One more time.....

hello!
its my last day in ghana, and dont worry, this is the only time (10 min) i'll be spending on the internet today. i've gone on my last tro-tro ride, been to the market for the last time, (hopefully) been grabbed by the arm for the last time, was called by the name "obama" again, argued over prices, a miscommunication settled by hand gestures, and been told "feel free" by one person while getting yelled at by another for doing the same action.... good start to my day! actually it was really fun, and i was able to laugh at a lot of things that are normal occurances and apprecaite them one last time - people walking down the alleyways of the market with loudspeakers preaching the gospel and/or singing, bells, horns, the call "one cedi, one cedi, oneone cedi", "akosua!" (a ghanaian girls' name, but somehow its used for any white person when they dont want to use "oburuni", tro-tro ride that involved drivers yelling at each other for space, "purewater", "plantain chips" "ap ap apple", "mate, busstop" "yeees yog-hort", "milomilomilomilo", "agoo" (a call for attention, generally when some manual cart is going to run you over), "mtn, tigo, onetouch!" (the different pay-as-you-go phone companies - they stand anywhere, in the street or market or whatever, selling cards).... wow this probably doesnt make any sense
sorry, but anyway, i would say that i have to go to say goodbye to people, but almost everyone has left. most ghanaians moved out over the weekend, the EAP-ers on the group flight left last night, and most people who are spending the break traveling have also left. i'm really sick of saying goodbye. i feel like thats all i've done since last week. anyway, its totally been worth it, i've gotten to see almost everyone! woot!
aight but its time to go spend my last 8 hrs on campus! yay! perhaps one last bowl of fufu?

so, here's the deal...

hey guys,
so i have a blog started, entitled "halloween, volta ladies in the volta region, and politics" but life has moved on now, and i actually just came back from a few days in Togo (the country to the east of Ghana- ghana is about the size of oregon, and togo is about 1/3 of that size! oh and ps they speak french there!)! i had a super great time, and was also able to stop by Kpando (in ghana - pronounced Pando)in the Volta region, which was really nice too! hmmm, see a pattern? the volta region is absolutely beautiful, and the people are so nice! i'm not seen as someone to interrogate or as a "$", but instead, people are just super helpful and i love it so much!
anyway, i'm back to reality now, (boo!) - i have finals on the 2, 3, 5, and 12th of december, and my independent research project (30 page paper) due on the 9th...although i AM almost halfway done with the paper, i really do need to study for my exams! i also have 2 more places to visit on my "to do" list, and my flight leaves on the 16th~ yikes, time is getting organized!
so i guess the point is that i'm kinda putting blogging on hold - thats not a promise, bc of course i dont hate, i procrastinate, heh...but no worries, i have the entire flight from accra to london and then from there to SFO to write really long stories about my time here (that i can type up to post!), and also ones about broader issues that i keep referring to- gender inequalities, ghanaian education system in general, politics (elections are dec 7), my research paper, and everything else! woot!
anyway, so i'll be back in california dec 17th (around noonish, i think) and will get back to SD after the weekend before classes start! i really look forward to seeing you all!
but for now, hellooooo research paper! ;)(and happy thanksgiving! haha)

still behind! -the north: witches, motorbikes and what not!

helloooo!!!!
wow, time is going by really quickly! i have my last lectures today, my twi final next monday, the rest of the month off, and then 4 finals in december! yikes! not sure if i'm ready for the countdown to begin....
3 weekends ago (ya i'm really behind, sorry) kurtis and i decided to trek all the way up north, almost to burkina faso, mostly to see how it is up there and also be history nerds haha... so it was a 15 hr bus ride up to bolgatanga (bolga) so we left on wed. Dunno if it was just bc we were spending 15 hrs on the bus, but we really enjoyed the movies- i really want to visit nigeria now just to see the acting scene, bc its absolutely fascinating. the best part about them, aside from their incredibly low budget, predictable plot (the prince falls in love with the village girl, but his mother doesnt allow it, but they end up together anyway; and/or all problems are solved with the loud prayer and the incantation of "IN THE NAME OF JESUS!"), and the fact that there is part 1....AND 2..... AND, if you're lucky, part 3! is how incredibly excited the entire bus is about it - not just laughing at jokes, but telling characters OUT LOUD what to do, cheering for them, etc....empassioned is the best word i've found for it - its pretty amazing!
As we went farther north, the scenery changed a lot - accra itself is really really urban, not very nice looking in most places, but when you get out, (and to the E and W) its really green/tropical/beautiful.... and turns out when you go even FARTHER north it turns into savannah.... kurtis likened it to california's central valley, which i gotta agree with in a lot of ways, cept its one of the least developed places i've been! no large fields of crops, but just grasses and trees growing...! very very different from accra in very good ways! Other differences before i tell you what happened:
1) everyone rides motorbikes/bicycles everywhere- we had really unpleasant tro-tro rides bc so much is unpaved/dusty/slow so everyone had it figured out! the best part is that even WOMEN rode the motorbikes! i'll have to explain more later, but ghana is SUPER male-oriented/dominated, and i have never seen a female tro-tro, taxi, or motocycle driver, so seeing so many in bolga was really funny, esp since they're driving these big harley-esque things in their slits and cabas (most formal dress) haha....
2) language: a bunch of us are taking twi, because although english is the official language, twi is spoken by much of the country, (english is almost everyone's 2nd language) and its REALLY helpful to know some basic things.... anyway, they dont speak twi in the north, its not (former) Akan territory. boo. so our skills were completely useless, and we never even figured out the word for white person, or any other basic words that make us better travelers.....it was kinda frustrating, and makes me even more cautious about traveling outside of ghana (ghana is surrounded by french-speakers so if i went there i wouldnt have a CLUE whats going on at ALL!)!!!
3) facial scarring: so btw, nowhere near the majority, but a fair, noticeable number of people have ethnic scars on their face, usually in Accra-area as a .5 inch or so mark under one or both eyes, a bit below the cheekbone. one story i heard is that its a tradition from times of hand-to-hand combat when you need to be able to identify each other (pretty effective, i would say!). anyway, so up north, we saw some crazy-cool scarring. the guidebook described it as "spider-webbed" but it was more like concentric half-circles very close together from around the eyes alllll the way across the cheeks, sometimes with more complex designs in there they were generally much lighter (not as deep) than the ones here! but they were fascinating and i hope they showed up in some of the pics i took, but no promises!
4) a bit more on life in general: it was lower standard of living up north. not gonna lie. many students on campus, esp those who have spent their entire lives in only one or two regions of ghana, have a really bad impression of people up north, so i really havent talked to ghanaians about the trip too much, but it really was def. less developed, way fewer people spoke english (why would they need to? politics are spoken in local languages and the few foreigners who do come are generally volunteers who are staying for an extended time and so learn their language...we got asked mroe than once if we were from the peace corps hah), only in bolga did we see any 2-story buildings, or ones made out of anything but clay and/or natural products and/or sheet metal, and much dustier (not gonna say dirty-cus thats a matter of if you clean the dust/dirt or not!)..... but it was also a really really really nice, calm break from life in accra. we didnt get hassled anywhere near as much! woot!
5) much more muslim; maybe this is why so many in accra have a negative opinion, because religion IS such a big issue, but it was really cool - really interesting to see more elaborate mosques, more ppl in traditional muslim clothes, just a different feel in general! yes, we still did get woken up in the morning to christian music, but also heard the nighttime (and other) calls to prayer just as much! very cool! id really like to go back up to the northwest (we were in the northeast) where they have more historically interesting islamic points!
So our first day up there, we went to sirigu, even closer to the burkina faso border, to where there's a womens craft co-op that is doing reasonably well! it was pretty cool to be taken around the place, but honestly there wasnt anything else to do other than the tour/museum (as cool as they were), and it took a really long time for the tro-tro to fill up (there and back). the tro-tro ride there was one of the most unpleasant ever - it was about an hour over pretty bad dirt road, in a modified midsize car, meaning that ther was a second row of seats added to the back. however, instead of 3 in each row, the driver made 4 of us squish in each row except his, meaning that not only could i not move my feet bc of the cargo, and i was getting hugged by the ppl next to me (ok not tooooo abnormal) but also were hitting our heads on the roof, and got a thick layer of dirt on us. also, 3 of the women in the 2 seats we large, middle-aged women with children on their laps. so if you count them, there were 14 of us! everyone was complaining, and the guy's car almost broke down too! hahaha o ghana....
The next day we went to gombaga, where there is a witches camp. the ride there was also pretty exciting, as we were traveling in a HUGE tro-tro that fit 40-60 (dunno how many ppl were riding on the top) people in it, when i realized that, as slow as everything was going, at least we werent gonna get there and have our day ruined by rain! it hadnt rained in weeks! as i also laughed at how nice it was that the windo next to me had no window in it, bc the breeze felt AMAZING, oh yes, it started to POUR! the old woman next to me got really angry as we both tried to hide, and everyone laughed at us (including kurtis), and tried to get us to move, but there really wasnt room :( finally, the lady grabbed a prayer mat from the empty seat in front of us and we held it against the window. oh ps, its made out of STRAW!.... oh but ps, it dried within 15 minutes of when the rain stopped and we got out of the tro-tro... hahahha
anway, so we got to gambaga after a wild goose chase to find a wall built in the 16th century, which would have been cool but our only directions were "to the left of the dam" and nobody seemed to be able to lead us there, but we DID find it!!! haha witchcraft is a big deal here, so this camp is actually for women who have been accused of being witches can go, to avoid being killed by their village. apparently, they arrive, and the chief performs some type of ritual so that they're not witches anymore, (something involving killing chickens and alcohol, suprise, suprise) but since their village wont accept them anymore, they stay there. there's apparently been some issues from humanitarian orgs who believe the place is like a prison- that would be an arguable point, given that people dont really leave, except that their standard of living, while low, is barely, if any, lower than that of the rest of the village! actually, when we met the chief, and he asked us what our mission was. when we responded that we wanted to see the camp, he asked us (through his interpreter) "do you have a problem?.... or do you just want to look?" hahahahahhahahahaha we assured him that we were just history students traveling...
so the camp itself was relatively large, with a couple hundred people in it, but it was really difficult to get an idea of what people thought about being there: everything was done through the interpreter, the chief's son, who often didnt even ask the woman the question, and just answered it himself, and anyway he could have said whatever he wanted us to hear! still, it was cool to check the place out - i had heard about it in my study of religions class, so it was super cool! the ride back was less eventful until we got onto a tro-tro that had to be push-started (by all the guys in the tro-tro -- maybe there IS an advantage to being a girl?) several times on the way...
we got back to bolga relatively early and went to tongo, which was a really cool little village but the tour was really bad, but it was cool to see. a ghanaian who looked at my pictures of the chief's palace (where his extended family lives, taken from his roof) he asked if people actually lived there. i said yes, and he was completely amazed - its this huge labrinth of small huts/houses that has no planning and cant be too sanitary and what is running water? dunno. it was a really pretty, mountainous area, so it was really nice to see!!! good times!
when we returned to bolga, we were already feeling a bit strange/out of whack, and we both woke up the next morning to our 15 hr bus ride back feeling super sick. go us. luckily, the movies were from the same producer as the "chart-smashing" ones we watched on the way up! woot! we got back to accra, and ended up getting a free ride from some guy who'd been on the bus w/ us! woot! but our luck ran out when we got home and the water was out :( we were SO dirty and sick for the next couple days but hey, gotta say it was pretty awesome! woot!
have a awesome day and i'll try to catch up a bit more! sorry!

