A Little Bit of Class and a lot of Osu

Oct. 15

My first class of the day was cancelled today because my professor was sick. So that was kind of nice.

The Internet hit an all time low today. The few pictures I put on my Volta Region post took 6 hours to load. I just let it load all day during class. The Internet in my room has been horrible lately too. I will never complain about the speed of Calvin’s Internet again.

After class I spent the majority of my afternoon and evening trying to find sources for my political science paper that’s due in a week. I’m writing on health care in Africa. It was actually really difficult due to my horrible Internet connection. I have to give a presentation tomorrow as well, so I spent time finishing up my power point and wrote my notes. I also tried skyping with my Dad, which ended up not working. I just had a really frustrating Internet experience today.

This week, there is a week-long celebration going on right outside my dorm. The good news is that there is a stand that sells ice cream—real-ish ice cream in waffle cones! The bad news is that they play really long music all night long. But, because I was so frustrated with my Internet, I went and bought myself an ice cream cone.

Oct. 16

Gave my presentation this morning in Political Science. It feels really good to have that over with. The rest of the day really just seemed to go by pretty quickly. Between my last class and eating dinner at Roland’s house, I stayed at the Institute to try and find more sources for my paper. I like to use the Internet at the Institute as much as possible because it’s free. Also, the Internet is usually more reliable there, but it had another bad day.

Dinner at Roland’s was really good. The girls that cooked made rice with fajita style chicken, refried beans, salsa, and guacamole. After the main course, we had dirt dessert—one of my favorites!

Oct. 17

Happy Wednesday, everyone. The day seemed to drag, as most Wednesdays do. By the time Twi class rolls around, I’ve kind of checked out for the day. The good news is that our dance instructor let us out early. We’re learning a new dance that I actually don’t mind…meaning I don’t feel like a complete fool doing it because it’s not that hard.

Wednesday nights are really nice. I feel like a champion for having made it through the day. I also love getting to take a bucket shower after dance. The cold water always feels really nice. It’s also just nice to feel clean, even if it’s just for a little while before you start to sweat again. It’s getting hotter here because we’re entering the dry season. Bring it on.

After we take “showers”, we usually all eat dinner together at Tickles. Tonight was no different. After dinner I looked for more sources for my paper and then went to bed. I don’t have to go to Adenkrebi tomorrow because we can’t paint while they’re in class, so I get the day off.

Oct. 18

Today has been one of the most productive days of my life. I woke up this morning, got dressed right away and went to the Institute for free Internet. I wrote my entire political science paper in one sitting. WIN. I got there at about 9am and left around 3pm. I grabbed lunch on my way back to my dorm and when I got to my dorm I read the literature assignment and did the response for it. I am so relieved to have that paper out of the way.

I took a break after that to just relax for a while. The Internet really didn’t work in my room, but it was nice to just chill. At around 6:30, the power went out. Krista, Halyley and I ate dinner in the dark.

Tomorrow, Cassie, Hayley and I head to Adenkrebi to hopefully finish painting the kindergarten classroom.

Oct. 19

The room is starting to look really cute! Daniel had done most of the sketching on the walls, so we just had to fill in with color. It was a lot of fun. The alphabet, numbers, days of the week, shapes and most of the mural on the back wall are finished. While we were finishing up for the day, it started raining harder than I’ve ever seen before. It actually felt cold—weird.

We only have one more Thursday and Friday at Adenkrebi. I can’t believe it. It hit me today as I was playing with some of the kids that I probably won’t see them again after I leave. I got a little bit emotional.  There is a girl named Rosina that has taken quite a liking to me. She likes holding my hand and laughing at the way I say things. I’m going to have a hard time saying goodbye to her.

Daniel was extremely kind and drove us all the way back to campus himself so that we didn’t have to stand in the rain waiting for a tro-tro. When we got back to our room, we had water! It was chilly, but welcome. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I get home and have an unlimited water supply. That might be a bit overwhelming.

I took a nap after my shower. I didn’t really realize how tired I was until I laid down. I slept longer than I had intended, but I think I needed the rest. The rest of the evening was spent reading and relaxing. Since I finished my Political Science paper on Friday, I feel like a champion and I’m not motivated to do anything else as far as schoolwork goes.

Oct. 20

The water was on again this morning. The best.

Delicious, right? 

After a long and exhausting week, I needed a day of fun. So Josh and I went to Osu and spent the entire day shopping. Our first stop was to the coffee shop/bakery. It’s really similar to a small coffee shop you would find in the States. I got a chocolate pastry and cappuccino. After that, we went to Global Mamas where I went a little nuts buying things, but I did get quite a few more presents for people back home. I also bought a dress for myself. I couldn’t help it. I’ve been eyeing the dress for weeks.

