http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2104657&l=965f2&id=1711040
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2104661&l=7a08b&id=1711040
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2104659&l=5906a&id=1711040
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2104682&l=5ee6e&id=1711040
This is the abbreviated version of my pictures and they are 100% out of order. However, if you've been reading the blog, you'll see pictures that go along with some of the stories... You should be able to see these photos even if you're not on facebook, but if not let me know and I'll try to send them to you so you can see them...
I'm back in the grand ol' US of A and it's pretty grand. It's also pretty freakin' cold. It snowed this morning and (although I loved looking at it) driving in it and being outside for any period of time at all was pretty awful. It does, however, get me into the Christmas spirit.
So... I guess this is it... Until my next great travelling adventure. Thanks for reading...
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Endings are always bittersweet.
I'm done with finals! YAY. This last one was a joke but the one before was pretty intense. There was actual studying going on... Albeit I had to memorize a bunch of churches and their founders and their current leaders rather than understanding the actual material. But it was the hardest final I had to take this semester. So that's something.
I've begun to pack and it's quite a process. I have enough money left over from my Tufts stipend to set my self up with quite a bit of fabric. Too bad fabric is super heavy and none of us have scales with which to weigh our luggage. I might just do it anyways. Nowhere else will I be able to get such awesome fabric for $4 a yard. $3, if I bargain in Twi.
Goodbyes have also started, which is pretty sad. I'm way sad to leave my roommate. She's awesome and if I could pack her and bring her back to the US, I would. I think she's sticking around until we leave on Sunday night, so at least we have this next couple of days to bond some more. We actually have a date this afternoon to go get some omo tuo (groundnut soup and rice balls) and get our picture taken together. Should be freakin' adorable.
Oh god, I heard Oh Holy Night the other day and I freaked out. I am so not in the Christmas mindset, I cannot even tell you. I am in complete summer mode. I'm lazing about, I'm taking my afternoon naps to avoid the heat, I'm getting sunburned on a daily basis, I'm very relaxed about almost everything. I can't go back to the hustle and bustle of American malls and millions of Christmas movies and holiday music on every channel... I'm so not prepared! On he other hand, this may be the first year where I've gotten everyone's Christmas presents by the beginning of December. So I just have to wrap and go.
Alright, this is probably my last update. Sunday night I head out to Amsterdam, have a few hours to walk around there... then off to Detroit, then Hartford. It'll be an arduous 24 hour trek. But I guess it's worth it...
Check back in the next couple of weeks for links to pictures and videos that I will inevitably put up when I get back to the land of consistent internet.
I've begun to pack and it's quite a process. I have enough money left over from my Tufts stipend to set my self up with quite a bit of fabric. Too bad fabric is super heavy and none of us have scales with which to weigh our luggage. I might just do it anyways. Nowhere else will I be able to get such awesome fabric for $4 a yard. $3, if I bargain in Twi.
Goodbyes have also started, which is pretty sad. I'm way sad to leave my roommate. She's awesome and if I could pack her and bring her back to the US, I would. I think she's sticking around until we leave on Sunday night, so at least we have this next couple of days to bond some more. We actually have a date this afternoon to go get some omo tuo (groundnut soup and rice balls) and get our picture taken together. Should be freakin' adorable.
Oh god, I heard Oh Holy Night the other day and I freaked out. I am so not in the Christmas mindset, I cannot even tell you. I am in complete summer mode. I'm lazing about, I'm taking my afternoon naps to avoid the heat, I'm getting sunburned on a daily basis, I'm very relaxed about almost everything. I can't go back to the hustle and bustle of American malls and millions of Christmas movies and holiday music on every channel... I'm so not prepared! On he other hand, this may be the first year where I've gotten everyone's Christmas presents by the beginning of December. So I just have to wrap and go.
Alright, this is probably my last update. Sunday night I head out to Amsterdam, have a few hours to walk around there... then off to Detroit, then Hartford. It'll be an arduous 24 hour trek. But I guess it's worth it...
Check back in the next couple of weeks for links to pictures and videos that I will inevitably put up when I get back to the land of consistent internet.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Happy Election Day (Part 2)!
