Sickness

Aug. 27

I felt a lot better this morning, which was good because I had a full day of class. After class Anna and I went with Jeff to help him get his hair cut. Outside the salon was a small café. They had a peanut butter and chocolate sandwich, so naturally I got one. About halfway into the sandwich my stomach starting feeling weird, so I stopped eating. After a few minutes I realized that my food was not going to stay down. I hurried away to catch a taxi to my dorm (the walk would’ve taken me at least 15 minutes). It took me longer than I thought it would to get a taxi and in that period of time, I got sick…twice… on a tree. (I know that I might be over-sharing here, but I’m willing to tell you about it so you can get a full picture of my experiences while I’m here.) J Anyways, a few minutes after expelling the contents of my stomach on a tree, I managed to get a cab. I’m feeling much better now that I’m in the comfort of my room. The story is pretty funny in hindsight.

Aug. 29.

Wednesdays are our long class days. I like to think of Wendesday as Humble Day. Our afternoon classes consist of Twi language, African drumming, and African dance. I’m terrible at all of them, so the only way to get through them is by being humble and laughing at myself. 

Our instructor for African dance is intense. I really can’t decide if he’s really cool or really scary. Today we danced for an hour and half. By the end, all of us were soaked in sweat. I’ll admit, I had a lot of fun today, but it was a lot of work. I think African dance is what we should to instead of Zumba at home.

I got a new placement for my internship as well. I’ll be working at a school in a rural town called Adenkrobi. I’m not sure what exactly I’ll be doing, but I get to start tomorrow!

I bought 10 hours of internet for my room for about 5 Ghana Cedis, which is about $2.50.  I think it was a good decision. I’ve been able to get into contact with my family and some friends on Skype much easier this way. The connection isn’t as good as it is in our classroom in the institute, but it makes it easier to work with the time difference.

Final Update on roommates: I am not getting a Ghanaian roommate. I’m pretty bummed, but also thankful that I can finally unpack my stuff and make this place feel more like home.

Aug. 30

Today was the first day of my internship. We didn’t go to Adenkrobi today, so that was a bummer. Daniel, the guy in charge of us, picked us up and took us to his work site in Pig Farm (yes, that is the name of a section of town). We “designed” the classroom that he wants us to paint. So basically, we just painted with poster paint on paper as a brain storming exercise. I’m hoping to do something a little more exciting next week.

I did some homework when I got back and then Krista and I went to the mall to get dinner. I spent the rest of the evening cleaning my room. Super exciting day... haa.

Aug. 31

The Adenkrobi School only needed us for one day this week, so I have the day off today. When I woke up this morning I went right to work on cleaning and unpacking. I am completely unpacked now! It feels great. This room really is starting to look a bit homier now.

To celebrate the day off, Krista, Caitlin and I got brunch at a little place on campus. (Pancakes and freshly squeezed orange juice!) The pancakes were more like crapes, but still really tasty.

Cape Coast

I haven't had the internet since last Wednesday! We did some cool stuff this weekend, so read away!

Aug. 22

Another day of class. Today I had class from 8:30am-7:45pm with a two and half hour break at lunch. The day felt like an eternity.

We did have our first African Drumming and Dance class. We drummed for about 50 minutes. It was so much fun. Our instructor taught us some basics and then had us do some cool rhythms together as a group. Dancing was okay. I don’t really love to dance, but I did enjoy myself. We did some traditional name learning dances that local children like to do.

Confession: The past two days have been hard. My classes feel stressful and I don’t get a lot of time to just be by myself. I get energy from having time alone, so never having that time is really exhausting.

 I’m really craving a sandwich right now. A real one with sliced bread. (Weird, I know) My diet here so far has consisted of fruit (mostly pineapple), small loaves of bread, and white rice. If I really want ice cream—which is always, I buy this stuff called FanChoco. It’s basically a fudgecicle in different packaging. It’s pretty good. It feels weird craving things from home after only 2 weeks away, but it really feels like I’ve been here for much longer. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love it here, but there are times when I really just want to eat a vegetable or something. Like tonight, I had bought French fries for dinner because ketchup sounded awesome.

Aug. 23

I had orientation at the Community Hospital today. It’s a pretty nice place. Interestingly, 2 journalists and a businessman established it and it’s a for-profit hospital.

I’m a little bit disappointed in my placement. I still don’t entirely understand what I will be doing there and I’m not sure how helpful I’m going to be to them. I’m going to talk to Roland about it later to see if there is something else I can do.