This was a really great moment for me.

After Global Mamas, we wandered the streets, visited a few stands with various souvenir items. We also went to the westernized grocery store and I got a Diet Coke. I don’t think I can accurately describe in words how happy I was to drink that.

The sun was really intense today, so when we got too hot to be outside, we went to the smoothie place to cool off.

After smoothies, we walked around some more and found an Italian restaurant where we got some really good pizza.

When we finished eating, we walked some more. Krista, Anna, and Kristi were on their way to Osu, so we decided to wait up for them so we could hang out for a bit. When they arrived, we went back to the coffee shop and I got another cappuccino.

The last tro-tro we were in on the way back to campus had air conditioning. I don’t know if I’ve ever encountered that before. It was amazing.

I walked into my room all sweaty from the walk from the tro-tro stop. All I wanted was to take a shower. Well guess what? The water was STILL on. I got to take a nice long cold shower. I’m not sure that this day could’ve been any better.

But it did. I got to skype with my parents. Skype worked the best it has in a long time in my room, so I was able to talk with them for quite a while. I loved it.

Oct. 21

Krista and I decided to go back to Osu to the smoothie place to do homework. It’s nice to sit in the air conditioning, drinking a cold smoothie. When we decided that we had done enough work, we walked to Global Mamas. Unfortunately, it was closed. We settled on going to the grocery store to enjoy some more air conditioning.

Because there is never a bad time to get dessert and coffee, we went to the coffee shop. I got a chocolate muffin with chocolate chips and cappuccino. Yum. We then walked some more and when we got hungry, we got lunch (cheese burgers!) and then went back to campus.

We came back to a power outage that didn’t end until after 11pm. I think it was out for a total of about 12 hours. I was already sleeping by the time it came back on. When there is no power, there is no Internet. So, we had to find things to that didn’t require power outlets. Luckily, my computer had some battery life, so a group of us watched a movie. We also had Bible study as a group.

Also, when we got back to campus, the water was STILL on. I took another shower. I am overwhelmed by the abundance of water we have had this weekend. It has been so nice.

I spent a lot of money on food and gifts this weekend. But, it was totally worth it. I had a great weekend.

Oct. 23

Our power situation has been shoty recently. After class today, we had power until about 6pm and then it shut off. It stayed off for about an hour and it came back on.  We were at Tickles eating dinner when it shut off. I was glad that my order of fries wasn’t affected by the outage. They were delicious. When the power came back on, the Internet was so slow that it was basically worthless. I settled on reading on my Kindle for a little bit and then went to bed early out of boredom. I love that I finished my politics paper so early. I have had time to do quite a bit of leisure reading.

Oct. 24

Today started off beautifully. The water was on when I woke up, so I was able to take a shower. Then, I walked to the breakfast place. The wonderful about this particular walk was that it was cloudy and breezy. I hardly sweat at all the entire way there. That never happens. The oatmeal was wonderful, as usual.

I was thankful for such a good morning before class because political science always puts me in a bad mood. I did turn in my paper, so I am relieved to have that behind me. The rest of my classes were long, but not horrible.

We had grilled chicken sandwiches as Roland’s tonight—with barbeque and everything. Then, we had ice cream with chocolate fudge and pound cake. The ice cream really made me feel like I was back home. We Cavanaughs love our ice cream.

The power was out when I got back to my room. I’m currently writing in the dark. We’ll see how long it takes to turn back on this time.

I’m supposed to register for my next semester classes at 2am. Hopefully the power is back on by then.

Oct. 25

I ended up calling my parents and asking them to register for me so I didn’t have to worry about the Internet. I still woke up at 2am to see if it worked and then I was able to Skype my parents. The connection was really awesome since hardly anyone else in the dorm was on. I should Skype at that time more often.

The walk to class this morning was crazy. It rained really hard over night, so everything was muddy. There aren’t many sidewalks on my route to class, so my legs were covered in red mud by the time I got to class.

We had drumming and dance this evening, and I actually had a lot of fun in both. Weird. The dance we’re learning right now is a lot easier. It’s more fun when you can actually do it versus pretending that you can.

After dance, I filled my buckets up in the kitchen and took a “shower”. And then met everyone at Tickles for dinner. I tried to watch a movie afterwards, but I was so tired that I ended up stopping it early and going to sleep.

Oct. 26

No Adenkrebi for me again today. We leave bright and early tomorrow for the Northern Region!

Osu was rather busy today.

This morning I went to Osu again with Hayley, Nathan, and Josh. I really wanted another cup of cappuccino. I also went to Global Mamas again just to browse. It’s just too cute of a store not to visit when you’re in the vicinity. I didn’t stay long because I wanted to be back on campus in time to Skype with some friends. J I also wanted to update this blog before our excursion.