I have been wanting to update for the past 4 days but all of Ghana has conspired against me. Friday was a holiday (Farmer's Day - like Labor Day in the US), yesterday was a sunday which usually means most things are shut down but because it was ELECTION DAY, things were all wonky on top of that. And then today is also a holiday. I have no idea what for, so don't ask...
Anyways, I went on my fantastical vacation with Kym last week and it was fantastic and a little ridiculous. We went to Cape Coast for a day and a night and it was absolutely wonderful. Cape Coast is to Accra as Boston is to New York City. A little more laid back, a lot more homey, a little less to do. We had already done the main tourist stuff there (slave castles, Kakum National Park) with Tufts when we went way back in August. We basically just got to our hostel, dropped off our stuff and walked in a direction. Which landed us in some pretty awesome places. My favorite of which was Baobob Children's Foundation. They are amazing and you should look them up. Honestly, if I wanted to come back to Ghana for any extended period of time, I'd want to volunteer/work with them. Check them out at http://www.baobab-children-foundation.de/index_en.html
We also met some fun people and generally wandered the streets. I bought a ton of stuff for Christmas presents and now am seriously in trouble for trying to pack for the plane ride home. I hope the airport people are nice...
The next day we headed to Green Turtle Lodge for some general R&R. 3 tro-tro rides and one tire blow out later, we made it all in one piece. We sunned, we baked, we fried. I got bitten by either a large colony of sand flies or the most voracious mosquito known to man. My legs are COVERED in bites that are extremely itchy. I want to bathe in calamine lotion...
We stayed for two days and I had to tear myself away from their hammocked, sandy, sun-filled life and put myself on another 3 tro-tros and a taxi. The last tro-tro ride was FIVE AND A HALF HOURS LONG... Why, you ask? It should have been 4 hours or less to get from Takoradi to Accra (and we should have been able to take the regular state buses) but EVERYONE was going to Accra for the election. Then we got to the outskirts of Accra and we were stuck in dead traffic for two hours because NPP was having a rally. People were pouring through the streets, not allowing any cars to get anywhere. They were playing really loud music (the NPP song. All of the parties have a song. You can probably YouTube them, they are pretty great) and dancing in the street, on top of cars, on the sidewalk. Everywhere. It was insanity.
We finally got home to witness full election fervor in a campus setting. I went to get dinner and was accosted by a 40 person brass marching band and about 250 people dancing, singing, chanting, and parading themselves right past nightmarket! They were also NPPer's (most of the people in this region are...) and boy were they excited. It made me really sad that I missed this whole experience at Tufts last month...
So yesterday I didn't really go out into the city because I had to study/I didn't want to be out and about in case something bad happened during voting. But I kept my ear on the radio and really... nothing all that exciting happened. Lights went out at a bunch of polling stations (big surprise...), a few "macho men" went to one polling station and tried to intimidate people into voting one way or another. Someone tried to steal a ballot box and was thwarted by the police officer standing RIGHT next to it (dumbbb). That's about it.
But as usual, things are happening very slowly and vote counts are trickling in still. I have no idea who is going to win and just want them to figure it out already! I'm in the throes of studying for my hardest final and then I have one more exam before I go home... I have so much stuff to do before i leave!! AHHH. I don't want to PACKKKKKK.
Anyways, I went on my fantastical vacation with Kym last week and it was fantastic and a little ridiculous. We went to Cape Coast for a day and a night and it was absolutely wonderful. Cape Coast is to Accra as Boston is to New York City. A little more laid back, a lot more homey, a little less to do. We had already done the main tourist stuff there (slave castles, Kakum National Park) with Tufts when we went way back in August. We basically just got to our hostel, dropped off our stuff and walked in a direction. Which landed us in some pretty awesome places. My favorite of which was Baobob Children's Foundation. They are amazing and you should look them up. Honestly, if I wanted to come back to Ghana for any extended period of time, I'd want to volunteer/work with them. Check them out at http://www.baobab-children-foundation.de/index_en.html
We also met some fun people and generally wandered the streets. I bought a ton of stuff for Christmas presents and now am seriously in trouble for trying to pack for the plane ride home. I hope the airport people are nice...
The next day we headed to Green Turtle Lodge for some general R&R. 3 tro-tro rides and one tire blow out later, we made it all in one piece. We sunned, we baked, we fried. I got bitten by either a large colony of sand flies or the most voracious mosquito known to man. My legs are COVERED in bites that are extremely itchy. I want to bathe in calamine lotion...