you like my man obama?

So you think you live in an obama city, state, or now country? dude! catch up! i live on an obama CONTINENT.
Ok, sorry, just had to get that out. i know i'm still behind on telling you about some of my adventures, but i dont think that in a few weeks, you'll want to hear anything more about the elections!
So first off, yes, i voted via absentee ballot and the embassy. So i'm also assuming that you all have heard about how wildly popular obama is here in africa. we've been barraged with obama gear since our first days here - from bracelets to shirts filled with his face (with "ghana" written on the bottom) to signs and random people on the street asking us if we support him. Well, most of our group is from california, and we're all students so we havent run into much trouble...haha... there are SOME mccain supporters here, generally the ones who know more about the issues and realized that he is much much more in line with their social beliefs, but i also believe that some of them are just trying to be cool/different, and some are trying to see if we'll mention anything about the candidates' race in the process.....
in terms of state elections, i really had to do some research (aka read the pamphlet and talking to people at home) to figure out some things, and even then didnt entirely.... but in a lot of ways i'm really happy i wasnt in california- i know things got pretty emotional sometimes, especially on the big issues, but i was able to not get caught up in the arguments! i also didnt mention either of the 2 big props to ghanaians - both abortion and being gay are illegal, and completely accepted as the right decision- the fact that we would have prop 4 and 8 would get all those obama supporters confused again....haha
anyway, so this whole 8 hr time difference was NOT conducive to watching coverage, but somehow we all went somewhere (oh, ya, we ARE still in ghana= i dont ever know where we are!) i think where the NYU students are? to watch the election results, beginning with the bus ride over after 9pm.... the first bus to the place was full, but we ended up getting on the 2nd with a bunch of commonwealth boys (the all-boys/frat-like hall), having to stand bc there were so many of us, and the c-wealth boys SANG the ENTIRE way, mostly in twi, but it was SUPER fun because everyone was SO excited! turns out it was a HUGE event, with a really large screen projecting CNN, and a bar/lounge area with more regular tvs.... it was SO exciting to hear all the projections come in, and everyone (several hundred people, probably about 70% students/under 30) cheered like crazy - and when they asked for mccain supporters, i dont think they found more than 10 or so haha....either that or they wouldnt admit it anymore!
It was fairly frustrating tho because the first polls didnt close until 11pm our time, and they didnt make final projections until 4 am! after cheering when the annalyst projected obama's win in california (duh, but we had to show our state pride!) after he got ohio (around 3-3:30?) and essentially clinched it, but that was cool with me! didnt really sleep much bc i got up early to check the props, but didnt get very definitive answers (boooo!) and now its time for lecture, and its our last one for this class, so i really need to go!!
ps its our last 2 weeks of classes- how crazy is that?
much love from obama-land....!

Updates, updates, and more updates!

Wow! i'm super-duper behind on updating you on my life but its been going pretty well!
So, I guess it was 3 weekends ago, some friends and i were going to go on an outdoors-y trip to the volta region (its SUPER pretty over there!) but then we found out that the national soccer team, the Black Stars, was going to play a World cup qualifier against someone (nobody really knew who, but hey...) in Takoradi, so we went west instead! We had an interesting time getting there, as the mate on the tro-tro made ups get off WAY too early and we ended up walking a lot and getting hassled a lot which is really lame but whatever...
So we got up saturday m orn ing in time to get to the stadium (even tho we dididn konw where it was) by 8am, several hours before the game was to start, bc we had no idea about how to get tickets. we got there, and it was really kinda crazy- the stadium was really nice and seemed pretty new, and there were TONS of people there already. we ended up getting in the expensive (10cedi, not 2) line, but it really didnt matter.... it was also crazy cus at first, i was in one of the s mallest minorities of my life - of course, i'm always racially very much in the minority, and ghanaian society is very very VERY male-dominated (that'll have to be an entire post itself!) but all of that was WAY even more so at the game! We decked ourselves out in ghanaian gear, from jerseys to hats and flags and balloon thingys...which was SUPER fun but we got super mixed reviews from people - we got a lot of "oh! you love ghana! i love that!" but also really annoying racial remarks like one guy who told us in twi that they should let all the black people in first and us not at all.... boo.... anyway...
so the line we were in aimed for the box office building with windows m ost of the way up, so we figure people will go in through the DOOR to get in or hand their mon ey and get their tickets through the window....but of course not! so the box office got super full of people, and we realized it might be super difficult to get tickets.... until people started climbing in through the WINDOWS to get in.....for a while most people were getting pushed back outside by the people in, but after failing to give mo ney to some people inside, we realized we were completely screwed. eventually, a guy in line with us showed us a guy who was willing to jump through the window and get tickets for us for an extra cedi each.... we say ok, but by that time, a bunch of our friends had called asking us to get tix for them (10 in fact) but the guy wouldnt get that many, so we just gave him our money and waited outside the line, along with a bunch of other people who did the same thing...so we were waiting, i'm starting to get kinda worried, cus its getting SUPER crazy in there, when a TON more people suddenly start jumping through the window, cept this time nobody was pushing them out! so it became a MASS of people jumping into the window! whatever, their problem, right? until i hear a bunch of yelling and turn around in time to see the police (wearing motorcycle helmets) charging towards us, literally pushing people out of the way! AHH! so we ran out of the way and watched them start hitting people down off the windows! a friend of mine actual ly almost got hit with the handcuffs they were swinging! yikes!
within a few minutes, there was the neatest line formed in front of the box office, with the police in a more fomidable line next to them....and i'm now even more worried: 1) how is the guy going to get out now? 2) how will he find us? (oh wait, we're white jk....VERY difficult to forget, apparently ), 3) what if he just wanted o ur 11cedis/person and run (but if he were going to do that, he would have taken the money for all of our friends' tickets, huh) 4) if he doesnt come back, there's no WAY we would be able to get back in line! boo....
but somehow, the guy came back with our tickets! wohoo!!! so we got into the game!!! woot! it was pretty crazy.... it would have been cooler if there had been a bit more competeition (we played lethsoto) but we won 3-0 which was SUPER cool! we didnt really get hassled at the game (everyoe was too excited) but after the game, walking the very long walk back to the hotel was not too fun- not necessarily negative comments but just a lot of drunken twi aimed at us, but its REALLY tiring to hear "oburuni, et te sen?" incessently! boooooooo ! but the game really was cool, and i'm SUPER glad we went!
the next day we (isaac and jackie, btw haha) headed out in search of adventures, and def found one! btw, it was sunday, aka everything including most tro-tros werent working, so we had some interesting encounters with taxi drivers but ended up getting in one that took us to this random little village, prince's town, which was WAY down a poor, unpaved road! the driver claimed to be the son of the chief, who we tried to meet, but he wasnt there.... but then we somehow got on a tour of the old slave castle - who knew? anyway, it was BEAUTIFU L there, a lot like cape coast, where you see a beautiful coastline after coming out of a room where thousands of people died! incredible! we also got to ride in dug-out canoes out into a huge lagoon surrounded by a bunch of wildlife, and the other boat actually got to see some monkeys! woot! but wow it was beautiful!
so the next weekend, (ps the weeks have been absolutely FLYING by here- monday-wed i have 1-2 hrs off between getting up at 6:30am and getting back to my room after 7:30...then thurs/fri are spent catching up on errands, schoolwork and/or traveling....) the EAP center took us to a festival in the Eastern Region, less than 2 hours away-- turns out there are MOUNTAINS surrounding us- who knew? haha anway, only about 15 of us went, which was nice, bc it wasnt toooo big of a group! we got there and it was a lot like a somewhat more tame cape coast festival- chiefs being taken around in big chairs carried by 6-8 people with tons of drummers, firing guns, of course singing, dancing, really hot..... but it was pretty cool bc instead of following the parade, we got really really cool seats (UNDER THE TREE ;)) right next to where all the dignitaries' chairs were st up, and where they all processed by to sit down! aka it was a lot less stressful- ! (exciting!) we even got to see the presidential candidate for the (now ruling) NPP (new patriotic part y)- Nana Akofo-Addo!!!!! crazy crazy npp supporters! Too bad the paramount chief looked mad at the world the entire time, but hey...ahhhhh good times!
anyway, but more general updates on life: starting the few days before the festival, the phone network that all the EAP students use was down (for like 3 days, no calls/txts/anything), then the power was out that weekend, and then the water was out for a few days, then back in time for me to leave the following wed for a trip (sorry, saving that for a new blog!) but then went off again like 15 min before i got back...but i got kinda sick off something i ate while i was there so i've been kinda sick and the water's been off almost all week: why am i saying all of this? its life in ghana! there's always SOMETHING slightly different, if not wrong or slightly incovenient, then just plain strange! (ps when the water has been out this week, it comes on at least once a day or so to fill up the gigantic tanks (poly tanks) so we DO have water, you just have to fill/haul buckets for anything you need!
aw and one more anecdote about life before i forget: i'm sure by now you're getting some kind of idea one way or the other about how nice/etc people are here and/or how welcomed i am- but before you do, this is the best example i've got right now: so thursday night i was going to go to bed, when i remembered i had to get my laundry from the line outside- i got downstairs, and realized that it was starting to RAIN!!!! yikes! so i RAN all the way across the large rectangle of rooms in my hall to where the lau ndry l i nes are, and quickly got them all in my basket, and back under some cover...btw NO ghanaian girl would ever get her hair wet (bc its chemically straightened or has extensions that smell when they get wet), so no matter how much/little i care about getting wet or not, its j ust not a good idea for me to walk back in the pouring rain, so i decided to wait it out. within a few minutes, a girl came from behind me (girl #1) and asked what i was doing, and i explained that my laundry had been on the line and i didnt want to get it wet by walking back in the rain!; she gave me a sympathetic smile and said that i could pass around under the very narrow overhang all the way back to my block, but i was surprised that it was large enough (bes ide the fact that it would look like i was staring into a bu nch of peoples' rooms!) and hesitated to follow her. before i could, another girl (girl #2) also came from behind me and said "oburuni, ___?" with an angry scorn on her face. boo! it wasnt the normal "et te sen" or "wo ho te sen" or the other phrases i know or can respond to, and she didnt look happy so i said, "i'm sorry, i dont undersand everything you're saying" she laughed at me and said that she asked me what i wanted. i told her the same story, but she just shook her head, popped up her umbrella, and walked away laughing at me. that got me angry enough that i didnt want to see ANYONE any more, so i made a beeline to the overhangs and walked as quickly as i could through the wet and rocks back to my block. BOO! ANGER!!! but as soon as i got back to where my block meets the longer one, i almost ran into girl #1, who had put down her load and was carrying TWO umbrellas- one for herself and one to give me when she found me! awwww it made me SO happy! i didnt know either girl before that night: i feel like that kind of thing happens a lot here - for every person that is really rude/angry/trying to cheat me, there's someone else out there who has my back ;) woot!
much love to you all, hope you had a good halloween, and HAPPY NOVEMBER!!!!!!