I’ll be gone for a whole ten days in the Northern Region. We’ll be visiting a few craft villages, a witch village (yep, you read that correctly), spending a day with World Vision, visiting an ancient mosque, and going to a national park that has elephants and monkeys. I’m really excited.  When I get back, I only have 3 days of class and then exams!

The Volta Region

Two posts in a row! You're welcome. Here are some entries from this weekend. 

Oct. 13

We got up early this morning to head to the Volta Region for the rest of the weekend. We were in the bus for most of the day. The Volta Region is the eastern part of Ghana. It is home of the Volta Lake, The Akosombo Dam, the largest waterfall in West Africa, and really cool mountains. Our first stop was the dam, which is on the Volta Lake. The Volta Lake is the largest man-made water reservoir in the world, I believe. The dam provides 60% of Ghana’s electricity. It’s pretty impressive. Unfortunately, the building of the dam made it so some communities had to be displaced. After we saw the dam, we went to a village call Djemeni. The town is made up of a group of people who were displaced by the dam. It’s a fishing town, so they’re right on the lake, just north of Akosombo.

We got back in the bus after our tour and took a crazy ride up the mountains to our hotel. It was a quaint little place. We arrived in the dark, so we couldn’t see the view, but when I woke up in the morning, I found out we had an incredible view of the mountains.

Happy Birthday, Nana Parker! Hope you had a great day! J

Photo Credit: Hayley

Oct. 14
After breakfast, we got back into the bus to head to Wli Falls. It took forever to get there, but it was worth it. It has rained a lot recently, so there was a lot of water coming down the falls—So much that you could feel the mist while standing about a football field away. The rocks around the falls are also home to thousands of fruit bats. We saw them flying around the top of the waterfall. Roland let me borrow his binoculars to get a better look. Those things are huge!

We hiked back from the falls, ate lunch and got back onto the bus to travel a few more hours to a monkey sanctuary. I forgot the name of the village, but it is the home of about 500 Mona monkeys. The town believes them to be sacred animals because they represent a deity that they worship. We saw a small group of the monkeys and were able to feed them! They sat on our laps and shoulders—one even gave Josh a back scratch! I couldn’t help but think of my mom. She would have loved it.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay with the monkeys forever, so we boarded the bus made the long trip back to campus. We were welcomed back by a power outage and no water. Typical. Oh well, the power came back about 45 minutes after we arrived and I was able to Skype with my Dad briefly.

This week is going to be crazy. I'm giving a presentation on Tuesday and I have a sizable paper due next week that I need to get to work on. Hope all is well back at home!  :) 

Crazy Normal

Sorry for the delay. It was another one of those weeks where not much went on and I'm also busy with school lately. Things are winding down as far as class goes. Anyways...enjoy my posts from the past twoish weeks. I also apologize for the serious lack in pictures. You can check out my Facebook if you're dying to see all of my pictures from Ghana.

Oct. 1

Back to class today. I spent most of my time updating this blog, to be honest. It took a really long time to upload the pictures. 

I received two package notices yesterday, so I made it my goal to get them today. The first package was at the post office on campus, so that was easy enough to get. It just had some medicine and a card from my mom. The second package was at the Accra North Post Office. I had no idea where that was, so I had to ask. It’s in a really busy part of Accra called Cirlce. Luckily, Krista also had packages that ended up there, so we embarked on the adventure together.

We took a 40-minute tro-tro ride to Circle. That place is crawling with people. There’s hardly any room to hear yourself think. Neither Krista nor I had ever been to Circle, so we obviously had no clue where the post office was. The first two people we asked weren’t even aware that a post office existed, which was slightly discouraging. We finally found someone who could help. He walked us most of the way there. When we got there, we had to figure out what line to stand in and when it was finally my turn, I had to give them my I.D. and write down all kinds of my personal information. Then, he went to find my package, which took a long time. For a little while I was beginning to wonder if it got lost somewhere. He found it eventually and then I had to open it in front of them and tell them what was inside. After they decided that my package was safe, I had to fill out more paperwork and then pay to take the package out with me. It was all totally worth it because there were all sorts of goodies in it. My parents rock.

Oct. 2

Today was pretty uneventful. I went to my classes and then had dinner at Roland’s.  We ate chicken curry with rice and fruit.  After dinner, I was able to Skype with my parents for a little bit.

I’m finding that I’m getting pretty homesick recently. I don’t know why…maybe it’s just that we’re nearing the halfway point in the semester.

Oct. 3

Class again. We didn’t have Peoples & Culture today, so I was able to go back to the dorm and bring my clothes to the laundry. I also got to Skype with my parents again before they left for work.

