HELLO! I feel like there is
lots to say, so I’ll try to summarize a little.
*I shaved off my hair last week. it was too hot, and I knew I would like
to do
it once in my life, and this seemed like the best place to do it. I have
a few
centimeters left, and it doesn't look as bad as I expected!
* classes are going well. African dance is 3 hours a week of a few foreigners,
and about 40 African students dancing in a synchronized circle moving in
various
forms of shaking ones waist, butt, hands and shuffling of the feet, all
according to the beat and rhythm of the 3 drums being played. this includes
massive lots of fluids through sweating and trying to congregate under a large
fan when we get a water break. white shirt and black bottoms are a must.
after
our first "critique" Thursday, Nathan and I were told we still had to
work on
the "basic moves". oopps, we're trying! TWI language is
getting easier, and
we get much better prices, and a lot of laughs, when buying everything while
speaking it, that’s all we need for encouragement to keep practicing. My batik
fabric class is fun so far, the professor shows up most of the time. we're
working on our stamps for the fabric we will make prints on. However funding is
behind, so she's not sure when we can get started. Wildlife course is
really
the most interesting one probably, very knowledgeable profs, and we start our
field trips next week.
*The orphanage every Tuesday provides many hours of laughs and entertainment on
our part, and the children. The 50 children are there for various
reasons;
AIDS, abandonment, financial problems with families, death etc. They have a lot
of brothers and sisters to play with, but some of the older ones have a hard
time facing the fact they don't have a family. most of the time we are
there
we paint, play games, run around with the deflated soccer ball. Last week
some
wanted us to paint soccer numbers on the back of their shirts, so we did that,
then the ones with out shirts wanted us to paint the numbers on their backs, so
we finished that and they all were running around with random numbers. at
first they were "7" or "11", then a few got elaborate and
wanted "3570" so no
one else would have their number! it was so cute. We really have a wonderful
time with them and wish we could spend more time there. there are quite a few
orphanages around here that need a lot of help. as Ghana is more of a stable
country in relation to others in Africa, it pains me to think of what that
situation must be like.
*An interesting thing that has happened: I was appointed to be the new social
studies teacher for 12-14 year olds at a nearby school. I wanted to help
with
any special needs kids they had, but they didn't have any, so the told me I
could be the new social studies of Ghana teacher. hmmm..i thought it sounded
interesting, but I don't know THAT much about the topic, so I convinced my
American friend Rick, to teach with me. So we are doing that Wednesday
mornings. There are 2 sections, of about 60 kids each. they are all in
uniform, and stand up to answer a question, and they come and erase the board
for us when we need it to be done. quite different then our schools! They all
clap when we finish teaching also, its quite hilarious.
* By far, my favorite part of the whole week is always going to the New Horizon
Special School. Which is a whole school for kids with disabilities! I was
hoping I could work with some that have Down Syndrome, and I was sooo happy I
almost cried when I walked in to see that 90% of the kids that are there have
Down Syndrome. They are beautiful, funny, love to sing and dance, and
have the
same charismatic personality that my sister does! I got to see a performance
they put on, it was traditional African dancing and drumming, and it was
magnificent! I love being with them so much, I would sleep at the school if I
could. So far I have had to take a taxi there, but I have figured out how to
get home on the tro-tro's, which involves about 3 different ones, a lot of
walking and waiting, but its worth it.
That is the summary of the basic weekday life around here, to read about
the
weekends for the last 2 weeks, read on :)
Nathan and I went away for the Valentines weekend to a little village near the
ocean , which had a bungalow on stilts that we stayed in right on the ocean.
We had the option to stay in the other accommodation, an old German slave fort,
however all the beds were occupied. As usual, their were kids running
everywhere, yelling "my friend" and asking us for pens, and balloons.
Apparently someone had once brought them balloons, so everyone was following us
around in hope we would pull thousands of balloons out of our pockets at some
point. We clearly disappointed them with that but, we did have a few children’s
books with us that they thoroughly enjoyed, and the ones that spoke English
could identify some of the animals for the younger kids. In turn for the book
exchange they brought me over to these golf ball size green things that had
been falling from the tree above our bungalow all night, I was sure they were
coconuts falling though because of the long echo they made. Taking a big rock
they pounded some open for Nathan and I and showed us that there were nuts
inside of them, similar to an almond. They were quite excited to show us
there technique, however I was not nearly as good as they were and couldn't
even get ONE open! They gathered a basket full of them, added a few coconuts,
then naturally tossed it upon there heads and gracefully walked back through
the tall grass to their village.