PICTURES! (ok only 3)

Cape Coast Festival! bunch of cool people REALLY close to one of the most important chiefs! woohoo!!!

















Obama is REALLY popular - i mentioned this guy in a blog- he's selling frozen strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla ice creams (fanmilk) but loves obama anyway!





















Cape Coast Castle - isnt it pretty? oh but wait, millions of people died here :( very very sombering.

FOOD!!!!!!!!

hey everyone,
this is a paper that i had to write for my orientation class (with modifications) - more of an extended reflection, but it had to be 8 pages so thats why its so long- i understand if you dont want to read it but i wrote it and didnt feel like having it go to waste..... the first is about the foods i've tried and learning what they are and how to eat them, while the 2nd half + is more interesting in my opinion, is about INVITING people to food and SHARING it! WOOHOO!

Before I came to Ghana, I read a description of traditional Ghanaian foods. I realized that I had never tried any of them, and a million more questions came into my head. I wondered how and where to get them? what kind of people ate them? how expensive they would be? and of course, how much I would like them compared with other foods I’ve had? and compared with those that would be available in Ghana? After a month-long stay in South Africa, and an adventure of an airplane ride to Accra, I had forgotten about all the foods I had read about, and came to Ghana with an unprepared stomach.

At my first meal that Saturday night, I was given rice and asked if I wanted chicken or fish. I decided on fish, but realized a bit too late that my plate contained an actual fish, skin and bones and all. I just stabbed my fork in the fish and attempted to eat it. I failed. This was neither my first jolt to reality at being in Ghana (after driving on the left side of the road in SA for a month, going back to the right here in Ghana was an experience!) nor my first failure in eating food, but both were very far from my last. Even now, I know my failures in eating the right food in the right way are far from over, but im SUPER excited about that.

Jollof rice - this yummy rice that has been cooked in tomato/spicy stew, so it has both of these qualities and sometimes extracts still in it - is so far my favorite staple in my diet. The first time I ate it, I was on the bus outside of ISH, and as I opened my Styrofoam container, I realized that I had no idea what I was about to eat. Although the first few spicy bites surprised me, I really enjoyed it. I really didn’t know that I would be able to eat as much of it as I wanted!

During orientation, as we ate more and more Tasty Treats, mangos or other fruit, plantains, chicken, egg sandwiches and other foods without understanding how to otherwise fend for ourselves, our conversation often turned to food. We commented on how much we would pay for a cup of coffee or cheese or a burrito or a salad, our favorite international restaurants, and how much we missed it all. We talked about these things CONSTANTLY.

As orientation ended, there was a mad rush to find new foods and new places to eat them. I remember being at the corner shop at the bush canteen (where i now eat at least 3 mornings/week), reading the foods painted on the front, and being unable pronounce those foods, let alone know from what they were made or how they would taste. I was afraid to try to order fufu and other foods. this was not because I didn’t want to try them, but because I did not know how to order or eat it. This caused a slight problem. After avoiding trying fufu with the whole large group, I snuck in for the leftovers that my colleagues did not enjoy. That first meal reminded me of the paper I had read before. I wondered what I was eating but was incredibly happy that I was going out of my comfort zone to try something new. Fufu is of a dough- consistency (someone want to wikipedia it for me for better description?) and you eat it with your hands, dip it in the stew, and swallow without chewing. (perfect for me, right? not exactly, while its good, i prefer other things)

My first success at the bush canteen was successful only because of the kindness of the lady who sold me a mango. I was with the other Anita, who was and still is much more able to confront people with her best Twi, and interact with them in a positive way as they explain the language properly. I, on the other hand, only knew that I should not walk and eat at the same time, so when we were finished buying our food, we looked for a place to sit. We were not sure if we could eat at the benches where I now know to order fufu, so we looked for somewhere else to sit, but were unsuccessful. We sat on some steps with our food until the mango lady asked us, with a look of disbelief, what we were doing! She ushered us over to her own bench behind her small stand and told us to eat while she stood. As I pledged to do better next time and try to sit somewhere else, I was incredibly grateful for her hospitality and also pledged to remember her name and continue buying her fruit.

A more startling first came when I ordered banku for the first time. I put on my best adventurous mindset, but was almost rejected! After having to be told how and where to sit at the Central Cafeteria, I learned the menu for the day. When I heard banku, I jumped at the opportunity to try it, but the waiter was not so keen on the idea. He first asked if I wanted rice and chicken, but when I repeated that I wanted banku, he protested further, and asked if I had taken it before. I responded with a firm no, but added with a smile that I would very much like to try it. However, he still protested, asking, “But what if you don’t like it?” I was REALLY frustrated by this response and wanted to scream at him. or cry. I really love to eat and I was determined to have a good day, enjoying food that I had never tried before. I was tired of not knowing what to eat and feeling awkward every time I ordered. Did he not want me to learn something? Did the waiter really want me to stick to chicken and rice? I eventually did get my banku (the best I have had here) and the waiter taught me how to eat it with my hands and wash them before and after eating. banku is similar to fufu but made with different crushed grains.... again, wikipedia it bc i'm really bad)

The payoff of every one of my awkward experiences with food is that I will not ever make the same mistake twice. I will remember that wakye is pronounced “wa-che,” that I do not have to yell when ordering food from Akuafo, and to always have exact change for the food in JQB (or better yet, never order ANY food from there bc they're really mean!). I will never forget how much fanmilk costs (and how wonderful yougurt that has been frozen tastes or vanilla ice cream with fresh pineapple), that I should stand while waiting for my food to come at Volta, and that “sauce” is usually called “stew” so as to not be confused with sausage. Luckily, you don’t even have to ask for it most of the time because it is just added. The Central Cafeteria to date has my favorite jollof rice, the name “red–red” is extremely broad (red beans in red oil with fried plantains and gari= AMAZING in volta, ok in other places), and fried plantains are more expensive but taste better than they look. Fortunately, I’ve only had two meals that I was not able to finish.