During my break between classes, I went to get lunch. A man was at the same stand as me with his little boy. The kid must’ve been about two—He was really cute. Anyways, the dad noticed me smiling at the little boy and then offered the kid to me. I was a little bit taken aback, but I laughed and said no. He smiled, so I hope he was joking…

I tweaked something in my back on Sunday, so it has been really sore the past few days. I’m not upset about it though because it got me out of dance class today. I got to sit and watch, which was really amusing. After dance, the group ate at Tickles for dinner. The place was really crowded. Freshmen are just now moving into the dorms. I don’t quite understand why that is. I guess they have a different semester schedule than everyone else. I’m not a huge fan of it because now our dorm is even noisier than usual and people are everywhere. Oh well.

Oct. 4

Back to Adenkrebi today. On the way there, our tro-tro driver ran over some pineapple a lady was selling on the street. There was a lot of yelling and all kinds of people came to take sides. It took a while to get things sorted out. I don’t even know how they sorted things out or what was even said because it was all in Twi, but it was entertaining to watch.

My internship/volunteering changed slightly. We no longer go to the school,t . We will be painting the kindergarten classroom, though.  The main thing is that we are no longer under the supervision of the teachers because there wasn’t a whole lot for us to do at the school. Daniel now supervises us.

We get to spend more time with the people in the community of Adenkrebi. Today, we were taken around to about 8 different families and spoke with them about education and the relationship between the school and the community. It was really cool. We talked with the mothers of a lot of kids that go to the school, so we got some really interesting responses.

The 3^rd and final Calvin group is at their home stay in Adenkrebi, so we also got to hang out with them.

Oct. 5

We went to game day at the school today. It was slightly different today because there was an organized community soccer game. The whole town came out to play and watch. The men from the town played against the teachers of the school and the Calvin boys. They brought out a sound system for announcing and even had referees. It was a lot of fun to watch. About halfway through the second game, it started to downpour, so we got to run back to Daniel’s in the rain! After eating lunch with the group, we headed back to Calvin.

Oct. 6

I woke up to running water in my dorm room this morning. My roommate was filling our buckets up at 7am. I literally jumped out of bed and into the shower. What a great way to start my Saturday. After my shower, I did devotions and some homework. I also went to breakfast at the café that sells oatmeal again. Love that stuff.

I tried to Skype with my family after breakfast, but Skype was not cooperating today. Gotta love Ghanaian internet.

Later, the girls went out to Osu for the night. It was fun, but it started raining, which put a damper on things, so we came back to campus.

Oct. 7

Today was a day of homework and relaxation. I have a midterm in my Twi language class this week that is probably going to kick my butt, so I tried to start studying.

The group that was at their home stay came back this afternoon, so everything is back to normal group-wise.

It is Stacia’s birthday today, so we went out to eat at a Chinese place and then went to get smoothies.

Oct. 8

Monday. Good thing Mondays are they best day for class. I don’t mind the subjects, so I don’t hate going. It’s also our shortest class day—which is really nice.

Anna, Krista, and I went to the Mall to go to the grocery store. We’re in charge of dinner at Roland’s tomorrow, so we had to get the food. We decided to buy stuff to make burgers, macaroni and cheese, and green beans. It’s going to be delicious.

When we got back from shopping, I tried to get some studying in for my Twi midterm that’s on Wednesday. I have a feeling it’s going to be challenging. We also had Bible study, which was really good.

The water was on again last night. We’ve been a bit spoiled this week—we’ve had it 3 times in the past week! It’s been lovely, but I don’t want to get too used to it just in case it turns off for an extended period of time again.

Oct. 9

Tuesday. Which means I have to endure the nightmare that is political science class again. I will say it was slightly more interesting today. I think it was because he talked about healthcare, which I’m interested in but it wasn’t that great of a lecture, so I was disappointed. I also found out that I have to give a presentation next week. Awesome. I have a decent sized paper due in that class coming up pretty soon as well. I’m starting to feel stressed because my classes really are winding down and I have to think about my final papers and stuff. I don’t like it. I do like the idea of classes ending, though.  I think after tomorrow I only have three weeks of actual class. Yikes!

My Twi midterm is tomorrow. This language makes no sense to me. I’ll just do my best, but at this point I have no idea what I’m talking about.

Our dinner at Roland’s was a success! The burgers were delicious.

