!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