The other payoff of trying new foods in Ghana, is the reaction and resulting respect from Ghanaians who ask me about it. A conversation with a prospective friend often begins with the question if I’ve been enjoying Ghana. When I responded with an enthusiastic “Yes!” the next question is often if I have been trying all the food. After another enthusiastic “Yes!” I get the classic list of fufu, banku, kenke (also eaten with your hands, a corn/maize base, not fermented, my favorite of the three), jollof, wakye, red –red, (and recently cerelac - a baby food that everyone eats but denies how much they love it) contumere (wow dunno about that spelling), the question of how I found each one, and if i've learned to cook any. While the conversation is getting a bit old, I love the welcome that I receive just for enjoying my food! I was extremely disappointed when a volleyball teammate of mine listed several foods that I still have not taken, not to mention the fact that I feel stupid and culturally behind every single time I talk to that girl, but that is a different story!

Although I have had different foods in the different regions of Ghana that I have visited, I could have gotten the basic staples of Ghanaian diet in any of the places. However, each chop bar (food stand) can be very different and offer some food that is distinctive. While in Kumasi, we were still on our Tasty Treats diet, but on a trip to Wli Falls, I had some of the best pasta of my life (which took the maker over three hours to cook). A first glance at the street by our hotel in Cape Coast made us search for somewhere else, but over the few days I tried several interesting foods! I was introduced to an amazing rice porridge that looked scarily like a substance that I cant stand, and also to a lady who sold what I thought was red-red, but the only difference was a lack of red oil. I was disappointed that I did not get to try the frozen kenke that I heard rave reviews about, but instead accidentally got a really good chocolatey substance that was probably the cold version of my favorite hot drink, Milo.

In Cape Coast, while some in our group were enjoying some European-style dishes that they had not otherwise been able to obtain since coming to Ghana, I enjoyed finding hidden places to eat, often having to open a pot myself to see and understand what was inside. Similarly, I once told Kenneth that I did not care where we went to eat, assuming that he would find the most hygienic place possible. We ended up stopping for some really good food that even I raised my eyebrows as we watched her wash our plates. After we had eaten some of it, he commented, “this is the most sketch place I’ve ever eaten at!...And you get to share it with me, Anita!” I know that I might have been a bit more careful about my food then as well as at other times, but when in doubt, I always follow the best advice I have received: if the food is supposed to be hot, then make sure it is hot; if it is cold, it might not have been cooked well enough or more likely its been sitting around collecting bacteria and flies. and no, i havent been sick yet (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!!) but everyone i know has been to the hospital either themselves or taking their friend (myself included), but that again is another story, and everyone has recovered, thanks.

I was also told before I arrived that if you are invited to eat someone’s food, it is impolite to say no. This was only the tip of the iceberg of my confusion on how to invite and handle the invitation to food. As much as I try to always be polite, I’m still unsure as to when exactly to invite someone. The boundary line of who to invite is incredibly blurry to me.

Once, a friend of mine bought some chocolate from a corner store, and while the clerk was getting what I wanted, she offered me some of her chocolate, so I ate some. When I turned around to leave, the man behind me asked irritably why he had not been invited to eat it. I felt so sorry that I had forgotten to invite him that I tried to buy my own and share it with him, but the bigger problem was that I was even more confused about the situation than usual. Why he was mad at me instead of my friend, who had since left? It was not my chocolate to offer, but was I supposed to offer everything I ever put in my mouth? But I also realized from this experience that I need to be very aware of my surroundings at all times. I have inadvertently offended SO many people!

In an even more confusing adventure, I was walking between blocks in Volta Hall, carrying my freshly made cup of Milo, when I passed a girl - as she passed, she asked if she was invited. With a start, I realized that I was making a HUGE social mistake, so I quickly replied with my best, “Of course, I’m so sorry!” She wheeled around obviously as startled, and asked if I was being serious. Although my confusion was mounting, I again said “of course” and offered to hand it to her. She mumbled something about getting a spoon, walked quickly away as I stood with a smile on my face. But again, she stopped at the doorway and said “I am really invited?” Again I assured her that I really did mean what I said and that she was invited. She gave me another really confused look and said “Oh, I didn’t think you actually meant it, I didn’t think you actually were going to share, but I have to go! Goodbye!” Although I still have not figured out the entirety of that experience, I now know to invite food to people I am walking past, no matter what. Maybe this is why you are not supposed to walk and eat at the same time – you would have to stop and tell every person that they are invited!

I have now learned more about invitations to food. After trying a few times to ask the personally more comfortable question of “would you like some?” I realized that there was a big difference between this question and the formal “you are invited.” On the few occasions that I have gotten the timing correct, I was confused at the response of “thank you” (which to me implies that you will take some). However, I realized that they are thanking me for the offer, and that because the whole ordeal is generally just a formality, the no in my response of "no thank you" is completely unnecessary.

It does still feel really good to be invited to food. Everyone does it, but it still makes me feel so welcome. Even people like the ladies who clean Volta Hall, a lady who was selling me food outside the Legon annex and a young child who had just received the free food that I was handing out, offer me their food. As much as I still get scared about being polite with my food every time I eat, I love the welcome, to not only the food but also the country and its culture, that I feel each time I am around someone else’s food.

Probably my best friend here, Elizabeth, has Ghanaian roommates. At first, every time I visited her, someone in her room was cooking. However, since the very first visit, I have been intrigued by both the style in which they cook and also the social aspect of sharing food. As I previously mentioned, I have been adventurous about trying food, but I had never watched it being prepared, except for pounding the fufu and cutting of a mango. The girls never seemed to put in more than one ingredient in at a time, and seemed to spend the majority of their time waiting to put something else into it or stir it. They never seem concerned about the food sticking, going over, or being otherwise ruined, and can go about their night seemingly without thinking about it. However, by dinner time, a delicious meal is ready!

Sharing food has always been a favorite pastime of mine (DUH). The only way that I have found to make eating food an even more enjoyable experience has been to share it with someone. Ghanaians seem to be professionals at this. I love seeing a boy walk through a dinning hall toward a large, rowdy group of boys carrying a large bowl piled high with food to share together. I was even more excited to share my own first large plate of food with Ghanaians. About seven of us had been conversing about their love for American boys at my friend’s dorm, when I realized that the food that someone had prepared was finally ready, and they were all gathering to eat it. I assumed my most unassuming position on the bed, not expecting to be included in the food. A sharp, “Anita, why aren’t you eating with us? Get over here and eat!” brought me to my senses. They were just as excited about sharing food together as I was!

When I commented about my inability to cook in Ghana, they were all shocked and amazed, but I assured them that I desperately wanted to learn, and asked for their help in teaching me. In fact, I have been asking every Ghanaian girl that I become friends with to teach me how to cook! I finally got the opportunity, and now I can make Ghanaian stew! It was so fun to prepare, and I've made it a ton! I've also taught a bunch of my friends, and we have stew nights quite often- YAY fun times! As the Ghanaians told me before, its actually a very simple process, so I think it will be fine. I have also learned how to make groundnut (peanut) soup, but i've only helped to make it, and havent done it on my own at all! that'll take a decent amount more work! My next endeavor is to turn my stew-making skills into jollof rice, and also to make contumere and emotuo (rice balls!)!!!!!

thanks to those of you who survived this saga, i dont feel like i wrote it for nothing anymore....!

sorry!

hey,
so i just realized that i gave you a really terrible description of the cape coast festival, and i didnt even talk about the last day of the festival and that my last blog was pretty terrible overall.
so.
saturday morning of the festival was the parade. that's about all we knew about the day, and just showed up on a really busy street and tried to get seats. people wearing similar colored clothes kinda came together with their drums and horns and guns (that were all SUPER loud!) and started singing and dancing - one guy with a really large flag that reminded me of color guard in high school cept WAY more muscular/talented/not gay. anyway, the parade started and we watched it all go by - some of the chiefs/important people walked with drummers/horns in front and behind, with someone carrying an umbrella over their heads, but most were carried on their own very large chairs (some almost like canoes, with a girl standing dancing in front the ENTIRE time - like for hours on end) carried by 4-8 men. my favorite were the ones who were followed by drummers who played on drums carried on the heads of their colleagues. aka a large drum sitting horizontally on someone elses' head while another guy hits it as hard as he can. ya. intense. even more fun was when the crowd got really excited and cheered a lot, they would spin the chief around and bounce up and down! aaaah! i think i might have freaked if i were him, but all the ones i saw do it were super excited!
so when about the end of the parade passed us, we joined it (as did a lot of other people!) the music never stopped, and we did a buttload of dancing. / a common situation : we're walking along with smiles on our faces, we pass a bunch of people dancing and they shout "oburuni, why arent you dancing?" and take our hands (or otherwise dance) with us but laugh cus we arent doing it right so we stop and they say NO NO NO! keep going! so ya, lots of dancing..... WAY fun! cus any way that you dance was generally accepted so lots of free-styling... heh....
so i eventually go separated from the group, and walked around with a little girl for quite a while, who of course, every time she saw a white person said "THERE THEY ARE!" but i made it to jubilee square, where president koufour spoke (in TWI, dangit!) but i met some really cool guys from Univ cape coast who helped me out and explained a lot of the day to me, which was super cool!
afterwards, i walked back down the beach towards the castle, and ran into my friend kenneth, and when we saw a chief being carried away, we said what the heck, lets FOLLOW him! hahahahahhaha..... the party was even crazier than ever, but it got a bit too crazy when we were each surrounded by 4 girls dancing on us and i had to shove them as hard as i could several to get them off. so we went to get some food and lets just say he told me "this is the most sketch place i've ever eaten... and i get to share it with you!" hahahahhahaha oh festival....!
i also met a guy selling fanmilk (ice cream etc) out of a crate balanced on his head, wearing an obama 08 shirt. i (asked first and) took his picture as i bought one from him- its one of my favorite ghana pictures so far haha. speaking of pictures, i really am getting closer to actually posting some. i promise, and also this blog will be a heck of a lot better after i post some pics/video of what happened!
this last weekend i went to a show put on by a crazy christian group on campus. scratch that, they're not crazy for here, they're actually quite normal, but i went cus my friend was in it and i figured what the heck..... it was comprised of super cheesy dances of people in matching outfits and then a play about a journey of slaves, and one by one they get picked off by the devil (who had very large (hopefully fake) red nails that i could see from very far away) for doing very small, minute things wrong. of course he was defeated in the end, because of the POWER OF JESUS. i can handle that, via laughing at the whole thing. however, afterwards, we all(several hundred peopl) sang a song that went something to the tune of "we are traveling, we are on our way to heaven, only christians can go there....". i flipped. i kinda realized why i cant stand the exclusiveness of christianity > others that i feel here: the phrase "only christians" sounds a lot to my like "only whites" or "only blacks". pretty much the lamest thing i've ever heard of. anyway, it kinda ruined my evening. oh and ps preachers/evangalists come to individual rooms to do what they do. im also fine with that, cept that it kinda interrupts what you are trying to do with your day and they really talk down to you like you dont know what you're talking about. boooooo. the flip side of that is that people really accept me and are happy that im christian, and are surprised when i actually say something intelligent. however, i tend to avoid these situations and havent made much of an effort to get involved in my church past sunday mass, cus even they scare me a lot!
aight, much love to you all, hope you have a SUPER month of october, and i'll TTYL!