Oct. 10

Today was the longest day of my life. I woke up early to get some more studying in for my Twi exam. After I got ready, I walked to the place that makes oatmeal to sit and study some more. Then I went to class. The Internet wasn’t working—the worst. I couldn’t really focus on the literature lecture because I was thinking about Twi. After Lit, we had a guy come in and tell us about music in Ghana. He’s a British guy that’s been living in Ghana for about 40 years. Based on some of the stories he told, I’m 100% positive he was the most amazing hippie ever. He’s lived the craziest life. His lecture was fascinating. Then we had a 2 and a half hour break before our Twi exam. I tried to study, but by that time I just wanted to get the thing over with. Luckily, the Internet was working again by that time, so I had a way to try and distract myself from how nervous I was. Our professor finally showed up and passed out a less than one page test—a quiz, if you will. That was our midterm. I did okay I think. We’ll see when I get it back next week. I wish I hadn’t stressed out so much.

After Twi we had drumming and dance. Drumming was a lot of fun because our instructor let us play with different kinds of instruments. I got to play a bell-like instrument, a shaker thing, and a different type of drum. It was pretty cool. And then there was dance class. I know I say this every time…but I honestly think that I sweat more than ever this week. Did you know your knees could sweat? Welp. They can.
I got to take a bucket shower afterwards. Bucket showers are actually pretty refreshing—better than nothing.

I ate dinner and then went back to my room to try and read the rest of the book assigned for this week in literature. I laid down on my bed to read and the next thing I knew it was 5am. Woops.

Oct. 11

We had water this morning. Hallelujah.

Anyways…what a day. Today, we went into Accra with Daniel to buy paint for the kindergarten classroom that we’re painting tomorrow. It literally took us all day. The traffic was crazy, we were in the car for so long and it was really hot. I know I’m in Africa and that it’s hot here, but I’m telling you right now—it was really hot today. When we finally got to the paint place, they didn’t have everything we needed, so we searched the entire street for everything. It took quite awhile, but we managed to get everything we needed and Daniel even got us FanIce, which was really nice of him.

There aren’t many positives to sitting in traffic, but here in Ghana there is one. Whenever traffic is stopped, people run onto the street to try and sell stuff. You could buy anything you wanted right from your car. It’s awesome. Most of the time people are selling food and water, but I’ve seen people selling tables, light bulbs, plastic chairs, huge maps of Ghana—really anything you could dream of. I love it. I think it’s one of my favorite things here. I really wish people in the U.S. would do it. We spent a fair amount of time in traffic today, so I was able to buy myself 2 waters. I guess I like it because I just feel really awesome when I buy something from the car.

We got to Adenkrebi at about 5pm. At this moment, I am completely exhausted. I did manage to get my literature homework done for the week, but now I just really want to sleep.

Tomorrow, we paint!

Oct. 12

We got quite a bit of painting done today! We managed to get the 1^st and 2^nd coats onto the walls and even start stenciling and painting numbers and the alphabet on some of the walls. It was a lot of fun. I was painting the side of the room where the breeze was coming in, so I ended up with paint speckles all over myself. My face, arms, hands, legs, etc. were completely covered in peach colored paint flecks. Hayley told me they looked a lot like inverse freckles.

The way back to campus today was an adventure. It took us forever to find a tro-tro from Adenkrebi. We eventually found one, but we had to ride it in the opposite direction we were going for awhile before it turned around to head back toward the University. And then we got to Madina. It was 100 times harder to find a tro-tro from Madina to the University. I don’t know why. We looked all over the place. When we finally found and boarded one, a policeman came and made everyone get out. Everyone was talking in a local language, so I don’t understand why we had to do this, but what matters is that we no longer had a tro-tro. We walked for a little bit longer and ended up flagging one down. It was just a confusing and exhausting afternoon of travel. But we’re back on campus now, so all is well.

My Friday night is dedicated to researching for my presentation that I have to give on Tuesday for my political science class. What fun.

Adenkrebi Home Stay

I just spent the past week living in the village of Adenkrebi. It's a long post, so get comfortable. Enjoy! 

:)

Sept 23

Before leaving for my home stay, I was able to Skype with my family for a bit. It was really nice to talk to them. After that, I cleaned my room and got ready to leave.

Apparently Kentwood, MI is a sister city with Adenkrebi. A student from Adenkrebi went to study abroad in Michigan and found this out and decided that the relationship should be more intentional. Some people at Calvin found out about the relationship and decided to use Adenkrebi as their “home away from home” for Calvin students studying in Ghana. The community agreed and Daniel houses us on behalf of the community because his house can accommodate the most people.

Daniel came and picked us up at our dorm around 4pm. We made it back to his house in Adenkrebi around 5. We went over what we’ll be doing while we’re here and got settled into our rooms. We’re really living quite comfortably here. Daniel and his family live in a really nice house with running water, electricity and several bedrooms. I’m rooming with Krista for the week and we have our own bathroom attached to our room. It’s awesome.