We stayed for two days and I had to tear myself away from their hammocked, sandy, sun-filled life and put myself on another 3 tro-tros and a taxi. The last tro-tro ride was FIVE AND A HALF HOURS LONG... Why, you ask? It should have been 4 hours or less to get from Takoradi to Accra (and we should have been able to take the regular state buses) but EVERYONE was going to Accra for the election. Then we got to the outskirts of Accra and we were stuck in dead traffic for two hours because NPP was having a rally. People were pouring through the streets, not allowing any cars to get anywhere. They were playing really loud music (the NPP song. All of the parties have a song. You can probably YouTube them, they are pretty great) and dancing in the street, on top of cars, on the sidewalk. Everywhere. It was insanity.
We finally got home to witness full election fervor in a campus setting. I went to get dinner and was accosted by a 40 person brass marching band and about 250 people dancing, singing, chanting, and parading themselves right past nightmarket! They were also NPPer's (most of the people in this region are...) and boy were they excited. It made me really sad that I missed this whole experience at Tufts last month...
So yesterday I didn't really go out into the city because I had to study/I didn't want to be out and about in case something bad happened during voting. But I kept my ear on the radio and really... nothing all that exciting happened. Lights went out at a bunch of polling stations (big surprise...), a few "macho men" went to one polling station and tried to intimidate people into voting one way or another. Someone tried to steal a ballot box and was thwarted by the police officer standing RIGHT next to it (dumbbb). That's about it.
But as usual, things are happening very slowly and vote counts are trickling in still. I have no idea who is going to win and just want them to figure it out already! I'm in the throes of studying for my hardest final and then I have one more exam before I go home... I have so much stuff to do before i leave!! AHHH. I don't want to PACKKKKKK.
Monday, December 1, 2008
The Poison Bug Strikes Again!
I looked down at my arm today to find a redish-whitish patch of grossness. Apparently, when I was sitting on my balcony last night I was attacked by the poison bug! Grrr. And now it's just there, on my arm and I can't stop thinking about it. I can't touch it, that would only make it worse. But I want to. It's like when you're little and your mom tells you not to touch the stove because you'll burn yourself but you just have to...
In other news I had 4 ridiculous encounters today on my way to, at, and on my way back from Circle. I swear, that is the sketchiest area in all of Ghana. Nowhere else am I harassed as much! So most of these conversations were conducted in Twi (which I am quite proud of, thankyouverymuch.) but I still managed to get one marriage proposal, three asked for my number, one gave me an email address and one asked me what's the difference between a sausage and a hot dog... (He actually seemed genuinely interested in learning about the US... I had to explain to him how many states there are and that the number of stars on the flag correspond to the number of states...)
I am seriously not going to miss getting hounded every time I go out. That's for sure.
In other news, in case you weren't aware... It's DECEMBER. I find this highly odd as I am currently sweating buckets and will do anything to find a room with air conditioning. This is not normal December behavior. But, the mall is Christmasly decorated, so who am I to argue? In fact, to emphasize just how summery I feel right now, I'm going to the beach. Yep, it's back to Green Turtle for me and I am SO excited. 3 days of fun in the sun and delicious drinks and hammocks and all around perfectness. SO EXCITED.
And then - ELECTION TIME. I'm really, really, really hoping that everything goes smoothly. But just in case, we're all going to be in Accra during the elections. Keep your eyes peeled and your tv's on CNN on Sunday and we'll see what happens!
In other news I had 4 ridiculous encounters today on my way to, at, and on my way back from Circle. I swear, that is the sketchiest area in all of Ghana. Nowhere else am I harassed as much! So most of these conversations were conducted in Twi (which I am quite proud of, thankyouverymuch.) but I still managed to get one marriage proposal, three asked for my number, one gave me an email address and one asked me what's the difference between a sausage and a hot dog... (He actually seemed genuinely interested in learning about the US... I had to explain to him how many states there are and that the number of stars on the flag correspond to the number of states...)
I am seriously not going to miss getting hounded every time I go out. That's for sure.