All right, all RIGHT!

ok, so lots of catch-up but here goes!
so i actually have been on the verge of busy in the last month or so since i last posted. its really easy to be bored here, but somehow i manage to fill up my time pretty well ;) sports generally meet "5:30-7:30am and 4-6" or so, so that in and of itself ate up a lot of my time for a while, especially during the "fresher" games, when i had 4 games in a week! luckily, however, people dont care quite so much anymore, so i've been taking it a bit easier :-D
I also started volunteering at the university hospital this week. im not really sure what to think of it yet. they put me in the childrens' ward, but they dont really have anything for me to do. its generally just one or two nurses, and then a herd of nursing students, and then me. when i went in, they told me to get a lab coat as my uniform. this is/was problematic because 1) im the only one who wears one - the students all have matching, fitted 50s-60s style outfits, 2) it makes me look like im trying to be a doctor, 3) getting one was problematic - when i asked where i could find one and the response was "i dont know"...and it went on from there...3) i dont really do anything, but its really hot, esp in the afternoon.
i mostly spend my time waiting for someone to come in, and then watching the nurse put an IV into the screaming child, and then wait for something else to happen. i would love to at least interact with the kids SOME, but (almost) all of their mothers are around all the time, and even if they are awake and alone, they just kind of stare at me :( but we'll see what happens - just before i was going to leave i watched them administer nighttime medications, so there was actually something to do, but they were all speaking twi, so it was just a little more interesting to watch..... however, most of the students said they go to a different university and are just on vacation right now so maybe when they leave in the next few weeks i'll be of some help!
anyway, so at the beginning of this month, we (our EAP group) went to Cape Coast for a festival! it was SUPER SUPER fun- as usual, we had no clue what to expect about it in any way, but had a great time. gotta admit, it was SUPER strange to be back with the big group of about 70 of us. it was REALLY good to see a bunch of ppl that i dont really hang out with anymore but after spending SO much time with ghanaians in my classes and sports, and only a handful of American friends, it was crazy to be around so many americans again!
the first night we were there, we all set off in different directions in search of food, drink, and traditional rituals. heh, i think we were all successful! you can get good, cheap food and drink absolutely anywhere here (see my blog to come - i had to write an 8 page paper about something in Ghana and i chose FOOD!) and the festival did not disappoint!! the same mob of people singing and dancing on and around a pickup, circled around us more than once, trying to get us to dance with them! people had pretty much taken over the streets so you could walk anywhere without being afraid of being hurt. However, we were warned (w/ horror stories) about pick-pocketers EVERYWHERE. we were totally minimalists, but even when i kept my hand in my pocket around my phone the entire time we watched a fetish ritual/dance the guy next to me kept telling me to be careful.
speaking of Ghanaians, they were SO nice to us, it was embarassing some times. Any time we were in a big crowd of people trying to get a better look, someone would push us forward and yell in twi for people to move so that we could see. SUPER embarassing, and i think most of us spent a good amount of time explaining that it wasnt necessary, but when you get pushed/shoved SO much, its not entirely possible! But the good side to that is we could always ask what was going on - how people were dressed, what was being poured on the ground, what was being said in twi, etc and we'd get an earful of a response haha....
The next day our program said that we were going to watch a bull sacrifice and go to kakhoum park for a canopy walk (wow guys, i really cant spell, sorry!). After getting up at a decent hour (ok so 8 am is officially nice for me after waking up at 5:30 every day!) we went to the Cape Coast Castle, which we had toured on our previous trip to CC. However, we spent more than 3 hrs waiting for the procession etc to start- BOOO.
anyway, we followed a mob of people leading the bull away. wow, did i ever mention how much i love being in a mob of crazy people?!??!?!? everyone was super excited (cept possibly the bull, who got tired and decided to sit down halfway through) as we walked/ran up and down streets yelling and singing, and a bunch of the chiefs came through too (ID'd by the fact that someone was holding a giant umbrella over them) hehe.... but by the time we got to the place for the slaughter, it was CRAZY packed, and i didnt even know that the bull was dead until i got knocked really hard, almost off my feet, as they wheeled it out of an enclosure! if i had ANY personal bubble space before then, i really dont anymore! for all you animal lovers, yes, the bull was eaten, with the most choice parts going to the paramount chief and priest(esse)s etc!
anyway, so by that time we were almost too late to go to kakoum, but we made it! the canopy walk was not quite as high in parts as i was expecting (something said 40m) but in parts it DEF was, and the fact that there were SO many people on them was not too heartening for me. they were pretty stable, and i got some really cool pictures, but im not sure its the outdoor activity for me! i was much happier on the mini-hike back ;)
anyway, back in legon (campus) it was REALLY good to be back. as much of an amazing time that i had in CC, (and although i havent been traveling much, i would really like to more) it was really good to get back to campus. everyone welcomed us back, from the porters, my teammates, the ladies who clean (or just sit around doing nothing) volta hall, other friends, and get back into a regular schedule! i really did feel welcomed back! awww ;)
ive also been cooking a TON lately, like a LOT,
on the academic front, things are getting better. a lot of the classes have been pretty disappointing to most people, but 2 of mine are actually good, plus twi is going better than expected, and my independent study project is going even better! i was planning to do a history project on the history of epidemics, but its morphed into looking at sanitation and environmental health policy 1900-1920 or so. i honestly was mad at myself for being a history major for a while bc i thought "why the heck would you go to ghana to study in the LIBRARY, which is probably not as good as the US (which it isnt in most ways) and not do field research etc blah this is lame....." BUT once i got here, i realized that it actually is an important topic here. my advisor is a really cool american professor who really keeps me in line and helps me out a LOT. i also realized that although the journals etc arent catalogued well, and and are therefore really hard to find, if you just roam through the library long enough they have CRAZY cool/old books! granted, you have to read every torn-off, dirty, insect-hole-d label, but ive found some really cool stuff, and the head of the history dept is really into my work too. WOOT! so i've been traveling to the medical school library a lot, which makes for a long day, but its been really rewarding so far!
anyway, i gotta head out, but yes, im alive and very well! for future reference, my facebook has been uber tempermental lately, so its better just to email me ajatucsd@gmail.com or comment here orrrrrr i made a skype account (ajatucsd) and although i dont have a computer, i can borrow one and we can try to meet up there, let me know!
oh, and i've been listening to BBC radio news a lot, and what the HECK is going on with the economy??? DUDE!!! washington mutual??? seriously???? jeez, americans!
haha, hope everything is going well, esp those of you who are just starting classes again!
peace!

-meeeeeee

What? School?