Also, while at the hospital, two offers of marriage were made to me. Unfortunately, I had to decline. ;)

Aug.24

We headed to Cape Coast for the weekend early this morning. It’s a small town on right on the Gulf of Guinea (basically the Atlantic Ocean). Today, we took a walking tour of the town and toured Elmina Castle. We learned that the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British have at one point occupied Cape Coast and Elmina Castle. The castle was used for several different purposes at different points in time, but it’s most famous for it’s role in the Trans Atlantic slave trade. After slaves were captured from villages, they were taken to the castle to await the ships that would eventually take them to the Americas/Europe. It was a really fascinating tour. We walked through the dungeons and governor’s quarters as well as a chapel located just above the dungeons. Anyways, if you ever happen to be in Cape Coast, I recommend walking through it.

 

We’re staying in The Almond Tree Guest House just outside of Cape Coast. It’s really quite pleasant. A family from Jamaica runs the place—my room is the Bob Marley room. :) After our tours today, I got to take a shower. The water has been out in my dorm room at the university for the past day and a half, so the shower was very much welcomed. Not only did the water in the shower work, but there was hot water as well. I’m not sure I can describe how wonderful that was. I'm starting to appreciate water more than ever. We tend to take it for granted in the States because it's always available, but here we're learning to live well without constant access to it. It's kind of nice in a way.

We ate dinner at a small restaurant (using that term loosely) across the street from the guest-house. We ate a local dish called Red Red. I think it’s made up of beans, gari (a grainy, white powder), and a red sauce. We also had fried plantains, salad with avocado, and white rice. It was delicious. Loved every bit of it.

I bought some FanChoco to satisfy another ice cream craving and then we visited a beach resort down the road. I’ve come down with a terrible cold, so I went to be early.

Aug. 25

Today was wonderful. I think it was my favorite day in Ghana so far. This morning we woke up early to go to Kakum National Park. It’s a tropical rainforest area that has suspension bridges that take you over that canopy of the forest. I’m scared of heights, but I loved it.

After the canopy walk, we spent the remainder of our day on a beautiful, empty beach. We got to relax in hammocks, swim, soak in some sun, and on top of all of those wonderful things, we were fed the most amazing meal of my life. We were served different kinds of rice, French fries (I know that sounds weird, but they are way better here than at home), chicken with vegetables, calamari, fried plantains, lobster, and the most delicious fish I ever tasted (I don’t know what the name was). 

I also talked to Roland about my internship placement. I think I’m going to be moved to a different organization, but I don’t know which one yet.

 

Anyways, I loved every bit of our time at the beach. We left around 4pm and didn’t get back to the university until 8pm. We hit some crazy traffic.

Now I need to focus on the pile of homework that I have to do for Monday.

Happy birthday today, Dad! Glad I was able to talk to you for a minute this afternoon.

Aug. 26

I’m sick. The cold that I came down with this weekend will not give in and on top of that I think I have a minor digestive issue, so I stayed home from church today to rest. The good news is that I’ve spent the day doing homework. I don’t get internet in my room, so I don’t have anything to distract me. I got most of it done, but my computer is also malfunctioning right now. The mouse is acting on it’s own. So when I type, it moves around and clicks on random things and deletes sentences, etc. It’s been extremely frustrating. Just typing this is taking way longer than it should because of the issue. Anyways, I’ve done what homework I can.

We have our first group bible study tonight. I’m hoping to go and make it through the whole thing. Hopefully I can manage it.

Class Begins...

Aug. 20

Needed a first day a school picture for our moms :)

First day of school! I curled my hair. The humidity killed it, but it felt good to really get ready for the day.

Classes went well. I had African Literature at 8:30am. I love the professor. I think it’s going to be a great class. Then, I had Peoples and Cultures. We had a guest lecturer come in and talk about the demographics of Ghana. It was a little dry, but still pretty interesting. We ended the day with Peoples and Culture with Roland, our director for the Calvin program. We just talked about the syllabus…but it sounds like it will be a fun class.

Tomorrow I have African Politics and Development. I’m not looking forward to it, but I will survive. After that I have Culture and Ethnography (not to be mistaken with Peoples and Culture) followed by Twi Language class. Twi is the local language here, so we’re going to learn some of the basics. Luckily, an acquaintance that works in the Night Market has agreed to help me with my homework.

We explored the mall after class. It was a national holiday today due to the end of Ramadan (A Muslim custom), so the place was packed. After the mall, we had a girl’s night. Most of the girls here love Pride and Prejudice almost as much as I do, so we watched the movie together. I loved it.