The guy that cooked us dinner, he was our age 22, took us around the village
and showed us his house he was building. He was very proud of this and had
been working on it for about a year now. It had a large piece of bamboo at
every corner and was crosshatched at with smaller bamboo. Between the spaces
it was filled in with hardened mud, which we could tell was tedious work.
The whole thing was about the size of a large bathroom perhaps. I felt honored
that he showed us the hard work he had been doing. Everyone in the village was
quite fond of him and we felt like we met everyone after only an hour or
so. There was a funeral that night that we were invited to attend, because we
were so exhausted we only stayed for about an hour, but it had blasting
gospel music playing, that was to be followed by reggae, hi-life, and hip-hop
that would keep the dancing going til 3am or so.
Staying the next night at a more common place called Busua we were excited for
the famous "Daniel the Pancake Man" that we heard about here. As we
are
pancake fanatics we were excited as we walked on the dirt path to the corner
where the pink building revealed to us that it was indeed closed on Saturdays,
even Valentines Day. Disappointed, we were pointed in the direction to
"Franks" who also is said to make pancakes. From the moment we turned
to walk
to Franks, the next 10 minutes that occurred seemed quite interesting to me,
and
one of those situations where you just roll with what is happening. Entering
Franks, it is just bamboo with palm thatched roofing, sand floor, a few tables
don't have any chairs, some chairs don't have any legs, and the tables are
half covered in a old contact paper which probably looked quite classy some
time ago. We are the only ones in the place. A women walks through in a
skirt, a bra and a baby tied to her back like they are carried here . She
smiles and welcomes us. "Frank " comes out of nowhere, is in his
underwear,
and hands us the menu. Its a torn up book with a page of the various pancakes
he makes, and the rest is travel logs from other visitors. Nathan orders the
pineapple pancakes, Frank smiles with his teeth remaining and tells us that it
might be "finished". But directs Nathan to the street where if the
pineapple
seller was still out there, Nathan could purchase a pineapple and the pancakes
could be made. The seller was "finished" as well. As I’m deciding a
boy comes
in, about 17 years old, and tells me he could make me a skirt, like the one he
is showing me. Its a white flour bag used in Ghana that would make a quite a
nice skirt is silently decided. I say okay and I stand up to get measured.
Meanwhile I’m trying to tell Frank what pancakes I would like and hoping he
doesn't say they are finished also. A young 2 year old jumps up on the bench
, wearing just a torn t-shirt, next to Nathan and is trying to speak to him,
however we don't know the language"Ga" which he is speaking so he
keeps yelling
the same thing over and over and grabs a nail from the sand and starts poking
Nathan with it. We think he was frustrated we couldn't talk to him! we
pretended after that nail incident and just began repeating the same thing to
him. As this is going on a few chickens are wondering around bawking and
shaking their heads as chickens do. The skirt measuring is done and he tells me
he'll "find me on the beach tomorrow and deliver it to me ". (as it
did, at 11
am ). Frank now has our orders of banana pancakes. They come out and are
fabulous, despite the coca-cola bottle with the honey in it being
"finished".
We finish our Valentines dinner and smile about how eating out can be such an
adventure here, and have so much more to tell then staying at a fancy resort
where everything would be normal come with a list of expectations.
I had my first visitor this weekend! Meg Ryan, my American friend, whom I
met as my roommate when studying in Australia in 2001, is now living in Dubai,
in the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East. She got hired there as cabin
crew on the Emirates Airline which just started flying to Ghana last month!
So, she arrived Friday, and left yesterday. Our group of 8 people in our
exchange program had a trip planned to Kumasi for the weekend, so Meg joined
our group for the cultural weekend experience. It was great to have someone
here to show them some of the country! I invite anyone to come over! We
traveled 5 hours north of Accra, to the next largest city. The markets here
were much like Accra, with raw food everywhere, colorful fabrics, thousands of
people doing their shopping and more smells than a nose can handle. Also
visiting the Kente villages surrounding the city which spend hours weaving the
cloth into strips of fabric, blankets, and scarves. Witnessing the equipment
made by them and the tedious work that goes into each piece makes one
appreciate the cloth so much more. We also passed through Lake Bosumtwi on the
way home, which has 24 villages around the whole thing. We did a boat
ride, had a wonderful lunch and admired the beautiful view of the surrounding
hills.
Everyplace I visit here takes me into a deeper understanding of the way of life
in Ghana. Its very different in the various regions, and intrigues me to
witness more.
much love,Kathleen