Hellooooooo!!!!! :)maakye! (pronounced ma-CHe, "good morning!")
sometime last week, I signed my name up on the list to join a sport team for my hall, volta hall (ladies with vision and style!), and our first meeting was sunday night. so i guess i'm used to sports team in the US, (think the movie bring it on- "this is not a democracy, this is a cheer-ocracy")where seniority/skill is king/queen, and things are generally set in when/how things are done. but its the complete opposite here. the meeting was extremely democratic, with everyone able to voice their opinion on anything from refreshments after the game, meal coupons, certificates for graduating seniors (level 400s), the practices of other halls, and also if/when you should skip lecture to go to a game/training.... everything was carefully written down for consideration and discussed democratically. oh ya, EXCEPT for the fact that we were to meet @ 5:30 am at the entrance to the hall to run as a group. yes, ladies and gentlemen, my butt has been out of bed, dressed, and attempting to smile, by 5:30 AM AAAALLLL week. i'm considering playing both volleyball and basketball, but we'll see how things go....
the best way to describe practice is probably: ghanaian. ok, i know, DUH, but to expand.... 1)LOTS of hall pride, 2) trainings are "compulsory" but there is no system to keeping track of people and who's there/not. this is significant bc there's such a housing crisis on campus, but athletes get guaranteed a bed, so it causes lots of problems when ppl dont see the people who were given beds! 3) i never know whats going on in terms of the schedule. ever. i think we have a game on monday??? 4) some of the girls are really good, but most 100s (freshmen) have never played. translation: the really good players have a lot of natural talent and have learned from older players for a few years, but prob never really "coached" - wow! 5) they accept int'l students a lot, but i've noticed that they all ask first how long i'm staying- one girl asked that before ANYthing else, and when i answered, she just said that a friend of hers from last semester left and she was really sad. awwwwww :( :(
anyway, i've had a REALLY good time playing- i'm def on the better half of the girls so far, but thats perfect- i LOVE getting respect for how i play- when you get a kill or make a shot and they give you a high five, its the best feeling bc you're getting the most genuine respect i've felt here - not based anything, but just for playing! i LOVE it! yay-ness!
Anyway, so we actually HAVE had classes this week: (well, still not all of them) - classrooms vary from being reminiscent of barns w/ outdoor-style chairs and speakers to regular halls, but if its flat, you REALLY need to sit in the front or else when the microphone goes in and out you wont be able to understand ANYTHING that happens.
each class selects a class captain who attempts to convey info between students and the prof - how to get the course outline, the reading materials which are generally photocopied, if the room or time changes etc... but its still really difficult to do these things. I actually met the head of the history dept, and when I mentioned that I was in his class, he asked which one, and even when I said i was NOT in the "black diaspora" class, he told me to tell every int'l student I know that the test next week in that class has been canceled. ummmmm ok?
in large lectures (200 or so?), int'l students (ID'd by being white) are not a large % of the class, but still get referenced specifically as int'l students, which is strange for me to be singled out, but even more awkward was a class of about 50 students of which int'l's were the majority, and the professor essentially taught the class to US, not the Ghanaians, which i really didnt like, bc all the Ghanaians around me kept protesting in twi, and making angry noises! booo! the flip side of that is a class that i am the ONLY american, but IT is the ONLY class that i have an american professor! DUDE! it was def weird to hear her give lecture, but i laughed when she apologized to the Ghanaians, and asked them (based on last semester's experience) to NOT call her before 8 am.... or on the weekends.... or on christmas... heh oh ghana....
oh and sometimes (student) preachers get up in front of the lecture before the lecturer arrives to tell us about how we should live our lives. thanks.
one of my favorite moments so far def came this last monday - i was having a bit of an up and down day, that had just gone down again when yet another lecture did not happen. after waiting for more than half an hr, most of the class was getting up to leave, when a friend and i hear some ghanaian girls calling out "obruni! obruni!" we both turn and they point at me and go off on how much they like my dress! i really like it, and i've gotten a lot of compliments on it but this was def the best! they asked who had made it, took a picture of me (awkward, but oh well), how much it cost, asked me to tell the tailor to come to their hostel! aaaaahhhh! you all know how little i usually care about how i look, how rarely i wear a skirt let alone a dress, etc, so it was REALLY nice to be so welcomed when i've been trying so hard to catch up to how well the ghanains dress here!!! i was SO stoked!!!!
yesterday's rain made for a strange day- i was going to just go to the market to buy running shoes, but in the last minute i reconsidered dropping a class and went to it instead. When we got out, it was raining too hard, so i talked with some ghanaian friends of mine until it seemed to stop, but as soon as we got out, it started again! we took cover in a half-built building until it calmed down again. oh ya, that was 2 hours later! i love how in the US, we all would have been in a rush to go do something different, had to go to get something done etc, and would have gotten significantly wet to go do it (you know that when its raining ppl just put their heads down and jet through it!) but they guys and i literally just stood around and talked for 2 whole hours!
on the more confusing end, after a nice afternoon nap, i noticed a girl outside of my door, looking at the hours posted on the computer lab next door (dont get too excited, i've only seen it open twice even though it says its open 8-5), so i decide to go be social and say hi to her, and see if she knows anything about the lab. she was very quiet but seemed to enjoy talking to me about all the rain etc, but then didnt have ANY interest in leaving. none. at one point i even got a phone call that my friends were cooking downstairs, so i suggested that we go down to watch/help, and the girl goes "no, i'm fine here". this would have been fine/fun, but i really dont think she understood a lot of what i was saying, and her responses were all short and full of giggles and then long pauses. i had NO idea what to do bc i was running out of things to say (she was not starting any of the conversations)!!!! ahhhh! she even asked if i had an pictures to show her, which i did (thanks teresa!), and was actually fun to have something continual to talk about! eventually (2+ hrs later) i was finally saved by the same friend calling and asking me to BRING something downstairs, but i was SO confused about if i did the right things or not or what kind of impression i made on her! bring on the confused-ness!
anyway, hope you all are well and enjoying whatever weather you've got! bring on the rain!
much <3!!!!!!!

O so much........except school......

Hello everyone!
so i'm not gonna lie, i just read my friend teresa's blog (she's in india) and she's TOTALLY inspired me to write more interesting blogs..... hehe, so if this is bad, you can blame her! jk j <3
So the weekend before classes "started", a group of us decided to go to HoHoe, up in the Volta (East) region. I left with a bunch of people without really much planning bc I had been attempting to register for classes. We got on a tro-tro (minibus- the easiest/cheapest public transport around here- you stand at the stop and wait for someone to drive by and call out their window the location they're going, then yell back at them, and they slow down enough for you to get a foot in, and keep going! if the sliding door closes all the way w/o holding onto it, you're in a good one!) to the SDC station, where we would get a real chartered bus there- too bad we went to the WRONG SDC staction, but the nice men who worked there took the 7 of us in one of their own large charter buses to the right one - we werent quite sure what was going on, but Ghanaians really take care of you!
So the bus we were on played CONSTANT/LOUD/CHRISTIAN music - one song's lyrics were "move it to the left for jesus, move it to the right for the lord.... shake your booty for jesus, shake the booty jesus gave you for the lord" - NO JOKE, and when some of us (11 of us from the group at the time) started laughing, we got some serious evil glares from Ghanaians who apparently believe that shaking the booty jesus gave you is sacred. go us. we also stopped for food on the 4 hr ride. let me rephrase- we pulled off to this rest-stop size place and women/girls SWARMED the bus with everything from (sweet) bread to water to crab kabobs to meat pies to plantain chips.... anything that they normally sell on the streets of accra, but it was CRAZY how much they swarmed, so I guess SDC stops there on a regular basis.... so while i'm on the topic of people selling things into buses/tro-tros etc, its EVERYWHERE here- you can buy any kind of food/water, jewlery, gum, childrens' toys, etc- without even leaving the car- they're not too pushy, which is nice, but Accra traffic is INSANE during rush hour and i always wonder if they do better w/ cars on the streets or in markets....
so we got to Hohoe and we all got into a hotel for the night, but had no food, so again, some random nice guy from the hostel brought us down the street to a good food vendor (selling regular food that you can get anywhere here- rice, (regular, fried, or jollof) fish, chicken, spaghetti, and salad and some FANMILK, which is this DELICIOUS vanilla ice cream or frozen strawberry yogurt or frozen chocolate milk- i LOVE ghanaian hospitality!
so the next morning, i trooped along with just 3 friends and all i knew at the time was we were going to the caves that were suggested in our guide book - it was AMAZING. we got off the tro-tro in a village, in front of the "tourism office" which was a single building with only a desk and a few papers on it - it was closed, but we asked around and someone fetched the guy who was working in the fields. so we decided to walk around the village, or i should say down the one street- it was so nice! people were really friendly, but didnt really speak much english (they speak ewe there) but the funniest part was that while you passed, the children would jump up and down for your attention and yell/chant O-BRU-NI, which is weird bc obruni, or white person/foreigner is a TWI word, not EWE, but it was super cute and the adults always smiled when the kids did it....
so we stayed at the guest house and our guides took us up to the caves -very cool hike, i think we saw burkina faso from a distance! each of teh 6 caves was generally small, but served a different purpose when the people lived there; the bats were a bit freaky in some, but the walls of some of the caves were climbable so the larger ones were really fun to explore! we also got to see a really cool small waterfall and go into it a bit, while eating COCO fruit which is now officially one of my favorites, even though you cant eat it- if you do, you get that awful bitter taste (duh, its coco) but it was SO sweet!) we got back REALLY dirty, hungry and exhausted. our host asked us what we wanted for dinner, and when we said spaghetti, i figured we'd get pasta with some tomato and canned beef, but they had more in mind than that - it was AMAZING and while his wife was preparing it over coals (2-3 hrs they spent on that!) he taught us some ghanaian board game. it was kinda like sorry/trouble, but i laughed the entire time because the pictures in each of the 4 corners were of...... you guessed it, JESUS! hehe, oh ghana....
so after dinner, our guide from the hike brought us around the village a bit more, so we saw some kids playing drums/singing outside of the church, so we decided to watch them, and our guide ended up teaching us all how to drum a bit together! woot first drumming lessons! i really hope to take some here at school, but it was good to get a bit of an intro....
so the next day we went to Wli (pronounced Vlee or Vee-lee), for some serious waterfall action- we were super excited that we could go up to the upper falls (we heard they were closed for the season) and although it was a SUPER steep/muddy/bugs/green hike, we finally got to the falls and were blown away -literally! the water and resulting wind were SO powerful that we put our stuff more than 10m away from the edge of the water and it STILL got really wet! we went in some, but it felt like we were in a HUGE storm the entire time- even more wind than when i went in a boat to niagra falls in the US! yikes!!! the lower falls were much more calm and the wading area much larger, but they were both SUPER cool - and i promise, pictures WILL come eventually!/soon!
by the time were were ready to back to hohoe/accra, it was getting dark, and we werent too worried about time bc we had like 7 hrs to get to hohoe, but the taxi we got into was not a good one- a guy at wli had tried to help us get into a good one, but the one we were in started bucking/stopping in the middle of nowhere, and not only did he not answer our questions about what was wrong (in english OR french), he proceeded to turn OFF his headlights and look out the window BEHIND us as we rolled back down the hill! it was funny for a bit bc like, oh well, welcome to ghana, right? but then we started getting totally sketched out bc he was NOT a happy ghanaian. we finally got to a small village where we had spent some time before, and after rolling backwards down ANOTHER hill (the car couldnt/wouldnt move forward), we decided to get out and get into a new one- but as we did so, the guy's engine miraculously started "working" again and we had to throw our stuff out of the trunk ASAP before he sped off, trying to bring our stuff with him! yikes! by the time we got into another 3 arguments with drivers about getting back to hohoe, we finally got into a tro-tro and had a safe/less eventful trip back.
we got on the SDC bus again, and we think that bc its 4 am, we might get a break from the (christian) music but NO! the engine starts up and the video comes on: "nigeria, praise the lord!" no joke. praise session. the entire 4-8am trip. oh ghana......
that sunday and the sunday before, a group of us went to an orphanage to help out there - ok, so thats what we thought it was, but turns out its just an old govt building where a bunch of kids (and families? dunno) sleep, and every saturday, a reverend and his wife come, bring them to a library and on sundays, feed all of them. there's probably about 50 or more of them, and some of them live there, but some of them just know about what happens every weekend, so come from quite far away to play somewhere safe and get some food. we dont do much with the kids but they all love us - literally, the first time we came, they all RAN screaming at us to hold our hands and hug us. i feel really weird that we dont really do anything except play with them, but the kids def remembered us from week to week so it was really nice.... and this last week, the reverend asked me to bust out the first aid kit for anyone who needed it! not that i have any training at all, but i AM capable of cleaning wounds, putting neosporin/bandaids on, and telling kids that they're gonna be ok, which is what they really wanted- some of them just showed me a scar and told me to patch it up, but then i realized that their skin was so dirty that i cleaned it up anyway and told them they were gonna be fine.... :( / :)
o ya, so i'm here for schooool right? well, last week i was supposed to go to all 12 classes that i'm registered for, but the REASON im registered for 2X as many as im going to take is that the finals schedule hasnt come out yet, and i was gonna go to the first week of classes to see which ones i wanted to take. however, for mon and tues, the profs were on STRIKE (they hadnt been paid in 5 months), and between wed and thurs, i was lucky enough to have 2 classes actually happen, and another prof actually DID show up to tell us to come back next week..... i say i was lucky bc i dont know anyone else who had more than one class actually happen!
I also went to a meeting last night for hall sports, and i'm hopefully going to play volleyball and/or basketball here - they're SUPER intense about them, and have a LOT of hall pride but i cant tell how good the players are so we'll see what happens with that.... but i DID get up to run with all the volta ladies (with vision and style!) at 5:30AM this morning- no joke, 5:30!!!!!
so we'll see what happens this week! i'm def still behind on these updates, but i'll be back soon, i promise! (esp if classes keep not happening....!)