Aug. 21

Our Politics and Development class is 3 hours long. We have it once a week. My first impressions are not good. It’s way above my head. I have no previous experience in a politics class, so it will be interesting. We watched a very poorly put together film on the economic development of Ghana. I won’t lie, I didn’t really watch. I could barely hear it from where I was sitting.

After Politics, I had Culture and Ethnography. It’s with Roland so it’s really chill. I’m currently on an hour break between classes. We have our Twi language class next.

Our class days are long. We have class on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdays from like 8:30am-4pm. They’re packed in like that to accommodate our internships that we have on Thursday/Fridays. My placement is at the Community Hospital. I have no idea what I will be doing, but I’m looking forward to it. I have orientation this week Thursday.

They say we’ll be getting Ghanaian roommates tonight! Fingers crossed…I’m really wanting to unpack.

Also, shout out to my brother and his fiancé today. Happy birthday you guys! 

Akropong and then some.

We had some time with the internet today! So read your heart out on these journal entries from the past few days.

Aug. 16

Akropong is a wonderful place. We’re staying at a seminary and it’s been very peaceful.

I should mention that our bus is awesome. It’s air-conditioned and the seats are comfortable. So the ride up here was great.

On our way up here we stopped at the botanical gardens. The British started it up around 1820 as a way to test what kinds of things could successfully grow in Ghana for economic and scientific purposes. Because of this, there are a lot of trees from all over the world. It was really a beautiful place.

The meals are provided for us at the seminary, which has been fabulous. Tonight we had French fries and chicken. I’ve never been so happy to see French fries in my life. They were delicious.

After dinner, we got to share our autobiographies with each other. It was really intimidating, but I’m glad we did it. We learned a lot about each other in 2 and a half hours.

Later, we went into what looked to be “downtown” Akropong to find some chocolate. A lot of us were really craving it and thought it was absolutely necessary to find someone who sold it. We paid way too much for it, but I think it was worth it.

Last thought for the day: The beds here are like memory foam. I never want to leave.

Aug. 17

I had hot chocolate at breakfast. It was glorious. It’s actually been pretty cold here, so the warm drink was necessary. After breakfast we had an entire day of lectures scheduled. I didn’t think I was that tired, but I just couldn’t keep my eyes open during the first two sections. I wanted to listen because the subjects were interesting…but oh well. Someone gave me a piece of paper and a pen for the last lecture session so I was able to stay awake by taking notes and doodling.

After lectures we made our “group covenant”. Basically it’s just a charter of the things we want and expect from our group. We’ll see if we hold to it. ;)

After that, we had dinner (Spaghetti!) and watched a movie on Christianity in Africa. The seminary that we’re staying at was referenced quite a bit…so I think that had a lot to do with why we watched it.

Aug. 18

It was our last day in Akropong. We spent the day hiking. It was really great, but it kicked my butt. I’ve never really hiked before, so all of that walking and climbing was pretty exhausting. Our reward at the end of the hike was a swim at a waterfall. It was beautiful, but our guide told us that the rainy season wasn’t very rainy so the waterfall isn’t as impressive as it usually is. We didn’t really mind…it was still refreshing.

At one point during the hike we got to climb onto this huge “umbrella” rock that overlooked everything. The next stop was at a 3-headed palm tree. I guess those are pretty rare or something. At that stop our group of Americans attracted more attention than the tree. A lot of locals wanted to take pictures with us.

Me, Anna, and Krista on top of the "umbrella" rock

At the waterfall, we ran into our “friends” from the palm tree stop. They wanted more pictures. All the attention was really strange. I don’t usually get stopped in the street in order to be videotaped in the U.S. But the waterfall was great.

After a cold shower back at the seminary, we hopped back on the bus and returned to campus. A few of us decided to go back out into town to get pizza and then explore a nearby town called Osu. I got check out Global Mamas, which (to my limited understanding) is an organization that empowers women by giving them jobs making all kinds of cool clothes and accessories. We visited the store that sells the stuff that they make. It’s awesome. I can’t wait to go back and buy stuff.

It was a long day, but I enjoyed myself.

In other news, we still have no idea if we're getting Ghanaian roommates or not. It's becoming a little bit frustrating because we're still not unpacked, but we're trying stay positive. If we don't have roommates by Tuesday, then we'll just room with another Calvin student.