The evening was spent entertaining Daniel’s three daughters, Christabel (8), Dorthea (5), and Dromi (18 months). The two oldest wanted us to tell them stories, so a couple of the others told them some Disney princess stories and then the girls made up some stories for us to hear. They have an unbelievable amount of energy. I have a feeling they are going to wear me out by the end of the week. Good thing they’re cute.

Sept. 24

This morning I woke up at 6:30am to the sound of the rooster crowing outside. Not cool. I slept really well other than that.

Me and my class!

For breakfast we ate eggs with peppers and onions as well as bread and hot chocolate. It was delicious. After breakfast we had a quick lesson in the language of Ga and were told to get ready to go to the school. We visited the same school that I intern at, which was pretty fun. The kids are starting to know me by name. We went around and visited each classroom and even sang a song for one of the classes. After that we were separated into different classrooms to teach. Paola and I taught a lower middle school Religion lesson. We talked about the basics of the Trinity and what it meant to be a Christian. After class, we played games and took pictures with the kids. When it was time for us to leave, a herd of kids insisted on walking us back to Daniel’s house even though they were supposed to be in class.

We ate Red Red for lunch. I think it was my favorite version of Red Red I’ve had here because it wasn’t spicy at all. We also had plantains. After each meal that we get here, we are served bananas—the best bananas ever. We went to greet one of the elders after lunch. It’s customary to do so because they want to know everyone that enters their community. We were given a time to rest when we got back, so well all took naps.  I wish that was something people in the U.S. did. Sometimes, we just need rest! It was a lovely nap.

Pounding FuFu

After we woke up, we were taken around to the different houses in the village to meet people and observe how they prepare dinner. We got to help one women make palm nut soup! We also helped another lady pound FuFu. At one house, we even got to see a chameleon. It changed from green to brown when we put it on the ground in the dirt. We tried to get it to turn purple by setting it on Krista’s skirt, but I think that purple must be a difficult color to change into, so it just stayed a brownish color.

We had yams and stew for dinner. We didn’t get bananas afterwards, which was sad. We each got our own coconuts instead.

I had a lot of fun tonight. I think I’m really going to enjoy this home stay and this village.

Sept. 25

We learned how to farm this morning. After a breakfast of bread and chocolate spread, we were taken to the fields to pick beans and peppers, weed a cassava field, help clear a different field of sticks and then learn how to plant cassava. It was so much fun! It was really hot and sunny today, so we sweat quite a bit, but I still enjoyed it. We got to chop things with machetes.

When we got back to the house, we washed ourselves off right away. We were a well-earned mix of dirt and sweat. Krista and I both took a nap before eating lunch. Lunch today was groundnut soup. Groundnuts are peanuts. Don’t be fooled, this soup does not taste like peanuts. Although they are used to make it, they also add in things like fish and hot peppers. Not my favorite. We ate it with rice and then had fresh pineapple for dessert.

After lunch we had a lot of down time. I slept some more. I don’t know why I’m so tired all the time. I think it might have something to do with the heat. After we all woke up, we went to the living room and found that Hannah Montana was on TV. It was weird to get so excited over that show, but it was nice to see something familiar.

We observed palm wine tapping later on. The original settlers of Adenkrebi were palm tree harvesters. They relied on palm trees for almost everything—building houses, making food, making baskets, etc. We got to see part of the process of making palm wine. The men working were heating the inside of the tree up through a hole they had cut into it using a burning stick and tubes to blow the flames up into the tree. This allows the liquid to flow down and into a jug placed under the tree. It was pretty interesting to watch. I think we get to try it after the entire process is finished.

For dinner we ate fried yams and stew. It sort of like eating French fries but in huge cubes dipped in a tomato and vegetable sauce. After dinner, we played cards for a while. I went to bed early because we have to be up and ready by 5:30am for a hike to catch the sunrise.

Sept. 26

It was an early morning! We had to be up and ready by 5:30am, which wasn’t much of an issue because the rooster (we named him Rodger) started crowing outside my window around 3:50am. We hiked for about a half an hour to a place that overlooked Accra. It was pretty cloudy, so we didn’t get to really watch the sunrise, but it was still really pretty.

I slept for another hour after we got back and then we ate breakfast. After breakfast we got ready to go on yet another hike. We hiked to a waterfall and then climbed down it. It was crazy. I’ve never rock climbed before, but I got to do it today without any rope or anything! It was hard at times, but I had fun. The big rocks and the waterfall at the end were beautiful. Most of the climbing was through the forest/jungle, which was another really awesome part about it. The trees here are amazing. After the hike I showered immediately because I was really sweaty and hot. The cold shower felt really good.

