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!
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