In other news, in case you weren't aware... It's DECEMBER. I find this highly odd as I am currently sweating buckets and will do anything to find a room with air conditioning. This is not normal December behavior. But, the mall is Christmasly decorated, so who am I to argue? In fact, to emphasize just how summery I feel right now, I'm going to the beach. Yep, it's back to Green Turtle for me and I am SO excited. 3 days of fun in the sun and delicious drinks and hammocks and all around perfectness. SO EXCITED.
And then - ELECTION TIME. I'm really, really, really hoping that everything goes smoothly. But just in case, we're all going to be in Accra during the elections. Keep your eyes peeled and your tv's on CNN on Sunday and we'll see what happens!
Friday, November 28, 2008
Ghanaian birthdays and other random insights
I've realized that in my finals induced fervor (and by that i mean, 4 days of lazing about then 3 days of cramming. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.) I've been leaving out some juicy cultural stuff that's been going on. So bear with me as most of these things don't relate to one another.
It was Kym's birthday on Monday but because of various reasons we didn't really get to celebrate it on the day... My roommate was incredulous at how we Americans celebrate birthdays with our friends. This is because in Ghana they like to be really mean to you on your birthday. Okay, not really mean... They do it in a joking, loving way. But there are some really mean things that are a part of your birthday celebration. It could include any or all of the following:
Ponding: There's a big, disgusting pond in front of the library full of weeds and lily pads and general algae-grossness. And there's this tradition of ponding on campus for two reasons - Punishment from the Vandals and your birthday. The birthday version is a lot nicer/tamer but it's still not very fun. Your friends basically pick you up by your limbs and toss you in, making sure that you get good and dirty.
Ponding for nicer people: The nicer and (I think) more fun version of ponding is attacking your friend on their birthday with buckets of water or squirting them with water bags, ketchup, flour... anything that will get them wet or messy. I think this one's pretty fun, as long as you know when it's going to happen and you're not on your way to class. I love food fights and/or water fights!
Not allowing you to sleep: This one is really mean, I think. Your friends will sneak into your room and steal your mattress on the night preceding your birthday. As someone who fully appreciates their sleep... I don't like this one at all.
Why, you ask, are you treated so harshly on your birthday? When I asked this question I got the reasoning that "You caused your mother a lot of pain when you were born... So you deserve it." Ha. There you go, Mom. Sorry about that whole Labor Thing. But I'm paying for it now...
The ponding aspect of birthdays segues nicely into talking about the Vandals. I finally got to go into Commonwealth Hall last week when I was picking up some papers from a friend in one of my classes. Well... it is exactly the Slytherin I pictured it to be. First of all, those boys have no respect for women. While waiting for my papers to be photocopied I got solicited for my number at least 5 times... I can only imagine the reactions I would have gotten if I were wearing red. (Red is the vandal color and if you are a guy and wear it around campus. If you aren't a vandal and you wear it, you get in big trouble... If you're a girl and wear it you just get harassed a lot more than usual.) I didn't stay very long but it was just long enough to understand that most of my assumptions about Commonwealth were correct.
Sadly (or not sadly, depending on how you look at it), a couple of weeks ago I missed a Vandal ponding. Annie was up close and personal at the whole thing so she relayed the following:
So apparently this guy was being punished for stealing something. He had gotten caught by some of his fellow students and decided to go to Vandal court instead of getting turned into the University police (and getting expelled). The whole thing starts as a procession from the top of the university (where Commonwealth is) to the pond in front of the library. The guy is put in a wagon/cart type contraption and a sign is put around his neck that says something to the extent of "I will never steal again". People follow this cart and laugh at him and sometimes throw stuff. They get to the pond and there's a huge cermonial punishment decision process going on. The Chief Vandal (whose face you almost never see) and his advisors discuss how severe a punishment he should get. The crowd weighs in by shouting what they think he should get. Finally they decide how many times he should get ponded. This guy got two (apparently he only stole something small). But each individual ponding takes like 15 minutes. Four guys hold up each limb of the offender and lift him as high above their heads as possible. Then they throw him down at the water so as to acheive the worst belly flop pain possible. Then they kind of push him under the water to get the sensation of drowning without really drowning him. At the end they make him stand there and they decorate him with the scuzzy reeds and plants that grow in this disgusting pond. Everyone in the crowd cheers that this criminal is successfully humiliated and will (hopefully) never steal again. Then they make him get out of the pond and pull his cart/wagon thing back up the hill to Commonwealth.