Well, since you asked....

Hey!

So ive been in Ghana for almost four weeks now. A lot of people have asked me about what I think about south Africa versus Ghana. While my story has stayed about the same, people have reacted really differently. In South Africa, people wondered why the heck we/I would leave the united states to study somewhere else, and when I mentioned studying history, they wondered what I was going to do with that. They also wondered why the heck Ghana, like isn’t south Africa adventure enough? Aight, so I got a lot of that (at least the history part, and I see why) in the united states as well but they honestly thought I was crazy for leaving-most South Africans don’t leave or travel much. Here in Ghana, ive also gotten questions as to if going abroad is compulsory – unlike in south Africa, students (Americans in the majority) are some of the only white people you’ll find. Since we stand out so much, I guess people wonder… I (and I think the others on the trip) try really hard to let everyone know that we REALLY WANT to be here, it was our choice, and we are happy to be so welcomed here. When I mention that I was in south Africa, and it totally gets brushed off, or I get asked which one liked better. Heh, that’s interesting to answer

So to the Ghana versus South Africa question: to be honest, the differences scared/culture shocked me more than anything else, especially as other eap students asked my about SA within a few hours of arriving here! I knew things would be different, but no idea quite so different. To begin with, my time in south Africa was amazing, but we were def tourist/travelers, depending on the situation. Yes, we went to class for 3 hrs (minus a coffee break) 4X/week, we had a UCT id, and we called campus “home”, but class was with other Americans, with an American professor, and since it was winter break, not many students were around campus. It was VERY fun, and I loved my whole time there, but it was not as much cultural emersion. Don’t get me wrong, I had a GREAT time exploring the country, but I feel like a bit of a fake wearing a UCT t-shirt.

In SA, I was often bothered by race relationships. I don’t know how other people in our group reacted to it, but I noticed it almost constantly. Apartheid has been over for almost 15 years, but in someone’s mind, in the education of non-whites, in the attitudes of both sides, in economic disparity, in housing, that’s not very much time! I saw it on both sides tho- and (as expected) more in the rural than urban areas. One memorable afternoon, a friend of mine was asked for change for some amount of money by a black man. As she did so, the white shopkeeper sharply told her to make sure to count it again, and to not EVER trust a black man. Granted, this was not a regular occurrence, but judging by his (lack of) reaction, it was more common than we had witnessed. I also saw a lot of healing happening, although not directly, but through things like the district six museum (my favorite!) that celebrated diversity and healing, and the accepted diversity of Cape Town itself. However, race was something notable about myself and/or those around me everywhere we went.

From the moment we arrived in Ghana, we have been encouraged to speak Twi, to say Akwaaba (welcome), to learn our names (based on the day of the week you’re born), in a phrase, totally embraced by Ghanaian culture. We have had a completely different experience. we (or at least I) love the food- yes I crave cheese, but I crave jollof rice, wache, and fo-fou, and whatever that sauce is that they put on meat, just as much! My treat for the day is usually fried plantains, or a bottle of soda or frozen yogurt (literally, yogurt that has been frozen) for $.40. I LOVE buying and drinking the sachets of water (you cant drink the tap water – even Ghanaians don’t) by biting off a corner and drinking it! I LOVE the phrases “you are welcome” (to a location) and “you are invited” (to share food, regardless of if you’ve ever met the person before). I’m not as big of a fan of the word obruni (white person or foreigner) or getting my skin petted every once in a while, but I really shouldn’t take offense to those things. A friend mentioned that the reason some of us have trouble with the word is that while its not really derogatory, it IS an identification based on the color of your skin- aka something you would NEVER EVER do in the US, so its still SUPER strange.

Like I said, we do stand out a lot, especially if you walk in packs. I know we’re charged more in the tro-tros, markets, we’re laughed at when we ask what’s in a certain dish, or don’t know how to eat it, but its (almost) always a happy laugh, with a correction and a smile as to how to do better in the future. I’m also a lot more memorable to people than they are to me- it would be a bit better if I could pronounce some of the name in the first place, but someone who

Churches are another great story- they’re a HUGE deal. We think the “Bible belt” in the US is, er, interesting, but I cant believe not only how intense some people are here, but also how MANY of them there are! There are chapels in each of the dorms/hostels – I found the one in my hall (volta) one night when we heard a LOT of singing from our rooms. A friend and I decided to see what was going on and/or meet people or whatever, but when we looked in, it wasn’t a full house of people, but only about 10-15, singing VERY loudly, and when we couldn’t say no to an invitation to come in, we found out that they had been FASTING for 5 days, and were doing an ALL-NIGHT prayer event. We skipped out when the testimonials started, but wow... a church meets in our chapel on Sunday mornings WAY too early, but so do all the other churches – the “student” catholic mass starts at 7, and they have daily mass at 6:30!!!! Yikes!

Anyway, more to come later, but just in case you were wondering....
hope you're all well! much much much <3!

In GHANA- catching up!

Helloooooooooo!
i'm so very sorry for not posting a blog in a while- this whole africa time thing is pretty nice for us, but i guess not so nice for americans ;)
I would really like to spend an entire blog about how AWESOME the end of my trip in South Africa was, but i'm afraid this is closer to the cliff notes version: we got back to johannesburg from the game reserve for enough time to see the apartheid museum and then say goodbye- or at least try to- it was an amazing museum, mostly because of all of the videos of protests and rallies/riots etc, as well as interviews with black and white leaders on apartheid. parts of it def made me sick to my stomach but i had no idea how large the museum was so i did not allot my time well enough and didnt get to see some parts very well at all :( :( :(
after people left for the airport, amanda (from UCD -<3 u!) and i set off on our adventure, beginning with a night in johannesburg and then to the N. Drakensburg area - this is the area around the east part of Lesthoto (pronounced LesUtU). it was BEAUTIFUL - very very steep mountains and our hostel (ampitheatre backpackers) was literally in the middle of nowhere. no fences, you could see the most gorgeous fields and mountains everywhere and it was totally chill, a VERY nice hostel! we took a day trip into the mountains to see the "world's 2nd highest waterfall, the highest in africa" which was an AWESOME hike (i dont have the pics at the moment but i will post them soonish?) up some VERY high cliffs, if i remember correctly around 2500-3000 meters high (esp for those of us who are scared of them!) but you would be TOTALLY proud of me for getting up there and not being toooo scared- the waterfall was (as we thought) just a trickle (literally, we scampered across the stream that creates it without noticing it much) but it was REALLY cool up there!
The next day we took another trip to Lesthoto, the highest country in the world, and only one of 3 that are completely surrounded by another country (can you name the other 2? heh). here i got some of my favorite pictures from the entire trip- there were no paved roads (coming up one, our guide had to tell everyone but the back seat to get out bc we couldnt make it up w/ all the weight!), and we saw random sheep/goats and boys selling us dead mice to be eaten! i passed on the mice, but did get to try some local homebrewed beer! it was absolutely disgusting, and im not sure if it was the beer or the clay pot we were all drinking out of - it def tasted more like clay! heh but we also got to visit a school (not in session) and learn about how/why it was set up (the people of lethsoto couldnt count! they counted their sheep/cattle by putting stones from one pile to the other) and we also got to see some cave paintings, some of the oldest in the world, and it turned out that our guide for the trip (and the day before) had written his thesis on the paintings! so it was really cool to learn it from him!
so since amanda's flight left the next day, we found a greyhound bus that would pick us up in harrismith, the closest town to our hostel- we were kinda sketched out bc our guide/bus left us at the stop, it was starting to get dark, and we didnt have a ticket, but he assured us that people did it all the time! yikes, but luckily, i was staying relatively calm and amanda is much better at talking to the greyhound people than i was, and everything was fine getting back!
not much happened after amanda's flight left- i went to the "top of africa" - the highest building in joburg (and all of s. africa? maybe?) and to a couple small places w/ the hostel owner's stepson, but honestly, there wasnt much for me to do other than that!