Since our before lunch activities were pretty draining, we got to have the afternoon to ourselves. We ate lunch and then took naps. After that we sort of just hung out until dinner and after dinner, we watched a movie. Oh yeah, we also tried palm wine last night. The other girls thought it tasted like sausage, which is weird. I just thought it tasted bad.

Sept. 27

We got up early this morning to go fetch water and then carry it on our heads back to the village. What an adventure! It’s a good 20-25 minute walk to the river down a pretty steep road. We had to go down into the river and fill our containers and then walk it back to the village up hill...on our heads. It was so much fun, but also really hard. I did okay (I attribute that my several years of doing showmanship back when I showed horses), but I certainly wasn’t able to keep all of the water in the container. The people here go and fetch water 4 times every day. I can’t even imagine.

After we came back and recuperated for a minute, we had to leave to go greet the chief of the village. We sat in this meeting room that had his stool and everything in it. Stools are a big deal here. Chiefs are “stooled” in the same way that people are sworn into an office. They symbolize power or something like that. In order to greet the chief, you must shake his hand with your right while grasping your right wrist with your left hand. I’m glad they told us that ahead of time. Anyways, we had to tell him our names and he told us we were welcome and then we left. It was a rather short visit.

Later, Daniel took us to a research center that specializes in herbal medicine. They research plants and things like that. It was pretty interesting. After that we went to a university near Adenkrebi. It was called Ashesi University. It sort of made me homesick because it looked so much like a university in the U.S. The campus was beautiful.

We ate a late lunch and then all took naps afterwards. I felt like I had been awake for forever. In the evening, we tried to go find some FanChoco, but failed. I think I’m going through some withdrawals.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you! I’m sad that there is no phone or Internet service here. Know that I’m thinking of you today!L

Sept. 28

I fell asleep to the sound of rain last night. Not just any rain…it was more of a torrential downpour, but it was wonderful. We were told to be ready by 5:30am to go for another walk, but it was still raining when we got up, so Atabba (our guide for the week) didn’t come to the house, but we decided to go for a walk anyways.

I slept for another hour when we finished our walk and then ate breakfast. After breakfast we went to the school to participate in game day. Luckily, the rain cleared and the sun came out. I’ve never played so many rounds of Duck, Duck, Goose in my life. I also spent quite a bit of my time trying to break up a fight between two little girls.

After spending about 3 hours at game day, we came back to Daniel’s for lunch. It was then that we were informed that we were going crab hunting immediately after lunch. Atabba took us into the bush near the place we got water yesterday. Before he showed us where the crabs were, he wanted to show us the flowers around the place. They were so pretty. There were several different kinds, but I was only able to get decent pictures of a few of them. I kept thinking of my how much my grandparents would have loved to see them, so here are a few pictures.

After looking at the flowers, we got down to business. Atabba showed us how to hunt for a crab first. Basically, you find a crab hole and then you use a machete to make the hole a bit bigger so you can stick your entire arm into the hole and fish the crab out. Sounds easy enough, right?

I was feeling a bit brave, so I volunteered to go first. Atabba found the hole for me and dug with the machete to make sure a crab was actually down there and then he let me take things from there. Once I got down by the hole, I realized how scared I was. It’s kind of unsettling because you go into it blind. You can’t see what you’re doing, so you just hope that the crab doesn’t decide to get mad and assault you with its pinchers.  It took me awhile to actually get the courage to submerge my entire right arm into the hole to get this crab. Once I found him, I grabbed him and basically threw him out of the hole and then picked him up and threw him in the bucket. I’ve never had so much fun in my life. I wish my family had been there to see it. I was so proud of our group. We all successfully hunted our own crab. On our way back, it started to rain again. We really didn’t care because we were covered in mud anyways and we were pretty pleased with ourselves. 

It’s a really good thing Daniel’s house has running water, because we were all really dirty and needed showers right away. After we were all cleaned up, we watched Pirates of the Caribbean together and then ate dinner. We had non-spicy stir-fry. Best meal we’ve had here. It tasted like something my family would make at home.

After dinner, Atabba took us snail hunting! We went around 8:30pm with a bunch of his friends. The sun sets around 6:30 here, so it was really dark. Snail hunting isn’t quite as exciting as crab hunting (as you can probably imagine—they’re not very exciting animals), but it was a fun experience. In order to hunt a snail, you must walk around in the bush with a flashlight until you find one. When you find a snail, you pick it up and put in a bag. I wasn’t very good at spotting them, so I only managed to find 2. One of which was a baby snail that you can’t really use for food. The other one was big, so I was proud of myself. They’re pretty cool looking, but I’m not so sure how I feel about eating them.