Upsetting, right? Yeah. I know.
And finally I had a pre-reverse-culture shock on Wednesday. After my final I went to the Accra Mall with Kym to get stuff for our Thanksgiving feast. But not only did we buy groceries but we actually went shopping for clothes! At the MALL! Not just that but I tried things on in a dressing room! I saw my body in a full length mirror. I had NO idea the extent my tan gradiates down my body. I'm about 30 different colors, if you include the bruise I got on my leg last week. It's a little more than ridiculous. Then Kym bought a bathing suit at a counter with a register and got a reciept and it was all very surreal. Next up, we hit the food court. No, not the market. The food court. Where our food was delivered to our table within 15 minutes of ordering. And it was unbelievably delicious. It was a freaky version of an American weekend afternoon and I didn't know how to handle it. The mall is already decked out for Christmas and it was a balmy 95 degrees outside. Christmas decorations and air conditioning just don't fit in my conception of December.
Also there seems to be a new internet cafe with webcams in the mall, so I may be able to set up Google Video chat with people before I leave... That is, if you can't wait the 17 days until I get home to see me.
That's right. 17 days. It's completely surreal and I'm not sure how well I'm going to handle the transition. I hate transitions and they hate me even more. Hopefully copious amounts of cheese and broccoli will ease the pain, but we'll see. Okay, this post has been far too long.
It was Kym's birthday on Monday but because of various reasons we didn't really get to celebrate it on the day... My roommate was incredulous at how we Americans celebrate birthdays with our friends. This is because in Ghana they like to be really mean to you on your birthday. Okay, not really mean... They do it in a joking, loving way. But there are some really mean things that are a part of your birthday celebration. It could include any or all of the following:
Ponding: There's a big, disgusting pond in front of the library full of weeds and lily pads and general algae-grossness. And there's this tradition of ponding on campus for two reasons - Punishment from the Vandals and your birthday. The birthday version is a lot nicer/tamer but it's still not very fun. Your friends basically pick you up by your limbs and toss you in, making sure that you get good and dirty.
Ponding for nicer people: The nicer and (I think) more fun version of ponding is attacking your friend on their birthday with buckets of water or squirting them with water bags, ketchup, flour... anything that will get them wet or messy. I think this one's pretty fun, as long as you know when it's going to happen and you're not on your way to class. I love food fights and/or water fights!
Not allowing you to sleep: This one is really mean, I think. Your friends will sneak into your room and steal your mattress on the night preceding your birthday. As someone who fully appreciates their sleep... I don't like this one at all.
Why, you ask, are you treated so harshly on your birthday? When I asked this question I got the reasoning that "You caused your mother a lot of pain when you were born... So you deserve it." Ha. There you go, Mom. Sorry about that whole Labor Thing. But I'm paying for it now...
The ponding aspect of birthdays segues nicely into talking about the Vandals. I finally got to go into Commonwealth Hall last week when I was picking up some papers from a friend in one of my classes. Well... it is exactly the Slytherin I pictured it to be. First of all, those boys have no respect for women. While waiting for my papers to be photocopied I got solicited for my number at least 5 times... I can only imagine the reactions I would have gotten if I were wearing red. (Red is the vandal color and if you are a guy and wear it around campus. If you aren't a vandal and you wear it, you get in big trouble... If you're a girl and wear it you just get harassed a lot more than usual.) I didn't stay very long but it was just long enough to understand that most of my assumptions about Commonwealth were correct.
Sadly (or not sadly, depending on how you look at it), a couple of weeks ago I missed a Vandal ponding. Annie was up close and personal at the whole thing so she relayed the following:
So apparently this guy was being punished for stealing something. He had gotten caught by some of his fellow students and decided to go to Vandal court instead of getting turned into the University police (and getting expelled). The whole thing starts as a procession from the top of the university (where Commonwealth is) to the pond in front of the library. The guy is put in a wagon/cart type contraption and a sign is put around his neck that says something to the extent of "I will never steal again". People follow this cart and laugh at him and sometimes throw stuff. They get to the pond and there's a huge cermonial punishment decision process going on. The Chief Vandal (whose face you almost never see) and his advisors discuss how severe a punishment he should get. The crowd weighs in by shouting what they think he should get. Finally they decide how many times he should get ponded. This guy got two (apparently he only stole something small). But each individual ponding takes like 15 minutes. Four guys hold up each limb of the offender and lift him as high above their heads as possible. Then they throw him down at the water so as to acheive the worst belly flop pain possible. Then they kind of push him under the water to get the sensation of drowning without really drowning him. At the end they make him stand there and they decorate him with the scuzzy reeds and plants that grow in this disgusting pond. Everyone in the crowd cheers that this criminal is successfully humiliated and will (hopefully) never steal again. Then they make him get out of the pond and pull his cart/wagon thing back up the hill to Commonwealth.