SO my flight to Ghana had a 13 hr layover in egypt, (dude, for $200 cheaper, i figured i might as well!) and i hoped to meet my friend kevin, who had been studying there for the past year - i got in at 7am, and i got in the "transit passengers" line, where everyone was showing the man their passports and itineraries/boarding passes for their next flight- i handed him mine, and he takes it from me and tells me to come back in an hour! i had a minor freakout moment, but realized that there were lots of other people doing the same thing and that i should just chill, call my friend, etc. very long story short, i was not able to call my friend because the phone cards required Egyptian pounds and the only atm inside security was broken, and at 12:15, i was FINALLY called over the intercom that i could get my passport. however, by this time, kevin's flight was about to leave and i did NOT get my passport- they told me to get on a bus to a hotel- they had reserved a room for me, and a voucher for free lunch! they also said that i should take the same bus back, and THEN go to customer service to get my passport again! i tried to explain that i really just wanted my passport, was willing to pay the $15 visa fee, and just wanted to get out to check out cairo!!!!! (kevin had given me instructions on how to get to the pyramids by myself, but he said it would take about 5 hrs and my flight to ghana was changed to 6:30pm!) but to no avail- i was ushered onto the bus and away! so instead of being all cool and going to see the pyramids or ANYTHING in cairo, i saw the airport (very well) and some random hotel. i know. sooooo anti-climactic, but i guess it was a lesson in patience?
so i FINALLY got to Ghana, and everything was fine with getting me through the airport and to the university- o and btw, they drive on the RIGHT side, slightly freaky after being on the LEFT in south africa! so we get there, and all the power is out! everyone was apologizing about it but nobody was really complaining, and i started to learn about both Ghanaian hospitaliy and Ghanaian time. heh, both quite interesting. hospitality: EVERYWHERE you go, people say "you are welcome!" we started learning about what (not) to do around here, especially use of the left hand, gender relationships, the fact that "flirting" means "having an affair" and "portable" means cute (aka portable houses are NOT white trash heh), intros to the great food here, how to eat it, *crossing the street!*, registering for classes (more about that later) etc..... the hospitality has been very nice, except when it applies to random guys talking to you to get your number (3 so far today, and its only noon!) but really nice when you're lost looking for classes or somewhere to eat!
we spent the first weekend here in kumasi- the capital of the ashanti kingdom, and where the kwame nkrumah university of science and technology (KNUST) is. it was incredibly beautiful up there, much more green than here in accra/legon, and the campus seemed much more developed (from what we saw) i think it got a lot of our minds turning about returning to KNUST in the future ;)
we also spent a day at cape coast- home of the infamous slave castles. very emotional. we vistied cape coast castle and elmina castle, both of which brought you into dungeons where the human waste, food, etc had not been cleared out, so while they looked like dirt floors, they were so much more :( they also explained how those who misbehaved were dealt with (put them all in a single cell until they all die- and again, the floors were not completely excavated)
registering for classes (o ya, i'm supposed to be studying, right?) has def been a challenge. you: 1) dont bother looking at the course catalogue, only a few classes are offered each semester, so 2) you go to the dept, check the schedule, stand in line, register for classes you want, but the times might not be up, so you might have to come back later (sometime in the week) and then 3) go online to register for them again. however, i spent all morning yesterday, and on my 5th department, polisci, i was finally able to register for one. i stood in line at the history dept for 2 hrs before they told me that they're not registering my level (300) until wed. i should come back then. however, i was more successful today! woot!
you will ALL be jeaous to know that yesterday i heard BOTH PRESIDENT KUFUOR and KOFI ANNAN speak, and they walked by me less than 20 ft away! only 2 guys with large guns (walking casually WITH them, not just standing in my way) separated us! turns out that KOFI ANNAN is going to be our new CHANCELLOR and it was being installed!!!! very very cool! i thought it was just a lecture, so i didnt bring my camera (BOOOOO) but it was a huge celebration!
aight, i'll prob get a more emotional post out soon, sorry that this was more of a list again, but i think you're mostly caught up! but before i forget some random facts that might make you :) 1) my ghanaian name, based on being born on a thursday, is Yaa - how appropriate? 2) i've already lost 2 pairs of shoes- my SALTWATERS (aka my identity!) were left in south africa, and my "hippie n. california shoes" on a bus back from kumasi 3) i've gotten called a guy more times than fit on a hand- i understood some of it, but then i realized at an orphanage that we helped out at, that it was because my ears arent pierced. go figure! 4) ive actually been dressing more nicely, and have bought 3 dresses and worn all of my skirts at least once! we'll see if this trend lasts......

anyway, sorry for such a long post, hope you all are well! <3 the emails!

week 4- Edeni (animals!)

So right now i'm in a hostel in johannesburg (joburg) that's SUPER close to the airport but not much else. Its not the nicest place but its very safe and the owner very nice and there's FREE internet so here goes!
So our group left Cape Town and went to Edeni, a private game reserve east of joburg, almost to Kruger National Park- VERY nice accomodations! the "tents" had running water haha and if you sat on your porch for a while you'd see (or at least hear- sometimes even more fun!) a decent amount of wildlife!
i could go through every detail of each day cus every day/drive was AWESOME but here's the cliff notes version- animals: we saw lions, giraffes, zebras, wart hogs, dassies, at least 5 different species of deer-like animals ending in -bok, a couple cheetahs, hippos, nile crockidiles, cape buffalo, elephants, termites and their mounds, heyenas, stripped mice, rhinos, wild dogs, baboons and another monkey-like species, and apparently over 90 species of birds, only about 1/3 of which i documented haha...... anyway so my favorite was probably a cheetah that we saw just chillin next to the road- actually, the driver and the tracker both missed it and I, yes, I spotted it and started saying "CHEETAH!!!" a million times but i was in the back row so it took us a while to stop and start rolling backwards again (SCARY!) but the cheetah didnt mind and was just chillin about 10 meters away! i was SO stoked!
other animal highlights- at Kruger, we came upon our first lion at the time- a lioness hunting! although the impala came REALLY close to here, we spent an entire hour listening to our guide, Andrew, get SUPER excited and curse about the South Africans who screwed everything up-i'd quote him, but we'll keep this at least PG-13....but the lioness never pounced! aaaaaack! o well, it was SUPER fun anyway! another favorite was our last night drive, when we came accross most of the park's pack of elephants. we had known since the first drive how destructive they are, and how overpopulated Kruger is and how much of a problem their tree-falling tendencies are...but we got to watch them very close to us for a while and even watched one fall a small tree- and i got a video of it! woot!!!! we also got to have sundowners (we had tea/coffee breaks on our morning drives and other-drink breaks at sundown on our evening drives) next to a huge pool with about 25 hippos in it! this was after we all got WAY too close to a croc and our guides took turns seeing how close to it they would get! yikes!!! but the hippos were SUPER fun! anyway, i had a GREAT time there, and can totally ramble for hours about each of the animals i saw but oh well....it was SUPER cold there at night but SUPER warm during the day-6am wakeup calls were not conducive to me being friendly, esp when i was still cold wearing 2 layers of pants and 4 long sleve layers on top! booooo! but it was TOTALLY worth it!
We also spent a day at maholoholo rehabilitation center- i thought the tour was really good, but unfortunately, most of the animals, esp the birds, weren't being rehabilitated :( but they did let us PET A CHEETAH and have some of the vultures fly to our gloves! very very cool! our friend thomas also got to feed a huge leg of something to wild dogs and watch them tear it to pieces in a few minutes- while the owner of the center held a large bat in case they came after himself or thomas!!! yikes!!!!
we were pretty sad to leave- our drivers were SUPER cool, but we also knew that it was almost time to leave and most of the group to go back to the US :( but our last night included a dance performance from our drivers' village, and a lot of our own dancing as well heh.....
i'm going to try to post pictures soon, i promise, but this computer doesnt have a USB connection, so i have no way of getting them on- these are imported facebook, so the quality might not be very good :( BUT if you want to see more (and ones of me) just check out my facebook- there's TONS on there now, and if you dont have facebook, they're coming, i promise!

The cars we traveled in! thomas is sitting where the normally very qualified tracker does - he's just trying to be cool ;)










We got close- i think this is Mr. M, a guy who was outcasted bc he smells bad- no joke!












we got VERY close.....













HIPPOOOOOOOS!!!! there were a lot more but i like this pic...we didnt get very many of them w/ their mouths open haha