While we were out and about at night, we went to a spot that overlooked Accra. We got some pictures and then headed back to Daniel’s to go to bed.

I’m pretty sure we’ll be eating our crabs and snails tomorrow at some point. Here’s to being adventurous!  

Sept. 29

We were allowed to sleep in today! We ate breakfast at 8am and were supposed to go learn how to uproot cassava, but it’s pouring again, so we didn’t go. We were hoping that the weather would clear up so that we could go and get the cassava, but it never did. But Atabba, being the great person that he is, went and got it in the rain for us because today is the day we learned how to make FuFu.

First, we peeled the cassava and washed it. When we finished that, we peeled some plantains and chopped them up. We put the cassava and plantains together and then boiled them.

While we waited for those things to boil, we ate a snack. Nancy (the nanny/cook at the house) gave us Gari. It’s like a ground up maize that you mix with sugar, water, and peanuts. I liked it, but no one else really did.

After our snack, we went back into the kitchen to start pounding the cassava and plantains. Cassava is naturally super starchy. It’s kind of sticky when you eat it by itself. So, when you pound it, it turns really doughy/gooey/sticky/slimy. After we pounded, we ate our lunch. FuFu is usually eaten with a stew as a dip. Our stew was groundnut stew with fish and a crab. Yes, each bowl of FuFu came with one of the crabs we caught yesterday. They still looked very much like themselves, just not alive. Here, you eat the entire crab. You are not given handi-wipes, garlic butter, and a tool to crack open the crab legs. (I think they’re too small to successfully be cracked open anyways.). You just take off a leg and eat it—shell and all.  The only thing you leave behind is it’s head. I was able to eat the legs. I couldn’t eat the pinchers or the body. I opened it up and then saw the crab’s innards and decided that was enough. I will say, once you get over the crunchiness, the legs aren’t that bad. I do have a problem eating FuFu. The texture is just weird to me, but every Ghanaian I’ve ever talked to raves about it. It’s Atabba’s favorite thing to eat. The groundnut stew was okay. It was spicy, but so is everything you eat here. Ghanaians love their hot peppers.

We had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves. Krista napped while I picked up where I left off in my quest to read through the Bible. For dinner, we ate fried sweet potatoes and fish stew.

A few of my dance partners.
Notice the MSU T-shirt in the middle!

The village got together later in the evening for drumming and dance, so we joined in. The kids from the school were there and they showed us a bunch of dancing and clapping games. Most of these games are played by standing in a circle, clapping your hands while one person at a time goes into the middle to show off your best moves.

Here, you are given a couple names. When you are born you are given the name that represents the day you were born. Later, you are given your “actual” name. In one of the games we played, each day of the week was called out and when your day was mentioned, you went to the middle and danced. I was born on a Friday, so my day name is Afia. 

After dancing, Daniel surprised us with FanIce—the vanilla version of FanChoco. It’s really good. I would like it better if it was chocolate, but I will say that the texture of FanIce is better. It’s more like soft serve ice cream rather than a fudgecicle.

Sept. 30

It was our last day in Adenkrebi! We went to the Methodist church that’s about a 10-minute walk from Daniel’s house. It was a cement slab that had a tin roof, but no walls. It was quite nice. The first part of the service was a bible study followed by some hymns. After the hymns, the party started. People hauled out the drums and started dancing and singing like crazy. We were pulled to the front to join in on the dancing. After the party died down, a guest pastor gave a sermon. It was spoken in Ga, but she paraphrased it in English for us once in a while. After the sermon, the offering was taken. The offering plate is at the front and when you want to put money in it, you must dance your way there.

After church, we ate lunch. We ate chicken and rice, but after we finished Atabba brought us our snails. He cooked them and put them on kabobs with green peppers and onions. When cooked and sliced, snails look a lot like mushrooms. Their texture is about what I had expected—pretty chewy/rubbery. They weren’t bad. I just had to not think about what I was eating and I was fine.

When we finished eating we had to go and say goodbye to the chief. So we went. We sat in his meeting room again and he served us some sodas. We talked about the things we did during the week and he asked us some questions about what we thought. When we were done, we went back to Daniel’s to load up the car with our luggage and headed back to campus.

Upon my arrival, I received a package, 5 cards, and two notices telling me that I have packages to pick up at the post office. What a nice thing to come back to! I seriously made my day. I was homesick quite a bit while in Adenkrebi, so this was just what I needed. J I got some Jif peanut butter, granola bars, the best gummy bears, fluoride rinse (thanks, Mom), clothes, and pictures of my family to put in my dorm room. I can’t wait to go and get the other packages tomorrow.

I can’t believe we’re getting into October. I only have 5 more weeks of classes before my final exams!