Upsetting, right? Yeah. I know.
And finally I had a pre-reverse-culture shock on Wednesday. After my final I went to the Accra Mall with Kym to get stuff for our Thanksgiving feast. But not only did we buy groceries but we actually went shopping for clothes! At the MALL! Not just that but I tried things on in a dressing room! I saw my body in a full length mirror. I had NO idea the extent my tan gradiates down my body. I'm about 30 different colors, if you include the bruise I got on my leg last week. It's a little more than ridiculous. Then Kym bought a bathing suit at a counter with a register and got a reciept and it was all very surreal. Next up, we hit the food court. No, not the market. The food court. Where our food was delivered to our table within 15 minutes of ordering. And it was unbelievably delicious. It was a freaky version of an American weekend afternoon and I didn't know how to handle it. The mall is already decked out for Christmas and it was a balmy 95 degrees outside. Christmas decorations and air conditioning just don't fit in my conception of December.
Also there seems to be a new internet cafe with webcams in the mall, so I may be able to set up Google Video chat with people before I leave... That is, if you can't wait the 17 days until I get home to see me.
That's right. 17 days. It's completely surreal and I'm not sure how well I'm going to handle the transition. I hate transitions and they hate me even more. Hopefully copious amounts of cheese and broccoli will ease the pain, but we'll see. Okay, this post has been far too long.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Letter of the Semester
Dear Ecobank,
Remember me? You should, as I have been in your Legon branch at least once a week for the past 16 weeks. It was so long ago - August 6th - when I opened my account. Although it did take us 2 hours to do so and I was stuffed into that holding pen you call a "waiting room", I still had high hopes for us. You promised me my ATM card in a week, and you promised to call. I knew it would probably take longer than that... maybe three weeks... but I didn't expect this.
It has been 15.5 weeks since then and you continue to assure me that my ATM card will come in soon... Every week you get my hopes up when I come in and you say "Next week! It'll be in next week!"
Well, it's next week, all right... I've tried everything possible to make this work. I've reapplied for cards time after time after time. But I just can't take it anymore! I'm leaving the country in three weeks! There isn't a point anymore. So I'm ending our relationship and closing my account.
I know, you're shocked. Well, you shouldn't be. Maybe I wouldn't be so mean every time I came in if any of your employees understood the words "customer service". But because they don't, I don't mind raising my voice and making a fuss. You kind of deserve it.
It's been fun Ecobank - going in at the crack of dawn so that lines are only an hour long. I've really enjoyed jumping through numerous hoops just to withdraw my money, because whoever heard of a withdrawl slip???
Seriously, it's over. Hasta la vista.
Remember me? You should, as I have been in your Legon branch at least once a week for the past 16 weeks. It was so long ago - August 6th - when I opened my account. Although it did take us 2 hours to do so and I was stuffed into that holding pen you call a "waiting room", I still had high hopes for us. You promised me my ATM card in a week, and you promised to call. I knew it would probably take longer than that... maybe three weeks... but I didn't expect this.
It has been 15.5 weeks since then and you continue to assure me that my ATM card will come in soon... Every week you get my hopes up when I come in and you say "Next week! It'll be in next week!"
Well, it's next week, all right... I've tried everything possible to make this work. I've reapplied for cards time after time after time. But I just can't take it anymore! I'm leaving the country in three weeks! There isn't a point anymore. So I'm ending our relationship and closing my account.
I know, you're shocked. Well, you shouldn't be. Maybe I wouldn't be so mean every time I came in if any of your employees understood the words "customer service". But because they don't, I don't mind raising my voice and making a fuss. You kind of deserve it.