Aug. 19

Anna and I went to Legon Interdenominational Church (LIC) this morning. We left the dorm at 7am to be there by 8am (It’s a pretty long walk). They start with bible study in small groups and then the actual service starts at 9am. The people at this church know how to party. The offering is basically a dance party while the baskets are going around. After the sermon, there was a choreographed dance. I videotaped it, but I can't get it to upload onto my blog so you'll just have to miss out. 

We start classes tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Market Visits and Laundry.

The past few days have been really crazy. Here's a post from the 13th

Aug. 13

             We had a ton of lectures from various faculty members from the University this morning. I was pretty tired, so I was struggling to stay awake through them. I felt pretty bad about it because I was sitting in the second row, right in view of the speakers. I couldn’t help it, my body still doesn’t really know what time it is, but it made the morning almost unbearable. Luckily, the lectures didn’t last as long as they were scheduled and one lady had been “detained” by a doctor’s appointment. I didn’t complain. 

One of my favorite things here is the Night Market. It’s the closest market to our dorm, so we get a lot of our food there—only 10 minutes! Today Krista, Anna and I stopped there after orientation to get some water and snacks. We met a few families that work a couple of the booths and we made friends with their kids. Mr. Henry makes the egg sandwich for 1 Cedi (about .50 cents) that everyone seems to like. His twin daughters Felicia and Felicity were working with him today. They were both very sweet. A few booths down a young girl named Rita stopped us. She was working there with her mom (Miss Howa) and her brother. Rita’s smile and laughter is infectious. She’s also one heck of a saleswoman for being so young. I was really thankful for the encounters I had today.  I’m excited to see how the relationships develop. The people here are absolutely wonderful. They are so warm and inviting, always telling us, “You are welcome here”. Seriously, everyone I meet tells me that. It’s awesome.

We went into the market in Medina the next day. I think it was like a 10 or 15-minute tro-tro ride from the university. Luckily, we had some guides from the with us because the place is crazy. Super huge. Our guide took us to the “more organized” section of the market…which is probably true, but it was pretty hectic in there. We saw some interesting food and people and then returned to campus for some much needed relaxation.

We’ve taken to going to this little café place called Tickles that’s in our dorm’s courtyard at night. I don’t think I will ever get over that name. But it’s been a good place to sit and get to know the other kids in our group.

The day after we went to Medina, we went into downtown Accra. And I thought Medina was busy….

We had guides again, but they didn’t want us to separate into groups for some reason, so we were a huge group of 18 white kids trying to make our way through the masses. I imagine we looked pretty strange.

We ate lunch at a restaurant downtown and everyone got FuFu. This is pretty hard to explain. It’s like a potato-ish sort of stuff that gets pounded into a doughy consistency and then served with a sauce to dip it in. Ours came with some super spicy sauce and fish. I’ll be real, it wasn’t my favorite, but I’m glad I tried it.

Our group split up after lunch and I ended up in a group of 5 girls with our guide, Sowa. She had some personal shopping to do so we agreed to go along with her. Weird decision. She needed to get fabric for a dress and then needed to find a rice cooker for her mom. Getting the fabric didn’t take that long…but we searched the whole city for a very specific rice cooker and never found it. We walked forever and then had a terrible time trying to find a tro-tro for the ride home…so we agreed to be ripped off by a taxi driver in our desperation to get back.

When we got back, Anna and I ran some errands and grabbed dinner (bread) at the Night Market. When we got back, we had to find a water source since the water in the bathrooms was out. Coincidentally, we ran into a nice guy named Benjamin while we were searching and he showed us where to go. Anna likes to call him Beautiful Benjamin now.  Hahaha

Anyways, we got our water and did our very first load of hand-washed laundry. I actually really enjoyed it. It’s kind of therapeutic.

Today we are heading to a seminary in Akropong for a group retreat. It’s about an hour north of the university. We’re going on a hike to a waterfall, which should be pretty cool.

I haven’t gotten a roommate yet. Only two of us have. Hopefully next week. Until then, I continue to live out of my suitcase.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I forgot my camera card plug in today. I will try to remember it next time. 

I made it!

I'm here! It's the first time I've been able to access the internet anywhere so it's pretty exciting. Today we've just been sitting in lectures about safety, health and some other stuff that I don't really remember. We also took a tour of the campus. Our reward for the long walk is the internet. :) Also, I had to share the bathroom with a cockroach today. Hopefully he's gone when I get back to the room. hahaha.

Here's some stuff I wrote from the past few days. 