It's been fun Ecobank - going in at the crack of dawn so that lines are only an hour long. I've really enjoyed jumping through numerous hoops just to withdraw my money, because whoever heard of a withdrawl slip???
Seriously, it's over. Hasta la vista.
Love,
Your best and most loyal customer, Megan
Account #100010111101010111010101111010101110101000111101011
(WHAT THE HECK! IS THAT BINARY FOR DON'T GIVE HER AN ATM CARD EVER!?!?!)
Your best and most loyal customer, Megan
Account #100010111101010111010101111010101110101000111101011
(WHAT THE HECK! IS THAT BINARY FOR DON'T GIVE HER AN ATM CARD EVER!?!?!)
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Eradicate Guinea Worm! (and other fun signs)
Another whole week since I've blogged to you all. No, I have not fallen off the face of the planet. I went on safari. Now - before you get all excited and ask me about all of the awesome animals I saw and amazingly quintessential African experience... let me tell you a little something.
It's mating season.
That means that all of the elephants in Mole National Park... are hiding in the middle of the forest. AND the park doesn't offer driven safaris (unless you bring your own 4x4 vehicle) so your only option is to do a walking safari.
So, needless to say, our animal viewing was kind of... lacking. I should also tell you that getting to Mole requires 17 hours of being on a bus. And the way that the schedules work for the two buses you have to take - it's more like 24-36 hours to get there.
We got up at 4:30 AM on Friday in order to get to the bus station in Accra to catch the 7 AM bus. It took 13 hours to get to Tamale, which is the big city up north. We got into Tamale at 8:30 PM or so and had to stay overnight at the Catholic Guesthouse. I tried Guineafowl for dinner, which was pretty good. Oh! I also tried goat liver at one of the reststops for the bus. Also pretty delicious.
The next morning we had to wake up at 3:30 AM to check out of our rooms and get to the bus station for 4:30 AM to catch a 5:30 AM bus. We didn't have tickets for this bus, because we got in after the bus station ticket window had closed... But the bus was full/there were a million people mobbing the bus conductor. We met up with a couple other groups of Oboronis who were also going to Mole and after an hour of complete confusion and disarray and relocating - we ended up chartering a minibus/really nice tro-tro to Mole with our newfound Oboroni friends.
We got to Mole by 9:30 AM, or something equally ridiculous. And, as we all know I don't function best under the conditions of getting up before 5 AM two days in a row... we promptly checked in and took a nap. We woke up in time to get lunch and do an afternoon walking safari. Now, as I put in the earlier disclaimer, we didn't see much... But I did get a large number of bug bites! yayyyyy
What was cool, though, was that we had baboons and warthogs hanging out all around our hotel. Of course, I got really excited about this and our first night there I walked up to a mama warthog and her babies and said in my talking-to-animals voice (eg. if you've ever seen me talk to Sophie) "Hiiii! Aren't you cute?"
Well, who knew that she would take it as a challenge to her authority and she would make loud scary noises and come towards me like she was going to charge???
I certainly didn't.
But now I do. Note to self: Do not look wild animals in the eyes.
The morning safari the next day was (if it's even possible) less exciting that the previous afternoon's. And the hotel is supposed to give us a complimentary breakfast, but refused to feed us before the THREE HOUR safari. Meaning my stomach rumblings probably scared all of the animals away. After seeing a few kob (basically African deer) and a waterbuck, we got to go back and eat.
We spent the afternoon exploring Larabunga - a nearby town that has this really, really old mosque. The mosque itself was cool but Larabunga was nothing to get excited about. Check out a picture: (http://www.fecalface.com/POTD/upload/2007/03/post_203/700old_mosque.jpg)
So at this point, we were just preparing to leave to go back to Accra... This involved getting up at 3:30 AM. Again. (HONESTLY, I've never had to get up so early, so many times in a row in my LIFE.) Then a four hour bus ride to Tamale, a 3 hour stopover, and another 13 hours back to Accra. My butt hurts so much from sitting in those uncomfortable seats for such long periods of time...
On the bright side - I did try grasscutter while hanging out in Tamale! Grasscutter, for all of you who haven't seen the Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations episode on Ghana, is essentially a giant rodent. It looks like a cross between a big rat and a gopher. They eat it semi-regularly here (not as much as goat, of course!) and I have really wanted to try it. And now I did. It tastes a little off but is overall quite palatable. I believe that now makes my weird food list:
zebra, crocodile, goat liver, grasscutter, frog's legs... Am I missing something? Surely I have to be. I thought I ate way more gross stuff than that!
So now I'm back in Accra and studying for my final in Gender Issues in Religion and Culture, which is on Thursday. Booooo for actually having finals and not just lazing around all day. Oh well, serves me right for not really having any work all semester.
It's mating season.
That means that all of the elephants in Mole National Park... are hiding in the middle of the forest. AND the park doesn't offer driven safaris (unless you bring your own 4x4 vehicle) so your only option is to do a walking safari.
So, needless to say, our animal viewing was kind of... lacking. I should also tell you that getting to Mole requires 17 hours of being on a bus. And the way that the schedules work for the two buses you have to take - it's more like 24-36 hours to get there.
We got up at 4:30 AM on Friday in order to get to the bus station in Accra to catch the 7 AM bus. It took 13 hours to get to Tamale, which is the big city up north. We got into Tamale at 8:30 PM or so and had to stay overnight at the Catholic Guesthouse. I tried Guineafowl for dinner, which was pretty good. Oh! I also tried goat liver at one of the reststops for the bus. Also pretty delicious.
The next morning we had to wake up at 3:30 AM to check out of our rooms and get to the bus station for 4:30 AM to catch a 5:30 AM bus. We didn't have tickets for this bus, because we got in after the bus station ticket window had closed... But the bus was full/there were a million people mobbing the bus conductor. We met up with a couple other groups of Oboronis who were also going to Mole and after an hour of complete confusion and disarray and relocating - we ended up chartering a minibus/really nice tro-tro to Mole with our newfound Oboroni friends.
We got to Mole by 9:30 AM, or something equally ridiculous. And, as we all know I don't function best under the conditions of getting up before 5 AM two days in a row... we promptly checked in and took a nap. We woke up in time to get lunch and do an afternoon walking safari. Now, as I put in the earlier disclaimer, we didn't see much... But I did get a large number of bug bites! yayyyyy
What was cool, though, was that we had baboons and warthogs hanging out all around our hotel. Of course, I got really excited about this and our first night there I walked up to a mama warthog and her babies and said in my talking-to-animals voice (eg. if you've ever seen me talk to Sophie) "Hiiii! Aren't you cute?"
Well, who knew that she would take it as a challenge to her authority and she would make loud scary noises and come towards me like she was going to charge???
I certainly didn't.
But now I do. Note to self: Do not look wild animals in the eyes.
The morning safari the next day was (if it's even possible) less exciting that the previous afternoon's. And the hotel is supposed to give us a complimentary breakfast, but refused to feed us before the THREE HOUR safari. Meaning my stomach rumblings probably scared all of the animals away. After seeing a few kob (basically African deer) and a waterbuck, we got to go back and eat.
We spent the afternoon exploring Larabunga - a nearby town that has this really, really old mosque. The mosque itself was cool but Larabunga was nothing to get excited about. Check out a picture: (http://www.fecalface.com/POTD/upload/2007/03/post_203/700old_mosque.jpg)
So at this point, we were just preparing to leave to go back to Accra... This involved getting up at 3:30 AM. Again. (HONESTLY, I've never had to get up so early, so many times in a row in my LIFE.) Then a four hour bus ride to Tamale, a 3 hour stopover, and another 13 hours back to Accra. My butt hurts so much from sitting in those uncomfortable seats for such long periods of time...
On the bright side - I did try grasscutter while hanging out in Tamale! Grasscutter, for all of you who haven't seen the Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations episode on Ghana, is essentially a giant rodent. It looks like a cross between a big rat and a gopher. They eat it semi-regularly here (not as much as goat, of course!) and I have really wanted to try it. And now I did. It tastes a little off but is overall quite palatable. I believe that now makes my weird food list:
zebra, crocodile, goat liver, grasscutter, frog's legs... Am I missing something? Surely I have to be. I thought I ate way more gross stuff than that!
So now I'm back in Accra and studying for my final in Gender Issues in Religion and Culture, which is on Thursday. Booooo for actually having finals and not just lazing around all day. Oh well, serves me right for not really having any work all semester.
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