Aug. 11: Day of Arrival

             After a major delay that set us back a day and then enduring the nightmare that is airport security (I got patted down for the first time in London…what an experience), layovers and flights, we have arrived. After all of this, my body has no idea what time it actually is. I am so exhausted, but also so happy to finally be here.

            The first thing I noticed when I stepped off of the plane in Ghana was the impressive humidity. Right now it’s not even that hot as far as temperature goes, but it’s rather steamy here.

            Also, our dorm rooms are a lot nicer than I had expected. They’re pretty big and we have our own bathrooms—although whether or not all of the utilities in your bathroom works is another story. Currently, the toilet and sink in my room are out of commission but the shower works. There is no hot water ever.

            The other Calvin students are really nice. I’ve really enjoyed them so far. So that’s a relief.

            Tomorrow we are going to church on campus and then doing some orientation stuff. After that I think we going to go out and explore the city. So it should be a good day.

            Thanks for all of your thoughts, prayers and encouragement. 

Aug. 12: Church, Orientation, and Exploration

            We walk a lot. This campus is huge…like a city within itself. The church we went to on campus was about a 20 minute walk and from there we walked about 15 minutes to our classroom to do orientation and then walking back to our dorm took us another 20+ minutes. I’m not complaining, really. I’m just observing. It probably stuck out more to me today because of my poor choice in shoes. I wore dressier sandals to church that do absolutely nothing for the well-being of your feet. So I will probably have some impressive blisters on my feet tomorrow.

            This evening we went exploring in Accra. We took the tro-tro, which is a form of public transportation. Basically, they’re just big vans that cost like .25 (American) cents to ride in. They really pack the people in, but it’s super fun—trust me. I honestly don’t even know where we ended up but we found this random restaurant on like the 4^th floor of this building and had a lovely little dinner. After that we explored some of the stores on the street and caught a tro-tro back to the university.

All in all it was a very good day.

It's so good to use the internet. You don't really realize how much you rely on something until it's not there. I have the same feeling towards toilets. Mine still doesn't work, but I'm learning that with some creativity and a good attitude, you can get past anything. :)

Also, we're supposed to meet our roommates today....

Love,

Ali

Here Goes Nothing.

Today is the day! Ready or not...I'm  leaving in just as few hours.

I'm feeling a mix of extreme excitement and nervousness...but mostly excitement. (I hardly slept at all last night.) 

The group takes off from Grand Rapids tonight at 8:45. We then go to Chicago, then to London (Fingers crossed that I run into an Olympian that happens to be leaving), and finally to Ghana. It will take about 17 hours. So naturally I'll be the definition of pleasant by the time I arrive and probably super well rested.....or not. ;)

Anyways, keep me and the rest of the group in your thoughts and prayers as we travel. I'm looking forward to a great semester. :)

Here goes nothing!

The Pre-Trip Post

The end of summer is upon me. I leave for Ghana in 4 days. As my summer comes to a rapid close, I am busy with last minute shopping, laundry, and packing. Fitting 4 months worth of stuff into 2 suitcases isn't that easy. (I'm sure you can imagine my struggle)

For those of you who don't know what I'm doing: I'm studying at the University of Ghana. I am a Social Work major with an International Development minor. Most of the classes I'm taking are for my minor, but I also will be taking African Literature and an African Drumming and Dance class. hahaha. Exciting, I know. Also, on top of taking classes, I will have an internship.

I'll be honest, I have mixed emotions about this upcoming semester. I'm really sad to leave, but excited for what I'll find in Ghana.

Current Anxieties:

• I don't know anyone that I'm going with. This is a horrifying reality for me. I know it's probably better this way, but I get sick to my stomach when I think about trying to make new friends.
• I've never been away from home for this long. I think that's pretty self explanatory. I like being with my family a lot...so these 4 months will be interesting.
• Classes. I'm taking 16 credits while I'm there. yikes.

Things I'm super pumped about:

• Internship. I have no idea what my internship is yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like to work in an international setting.
• New friends. As much as I dread the process of making friends...I'm excited to meet people from all over. I'm staying in the International Student Hostel at the University, so I'm hoping to make some cool new friends. :)
• Learning about myself and gaining independence. I plan on being outside of my comfort zone for the majority of the semester...so we'll see how that goes.
• Living in a new place. I am SO excited about learning to live on my own in a different place.

My goal is to find time each week to update this blog. I'll do my best, but I have a feeling things will get pretty crazy while I'm there. So stay tuned! I know you're all dying to know what I'm up to. ;)  

I really appreciate all of your prayers. Continue to keep me and my family in your prayers this week.

Love, Ali :)